Fielder hitless, but Brewers top Dodgers
August 6, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP)—No postgame tirades from Prince Fielder(notes) on Wednesday night.The Milwaukee Brewers had only their first series win in over a month to enjoy.
The Brewers beat Los Angeles 4-1 behind Braden Looper’s(notes) outstanding effortand Fielder had a tying RBI groundout in the victory that helped them take theseries. Milwaukee had gone 0-6-2 since winning two of three from the New YorkMets.
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“It feels like six months,” manager Ken Macha said with a laugh. “I thinkthe biggest thing is that we came to the West Coast and got a split. To win twoout of three in L.A. against the team with the best record in the league shouldbe a confidence booster for us.”
Fielder was booed lustily by the crowd of 50,276 each time he came to bat,one night after his profanity-laced tirade was caught on camera by a news crew.He went 0 for 5, driving in the tying run with a fielder’s choice grounder inthe third, and stole a base.
“I’m on the road so you expect it,” Fielder said. “I was just trying towin the game. Their team is the Dodgers so I wouldn’t expect them to cheer forme anyway.”
Guillermo Mota(notes) had hit Fielder in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ 17-4victory, presumably as payback for Manny Ramirez(notes) getting grazed by a pitch byChris Smith(notes) two innings earlier. After the final out, Fielder made a beeline forthe Dodgers’ locker room and had to be escorted back to his clubhouse byteammates.
“Last night he was like a raging bull. But nothing happened, so there’s noreason to suspend him,” said teammate Ryan Braun, who drove in two runs withthe second of his two doubles.
“We kind of discussed the situation beforehand today, but we didn’t reallyexpect anything to happen,”’ Braun added. “Prince handled it great. He’sreally able to stay within himself. He was obviously very emotional and fired upyesterday, but he settled down and stayed within himself today.”
The final meeting of the season between the teams was played with aheavier-than-usual presence of security personnel stationed between bothclubhouses before and after the game. Usually there is one security guard infront of each door. This time, there were five on the Dodgers’ side and eight onthe visitors’ side.
Looper (10-5) allowed a run and four hits over 6 2-3 innings and struck outfour after giving up a leadoff homer in the first by Rafael Furcal(notes). In hisprevious two starts, the right-hander gave up 11 runs and 17 hits over 11innings.
Fans cheer Los Angeles Dodgers… AP – Aug 6, 1:28 am EDT
“His split was working good, and he controlled their bat speed,” Machasaid. “When he’s throwing the ball downhill like he did tonight, he’s extremelyeffective.”
Trevor Hoffman(notes) pitched a scoreless ninth for his record 579th career saveand 25th in 27 chances this season. The loss was the seventh in 11 games for theDodgers, who still own the best record in the majors at 66-42 and hold asix-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West.
Jason Schmidt(notes) (2-2) was charged with four runs, five hits and three walksover 3 2-3 innings in the fifth start of his comeback, after pitching sixinnings of one-hit ball in a 5-0 win at Atlanta last Friday.
“Schmidt wasn’t as sharp as he was last time,” manager Joe Torre said.“He didn’t have the same curveball. He didn’t look like he was locating the wayhe did in Atlanta. He’s scheduled for Monday, and we’ll go from there.”
The 36-year-old right-hander departed with a 2-1 deficit after hittingformer Dodger Craig Counsell(notes) in the right ankle with the bases loaded and twoouts, forcing in Frank Catalanotto(notes). Braun greeted James McDonald(notes) with histwo-run double.
Furcal, who came in 3 for 21 against Looper, drove his second pitch into thelower seats in the right-field corner for his 25th leadoff homer and 13th withLos Angeles. Looper has allowed nine home runs in his last six starts, includingfour against the Dodgers in a no-decision in July 10 at Milwaukee.
NOTES: Mota got the night off, following his 38-pitch effort on Tuesday.Ramirez didn’t start, but pinch hit in the seventh and grounded out to 2B as hisbat flew into the crowd. … Milwaukee stole three bases and have 39 stealsoverall, the lowest total in the majors. … Fielder and Braun are the mostproductive RBI tandem in the majors, driving in a combined 169 runs. Braun was 8for 14 with six RBIs in the series.
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