Game 138: Dodgers @ Brewers 0:9

The Dodgers seem to have gone from hot to cold in a flash. After winning seven straight games, the Dodgers have been anything but lucky.

The Dodgers lost their third straight Tuesday night, falling to the lowly Milwaukee Brewers in a one-sided, 9-0 shutout. The Dodgers could only muster four hits the entire game.

The Dodgers' anemic offense has been outscored 27-8 in their last three games.

"When you don't score runs, you look flat," Los Angeles manager
Grady Little said. "There is no getting around that. But we will put
this game behind us and come back tomorrow and see
if we will be ready to beat on somebody. Then when we start
hitting the ball, starting having baserunners, we won't look
flat anymore. I guarantee you."

This statement concerns me. Growing up, playing little league, my manager always emphasized the importance of having a winning and positive attitude. He always had us illustrate this by using positive language. One would never hear us or our coaches say "if we when" for example. It was always "when we win."

Now, we have Grady Little wondering if we will be ready to beat someone. Definitely not the type of attitude I want to hear coming from the manager. The Dodgers, which had opened a seven and a half game lead in the NL West on July 26, leads second-place San Diego just just one game now.

"It's hard to get it going if you are not getting any baserunners,
and we didn't get too many tonight," Little said.

Mark Hendrickson continues to show why Hong-Chih Kuo should get a chance to start, dropping to a sad 1-7 since joining the Dodgers. In his latest outing, Hendrickson lasted just four innings for the second straight time, giving up five runs (four earned) and seven hits. He has lost three straight decisions and has just one victory since June 20.

"It's kind of been frustrating for me," Hendrickson said.
"Obviously, I am not executing my pitches as well as I would like,
and I am not really getting away with any mistakes.
It just comes back down to executing pitches a lot better."

I am willing to put money on Kuo being able to execute. Little: Grow some balls and do what is best for the team! Replace Hendrickson with Kuo!

Questionable call up, reliever Eric Stults made his major league debut, allowing three runs and five hits in three innings.

Notes:

1. In some positive news, the Dodgers recalled Oscar Robles and Delwyn Young from Triple-A Las Vegas. It is nice to see Robles back up and will definitely be nice watching what Young can do.

2. Matt Kemp showed his arm strength, throwing a runner out at the plate. Kemp sure does look like the whole package.