August 1st, 2013 at 7:27 am 
by Ron Cervenka Anyone who is surprised by the first eight innings of Wednesday nights game between the Dodgers and Yankees before a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd simply doesn’t follow baseball very closely. When you pit two guys with the first and sixth best ERAs in all of baseball against one another, it really should come as no surprise that the game entered the top of the 9th with no score. Even though Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda and his 2.38 ERA and Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw and his MLB best 1.87 ERA ultimately would not figure in the decision, the pitching clinic that each put on was exactly as advertised.
With two of the best pitchers in all of baseball going head to head, it came as no surprise that Wednesday night’s game was scoreless heading into the 9th inning. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
In his seven innings of work Kuroda pitched every bit as good against his former team as he did when he was with them, allowing no runs on 5 hits while walking one and striking out 8. He was matched almost pitch for pitch by Kershaw, who allowed no runs on 5 hits with no walks and 5 strikeouts in his eight innings of work. In fact, so efficient were these two pitching surgeons that the 53,013 in attendance were standing for the 7th inning stretch before 9:00 PM (8:57 PM to be exact).
With the greatest closer of all time warming in the Yankees bullpen and the closer who has been lights out with his 2.15 ERA warming in the Dodger bullpen, there was little doubt that this game would be decided by each teams’ set-up men. And while Yankees reliever Boone Logan managed to pitch a scoreless 8th inning, Dodger relievers Ronald Belisario and Paco Rodriguez did not pitch a scoreless 9th inning.
Mariano Rivera – the best there ever was.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
In a game pitched with the precision of this one, there was little doubt that the 9th inning leadoff walk by Belisario to Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter would be the kiss of death for the Dodgers – and it was. And even though Belisario almost escaped the inning but for a blown double play attempt in which Dodger shortstop Hanley Ramirez could not get the ball out of his glove quickly enough, it would be that leadoff walk that would prove to be the fatal blow for the Dodgers.
Although the Yankees would add two more unearned runs on a Yasiel Puig-induced error by Mark Ellis on a pop-up to short right field that was clearly Ellis’s ball, there wasn’t a sole in Dodger Stadium who honestly believed that the Dodgers would be able to score even one run off of future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, let alone three to tie and four to win – and of course the Dodgers didn’t, as Mo struck out Ramirez and Ethier and caused A.J. Ellis to ground out weakly to second.
The two unearned runs that scored on this error charged to Mark Ellis (but caused by Yasiel Puig) were meaningless with Mariano Rivera about to enter the game with a 1-0 lead. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
With the loss the Dodgers lead in the NL West dropped to 2.5 games, as the Diamondbacks won handily over the Tampa Bay Rays 7-0. And while Dodger fans were disappointed with the loss to the Yankees (thus splitting the four-game season series), the Dodgers ended the month of July with a MLB-leading record of 19-6 and a record of 27-7 since June 22.
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I know that one hurt a bit but this has been an incredible run and most of the bouncing balls have gone the Dodgers way. It was great to see to pitchers in a great battle.
Many may focus on the dropped fly or the bad call on the check swing, but the biggest sin committed last night was the lead-off walk by Bellisario. In a scoreless game, that walk is a killer. But if that is the biggest complaint in a loss after how this team started, things are going well. The flub by Ellis hurt (Puig did call him off, maybe not loud enough?) but at that point with Rivera coming in, those two extra runs turned out to be irrelevant.
There is a basic rule in baseball – if an infielder has his back to the outfielder while backing up on a pop-up/fly ball, it is the infielder’s ball all the way. The outfielder can see the infielder but the infielder cannot see the outfielder. It is a completely different story if the infielder must turn and run after the ball, in which case it is the outfielder’s ball all the way if he can get to it.
It was only a matter of time before this happened with Puig. He has repeatedly ignored his teammates calling for the ball. I just hope that he (finally) learned from it.
But here again, it was the Belisario walk that cost the Dodgers this game.
Walks Kill You.
Ron, (Here it comes, a lengthy comment) I honestly don’t want to start a war here, but I disagree with your assessment on who was at fault on the muffed popup. The baseball I learned as a youth says that on pop flies in the short outfield areas, it is the outfielders call. If he calls for the ball,it’s his ball. He he has the best angle and vantage point to catch it as it’s always easier to catch a ball coming in than it is running backwards. This was an issue we were seeing last season with Dee Gordon, as he constantly was going after pop ups that outfielders were calling for. (Though is Dee’s case, it was usually a full out turn around and sprint to catch it).
I watched portions of the Yankees and Dodgers telecast and Vinny blamed Puig from the get-go on the flubbed pop up, but he didn’t review the play in detail. The Yankee crew though played it backwards and forwards and showed repeatedely that Puig called for the ball, but Ellis ignored him.
It was loud, and perhaps as BigBlueBird hints, Puig wasn’t loud enough, but that ball should have been caught by Yasiel, and Ellis should have backed off and allowed that. That’s my position, and I reviewed it a number of times.
I understand your reasoning regarding the infielder turning his back
and running after the ball, vs. backing up to catch it, but Ellis was kind of sideways turned in his route to the ball. I didn’t sense that he was backing up to catch that thing, at least from the replays I saw. You were there and saw it from the get go, so maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.
So much went wrong in that inning. First, Mattingly allows Kershaw to hit for himself and then pulls him from the game with only 98 pitches thrown. The 8th inning wasnt’ taxing for him. He gave up two seeing eye singles that probably should have been outs. Second, after pulling Kershaw, he decided to go with a secondary option, Belisario, against the Yankees 2,3, and 4 hitters. Not a good move. He committed the error that Girardi did the night before. Saved his closer for a potential “save” situation instead of using him in the most crucial situation. I hate that about modern managers in today’s game. Then there was the walk to Jeter. Then there was the double clutch by Hanley and what should have been a double-play ball that Cano beat out. Then the check swing no-call. It simply wasn’t in the cards for the Dodgers to win last night’s game.
Oh, and C.B. Buckner. That guy is an atrocious home plate umpire. Did you see how his strike zone expanded when Rivera pitched the bottom of the 9th?
Overall it was a forgetable night. Hopefully the bats wake up in Chicago and the team gets some rest today.
I don’t know what your opinion of Rick Monday is Evan, but my opinion of him has always been very high. He was never a superstar but was a very smart, old-school-type outfielder.
Rick’s assessment of the play is that it was Ellis’s ball all the way which, of course, is how I saw it too. Ellis may have turned slightly to move back, but he never turned completely around to run after the ball.
Ironically, Ellis never said a condescending word about Puig nor did he throw him under the bus with the media after the game and accepted full responsibility, but there is little doubt that he feels that Puig screwed up by causing him to take his eye off the ball for a split second to see where Puig was. This was very evident on the replay
As for Kershaw batting in B8, what you didn’t see on TV (I assume) is that Jerry Hairston Jr. was in the on-deck circle during the Uribe AB and was going to bat if Uribe made out, but because Uribe got a base hit, Mattingly sent Kershaw up to the plate to sac bunt Uribe over to second (which he did). Kershaw is unquestionably the best bunter on the team. Mattingly had already decided to take Kershaw out, as has been well documented – including here.
And Joe is absolutely correct – if AGon stays at first, he scores on the consecutive hits by Ethier and A.J., which undoubtedly would have changed the way that Girardi managed the rest of the game – especially his bullpen.
The bottom line is that once the Yankees had a one-run lead heading into B9, the Dodgers were doomed – and even they knew it.
Thanks for the clarification and the info on Rick Monday’s opinion on the play. It looked to me that either Ellis heard Puig’s footsteps or he heard Puig call for it at the last moment and was distracted. I think we would all agree there was a communication issue that caused the flub.
Yeah, I was aware that Hairston was in the on deck circle and called back. I simply didn’t get pulling him from the game with only 98 pitches thrown and to top it off, he wasn’t a happy camper about it…(but what pitcher is?)
I didn’t get the AGon play. Everything was right in front of him and he still tried to go for two with the “piano on his back” speed.
I hate to beat a dead horse, . . . but let me take a whack. I didn’t know that my casual comment would cause such a firestorm amongst my TBLA colleagues!
I think the first thing is that if the outfielder can get it, he should. Best angle, best view, etc. However, if Ellis doesn’t acquiesce or appear to hear him, Puig shouldn’t get close enough to cause a collision. It certainly appeared that Ellis didn’t hear hear him and was actually frightened by the appearance of Puig (and rightfully so). Which leads me to my next point . . .
You also have to know who is playing with you. Puig has incredible range, he is young, a bit exuberant, a big bull with incredible speed behind you that sometimes does not stop. It would not the first time that Puig gets to a ball that surprises us or causes a collision (Ethier has already suffered that fate). If I were Ellis, I don’t think I would ever completely loose track of where he is. And I definitely wouldn’t completely turn my back while running into Puig territory. That could be a career-ending mistake!
The play I’m still having a little trouble with was when A-Gon attempted(Puig like)to stretch his leadoff single in the seventh, when it seemed he had absolutely no chance of doing.
What made it really stand out were the following two out singles by Ethier and A,J. Who knows what would’ve happened if A-Gon stayed put.
Well aside from that, as you mentioned Ron, we seen two fantasic pitching performances.
If Agon had just stayed at first…
The whole stadium knew he was screwed as soon as he rounded first lol
There was a collective “Oh xxxx” throughout the stadium.