You had to expect that the Dodgers would struggle today after they flew into Chicago early this morning (1 a.m., I think), and they did offensively (pun intended?).
Twelve left on base, nine in scoring position. It was a little sloppy, Loney almost hit a grand slam, but was denied by a foot and a half (he struck out in the at-bat). I’m still not quite sure why you would start Mark Sweeney (who’s hitting .100) and Russell Martin (who caught yesterday evening). Aren’t you traditionally supposed to sit a catcher who’s played the night before and could use a rest?
Bills had a bad start to his start, giving up a two-run homer to Derrek Lee, but then cleaned house, retiring 13 straight. He struggled in the sixth, walking one and giving up two singles, but induced a double-play ground ball to Fukudome to get out of it.
Bills’ ERA is still sub-4, which is awesome, and had two walks with seven strikeouts. That ups his K/BB from 60/29 to 67/31: 2.16.
He’s starting to look real good right now and he’s hitting his stride, albeit looking a little shaky here and there.
That’s another thing, a lot of the Dodgers’ pitchers have been remarkably inconsistent. But that’s another post.
—————Additional news—————
Andruw Jones is on the DL and will be out until the all-star break to undergo “surgery” to “repair” “torn cartilage” in his “knee,” otherwise known as going on the DL for sucking.
Rafael Furcal didn’t travel with the team on their road trip and won’t meet them in New York at the end of the week either. Sounds like this is getting serious. The good news about this is that Furcal may come cheap in free agency this year if he stays injured long enough. The bad news is he’s going to miss a good number of days.
