The Los Angeles Dodgers (58-49) will look to continue their winning ways at 4:05 p.m. at historic Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs (49-59), who after the trade deadline already have their eyes on next season. The game can be live streamed here; Dodgers fans can hear the game on 570 Fox Sports LA, while Cubs fans can to the same on WGN 720.
The Dodgers are 3.5 games in front of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West standings and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Today they will send Hyun-jin Ryu (9-3, 3.14 ERA) to the hill to continue the surge.
Ryu's rookie season has been a microcosm of the Dodgers surge to the top of the standings; in his last start Ryu shut down the potent Cincinnati Reds lineup to the tune of one run on two hits over seven innings.
"It was probably one of his better performances tonight," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "He had a little extra on his fastball. ... I expected him to really be good. He seems to rise to the occasion all the time." The Dodgers have emerged winners the last six times Ryu had toed the rubber.
The Cubs will counter with Travis Wood (7-7, 2.79 ERA), who has been surprisingly effective in 2013. It was equally surprising that the Cubs didn't deal him in their trade deadline selloff that saw Chicago part with slugging outfielder Alfonso Soriano and frontline starters Matt Garza and Scott Feldman.
In the absence of Soriano, outfielder Junior Lake and first baseman Anthony Rizzo have picked up the slack. They each homered twice Thursday night in the series opening loss to Los Angeles, and will need to stay hot if they plan on cooling down the Dodgers. "Other than that [the two homers each] they shut us down," Rizzo said.
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