2010 Season Series: Dodgers won 4-3
Matchup Analysis: So far the Dodgers 2011 season has resembled much of the Cubs 2011 season. At 10-10, the Dodgers are in third behind the Rockies and Giants, but haven't been very good offensively or pitching-wise yet. This will be their first road trip since MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced that the league would appoint a trustee to observe and direct the Dodgers' day-to-day financial operations. It's a shame that such a historic franchise with all the success it has had in American history and in popular culture has been strapped financially because of owner Frank McCourt's divorce proceedings. From what I understand, McCourt is not a popular man in the area because of these divorcing issues that could have been avoided and are a personal problem but are affecting the team and organization's ability to invest in winning. The Dodgers field a solid team that made the NLCS two years in a row in 2008 and 2009, but the window of opportunity will close unless they can add another big piece to assert themselves as contenders to stay. Right now their best player is right fielder Matt Kemp, who has been on an absolute tear early on this season. Batting .411 with eight steals, both of which lead the league, Kemp has two walk-off homers just on the last homestand. The second of the homers came yesterday afternoon against the Braves. Dodgers fans can't argue with a nice distraction from the situation their organization is in. And Kemp has an easy draw in the first game as the Cubs will start Casey Coleman. Chad Billingsley has the advantage against Coleman, but the Cubs have shown more resilience this season against bigger name pitchers. On Saturday, it'll be current staff ace Ryan Dempster against former staff co-ace Ted Lilly, who makes his first start against the Cubs since they traded him to the Dodgers. On Sunday, it'll be Carlos Zambrano against Hiroki Kuroda. Dempster has looked really bad this year and needs to find control of the slider again. Zambrano was arguably better in his last start than any other start since his no-hitter in 2008, and now he gets to return home to try and replicate success.
Key Player: Carlos Pena - The longer we keep waiting for him to produce big time as advertised, the longer the Cubs offense will be inconsistent. The hardest homer of the season to get is the first one; I think he'll get his first this weekend and start contributing more often.
Keys to Win:
-Score early. The Cubs need to get out to a nice comfortable lead in at least two of the three games to establish their position in the series. With the Cubs' good mix of righties and lefties in the bullpen, it shouldn't be too hard to contain their big hitters, whether it be the righty Kemp or lefty Andre Ethier.
-Work the count. In 2008 when the Cubs led the NL in runs, there was an article in Sporting News that I read on why that was. The article was correct, saying that it was because the Cubs were drawing walks. The Cubs haven't come close to scoring like they did that year since, and they've been nowhere near as patient. They aren't on pace to walk that much this year either.
Series Prediction: Cubs win 2-1. I think the Dodgers will jump on Coleman today, but Dempster will have his first good start of the season following and Zambrano will be decent enough on Sunday. But with Starlin Castro hitting, the Cubs should put up enough runs to support even mediocre starts on Lilly and Kuroda.
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