Ryan Dempster baffled the Dodgers for seven strong innings, and the Cubs easily defeated the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon, 7-0. The shutout was a first for the Dodgers this season.
Basically the game can be summed up as this: the Dodgers couldn't hit, couldn't pitch, and couldn't stop the Cubs from gradually building their lead as the game progressed. Only getting seven runners on base the entire game is not exactly a recipe for success.
Eric Stults got the start, and wasn't too bad early on, but then hit a wall. He only went three innings, giving up four runs on six hits. After walking Bobby Scales and giving up a triple to Mike Fontenot to start the fourth, that was all she wrote for him.
Stults is still battling through a sore left thumb, which would seem like was still bothering him. The announcers on Fox of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver were making a point about Stults needing to work quickly in order to be effective. He did early, but it didn't last long. The longer he took to pitch, the worse it was.
Like I said before, the offense couldn't do a lick. The only person who somewhat showed up was Matt Kemp, who went 2-3. Russell Martin and Andre Ethier had doubles with their only hits. And that, my friends, was it.
After Guillermo Mota came on and did a nice job getting out of the fourth, Jeff Weaver gave up three runs in two and 1/3 innings. He gave up three hits and five walks in that span. Ouch. I'll chalk that up to just a bad day for him, because he's been pretty good this year.
Tonight's game is the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast. With no NBA playoffs tonight, there should be more eyes on this game, unless you count the Stanley Cup Finals as competition (no offense to anyone, but I don't). Eric Milton will go, and a good start for him should keep him in the fifth spot in the rotation with Hiroki Kuroda due back Monday.
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