The Dodgers showed some offense, but too little, too late to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Tigers. They've now not a series in seven straight attempts.
Nate Robertson got the win, he's 5-6. Chan Ho Park took the loss, he's 2-2. Todd Jones collected his 12th save.
The Dodgers were done in by the rain. A 48-minute rain delay between the 4th and 5th innings might have inadvertently cost the Dodgers the game by getting the Dodgers to remove Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw had pitched four strong innings, giving up just two hits and two walks, while striking out two on 65 pitches. Joe Torre, however, elected to remove Kershaw after the rains stopped in favor of Chan Ho Park. Chan Ho, who had been solid out of the bullpen this year, proceeded to give up five runs over the next 1 and 1/3 innings, including giving up a homerun to Marcus Thames, his third in the last three games.
Meanwhile, on the offensive end, for the first eight innings of today's game, the Dodgers went back to their old selves after a good offensive showing yesterday. The Dodgers then collected four runs on five hits in the ninth inning, a sample of what they can do when they collectively begin to hit. The rally ended, however, one run short. Jeff Kent, the tying run, was left stranded at second when Juan Pierre flew out to Curtis Granderson to end the game. Russell Martin hit his sixth homerun. Maybe the Dodgers should have kept their socks the way they had them yesterday... couldn't of hurt...
The Dodgers will now head to Cincinnati for a three game series starting Tuesday. Tomorrow is an off day. Coincidentally, Cincinnati was the last team the Dodgers won a series against: they swept them at Dodger Stadium on May 19-21. Since then, the Dodgers have lost six series and split one with the Cubs.
Good news and bad news. Good news: The Dodgers finally break out of their offensive slump. Bad news: Their pitching falls apart. They've now lost four straight.
Brad Penny is handed the loss, he's 5-9. Eddie Bonine gets the win, he's 1-0.
On the day the Dodgers finally score some runs, Brad Penny is not able to keep them in the game. Penny was given a 1-0 lead before he gave up a run. He was then given a 4-1 lead before he gave up six more runs to let the Dodgers fall behind 7-4. Penny walked two, gave up seven hits (including two two-run homeruns) and struck out nobody before being pulled in the fourth inning. Scott Proctor followed it up by pitching a shaky two innings, in which he gave up four runs (albeit only one earned). Takashi Saito pitched the 8th inning giving up a run as well.
And all this on a day when the Dodgers pulled together seven runs on 13 hits. In fact, the only two Dodgers today to not get a hit: Juan Pierre and Mark Sweeney *cough* see previous post *cough* Ok, ok, Sweeney drew a walk... but still. James Loney continued his streak of getting an extra base hits. He went 3-5 today with two doubles. 
He's collected an extra base hit in his last three games. Andre Ethier flashed a little power: he went 2-4 with a homerun, ground-rule double, and four RBIs. The homerun was Ethier's sixth, putting him in second place on the team. Delwyn Young collected three hits, as well, and raised his average to a solid .300.
On an interesting side note, some of the younger Dodgers chose to wear their socks old-school style, up over the shins. James Loney, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt, Delwyn Young, and Andre Ethier all joined in on the fashion statement. I don't know if it was a sign of solidarity or just a way to try and bust out of an offensive slump but if it'll help them score seven runs a game, I say keep it up. Whatever works... In any case, a showing of Dodger offense was squandered by poor pitching. What remains to be seen is if this offense can carry over into tomorrow. The Dodgers haven't been able to find that consistent hitting. Since the beginning of June, here's the amount of runs they've scored per game: 1, 8, 0, 1, 4, 3, 7, 1, 7, 1, 0, 0, 7. They move up and down like a roller coaster. We'll have to see how they come out tomorrow.
Clayton Kershaw will take on Nate Robertson at 10:05 L.A. time.
The Dodger's offense was shut down again, this time by the Tigers, who before last night, had not had a shutout on the season.
Armando Galarraga got the win, he's 6-2. Derek Lowe gets the loss, he's 4-6. Freddy Dolsi went two innings to get his 2nd save on the season.
Derek Lowe's pitching performance was not bad. He went seven innnings, giving up three runs, only two of which were earned and struck out five. Unfortunately for Lowe though, Armando Galarraga pitched better. He also struck out five over seven innings, but he gave up no runs over those seven innings.
The big story in the game, however, would have to be the offense, or lack thereof. The Dodgers were shut out for the second straight game and have now not scored a run since Andy LaRoche's solo shot against Randy Wolf in the fourth inning of Wednesday's game. Of course, that was the only run scored in that game, so for the better part of the Dodger's last 27 innings, they've been outscored 18-1. Yesterday was very similar in that the Dodger's didn't just not get timely hitting, they hardly even threatened to score a run. There were only two scoring opportunities in yesterday's game, and both came with two outs. In the second inning, James Loney tripled and Andy LaRoche walked with two outs before Mark Sweeney, starting at DH, struck out swinging. Juan Pierre got to third base in the sixth inning with two outs before Jeff Kent grounded out to end the inning. There are three things that are hurting out offense right now. I'm make a post about them later. For now, the Dodger take another loss.
Brad Penny takes on Eddie Bonine tomorrow at 12:55 L.A. time.
The Dodgers were done in by the rain. A 48-minute rain delay between the 4th and 5th innings might have inadvertently cost the Dodgers the game by getting the Dodgers to remove Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw had pitched four strong innings, giving up just two hits and two walks, while striking out two on 65 pitches. Joe Torre, however, elected to remove Kershaw after the rains stopped in favor of Chan Ho Park. Chan Ho, who had been solid out of the bullpen this year, proceeded to give up five runs over the next 1 and 1/3 innings, including giving up a homerun to Marcus Thames, his third in the last three games.
