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Dodgers Series Recap: Dodgers snap losing streak

Every cloud has a silver lining, literally speaking for the Dodgers this weekend in Baltimore. The Blue Crew lost both games of a double-header Saturday against the Orioles following a rain-out Friday night.

42213-KempWith six straight losses, things looked bad for the Dodgers. They were down 3-0 after an inning in Sunday’s series finale, but the team showed tremendous resilience and grit, battling back for a 7-4 victory.



Not only did the team gain some much needed momentum, Matt Kemp showed signs of life, and even made SportsCenter with a brilliant slide to score just under Matt Wieters‘s tag in Sunday’s victory. A look back at a weekend that started poorly, but had a nice ending to it.

INFIELDERS: C+

The Dodgers’ infield did not exactly tear it up against Orioles pitching. Mark Ellis probably had the best series of any Dodger going 3-for-7 with a double, four RBIs and three runs scored in two games against the O’s. Mark got the rally going in Sunday’s 7-4 win with a line drive RBI single that scored two runs.

Adrian Gonzalez continued to be the Dodgers’ best hitter. After going 0-for-4 in the first game of Saturday’s double header, Adrian went 3-for-7 with a double and a pair of RBI the rest of the way.

Don Mattingly finally adjusted the Dodgers’ lineup batting A-Gon and his .377 average third, and moving Matt Kemp to the cleanup spot.

A.J. Ellis started two games at catcher going 2-for-5 with an RBI single in Sunday’s win.

Ramon Hernandez started the other game and DH’d going 0-for-5.

Justin Sellers was only 1-for-7 in the series, but managed to score a pair of runs.

The struggles of third base continued. Luis Cruz started in the first game of Saturday’s double header, going 0-for-3 before moving over to short for the second game and going 0-for-3 again.

Cruz is now hitting an unfathomable .087 on the season. Unfortunately for Cruz, this is more than just a slump.

Juan Uribe and Jerry Hairston, Jr. combined to go 0-for-8 in their two starts at the hot corner.

Nick Punto went 2-for-3 filling in for Mark Ellis at second in Saturday’s second loss.

OUTFIELDERS: C-

Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford each only had one hit in the series, but managed to produce multiple runs in the series.

Matt Kemp appears to have finally broken out of his season-long slump, going 6-for-13 in the series with a pair of runs scored and one RBI, the go-ahead score on Sunday afternoon.

After not even attempting a stolen base in the first 16 games of the season, Kemp was 3-for-3 over the final two games of the series.

Andre Ethier started the series with a bang, drilling a three-run home run off of Jason Hammel in the first game of Saturday’s double header, giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

However, like the Dodgers on Saturday, Andre would not hold up the rest of the weekend, going 0-for-11 after his home run.

Crawford cooled off a little bit from his hot start, going only 1-for-9, but he continued to be a catalyst for the Dodgers, getting four walks in the final two games of the series, scoring two runs.

He still ranks ninth in the National League with a .338 batting average.

Skip Schumaker and Jerry Hairston, Jr. went 2-for-8 filling in for Crawford and Ethier while they DH’d in the series.

STARTING PITCHING: D+

As can be expected with any losing streak, the Dodgers lacked any sort of dominant pitching from the starting rotation.

Hyun-Jin Ryu got a no-decision in Saturday’s first game. Ryu pitched six innings and gave up five earned runs. He struck out six and walked two, blowing a 4-0 lead. Ryu took full responsibility for the loss after the game.

The Dodgers staff was plagued by the long ball against the Orioles. Ryu gave up blasts to J.J. Hardy and Nolan Reimold.

It was an even rougher go of it for Josh Beckett in the second game of Saturday’s double header. Beckett surrendered six earned runs in 5-2/3 innings of work Saturday night. Beckett struck out three and walked three. He is now 0-3 on the season.

Beckett also gave up another two home runs to Chris Davis and a decisive three-run blast to Manny Machado. Davis leads the AL in average (.403) and RBI (21).

To add injury to insult, the Dodgers had to place Chad Billingsley on the 15-day DL with elbow soreness Sunday, retroactive to his last start on April 16. This is the same elbow that shut down Billingsley for the final month of 2012.

The Dodgers recalled Stephen Fife from Triple-A Albuquerque to start in Billingsley’s place Sunday.

Fife struggled early, giving up three earned runs in the first inning. However, he settled down to pitch 4-2/3 innings, allowing four runs, with five strikeouts and only one walk.

The Dodgers’ bullpen came in to pitch 4-1/3 scoreless innings to secure the win on Sunday.

Billingsley is the third Dodgers starting pitcher on the DL in the last week-and-a-half. Zack Greinke continues to be sidelined with a broken collarbone, and Chris Capuano landed on the DL with a strained hamstring.

Ted Lilly is expected to rejoin the Dodgers’ rotation against the Mets in New York.

BULLPEN: B-

The wheels completely came off for the Dodgers’ bullpen during the first game of Saturday’s double header.

Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless inning of relief, before giving way to Paco Rodriguez in the eighth inning. After Rodriguez gave up a lead-off double to Chris Davis, Ronald Belisario came in and promptly proceeded to load the bases before giving up the go-ahead two-run double to Reimold.

Belisario was despondent in the team locker room after the game. His ERA now sits at 4.91.

The Dodgers’ bullpen was lights out the rest of the way pitching 6-2//3 innings of scoreless relief in the second and third games of the series.

J.P. Howell and Matt Guerrier pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Beckett Saturday night.

Howell, Guerrier, Jansen, and Rodriguez pitched 3-1/3 scoreless innings Sunday afternoon, before Brandon League came in for a scoreless ninth inning to record his fifth save of 2013.

The Dodgers will have an off-day Monday before heading up the East Coast to New York to take on the Mets.

The Mets are 9-8, third in the NL East. They took two of three games from the heavily favored Washington Nationals this past weekend at Citi Field.

The Mets have been buoyed by surprising starts from catcher John Buck, who leads the majors with 22 RBIs, and rookie pitcher Matt Harvey is tied for the league lead with a 4-0 record, and is second in the NL with a 0.93 ERA.

The 24-year old Harvey is the real deal, with a 32:9 K:BB ratio in 29 innings pitched. Clayton Kershaw will take the mound for Tuesday night’s opener against the Mets’ Jonathon Niese.

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

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