The Los Angeles Dodgers is about to face its third contest of a four-game series with San Diego Padres. For this purpose it has turned to Paul Maholm, for a sport start on Saturday Night. San Diego’s Ian Kennedy may have had some struggles against the Dodgers lately, but his overall performance was impressive at Chavez Ravine in the last years. Supporters hope that he will make another strong outing on the Dodger Stadium tonight.
Josh Beckett has also been sidelined due to a hip injury, and Paul Maholm will be the one to take his place. It is his eight start of the campaign, and the first since May 14. At present he is 1-4 with 5.50 earned run average for the season. He has achieved 5.17 ERA in 24 appearances. We have no idea how much the left-hand pitcher will be able to do tonight, or how much he will he will last, even if he has been used in long relief out of the bullpen. The 32-year-old Maholm actually declared that he also does not know how much he will be able to go, but he considers it his responsibility to save the bullpen as much as possible.
“Obviously, it’s a different role than the last few months, but it’s more in my comfort zone than coming into games in the middle.” Paul Maholm declared
On the other side of the barrier, the San Diego team has Ian Kennedy, who aims for a third straight winning start on Saturday. In the past games he was allowed only one run in each of his outings. He is coming off Monday’s 6-1 win over Colorado. The San Diego Padres are aware of Ian Kennedy’s value. As a matter of fact, Bud Black, Padres manager declared that he was a good from his first pitch to the last one. Unlike Paul Maholm, Ian Kennedy is a right-hand pitcher with 3.71 ERA on the 7-9 year, and 6.30 ERA (0-1) in his two starts against the Dodgers on the season.
In this set, San Diego came to a draw in the last night’s 6-3 win. The game was won with the help of Carlos Quentin who knocked in three runs, and Alexi Amarista who also got two runs.
Hahn (5-2) is also allowed a run and three hits. This 24-year-old right-hand pitcher has 1.46 ERA in his last six outings since his big league debut at Petco Park. Although he was nervous, Hahn managed to fare well with his curveball and two-seam fastball.
“This is the first year I’ve been able to throw deep into games, and I’m still getting used to that. Being able to go six or seven is going to help me build my confidence.” Hahn declared
Lastly, Dan Harren surrendered six hits and four runs over four-plus frames which dropped his second consecutive start for the Dodgers. Don Mattingly, the manager of Dodgers said that Dan simply couldn’t get the ball where he wanted. He also states that they missed several opportunities, and made mistakes, but he hopes to move forward.
At the moment, the Padres rotation has a 1.74 ERA over the last 11 games.