Offense stays quiet in loss

For the second straight night, it was the Angels getting the big hits, as they defeated the Dodgers, 4-2. The loss combined with a Padres' win means the Padres have a one game lead in the NL West.

The Dodgers were looking to get the bad taste out of their mouths from getting trampled 10-1 the night before. The opening three innings were scoreless as John Ely and Scott Kazmir were comfortably settling in.

The fourth inning was different, as Ely scuffled and the Angels pounced. It started with a double by Howie Kendrick. After advancing to third on Bobby Abreu's groundout, Torii Hunter's RBI double made it 1-0. Two hitters later, Juan Rivera crushed a two-run shot to left to put the score at 3-0.

Another double by Kendrick the following inning made it 4-0. At this point, it sure looked like the Dodgers might be done, as their offense couldn't put much of anything together.

The lone highlight of the game came in the fifth when the Dodgers finally got some runs. Jamey Carroll was the spark plug, as he doubled to lead off. One out later, Rafael Furcal drew a walk for two on. Russell Martin came through in an RBI spot, as his double scored two by slash the deficit to 4-2.

Ramon Troncoso and Ronald Belisario did a nice job of holding the Angels down for the rest of the game. But, the bats blew a big opportunity to at least tie the game in the seventh. Once again, it was Carroll who started the inning in a good way by walking. Garret Anderson pinch-hit and singled with nobody out. Raffy tried to bunt, but popped up instead for one out. Martin then drew a walk to load the bases.

With Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp due up, it sure looked like the runs would follow. But, that just didn't happen. Ethier struck out and Kemp grounded into a forceout to end the inning. The Dodgers would never recover.

This was not a night for Kemp to remember, as he pulled the big 0-for-4 hitting in the fourth spot in the order. He doesn't have a hit since June 7 against the Cardinals. After hitting .291 in May, he's now 8-for-45 in June for a .178 average and two extra-base hits. Simply put, the Dodgers need to get more production and less strikeouts out of him.

Ely suffered his second straight rough start, going five innings for six hits, four runs, three walks, and two strikeouts. It's not like he got bombed, but fell victim to the longball again. He's still getting used to the whole major league thing, so tough starts like this are to be expected.

With one game to go in the homestand, their record stands at 8-4. Even with a loss today, winning 8 of 13 games is pretty good. But, they were 8-2 at one point, so it would be a disappointment to end it by getting swept. For whatever reason, the Angels play really well in Dodger Stadium.

Once again, it's Carlos Monasterios earning a spot start on Sunday. This appears to be the final one with Vicente Padilla about a week away from returning. Monasterios will go against Jared Weaver, who's historically pitched very well against the Dodgers.