Barry Zito got the win, he's 10-16. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 7-13.Greg Maddux was pretty hittable in his five innings of work. He gave up seven runs on nine hits over that span. James McDonald made his second career appearance and pitched two scoreless innings, though he did give up two hits and a walk over that span. Ramon Troncoso and Jason Johnson added a scoreless inning each.
The Dodger offense couldn't manage much during the game. They collected only six hits and two walks, the only run coming off a Pablo Ozuna homerun in the 8th. Other than that, the only other offensive output came from the top three in the lineup.
Matt Kemp went 2-4, Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk, and Manny Ramírez went 2-4 with a double. And that was pretty much it for the day.The Arizona Diamondbacks also lost today, so even with the loss the Dodgers remain 3.5 games up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West. The Dodgers will try to even up the series against the Giants tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers record falls back to six games over .500 (80-74)... Arizona's loss brings the Dodger Magic Number to 6... Pablo Ozuna's homerun was hit first in over two years (his last one was August 17th, 2006). This comes just four days after Juan Pierre hit his first homerun in about two years as well (his prior homerun came on September 18th, 2006).
Opinion: I get the feeling the Giants would like us to not get to the postseason. It doesn't help that we spotted them seven runs. I'm starting to wonder whether or not Greg Maddux is a solid option for the fifth starter down this final stretch. Maddux now has a 1-4 record with the Dodgers in six starts. Knowing Joe Torre, I wouldn't expect to see a change, but I am a bit uncomfortable with Maddux on the mound...
Also, what's up with our offense? We could only manage four runs against the Pirates in 12 innings yesterday, and now we can only scratch across one run against Barry Zito (who had a 5.48 ERA coming into today)? I said it yesterday, but that excitement that seemed to be in the dugout seems to be absent. It's feeling a little lifeless these last few days. We gotta get that loving feeling back, if you know what I mean... First things first, can we get a little production out of our 4-9 hitters? A combination of nine different players in those spots went a combined 1-21, with a walk. The one hit was Pablo Ozuna's homerun. Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Manny can't be the only ones who are hitting on the team, otherwise... well... otherwise this happens. We play the Giants five more times this season, no more losses please...