James Loney drives point home against Yankees
The run batted in has been denigrated by the sabermetric community. The RBI reflects opportunity more than ability, or so the argument goes.
The Dodgers’ management does not feel the same way.
James Loney drove in four runs to lead the Dodgers to a raucous 9-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday. Rafael Furcal had three hits, Manny Ramirez reached base four times, and the Dodgers delighted a sellout crowd by scoring seven runs in the first four innings.
Not that the suspense was over, at least not for Dodgers Manager Joe Torre. He deployed closer Jonathan Broxton in the eighth inning, in a non-save situation, with a five-run lead.
The Yankees had two on and two out, but Torre said he made his call out of respect for the next batter.
“ Derek Jeter was coming up,” Torre said. “The game can get crazy in a hurry, especially with that part of the lineup coming up. It was just something I felt I had to do.”
Broxton struck out Jeter to end the eighth, finished off the Yankees in the ninth and triggered a rousing chorus of “I Love L.A.” at Dodger Stadium.
The fans might favor Ramirez, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, but how about some love for Loney?
He has driven in 51 runs this season, among the top 10 in the National League. He has driven in one more run than fellow first baseman Albert Pujols, three more than Mark Teixeira, all with just five home runs.
“I think it’s tougher to hit a single with a man on second base than a home run with nobody on,” Torre said. “The pitcher is bearing down with a man in scoring position.
“You can go to war with James.”
Loney delivered a sacrifice fly in the first inning, a two-run single in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth.
He might never hit 20 home runs in a season. But he might drive in 100 runs this season, for the first time.
“That would be something real special,” he said.
He is on pace to drive in 112 runs, which would be the most by a Dodger since 2004, when Adrian Beltre drove in 121.
Loney is batting .296 overall and .357 with runners in scoring position. He has gotten the opportunities — he leads the team with 84 at-bats with men in scoring position — and he has made the most of them.
“They’re getting on base, and I happen to be coming up,” Loney said. “It’s definitely about what your teammates provide.”
Hiroki Kuroda hung around long enough to record the victory, something of an upset given that the Yankees scored three runs, on Teixeira’s homer, before he got an out.
But Kuroda recovered and got to the sixth inning.
The Dodgers had beaten the mighty Yankees. Torre had beaten his old team, so much a focus of this weekend that the manager felt compelled to put the meaning of victory into another context.
“It’s important because they’re the world champs,” Torre said. “I’m not saying that with sarcasm. They’re dangerous. Every time we face somebody like that, we have to measure ourselves.”
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