Nothing like shame, defeat and embarrassment coming from your most hated enemy. Last night is one I hope the Dodgers just chalk up as a weird loss and move on.

I hope this happens because the Giants fans were sure pumped up this morning. I didn’t get a lot of comments at work (I was expecting them), but the talk shows this morning were all about how this was Bruce Bochy’s best game and how this win may change the rest of the season. Wishful thinking can be a horrible thing…

Not sure where to start on this one. My predictions still ring true that the Giants would win the first two…but I wasn’t very accurate on how it came about.

Timmy Lincecum got beat up. Andre Ethier is hot and everything seemed fine. Then, there were some beanings and suddenly Clayton Kershaw and Joe Torre are heading home early.  The talk shows thought Joe Torre was stupid to have Clayton Kershaw bean him, rather than some reliever who wouldn’t matter being tossed.  Could be true, but it does say something that Kershaw stood up for the team.

Then the 9th.  Welcome to management Don Mattingly.  A lot of managers start 0-1, so hopefully you can rebound from this one.  If you didn’t see it Mattingly accidentally stepped on the mound twice while out between the lines, and therefore Jonathan Broxton had to leave.

He had to leave for George Sherrill.  That was Mattingly’s second mistake.  I just wrote yesterday that hopefully it wouldn’t come down to Mr. Sherrill.  He just doesn’t have it right now and definitely shouldn’t be the guy with the game on the line, no matter if the batter is right or left handed.

Sherrill gives up the hit and the Giants walk away with a come from behind victory that they can build on. 

This is one game, but the Dodgers better snap out of this.  Regardless of tonight, they aren’t looking good.  The bullpen is weak and they can’t beat the teams they need to.  I hate to say it, but I don’t see this team (the way they are currently playing right now) making the playoffs.  They may beat out the Giants, but the Padres and Rockies should claim the top two spots.  I”m sure Mad Colletti is working on stuff because he knows the train needs some maintenance.

Tonight Billingsley.  Time to show that last night can be quickly forgotten.  Here’s hoping.

What a difference a year makes. Last year the Dodgers were flying high during the first series. This year, the Giants are the ones flying high. If anything the Dodgers pitching looks really bad, and the Giants pitching looks really good. This could go real bad for the Dodgers unless they find a way to fix their leaky bullpen. (Hint to Joe Torre…George Sherrill just doesn’t seem to have it right now.)

Here are the pitching matches and my predictions:

Friday, April 16  – 7:20 pm

Todd Wellemeyer, RHP (0-1, 5.68)  vs. Vicente Padilla, RHP (0-1, 11.42)

My pick -   The Dodgers.  Both pitchers are bad.  The Dodgers will have the home crowd to cheer them on.

Saturday, April 17 – 1:10 pm

Tim Lincecum, RHP (2-0, 1.29)  vs. Charlie Haeger, RHP (0-0, 3.86)

My pick – The Giants.  I can’t not choose Tim Lincecum and Haeger is pitching well, but you never know with a knucleballer.

Sunday, April 18 – 1:10 pm

Barry Zito, LHP (2-0, 2.25) vs. To be announced

My pick – The Giants.  If the Dodgers don’t even know who is pitching, how can I root for them.  Zito is hot right now, so hopefully the Dodgers can knock him around a little.

Well, honestly, the way the Dodgers bullpen is playing right now, if we only lose one against a hot Giants team, it won’t be that surprising.  Who knows though, my predictions weren’t very accurate last year, so maybe the Dodgers will surprise people.  Here’s a link to a full breakdown of the matchups from Dodgers.com (click here).

Either way, if the Giants do end up sweeping…it could be a long week of people rubbing it in next week.  As I write this, Casey Blake just drove in the tying run against the D-backs in the 9th.  Maybe there is hope for this weekend.  Man I love that guy.

Go Blue.

Hiroki Kuroda - Fox Sports.com

Writing as I watch the game:

Great game so far.  As of right now, it’s the 6th and the Dodgers have a 4 to 1 lead.  I’m very glad to see the Dodgers offense starting to come around again.  After Manny hurt his hand, he seems to have slowed offensively, but he’s still getting on base, so hopefully he will come around soon.

Special thanks to all of you who checked in on the site as the Dodgers played the Giants.  It was obvious to me that more people are reading this week.  I’m in the process of looking for guest writers for SF Dodgerfan.com.  If you are passionate about the Dodgers/Giants and love to write (and ideally live in the Bay Area), shoot me an e-mail at scott@sfdodgerfan.com.

Here’s a few notables from the game:

Obviously Joe is still tweeking the lineup to manufacture runs.  Putting Russell Martin second, is different, but it worked tonight, so I’m sure he’ll keep it for a bit longer.

• Great to see Matt Kemp get the key hit.  He really is driving in the runs this year, and can’t be avoided.
• I had to agree with the announcers up here that the 1st base umpire really missed the calls at 1st base.  Twice he favored the Dodgers on the call.  Not that I mind, but he definitely got those wrong.
• Perhaps it was because the cameras only showed the lower fans, but there didn’t seem to be as many Dodger fans at this game.  I know there are always more up high, but perhaps it was just perspective.
• My hero so far in this game is Hiroki Kuroda.  In a game where Jason Schmidt was supposed to make his return to SF, Kuroda stepped right in where the Dodgers needed.  The thing I liked most was that he was hitting his spots…

Interruption——–

The Giants are again chanting “Beat LA.”  If I haven’t made it clear in previous posts, that has got to be the WORST sound on the face of the planet.  It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.  Arrggghhh.

Interruption ended———————

Kuroda just really has kept them off track and is going deep into the game.  If he is truly back and can be consistent, he is what the Dodgers need with Wolf to get into the Playoffs.  Time will tell if not getting Halladay was a mistake, but a healthy Kuroda definitely will help the Dodgers win the West.

We’ll see how this game ends up.  There’s still hope for Giants fans if Jonathan Broxton gets into the game.  He always makes it close for the Giants.  If he can finally beat the Giants strong – he has come a long way….otherwise, Torre should use Sherrill this series.  Go Blue.

Jason Schmidt - Yahoo.com

I’ve really been watching up here to see if there were any stories on Jason Schmidt making his return. The Giants seem brilliant to let him go and let the Dodgers pay him a lot of money for him to be injured. Obviously the Giants had a hunch and they were absolutely right.  Ironically, I guess it is old news up here, because there just aren’t a lot of articles on him.

Jason’s first two games were not good, then he had a great third game. For a second it seemed that the Dodgers wouldn’t need more starting pitching because Jason was ready….

Well that was until tonight. He didn’t make it through 4 innings and he gave up 4 runs. Not a great line.

The Dodgers have a interesting decision here. Do you keep him pitching while healthy to eat up innings, or do you demote him or let him go. For over 10 million a year, it’s hard to just demote him if he is healthy. At the same time, it doesn’t seem like he has great stuff. The experiment can work as long as the Dodgers keep the lead in the West, but if that starts slipping, every game counts.

It is like he is in Spring Training in terms of innings, so if he is healthy, they have to let him see if he can hit a rhythm…but with a short leash.  Good thing they got another reliever at the trade deadline…they’ re going to need George Sherrill until Schmidt figures it out.

If you didn’t see that my last post included discounts to next weeks Dodgers/Giants series, click here.  30% off is a great deal.

What do you think – keep Schmidt pitching?

George Sherrill - SI.com - From Associated Press

What a week for the Dodgers and baseball. I love this time of year because the trade deadline is just exciting. Nothing more to it. There is a hard deadline you can see coming and you always hope your team goes out and gets a star to help you make the playoffs. This year was no different, especially with Roy Halladay being the the star prize.

Now, I really didn’t know a lot about George Sherrill. I know he is well respected, and he brings a veteran presence to the bullpen. He certainly showed his stuff in his first game striking out the side. He certainly isn’t Roy Halladay though.

I really thought the Dodgers were going to get both Sherrill and Halladay. I still think the Dodgers need more starting pitching, so that is a huge question mark. This is especially true now that the Phillies got more pitching and the Cardinals got more bats. We’ll see. Truth be known the Dodgers aren’t killing with offense right now, so that needs to come around too to help the pitching.

Here’s a few more other random things from the week:

• Manny and David Ortiz were again linked to steroids. Funny how Manny said nothing, but Ortiz reacted with shock.  I just found an article that stated that the Union alerted Ortiz and Manny years ago about the test.  I guess David Ortiz forgot about that…
• The Dodgers certainly didn’t roll over the Cardinals this week.  That could be a problem in the playoffs.
• Saw Russell Martin essentially derail the Dodgers today against the Braves with errors. He is strong with the pitching staff, but he just doesn’t seem to have everything he did a few years ago.
• I was watching the game today and noticed that Andre Ethier is on fire again in front of Manny. I wonder if it is really seeing better pitching, or Andre just being stoked to have the chance to hit because Manny will probably drive him in.

Coming next, the Spy Game for this week.  The Dodgers didn’t do a lot this year, but the Giants certainly proved they are going for it this year.

What do you think – do you like Sherrill?  Are the Dodgers still short on starting pitching?