Dodgers Open Series Against First Place Rivals

Dodgers @ Giants
7:15pm
Game 1

After a weekend chock full of losing, the Dodgers return to San Francisco in hopes of picking up some wins against their first place rival. With the rotation slightly altered, Chad Billingsley (8-7, 3.87) will go to the mound in game 1 tonight. Bills has only allowed three runs in his last three starts, and he plays well vs. the Giants. He's 7-4 with a 3.01 ERA against them. Ryan Vogelsong (6-1, 2.17) will be a formidable opponent. He has only lost one game this season, and has a good ERA. He is also another pitcher who can hit well, and he has a .250 batting average going 7 for 28 this season. Bills has a slightly better average at .267 and has 8 hits himself this year. We may be in for a pitcher's hitting face-off! Let's just hope it's not another Hudson embarrassment like yesterday's game.

Don Mattingly still has hope that if the team can win another 5 in a row and turn things around then they can make a good run for a spot in the playoffs. Ummm....ok...well I guess the manager has to stay positive. He can't just say yeah we're done this season, but I mean c'mon, we're not making the playoffs this year short of a miracle. I'd still like to see some competitive baseball played though. We can't keep hoping 1-run offense is going to cut it. Juan Uribe has just been awful so far this season, and I hate to see him for another two years in this form. Before the season I heard the disdain of Giants fans regarding the Dodgers picking him up, but alas they are lucky to have gotten rid of him.

There's also been speculation that Hiroki Kuroda will be traded before the deadline at the end of the month. Of course other teams would want Kuroda, can't blame them for trying. Kuroda doesn't want to be traded. End of story. He relocated his family from Japan to play for the Dodgers, and he doesn't want to uproot them again. If he decided to retire, he would move back to Japan. This nonsense was swirling around the same time last year, and I balked off the rumors then as well. When time came to talk about Kuroda returning to the Dodgers this season many said he wouldn't. I said I thought he would return, and he did. I think he may even return next season on another 1-year deal. If Kuroda was traded who would replace him? Eli? Eveland? So we want to lose 100 games for sure? No thanks. Keep Kuroda a Dodger!

Lineup:

Furcal 6
Miles 4
Ethier 9
Kemp 8
Rivera 7
Loney 3
Uribe 5
Big Rod 2
Bills 1

Go Blue:)