Fresh off one of their most thrilling wins of the season last night, the Dodgers go for the sweep tonight in Phoenix. They have a tall task, facing one of the league's best pitchers in Dan Haren.
Haren has made 11 starts against the National League West this season, and he has a 1.85 ERA and a 3.04 FIP in those games, yet only a 3-3 record to show for it. The Diamondbacks are shockingly only 4-7 in those games.
Jon Garland will make his second Dodger start, and second straight against his old teammates. At Chase Field this season, Garland is 4-5 with a 5.35 ERA in 13 starts. I would prefer if you didn't do the math this one time.
Don't look now, but Rafael Furcal has put together a modest five-game hitting streak. He has reached base 12 times in those five games, hitting .381/.480/.476 while scoring six runs.
James Loney has five multi-hit games in his last eight contests, hitting .379/.438/.483 during that span.
Lost in the hoopla of last night's eighth inning rally was that Orlando Hudson made two outs during the inning, a rare but essentially meaningless occurrence. Here are the Dodgers who have made two outs in the same inning this season:
- Orlando Hudson: last night, grounded out to first base, then flew to center in the eighth inning
- Juan Castro: August 4 vs. the Brewers, sacrificed to pitcher, then grounded to pitcher in the sixth inning
- Andre Ethier: July 10 in Milwaukee, grounded out to second base, then popped out to third base in the tenth inning
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Matt Kemp: May 6 vs. Washington, lined out to center, then grounded into a force play, third to second, in the sixth inning
Also, from the Dodgers:
The Dodgers and the American Red Cross are hosting the Heroes Blood Drive on Friday at Dodger Stadium from 3:00-9:00 p.m. All donors will receive a commemorative Dodgers item and may enter a drawing to win a chance to be honored as the Blood Donor of the Game at one of the remaining regular-season Dodgers home games. To schedule an appointment, or for additional information, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE, or visit GiveLife.org
Here are tonight's lineups:
| Dodgers | Diamondbacks | |||
| SS | Furcal |
2B | Roberts |
|
| CF | Kemp |
SS | Drew | |
| RF | Ethier | RF | Upton | |
| LF | Manny | 3B | Reynolds | |
| 1B | Loney | C | Montero | |
| 3B | Belliard |
CF | Young | |
| 2B | Hudson | LF | Byrnes | |
| C | Martin | 1B | Tracy |
|
| P | Garland | P | Haren | |
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Check out Xeifrank's simulation of today's game here.
Don't forget to RSVP for True Blue LA Day at Dodger Stadium, on the next-to-last day of the regular season, October 3 against the Rockies.
Get your guesses in for our today's "One, Two, Three Strikes, You're Out," here.
Game Time: 7:10pm
TV: Prime Ticket, ESPN