James Loney swings into action for Dodgers in 7-0 win over Cubs
The Dodgers went laughing Sunday into the All-Star break
Seeing a group of reporters huddled around James Loney after the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, Casey Blake shouted to him, “James, how good are you?”
When Loney pretended not to hear him, Blake tried again.
“Seriously, though,” Blake called out.
Still, nothing.
When the crowd around him dispersed, Loney finally responded.
“Casey Blake, go take a shower,” he said.
Blake laughed. Loney laughed.
Maybe the Dodgers were better than their 49-39 record would indicate, as Manager Joe Torre claimed.
But they appeared comfortable with where they stood. Behind Loney’s three-run home run and Vicente Padilla’s eight scoreless innings, the Dodgers went into their midsummer three-day vacation tied for second place in the National League West with Colorado, two games behind division-leading San Diego.
“I think [10 games over .500] is satisfactory because we had to deal with a lot of injuries,” Torre said.
Andre Ethier was leading the league in all three triple-crown categories when he was sidelined because of a fractured pinkie in mid-May. Manny Ramirez has been on the disabled list twice. Rafael Furcal sat out three weeks because of a hamstring problem. Padilla was out for nearly two months. Chad Billingsley landed on the disabled list for the first time in his career.
Everything considered, Ethier said he liked the Dodgers’ chances of winning their third consecutive division title.
“We’re typically a team that’s able, in the second half, to really lock things down and figure out what it’s going to take to win our division,” Ethier said. “There’s a lot less room for error, but, at the same time, there’s a lot less bigger of a picture you have to look at.”
Ethier will be one of four Dodgers at the All-Star game in Anaheim on Tuesday, the others being closer Jonathan Broxton, shortstop Rafael Furcal and setup man Hong-Chih Kuo.
But it was the often overlooked Loney who knocked in the Dodgers’ first runs of the game Sunday, hitting a three-run home run against Carlos Silva in the first inning.
Loney also drove in a run in a three-run second inning that increased the Dodgers’ lead to 6-0. Loney’s disputed infield hit resulted in more than his team-leading 63rd run batted in, as Silva was thrown out of the game for arguing that first baseman Xavier Nady had beaten Loney to the bag.
Padilla did the rest.
Padilla no-hit the Cubs through five innings and held them to two hits and a walk over eight.
Padilla also appeared to settle an old score by drilling Marlon Byrd in the back in the seventh inning.
Byrd was Padilla’s teammate in Philadelphia and Texas. When Padilla was released by Texas last year, Byrd publicly applauded the move.
Byrd sounded as if he believed Padilla threw at him on purpose.
“When a guy’s throwing a two-hit shutout and he’s pinpoint all day long and you get drilled by a four seamer, you have to question it sometimes,” Byrd said.
Byrd later called rookie Andrew Cashner, who hit Blake DeWitt with a pitch the next inning in an apparent act of retaliation, “a great teammate.”
Padilla denied throwing at Byrd because of what he said about him.
Reminded that he talked last year about what Byrd and other former Rangers teammates had said about him, Padilla said, “I don’t read what you guys write.”
He laughed.
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