Los Angeles @ Chicago preview
Wrigley Field
Last Meeting ( May 26, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 8, Chi. Cubs 5
The Los Angeles Dodgers have reportedly begun the process of looking into acquiring a front-line starting pitcher, with Houston’s Roy Oswalt and Seattle’s Cliff Lee two potential targets.
And while the club has been lacking a true veteran ace at the top of its rotation for the past few seasons, the Dodgers are currently getting by due to the help of some lesser-known talents -- one of them being rookie John Ely.
Ely heads to the hill on Thursday against the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of the three-game series at Wrigley Field.
Wednesday’s contest was a wild one as a power outage during the top of the fourth inning engulfed the stadium in darkness and delayed the game 18 minutes.
The Dodgers didn’t experience any outage offensively, as they scored five runs in the first two innings of the 8-5 victory. Casey Blake homered and drove in a pair of runs and James Loney finished a home run shy of the cycle as Los Angeles snapped a brief two-game skid.
Ely, who has been called-up on two separate occasions this season with the Dodgers in dire need of pitching, has been one of the team’s most reliable starters in winning three straight decisions. After allowing five runs in his first major-league start, the 24-year-old surrendered just seven over his next four outings.
For the season, Ely is 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA. He has 28 strikeouts against only four walks in 31 2/3 innings and has gone at least six innings in every start.
His contributions have been welcomed as the Dodgers rank 11th in the National League with a team ERA of 4.26.
Taking the ball for the Cubs is a pitcher who is headed in the opposite direction of Ely in Ted Lilly.
The Cubs left-hander hasn’t won since April 24, his first start of the campaign. Since then, he has dropped four of five outings with one no-decision.
Lilly hasn’t pitched badly but has received just nine total runs of support in his last four starts.
When facing the Dodgers in his career, Lilly is 3-1 with a 3.94 ERA.
Chicago first baseman Derrek Lee has been spot-on in the first two games of the series, totaling six hits with a homer and three RBIs.
The Cubs had won three in a row before Wednesday’s setback.