L.A.'s Loney Lets Loose

World champ Burnett whacked, walloped out West

James Loney drove in four runs as the Dodgers dropped the visiting New York Yankees 9-4 on Saturday night. The L.A. first baseman collected his 51st RBI of the season a night after being tossed for arguing calls at the end of the game. The Dodgers delighted the crowd with seven runs through the first four innings off slumping starter, A.J. Burnett and reliever Boone Logan. Saturday was the third straight game the Yankees’ number two pitcher was knocked out after just four innings or fewer. Burnett is 6-7, and for the first time all year, under the .500 mark.
The Yankees’ offense got the ball rolling in their first licks. Birthday boy, 36 year old Derek Jeter, walked to lead off the game and reached second safely on a steal. Russell Martin’s throwing error at backstop allowed the captain to hustle into third before the Dodgers recorded an out. Mark Teixeira drilled his 13th homerun in the first innings. Teixeira’s three run blast came off Dodgers’ winning pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda. Burnett was handed a three run advantage before he even toed the L.A. rubber. The 33 year old couldn’t make the lead stand at Dodger Stadium. Joe Torre’s Dodgers got back a pair of runs off his former team in the bottom of the first frame. Manny Ramirez doubled to right field to drive in the first L.A. run before Loney’s sacrifice fly to left scored Andre Ethier from third base.
Back-to-back singles by Jeter and Curtis Granderson in the third inning set up another New York scoring opportunity. Alex Rodriguez grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Jeter and give the Bombers a 4-2 edge. Burnett was horrendously wild the rest of his stint and was pulled after three plus innings by manager, Joe Girardi. The Yankees’ tosser issued six walks, six hits and allowed six runs when all was said and done. The Dodgers did their damage in the third inning, posting three runs and punishing Burnett in his shortest outing of the season. Loney punched home a pair of runs on a base hit to right to tie the game. Ramirez scored the fifth L.A. tally on Martin’s groundout double play ball. Logan was summoned from the bullpen in the bottom of the fourth and promptly allowed a run on Casey Blake’s double.
Kuroda recovered long enough to get through the sixth inning unscathed. Kuroda gave up seven hits and fanned five for his seventh victory of the season. The Yankees didn’t score after the third inning as Kuroda and three relievers kept the Bombers off the scoreboard. Torre’s club stopped a four game losing streak but not before chipping in more runs off the Yankee bullpen. The Dodgers extended their lead to 9-4in the seventh on Rafael Furcal’s RBI single and a Matt Kemp extra-base hit. Both runs came off an underwhelming Chan Ho Park. Closer Jonathan Broxton recorded the final four outs for the Dodgers, including an eighth inning strikeout of Jeter to end the Yankees’ threat. Both teams play for the series win this evening when Andy Pettitte opposes Clayton Kershaw.

Parting Points: Sweet Sunday song- U2’s “The Sweetest Thing”

I would have liked to see Madison Bumgarner defeat the Red Sox in his 2010 debut.

Tough ouster for team USA. I guess you could say they are “GHAN-ERS!”