Down and out… again and again

The Los Angeles Dodgers can’t seem to get anything going their way. Their collective bats have been quiet since the start of the season and Chad Billingsley paid the price for it on Sunday.

Andre Either caught baseball’s eye with a 30-game hit streak through April into May and Matt Kemp was off to a hot start but he has cooled over the past couple of weeks. Even a two pitcher combined 1-hitter can’t get the Dodgers a win. Chad Billingsley pitched 8 innings of 1-hit ball (striking out 8) and Kenley Jansen closed out the 9^th without giving up a hit only to lose the game 1-0.

Arizona’s only run, an unearned run, was made possible by a Billingsley throwing error in the second inning. Stephen Drew led off the inning with a double. A called pick-off play on Drew at second was not covered by shortstop Jamey Carroll. Billingsley threw the ball into centerfield, allowing Drew to advance to third base. Melvin Mora then hit a sacrifice fly to score Drew.

This was the 4^th time the hapless Dodgers (19-21) have been shut out and the 17^th time they have scored 2 runs or less this season. It’s hard to see a ray of light for the Dodgers and the rest of their season. The NL West is weak this year, as it was last year, and none of the teams are separating themselves from the pack. I guess the one good thing for the Dodgers and their fans is the San Francisco Giants threw two 1-hitters while losing last season on their way to winning the World Series.

Chipper Jones still hurting.

When news broke that Chipper Jones had a tear in his right meniscus, I thought his season was finished… again. When Bobby Cox announced that he was retiring before the 2010 season began, this signaled the end of an era in Atlanta. Jones, the #1 overall first round pick by Atlanta in the 1990 draft, is the last holdover from Atlanta’s incredible run through the ‘90’s and 2000’s. Chipper said he did not want to play for another manager as Cox had been his skipper throughout his MLB career. The thought was both Jones and Cox would retire at the end of a winning 2010 season. Chipper tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during their “swan song” and the Braves failed to make the World Series. With unfinished business, the highly possible future Hall of Famer came back. The Braves have a wild-card worthy team this season and we all know that anything can happen in the post season. It would be nice to see Jones and the Braves end this era with a winner.

Just to clarify, I think Jones will be a Hall of Famer some day. The problem is he doesn’t have a milestone that jumps out at you or one that he is close to passing. To date he has 2,529 career hits, 440 homeruns, 1,518 RBIs, and a .305 career average. All of his numbers are great but nothing that makes him a first ballot guy. With 1 World Series ring as opposed to his contemporary, Derek Jeter’s 5 and Jeter gaining on 3,000 career hits, Jones should go down in the books as one of it not the best third baseman of his generation. Fortunately Jones will only be out a few more games and he can continue to add stats to his sure to be Hall of Fame career.

That was one heck of a homerun.

Kendrys Morales’ 2011 season was over before it started. Last May Morales broke his left ankle celebrating a walk-off grand slam against the Seattle Mariners. While celebrating his winning homerun, Morales jumped on home plate and the rest as they say is history. “The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Southern California not far off the I-5 interstate and close to Disney World but an hour away from Hollywood” have shut down Morales as he is to have arthoscopic surgery on his left ankle to clean up scar tissue. I hope this serves as a lesson to be learned for those that celebrate their accomplishments just a little bit too much.

On the line of celebrating just a little too much… how about the Miami Heat?

Much has been said about the 10 minute post game celebration the Heat players had after closing out the Boston Celtics in their semi-final matchup; either you like the Miami Heat or you don’t, there’s no in between with LeBron James anymore. If one didn’t know any better you would think the Heat had won the NBA Championship with their big displays of emotion, high fiving each other, and “barbaric yawps” to the crowd… nope, they just won the chance to get ran out of the building against the Chicago Bulls in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I guess LeBron and company knew their season was over when they were celebrating their win against the Celtics?

Just to clarify, I hope the Bulls sweep the Heat. I bet the Cleveland Cavalier fans were celebrating that victory harder than the Chicago Bulls fans.