Dodgers Look To Put Another Crack In The Liberty Bell With Tenth Straight Win

Dodgers Lineup at Phillies

Crawford 7 Puig 9 Gonzalez 3 Hanley 6 Ethier 8 A.J. Ellis 2 Schumaker 4 Uribe 5 Kershaw 1

Clayton Kershaw-11-7 vs. Kyle Kendrick-5-5

Ah the city of brotherly love. This place has been quite brotherly and lovely to the Dodgers of late. Last night’s 4-0 shutout win over these same hapless phillies was full of brotherly love, and non brotherly love, and enjoyable in every way. What the heck happened to the Phillies? Remember how good they used to be? They trounced all over us in the NLCS two years in a row in 2008-2009. Now look at them. Revenge really is a dish best served cold isn’t it Philly fans? Check out this post over at That Balls Outta Here. That’s like a trip down bad memory lane. I mean the Phillies used to kill the Dodgers. They did it for years. Seeing the Phillies sink this low is quite shocking and joyful all at the same time. The hapless Phils are like 20 games behind the Braves and they just fired their long time manager.

Charlie Manuel was one of the longest tenured managers in the game. Since 2005, he’s won 780 games, and a world series with the Phillies. But he’s old, and the Phillies are in transition. This is a team that is without Ryan Howard, who is out for the year. They don’t have Roy Halladay, and whatever happened to Vance Worley? Gone. But then where’s Ben Revere? This is what happens when you have an aging and injury prone roster. Apparently they fired him a day before he was supposed to be honored by the club. Oh well. Ryne Sandberg is the new manager for now, but the Phillies I guess are not sure if they will keep Sanbderg, or go in another direction. Why am I still talking about the Phillies? I don’t know, probably because there’s not a whole lot to talk about with the Dodgers, other than to say they are very, very, very good right now.

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) throws during the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.-

Brad Mills

-USA TODAY Sports

The Brian Wilson saga still hasn’t been finished yet. The bearded right hander appeared on last night’s pregame show, but still has yet to be activated. As you probably already know, Wilson should be activated by the start of the Miami series on Monday evening. The question is, who will the Dodgers bump from the roster? I hope it’s not Chris Withrow, but he has options remaining. The Dodgers could DFA Carlos Marmol I suppose, but there are only two weeks left until rosters expand anyways. Although not having Withrow in the bullpen would be a big loss even for two weeks. Withrow is one of the few guys who can pitch in long relief. We need him especially during the bad Capuano starts when he allows his five earned runs, and Ricky Nolasco allows his three or four obligatory runs. But the Dodgers are so good, they win anyways. We are still unsure as to how Wilson will be used, but he stands at the ready.

This is what Bluebeard looks like in a Dodger uniform, he’s ready tp help-Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Win, win, win. That’s all the Dodgers do now. They will go for their tenth straight win this afternoon. Some of the games are even blissfully boring. Like last night’s drubbing. The 4-0 win wasn’t as close as you think. It was scoreless to the fourth, but the Phillies only had two real rallies. One in the early frames when they put runners at first and third with two outs, and Greinke was able to get out of it. And the eighth inning when they left the bases loaded after Ronald Belisario made rookie Darin Ruf look foolish on a tailing fastball.

You would think tonight would be a piece of cake again with Clayton Kershaw on the mound, right? It should. But would you believe me if I told you that Kershaw is winless in his career against the Philies? Well, it’s true. Kershaw is 0-4 with a 4.31 ERA in eight starts. But he does have 50 whiffs and 15 walks, in 48 frames versus the Phillies. Kershaw is 0-2 with a 5.38 ERA in four starts at Citizen’s Bank Park. Kershaw has a 1.93 ERA in the month of August, and a 1.88 ERA on the season that leads the majors. Kershaw is 11-7 and has a major league best 5.9 hits per nine allowed, and has whiffed 174 and walked just 35. His last start was an 8 inning victory over Tampa Bay. Kershaw shouldn’t have any issues against these Philadelphia hitters, but let’s see how these current group of Phillies have fared against the lefty.

While Rollins, Utley, and Ruiz all have a home run against Kershaw, the group has only hit Kershaw at a .247 clip.

RBI

OBP

SLG

Jimmy Rollins

.207

.281

.414

Chase Utley

.238

.333

.476

Carlos Ruiz

.429

.556

.643

Cole Hamels

.200

.333

.200

John Mayberry

.167

.333

Cliff Lee

.000

John McDonald

.500

.600

.500

Casper Wells

.250

Kevin Frandsen

.000

.333

.000

Total

105

.247

.343

.416

The Phillies will counter with right hander Kyle Kendrick. This guy has been a familiar foe to the Dodgers over the years, and the boys in blue have been able to hit him well. The 28 year old Houston native is 10-9 with a 4.48 ERA, but has allowed 10 hits per nine innings. He’s whiffed 89 and walked 39. Kendrick’s last start he allowed 11 hits and six runs in four frames against Washington. Now the Dodgers have already beaten Kendrick once this season back on June 30. They touched him for four runs on ten hits in that game. Kendrick has been terrible against the Dodgers in his career. He is 5-5 but with a 7.36 ERA. He’s only whiffed 19 in 44 frames versus the Dodgers.

Kyle Kendrick-Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Check out the damage the Dodgers have inflicted upon Kendrick. Hey, Schumaker is batting .375 off him! Pretty cool.

RBI

OBP

SLG

Hanley Ramirez

.273

.455

Skip Schumaker

.375

.400

.708

Andre Ethier

.263

.364

.684

Adrian Gonzalez

.333

.556

.500

Mark Ellis

.000

Jerry Hairston

.333

.500

.333

A.J. Ellis

.571

Yasiel Puig

1.000

1.667

Juan Uribe

.000

Chris Capuano

.000

Kenley Jansen

1.000

Total

121

112

.313

.364

.536

Minor notes

Kyle Kendrick certainly has been struggling lately. He is 2-3 with an 8.63 ERA in his last five starts.

Manager Don Mattingly, and new manager Ryne Sandberg have a lot in common. Both managers wore number 23 as players. Both won nine gold gloves. Both won one MVP award, and both never appeared in a World Series.

The Dodgers have now gone 41-8 over their last 49 games, and have won 18 of their last 19 road games. The Dodgers have not won ten in a row since they won 11 in a row in 1993.

If anything else breaks we will keep you informed, and you won’t even have to use a challenge flag. Jokes guys! Anyways, check out the game at 4:05 PM. Today’s match will be televised on the blacked out KCAL 9, but also on MLB network. So if you have MLB Network you may be able to watch the game, but I don’t know if it will be blacked out there as well. Basically make plans accordingly. Stacie will provide coverage tonight as well. Remember we both have Time Warner so it’s possible we both may have to listen on radio today, so bear with us. We will do our best.

Oh and Ryne Sandberg was talking about the Phillies “lackadasiel play” It’s more like just plain old crappy play to me. But Sandberg talked about getting the players interested in playing again, and reminding them that these are meaningful games or something. Ha, good luck with that Sandberg.

Can the Dodgers put another crack in the liberty bell again? Stick with us to find out. Go Blue!

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