March 31st, 2014 at 9:16 am 
by Ron Cervenka There are few things that upset or even anger baseball fans more than seeing a brilliant performance by a starting pitcher destroyed by a reliever which, of course, is exactly what happened in Sunday night’s nationally televised domestic season opener* between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.
To say that Dodgers left-hander Hyun-jin Ryu had a good outing on Sunday evening would be an injustice – it was a Cy Young Award-caliber outing. Not only did Ryu pitch seven shutout innings, he allowed only three hits, gave up three walks, struck out seven and, at one point, retired 15 Padres batters in a row. Counting his start in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Ryu has now pitched 12 scoreless innings to begin the 2014 season.
Ouch.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
But for as good as Ryu was on Sunday night, Dodgers set-up man and former Giants closer Brian Wilson was equally as bad. In a completely un-Wilson-like performance, the bearded one (whose beard is as ugly as it has ever been) not only blew the save and suffered the 3-1 loss, but he allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits, walked one and gave up a devastating pinch-hit home run to newly acquired Padres utility outfielder Seth Smith – all without recording a single out against the five batters that he faced.
If nothing else, Sunday night’s game was a reality check for Dodger fans – a wake-up call, if you will, and it put a few things into perspective:
- You can’t win them all. No team has ever gone 162-0 (or even 154-0). Even the 1927 Yankees lost 44 games.
- Even the best pitchers in the game have an occasional bad day.
- Having a one-run lead late in a game often does not end well.
- Winning two games out of three is, for all intents and purposes, a very good thing. If a team can do this all season long, they will finish with 108 wins.
- If you leave men on base, especially in scoring position, you will lose a lot of games. (The Dodgers left six men on base and were 1 for 5 with RISP).
- The inability to get down a sacrifice bunt can really hurt a team.
- Not making routine defensive plays will usually come back to haunt you.
- Walks kill you. Although the Dodgers lost by two runs, one of them was a result of a walk.
- Unless you are leading by a bazillion runs, defensive indifference is (in my opinion) a terrible play, but doing it in a tied ballgame with no outs is absolutely inexcusable.
- There are still 159 games to play.
- You win as a team and you lose as a team (Brandon League notwithstanding).
The down side to Sunday night’s loss is that it will undoubtedly bring the “It’s still early” people out of hibernation. You know the type – those who use this as an excuse when things are going bad but never say it when things are going good.
The bottom line is that the Dodgers are exactly three games into the 2014 season and are 2-1; and for the one and only time that you will hear these words cross my lips this season…
“It’s still early.”
* * * * * * * *
* Having to say “domestic season opener” is really annoying to me and yet another reason why I so passionately oppose(d) the Australian trip. It’s kind of like having an asterisk next to Roger Maris’s name in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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@Think_BlueLA Good stuff man, I agree 100% with everything you wrote.
If Dodgers fans think it will be a cake walk, we better thing again. So many things can happen in a season that prohibitive favors still struggle to make the play-offs much less win it all.
Hitters go into slumps, pitchers struggle, teams don’t get the little things done that requires them to win.
Bunting is in my opinion is a valued even essential part of the game as well as defending against the bunt. That was demonstrated last night.
Bingo – I hate it – defensive indifference especially as in yesterday’s game. It signals either that a team can’t handle the play at 2B or are a bit arrogant in thinking the other team can’t get that runner home from second. The game is played one base at a time. Even on a home run the hitter must touch each base. Don’t give up a base on DI.
The game is played one play at a time – offense, pitching, defense, strategy, execution. Yes, it’s still early but let’s win or even lose by doing things the way they should be done starting now.
“Domestic” opener is a lame phrase. It sounds like a remote for a home garage door.
Having said that – WTG – Hyun-jin Ryu. That’s putting a kicking on “it’s still early.”
Brian Wilson’s outing was worrisome, but for now I’m going to chalk it up to one bad outing and see what happens the next few times he pitches. It’s the Dodgers lack of consistent offense that bothers me more. It’s something that plagued them last year when they weren’t play well and I feel with the lineup they have they should be able to score more runs consistently.
I have to agree with Will on this one, I’m more worried about the LOB’s then I am about Wilson. And the Kershaw situation should have everyone on the edge of their seats !! Until he’s healthy we have some big issues to contend with.
I was very surprised not to see Ryu pitching in the 8th inning.I didn’t think 88 pitches was enough to warrent his removal but I guess Mattingly had his reasons.
As far as the bearded one goes, I guess we’re all hoping he was due for a bad outing. I agree about the game being a reality check as the first thing I thought of after the Seth Smith homer was that it was time to remember that it won’t be easy getting back to the postseason.
Ryu told Mattingly after the 7th inning that he was tired. It was Hyun-jin’s decision to come out, not Mattingly’s.
I didn’t read that anywhere, thanks for the info.