Runs Lost Part #2

Game 14 versus Houston

Matt Kemp triples with one out in the 4th. Casey Black is hit by a pitch. Clayton Kershaw bunted in front of the plate and Blake was thrown out at 2nd by Pudge Rodriguez. I understand that the pitcher was up, and all the Dodgers were trying to do was move Blake to 2nd to have two runners in scoring position for Raffy. But, and those of you that watched the game will note that Steve Lyons made a great point of this, the Astros third basemen, Jeff Keppinger, came all the way down the line almost to the plate. THIS MEANS NO ONE WAS AT 3RD TO KEEP MATT KEMP THERE. There was absolutely no reason for Kemp to be retreating to 3rd, but as soon as Pudge picked up the ball, he was on his way back. As Lyons pointed out last night, Kemp could go down the line as far as Keppinger did because as long as Keppinger was in front of him, there was no one to beat him back to 3rd. If he had been half way down the line where he should have been, he would have scored easily to tie the game at 4-4. Instead, Raffy grounds out and the inning is over with the Dodgers still trailing 4-3. It really was a TERRIBLE baserunning mistake that directly cost the Dodgers a run.

Top of the 9th with the Dodgers down 8-5, Raffy gets to 3rd with one out. After Andre walks to load the bases (O-Dawg moving to 2nd), Not-So-Big-Game James strikes out, followed by a Russ strike out... game over. This is a little more understandable as, most likely, both were trying to drive the ball to score multiple runs. A flyball for Loney only closes the deficit to two, so why not swing for the fences?

Two more runs lost in one game, a game the Dodgers lose. That's 6 runs lost in 14 games so far.