Padres look to even series against the Dodgers
While there is still roughly two months of baseball to be played, both the Padres and Dodgers know the importance of their three-game set at PETCO Park.
Kuroda takes the mound
The Dodgers took the first game of the series on Tuesday night with a 2-0 win over the division-leading Padres. Los Angeles will look to take the series on Wednesday with right-hander Hiroki Kuroda getting the start opposite left-hander Clayton Richard.
Kuroda (8-8, 3.48 ERA) is coming off his best start of the season with eight shutout innings against the New York Mets on Thursday. It was his second straight solid start and Kuroda was been playing very well since the All-Star break.
The rest that came with the break certainly has helped, even if he's reluctant to admit it. "I don't want to think so, but that's probably one of the reasons," Kuroda said.
Richard wants to snap slide
Richard, meanwhile, is looking to bounce back from going 1-1 with a 7.13 ERA over his past four outings despite a 3.57 ERA on the season.
Pitching was expected to be the Padres' strong suit but their ace Richard has been in a slump. But the team is optimistic that he can get back and dominate the mound as shown in his previous starts, and it all started on Thursday against the Braves.
Though he allowed three early runs and was off to a shaky start, the southpaw managed to settle down and toss six innings to keep the Padres in the game, which they ultimately lost, 7-5.
But his manager, Bud Black, who knows quite a bit about pitching himself after 15 seasons as a pitcher in the big leagues, said Richard's recent problems have been with his command, and as long as he throws strikes, he'll be fine.
"When he struggles, the ball-strike ratio is a factor," Black said. "He's in and out of the strike zone and in deeper counts."
“We know they’re going to pitch well,” said Dodgers’ Manager Joe Torre of the Padres, who boast Major League Baseball’s lowest ERA (3.26). “It’s going to come down to how well we pitch and do other things. We haven’t scored a lot of runs.”
Los Angeles won't need to if they can keep teams from crossing home plate. The Dodgers have won five of their past six games (four of them shutouts) with their starters allowing one earned run in 43 innings.
"Guys feed off each other," said Chad Billingsley, 10-4 lifetime against San Diego. "Hitting's contagious. Pitching's contagious. It's kind of fun."
While the Dodgers might be having fun, not everyone is satisfied after only winning the first game of the series as the intra-state showdown is still up for grabs.
“I know we’re capable of more,” said Torre of his team’s recent inconsistent play. “I don’t think there’s a bad time to play [the Padres]. I think it’s a time where we have to find out if we can respond to the challenge, and that’s the only way we are looking at it right now.”
While the Dodgers have had issues with consistency and playing mistake-free baseball since the beginning of the season, they are starting to prove that they are legitimate playoff contenders. Through the six meetings between the two clubs this year, the Dodgers have had the edge, going 5-1, while handing the Padres their only sweep of the season (May14-16).
Injury update
Dodgers’ outfielder Manny Ramirez, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on 17 July, has reported to the club's Camelback Ranch-Glendale complex in Arizona to continue his recovery from a strained right calf, but is still at least a week away from returning to game action.
Padres reliever Mike Adams, on the 15-day disabled list since July 16 (retroactive to July 12) with a strained left oblique, threw his second bullpen session on Tuesday and could be headed for a Minor League rehab assignment late this week or early next week if the injury responds positively.
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