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| n singled in the ninth to extend his hitting str |
| LOS ANGELES -- By the time James Loney discovered what was wrong with his swing it was too late to help the Los Angeles Dodgers contend for a division title. Still, the six-year veteran first baseman has been making up for lost time in the last four weeks. Loney had five hits with three RBIs helping lead the Dodgers to a 15-1 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. "Every time you face adversity, youve got to pick yourself up and do the best you can," Loney said. "Ive learned a lot this year about hitting, and Im trying to get pitches to hit. "I just think my timing mechanism has been better. The main thing is being ready to hit and recognizing the pitches better. I just feel more in control and my confidence is a lot better. During the course of the year, youre supposed to hit certain pitches in certain areas, and I wasnt doing that early on. At times maybe I was trying too hard and swinging too hard." Loney didnt get his average above .250 until June 12, when he had three hits including a home run at Colorado. Since Aug. 21, he is batting .356 with six homers and 24 RBIs and has raised his season average to .283. "Im happy for him," teammate Matt Kemp said. "He struggled at the beginning of the season, but we all knew he had this in him. Hes got a great swing. He might not hit as many home runs as everybody thinks he should hit, but hes definitely a guy that can hit for average and drive in 100 runs." Loney recorded his first five-hit game, and Jerry Sands and Juan Rivera each drove in four runs. Sands had a homer among his four hits, leading a 23-hit attack against Brad Lincoln (1-3) and seven relievers who combined to throw 218 pitches. Kemp had three hits, including his 34th homer, and drove in two runs to increase his career-high total to 113. The Dodgers run total tied a season high and equalled the most the Pirates have allowed. "We were challenged dramatically over the weekend. They shut our offence down and they beat us up with the bats," said manager Clint Hurdle, whose staff hasnt had a 1-2-3 inning in the last two games. "Were not playing well, and were definitely not pitching. Were not getting the length we need out of our starters, which has compounded some things." After consecutive games in which starters Jeff Locke and James McDonald each pitched three innings and allowed a combined total of eight runs, Lincoln lasted only 1 1-3 innings and was charged with six runs on eight hits -- three of which were sharp singles through the box. "It was a hit parade today," Kemp said. "It was just one of those days where everybody was seeing the ball, getting good pitches to hit and putting good wood on it." Chad Billingsley (11-10) allowed a run and four hits over five innings and struck out five. The right-hander, pitching his final home game in the first year of a four-year contract that will pay him more than $41 million, was staked to an 11-0 lead through the first three innings and breezed to his first victory in eight starts since beating Arizona 7-4 on Aug. 5. "Ive been struggling with my arm slot and my mechanics a lot this year and havent been able to find a good rhythm," Billingsley said. "I had better off-speed stuff today, so Im just going to keep going with it." Lincoln, a 26-year-old left-hander, making his seventh start for the Pirates this season, gave up hits to five of his first seven batters and threw 33 pitches in the first as the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead. Dee Gordon led off with a triple and scored on Jamey Carrolls groundout. Kemp homered to centre field on the first pitch, and Sands capped the rally with an RBI single. The Dodgers increased the margin to 9-0 in the second. Kemp hit a two-out RBI single. Rivera chased Lincoln with another single, and Loney greeted Aaron Thompson with a drive just beyond the reach of centre-fielder Andrew McCutchen, scoring Kemp and Rivera. Two batters later, Sands hit a first-pitch homer into the left-field pavilion. Rivera made it 11-0 in the third with a two-run single against Chris Leroux, one of 18 pitchers the Pirates are carrying on their expanded roster. Two more runs scored on a routine flyball by Rivera that fell for a double between centre-fielder Alex Presley and right-fielder Xavier Paul, each of whom thought the other was going to catch it. The Pirates run came on Pauls RBI double in the fifth. The crowd of 37,802 on Fan Appreciation Day increased the Dodgers season total to 2,832,719 with three home dates left. They would have to sell out all three to reach 3 million with just 719 to spare. The last time the club failed to reach that figure in a non-strike season was 1982. Dodger Stadium has a seating capacity of 56,000, the largest in the majors. NOTES: The Dodgers had a season-high 25 hits in Billingsleys 15-0 win at Minnesota on June 27. ... Sunday marked the 34th anniversary of Hurdles first big league game, when he hit a two-run homer against Glenn Abbott in his second at-bat to help the Royals beat Seattle 8-5 at Kansas City. ... Clayton Kershaw opens the Dodgers three-game series against San Francisco on Tuesday night at Chavez Ravine, looking for his 20th victory -- and fourth this season against Tim Lincecum. Kershaw will attempt to become the first Dodgers pitcher to go 5-0 against the Giants in the same year since LHP Vic Lombardi did it in 1946. Shannon Sharpe Jersey . NHL senior vice-president of hockey operations Mike Murphy announced the decision in a statement on Thursday. "After reviewing the incident, including speaking with the on-ice officials, I can find no conclusive evidence that Alex Burrows intentionally bit the finger of Patrice Bergeron. John Elway Jersey . Caboclo, an 18-year-old Brazilian forward, is under contract through the 2015-16 season, with two team option years to follow. http://www.jerseyauthenticbroncosonline.com/super-bowl-xlix-brian-dawkins-jersey/. Off-Season Game Plan looks at the Coyotes, and what they might be able to do to get over the hump. The Coyotes have been able to ice a consistently competitive squad on a budget -- even missing the playoffs the past two seasons, their cumulative points percentage was . Jeff Heuerman Womens Jersey . With their second-round pick in Saturdays NHL draft at No. 36, the Canucks took the highest-ranked goalie on the board, Thatcher Demko, as new general manager Jim Benning begins the process of replenishing the organizations goaltending depth. Custom Broncos Jersey .C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes continued their solid play on their homestand by handing the Colorado Avalanche their first road loss of the season.LOS ANGELES -- Joe Saunders is going to be on the sidelines again when the surging Arizona Diamondbacks visit San Francisco with a chance to overtake the NL West leaders in a three-game series. The Giants will miss Saunders in the rotation, which is not a good thing for the Diamondbacks, who got another solid outing from the left-hander Sunday in a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Saunders came within four outs of his second straight complete game, helping Arizona win for the 10th time in 15 games. "Ive missed the Giants at AT&T Park every time Ive been there with the Angels and the Diamondbacks. Ive yet to pitch there. Its unbelievable," said Saunders, who made his big league debut in 2005. "Ive never even pitched there in an exhibition game. I know its a great atmosphere and the fans are really into the game, so hopefully one day I can finally have that experience. I heard its a pretty good pitchers park, too." Gerardo Parra homered twice and Ryan Roberts also went deep for the Diamondbacks. The victory, coupled with San Franciscos 9-0 loss at Cincinnati, helped Arizona climb within two games of first place. The Diamondbacks have lost seven of the first nine meetings this season, dropping all three games at AT&T Park in mid-May by one-one margins. "I think were a different team now and weve developed a lot of character," manager Kirk Gibson said. "This is what its all about, and guys love it. Itll probably be pretty exhaustive. But its not do-or-die, and I dont want guys to put pressure on themselves -- just continue to grit and grind. "We know its going to be different, playing in the Giants ballpark instead of ours, because of the sold-out crowd," Gibson added. "But we know what thats like, so were just going to have to keep our composure, as we have in every series, and not make too big of a deal of what the real situation is -- good or bad. We just have to keep an even keel, and however we come out of that series, well move on to the next one." Saunders (8-8) won his fifth straight road decision, allowing two runs and eight hits -- including four singles by Andre Ethier and a solo homer by Dioner Navarro. Saunders was 0-5 over his first nine outings with a 5.02 earned-run average. But he has balanced his books, after finishing July 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA in six starts. "It was a good month. It kind of makes up for the start I had," Saunders said. "I tried to get back to even-par the best I could, and now we can go on from here." Ryan Cook replaced Saunders after Ethier singled with two outs in the eighth, then gave up singles by Matt Kemp and Juan Rivera -- whose hit drove in Ethier with the Dodgers seccond run.dddddddddddd Los Angeles put two on in the ninth against David Hernandez. J.J. Putz came in with one out and gave up an RBI single to Tony Gwynn Jr. before getting the final two outs for his 24th save in 28 chances. Aaron Miles flied out and Ethier did the same while representing the potential tying run. "Hes not the guy you want to see up there with the game on the line," Putz said. "Hes a guy who can beat you with power when he needs to and he can hit the ball to all fields." The Dodgers, 10 games out of first place when July began, now sit 12 1/2 off the pace after going 12-13 during the month. "Everything is bad when youre not in first place and not contending," Kemp said. "Its not going too good right now. Our pitchers are doing a great job of keeping us in games, for the most part, but weve just got to start scoring some runs for them and get that timely hitting. Theres still two months left, so weve got some work to do." Rubby De La Rosa (4-5) matched Saunders pitch total with 103. But the rookie right-hander lasted only four innings, giving up three runs, five hits and four walks while striking out six. De La Rosa had allowed only four home runs over his nine previous big league starts before Roberts drove a 3-2 pitch into the lower seats in the left-field corner for his 15th of the season. Parra homered three pitches later for a 2-0 lead. The Diamondbacks, who came in leading the NL with 339 extra-base hits, added five more to their total. Parra added his seventh homer in the eighth with a runner on against Hong-Chih Kuo, giving him his first career two-homer game. "It was a big day for him," Gibson said. "When hes more selective and gets balls into his nitro zone, he can drive the ball. In spring training, he would try to force everything to the left side of the diamond. Now hes starting to understand what theyre trying to do to him and hes making them pay. The one off Kuo, I mean, we havent seen that since Ive been here." Parras second homer of the day was only the second allowed by Kuo in 22 appearances this season. But the left-hander, who missed 32 games because of an anxiety disorder before returning to the bullpen on June 19, has yielded eight runs in two innings over his last four appearances. Justin Upton singled in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, but his streak of 10 straight games with an extra-base hit ended. Notes: Ethier was the first left-handed hitter to get four hits in a game against Saunders since Oct. 2, 2010, when he also had four singles without an RBI in the Dodgers 3-2 win. ... Saunders was 0-4 with a 4.00 ERA over his previous six starts against the Dodgers. wholesale jerseys authentic wholesale jerseys store cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys china wholesale jerseys ' ' ' |
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posted on: 10/29/2015 08:11:38 AM
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