Lots to talk about tonight.

No-more No-mar.  You were once great, but I hail the inevitable end to the Dodger’s case of $9 million-a-year-utility-infielderitis.  Combine this salary with Brad Penny’s and you pay for Manny Ramirez’s salary, so it better happen.

Tonight Joe Torre showed no evidence of his sometimes-questionable pitching changes. NOT!  Scott Elbert may eventually be a great pitcher, but can we end the experiment during the pennant race?  Why do you pull a guy with 3 strikeouts in 1.2 innings so you can pitch a rookie that does nothing but get shelled?  I’ve seen this guy in one game where he didn’t get rocked.  You can expect only so much from a rookie, great, I don’t expect much from Scott Elbert.  Elbert is a lefty, and Joe pulled Scott Proctor, who is right handed, because the next batter up was a lefty.  I understand the reasoning for not wanting a right-hander out there, but man, take into consideration who you’re putting in.  This is like giving Andruw Jones 200 at-bats during the season despite the fact that he NEVER improved.  It’s like Joe doesn’t know when to give up on a guy.  There are only 10 games left in the season, and Arizona is only 3 1/2 games back.  For god’s sake, give up on this guy already.

So this 15-8 loss to the Pirates is a bad omen for more than obvious reasons.  I give the guys credit for continuing to fight on offense during the last two innings.  The errors in the 7th were tough to swallow, however.  In a one inning implosion, the Dodgers went from looking like a playoff-bound team, to a late night showing of The Bad News Bears on TBS.  These were fundamental mistakes. 
Angel Berroa, despite being under a looper to left, lets Manny come streaking in from left to blow it with one of his stupid basket catches. You’re not even allowed to get away with those in little league without getting yelled at by the coach.  The guy can hit like no one’s business, but he isn’t taking fielding real seriously, so why would you ever DREAM of deferring to him on a fly ball?
James Loney got charged with an error on his throw to first, covered by Ramon Troncoso.  If you ask me, it was Troncoso’s error.  The throw by Loney wasn’t the best in the world, but it was playable.  It was actually a really bad throw by Loney, especially since he had plenty of time to make it.  However, Troncoso closed his glove before the ball got to him, and it ricocheted off.  Pretty basic stuff, close your glove AFTER the ball is in it.
The bottom of the 7th was a real disaster and the Dodgers were their own worst enemy for that half inning.  Pittsburgh is awful, and if a half inning against them can wipe the Dodgers out, I would hate to see what happens against the Cubs.

There were bright spots during the game.  Matt Kemp and Russell Martin both hit well, and they’ve struggling lately.  Hopefully that will carry into the playoffs, assuming they make it.  We got to see James McDonald for the first time, and it was quite impressive.  I can see why he needs more time in the minors because his location was a little spotty, but the kid has some scary stuff.  He’s got a solid 93 mph heater, and a curve so wicked that the ump actually checked the ball for scuff marks.  What impressed me more though was his spooky change-up thing-pitch.  First off, his change was in the low 70′s.  You go from 93 to 73 and you’re going to make quite a few hitters look very foolish.  It reminded me of Mark Eichhorn, except his fastball was only about 85mph.  On top of that, MacDonald’s change appeared to dance around slightly, almost like a knuckleball.  I’m not sure if it was real, or just an illusion, but if I’m being fooled on tv, the hitter is probably being fooled as well.  Regardless, he pitched an inning with 2 strikeouts.  After a few somewhat wild fastballs and a lucky broken bat pop-up to the first batter, he seemed to reign things in a little.  The two guys that struck out looked pretty dumbfounded.