Jon Garland, the starting pitcher in Game 3 of the White Sox last World Series championship, returns to Chicago for the first time since they traded him in November of 2007.
The youngest American League player when he debuted on July 4, 2000 for the White Sox, Garland pitched in the 2005 All Star game and received six votes in Cy Young Award balloting that year.
He went on to win 18 games for the White Sox in 2005, on his way to tallying 92 victories in the eight years he pitched for Chicago.
Garland started this year on the disabled list with a strained oblique muscle. In his first game after being reinstated, Garland was rocked for five earned runs in four innings. Since then he has posed a 2.37 EAR, allowing only ten earned runs in 34 innings. Despite this, the hard-luck pitcher is 1-3 on the year.
The Dodgers find themselves in the midst of a season-best three-game road winning streak as they battle the White Sox in the second game of the three-game series.
Part of the road success can be attributed to Jamey Carroll who leads the major leagues with a .386 road batting average after tying a career-high with four hits last night.
During the month of May, Carroll has the second-highest batting average in the big leagues, going 25-for-71, good for a .352 mark.
Filling in admirably for the injured Rafael Furcal, the 37-year old Carroll leads all MLB shortstops with a .376 on-base percentage and ranks second with a .319 batting average.
Matt Kemp, who got the start last night at designated hitter, continued his hot start when he belted his tenth home run of the year, becoming the sixth Dodger DH to homer, the first since Manny Ramirez, last year at Boston.
Kemp appears to have rebounded from his dismal 2010 in which he hit only .249. The 26-year old is hitting .324 this season and is one of only two players in the majors to have at least ten homers and ten stolen bases.
Kemp is on pace to become just the second Dodger to reach the 30-home-run/30 stolen-base plateau. Raul Mondesi accomplished the feat in 1997 and 1999.
Kemp may have hit an interleague homer, but it’s Aaron Miles who loves playing against the American League. Miles, who has played all but eight of his 836 games in the National League, holds the second-highest career batting average in interleague play at .356 (90-for-253).
The A.L.team Miles began his career with in 2003? The Chicago White Sox, of course.
If Carroll, Kemp, Miles, and the offense can do its part, the team will likely flourish. Dodger starting pitching has been stellar, posting 11 quality starts in the team’s last 13 games. During that time, the combined ERA of Los Angeles starting pitchers has been 2.53.
The 30 quality starts this season ties the team with the Angels for third most in baseball, one behind Oakland and Philadelphia.
Hiroki Kuroda (5-3, 2.80 ERA) faces former Dodger Edwin Jackson (3-5, 4.53 ERA) in tomorrow’s series finale.
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