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The Dodgers begin their longest homestand of the season, a 12-game run that features not one, but two full off days at home, tonight against the Reds. These two teams faced off starting 10 days ago in Cincinnati, and we will see the same three pitching matchups in this series that we saw in Cincinnati, a series in which the Dodgers won two of three games:
- Monday: Hiroki Kuroda vs. Bronson Arroyo
- Tuesday: Clayton Kershaw vs. Johnny Cueto
- Wednesday: Chad Billingsley vs. Travis Wood
Arroyo got the best of Kuroda in their outing on June 3, a 2-1 win that gave way to a pair of high-scoring outings the next two days. Kuroda has managed to lose each of his last four starts, thanks in part to five total runs of support scored by the Dodgers. He also has seven walks total in his last two starts, more than any two-start stretch of his career, though two of the walks were intentional. Kuroda, who has walked 2.16 batters per nine innings throughout his career, has only had a pair of two-start stretches with more than five unintentional walks. He walked three batters on both May 6 and May 11, 2008, and did the same on June 1 and June 6, 2009.
Arroyo has been a similar pitcher this season as he was in 2009 and 2010, but he is allowing more home runs this season, and as a result is 4-6 with a 5.28 ERA. He has given up 12 long balls in his last 45 1/3 innings dating back to May 1, a whopping 2.38 home runs per nine innings. The Dodgers did not hit a home run off of Arroyo 10 days ago in Cincinnati.
Bullpen Woes In Colorado
This series with Cincinnati ends a 19-game gauntlet for the Dodgers, with games against the Marlins, Rockies, Reds, and Phillies. The Dodgers are 9-7 in the first 16 games of the stretch, and the bullpen was doing a relatively good job before entering the house of horrors that is Coors Field over the last four days.
| Dodgers Bullpen Performance of Late | |||||||||
| Opponent | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | FIP | WHIP |
| Florida | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2.84 | 3.61 | 1.579 |
| Colorado | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0.00 | 2.41 | 1.429 |
| at Cincinnati | 10.1 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 3.48 | 2.88 | 1.645 |
| at Philadelphia | 8.2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3.12 | 3.21 | 0.808 |
| at Colorado | 13.1 | 25 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 9.45 | 6.13 | 2.325 |
| Totals | 45.2 | 54 | 23 | 23 | 21 | 28 | 4.53 | 3.92 | 1.642 |
Still On The Outside Looking In
The latest All-Star voting results have been released, and Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp are fourth and fifth, respectively, among National League outfielders.
| National League OF All-Star Votes | ||
| Player | Team | Votes |
| Ryan Braun | Mil | 2,230,505 |
| Lance Berkman | StL | 1,878,314 |
| Matt Holliday | StL | 1,855,416 |
| Andre Ethier | LA | 1,468,537 |
| Matt Kemp | LA | 1,372,804 |
Since fan balloting returned to choosing the All-Star starting lineups in 1970, Dodger outfielders have been selected to start the All-Star game by the fans six times: Jimmy Wynn (1974-1975), Rick Monday (1978), Reggie Smith (1980), Darryl Strawberry (1991; did not play), and Ethier (2010).
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Game Time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: Prime Ticket