These are the kind of series you like to see. A bad team comes into town, and the Dodgers took care of business and they’re back in first place a game ahead of the Padres.
On Friday, the Dodgers gave Bret Tomko a nice cushion by putting up seven runs through the first four innings. Bret Tomko threw five shutout innings and improved to 6-6 while Jae Seo was knocked around in mopup time. Jeff Kent homered and drove in three runs while the first three batters in the order (Rafael Furcal, Cesar Izturis and Nomar Garicapara) all scored twice in the 10-4 win.
Yesterday, Aaron Sele and three relievers combined for a seven hit shutout. He improved to 4-2 on the season and struck out four in six innings. Andre Ethier had two hits and four RBIs in the 7-0 win.
Today’s game was the closest of three but outside of the first few innings, the Dodgers had the lead for most of the game. Rafael Furcal and Ramon Martinez drove in two runs and Nomar Garciapara and Ethier scored twice. Brad Penny improved to an impressive 8-2. Takashi Saito closed out the game and he picked up his fifth save of the season.
Next up is a three game series in Minnesota against the Twins. The Twins looked horrible in the first couple of months, but they’ve really turned it on in June. They’re riding a four game winning streak like we are and they’ve been very good (24-10) at home so the Dodgers have their work cut out for them.
