The Dodgers have played five series on the road this season, and have lost them all. They lost their last two road series last year, and have now lost 15 of their last 20 road games (18 of 24 if you count the playoffs). Manny Ramirez is on the disabled list. So is Vicente Padilla, and he can't even throw for the next seven to 10 days. Now Rafael Furcal is hurt, with a tight hamstring per Tony Jackson of ESPN LA. They have allowed 19 unearned runs in 20 games, five more than any other team in baseball. We have a guy making his major league debut starting on the mound today, and our best choices to start on Saturday are a guy who before this season threw only 7 1/3 innings above Class A and a guy who has allowed nearly two baserunners per inning this season.
In other words, there aren't many things going the Dodgers' way right now. However...
- John Ely has history on his side, given the remarkable record of Dodgers' starters making their major league debuts
- Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo and Ronald Belisario haven't pitched since Saturday, so bet on them pitching today
- John Maine, starting for the Mets today, has allowed at least four runs in five of his six career starts against the Dodgers, and the Dodgers have won five of the six games
Here are the lineups:
Dodgers | Mets | |||
C | Martin | CF | Pagan | |
CF | Kemp | 2B | Cora | |
RF | Ethier | SS | Reyes | |
1B | Loney | LF | Bay | |
3B | Blake | 3B | Wright | |
2B | Belliard |
1B | Davis | |
LF | Paul |
RF | Francoeur |
|
SS | Carroll | C | Barajas | |
P | Ely | P | Maine |
Win or lose today, at least this awful road trip will be over.
Game Time: 10:10am
TV: Prime Ticket