Down 8-0 after five innings, the Dodgers found themselves getting their clock cleaned against the Marlins. Four runs in the sixth gave them some hope, and a couple runs in the ninth with two down brought the tying run to the plate.
Matt Kemp, however, had no magic in him on this day, as he popped up in foul territory to catcher Jeff Baker, and the Marlins won the final game of the three-game series, 3-2. With the loss, the Dodgers finished their homestand at 6-4.
The final score saves some face for the Dodgers, who looked pretty awful for the first half of this game. Unfortunately for Jason Schmidt, he's a big reason why. In his second start back from his injury problems, he was bombed in three innings for five hits, five runs (four earned), one walk, and one strikeout. Uh, not good.
Dan Uggla hit into a double play in the second inning to plate the first run. The next inning, Schmidt had two outs and a runner on second, then unraveled. He beaned Emilio Bonifacio with a pitch. Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run double, followed by an RBI double by Jorge Cantu for the 4-0 lead.
It would get worse in the fourth, as Uggla lead off with a homer, chasing Schmidt. Jeff Weaver came in and wasn't a whole lot better. Josh Baker and Chris Coghlan hit run-scoring doubles, and Ramirez hit an RBI single, making it 8-0.
The good news is that the Dodgers settled in after that, as they actually somewhat turned this into a game as time went on. After a miserable start, Weaver pitched two scoreless innings, followed by two from Claudio Vargas and one from Ramon Troncoso.
In the sixth, Orlando Hudson lead off with a double and went to third on Andre Ethier's single. James Loney scored them both with a double, and the Dodgers were mercifully on the board.
After a groundout, something happened that hasn't been seen in Dodger Stadium since last August: Russell Martin hit a home run. His two-run shot made it 8-4, and the game was at least watchable again.
Fast forward to the ninth with the same score, and the Dodgers made the Marlins sweat a little. Rafael Furcal tripled with one down. After O-Dog struck out, Ethier hit an RBI single to make it 8-5. Loney then hit an RBI single of his own, and it was 8-6. But, Kemp popped up, and the book was closed.
On a day where the Dodgers had a scrub starting pitcher and Manny Ramirez resting his sore left hand, I'll give them credit for showing some late life. We're not used to seeing them drop two of three, but the Marlins are only 3 and 1/2 games out of the wild card, so it's not like they're a bad team.
As for Schmidt... wow. I'm not sure what else to say. It's just obvious that this isn't going to work out. Unless something crazy goes on, there's no way the Dodgers can justify giving him starts when he has batting practice-like stuff. Is it time to absorb their losses and release him? It just might be.
There's no rest for the weary, as the Dodgers will travel overnight to St. Louis to begin a four-game set. With the addition of Matt Holliday, the Cardinals are a bigger threat now, so this should be fun to watch. Randy Wolf goes against Chris Carpenter in game one.
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