Sunday was supposed to be a day for me to simply enjoy baseball. My wife left at noon to go to our daughter’s, as they are off on a mother-daughter shopping trip to Bangor, Maine. So, I settled in for a day of relaxing baseball. It turned out to be a little less than relaxing as a virus seemed to infect most of the Dodgers system. That is an ineffective pitching virus and a LOB virus. Going from game to game didn’t help eliminate the virus for me.

Dodgers
I expect as the Dodgers took the field against the Brewers most Dodger fans were preoccupied with the question: “Which Dan Haren will show up today?” It didn’t take long to find the answer to that question. After two innings the game was essentially over with Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy singlehandedly leading the Dodgers 5-0. Now in all fairness to Haren he could have and should have been out of the second inning. What seemed to be a lack of concentration exchange between Dee Gordon and Adrian Gonzalez should have ended the inning. Gordon absolutely should have made a much better throw on an easy play and Gonzalez absolutely should have made the catch although it was made much more difficult by the throw. Nevertheless following that Haren continued to pitch batting practice.

Dan Haren’s and the Dodgers day was essentially done after nine pitches. After walking Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez to leadoff the game, Haren gave up one of his trademark home runs to Jonathan Lucroy. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

The silver lining was again listening to Vin Scully make it seem like it was ok to be getting thumped by the Brewers. I just never tire of listening to Vin. He has a way of taking my mind off the disaster on the field and soothing my nerves.

Albuquerque Isotopes
I was able to follow some of the minor league affiliate games as some were not in the same time frame as the Dodgers and others had commercials running at different times. The Albuquerque Isotopes had one of the better days among the affiliates. The ‘Topes defeated the Nashville Sounds 4-2 behind starting pitcher Jeff Bennett who pitched six innings giving up one run. Scott Elbert and Yimi Garcia recorded a hold and save although Garcia gave a run in the ninth. The Isotopes had only seven hits.

Right-hander Jeff Bennett led the Isotopes to a 4-2 win over the Nashville Sounds on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of AbqIsotopes.com)

Chattanooga Lookouts
The Lookouts pretty much mirrored the Dodgers. As Vin said on the Dodger broadcast “Before the seats were warm …” in the second inning they were behind the Birmingham Barons 7-0. Starting pitcher Andreas Santiago had an uncharacteristically poor start and didn’t make it out of the second inning. The Lookouts did claw their way back to get within two runs in the fifth inning following 3.2 strong innings by reliever Michael Thomas. However Juan Gonzalez (not that Juan Gonzalez) gave up three more runs in the seventh inning. Chattanooga had 14 hits, including Scott Schebler’s 25th home run, but also left 10 runners on base.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
The Quakes carried a 4-0 lead into the seventh inning with starter Chris Anderson allowing two runs in the seventh. He allowed only five hits in his seven innings and struck out 10 while walking only one. Unfortunately his strong start was followed by Geoff Brown who gave up two more runs in the eight inning to allow the Lake Elsinore Storm to tie the game. The Storm scored four runs in the eleventh inning with Daniel Tillman suffering the 8-4 loss. Chris Jacobs, Jeremy Rathjen and James Baldwin all homered off Storm starter Rafael De Paula. The Quakes left eight runners on base.

Jeremy Rathjen continues to swing a hot bat for the Quakes.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Great Lakes Loons
The Loons fell 7-5 to the West Michigan Whitecaps in 13 innings after scoring four runs in the ninth inning to tie the game 5-5. Relievers Kyle Hooper, Victor Araujo and Jacob Rhame combined to toss five scoreless innings but Jordan Hershiser allowed two earned runs in the thirteenth inning to take the loss. The Loons had 13 hits, including three by Devan Ahart who was recently promoted from the Ogden Raptors. Catcher Jose Capellan also had three hits but the Loons left 10 on base. Jesmuel Valentin, one of the players to be named later in The Roberto Hernandez trade, was missed in the Loon’s lineup as he was particularly hot in August. 

Ogden Raptors
With a different twist the Raptors had only five hits but defeated the Helena Brewers 3-2 as they left only three runners on base. Jeff Brigham gave up only one run in his three innings of work. Francisco Martinez in his debut with the Raptors followed with three innings of one hit ball. He was recently promoted from the Arizona League Dodgers along with Grant Holmes. Billy Bereszniewicz had the only multiple hit game for the Raptors and raised his batting average to .286.

Arizona League Dodgers
The Dodgers led 6-1 after four innings but slowly saw the lead evaporate and lost 7-6 to the AZL Athletics. Relievers MJ Villegas, Adrian Rivero and Carson Baranik all allowed runs to score with Baranik taking the loss. Outfielders Ariel Sandoval and Federico both had two hits. The Dodgers left nine runners on base. 

The Dominican Summer League Dodgers had the day off so at least they didn’t lose.