Stanton's homer all Johnson needs

The margin of error for the Dodgers against an ace like Josh Johnson was very small. One swing from Mike Stanton's bat pretty much ended the night nice and early.

Johnson was his usual ridiculous self, and Stanton's three-run homer in the second allowed the Marlins to cruise all night long, 4-0. The Dodgers dropped two of three to them at home and failed to pick up a game on the Padres, who lost again to the Nationals.

Hiroki Kuroda came up on the losing end, but for one inning it sure looked like this would be a pitcher's duel. Both pitchers got the other offense in order with ease.

In the second, the Marlins scored all the runs they would need. Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla opened the inning with singles. An RBI double by Cody Ross plated one, and it was 1-0. Ronny Paulino grounded out to the mound for the first out.

Kuroda then made a bad mistake, as he spun one right across the middle for Stanton, who hit a high fly ball to left that just found its way over the fence. In fact, the ball then found its way into a catcher's glove that was sitting in a bag. Pretty weird stuff.

Now down 4-0, the Dodgers knew they'd have quite the uphill climb to get back into this one. But give Johnson credit - he wasn't going to allow that to happen. He pitched eight innings for six hits, no runs, one walk, and eight strikeouts. He's upped his record to 9-3, lowered his ERA to 1.70, and in my opinion should start the All-Star Game, even above Ubaldo Jimenez.

With only six hits and one walk, it's not like the Dodgers had many scoring opportunities. When they did, they couldn't get the big hit. This is a game where they missed Manny Ramirez and his clutch hitting.

The first threat was in the fourth. With two down, Andre Ethier and James Loney both singled. Casey Blake then struck out.

The next threat was in the sixth. Again with two outs, Ethier walked and Loney singled. What did Blake do? Fouled out to third for out #3.

Russell Martin doubled with one out in the seventh, but Blake DeWitt and Xavier Paul could do nothing with it. Matt Kemp singled and stole second with two outs in the eighth, but Loney grounded out.

Two strikeouts by Blake and Garret Anderson and a lineout from Martin ended the game.

This is not a night that Blake would like to remember. Hitting fifth in the order, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, stranding four runners. The guy behind him was Anderson, who also pulled an 0-for-4, not that I'm surprised. He really sucks.

Kuroda really only had one bad inning in the fourth. Take that away, and he had six scoreless ones. He really was against the wall in this one facing Johnson, but it's still a shame he didn't make this a closer game. Then again, with zero run support, it didn't much matter.

The biggest issue tonight was the inability to hit with runners in scoring position. The Dodgers were a whopping 0-for-5 in those situations, which won't win you much of any games. It was just one of those nights where a dominating pitcher was on his game.

The Dodgers now will close the first half of the season with four games at home against the Cubs. Clayton Kershaw will go in the first game against Randy Wells. Kershaw will look for his ninth win.