The good news is that the Dodgers are still undefeated in one-run games. The bad news is that they got hammered today by the Giants 10-0 in front of an announced crowd of 40,809 at Dodger Stadium. On a day in which the Dodgers started just three regulars -- Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and James Loney -- the offense unsurprisingly didn't do any damage, but it didn't matter much as the Dodgers lost this game in a number of ways, especially on the mound.
After two games of not mounting much of a scoring threat themselves, the Giants made up for it today in a big way. In the first two games of the series, the Giants only scored four runs, and all were the product of home runs: a solo shot by Pat Burrell Thursday, and a three-run bomb by Brandon Belt last night. Belt's home run was the only hit the Giants had with runners in scoring position in the first two contests, but to be fair they only had eight plate appearances in those situations (the Dodgers had 22 PA, by comparison).
In today's game alone, the Giants had 19 plate appearances with RISP, and they cashed in with seven hits and two walks. Ted Lilly was pitching well through through four innings, having thrown 55 pitches while allowing one run. However, three consecutive two-out hits chased Lilly from the game, plating two more runs, and a fourth hit, this one off Mike MacDougal, made the game 4-0 after four and a half innings.
If the game seemed like 8-0 figuratively at that point thanks to the Dodgers lineup today, the Giants did their best to make it literal with four more runs in the sixth inning, also known as the inning Kenley Jansen fell back to Earth. Jansen, who gave up just two runs in his 27 innings of work last season, allowed four runs today as he labored through the sixth inning. Jansen walked two and allowed four hits, three of which were hit hard, and threw a whopping 42 pitches in his outing.
Notes
- After dropping his first eight career decisions against the Dodgers, Matt Cain has been stellar against Los Angeles. In his last four starts against the Dodgers, Cain is 3-0 with a 1.30 in four starts, and has given up no runs in three of those starts, including today.
- Ted Lilly has made 13 starts as a Dodger. In 10 starts against teams other than the Giants, Lilly is 7-3 with a 2.98 ERA and has pitched six innings or longer 10 times. Against the Giants, however, Lilly is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA (12 runs in 15 innings) in three starts.
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Hector Gimenez got his first major league hit, a single to left field in the seventh inning off Javier Lopez
- Even though he is 0-for-6 with a walk and five strikeouts so far in his major league career, Ivan DeJesus has seen 38 pitches in his seven plate appearances, an average of 5.4 per PA.
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Lance Cormier welcomed himself to the Dodgers by taking one for the team, entering in the seventh inning down 8-0. He pitched the final three innings, and even got his first plate appearance since June 28, 2008, grounding into a force play in the eighth inning. Cormier threw 42 pitches.
- Cormier had his troubles though in the ninth inning, and as a result, catcher A.J. Ellis was warming up in the bullpen, just in case. There have been seven position players to pitch for the L.A. Dodgers in a game.
- Ellis did pinch hit in the ninth inning and singled. He has a .571 OBP in his last 50 PA
- Last season the Dodgers lost by eight or more runs eight times, and they were 5-3 in the next game. On each of the four times the Dodgers lost by eight or more on a Saturday, they won on Sunday.
The Dodgers try to win the series tomorrow night, with Hiroki Kuroda pitching against literal pain in the neck Barry Zito on ESPN(2) Sunday Night Baseball.
WP - Matt Cain (1-0): 6 IP, 5 hits, 3 strikeouts
LP - Ted Lilly (0-1): 4 2/3 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts