The Chicago Cubs bats decided that they wanted to get in on the fun today, as they took the 3rd game of the 4 game series 7-3. John Ely started for the Dodgers and put in his second rough outing in a row and left without making it out of the 3rd inning. In Ely's 2.1 innings of work, he allowed 6 runs (all earned) on 5 hits, a home run and 3 walks. The lack of control was particularly frustrating, as Joe Torre was forced to pull Ely in the top of the 3rd when he surrendered a bases loaded walk.
After Ely was removed, Travis Schlichting entered the game and was able to pitch 2.2 while surrendering only 2 hits. Of course those two hits came immediately after he replaced Ely so it resulted in 2 runs being charged to Ely (and could have been three if it hadn't been for a brilliant outfield assist by Xavier Paul.) Travis Schlichting has now lowered his ERA to 0.64 on the year. Carlos Monasterios saw his first action since he returned from the disabled list and pitched well other than a solo home run to Aramis Ramirez in the 7th. Monasterios struck out 3 in his 2 innings of work. Justin Miller worked the last two frames for the Dodgers without incident.
Tom Gorzelanny got the win for Chicago and pitched quite well. Gorzelanny was effective with the strike out, recording 7 strikeouts in his six innings of work allowing 2 runs (1 earned.) Gorzellany left after six and was replaced with Sean Marshall, Andrew Cashner, James Russell and Carlos Marmol (yup, 4 relievers to close a 4 run game) who pitched the last 3 frames. The Dodgers started to think about a rally in the 9th as Andre Ethier drove in Blake DeWitt to push the game to 7-3 followed by a single by Matt Kemp. However, Marmol was able to retire James Loney to close out the game.
But the story for Dodger fans is clearly John Ely. While Ely's statistics on the year aren't necessarily cause for concern for the fifth starter (4.63 ERA after today's game), the fact that Ely has had to be pulled early in the past two contests is a problem. I do think Torre will allow Ely some time to struggle, but if Ely demonstrates a continued inability to pitch deep into games it will likely result in a demotion to AAA.
WP - Tom Gorzelanny (4-5): 6 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
LP - John Ely (4-7): 2.1 IP, 5 hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout