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It feels like forever since we last saw the Dodgers, but it actually is only slightly more than a month since that fateful night in Los Angeles. Fernando Rodney blew a three-run lead and the Dodgers completed a sweep of the Diamondbacks. Since the start of that series, the Dodgers have lost three games. All to Atlanta. They are 24-0 against everyone else. Twenty. Four. And. Zero. Admittedly, we represent the first team with a current winning record they have seen since the All-Star break, so I’d like to think we will present the sternest test for Los Angeles since last time they saw us. When, let’s remember all three games were decided by a single run.
We have seen Kenta Maeda twice this year already, and handled him pretty well. We’ve tagged him for 10 earned runs over just nine innings, on 13 hits and two walks. Five of those hits left the yard, including four in his last start against the D-backs, on April 22. More of the same would be welcome this time. Conversely, while Zack Godley was tagged with the loss on July 5 in Los Angeles, he really didn’t deserve it, holding them to one run over 5.2 innings, in a 1-0 loss. The Diamondbacks were hitless with runners in scoring position there, and managed just two hits over the entire series. Doing a great deal better there, would also be welcome this time.
It’s going to be an exciting week, and I’m hoping the games here live up to expectations. The road-trip has shown that this team is capable of standing up to division leaders... But that this is far from guaranteed. Hopefully, we get to see the Diamondbacks team who appeared in Games 2 + 3 in Chicago, rather than the ones who rolled over lamed for Games 2 + 3 in San Francisco. A win tonight will give us a good chance to take the series. That’s something nobody has managed to do against the Dodgers in over two months, the Nationals being the last team to do so, from June 5-7. It has been a historic run. Let’s end it.