Ted Lilly is not a premier pitcher in the Dodgers starting rotation, that much is obvious. But if this team is going to make a run for the division they need to win more games that he starts.
Lilly did not have a great outing, receiving the loss after allowing three runs in 5.2 innings pitched. It was still a winnable game, but the Dodgers were limited to just six hits keeping the win out of reach.
Lilly is going to get lit up plenty of times this season, but when he allows three runs and the bullpen keeps the game close, the Dodgers really need to produce something with bats. It sounds stupid to point out something so obvious, but Ted Lilly and Chris Capuano are giving the Dodgers winnable starts thats need to be capitalized on.
The Dodgers scored in the first inning after a lead-off triple from Carl Crawford and a sacrifice fly from Adrian Gonzalez.
In the second inning, the Dodgers had the bases loaded after an Andre Ethier single, a Ramon Hernandez double, and a walk to Nick Punto. But with two outs Carl Crawford popped out.
That was their last scoring threat of the night. They only had three hits in the next seven innings.
One of those hits was a surprise home run from Ramon Hernandez. In his last three games played he is 4-8 with two home runs.
The Angels starting pitcher, Jason Vargas, pitched seven innings and allowed two runs on five hits with six strikeouts.
Second baseman, Howie Kendrick, did most of the damage against the Dodgers, hitting a double and a triple, stealing a base, and scoring all three Angels runs.
By splitting the freeway series, this is the first year since 2009 that the Dodgers will at least split the season series with the Angels.
Thursday's game was overshadowed by Matt Kemp getting placed on the 15-day Disabled List with a strained right hamstring, the injury that took him out of the game on Wednesday. The loss of their center fielder puts the Dodgers in a tight spot because there does not appear to be a clear replacement for him.
The corresponding roster move for placing him on the DL will be announced on Friday.
A.J. Ellis also sat out the finale against the Angels with an oblique injury. Whether or not he will be moved to the DL remains to be seen, but Tim Federowicz was called up from AAA Albuquerque and got the start at catcher in his place.
