I love L.A.

I deplaned in Tinsel Town Saturday afternoon and quickly rediscovered a few things about So-Cal. The weather is great, the traffic is brutal, and the Dodgers are terrible. The Astros barely broke a sweat while stifling the Bums for a second straight evening. My good friend Ray scored us excellent seats directly behind the plate for last night’s game. The Dodgers failed to score at all.

Dodger rookie Rubby De La Rosa had his way with the Astros for the first four innings but fell apart in the fifth. The right-hander walked three and misplayed a bunt in the inning to help Houston plate five runners. Wandy Rodriguez (5-3, 2.88) pitched six scoreless innings to earn his second straight victory since returning from the disabled list. Fernando Abad, Wilton Lopez, and Fernando Rodriguez threw one inning apiece to complete the shutout. Houston scored a pair of runs in the eighth for a 7-0 final. Chris Johnson singled, doubled, and scored twice to pace the offense.

We will battle the traffic again today for the Father’s Day series finale that pits Bud Norris against Hiroki Kuroda. Norris had won two in a row before falling victim to the Pirates in a 1-0 loss last Tuesday. Kuroda has a 3.31 E.R.A. but has lost five straight starts for the slumping Dodgers. Hunter Pence will be out of the Astros lineup again today. Pence missed last night’s game and has flown back to Houston for an MRI on his left elbow. Pence sustained the injury on a slide into first base during Friday night’s 7-3 win. The Astros are hoping that Pence’s injury is not serious and the slugger can get back into the lineup during the upcoming interleague series against the Rangers. The Astros travel to Arlington to start a three game set on Monday.