Dodgers Shut Out Again, 4-0

Jason Bay powered his first home run of the year to center field, the Los Angeles Dodgers allowed another run on a wild pitch that followed an intentional walk, and that was enough to propel the New York Mets to a 4-0 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field, handing the Dodgers their second consecutive shutout loss.

A good starting performance by Hiroki Kuroda - six innings, five hits, one unintentional walk, and four strikeouts in 87 pitches - went for naught as he was pinch-hit for trailing 2-0, and four relief pitchers were used to finish the game.

The slumbering Dodger offense has accumulated a grand total of one run over their last 24 innings; that one run being the winning run in the extra-inning win Saturday in Washington.  Today the Dodgers totaled only five hits, and had only two runners reach scoring position with less than two outs:  Reed Johnson who tripled with one out in the third, and Andre Ethier who double with one out in the 8th, but neither advanced any further.  The number three through six hitters were 1 - 15 with a walk.

Johan Santana seemed to labor a bit, throwing 115 pitches to get through six innings, yet he allowed only four hits and struck out six.

The Dodgers get to try to break out of their offensive funk after only a thirty minute wait for the start of game two of the doubleheader.  It is left as an exercise for the reader to decide if that is good news or bad news.

WP - Johan Santana (3-1):  6 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts

LP - Hiroki  Kuroda (2-1):  6 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts