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!

Boy, I was pulling for Clayton Kershaw to go all the way … again! Mainly because I was afraid someone like Brandon League would come in and screw up such a beautifully pitched game. But Kershaw missed by one batter, and Kenley Jansen got the job done. Nice!

Oh, if they could all be like Clayton! This post on Facebook by Dodgers Nation (which I believe is a Dodgers-run fan page) says it all, but it also kind of disses the other pitchers in the rotation. I’d be pretty low if I were them.

But then, I’m guilty of some pretty bad pitcher-bashing too of late. I feel kind of bad about what I said in regard to Josh Beckett’s finito-ness. He stood up and took it like a man, and I admire that. He admitted there was no good reason for why he sucks, he just does. He offered no excuses, and accepted responsibility for his failure. That’s very courageous.

When I read this back, it sounds a little hypocritical: I’m saying I shouldn’t be hating the pitchers that I hate, all the while telling you all why I hate them. Now I hate myself for that. It’s a circle of hating, and it stops now.