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Dodgers Cardinals Game Three Preview

By Alex Campos

May 10, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Alex Wood (57) pitches in the second inning of the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
May 10, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Alex Wood (57) pitches in the second inning of the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Dodgers look to complete a sweep of the Cardinals before welcoming the Angels to LA.

The Dodgers quietly have a three game winning streak and have had a very successful homestand thus far, winning four of six games against the Mets and Cardinals, two teams that have historically given the Dodgers fits.

Tonight, the Dodgers look to sweep the Cards out of LA. Following an incredible outing by Scott Kazmir last night, Alex Wood gets the ball tonight and looks to continue his dominance at Dodger Stadium. Obviously, small sample sizes on both sides, but Wood is a completely different pitcher at home and on the road this season. Wood is 1-0 at home with a 1.33 ERA in three starts (20.1 innings), while he’s 0-3 with an 8.05 ERA in four road starts (19 innings).

Wood is a lefty and has a funky delivery, so I assumed he was tough on lefties, but in limited appearances lefties are hitting .314/.415/.429 against him. The Cardinals have some tough lefty hitters, so that could be something to watch.

The Dodgers offense has woken up of late and look to continue their success against Mike Leake, who the Dodgers avoided in free agency. Leake’s durability would absolutely be welcome, but Leake owns a 5.10 ERA/4.57 FIP in his seven starts. He’s coming off his first Cardinal win and best outing of the season in Anaheim, but it was the only start this season in which he’s allowed fewer than three earned runs. The good news for the Cardinals is that they’ve only scored fewer than four runs in two of Leake’s seven outings.

The left field roulette lands on Howie Kendrick today. He’s handled the fielding part well for the most part, but his bat has been quiet. Most of the other struggling Dodger bats have woken up this week, so getting Kendrick going is a definite possibility.

In other good news, Hyun-jin Ryu is slated to throw two innings for Rancho Cucamonga today, his first regular-season innings since 2014. They’ll probably (hopefully) be very careful with him, and if they can get more decent outings out of Kazmir/Wood/Ross Stripling, the need for pitching won’t be as dire. The last thing we want is for Ryu to make a few starts and hit the DL again, so bringing him along slowly is key.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 PST and will be shown on ESPN and not be blacked out in LA.

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