Shorthanded Dodgers turn to Greinke vs. D-backs

Shorthanded Dodgers turn to Greinke vs. D-backs

Hanley expected to sit out series with nagging hamstring

Another day, another injury for the Dodgers, as manager Don Mattingly's list of players with ailments continues to accumulate.

Once again, it's shortstop Hanley Ramirez who's unable to play, as his left hamstring continues to bother him and is expected to keep him out of the entire three-game series with the D-backs. He's only registered 23 plate appearances in 2013 while dealing with the hamstring and, earlier in the season, a torn thumb ligament. He returned from the disabled list earlier this month but has now missed five consecutive games after aggravating the hamstring.

"A couple and you say, 'That's part of the deal, guys are going to get hurt.' But I think this has got to be close to record-breaking," said Mattingly, who is also missing Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford and A.J. Ellis from the lineup. "Seriously. I can't imagine I've been around a team that's had this many guys [injured]. It feels like it's kind of adding on after a while."

The disabled list is not the only place the Dodgers are hurting. After ace Clayton Kershaw pitched seven masterful innings Monday night, closer Brandon League blew a 3-1 ninth-inning lead to the first-place D-backs, allowing Arizona to increase its lead over the last-place Dodgers to 8 1/2 games with a 5-4 victory.

Dodgers: Greinke looks to get LA back on track

Greinke hasn't enjoyed much success against the D-backs though. He's 0-3 with a 7.90 ERA in five career starts against Arizona, and he'll need to improve on that mark if the Dodgers are going to snap their three-game losing streak.

• For all the Dodgers' current struggles, Yasiel Puig continues to do his best at the plate and in right field during his illustrious introduction to the big leagues.

After homering four times in his first seven games, Puig singled three times in four at-bats Monday to increase his batting average to .500.

D-backs: Kennedy looks to bounce back
Right-hander Ian Kennedy is coming off of his worst outing as a big leaguer, giving up 10 runs on 13 hits in four innings at St. Louis on Thursday. He faced 11 batters in the fourth inning and allowed eight runs on six hits and two walks in the 25-minute frame, during which he threw 50 pitches.

Overall, Kennedy is 3-4 with a 5.72 ERA on the season. Against the Dodgers in his career he is 5-3 with a 3.88 ERA.

Worth noting
• Detroit's Miguel Cabrera has received national attention for his RBI pace -- he enters Tuesday's action with 69 -- but Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt is not far behind, currently pacing the National League with 59. With another RBI on Monday, Goldschmidt has now driven in a run in nine of 10 June games, 11 of his last 13 overall and 12 in seven games against the Dodgers in 2013.

LA TIMES

Brandon League can't hold ninth-inning lead, Dodgers fall, 5-4

Reliever gives up four runs to the Diamondbacks and L.A. wastes a fine effort by Clayton Kershaw.

Brandon League shuffled off the mound. The save had been blown. The boos were pretty loud.

Don Mattingly handed the ball to the new reliever, and then the Dodgers manager headed back to the dugout by himself. The boos were even louder.

On what might be the most discouraging night in a season full of them, the Dodgers' beleaguered closer blew a two-run lead with two outs to go, negating a fine start by Clayton Kershaw. The Arizona Diamondbacks rallied for four runs in the ninth inning, escaping with a 5-4 victory and leaving fans to boo the manager, all the while wondering how long Mattingly can continue to use League anywhere in a close game, let alone in the ninth inning.

"If he gets his outs, they're cheering for him," Mattingly said. "If he doesn't get his outs, it's a bad decision. That's the way it is. I understand it.

"I'm trying to put people in the best position to get the job done. Brandon did the job in the past. If he gets his outs, it goes forward and nobody says anything.

"As soon as he didn't get his outs, it's my fault he didn't get his outs."

The Dodgers might be in last place in the National League West, but they were two outs from climbing to within 61/2 games of the first-place Diamondbacks, with Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu lined up to pitch the final two games of the series. The Dodgers could have gone home dreaming about closing to within 41/2 games of Arizona by Wednesday, dreaming of a pennant race even though they have not seen the .500 mark since April.

It would be easy to say the fan discontent with Mattingly revolves around his insistence that League is his closer. Except that, after the game, Mattingly said he had not even committed to using League in the ninth inning Monday.

Mattingly used Kenley Jansen in the eighth inning, against the heart of the Arizona lineup. If the Diamondbacks' best hitters had been due up in the ninth inning, Mattingly said he would have used League in the eighth and Jansen in the ninth.

The Dodgers' bullpen has 15 losses, tied with the Houston Astros for most in the major leagues. League has converted 13 of 17 save opportunities, but his earned-run average is 6.00. No other active Dodgers pitcher has an ERA above 4.00.

Mattingly said he had not decided whether he would continue to use League as a closer.

"It's a tough time to make a decision 12 minutes after the game," Mattingly said.

However, Mattingly said there was a difference between League's performance all season and his performance Monday.

"I'm not sitting here trying to defend Brandon at this point," Mattingly said. "For the most part, Brandon has been saving games."

Yasiel Puig did not hit a home run Monday, but he had three hits, lifting his batting average to .500 after eight major league games.

League took a 3-1 lead into the top of the ninth inning, and he got the first out. But five of the next six batters reached base, with Willie Bloomquist's single driving in the tying and go-ahead runs.

Mattingly defended his use of League in the ninth inning by citing matchups. The first three Arizona batters in the ninth were 0 for 5 against League, five for 10 against Jansen.

"Solid decision," Mattingly said. "The fact a solid decision doesn't work, it's a bad decision."