The Dodgers took both games in Australia against the Diamondbacks to begin the season, and this weekend the outcome was the same in the desert. Adrian Gonzalez was the biggest catalyst this series, hitting a home-run in each of the three games and tallying 10 RBI's on the weekend. Gonzalez has now homered in four straight games, and improved his batting average from .189 to .280 in the series.
The Dodgers tapped into some of Adrian's power as the wealth spread all around the lineup on Sunday. Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe added solo home-runs in the second and seventh innings respectively. Dee Gordon, a pleasant surprise early in the season, was a menace on the base paths for D-Backs starter Trevor Cahill, stealing four bases.
Cahill was chased after only four innings, allowing seven runs, six earned, on only five hits. He also had control problems, walking five batters. He was expected to have a big season this year, but he has dropped to 0-4 to begin the season and his ERA is 9.17.
A third and seventh inning rally from the D-Backs cut the Dodger lead to two each time, but they would not get any closer as the combination of J.P. Howell, Chris Perez and Kenley Jansen shut the door to move the Dodgers to 9-4 on the young season.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Dodgers | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 1 | |
| D-Backs | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 1 |
Los Angeles out-scored Arizona 22-11 in the series, and a 4-11 start from the D-Backs' has manager - Kirk Gibson - searching for answers. One of the lone bright spots early in the season for the D-Backs is new acquisition, Mark Trumbo. He hit his sixth home-run of the season, to lead the National League, and he seems to be more relaxed in Arizona than he was in Anaheim. Los Angeles improves to 5-0 this year against Arizona, but Don Mattingly can not be too happy with how the bullpen struggled in the series. With the exception of Friday, when the Dodgers shutout Arizona 6-0, the Boys in Blue have had to hold on in the late innings. On Saturda, the Dodger bullpen allowed Arizona some hope, with Paul Maholm giving up a run in the eighth, and Brandon League giving up three in the ninth. Sunday was much of the same, as Dan Haren got through 5.2 innings, but had to sweat out his second win as a Dodger in the dugout. Paco Rodriguez gave up a run in relief of Haren in the sixth inning, and Jamey Wright served up the monster home-run to Trumbo in the seventh. The bullpen has always been a question mark, especially with the amount of veteran journeyman that Ned Colletti has stockpiled.
The series sweep also gives the Dodgers a 7-1 record on the road to begin the season, their best road record to begin the season since 1983.
The Dodgers will head to San Francisco and begin a three game set at AT&T Park against the Giants. Probables for that series are as follows: Tuesday, Josh Beckett 0-0, 9.00 ERA vs. Tim Lineceum 0-1, 9.90 ERA - Wednesday, Paul Maholm 0-1, 8.10 ERA vs. Ryan Vogelsong 0-0, 8.00 ERA - Thursday, Hyun-Jin Ryu 2-1, 2.57 ERA vs. Madison Bumgarner 2-0, 3.31 ERA.
Arizona will host the Mets Monday through Wednesday at Chase Field. The Mets are coming off losing two of three in Anaheim in a series that was ugly for their pitching staff. Probables are as follows: Monday, Zack Wheeler 0-2, 5.73 ERA vs. Josh Collmenter 0-0, 2.25 ERA - Tuesday, Jenrry Mejia 1-0, 4.09 ERA vs. Bronson Arroyo 1-0, 4.82 ERA - Wednesday, Dillon Gee 0-0, 5.03 ERA vs. Brandon McCarthy 0-2, 7.78 ERA.