Things we learned from tonight's game (8/6/11)

I love that Steve Lyons continues to ask him questions.  Hard hitting  coverage from Psycho, here.

Overview:  Captain EO gains a nickname and fans seven in his MLB debut, but Dee Gordon leaves with a shoulder injury.  Dodgers win, 5-3.

Pros:  Nathan Eovaldi starts his major league career off in pretty good fashion, going five innings with seven strikeouts.  He also went one for two at the plate, hitting a single and later scoring a run to help his own cause.  Captain EO (hat tip to twitter's own Chad Moriyama and Robert Huitron for that gem) threw 77 pitches and still looked fresh, but was pulled for a pinch hitter in the top of the sixth.  Andre Ethier got his average back over .300 with a two hit game, and he, Rivera, Miles and Barajas (3 for 4?!?) chipped in RBIs.  On the pitching side, Blake Hawksworth threw two perfect innings and Scott Elbert danced around some shaky defense in the ninth to record his second save of the season.

Cons: DEE GORDON GOT HURT.  Thankfully, it doesn't sound like it's a serious injury, as Gordon wasn't wearing a sling and was back in the dugout laughing with the team after a few innings.  But the Dodgers need to see Gordon play every day for the rest of the season, and a lingering shoulder injury would be disastrous for long term planning's sake.  If Ned doesn't trust Gordon by the end of the season, there's a high chance he could do something stupid (Tejada and O. Cab are free agents) or really stupid (Jimmy Rollins for six years and 100 million?) in the offseason.  Also, Matt Guerrier continues to not be very good- starting to get a little more concerned about that three year deal.  

What we learned:  That Nathan Eovaldi will be the starting pitcher five days from now, and five days after that.  It's one start, so Eovaldi mania should be tempered, but it was certainly an encouraging start.  We're looking forward to seeing more.  A quick word of caution to him, though- don't expect five runs of support every time, Nate.