Dodgers Diaries

In what Dodger fans hope isn’t a harbinger of a long summer, the team looked awful in its road opener against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. The offense couldn’t have dialed up a better first inning, scoring two quick runs on a Russell Martin walk, an Andre Ethier double and a Matt Kemp run-scoring single.

But the lead didn’t last long — the Pirates tied it in the bottom half on the first of Garrett Jones’s two home runs. Starter Vicente Padilla calmed down after Jones’s second homer, but lost it completely in the fifth. The bullpen wasn’t much better, as Ramon Ortiz gave up a bases-loaded double, and George Sherrill let the air out of the game after the Dodgers clawed back to 8-5.

As disconcerting as the pitching were some of the mistakes. Russell Martin double-clutched a simple sacrifice bunt and failed to get anybody out (the woeful Pirates did Los Angeles a favor by failing to score with the bases loaded and nobody out); Casey Blake made an unaccustomed error, and Martin made a baserunning mistake by getting doubled off second base on a grounder. None of these boners cost the team any runs, but they indicated a squad that didn’t look ready for the real games to start.

I’m not ready to throw in the towel after one awful game, but I hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL