By SBRForum.com
Will the Dodgers be able to build on a winning series over the Miami Marlins? They now head to Pittsburgh to take on a strong home team in the Pirates.
It was a successful start to their road trip for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers opened with a 5-2 win behind another excellent outing from Clayton Kershaw, then dropped the next game 7-3, with Joe Blanton getting the loss.
A gem from Chris Capuano helped L.A. to a 5-0 win in the deciding game. He completely stifled the Marlins.
The road only gets tougher now though considering the Pirates are one of the best home teams in baseball.
For the Dodgers, they’ll open with Aaron Harang, who’s 7-7 this season. He’ll go up against Pittsburgh’s Jeff Karstens and the MLB odds should be close for that series opener.
On Tuesday, Chad Billingsley goes head to head with Wandy Rodriguez. Billingsley has been terrific over his past four starts (six total earned runs), while Rodriguez has yet to win a game for his new ballclub.
Wednesday sees another pitching advantage for the Dodgers, who have Kershaw on the mound. We all know what this guy offers and L.A. should be favored for this one against Kevin Correia and the Pirates.
In the final game of the series, the Dodgers are faced with their trickiest matchup. They have Blanton going against AJ Burnett, who is 14-4 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.19 WHIP this season. Those are some outstanding numbers.
No doubt this is going to be a stern test for the Dodgers, but getting at least two of the four games would be considered a success. That would set themselves up nicely for a three-game trip to Atlanta to play the Braves.
Will they be able to build up some momentum? Only time will tell.