Nolan Arenado hit a pair of home runs, and Trevor Story added another, as the Rockies held off a late Dodger rally to win 4-3 at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night.
The Dodgers tried to rally in the 9th inning, but came up short. Justin Turner had an RBI single, scoring Chase Utley. Yasmani Grandal had a run-scoring single as well to pull the Dodgers within 1. However, Adrian Gonzales grounded out to short to end the game with runners at 1st and 2nd.
Despite giving up the two runs in the 9th, Greg Holland earned his 4th save. Chris Ruslin earned the win in relief for the Rockies. Kyle Freeland went 4 innings for Colorado, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run on 87 pitches. Hyun-Jin Ryu took the loss for LA, falling to 0-3 on the season. Ryu gave up 4 runs on 6 hits, in his 6 innings of work.
Arenado got the Rockies off to a strong start in the 1st inning with a 2-run shot to left field. Story connected on a solo blast in the 4th. Joc Pederson put the Dodgers on the board in the 4th, reaching on an infield single which scored Kike Hernandez.
However, Arenado and the Rockies answered in the 5th again, after he put another ball into the Pavilion.
The boys in blue fell to 7-8 on the season, and are 3 games back of the 1st place Rockies in the NL West.
The Dodgers are back at it tomorrow in the 2nd game of the series. Clayton Kershaw will be on the hill for LA, and the Rockies will counter with Tyler Anderson.
The Angels snapped a 6-game losing skid on Tuesday night against the Astros with a 5-2 victory. Albert Pujols hit a tie-breaking 3-run homer in the 5th inning to help secure the victory.
Ricky Nolasco pitched 6 strong innings for the Halos, giving up just 2 runs on 8 hits, and striking out 3. He improved to 1-2 on the season. Cam Bedrosian pitched the 9th to earn his 3rd save of the season.
The Angels jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Andrelton Simmons hit a solo homer in the 2nd inning off of Astros starter’ Joe Musgrove. The homer snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak for the Angels.
The Astros came back in the 3rd with a pair of solo homers. One of them came from Yuli Gurriel and the other from George Springer. Those were the only two runs Nolasco allowed in his 103-pitch performance.
Mike Trout put the Angels back in front in the 5th with an RBI double, which made it 3-2. Pujols was the next batter, and he delivered the decisive blow with homer.
“We have a lot of confidence in our offense,” skipper Mike Scioscia said. “I don’t think anyone was doubting that we would get back on track. But the sooner the better, and we did a good job in the fifth inning.”
Musgrove took the loss, and fell to 1-1 on the season. He gave up all 5 runs on 8 hits, in 5 innings of work.
“We turned the page on last night and got a win,” Trout said. “You can always look at the negatives, but this team looks at the positives. … It’s a good win. Just go and build on this momentum for tomorrow.”
The Angels will be back at it tomorrow in game 3 of the 4 game set. JC Ramirez will be on the mound for the Angels, and Dallas Keuchel will go for the Astros.
Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal 1:30 into overtime, and the Ducks rallied from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Flames 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday night in game 3 of their 1st round series. The victory game the Ducks a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, and put them one game away from the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Perry shot the puck from the right wing boards, which deflected off of Flames’ goalie Brian Elliott, then off of defenseman Michael Stone, and into the net. It was Perry’s first playoff goal since Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals.
The Ducks tied the game at 4-4 with a little over 4 minutes left in the 3rd period. Shea Theodore sent a wrist shot toward Elliott with traffic in front of the net, which got by the the Flames netminder, who had to battle traffic in front of the net on the play. It was his 2nd goal of the game.
Anaheim trailed 4-2 heading into the 3rd period, but Nate Thompson pulled the Ducks within 1 at the 11:14 mark of the 3rd. Thompson tipped in a shot, which had to be reviewed by the referees to insure that he didn’t knock the puck out of the air with a high stick.
Theodore started the Ducks rally with under a minute left in the 2nd period. His wrist shot from the left circle beat Elliott to the glove side.
The Flames built their 4-1 lead on goals by Sean Monahan, Kris Versteeg, Michael Stone, and Sam Bennett. Monahan and Versteeg’s goals came on the power play, 7 minutes apart to give the Flames an early 2 goal lead. Nick Ritchie got the Ducks on the board at 15:33 of the 1st period, to cut the lead to 2-1 after the 1st period.
After Bennett’s power play goal in the 2nd period, the Ducks pulled John Gibson, and replaced him with Jonathan Bernier. Gibson made 12 saves, while facing 16 shots. Bernier stopped all 16 shots that he faced for Anaheim.
The win was the largest playoff comeback for Anaheim in franchise history. The Ducks will go for the sweep on Wednesday night in Calgary.
Jake Lamb hit a solo homer in the 8th inning, and David Peralta added an RBI triple in the 9th, as the D’Backs beat the Dodgers 4-2 at the Ravine on Monday night. Both teams split the four-game set with two wins apiece.
The Dodgers had a 2-0 lead in this one after a 2nd inning sacrifice fly from Logan Forsythe, and a solo homer from Enrique Hernandez in the 4th inning. That was all the offense that LA could generate against Robbie Ray. The Arizona lefty went six innings for the Diamondbacks, allowing the two runs on three hits and four walks, while striking out 10.
Brandon McCarthy started for the Dodgers, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks in five innings. He struck out eight. Neither starting pitcher got a decision.
J.J. Hoover got the win for the D’Backs and Fernando Rodney earned his 5th save of the season. Chris Hatcher took the loss for LA.
Arizona tied the score at 2-2 in the 5th inning, when A.J. Pollock and David Peralta had back-to-back RBI singles.
The bullpen has been very reliable for LA, but unfortunately on this night this they were unable to hold down the opposition.
“They’ve been great,” skipper Dave Roberts said of his bullpen which has thrown 49-1/3 innings already this season (among the most in the majors). “Lamb’s an aggressive hitter. Hatch tried to stuff it in there, but it just leaked back over the plate.
The Dodgers will now begin a short series with the Rockies on Tuesday night at Dodgers Stadium. Hyun-Jin Ryu will get the ball for the Dodgers, and the Rockies will go with Kyle Freeland.
Just when the Angels pitching starts to get a little better, their offense goes into the tank. The Halos were shutout in Houston on Monday night by a score of 3-0. It was their 6th straight loss, and the Angels haven’t scored a run in their last 20 innings.
Charlie Morton and three Houston relievers combined to throw a 5-hitter. Jose Altuve drove in two runs for the Astros as well.
Jesse Chavez pitched 7 innings for the Angels, giving up only two runs on 7 hits, but he took the loss. Yusmeiro Petit pitched the 8th inning, and gave up Altuve’s RBI double, which extended the lead to 3-0.
Altuve also had a sac fly in the 3rd inning, while Alex Bregman got the Astros on the board in the 1st inning with an RBI single.
In their last twenty innings, the Angels have generated only seven singles. In their last 46 innings, they have mustered two extra-base hits.
“It’s not ideal,” first baseman C.J. Cron said. “We haven’t been hitting like we should, like we know we can.”
The Angels also played without Albert Pujols, who decided, along with Mike Scioscia, that Monday would be a rest day.
“I think we had a bunch of good at-bats, at times, and then a couple that obviously we didn’t get it done in,” Scioscia said. “I thought we hit the ball hard a couple times with guys in scoring position. We worked some counts, had [Morton’s] pitch count up. We just left a lot of guys on base early in the game.”
The Angels and Astros will get back it tomorrow in the second game of the series. Ricky Nolasco gets the ball for the Halos, and he’ll go up against Mike Fiers.
Wasn’t this postseason supposed to be different for the Clippers? I know we said that last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that. But we really meant it this year. 18 seconds into Saturday night’s game, this series should have been over, after the Jazz lost Rudy Gobert to a knee injury. Somehow, it was like the series was just getting started. The Jazz are making this series more physical than a flight on United Airlines, and the Clippers are in for a serious challenge. You know it’s playoff time when the Clipper bench is getting destroyed by their opponents. It’s like an annual curse that has returned once again. This is going to be a long series.
Then there’s the Lakers, whose season has mercifully come to an end. As bad as it was, 26 wins is a lot better than 17 from a year ago. Had they stayed healthy in December, it might have been well over 30. The real question though is whether or not Magic and Rob Pelinka are going to keep a bunch of 20 and 21 year-olds and let them grow together, or are bunch of them are going to be traded for a veteran star or two? I don’t get the sense that these two gentleman came to run the Lakers to wait 5 years to hope the team is competitive again. I also don’t get the feeling that Jeanie Buss hired them to wait that long as well. It’s tough to sign a star player if you don’t already have one here, so be prepared for the Lakers to be in some blockbuster trade discussions.
The NBA Playoffs started Saturday. That special time of year with slam dunks, tough defensive battles, and nonstop flopping! It’s also that special time of year when Draymond Green really steps up efforts kicking opponents in the junk. The Raptors took a a game 1 loss. In other news Canada is cold and they love maple syrup. Brad Stevens should call Bill Belichick for some tips on how to cheat to win playoff games. The Grizzlies took a senseless beating from the Spurs in game 1. Who knew ESPN could show violence like that? The Cavs were fortunate to win game 1 against the Pacers, but I still don’t think they are going to have any problem getting to the finals. I also don’t think the Warriors are going to have a problem winning them.
The Dodgers have taken their problems hitting left-handed pitching to a whole new level. After two weeks they are hitting just .226 against left-handers. It’s like Andrew Friedman asked himself how it was possible to make the team worse at hitting lefties than last season. It’s become so bad that teams are now starting left-handers that have now business being in the big leagues against the boys in blue. To make matters worse, it feels like they can only beat crummy NL West teams, and that they aren’t really that good. I don’t know why I’m acting surprised. The only bright spot is that Yasiel Puig appears to have remembered how to play baseball again.
Then there’s the Angels who’s season is starting to fall apart two weeks in. The team finally got a couple of reasonable pitching performances over the weekend, and they still managed to get swept by the Royals. Mat Shoemaker and Tyler Skaggs aren’t going to pitch like that consistently. It’s as though the team has a collection of #4 starters in their rotation. There’s no point in having great defense when your pitchers can’t keep the ball in the ballpark. Were in not for two miracle comebacks, you would realize a lot faster that the Angels just aren’t very good.
If the Anaheim Ducks can’t win the Stanley Cup this year, I’m not sure they ever will again. The Blackhawks and Sharks could be eliminated shortly, leaving a bunch of inexperienced and less talented opponents for the Ducks to take advantage of. It also helps to be playing a Calgary Flames team that hasn’t won in Anaheim in 29 tries. You can’t have any bigger psychological edge that that. Plus when goals like this happen, it makes you think that you are just a team of destiny…..
Then there’s the LA Kings, who cleaned house last week by firing coach Darryl Sutter, and GM Dean Lombardi. This just goes to show you how brutal sports are. Lombardi and Sutter won two Stanley Cups in four years, and went to a a conference finals as well. Although they missed the playoffs in two of the past three seasons, they are easily the most successful coach and GM in franchise history. Still, the fact that they were fired shows how dedicated the Kings are to winning, and the kind of expectations ownership has for the franchise. For the time being though, they will be dedicated to sitting on their couch for the next 3 months watching the playoffs.
The hot rumor around LA is that the Rams could hire Peyton Manning to run their front office. My only question here is what is taking so long for this to happen? Manning adds instant credibility to a team who appears to have given up their credibility for Lent. The Rams trade for Jared Goff was more of a headline grabbing move, as opposed to a sensible football move. Manning would bring far more of that sensibility to the organization.
Finally, Better Call Saul is back on AMC. The season 3 premier was last Monday, and it’s a great show. However, as great as it is, it’s no Breaking Bad, and nor will it ever will be. Most of the excitement that is generated by the show is from all the connections to Breaking Bad, which many fans of both shows pick up. For instance, most people are just excited by the fact that Gus Fring is going to play a major role in this season, since he played a huge role in Breaking Bad. I still don’t understand however, why they can’t figure out what to do with Rhea Seehorn. Her character just isn’t very interesting on the show compared to everyone else around her. Don’t get me wrong….it’s a great show, but at the end of the day, it’s always going to leave you wanting more from it.
Rich Hill had more trouble with the blister on his finger while Taijuan Walker pitched 5 solid innings for Arizona, as the D’Backs beat the Dodgers 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Ravine.
Hill came off the 10-day disabled list on Sunday, after missing some time with a blister on his left middle finger. However, he re-aggravated the blister after making 54 pitches. The Dodger left-hander departed after just three innings of work.
The D’Backs got a solo homer from Chris Ianetta in the 3rd inning, followed by a based loaded walk to Jake Lamb, which gave them a 2-0 lead.
The Dodgers got on the board in the 4th inning with an RBI double from Yasiel Puig, which scored Yasmani Grandal.
However, Sergio Romo gave up an RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt in the 7th, which made it 3-1. That gave the D’Backs all the offense they would need on this day to hold on for the win.
Walker picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the season. He struck out 7, while allowing just a single run on four hits and a walk. Fernando Rodney pitched the 9th inning for Arizona to get his 4th save.
Hill took the loss. He gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits in his brief three innings of work. He was visibly frustrated after the 3rd inning and went straight to the clubhouse. He returned for the start of the 4th inning, but skipper Dave Roberts and the LA trainer met him on the mound before he threw another pitch. That’s when he was pulled from the game.
Logan Forsythe did not start for the Dodgers, but he was available to pinch-hit. After aggravating his right hamstring on Saturday night, he is expected back in the lineup on Monday.
The final game of the four game set will be on Monday evening. Brandon McCarthy will go for LA, while the Diamondbacks will counter with Robbie Ray.
The Royals completed a 3-game sweep of the Angels on Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 victory at Kauffman Stadium. Alcides Escobar hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th inning for the dramatic walk off victory.
Both teams received excellent starting pitching in this contest. The Royals got 8 shutout innings from Ian Kennedy, who yielded just 2 hits in 8 innings of work. Kelvin Herrera pitched the 9th inning for Kansas City to earn the victory.
Tyler Skaggs also pitched well for the Angels. He pitched 7 shutout innings, giving up only 4 hits, while striking out 9 before departing. Jose Alvarez pitched a scoreless 8th inning, but Blake Parker ran into trouble in the 9th.
Parker gave up a leadoff single to Salvador Perez, and then allowed pinch runner Raul Mondesi to steal second. Mondesi then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Mike Moustakas came to the plate as a pinch hitter and walked, and that was all for Parker. Cam Bedrosian came in after that.
After Bedrosian got Paulo Orlando to foul out, Escobar followed with the game-winning hit. Parker was charged with the earned run, and ultimately the loss.
“Just tried to make the perfect pitch,” said Parker. It was a tough weekend for the Angels but they have to be encouraged by the effort Skaggs gave.
“The first two innings, I was feeling for it,” Skaggs said. “But you need to keep attacking hitters. Today, I attacked the hitters, and I kept them off balance.”
The Angels are now off to Houston for a four-game set against the Astros beginning on Monday night. It will be Jesse Chavez going for the Halos in game 1, with Joe Musgrove on the hill for the Astros.
Joe Johnson hit a game-winning runner that bounced into the hoop to give the Utah Jazz a 97-95 victory over the Clippers in Game 1 of their 1st round series at Staples Center on Saturday night. Utah has a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.
“I just wanted to get as close as I could to the basket, and it was a good thing it went down,” Johnson said.
Johnson scored 21 points on the night off the bench to lead the Jazz. The Clippers were led by Blake Griffin, who scored 26 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. Chris Paul had 25 points, 11 assists, and 7 rebounds.
Paul banked in a floater with 13 seconds left in the 4th quarter to tie the game at 95-95. The Jazz didn’t call a timeout, and went the other way with a chance to win the game. The left Johnson isolated against Jamal Crawford, who drove the lane for the game-winner.
“We’ve got to be better,” Paul said. “They played harder, they were more physical.”
The Jazz lost starting center Rudy Gobert just 18 seconds into the game, when he bumped knees with Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Gobert left the game after being helped into the locker room. The good news for the Jazz is that an MRI exam showed no structural damage to the knee, and Gobert was diagnosed with a hyperextension.
Utah outscored the Clippers 16-10 to open the third, before Crawford’s jumper put the Clips ahead 70-69. Gordon Hayward, who finished the game with 19 points, scored 6 straight points to give the Jazz a 74-70 lead heading into the 4th quarter.
In the first half neither team led by more than 6 points. The Jazz went on a 14-2 run in the 2nd quarter to take their own 6-point lead. However, the Clips answered with a 14-8 spurt of their own.
The real difference in the game was the benches. The Clippers got just 20 points from their bench, and only 8 from Jamal Crawford. The Jazz on the other hand, received 46 points from their reserves.
Now the Clips will have to fight to regain home court advantage. “We fought until the end of the year to get it, and now we’ve given it right back,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.
Game 2 will be on Tuesday night at Staples Center, where the Clips will try to even the series before heading to Utah.
Ryan Getzlaf scored the game-winning goal on a bizarre bounce off a Calgary Flames defenseman, and the The Ducks defeated the Flames 3-2 on Saturday night at the Honda Center. The win gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead in their best of seven first round playoff series.
Getzlaf’s tie-breaking power play goal came with 4:46 left in the 3rd period, when his centering pass deflected off of Lance Bouma’s skate, arched high in the air, and past Brian Elliott. It was the Duck captain’s 2nd goal of the series.
Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell scored 1st period goals for the Ducks and John Gibson made 35 saves for Anaheim. It was the Ducks 29th consecutive victory in Anaheim against Calgary. It is the longest such streak in NHL history.
The Flames received goals from Mikael Backlund short-handed, and Sean Monahan on the power play.
Anaheim had a 2-0 lead in the 1st period, but the Flames would fight back to tie the game. Getzlaf acknowledged the rally Calgary put together before he scored the winner.
“They came out in the second period with the attitude that they were going to push us and play. They did a great job,” Getzlaf said.
The series now heads back to Calgary for games 3 and 4. Game 3 is on Monday night. Jakob Silfverberg says you have to expect that lucky bounces, like the one Anaheim got in the 3rd period, will just be a part of what’s ahead.
“That’s playoff hockey for you,” he said. “That’s usually what it comes down to. You can have lucky bounces but you’ve got to make sure you’re on the right side of those lucky bounces, and so far we’ve been on the right side on it.”
