Dodgers win final game without Ramirez
July 1, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Manny Ramirez’s(notes) suspension didn’t slow down the Los AngelesDodgers.
The Dodgers played their 50th and final game without Ramirez, beating theColorado Rockies 1-0 Wednesday on pinch-hitter Rafael Furcal’s(notes) RBI single in theeighth inning. During Ramirez’s absence, the Dodgers went 29-21.
Ramirez was suspended for violating baseball’s drug policy on May 7. He iseligible to return for Friday night’s game at San Diego.
“It’s not until you lose somebody like Manny that you realize that there’sno safety net out there,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “I continue to talkabout how fortunate we’ve been with the number of close games we’ve won.”
The Dodgers’ sputtering offense has scored eight runs over the last fivegames.
“This ballclub feels pretty good about themselves,” Torre said. “I mean,they’re at a frustrated stage right now because we haven’t scored runs andthey’re fighting it a little bit. But they’ve played hard. As a team, we’vepretty much gotten a lot out of what we have.
Series at a Glance Colorado 2 LA Dodgers 4 Mon, Jun 29 – Final 13th Colorado 3 LA Dodgers 0 Tue, Jun 30 – Final Colorado 0 LA Dodgers 1 Wed, Jul 1 – Final
Center fielder Matt Kemp(notes) is excited for Ramirez’s return: “We get a greathitter back, somebody that can help us drive in some runs and get some thingsgoing.”
Torre doesn’t expect Ramirez to make an immediate impact after just fiveminor league rehab games.
“It’s still going to take him some time to settle in, but I think it’llhelp everybody else, too,” Torre said. “I’m going to get the same player back.I mean, I think his ability goes far beyond what caused the suspension. But it’sgoing to take some time for him to get in game shape and for him to getcomfortable.”
Juan Pierre(notes), who has started every game in left field during Manny’sabsence, will return to being a part-time player despite hitting .318 with 21RBIs, 31 runs scored, 15 walks and 21 stolen bases.
“Juan came in and did an excellent job. He’s an All-Star in my book,” Kempsaid. “If it wasn’t for what he’s done for our team, we wouldn’t be in thisposition right now.”
The defending NL West champions got off to a 21-8 start and had were on aseven-game winning streak with a 6 1/2 -game lead in the division when Ramirez wassuspended.
Los Angeles Dodgers relief pit… AP – Jul 1, 6:06 pm EDT
The Dodgers lost four of their next five, then went on a 12-3 run andincreased their division lead to a season-best 9 1/2 games with a 1-0 win againstArizona on June 3. They’ve leveled off since then, going 13-11, But stillentered Wednesday with a six-game lead over San Francisco.
“I’m not surprised by what they’ve done in his absence—not with theaddition of Orlando Hudson(notes) and what he’s meant to their infield defense, theprofessional they have at third base in Casey Blake(notes) and the kind of year thatAndre Ethier(notes) is having,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “They’re a verytalented team with a tremendous amount of athleticism, but the biggest thing hasbeen the improvement of their bullpen.”
Ramon Troncoso(notes) (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win andJonathan Broxton(notes) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 19th save for the Dodgers, whohave a major league-leading 17 wins by a one-run margin.
Brad Ausmus(notes) led off the eighth inning with a single against Rockies starterJason Hammel(notes) (5-4) and advanced on Juan Castro’s(notes) sacrifice. Russell Martin(notes) ranfor Ausmus and scored when Furcal stroked a single to right field on theright-hander’s 100th pitch while batting for Troncoso.
Colorado Rockies' Ryan Spi… AP – Jul 1, 6:01 pm EDT
Hammel pitched a career-high eight innings for his first complete game. Itcame in his 41st big league start. He allowed five hits and struck out five.
“One run can do it. That’s baseball. I made a good pitch,” said Hammel,who was 5-0 over his previous seven starts.
Clayton Kershaw(notes) allowed just one hit over five innings and threw 97 pitches.Kershaw struck out five and issued a season-high five walks.
Brad Hawpe’s(notes) two-out double in the first inning was Colorado’s only hituntil Ian Stewart(notes) doubled with two outs in the seventh against Ronald Belisario(notes).
NOTES: San Diego’s starting pitchers this weekend against the Dodgers willbe Chad Gaudin(notes), Josh Geer(notes) and Josh Banks(notes). Ramirez is 5 for 11 with a home runagainst Gaudin, and 2 for 3 with a homer against Geer. He has never faced Banksin the regular season. … Dodgers pitchers struck out 39 Colorado battersduring the three games.
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