Another Disappointing Series for the Dodgers

After an exciting walk off homerun from Andre Ethier in game one, the Dodgers proceeded to drop the next three games to Atlanta in lackluster fashion. This has been a pattern for the Dodgers of late. They have dropped four out of their last five series stretching back to mid-July. The dog days of summer have finally seemed to catch up to Joe Torre and Los Angeles.

Game two was a twelve inning grinder. Atlanta’s Jair Jurrjens looked horrible in his start. He gave up four runs in a little over four innings of work. The Dodger bullpen could not stand the lead they were given, though. Hong-Chih Kuo gave up two in the seventh, Jonathon Broxton gave up the tying run in the ninth, and Ramon Troncoso and Scott Elbert capped off the loss by giving up four in the top of the twelfth. The final scored ended up looking lopsided at nine to five Atlanta.

The third game was another extra inning affair. Both Atlanta’s Kenshin Kawakami and Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw looked great in their outings. Each man went seven shutout innings. The game would be decided by the bullpen. Once again, the Dodgers would come up short. In the top of the tenth, Guillermo Mota gave up a pinch-hit two run homer to Kelly Johnson. After giving up the big walk off to Ethier in game one, Rafael Soriano looked shaky in the bottom of the inning, but still managed to preserve to win for Atlanta.

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The final game of the series belonged to Javier Vazquez. The Atlanta righty had one of his best starts of the season. He went eight, gave up only one run, and struck out seven to earn his tenth victory of the season. The game, however, was surprising close until the top of the ninth. With the Braves on top three to one, Ramon Troncoso entered the game and gave four runs in a third of an inning pitched. This marked the sixth run Troncoso had given up in less than an inning of work in the series.

The bullpen issue kept rearing its ugly head in this four game set with the Braves. George Sherirll has been great since coming over from Baltimore, but the Dodgers still have not gotten the results they wanted from the trade. If Los Angeles wants to make a splash in the playoffs, the Dodger pen is going to have to step it up to say big time in the weeks to come.

By: Charles Dimino
Los Angeles Dodgers Correspondent

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