The return of Rafael Furcal made little difference to the Dodgers' lineup, as Ryan Dempster's eight shutout innings paved the way to a Cubs win, 3-0. The Dodgers managed three hits the whole night.
Lost in Dempster's dominance was another great start by Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw still threw way too many pitches (104 in six innings), but only surrendered one unearned run and four hits. His offense obviously didn't have his back.
For five innings, both pitchers put up blanks. The Dodgers had a couple of decent threats. In the first, Russell Martin singled with one down, and Manny Ramirez walked with two. James Loney grounded into a forceout to end it. Two singles by Manny and Casey Blake came in the fourth, but Xavier Paul struck out with two down.
It looked like the first team that could score would be in the driver's seat, and that was the Cubs in the sixth. Unfortunately, it came on an error by Furcal to put Ryan Theriot on. After Theriot stole second, Derek Lee's RBI single made it 1-0.
On a night like this, 1-0 probably seemed much bigger then it actually was. After the Cubs scored, the Dodgers sent nine men to the plate, and all men came up empty.
So it goes without saying that the Cubs ended up cruising for a win. They did tack on a couple more in the eighth, and once again it started with an error by Furcal. Derek Lee cashed in like the last time, cranking a two-run homer to stretch the lead to 3-0.
Carlos Marmol struck out Matt Kemp and Manny to end the game.
This was night a night that Raffy would like to forget. He spent a couple of weeks rehabbing, was playing in his first game since April 27... and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and two errors. Ouch. I guess the good news is that he'll only get better from here.
Give Dempster credit here, as he certainly gives the bullpen a rest when he's on the mound. It seems like he's going seven or eight inning every start, and has a 3.31 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He actually hadn't won a game since April 23, but that's because his offense wasn't giving him support.
Even with the poor results, it's still great to see Raffy back on top of the order. Once Andre Ethier is back, which could be soon from some reports, the Dodgers will have their lineup at full strength. And that's a positive sign going forward.
Chad Billingsley will look to follow Kershaw with a great start of his own tonight. Bills has won three straight, and has really looked to have figured out whatever plagued him at the end of last year and beginning of this one. Let's hope it stays that way.
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