April 22nd, 2015 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It was just one of those days. Just one of those games. Just one of the one-third.
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.” Tommy Lasorda
One-third of what, you ask?
Just one of the one-third of the games that every team loses every season – that according to Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda.
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”
If what Lasorda says is true, and history is certainly on his side, the Dodgers still have a minimum of 50 more games to lose – this based on the fact that one-third of a 162-game season is exactly 54 games. On the other side of that coin, the Dodgers are already 16.66% of the way to those 54 wins, so they’ve got that going for them.
“It’s the other third that makes the difference.”
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
It’s hard to put your finger on what went wrong, but Tuesday night’s game against the defending World Series Champion Giants just felt… icky. Something just wasn’t right with the team that saw its longest winning streak since August 7-17, 2013 snapped by the team currently in last place in the NL West.
Perhaps it was the cold and miserable weather, or the biting wind, or whatever, but the Dodgers just looked flat on Tuesday night. Oh sure, you had Yasiel Puig go 2 for 2 with a double and Alex Guerrero collect another pinch-hit RBI with his two-out double in the fifth inning to drive in Juan Uribe, but other than that, not much else went the Dodgers way. They hit into three double plays, were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven men on base – including leaving runners at second and third twice.
Alex Guerrero is now 6 for 15 with two home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs in the seven games in which he has appeared this season. (Photo credit – Christian Petersen)
Dodgers starting pitcher Brett Anderson pitched four innings and got into trouble in every one of them. He did not have a clean inning even once and gave up four earned runs on nine hits while striking out only one; but hey, at least he didn’t walk anybody, so there’s that. And aside from a two-run home run allowed by Pedro Baez to Giants right fielder Justin Maxwell in the eighth inning, the Dodgers bullpen was once again very effective – with Juan Nicasio, Adam Liberatore and Paco Rodriguez pitching 1.1, 1.1 and 0.2 scoreless innings respectively.
The bottom line is that the eventual 6-2 loss is nothing more than one of those one-third that lands in the loss column and today is another day. And to add another ray of sunshine on what figures to be another otherwise gloomy day at AT&T Park is that Clayton Kershaw will be on the mound for the Dodgers – and you gotta love that.
Play ball!
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Why did the Giants finally play like World Champions when they faced the Dodgers last night, after looking like crap in their first 14 games?
Well Clayton better have a strong performance against Bungarner tonight before the Giants turn this thing around and get back in the race.
I think Vin Scully addressed this question best last night when he said (and I’m paraphrasing) that regardless of how poorly the Giants have played, the intensity of the Dodgers/Giants rivalry – dating back to their New York days – has a way of firing them up. Vin also said that a successful series against the Dodgers would get Bruce Bochy’s team right back into this thing.
It’s a 162-game season, Joe. Don’t expect the first two weeks of the new season to dictate what the final two weeks of the season will look like. If you do, you better find another sport to follow because it will never be as easy as you hope and wish it to be.
That’s exactly what I was thinking when I said that. Playing the Dodgers the Giants could very easily feel the momentum to turn it around. They must’ve felt great turning 4 DP’s in 6 innings.
Don’t worry about me. I’ve been going through these things for nearly 70 years. I’ll survive.
I felt those DP really killed them and Rollins just missed hitting a 3 run HR which could have change the outcome of the game. In the end I think the best reason for the loss is as you said, “Just one of the ‘one-third.’”