Page 4 April 6, 2017 Lawndale Baseball Swept by Santa Monica By Adam Serrao There is a certain aptitude for teams to begin to show their true colors right around the time that league play begins. No matter what the sport and no matter what has happened at the beginning of the year, inter-division battle either bring out the best in a ball club, or expose a team that just might need a little bit more work before it begins competing for a league championship. Unfortunately for the Lawndale Cardinals baseball team and head coach Robert Dempsey, the latter seems to be coming true this season. After two straight losses to their division rivals, the Santa Monica Vikings, it looks as if the Cardinals’ hopes of competing for a top spot in this year’s Ocean League standings have all but flown away. When Lawndale’s baseball team has won this season, it has won big. A 27-1 rout over Hawthorne Math and Science Academy to open the season, followed by an 8-0 shutout over Leuzinger, are key examples of that fact. Unfortunately for Dempsey and his team, those two wins are the only victories of the year so far for Lawndale. Since the Cardinals’ last victory, the team has lost four games in a row, culminating with a two-game, backto back sweep at the hands of the Vikings. Playing against Santa Monica is never easy. After all, the Vikings are competing for first place in their division this season. Key losses to divisional opponents are always hard to overcome, however, and now Lawndale has an uphill battle waiting as the rest of the season progresses. In the first contest of the two-game series last Tuesday afternoon at Lawndale High, Santa Monica got off to a hot start in the second inning against junior pitcher Julian Diaz. Diaz gave up four runs (three earned) in the inning as the Vikings opened the game up almost immediately after it had gotten started. Lawndale’s uphill battle to get back into the game began in the bottom of the second when senior third baseman Jesus Sanchez knocked in Jayce Dempsey for the team’s first run of the afternoon. Diaz settled in on the mound before Leo Cervantes came in and pitched two scoreless innings. In addition to his pitching, Cervantes knocked in a run in the bottom of the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to get the Cardinals over the hump. Ultimately, the team took a 4-3 loss in the first of two. Game two of the doubleheader was played in Santa Monica this time and followed much of the same script. The Vikings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning against starting pitcher Michael Zambrano. Zambrano gave up one more in the bottom of the fourth as Lawndale fell into a 3-0 hole. An RBI by freshman Armando Osorio and runs scored by Cervantes and Zambrano were too little, too late, as the Cardinals lost their second game in a row by just one run--this time by a final of 3-2. There’s no doubting the fact that Lawndale has the team to stay close in games. It’s simply beginning the games by playing well on defense that has been the problem for Dempsey and company. The Cardinals (2-9, 0-3) will move on to play against their rivals from Culver City before a two-game set against their divisional foes, the Beverly Hills Normans. Hawthorne High The Hawthorne Cougars share the Lawndale Cardinals’ struggle of being in an extremely difficult Ocean League with opponents that are perennially elite. The Cougars got an up-close and personal look at one of those opponents when last Monday afternoon at Hawthorne the team took on the same Santa Monica Vikings that eventually wound up sweeping Lawndale as well. The Cougars are known to be a team to start off hot, but fizzle away down the stretch of games because of insufficient pitching depth. In the first game against Santa Monica, that was precisely the case. Hawthorne scored first, getting out to a 5-0 lead behind junior Johnny Pacheco’s two hits and four RBIs in the game. Unfortunately for the Cougars, it was the pitching that unraveled late as Bernardo Robles gave up four runs in the third and Carlos Jacobo gave up three in the fifth. Ultimately, Hawthorne took a 9-8 loss in extra innings by being outscored 9-3 from the bottom of the third inning on. Game two got much more out of hand as Santa Monica led 5-1 early and eventually opened things up for a 12-4 win. The Cougars received nice contributions from Danny Villarreal and Carlos Jacobo. Villareal had a home run and Jacobo added a triple, as each player finished with an RBI and a run scored. Hawthorne (4-7, 0-2) will look to keep the bats swinging as the team moves on to battle against Beverly Hills and Culver City in the middle portion of the league schedule. Inglewood High The Inglewood Sentinels boys’ baseball team is quietly putting together an excellent start to their regular season. So far, the Sentinels and head coach Kewatta Wade have won four of their first five games and have outscored their opponents by a combined 67-36. The real test, however, lies in the month of April when Inglewood will leave its non-league schedule behind and take on some of the Bay League’s elite. The Sentinels (4-1) will look to prove themselves this week as they begin league play with back-to-back games against the Palos Verdes Sea Kings. • Dodgers Officially Begin New Season By Adam Serrao In honor of what is now the new, ongoing Major League Baseball season, it has become time to take a look at how the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers will fare in their quest for the team’s first World Series appearance since 1988. Obviously, 162 games make for quite a long season. For that reason, instead of breaking down how the team has done in their first few games of the season against the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies, we’ll take a look at a few fun storylines to keep your eye on as a new season of Dodger baseball gets it start. The one thing that will stick out like a sore thumb to baseball fans everywhere this season is the absence of the golden voice of Vin Scully up in the press box. This past Monday, the Dodgers played their first opening day since 1950 without Scully calling their games. Scully had previously said that he wouldn’t even attend the game either. “It’s a day game,” Scully remarked. “I’ll probably have things to do.” At least the 89-year-old ex-announcer who spent 67 years calling games for the Boys in Blue is keeping busy. “Sure, after 67 years, you bet I’ll miss it,” Scully continued. “But heck, I miss the guys I hung out with when I was in school.” One thing is for sure; baseball fans everywhere will certainly miss Vin this year. After Scully, there may be no one person who is more important to the Dodgers than Clayton Kershaw. This season, it will be fun to watch a presumably healthy Kershaw dominate opposing hitters like he has always done. Kershaw should be back to full form and is certainly the top candidate in the league to bring home yet another Cy Young Award and maybe even another pitching Triple Crown (league lead in wins, ERA and strikeouts). There’s no doubting the competitive streak that runs deep down in the blood of Kershaw. He has been known to challenge his fellow pitchers on the team to competitions similar to the one he had with former Dodger Zack Greinke to see who could swing the bat better at the plate. This year, look for Kershaw and Rich Hill to compete to see who can throw the filthier curveball. The Dodgers have been very diligent with their farm system--and so far, it has been somewhat unclear if that diligence has fully paid off. All signs are beginning to point to “yes” because of the All-Star ability of Corey Seager. Seager should be due for another fantastic year to follow up his 2016 National League Rookie of the Year awardwinning season. What should be even more fun, however, is to watch him play alongside Joc Pederson. Some might say that Pederson has underperformed so far in his career, and some even go so far as to call him a bust. This season should be when Pederson finally breaks out in a major way. With Seager and Joc up the middle, the Dodgers will have a young core that should even rival the 2016 World Series champs, Chicago Cubs. When is it not fun watching Kenley Jansen come into a game? He and Justin Turner turned down bigger offers from other teams to come back and play for the Dodgers. There may not be any one thing that makes a player more fun to watch than knowing that they want to be there. For Jansen, though, his cut fastball may just take the cake. Even though hitters know that Jansen is coming with the heat, they still swing and miss entirely all the same. The velocity and spin rate on Jansen’s cut fastball both rank top two in all of baseball. Jansen’s estimated .438 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is the best in the Majors. The 29-year-old is one of the best closers in the league and with a cut fastball like the one that he puts on display, Jansen may just be able to put his name up there with the likes of Mariano Rivera by the time all is said and done. One thing that is always fun about watching a new baseball season is becoming familiar with the names on the team that aren’t necessarily fully recognizable yet. You may have heard of Hyun-Jin Ryu, but the pitcher is back nonetheless and is said to be looking healthy and impressive just in time for a 2017 campaign. Familiarize yourself now with the name Logan Forsythe. The Dodgers’ new second baseman came over from the Tampa Bay Rays and may just be the piece that the Dodgers have been missing all of these years. Andrew Toles came out of nowhere late in the season for L.A. last year. He should make an impact in left field and at the top of the order for the Dodgers this year. Don’t sleep on Alex Wood or Ross Stripling in the rotation. Although neither player made the starting five, both will be looking to prove themselves this season and have a huge impact on the pitching staff in what is always a long and trying season. Jansen steals all of the headlines coming out of the pen, but Adam Liberatore and Grant Dayton will make names for themselves. They’ll certainly have the opportunity with how much Dave Roberts likes to use his relief. Baseball is back and is now officially in action. Could this be the year that the Dodgers finally get over the hump and make it into the World Series? It’s too early to tell, but while you’re in the process of finding out, there will certainly be plenty of fun to take part in out at Chavez Ravine. • – Asixlion@earthlink.net Every Visit our Website www.heraldpublications.com issue always available online! 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