The Dodgers came into a 3 game set in San Diego in first place and ready to take on some guy named Cha Seung Baek. With 8 consecutive wins and momentum largely on their side, things were looking good.
Turns out that "random guy" named Baek pitched his best game of the year in shutting down the Dodgers for 7 innings, as the Padres took this one, 4-0. Thankfully for LA, Arizona got slapped around in San Francisco as they continue to look awful, so the lead in the NL West for the Dodgers remains at 1.5 games.
There really isn't a whole lot to say about this one, other than the Dodgers were either jet lagged (hard to believe since they were flying in state) or forgot to bring the lumber with them. They did have to grind out a tough one on Sunday in LA against the Diamondbacks, so perhaps it was a good time for the Padres to get a win over them.
Greg Maddux got his 4th start with the Dodgers, and only has 1 good start to show for it (hence his 1-3 record). Brian Giles started things with a double, but the next 2 hitters could not advance him. Didn't matter as Adrian Gonzalez launched a 2-run shot that in effect put the game out of reach right then and there.
The first hit of the game for the Dodgers didn't come until the 4th on a single by Andre Ethier. In fact, Ethier's the only one who really showed up, going 3-4 with 2 doubles. After hitting a paltry .195 in June, he's been steadily rising ever since. In September, he's 16-24 (.667 AVG), 2 HR, 8 RBI, 5 2B, 1 3B. Hitting in front of Manny Ramirez has done wonders for his confidence.
The only other positive was that Maddux did last 6 innings, so the bullpen only needed to work 2 innings. Scott Elbert pitched a scoreless 7th and Scott Proctor and Joe Beimel combined to shut down the 8th. Well... at least most of the pitchers got to rest. And that's about it for the positives.
Hiroki Kuroda goes tonight against Wade LeBlanc in a rematch of last Wednesday's game won by Kuroda. The Dodgers had their loss, so how will they now respond? Can they regain momentum by beating an inferior team, or will the DBacks get back into this thing? We'll all know the answer soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment