道奇隊台灣投手郭泓志昨（23日）再展現霸氣，不但滿壘狀況成功化解危機，且再度以無失分安全下莊，讓美國各專家驚豔不已，除《ESPN》賽後立刻稱讚他是英雄外，今美網《True Blue LA》更以「郭五月毫無偏差」為題，為郭泓志近來的表現感到佩服。
剛從傷兵名單回來時，郭泓志還抓不到球感，首場出賽面對紅人只投0.1局就失了2分，並吞下本季首敗，自此之後他漸入佳境，尤其進入五月之後8場出賽都未失分，還拿了6個中繼點，投7.2局只被擊出1支安打無失分，還投出9次三振，可見他五月狀況奇佳。
事實上手感如何從郭泓志的肢體語言便可得知，昨天他一上來接手小將伊萊（John Ely）投球，卻先扮起「壘包精算師」，製造滿壘危機使道奇主場氣氛為之凝結，而面對老虎強打卡布雷拉（Migule Cabrera）他毫不畏懼，球往內角塞的情況下迫使打者只擊出軟弱滾地球，郭自己撿起球完成刺殺後，高興得拉弓為自己喝采。
郭泓志昨投1局無失分，這是他本季連續10場登板無失分的表現，傑出成績連官網也認為他和終結者布朗克斯頓（Jonathan Bronxton）的演出算直不可思議。托瑞（Joe Torre）昨曾說，若道奇今天的比賽有取得領先的話，不排除再排郭上陣，測試連續兩天出賽的狀況，可惜道奇今面對虎軍始終落後，最後2比6輸球，郭無緣上陣。
由於曾動過四次手術，道奇對於怎麼用郭泓志總是秉持謹慎的態度，避免這名左投再度受傷，而道奇戰績一路從墊底爬升到分區前段位置，為了維持目前的成績，郭泓志可能無法躲過連續出賽，身為布局投手，力保球隊勝利他責無旁貸。
Kuo a huge relief for Dodgers
LOS ANGELES -- It was only fitting that on Taiwan Day at Dodger Stadium -- an event for which Internet singing sensation Lin Yu-Chun was flown all the way from his native country to belt out the national anthem, God Bless America and, of course, Taiwan Will Touch Your Heart -- Dodgers reliever Hong-Chih Kuo and Detroit reliever Fu-Te Ni both managed to get into the game Saturday.
It was purely coincidental, however, that on an afternoon when the Dodgers had no shortage of heroes in a 6-4 victory over the Tigers before 45,117, Kuo was one of the biggest.
This time, the left-hander and frequent surgical patient came on to relieve rookie John Ely after Ely's latest strike-throwing masterpiece. Ely's exit came after he gave up a leadoff infield single in the seventh, a point at which the Dodgers led 6-2. Kuo immediately got the first two hitters he faced, the newly promoted Ryan Raburn and grizzly veteran Johnny Damon, to hit the ball in the air for easy outs.
But when third baseman Casey Blake booted a tough-hop grounder from Ramon Santiago, Kuo followed by walking Magglio Ordonez. That brought the most dangerous hitter in the Tigers' lineup, first baseman Miguel Cabrera, to the plate with two men on. After Cabrera fouled off a first-pitch slider, Kuo came back with another one. This time, Cabrera hit a topper halfway between the mound and the third-base line, and Kuo sprinted off the mound to get it.
He then threw what might have been his hardest pitch of the day, a bullet to first baseman James Loney to get Cabrera by a hair. The usually laconic Kuo pumped his fist before heading to the dugout, his 10th consecutive scoreless appearance in the books.
With that, Kuo reduced his ERA to 1.93 in 11 appearances since being activated from the disabled list for the first time this season April 22. He has allowed just one of four inherited runners to score, and he has retired the first batter faced nine times. And he has given up just three hits in 9 1/3 innings, holding opposing batters to a .107 average.
More importantly, his left arm is still attached his body -- which, considering Kuo's surgical history, is a small victory unto itself.
"He is healthy,'' Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. "When he feels good, there aren't too many who are better.''
The key for Kuo is to continue to feel good. At 28, he is basically trying to wring every day in the major leagues that he possibly can out of his elbow, which underwent Tommy John reconstructive surgery twice before he ever got to the big leagues for the first time in 2005. But if there is always a chance he could blow it out again any time he takes the mound, well, neither he nor anyone else in the Dodgers organization spends much time worrying about it.
"You can't think like that,'' Honeycutt said. "I feel good whenever he is out there. Right now, obviously, he feels good. We have held off going back-to-back [days] with him. We ask him all the time, and he always says, 'I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.' He knows himself very well, and I think he is at the point where he knows he has to be honest about it.''
If the Dodgers remain in contention for the entire season, they undoubtedly will need Kuo on consecutive days at some point, a hurdle he has yet to cross this season. But he was allowed, on May 14 at San Diego, to record the final out in one inning and then pitch all of the next one, something that for him qualifies as a calculated risk.
Because he has never been the Dodgers' closer and has been their eighth-inning setup man only in spurts, Kuo has never gotten a lot of attention. But he got a lot of it Saturday, and he probably would have gotten it even if he hadn't pitched. There were about two dozen Taiwanese reporters on hand to cover Taiwan Day, and most of them bunched around Kuo's locker after the game, giving him the star treatment if only for a few minutes.
Later, when a couple of American reporters walked up and asked if it was especially important to him to get into the game on Taiwan Day, Kuo did what Kuo does, which is to say he shrugged it off.
"I didn't think much about it,'' he said. "I just get ready to play every day. If they need me, I need to make sure I'm ready, and that is what I have been doing.''
Injury update
It would appear that Andre Ethier's effort to get healthy enough to return to the Dodgers' lineup is moving along more quickly than anyone had hoped. For that, the Dodgers can thank Gary Vitti, the head trainer for the Lakers.
Ethier suffered a small fracture in the first knuckle of his right little finger May 15. By the following morning, Dodgers trainer Stan Conte put in a call to Vitti because he knew some of the Lakers players had dealt with similar injuries.
"This was the day before their playoff game,'' Conte said. "But he called right back and couldn't have been nicer.''
Vitti recommended a special splint that immobilizes the first knuckle but leaves the second knuckle flexible. What that does is allow Ethier to swing a bat more-or-less unfettered, which he has been doing in the indoor batting cages. Conte said Ethier already has progressed from hitting off a tee to hitting soft-toss pitches and even catching a ball because the split also allows him to squeeze his glove.
The knuckle that is broken has to be immobilized in order to heal. However, because of the splint, that knuckle can be immobilized without immobilizing the entire finger. That means the fracture doesn't have to heal completely in order for Ethier to get back on the field. Conte said that when Ethier does return, he will play while wearing the splint, which he will wear constantly until the fracture heals.
This is a major step forward that conceivably could allow Ethier to return from the disabled list as soon as he becomes eligible to do so May 30 at Colorado. And while Conte wouldn't go so far as to predict that, he did concede that the process is moving much more quickly than it would have without the splint.
Key moment
Although Blake's box-score line was impressive -- he went 3-for-4 with a home run, extending what is now a 10-for-19, three-homer surge since the slumping Blake was given the day off Sunday at San Diego -- his biggest contribution to Saturday's win came at third base, and it came in a frenetic ninth inning.
With closer Jonathan Broxton clearly struggling to close out his third save opportunity in less than 48 hours -- Damon and Ramon Santiago had begun the inning with consecutive singles, bringing the potential tying run to the plate with the heart of the Tigers' order coming up -- Cabrera yanked a pitch toward the hole between third and short. But Blake quickly closed off that hole, diving to his left to field it on one hop. He then threw to second from his knees, just getting Santiago for the second out of the inning.
The play loomed even larger when Brennan Boesch followed with a ground-rule double that cut the Dodgers' lead to 6-4 and put the tying runs into scoring position before Broxton got Brandon Inge on a called third strike to end the game.
"You really don't put a whole lot of thought into it,'' Blake said. "I saw the ball coming, and it wasn't really easy to see right there [with the early-evening shadows]. I knew [Santiago] could run a little bit, but I went to second, and we just got him.''
Looking ahead
Right-hander Hiroki Kuroda (5-1, 2.87) will start Sunday's series finale for the Dodgers against Tigers right-hander Rick Porcello (3-4, 5.93), whose inflated ERA is mostly the result of a string of bad starts in late April and who has allowed just four runs on 12 hits over 14 innings in his past two starts. The Dodgers are 7-1 this season when Kuroda pitches.
Tony Jackson covers the Dodgers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.
