Just kidding. They do have a hot little three-game set with the Mets starting tonight, though!
Monday - Oliver Perez vs. Chad Billingsley
Tuesday - Nelson Figueroa vs. Hiroki Kuroda
Wednesday - John Maine vs. Brad Penny
The only marquee matchup here is on Wednesday. Most Dodgers (and Mets) fans should know that the Mets own Brad Penny, who is 5-11 career against the Mets with a 5.66 earned run average, but he's 5-5 since 2003 with a slightly lower E.R.A., so anything can happen.
The Mets will probably lose the middle game. Historically, they're terrible against pitchers they've never faced before. I don't have statistical evidence to back this up, but I'm a Mets fan, I've been noticing these things all my life.
If things go as they should, the Dodgers will win games one and two (the Mets have only seen Billingsley once before--for a single inning), and the Mets will take game three.
The teams split 10 games last year. Dodgers won 4 of 7 in L.A. (including a series sweep), and the Mets won 2 of 3 at Shea.
If Ollie is on his game, which he hasn't been, the Mets might be able to win the series. They definitely aren't winning the middle game, though.
Another thing that makes this series interesting is there are many storylines. Joe Torre's familiar foes--he certainly knows how to manage against the Mets. Furcal and Kent have decent career numbers against the Mets...and then there's Andruw Jones. This is his chance to break out of his season-long slump, because he has owned the Mets in past years.
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7 comments:
You seem more certain than I about a Dodgers' series win. I'm not going to predict any outcomes in this series, but I'll try my best to give you some insight on the Dodgers.
Obviously, being in New York, its harder for me to follow the Dodgers than it is for you Mets and Yankees fans. However, I've found a *something* that has allowed me to watch more LA games than has actually been televised in the NY market. I was lucky to see one game where Vin Scully was calling it, and he is so great to listen to. No one from Fox can compare to him. He calls the game by himself and knows what he's talking about. If you haven't heard him, I suggest you do your best to do so. Unfortunately, the rest of the games that were broadcast consisted of Asian announcers. I guess Asians really do love the Dodgers. Anyways, back to the upcoming series at Dodger Stadium.
Billingsly has been a strikeout machine lately and hopefully that continues. He's struck out at least eight batters in his last four starts. He will usually give up his share of runs. His last outing was great, allowing 1 earned on three hits, eight strikeouts going 7IP. The downside to that outing? It was against Florida. Although the Marlins are a half game out of first, I don't buy them for a second this season.
Kuroda worries me the most in this series, even if Penny has had troubles with the Mets in the past. He's struggled in his past few starts, but has managed to get out a lot of his jams. I don't see him getting out of nearly as many against a team like the Mets. He flirts with 10 hits allowed per game but hardly allows a lot of runs. If the Mets can get baserunners, I think it'll be a short night for Kuroda.
Who knows which Brad Penny we'll see on Wednesday? As you stated in your blog, his numbers against the Mets aren't close to good. He stumbled out of the gate but has since regained his last year's form. Allowing few runs on few hits. He hasn't been striking out as many hitters since last year and from what I've heard/read, that's the plan as he would typically run out of gas after the All-Star break. He's been getting a lot of run support in his past two or three starts. We'll see if that will continue as the Dodgers' offense has been red hot. But against John Maine, it wont be likely.
LA, typically, leaves a lot of men on base. However, Kemp, Kent and Furcal have really been getting it done this season so far. Martin has recovered and has been hitting it well lately too, whether it be at catcher or 3rd base. I haven't been able to see any games recently, but I saw something where Torre said Andruw's ABs have been getting better. That's great news for Dodger fans and for your fantasy team. Just hope its a lot better sooner rather than later.
Should be a fun series. I know I'm excited. I actually get to watch LA in action for the next three nights. Good luck to you Travi. Matt Kemp will be an All-Star next season.
Shit man, if it wasn't for finals this week I'd be at one of these games. Dodger stadium is pretty tight.
I see you guys like to get hits with two outs and runners in scoring position. When we have runners in scoring position, we like to strikeout.
It's good to see a Mike Walsh cameo on the comment thread.
This scoring runs thing that the Dodgers have been doing the past 2 weeks it something new to me. I'm still trying to get used to it.
Kuo.
Maybe I'll start predicting Mets' sweeps every series. I'm on fire!
Almost 100% accurate prediction. Only thing that you had wrong was the middle game. You predicted the outcome correctly, but not for the reason (Kuroda). Please predict more Dodger wins too. Thanks.
Kuo > Mets.. Mets > Penny. Weird..
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