Knuckleballer Charlie Haeger stymied the Cubs all afternoon, and Matt Kemp and Casey Blake each hit solo homeruns to lead the Blue to their thrid straight win, 2-0. Haeger was masterful for seven innings, allowing no runs on just three hits with seven strikeouts.
In an unexpected move, and likely only a temporary one, Joe Torre opted to use Jonathan Broxton in the eighth inning today ahead of George Sherrill. Sherrill wound up pitching a perfect ninth inning for his first save as a Dodger.
The Blue momentarily up their lead in the West to five games over Colorado, and six over the Giants, who square off tonight in Denver. With a record now of 74-50, the Dodgers continue to maintain the best record in the NL.
The Dodgers get the benefit of a very favorable schedule the rest of the season. After tomorrow's series and season finale with the Cubs, where they can sweep the four game set with a win, the Dodgers play just two teams the rest of the way with better than .500 records: the Rockies and Giants, fittingly, the two teams chasing them in the division.
After a day off Monday, the Blue start a three-game series with those Rockies in Colorado, followed by three in Cincinnati. They then start a four-game homestand against Arizona to finish off the month of August and start off the final month of September. After that, they'll have six left with San Diego, three more in Arizona, six more with the Giants, seven with Pittsburgh (the only NL team they have yet to play this season), three in DC, and they finish up at home with three more against the Rockies.
So needless to say, winning the first three of this series with the Cubs could prove to be very pivotal in gaining some momentum heading into the final six weeks of the season with that favorable schedule.
As for tomorrow's game, Ryan Dempster (6-7, 4.28) will oppose Chad Billingsley (12-6, 3.70) at 1:10pm PT.
No comments:
Post a Comment