Dodgers try to avoid sweep at hands of lowly Nats

Baseball Betting Lines

08/28/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Los Angeles Dodgers wind up eventually falling short in their quest to win the National League West, the team will likely point to its current road trip -- and in particular, this series with the Washington Nationals -- as a reason for its failure.

The Dodgers will attempt to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of Washington, owners of the worst record in baseball, when these two clubs meet again tonight at Nationals Park.

Wednesday's 5-4 defeat to the Nationals was the sixth straight loss for Los Angeles to open its 10-game road trip, and the Dodgers have now dropped eight their last eight away games. Joe Torre's stumbling squad began the trek with four consecutive defeats in Philadelphia.

Despite their recent futility, the Dodgers remain just three games behind Arizona, which has lost four in a row, for first place in the NL West. Los Angeles will visit the Diamondbacks for three crucial contests beginning on Friday.

The Dodgers hit three home runs off Nationals starter Tim Redding last night, but all were solo shots. Los Angeles also had errors from pitcher Greg Maddux and second baseman Jeff Kent that led to a pair of Washington runs.

Redding (9-8) threw six effective innings to get the win, allowing just the three runs on eight hits. Joel Hanrahan come on with two outs in the top of the eighth and got out of a bases-loaded jam, then tossed a scoreless ninth to record his sixth save.

Ryan Zimmerman hit his first home run since May 17 and scored twice for Washington, which has won back-to-back games for the first time since taking both games of a doubleheader against Colorado on August 7. Emilio Bonifacio finished 2-for-4 with a run scored in the win.

Casey Blake, James Loney and Andre Ethier had the solo homers for Los Angeles, with both Ethier and Loney ending 3-for-5 on the night. Blake collected a pair of hits and knocked in two runs.

Maddux (6-11) gave up four runs -- two earned -- on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers now pin their hopes on the talented left arm of 20-year-old Clayton Kershaw in the team's attempt to end its skid. The rookie has been outstanding for much of this second half, although he's coming off a shaky performance in his last start.

Against the Phillies on Saturday, Kershaw was tagged for six runs on seven hits over four innings to take the loss in LA's 9-2 setback. In a five-start stretch prior to that outing, the young phenom had gone 2-0 with an excellent 1.45 earned run average.

That outstanding run began with a July 27 matchup with the Nationals at Dodger Stadium in which Kershaw fired six shutout innings to lead Los Angeles to a 2-0 triumph.

Washington will be sending out a rookie of its own tonight in John Lannan, who will be hoping to break out of his recent struggles at home. The left-hander has surrendered 16 runs (14 earned) and 16 hits in just 9 2/3 innings of work over his last two starts at Nationals Ballpark, losing on both occasions.

For the season, Lannan is just 2-7 with a 6.27 ERA in his 10 home starts, compared to a 2.71 ERA on the road.

The 23-year-old is coming off a win at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Friday, although he permitted five runs and a pair of homers in 6 1/3 innings.

Lannan faced the Dodgers for the first time on July 25 and received a hard- luck loss. He pitched seven innings in that game and was reached for three runs on six hits.

Los Angeles swept a three-game series versus Washington at Dodger Stadium from July 25-27 and is 11-3 over its past 14 meetings with the Nationals.