LA resumes road trip at San Diego
The Dodgers have struggled away from Los Angeles this year, but got their current nine-game road trip off to a good start. The club resumes that swing and a three-game series with the San Diego Padres tonight at Petco Park.
The Dodgers defeated the Padres, 7-2, on Tuesday for just their second win in their last nine road tests. The club is just 13-18 overall as the visiting team this year, a major reason it is currently two games under .500 at 31-33. Yet, Los Angeles is just 3 1/2 games back of first-place Arizona in the National League West.
Russell Martin had three hits, drove in three runs and scored twice for the Dodgers yesterday. Matt Kemp also drove in three runs as the Dodgers won for the third time in their last four games.
James Loney went 2-for-2 to run his hitting streak to nine games. He is hitting .367 over that time (11-for-30).
Starter Clayton Kershaw worked in and out of trouble through 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and four walks in the no-decision. Scott Proctor (1-0) pitched two-thirds of an inning to record the win.
Greg Maddux pitched well enough to win as the starter, with six innings of one-run ball on six hits, but received his fifth straight no-decision. The Padres backed him with nine hits, but all were singles.
Randy Wolf will try to get the Padres back in the win column tonight, and he is 2-0 with a 2.08 earned run average over his last four starts. He defeated the Mets on Friday behind seven innings of one-run ball, working around seven hits and two walks while improving to 4-4 with a 4.06 ERA this year.
The left-hander, who is 3-1 with a 2.68 ERA in six home starts this year, has yet to face LA this season but is 2-2 with a 3.67 ERA in eight career starts against the club. Wolf spent the 2007 season with the Dodgers.
Chad Billingsley draws the starting assignment for the Dodgers and has posted back-to-back no-decisions. He has posted a 1.00 ERA in four outings before facing the Cubs on Thursday. The right-hander was tagged for four runs on seven hits including two homers over five innings while fanning eight.
Billingsley is 4-6 with a 3.57 ERA on the year and has faced the Padres twice this year. He threw two shutout innings of relief against them on April 4 before taking the loss as the starter on April 13. In that outing, the 23- year-old gave up only one run over five frames with eight strikeouts in a 1-0 game.
In his career, Billingsley is 4-2 with a 2.05 ERA in seven starts and four relief outings against San Diego.
Gonzalez is batting .300 (6-for-20) with three RBI and six strikeouts in his career against Billingsley.
The Dodgers have won four of seven versus the Padres this year, with LA taking three of four so far in San Diego.
The Dodgers and Padres have split six games so far this year, with San Diego dropping two of three at home from April 4-6.
Tags: chad billingsley, clayton kershaw, cubs, dodgers, ego, four games, game, game road trip, game series, games, greg maddux, hitting streak, james loney, left hander, matt kemp, national league west, petco park, randy wolf, right hander, road tests, Road Trip, russell martin, san diego padres, scott proctor, shutout, six games, Trip, west russell
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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 10:05 pm under