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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Dodgers Go For Sweep then Pack Bags For Road Trip

Rockies @ Dodgers
7:10 pm
Game 3

So the Dodgers have decided to score runs and win some games which now puts them at 4 games under .500 and in third place in the NL West. This abrupt turn-a-round must be due in part to the return of Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake, as well as the departures of some of the horrendous game-blowers in the bullpen, namely Lance Cormier. Kershaw, Billingsley, and even Lilly have all came out and made outstanding starts during this rare three game winning streak. This always helps when you have a AAA bullpen on hand. Tonight, the Dodgers will go for their first series sweep of the year. The Rockies are a mere shell of their former selves we saw at the beginning of the season. Mullet Man and CarGo aren't as red hot as they were, and the Rockies have had some trouble with their starting pitching. We need this bad. After tonight, the boys pack up and head out on a challenging road trip in the East.

Jon Garland (1-4, 4.31) will go to the mound in hopes of his second win of the season. Ubaldo Jimenez (0-5, 5.86) is surprisingly winless yet this season and has an uncharacteristically high ERA for him. Last June Jimenez had the best record in the NL at 10-1.

In injury news, Vicente Padilla had a good rehab outing on Tuesday, pitching two scoreless innings. He should be back Friday in time to join the Dodgers in Cincinnati. Uribe should be back for the Philly series. Thames is also close to returning as well. It will be interesting to see who is moved in order to make room for these three once they return. Ramon Troncoso will almost be a certain once Padilla rejoins the team.

On the league leader board, Matt Kemp is second in homeruns with 13 behind Bruce of Cincinnati who has 16, and Bison is also 5th in RBIs with 40 behind Bruce who has 44. Kemp also is 5th in stolen bases with 14. The speedy Bourn of Houston has 20. Andre Ethier is 5th in batting average with .327 behind the leader, Matt Holliday who has come down to .342.

Vote Kemp & Ethier for 2011 All-Stars!

Lineup:

Furcal 6
Blake 5
Ethier 9
Kemp 8
Gibbons 7
Loney 3
Barajas 2
Carroll 4
Garland 1

Since Gibbons is hitting behind Kemp, I'm sure we'll be seeing them walk Kemp to get to "Contacts in the Wind" Gibbons. Gibbons gets the start over Sands again, making me wary about how much longer Sands will remain at the big league level especially since Thames and Uribe are due back soon.

Let's go for the sweep Dodger fans! Go Blue!

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