Cappy did his part yesterday. Where was everybody else?

It’s been said Connie Mack once theorized that pitching is 75% of baseball. Well, Dodger starter Chris Capuano did just great with his 75% of yesterday’s game, but the offense didn’t even show up, and unfortunately, Kenley Jansen did.

As far as I can tell, there isn’t one reliable arm in the Dodger bullpen. Ronald Belisario doesn’t give a crap, Brandon League is inconsistent, Javy Guerra doesn’t have what he did last year, and now, Mr. Dependable Kenley Jansen, once so unhittable, cannot be counted on to hold a small lead. What the hell are we to do?

Of course, it would be really helpful if Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier could hit a home run every once in a while.

Too many walks. Giving too many free runners. And we’ve got to catch the baseball. That’s all there is to it. You’ve got to catch the baseball.”
— Don Mattingly

That’s pretty basic, and I guess my former fave Luis Cruz and one of my new faves, Carl Crawford, kind of forgot about that yesterday. Their errors cost the Dodgers three runs, the difference in the game. I’m thinking Cruz might not be around too much longer.

However, there’s plenty more blame for this loss to go around. Starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu couldn’t get out the leadoff man to save his life, and he walked five Braves. Then Paco Rodriguez came in and loaded the bases before serving up a grand slam to Justin Upton that landed somewhere among the hot dogs on the concourse past left field.

It’s a shame, too, because offensively we were pretty good. We got 10 hits, which is Steve Lyons’ magic number for winning. That new guy, Scott Van Slyke — filling in for right-fielder Andre Ethier against left-handed Braves pitcher Paul Maholm — hit two home runs. And Nick Punto went two-for-four.

I read somewhere that the Braves, in yesterday’s game, finally had the offense they had been aiming for — all their strongest hitters back after stints on the D.L. Ironically, the Dodgers’ best offense is coming from guys filling in for injured teammates.

But today is another game, Chris Capuano on the mound. We gotta keep the faith.

Right?

Zack Greinke came off the D.L. to pitch a wonderful 5⅓ innings, and five relievers never screwed it up! Including Brandon League! Amazing.

Maybe Steve’s painting of a few years ago (featuring the Blue Bum as portrayed by our friend Joe Walters) will lead the Dodgers in the other direction, toward winning, instead of the downward spiral they had been traipsing on before.

This was a great game, though. After two consecutive sweeps — to the Giants and then the D’Backs — we won a series from the lowly Marlins and now we’ve won a series from the mighty Nats. (So nice of Bryce Harper to take himself out that first game, wasn’t it?)

That is definitely the right direction. We have Greinke back, Josh Beckett won’t be pitching for the foreseeable future (out on D.L. for that “groin tweak”) and we’re now only holding last place by one game.

We’re movin’ on up!