Getting back in the swing of things. I'm glad I got back to town just in time to see the Dodgers start playing .500 baseball again.
They went 3-3 this week ... although, silver lining: they did it in such a nice pattern - L, W, L, W, L, W.
Alright, so, what happened this week?
Clayton Kershaw Continues To Regress
Admittedly, he looked shaky at times this week, but he made two starts and the final box score shows:
-6.0 IP, 0 ER (1 Run), 4 Ks
-5.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 Ks
So, you can obviously see his future is bleak.
Ryan Dempster Practices Voodoo
... It's the only way to explain how he can shut down the Dodgers so consistently. In 22 career games (12 starts) spanning 93.2 innings against the Dodgers, Dempster's ERA is 2.31. I mean ... seriously.
Notorious Dodger slayer Jake Peavy has a 2.27 career ERA against the Dodgers in 158.1 innings. Tim Lincecum's career ERA against the Dodgers is 2.96 in 48.2 innings.
Dempster is a guy, by the way, who has a career ERA of 4.39. His 2.31 mark against the Dodgers is 2nd lowest amongst all NL teams (Dempster has a 2.00 ERA against Florida, in 27 IP) and the lowest in his career against any team he's pitched over 30 innings against.
I know a pitcher's ERA versus a team over their career is a skewed stat because of all the variables (changes in lineup, changes with the pitcher himself) ... all I'm getting at is this: why in the world can't the Dodgers beat Ryan Dempster?
Ryan Dempster, seen here owning the Dodgers.
Andre Ethier Is Almost Back
... and I'm giddy like a school girl.
After being shutout twice by the Cubs (Tuesday vs. Dempster and Thursday vs. Ted *cough* cheater *cough* Lilly ... I kid. But seriously ... cheater.) the Dodgers could use him back in the lineup.
Whatever The Opposite Of A Gold Glove Is, Rafael Furcal Wins It For This Week
Furcal came off the DL this week, and apparently forgot how to play defense while he was away.
Here's a quick list of the days this week in which Rafael Furcal started a game and did not commit an error: Friday.
Seriously. This was his week:
Two errors Tuesday, one error Wednesday, pinch hit on Thursday and didn't play the field, error-less Friday, one error Saturday, and one error Sunday.
At this point, you start to wonder if it's a mental thing. Doubt that he can't make a simple play might have gotten in his head and it's screwing with him.
Or maybe it's just rust and maybe he just shakes it off. I guess we'll see...
...and finally:
The Dodgers Can't Win When Vin Scully Doesn't Call The Game
The Dodgers record in all games in Denver or West of Denver: 23-9
The Dodgers record in all games East of Denver: 5-13
I mean, it's good to be able to win at home (15-8), and it's definitely good to be able to beat up on the other NL West teams (15-5), but at some point you have to be able to get past the fact the Steve Lyons is announcing and win in a foreign land (The Dodgers play another 24 games east of Denver, plus more if we get to the playoffs).
I was debating when to start recaps, either after the end of the Diamondbacks series or the odd off-day today (or the normal off-day on Monday's). I'm thinking of doing it on Sunday's, after the weekend series ends (only issue would be four game series that go into Monday, but I guess I can work around that?). I don't know, I'll work it out.In any case, let's recap the week that was with the Dodgers.
The week started out pretty good, with the Dodgers beating Jake Peavy and the Padres, but turned sour after they lost two of the next three to split the four game set.
The Dodgers then traveled to Arizona, where they lost their first game on Friday, before coming back to take the next two to win the series. And especially of note is the odd four-out play that occurred in Sunday's 3-1 win.
Finally, the Dodgers really put on a show for their Home Opener, beating down the Giants 11-1 to win their third straight.
The Dodgers went 5-3 for the week.
And now I present the first ever:
HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE.
COLD:- Russell Martin - (For the week:) .207 (6-29), 5 RBIs, 9 Ks - Russell's been struggling, despite going 2-5 with two RBIs in Monday's game. That's not to say there isn't some improvement on the horizon. It's been a bad week, but he is riding a four-game hitting streak. That streak, admittedly, has gone like this: 1-5, 1-4, 1-4, 2-5 (Monday), but a streak's a streak.
- Rafael Furcal - .226 (7-31), 6 runs, 4 Ks - For a guy who started last season by tearing up the league in April, Furcal's start to 2009 has been a bit weak. He has scored six runs, which is his job, but that comes after he's only reached base 10 times this week. But, man, if he kicks it into gear, our offense will be even scarier.
- James McDonald - 0-1, 19.29 ERA (5 earned runs in 2.1 innings), 3 walks - A pretty bad first start for McDonald, and the biggest shame is that he was dealing through two innings on his April 10th start in Arizona (a 9-4 loss). But he all fell apart in the 3rd: A homerun, two walks, a hit batter, another walk, and another hit, and McDonald's first start that began so nicely (retiring six in a row) ended so poorly.
ROOM TEMPERATURE:
- Manny Ramírez - .304 (7-23), 4 RBIs, 11 walks - Question: When do you rate a guy who's batting .304 as average? Answer: When he's Manny Ramírez. Now, a .304 average is nothing to look down upon, but when you are paying a guy $25 million, you'd at least expect a homerun or two, or at least more than four RBIs. Still, Manny can't be faulted too much. It's obvious through this first week of the season that a lot of teams have decided they aren't going to let Manny beat them, so he's been getting more than a few unintentional-intentional walks. Manny did win a game for us already (a 5-2 win, April 8th in San Diego), so that's pretty good, but it's starting to look like we aren't going to be able to lean our offense on Manny much anymore. And he's going to have to make more out of the opportunities he does have to swing the bat.
- Randy Wolf - 1-1 (2 starts), 3.65 ERA (5 earned runs in 12.1 innings), 8 Ks - After a weak start in San Diego (4 earned runs in 5.1 innings during a 4-2 loss, April 7th), Randy more than redeemed himself on Saturday's start in Arizona (a 3-1 win, April 12th). At one point, Randy retired 16 batters in a row on his way to a 7.0 innings, one run performance. Which Randy will come out for the next start is yet to be seen, but I liked what I was seeing on Sunday.
- Andre Ethier - .250 (7-28), 2 homeruns, 8 RBIs, 7 walks - After going through the first seven games batting .208 with only one extra base hit (and getting demoted from the clean-up spot to the 6th spot), Ethier really came back with a strong performance on Monday. His game high four RBIs brought his total to eight for the week, and his two homeruns were well-hit. It's good to see some signs of life coming from Ethier after a pretty comatose start to the week.
HOT:
- Matt Kemp - .357 (10-28), 1 homerun, 5 RBIs - The only Dodger to collect a hit in every game this season, Kemp's come out of the gates strong. Again, admittedly, he's had a few 1-4's during the streak, but again, a streak's a streak. Add to that a couple of really nice defensive plays, and a monster homerun off Jake Peavy, and Kemp's had a pretty good week.
- Orlando Hudson - .333 (11-33), 2 homeruns, 5 RBIs, 7 runs, 3 stolen bases, 1.086 OPS - How do you make a good impression on the fans of your new team? Well, not only do you tie for the most hits on the team during the week, you complete the first cycle in almost 40 years by a Dodger, as well as being the first Dodger to hit for a cycle in Dodger Stadium history. At the HOME OPENER. Against THE GIANTS. Nice way to introduce yourself to the home crowd, Orlando.
- James Loney - .355 (11-31), 5 RBIs, 1 K - Not only did Loney tie Hudson for most hits during the week, he did it without striking out. One strikeout, Monday, 3rd inning. That's putting the bat to the ball. And he's not doing it against nobodies. The Dodgers have faced more than a couple quality pitchers this week (including Former Cy Young winner Jake Peavy, eh? Eh???) and Loney's done well against them. He's currently riding a four game hitting streak.
- Chad Billingsley - 2-0 (2 starts), 2.08 ERA (3 earned runs in 13.0 innings) 15 Ks - Billingsley showed this week he's ready to take on the season as a top of the rotation starter. While his start in San Diego was pretty strong (6.0 innings, 2 earned runs in a 5-2 win on April 8th), his start on Monday was downright impressive. He went 7.0 strong innings, giving up just one earned run while striking out 11. That includes striking out five Giants in a row at one point.
So there you have it. The first ever J's Dodger Blog Week Recap (Weekap? I don't like it). I'm thinking the next one will be coming after Sunday's game versus Colorado, but don't hold me to it.
I don't know what I'm doing...
That was pretty nice.
The Dodgers won their season opener yesterday beating the Padres 4-1 and showed a little bit of everything that should make us good this year.
James Loney went 3-4 with a couple RBIs, Matt Kemp smashed a solo homerun in 7th, and Hiroki Kuroda held the Padres to one run for 5.2 innings.
Pretty nice.
Add to that Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier collecting two hits a piece, and the Dodger bullpen going 3.1 scoreless innings in relief.
Even better.
So, overall, not a bad start to the season.
Oh yeah, did I mention we beat Jake Peavy?
That does make it that much sweeter.
The Dodgers are out slugged by the Padres and fail to complete the three game sweep.
Jake Peavy got the win, he's 10-11. Eric Stults took the loss, he's 2-3. Trevor Hoffman picked up his 29th save.
The pitching was a bit shaky today. The Dodgers used five different pitchers and each gave up at least one run. Eric Stults started. He went 4.2 innings and gave up three runs. Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton pitched an inning each (the 8th and 9th respectively) and each gave up a run.
The Dodgers had a bit of an odd game offensively. 16 different players had at-bats. 
Chin-lung Hu went 2-3 with a stolen base, an RBI, and a run scored. Jason Repko went 1-1 and drew two walks. Andre Ethier went 1-2 with a walk and an RBI. Matt Kemp went 1-3 with a walk, a homerun, an RBI, and a run scored. Juan Pierre went 2-3 with an RBI. Finally, Blake DeWitt had an odd game. He went 0-1 and scored two runs without collecting a hit or walk. He came in as a pinch runner and was brought home, then later was hit by a pitch and came around to score again.
The important event today happened before the game. The Arizona Diamondbacks lost so the Dodgers clinched the NL West before today's game even started. The Dodgers will travel now to San Francisco to begin their last series of the season. The three game weekend series begins Friday at 7:35 L.A. time.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to seven games over .500 (83-76).
Opinion: There's not much to say about this game, as will probably be the case for the next three games as well. 
The starting lineup was different, but it didn't really matter because the scrubs were all in by the 5th inning. We're just getting everyone out there and getting them some playing time. We are going to see a lot of playing time for Jason Repko and Chin-lung Hu this weekend, and that's fine because we have nothing to gain by winning the next three games, but the possibility of losing a starter to injury before the playoffs is horrifying. That said, it would be nice to go into the playoffs with at least 85 wins, not at the cost of losing someone, but just for some pride and a nice even number. The important thing, though, is that we are in the playoffs, and for now, I'll just celebrate that.
The Dodgers complete the three game sweep of the Diamondbacks for their eighth win in a row.
Hong-Chih Kuo got the win, he's 5-2. Jon Rauch took the loss, he's 4-6. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 13th save.
Clayton Kershaw didn't have a good start. He made it only four innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out four. He gave up two solo homeruns in the game. The bullpen then combined to pitch the next five innings. Though they were shaky (four hits and three walks), they managed to keep the Diamondbacks from scoring any extra runs. Jonathan Broxton struck out three in the final 1.2 innings to close the door and get the save (due in part to help from Nomar Garciaparra, who made a great diving catch to end the game).
Offensively, the Dodgers had a pretty good game. James Loney went 1-3 with a sac-fly and three RBIs on the day. Manny Ramírez went 2-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Andre Ethier went 2-3 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored. Nomar Garciaparra came in in a double switch late in the game and had a tie-breaking sac-fly in the 7th inning.
With the win, the Dodgers increase their lead in the NL West to 1.5 games. The Dodgers will now travel to San Diego to begin a three game series there, tomorrow at 7:05 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move to three games over .500 (73-70)... James Loney's three RBIs give him a team leading 79 on the year.
Opinion: It's good to not rest on your laurels. We could have come out today and given the Diamondbacks back a game, leaving the weekend in 2nd place again. And at one point, it looked like it was going to happen (six consectutive Dodgers struck out in the 4th and 5th innings while the Diamondbacks held on to a 3-2 lead). But the Dodgers came back, and firmly established themselves as the first place team in the NL West. Now, we have to keep it up. This was a great week, and now we're going into San Diego now, which always seems to be a tough place for us to win. We won't face Jake Peavy or Chris Young, however, and we've got some momentum. We've got a 1.5 game lead now in the NL West. We are in first place. I say we keep going and never look back. This is the final push to the playoffs... Let's do it.
The Dodgers beat the Padres to take the first game of the three game series and extend their winning streak to three games.
Greg Maddux got the win, he's 7-11. Chris Young took the loss, he's 4-5. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 11th save.
Greg Maddux had a good start, though he didn't go too deep into the game. He went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out four. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out three. Jonathan Broxton gave up a hit in the 9th, but struck out two batters to close out the game.
The Dodgers didn't score too many runs, but they were able to plate five. Five different Dodgers had an RBI each (four different Dodgers scored a run). Andre Ethier went 1-2 with two walks, a stolen base, and a run scored. Manny Ramírez went 1-2 with a walk, a sac-fly, and an RBI. James Loney went 2-4 with an RBI. Casey Blake also went 2-4, with a homerun, a stolen base, an RBI, and two runs scored.
The Arizona Diamondbacks came back to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, so with the win, the Dodgers keep pace. They'll remain 2.5 games back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to carry on their winning streak tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: The win today brings the Dodgers back to two games under .500 (68-70)... Greg Maddux's win today gives him 354 wins for his career. That ties him with Roger Clemens for eighth place on the all-time wins list... James Loney's RBI today brings his team-leading total to 74 on the year... Loney's two hits today extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
Opinion: Good job today in keeping that momentum from the last two games of the Arizona series. So often do I feel like we have momentum going into a series only to have the series blow up in our face (see Colorado series two weeks ago). I don't want to put too much stock into the game. The Padres are an awful team. They don't have much hitting, and beyond Jake Peavy, they don't have much pitching. Still, a win is a win, and we face the Padres eight more times before the end of the year. Things will be a lot easier for us if we can handle them.
The Dodgers take the rubber match of the weekend series to win the series and extend their winning streak to two games.
Derek Lowe got the win, he's 11-11. Brandon Webb took the loss, he's 19-6.
Derek Lowe pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits and a walk while striking out two. Scott Elbert gave up a solo homerun in an inning of work, but struck out the side. Cory Wade struck out one while pitching a scoreless 8th inning. Jonathan Broxton struck out the side in the 9th.
Offensively, the Dodgers plated eight runs on 12 hits and seven walks. James Loney went 3-5. Andre Ethier went 2-5, with a double, a homerun, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Casey Blake went 1-4, with a homerun, three RBIs, and a run scored. Overall, three different Dodgers knocked in runs, and five players scored at least one run.
With the win, the Dodgers move to 2.5 games back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West race. The Dodgers start a three game series at home versus the San Diego Padres tomorrow at 5:10 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers get back to three games under .500 (67-70)... With James Loney's three hits in the game, he extended his hitting streak to 11 games... 
Andre Ethier's homerun was his 18th, good for first place on the Dodgers.
Opinion: Really good to see the Dodgers pick up two victories against the Diamondbacks' two best pitchers. The hitting might be starting to come around. The Dodgers scored 14 runs in the last two games (both wins). During their eight game losing streak, they scored a total of 15 runs. This is good, but we have to keep it up. The matchup for this week's series against the Padres looks good. We won't face Jake Peavy, so that's always a plus. We should be able to win at least two of the three games. That said, we sometimes have issues winning games we should win. Let's hope for the best.
Well, that happened.
Jake Peavy got the win, he's 5-3. Hiroki Kuroda gets the loss, he's 3-6.
As per usual, Jake Peavy dominated the Dodgers. He went six innings, gave up only 3 hits, and struck out four on 72 pitches (He's now 12-1 against us in his career). And when you can't score runs, you need to rely on pitching... which the Dodgers didn't get today. Hiroki Kuroda, coming off his best start of the season, has one of his worst starts. He went only 2 and 1/3 innings, gave up two homeruns, and six runs overall (including five in the first inning).
Offensively there wasn't much to speak of. James Loney got two of the Dodgers' five hits, and the only extra base hit, a double of Peavy to start the fifth. Three outs later, however, he was left stranded on second. There were a few other scattered hits here and there. I do wonder though, why Joe Torre chose to play Luis Maza at 2nd Base instead of Andy LaRoche, who's been playing there for the last few weeks in AAA. Not to say LaRoche would have saved the Dodgers in today's game, but he might have done better than Maza. He did pinch hit in the game and gave a Jake Peavy pitch a pretty good ride to the center field warning track.
Not much to write home about. The Dodgers will now pack their bags and head to Detroit for a weekend series. The Tigers have won five of their last ten games.
The Lakers try to tie their series at 2 tonight at the Staples Center. Let's try to go 1-1 today L.A. teams...
EDIT: L.A. Teams: 0-2 on the day. The second loss was a lot harder to take...
The Dodgers after showing some offense last night, take the loss tonight after failing to put more than one run on the board.
Randy Wolf pitching against his old team picked up the win bringing his record to 5-4. Chad Billingsley loses, his record is now 4-7. Trevor Hoffman gets the save, it is his 15th on the season.
Billingsley had a below average start today. He gave up four runs over seven innings and only struck out three batters, which is the lowest amount of strike outs in any of his starts this year. He struggled in the first three innings, giving up a run in each of them, including solo homers from Edgar Gonzalez and Khalil Greene. He settled down after the third before giving up another somewhat flukey run in the 7th. Chad will have to bounce in his next start in Cincinnati after giving up four runs in his last two starts.
The offense, meanwhile, offered not much run support for Billingsley. Matt Kemp after knocking in three runs yesterday went 0-4 today with three strikeouts. 
Russell Martin, after going 3-5 with 3 RBIs yesterday, went 1-4 today. Save for a one-out double off Trevor Hoffman in the 9th inning from Russell Martin, the Dodgers 3-4-5 hitters went a combined 1-12 today with four strikeouts. The one bright spot in the Dodger line-up today came from Andy LaRoche. In his first game back in the majors, LaRoche went 1-2, with a walk and a homerun. He hit the first pitch he saw in the fourth inning from Randy Wolf over the left field bleachers for his first hit of the season. Welcome back to the majors, Andy.
Tomorrow, the Dodgers get to take on old foe Jake Peavy in the rubber match of this three game series. Hiroki Kuroda will make his first start since pitching a complete game shutout against the hard hitting Chicago Cubs. Tomorrow might be something of a pitching duel...
Couple of notes before the Dodger game today.
Congratulations to Blake DeWitt for winning the National League Rookie of the Month Award for May. He hit .322 with five homeruns and 18 RBIs in May. Congratulations Blake, keep making Sikeston proud.
Andy LaRoche didn't play yesterday after getting his call-up but he will be in the line-up tonight in place of James Loney against lefty Randy Wolf.
Finally, lucky us, the Padres will activate Jake Peavy off the DL just in time for tomorrow's game against us. Peavy is 11-1 in his career against us with a 2.31 ERA and 127 Strikeouts over 132.1 innings in 20 starts. This bodes well for us tomorrow. We'd probably better cash in with a win tonight against Wolf.
Ryan Dempster, seen here owning the Dodgers.
