Dodgers beat the tough Cardinals for first home sweep of St. Louis in 22 yrs (6/10)
The Dodgers did it again to the St. Louis Cardinals. They swept one of the best teams in the National League in their first meeting back here at Dodger Stadium since sweeping them in the playoffs last year. In a match up of marquee pitchers, Clayton Kershaw out dueled Adam Wainwright.
Manny Ramirez started the scoring blasting a 2 out, 2 run HR in the 1st inning and Blake DeWitt followed up with a 2 run single in the 3rd to make it 4-0. Kershaw was cruising along until Ryan Ludwick (pictured below playing right field) slugged a 3 run shot his 10th HR of the season in the 4th to make it 4-3. He hit 3 HR’s in this series and was one of the lone bright spots for the visitors. Chris Carpenter pitched a solid game the night before but was out pitched by Kuroda as LA won 1-0. Game one was a Dodger blowout 12-4.
The pitching took over from there and Jonathon Broxton earned his 16th save but got lucky. Albert Pujols got his first hit of the series in the 9th inning to lead things off. After retiring Holiday and Ludwick, Yadier Molina drove a ball up the gap in right center field. Matt Kemp sprawled out to try to make a game ending spectacular catch came up short. The ball ended up bouncing over the wall for a ground rule double as Pujols was jogging home. He was sent back to third and Broxton got Randy Wynn to ground out to end the game.
This was the first Dodger home sweep of the Cards in 22 years and they seem to have their number. St. Louis were heavy favorites in last year’s playoffs but came up empty. Their hitters seemed to press and overall team play has been inconsistent. They are battling the resurgent Cincinnati Reds for the division lead while the Dodgers are neck in neck with the Padres and Giants in the NL West.
Up next the Angels visit Dodger Stadium for a freeway series over the weekend. More info/stats and tickets at www.dodgers.com or www.losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com