Dodgers Try to Stop the Chop on a Dreary Night in LA

Dodger Lineup vs. Atlanta

Jair Jurrjens 0-1 vs. Chris Capuano-1-0

On a dark and dreary night, The Dodgers return home after a 3-3 Road trip split. The Dodgers will begin a six game homestand with a three game series beginning tonight with the Atlanta Braves. This should be a tough series for the Dodgers, since Atlanta has been playing very well.  Of course Let us not bring up the horror show that went on in Houston on Sunday in that embarrassing 12-0 loss. Let’s just forget that day ever happened, and move on. As I have said before, during a long 162 game season, you are going to have a few blow-out games like this, although it doesn’t make it any less pathetic. After the Atlanta series, Washington comes into town, along with over-hyped pitching phenom sensation Steven Strasburg (Hypeburg). We are all set for the possible Hypeburg vs. Kershaw match-up, which we will have more on later on this week.

We talked about that, among other things, Dodger related today on our podcast show called Dishing up the Dodgers. Our special guest was Nick Hamilton, of the The Loudmouth Experience on Latalkradio. Nick, the crew, and myself discussed a lot about the Dodgers issues early on, and got some stuff off of our chests. Some of the highlights included, Jeremy admitting his secret love for James Loney, Nick had some thoughts on some better strategery for Manager Don Mattingly, and Stacie spoke about using a different script for the bullpen. You can check out the show in it’s entirety here… Dishing-up-the-Dodgers LasordasLair Podcast you can also check it out from our Podcast page that can be reached from the front page of the site. We didn’t even touch on the fact that Scott Elbert had gone a full week without pitching, before he pitched an inning on Sunday. (Bullpen Pwobwams)

Tonight the Dodgers will look to get back on track, as we enter the final week before the ownership change. The Braves come into town, who are in second place in the NL East, behind the Nationals. the Braves have won 10 games, five of their last six, and eight of their last ten, before losing to Arizona last night. The Braves will give the ball to Right hander Jair Jurrjens, who has gotten off to a poor start. Jurrjens despite the slow start has pitched very well against the Dodgers in the past. He has posted a 3-1 record, and a 3.06 ERA against the Dodgers. Andre Ethier has just crushed  Jurrjens in the past to the tune of a .455 average (4 for 11). Matt Kemp is hitting .286 (4 for 14) off of Jurrjens, with a home run, and three RBIs. Juan Uribe has hit the other home run off of Jurrjens. Otherwise no one else has done anything against the young Atlanta pitcher. What jumps out at me the most with Jurrjens, besides his history of injuries, is his low whiff rates. Last season he only whiffed 5.4 batters per nine innings. However, when Jurrjens is healthy and on he can be very good.

The Dodgers will counter with Lefty Chris Capuano. He has also pitched pretty well against his opponent. Cappy is 4-3 with a 2.83 ERA and 50 whiffs vs. Atlanta. The Braves have only hit .246 collectively against Cappy. For some strange reason it is little used bench man Jack Wilson who has hit Cappy the best. He has hit .370, (10 or 27) with a home run. Matt Diaz is 6 for 20, and home runs from David Ross, and Martin Prado.

Before I sign off, congratulations to Dodger outfield/second base prospect Alex Castellanos, for winning the PCL Player of the week award. Apparently Castellanos is raking it pretty good down there. He bated .440 with 11 hits this week. Let’s hope we get to see him raking it up here for the big club, sooner rather than later.

For the first time all season, Matt Kemp did not win the NL player of the week award. Remember Kemp won the award the last week of the 2011 season, and the first two this season. His streak was ended when Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman won the award this week. Remember we will see Freeman tonight at Dodger Stadium. This breaks Kemp’s player of the week award streak, even though he is still bating .450, and is on pace to hit 397 home runs, and OPS about a billion.

Game tonight is 7:10PM, televised on Prime Ticket. Stay with us after the game, as Stacie will have the post-game recap. Tough series ahead right Dodger Fans? Let’s get it started right guys. Go Blue