The Dodgers finally met their match on Tuesday, and his name was Russ Ortiz. Actually, Ortiz wasn't all that effective -- three runs and five walks in five innings -- but he had the backing of a Houston offense that battered Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers.
There isn't a much harder task than trying to win a game against Roy Oswalt, easily one of the best pitchers in baseball throughout his career. Oswalt is 5-2 lifetime with a 3.63 ERA against the Dodgers, but he has been especially tough in Houston, never allowing more than one earned run:
| Date | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Result |
| 6/30/08 | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 9 | W, 4-1 |
| 7/9/05 | 6.1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | W, 4-2 |
| 6/2/01 | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | W, 2-1 |
| Totals | 18.1 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 3-0, 1.47 ERA |
Sure, that's a small sample, but Oswalt has no doubt been successful at home against the Dodgers. Perhaps the Dodgers can use another more recent small sample to their advantage: through is first three starts this season, Oswalt is only averaging 4.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
Randy Wolf toes the rubber for the Dodgers, against his most immediate former team. Let's hope he does better than his other 2009 start against one of his 2008 teams.
Besides Matt Kemp and his 14-game hitting streak, Manny Ramirez is also white hot. Manny has four straight multi-hit games, with all three of his home runs during that short span.
Today's game will be on Prime Ticket, the second of three different television stations on which the series in Houston will be televised (MLB Network takes the reigns Thursday over KCAL, who booted the Dodgers in favor of playoff Laker basketball).
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