Stat Line of the Day: April 21st (Los Angeles Edition)

Last night was an interesting one in the City of Angels, as both local baseball teams won as well as the Lakers--if only the Kings had been playing!  It was such an eventful night for the largest city without an NFL franchise that we're going to devote our entire daily column to them.  Here's what happened in Los Angeles:

K. Bryant & P. Gasol (LA Lakers): 19 points (5-20 FG), 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 turnovers vs. Hornets

Kobe & Pau were out of sync all night in Los Angeles

In Game One, Kobe went off for 34 points (13-26 FG), four rebounds, and five assists all by himself.  Last night, though, he and Pau Gasol couldn't even combine for those numbers.  In the second consecutive subpar game for Gasol, the Lakers ground out a nine-point victory largely without help from their superstars.  The pair shot only 25% from the floor, grabbed only one defensive rebound on on 42 New Orleans misses, and turned the ball over as many times as they hit field goals.  The Lakers only won by controlling the ball--four more offensive rebounds and three fewer turnovers--and forcing the Hornets to shoot 39.1% from the floor.  Though Kobe and Pau combined to score 43.5% of the Lakers' points during the regular season, they scored only 21.8% of Laker points last night.  In addition, they barely reached half of their season-average 15.3 rebounds/game and couldn't even reach half of their 8.0 assists/game. 

J. Weaver (LA Angels): CG, 6 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 8 K vs. Rangers

J. Garland (LA Dodgers): CG, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 4 K vs. Braves

Jered Weaver now has a legitimate
chance to go 6-0 in April

Who got the better performance from their starting pitcher last night--the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim)? Jered Weaver (see left) of the Angels did have a better game score (79 to 77 for Garland), but that's just because he struck out four more batters than the Dodgers' starter.  They both gave up only one run though while throwing a complete game.  They both also allowed only six baserunners all game, for a WHIP of 0.67.  To Garland's credit last night, the Braves did not have a single at-bat with runners in scoring position all game.  Atlanta got a leadoff double in third inning, and then two sacrifice flies in a row brought the runner in to score.  Besides that, Garland did not allow a single runner past first base all night.  Weaver, on the other hand, held the Rangers to a 1-for-5 night with runners in scoring position.  Though he got the outs when necessary, also limiting his opponent to a single run over nine innings, Weaver had to dance in and out of trouble on several occasions.  The eight strikeouts, however, are a testament to Weaver's dominance, as they helped him wriggle out of the jams he got himself into.  I guess there is no clear winner--both Los Angeles starters turned in strong performances that essentially ensured their respective teams a victory.