Dodgers Vs. Phillies Preview: Ryu Starts, Offense Looks To Heat Up
The Los Angeles Dodgers were dominated by the Philadelphia Phillies last night, or rather, the Dodgers were dominated by Cliff Lee. The 35-year-old starter pitched eight shutout innings, allowing only four hits and no walks, silencing Dodger bats all night. After their 7-0 loss last night, the Dodgers hope their bats can bounce back to make up for putting nothing on the scoreboard last night.
Taking the mound for the Dodgers tonight is Hyun-Jin Ryu. The Korean left-hander has been lights out so far this season, aside from one shaky start in the Dodgers’ home opener. Other than his start against the San Francisco Giants on April 4, the 27-year-old has pitched 26 shutout innings over four games this season. In his last start against the Phillies last June, Ryu allowed two runs in seven innings. Ryu makes his sixth start of the season and hopes to remain in dominant form.
Compared to last night, the Dodgers face a less threatening starter tonight in A.J. Burnett. The right-hander has battled a slew of injuries throughout his career, and most recently, he was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia, which he plans to have surgery for after the season is over. As one can imagine, pitching with a hernia is no easy task on the body, so the Dodgers should not expect a very long outing from Burnett tonight. In two of his four starts so far this season, Burnett has only reached four and five innings. Aside from the injured groin, Burnett has accumulated a 2.74 ERA on the season so far.
Carl Crawford is a fairly seasoned batter against Burnett, having totaled 64 at-bats against the right-hander since 2004. The left fielder is a career .297 hitter against Burnett with one home run. Along with Crawford in the outfield will be comprised of Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig. Andre Ethier, who wasn’t available in last night’s game, is still sick with the flu and may be able to play tonight. Tim Federowicz will be catching for Ryu, despite the fact that he has collected just two hits in his last 20 at-bats. Conversely, Adrian Gonzalez is looking to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.
Tonight’s match up begins at 7:10 PM PT and will be aired on SportsNet LA.
Dodgers Lineup
LF: Crawford
RF: Puig
SS: Ramirez
1B: Gonzalez
CF: Kemp
3B: Uribe
2B: Gordon
C: Federowicz
P: Ryu
Phillies Lineup
CF: Revere
SS: Rollins
RF: Byrd
1B: Howard
C: Ruiz
LF: Brown
3B: Nix
2B: Galvis
P: Burnett
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dodgers Story: Yasiel Puig’s Shocking Escape From Cuba
