Dodgers "Cap" Off Road Series with a Shutout Victory

Chris Capuano reverted to his first half self throwing 8 innings of shutout ball in the Dodgers 5-0 win over the Marlins this Sunday afternoon.  It was his 11th win of the year and first since before the All Star break.  Capuano had his best crafty stuff and for a while the Dodgers did their level best to not give him any offensive support.  It wasn’t until the 8th inning that the Dodger bats started a string of hits that resulted in four insurance runs to give their hard luck starter a cushion of a lead.

(Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)

Hanley Ramirez drove in three of the five Dodger runs today and concluded the three game series against his former team going 6 for 13, with 5 RBIs and 2 runs scored.    Matt Kemp had a disappointing day, striking out for the second day in a row with the bases loaded early in the game.  It will be interesting to see if Kemp can lay off that low and a way stuff that he has been susceptible to swinging at lately.

There is no doubt that the excitement of the day was the close call that Capuano had to pitching the first Dodger no-hitter since Hideo Nomo tossed one at Colorado back in September, 1996.  He had his arsenal of pitches working and was fooling Marlin hitters with off speed stuff that had them flailing away, striking out 10 times on the day.  Capuano (11-8, 3.11 ERA) broke a personal three game losing streak and moved the Dodgers within a half game of San Francisco, who is currently playing Colorado at home.

The Dodgers now travel to Pittsburgh for a four game set at PNC Park.  It’s another tough test on this grueling 10 game road trip in the hot and humid eastern time zone.  It should be noted that the Dodgers are 9-1 while playing in that time zone three hours ahead.  It’ll be Aaron Harang (7-7, 3.80) facing off against Jeff Karstens (4-2, 3.77) at 4:05 pm tomorrow.  Karstens has a lifetime 0-3 record against the Dodgers in five starts.