Monday, April 23, 2007
Dodgers first baseman Olmedo Saenz lunges but misses a tag on Chris Duffy in the first inning yesterday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
LOS ANGELES -- The Pirates closed the doors to their Dodger Stadium clubhouse yesterday morning.
They did so again later in the afternoon.
And in between whatever happened within those walls, Tom Gorzelanny pitched six sound innings, Chris Duffy generated three runs with his speed, and Salomon Torres put down a late threat to fend off the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5.
That snapped the Pirates' four-game losing streak and -- dare anyone say it? -- kept their season from spiraling out of control.
As manager Jim Tracy put it, "It's a big one."
Freddy Sanchez reacts to an inside pitch in the sixth inning.
The sentiment seemed unanimous, even in the morning, which undoubtedly explains the meeting that took place two hours before the first pitch. It lasted nearly a half-hour and, by all accounts, Tracy, the coaches and players took turns speaking their minds in the aftermath of that 7-3 loss Saturday night in which a ninth-inning lead was thrown away.
The specifics of what gets said in such settings invariably stays there, but several players described the session as being as intense as it was helpful.
"We needed it," one veteran said. "To have guys stand up and remind us of what was on the line ... it makes a difference."
And how many such meetings, another player was asked, did the Pirates have last season?
"Zero."
Tracy would divulge only that his players had a clear carryover of emotion from the bitterness of Saturday.
"What I sensed in our clubhouse after that one was extreme disappointment," he said. "I really did. And I think that's a good thing because I didn't see that early last year."
The Pirates finished this trip 3-4 and flew home with a 7-10 record.
Had they lost this one, had they taken a five-game slide back to PNC Park, where they have lost all four games so far ...
"Don't even want to think about it," Duffy said. "Believe me: A lot of guys were really ticked off when they showed up here this morning. We knew what it meant."
No player was more demonstrative in that regard than Duffy, right from the start.
He beat out a sweet bunt single with the game's opening at-bat, stole second and took another base on catcher Russell Martin's errant throw, then scored on Freddy Sanchez's groundout.
He was the first up in the third, too, and lined a shot to right before stealing again. He took third base on a wild pitch, then scored on Jack Wilson's infield single.
In all, Duffy wound up with a fine leadoff line of 3 for 5 with three runs, raising his average to .292, his on-base percentage to a team-best .361.
Starter Tom Gorzelanny improved to 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA with yet another quality start of three runs and five hits in six innings.
"He set the tempo," Tracy said.
Los Angeles manager Grady Little shared that view.
"He's one of those guys who can really put pressure on a team," Little said.
Duffy had been unusually cautious in stealing, trying only two before yesterday while worrying about pitchers' timing, slide steps and the like.
"Basically, I got pretty frustrated with my running game and just threw all that out the window," he said. "I just ran."
He was not alone. Jose Bautista legged out two hustling doubles, including one that led to a run in the sixth.
The Pirates entered that inning with a 3-2 lead and, given the pattern established on this trip, that might have seemed like all the offense was going to muster.
But Adam LaRoche drove Brett Tomko's first-pitch fastball over the fence in left-center for his third home run, a solo shot. Bautista followed with a laser into center field and, seeing that it went to weak-armed Juan Pierre, took the extra base. Nate McLouth's single brought him home, and the Pirates were ahead, 5-2.
Still, there was little room to breathe, as Olmedo Saenz homered against Gorzelanny in the bottom half to make the score 5-3.
Gorzelanny was done after that inning and would improve to 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA with yet another quality start of three runs and five hits in six innings.
Can he keep it up?
"I hope so," he said. "I'm just going to battle, compete and keep us in the game."
The battle was just beginning, even after Jason Bay's two-run double in the seventh put the Pirates ahead, 7-3.
A Sanchez misplay at second base in the eighth -- a Pierre liner skipped off his glove -- was generously ruled a single, and it led to two runs against relievers Shawn Chacon and Matt Capps. Damaso Marte came on for the final out, his 94-mph fastball drawing a meek groundout from pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson and stranding two.
Another miscue opened Torres' ninth, McLouth twisting, turning and dropping Andre Ethier's fly ball at the track.
But Torres, tagged with a blown save Saturday when catcher Ronny Paulino committed two costly errors, bailed out his defense this time by sandwiching strikeouts of Rafael Furcal and Saenz around a Pierre single, then getting Jeff Kent to bounce out off a 1-2 splitter.
"Our closer ... give him credit," Tracy said. "We haven't made things very easy for him, I can tell you that. And this man is still standing out there with his head held high."
Afterward, the clubhouse was closed an extra five minutes for another brief talk, this from Tracy.
"We should feel good," he said. "As I said to my players, the important thing now is that we're going home and we're going to build upon what we've done through 13 games on the road."
That would be a 7-6 record.
"We've got a nice nine-game homestand coming up, against all Central Division teams. We need to get busy."
(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.)
No comments:
Post a Comment