Hey.....Grrrrr!

Outside of two pitches, Charlie Haeger's first start in a Dodger uniform was enjoyable and impressive as he allowed three runs, on five hits, over the course of seven innings. Haeger kept his pitch count low (80 pitches in 7.0 IP), his strike percentage high (61-80, 76%), and dished out zero walks to a very talented Cardinal team. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the only stat that matters didn't come out in their favor, as they fell to the Cardinals 3-2.

Relying almost exclusively on the knuckleball (75 of the 80 pitches thrown were of that variety) Haeger earned himself the opportunity to fill a spot in the rotation should Hiroki Kuroda miss extended time. Even if Kuroda miraculously misses only a start or two it'd be nice to see more of Charlie Haeger, and less of Jeff Weaver, holding down the fifth spot for the coming weeks. Haeger's place in the rotation might be uncertain at the moment, but if the Dodgers were willing to give Jason Schmidt four cracks at it they owe it to themselves to see what this kid has.
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Quick venting here, and then it's bedtime...

Losing to Chris Carpenter wasn't frustrating. Prince Albert going deep wasn't frustrating. After all, those are things you expect to have happen to you when the players above are involved. But seriously, down by a run in the eighth inning why sacrifice Juan Pierre from first with zero outs? It's Juan Pierre standing at first, not Mark Loretta. Stealing bases is one of the few things Pierre does well. Granted he's not an automatic swipe, but at least give the guy a chance. And if you still felt like bunting, what's wrong with having a runner at third and one out? Then a fly ball ties it up.

Goodnight.

Photo courtesy of Matt Sayles