New York Mets (49-47) at Los Angeles Dodgers (51-45)
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New York has dropped four straight and seven of eight on their current 11-game road trip, but will try to break their slump by getting back into a four game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend at Chavez Ravine.
The Mets’ bats have fallen silent as they’ve totaled just eight runs over their last four, and are batting .189 as a team. Their current struggles have dropped them 7-1/2 games behind the East-leading Atlanta Braves.
Things didn’t get much better in the series opener against Los Angeles on Thursday, as New York were shut out 2-0 on an excellent outing by Hiroki Kuroda, who outpitched fellow countryman, Hisanori Takahashi over eight outstanding innings on the mound.
Los Angeles, who have slipped to fourth in the NL West, couldn’t of asked for a more timely series against the slumping Mets as they themselves have hit a dip in the road, going just 2-6 since the All-Star break.
With the exception of Kuroda and starter Chad Billingsley, who have had consecutive strong outings, the questions everyone had at the start of the season about pitching have started to come about.
But don’t blame it solely on the bullpen, as the Dodgers line up has been somewhat out of whack itself. They have been hitting only slightly better than New York, batting .236 during their last six. Rafael Furcal has been a nice surprise hitting .333 in his leadoff role, but outfielders Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp – have fallen off the pace. Slugger Manny Ramirez is once again nursing an injury, and the rest of the line up has been virtually non-existent.
With both offenses having power outages, the series will most likely come down to pitching.
The Mets will start left-hander Johan Santana (7-5, 2.87 ERA) against the resurging Vicente Padilla (4-2, 3.65), in game two on Friday. Santana has helped the Mets to their only win so far on this trip, allowing one run in eight innings in a 4-3 10-inning victory over the Giants. Santana is 3-0 in as many starts against LA, allowing one run while fanning 21 batters. Padilla has won six of his last eight outings against the Mets, though he hasn’t faced them since he pitched for Philadelphia in 2005.
Game three on Saturday will pit New York’s Mike Pelfrey (10-5, 4.01) against rookie righty Carlos Monasterios (3-2, 3.61). Pelfrey lasted a painful 1 1/3 innings on Monday night, allowing six runs off seven hits in a 13-2 loss to the Diamondbacks. After starting the season 9-1, Pelfrey is 1-4 with 9.11 ERA in his last six starts. The right-hander s 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two career starts against L.A. Monasterios has is a much better reliever than starter, and is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA in six starts, as opposed to a 1-0 record and 1.75 ERA as a reliever. This will be his first ever start against the Mets.
In game 3 the odds makers have Los Angeles Dodgers as a -1½ favorite with a run total of 8½.
The series will conclude on Sunday when the Dodgers start ace Clayton Kershaw (9-5, 3.15) who’s coming back after serving his five-game suspension for intentionally throwing at Giants center fielder Aaron Rowand in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game, which the Dodgers lost 7-5. The left-handed hurler is pitching well with two wins in his last four appearances and is 1-0 lifetime against the Mets. In an effort to counter, New York will call on knuckle-baller R.A. Dickey (6-4, 2.73) who pitched well in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Diamondbacks. He is now winless in his last five starts but has only allowed seven earned runs over his last 28 2/3 innings pitched –a victim of the Mets anemic offense. He has never faced the Dodgers in his career.
Both teams will be trying to use this series to right their sinking ships, but its still too early for desperation to factor into the equation. Los Angeles is feeling pretty good after ending a six-game losing streak on Wednesday against the Giants, and then following up with their shut of New York on Thursday, extending the Mets scoreless streak to 17 consecutive innings. Momentum has definately shifted in LA’s favor. Considering the pitching match up, I would expect the Dodgers to win games two and four, with the big question mark coming in game three. If Monasterios can pitch into the sixth or seventh innings, the Dodgers may be able to sweep the series.
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