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Dodgers Looking For Offense, Open Homestand With Nationals

The Hiroki Kuroda 2011 Farewell Tour® begins tonight at Dodger Stadium.
The Hiroki Kuroda 2011 Farewell Tour® begins tonight at Dodger Stadium.

Since the All-Star break, the Dodger offense has struggled even more than usual. They have scored 13 runs in six games: seven runs in two Clayton Kershaw wins, and six runs in the other four games, all losses. As a team, they are hitting .183/.243/.272 since the break, and if you add in the improbable sweep of the Padres just before the break, the Dodgers are hitting .172/.249/.267 in their last nine games, scoring 19 runs during that span.

The Dodgers have just three hitters at a .700 OPS or above over the last nine games:

Dodgers Offense, Last 9 Games
Player PA BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Navarro 19 .353/.389/.588 .977
Gwynn 29 .320/.414/.360 .774
Rivera 20 .250/.250/.450 .700
Ethier 34 .138/.265/.379 .644
Kemp 36 .176/.222/.353 .575
Miles 22 .200/.273/.250 .523
Loney 27 .125/.222/.167 .389
Uribe 32 .161/.188/.194 .381
Carroll 18 .071/.235/.143 .378
Furcal 34 .103/.212/.103 .316
Barajas 10 .000/.100/.000 .100
Velez 1 .000/.000/.000 .000
Oeltjen 4 .000/.000/.000 .000

 

Yet, with a win tonight over the Nationals, the Dodgers would have five straight wins at Dodger Stadium. Hiroki Kuroda toes the rubber tonight in his penultimate start before next Sunday's trade deadline. Lack of offense is nothing new for Kuroda, as the right-hander has a 2.59 ERA since the beginning of June, yet is 1-6 in those eight starts thanks to the Dodgers scoring just 17 total runs.

Lineups

Tonight is Juan Rivera's sixth start in seven games since joining the Dodgers, including his third at first base. Rivera's previous two starts at first base were against right-handed pitchers.

Nationals   Dodgers
CF Bernadina LF Gwynn
2B Espinosa SS Furcal
3B Zimmerman RF Ethier
1B Morse CF Kemp
RF Werth 1B Rivera
LF Nix 3B Uribe
C Ramos C Barajas
SS Desmond 2B Carroll
P Lannan P Kuroda

Game Time: 7:10 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

MLB Gameday