Dodgers End Road Trip, but Begin Interleague Schedule with Emerald City Set

Nathan Eovaldi-0-2 vs. Kevin Millwood-3-5

The Dodgers head into the emerald city of Seattle seemingly on cloud nine. The boys in blue are coming off an amazing ultra satisfying four game sweep of our longtime foes the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers end their current ten game three city road trip with a three game series at Safeco Field against the Seattle Mariners.

The three game series will mark interleague play. This is normally not a fun time for Dodger fans, as the Dodgers have never played well in interleague play. The last time the Dodgers were in Seattle was 2000. The Mariners are coming off of a 21 run explosion against the Texas Rangers, and are coming home in good spirits after a 5-4 road trip. Seattle sites in last place in the AL West at 26-33 7.5 games behind the Rangers. Seattle scored eight runs or more five times on their eight game road trip, but are only hitting a collective .193 at their home park. Can the Dodgers keep them quiet?

Tasked with this is rookie right hander Nathan Eovaldi. The youngster has pitched admirably while filling in for lefty Ted Lilly, despite getting no run support. Last start at Colorado he pitched 5.2 effective innings, but the Dodgers could only score two runs. Eovaldi is still looking for his first win, and is 0-2 with a 2.84 ERA. Naturally he has never faced Seattle. Perhaps this will give him an edge?

Seattle will counter with veteran right hander Kevin Millwood. This familiar veteran is an old foe in the Dodgers side. It seems we keep running into him on different teams. The last time he was with Colorado. Millwood in his last start only lasted four innings, but before that he had won three straight, and was 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA in May. Millwood is 3-5 with a 3.90 ERA, 46 whiffs in 64 innings pitched. Millwood has done extremely well keeping the ball in the ballpark, only allowing three home runs all year. Against the Dodgers he is 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA. However we have faced and beaten tougher pitchers. Collectively the Dodgers are hitting .266 off of Millwood. Bobby Abreu, Juna Rivera and Tony Gwynn have done all of the heavy lifting.

Abreu is hitting .281 (16 for 57) with a home run and four RBIs. Rivera is hitting .323 (10 for 31) with a home run and five RBIs. Tony Gwynn has also hit a home run. Adam Kennedy and James Loney have both homered off of Millwood, and speaking of Loney he is 4 for 6 off of Millwood. Yes it’s true, look it up if you don’t believe me.

Today’s Dodger Lineup has Juan Rivera at DH, as the game is in an American League park so it follows AL rules. James Loney is at first, Hairston pays second, and Herrera gets the start at third. Tony Gwynn is in center.

Game time is at 7:05, and the game will be televised on Prime Ticket. Can the streaking Dodgers keep their four game winning streak alive? Return here to find out. Go Blue.