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The first place Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles come to town with a slim one-game lead on the San Diego Padres. After winning 7 in a row, the Dodgers lost three games straight before finally edging the Brewers 2-1 in the getaway game in Milwaukee on Wednesday. During the 3-game slide, the former Brooklyn boys were outscored 27-8. This pattern is not unusual for LA, which has enjoyed most of its success at home, where they are 44-27. On the road, they are 8 games under .500.
If you saw the Mets play the Dodgers earlier in the season, you might not recognize this as the same team. Some veterans have returned from injuries, and the Dodgers have added a bunch of rookies to the team. They also added Julio Lugo (from Tampa) and Wilson Betemit (from the Braves) at the trading deadline and they have helped the offense.
Pitching is the Dodgers’ strength. The rotation is pretty good, led by NL pitcher-of-the-month Derek Lowe, who went 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA in August. Lowe got the win yesterday in Milwaukee, so the Mets catch a break and miss him.
Offensively, the Dodgers generally play small ball – nobody on the team has more than 17 home runs. With Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra both spending time on the disabled list this year, their numbers have been held down. Both are healthy now, however, which coincides with the LA surge in the standings. The Dodgers lost 13 of their first 14 games following the all-star break, but then ran off a string of 12 in a row which put them back in first place, where they have stayed for the last 3 weeks – albeit by a slim margin.
{Note: I am totally frustrated by my inability to make the tables below come out looking right in the post. Somebody will have to teach me some day. Sorry.}
Starting Lineup:
1. Rafael Furcal, SS
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .448 4 2 6 1
Season .291 94 9 52 33
2. Kenny Lofton, CF
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .174 2 0 1 1
Season .304 62 2 31 25
3. Nomar Garciaparra, 1B
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .143 4 1 6 0
Season .308 71 15 75 3
4. Jeff Kent, 2B
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .357 6 1 5 0
Season .274 47 13 63 1
5. Andre Ethier, LF
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .240 3 0 1 1
Season .332 49 11 53 5
6. Matthew Kemp, RF
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .136 3 0 1 1
Season .269 26 7 21 5
7. Julio Lugo, 3B
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .172 3 0 0 1
Season .308 53 12 27 18
8. Russell Martin, C
BA R HR RBI SB
Last 7 .364 3 1 5 1
Season .290 49 8 54 9
What to watch for: Keep an eye on the Dodger rookies as they come into the pennant home stretch. Andre Ethier has been amazing. Matthew Kemp has been a run producer. Russell Martin has been a huge surprise. All are in their first September ever.
Pitching Matchups:
Thursday: Brad Penny (15-7, 3.97) vs. Tom Glavine (12-6, 4.13)
Penny was brilliant in the all-star game, and has a superior record, but he’s coming off a season where he had a serious injury, and the innings are catching up with him. He has not lasted past the 6th inning in any of his last 5 starts, and is a very average 5-5 with a 6.00 ERA since the break. Look for the Mets to get into the Dodger bullpen early.
Glavine's ERA soared to a season-high figure when he allowed six runs in five innings against the Astros on Friday night in his first start in 16 days. He retired nine of his first 10 batters, but merely five on his last 13, one on a long sacrifice fly. He has six no-decisions in 11 starts since June 23. Still Glavine should be more rested and able to go deeper into the game than Penny.
Friday – Hong-Chih Kuo (1st start) vs. John Maine (5-3, 3.44)
After struggling in the Dodgers' bullpen, currently holding a 5.34 ERA in the big leagues this season, Kuo returned to Triple-A Las Vegas in July and went 3-3 with a 2.61 ERA in nine starts. "We feel that's a good opportunity for us to win a game," Little said of his choice. "We feel good about (Kuo's) stuff. ... He had much more success starting there (in Triple-A) than he did in the bullpen for us." But, he’s still a rookie making his big league debut as a starter. (Yummy)
Meanwhile, Maine has been very solid for the Mets. After allowing two hits (both home runs) in his most recent start on Saturday night in Houston, Maine now has surrendered 12 homers in 68 innings. And those 12 have produced 21 of the 27 runs he has allowed.
Saturday – Greg Maddux – (12-12, 4.36) vs. El Duque (9-10, 5.15)
The Dodgers won the first four games Maddux started since joining the team in July, but has lost two of three since. In his last three starts, he is 1-1 and has given up 28 hits in 17 1/3 innings. The Dodgers desperately need him to be solid the rest of the way.
El Duque returned last Sunday, pitched for the first time in 14 days and allowed one hit in 5 1/3 innings. The proviso: He walked six and needed 106 pitches to achieve 16 outs. But the clubs was pleased with his stamina and hardly displeased with the result. Don’t expect him to pitch a complete game.
Sunday – Mark Hendrickson (5-15, 4.41) vs. Dave Williams ( 5-3, 5.68)
Hendrickson has pitched into the fifth just once in his last four starts and gotten further than the sixth just once since he donned Dodgers blue for the first time. The latest rough outing came Tuesday, when he permitted four earned runs in four innings, with seven hits in a loss to the Brewers. With an expanded roster in September, it's possible Hendrickson will be limited to relief duty for the season's remainder.
Williams has won two of his three starts, and the Mets have won all three contests. Williams' 3.79 ERA in his 19 innings as a Met is a quite acceptable for a fill-in starter. He’d like nothing better than to make it difficult for the front office to decide who is in and who is out of the rotation the rest of the way.
Final thoughts. The Dodgers have more to play for than the Mets. They are young and hungry. But, they are also under a LOT of pressure with the Padres breathing down their necks, and the prospect of falling out of not only the NL West lead, but possibly out of the playoff race looms above them if they don’t play well on this road trip. The pressure is clearly on the Dodgers, and with a bunch of rookies in the lineup, they could implode – or they could be so young and inexperienced that they don’t know any better and won’t be affected by the pressure. Should be interesting to see.
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