Bring on the Braves

The Dodgers will be hosting the Braves for four games starting tonight and hopefully things will go as well at home as they did on the road when we took two of three from the faltering Braves.

In his four years as a Dodger, Derek Lowe pitched 431 innings at Dodger Stadium, going 33-22 with a 3.15 ERA.  Tonight, Lowe makes his return to Dodger Stadium after beating his old club last Saturday.

Will he be cheered, booed, or ignored? I'm betting on ignore, even though he spent four years here,  and was the best pitching free agent signings in Dodger history. For the casual fan he  might be more remembered for his adulterous affair with a local sports host which ended with a divorce for Lowe, and eventually marriage for the happy couple then for his contributions on the mound which were significant.

Led the starting staff from 2005 to 2008 in wins(58), innings(850),strikeouts(563) and was 2nd in ERA+(122).

During his time he often spoke of how he missed the intensity of the fans back in Boston and I'm sure he wanted to sign a FA contract with them when his time with us was up. However the Sox decided to cheap out and signed a one year deal with Brad Penny and let the Braves snag Lowe. 

If Lowe was still on the team I don't think we'd have had any talk about needing another frontline pitcher. The problem for Derek Lowe wasn't his peformance at age 36 in 2009 but his performance in 2012 at age 40 which is why he's now a Brave, and not a Dodger. Most of us were glad we walked away from that four year deal but I expect most of us would have loved to have him back in 2009 on a one year deal.

The Braves have split their last 10 games and are seven games behind the Phillie's which gives them about as much chance as ending up Eastern Division champions as the Rockies have of being Western Division champions. Not much

Some Dodger notes:

MILESTONE ALERT! – Dodger second baseman Orlando Hudson went 1-for-3 last night and is sitting on 999 hits for his career. The All-Star second baseman is hitting .338 (24-for-68) with four doubles and two triples since the All-Star break. Teammate Casey Blake is just 24 hits shy of 1,000.

SCORING STUDS – The Dodgers rank second in the National League with 539 runs scored, trailing only the Philadelphia Phillies’ 557 runs.  Los Angeles is on pace to score 809 runs, which would be the third-highest total since the team moved to Los Angeles .  The 1962 club scored 842 runs and the 2006 team crossed the plate 820 times.

TOUGH LUCK SEASON – Dodger starter Randy Wolf is currently posting the second-best single-season ERA in his career at 3.47, just behind his 3.20 in 2002. Wolf’s ERA is not deserving of a below .500 record:

 

Lowest ERA, Pitchers Under .500, MLB 2009

(minimum 1.0 IP per team game)

PITCHER                              ERA                             RECORD

Cliff Lee, Cle-Phi                   3.02                                        (8-9)

Zach Duke, Pit                       3.45                                        (9-10)

Randy Wolf, LAD             3.47                                           (5-6) 

Matt Garza, TB                     3.63                                        (7-8)

Doug Davis, Ari                   3.67                                        (6-10)

                                                                   Source: STATS, LLC

SPREADING THE WEALTH – Andre Ethier (69), Matt Kemp (69), and James Loney (68) have combined for 206 RBI.  Only two other trios of teammates in the National League have combined for more RBI.  Milwaukee ’s Prince Fielder (95), Ryan Braun (76), and Mike Cameron/J.J. Hardy (45) have combined for 216 RBI, while Philadelphia ’s Ryan Howard (79), Raul Ibanez (75), and Chase Utley (70) have combined for 224.

Get your guesses in for "Just A Bit Outside" here.

Game Time:  7:10pm

TV:  Prime Ticket

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