Friday, April 17, 2009

Dodgers easily dispose of Giants for sweep

Give the Dodgers this - they aren't relying solely on Manny Ramirez to score a bunch of runs. Rather, they've been getting contributions from everywhere.

The Dodgers took full advantage of having the Giants in town and not facing Tim Lincecum by winning last night 7-2 and getting the 3-game sweep. San Diego is also playing really well, so they're both locked in 1st at 7-3.

Rafael Furcal wasted no time in getting the lead, as he hit a 2-0 pitch just over the left field fence for the 1-0 lead. The Giants struck back in the top of the 2nd with an Edgar Renteria RBI single to tie it at 1.

The Dodgers went up for good in the bottom of the 2nd, though with some help. Andre Ethier was beaned by a Barry Zito pitch to lead off. Matt Kemp hit a diving liner to left, where Fred Lewis tried to make the sliding catch and completely missed, causing the ball to roll all the way to the wall. Kemp got a gift RBI triple, though it should have been either an out or single at most. But we'll take it. Casey Blake singled home Kemp the next hitter, and it was 3-1.

Making another start for the injured Hiroki Kuroda, Eric Stults gave another great performance. He finished at 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. Not overpowering, but enough to limit the Giants. He goes to 2-0 thanks to 4 flawless innings from the bullpen. James McDonald made his first appearance since hit horrible start in Arizona for a scoreless inning, Ronald Belisario gave 2 scoreless innings, and Will Ohman finished them off.

The other news from this game is how well Doug Mientkiewicz played, and then proceeded to land himself on the 15-day DL. He pinch-hit for McDonald in the 6th and laced a double down the right field line to plate Ethier and Kemp, then dove head first into 2nd and popped his shoulder. After trying to stay in, Juan Pierre ran for him. Let's hope he isn't out too long since he's been hitting well and is always top notch defensively.

With a sweep in the books, the Dodgers look to take down the last NL West opponent, the Rockies. Randy Wolf gets the ball, and he was fantastic his last start against Arizona. Jorge De La Rosa goes for the Rockies, who... well... really sucks. It's fun facing bad pitchers.

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