Dodgers Diaries

With Eric Stults giving the bullpen a day off on Saturday and a travel day resting everyone on Monday, Joe Torre managed Sunday’s game like it was the 2002 All-Star Game, rushing to get every player some action. The Manny-less offense managed to squeak out four runs against Cy Young laureate Tim Lincecum, or one more than they tallied two weeks earlier when Manny was in the lineup. For five innings, Dude Weaver actually outdueled Dude Lincecum, giving the Dodgers a 4-2 lead in the sixth.

But then came the parade of relievers. Ramon Troncoso relieved Weaver after the starter gave up a double, and got Aaron Rowand to strike out. He then gave up a ground ball, something he’s intending to do, to Emmanuel Burris. It wasn’t a hard hit grounder, but it found enough of a hole to score Randy Winn. With the light-hitting Travis Ishikawa and Lincecum to follow, Troncoso had an easy road ahead. But instead, Torre brought in Will Ohman. Ohman did a decent job, despite walking the pitcher. But Troncoso was burned for the day, as was Ohman.

Ronald Belisario pitched a perfect seventh, but gave up a hit to lead off the eighth. Instead of bringing in his closer, Torre went to Cory Wade, who allowed the tying run to score before retiring the side. Not content to use four relievers in a tie game, Torre went straight to Jonathan Broxton for the ninth, and had to use him again in the 10th. When the 11th rolled around, he had nobody left but James McDonald, Guillermo Mota and Brent Leach.

McDonald got three outs in the 11th. But Mota faltered in the 12th, allowing a run on yet another bases-loaded sac fly. Casey Blake’s homer in the bottom half got him off the hook, but he gave the lead back for good with two more runs in the 13th.

The media will point to this game as the Dodgers’ third loss against one win in the post Ramirez era. I prefer to focus on a 7-3 homestand that gives the Dodgers the best record in baseball. Still, steroids played a role in Sunday’s dismaying loss, though not in the way you think.

The Dodgers lost this game because they had to trust the very bottom of their bullpen. As recently as 2004, Mota was an eighth-inning standout, pitching to a 2.14 ERA while setting up for Eric Gagne. After the Dodgers traded him in 2004, he was never the same, posting ERAs over 4.11 every year except 2006, when he gave up all of two runs in 18 innings. That was the same year he was suspended for 50 games for using performance-enhancing drugs, the very same punishment Manny recently received.

The Dodgers entrusted Sunday’s game to a guy they have no business trusting or trusting in. How good a pitcher is Guillermo Mota? We have no idea, because we don’t know which Mota we’re getting: the guy on steroids, or the guy off.

How is this any different than Manny? Which Manny will return to the Dodgers in July? The Manny who hit an astronomical .396 for Los Angeles in 2008, or the guy who hit a mere mortal .296 for the Red Sox in 2007? The guy coming off steroids, or the guy going back on them to prove that he had not lost a little off the top in Boston?

We don’t know when Manny started using performance enhancing drugs, when he stopped, or for that matter, whether he truly used them at all. Maybe he really is a woman who needs help conceiving, but I think I’ll choose more likely explanations first.

What we do know is you can’t trust guys who cheat. The Dodgers don’t seem to mind employing known steroid users (see Bennett, Gary). Why they continue to put their trust (and their millions) in men who admit that they are frauds is beyond me. --- John Rosenthal.