--RHP Hiroki Kuroda allowed seven runs and nine hits, both career highs, although he had allowed nine hits in three previous starts. He is 0-2 with a 13.11 ERA in three starts since the All-Star break. He also is 1-4 with an 8.54 ERA in seven starts against teams from the National League West.
--OF Matt Kemp went 1-for-4 with an infield single, extending his career-best hitting streak to 15 games. That matches the longest streak by a Dodgers player this season, with James Loney having hit safely in the first 15 games of the season. Kemp is hitting .359 (23 for 64) during the streak. --1B James Loney went hitless in four at-bats, striking out twice, to drop his average to .299. That marks the first time in six days that it has been below .300. Loney continues to lead the club in batting, hits (115), RBI (58), doubles (26) and multiple-hit games (30).
--INF Mark Sweeney snapped a streak of 19 consecutive hitless at-bats when he delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double in the fifth. Sweeney's previous hit had come on June 5 against the Chicago Cubs' Ryan Dempster. Sweeney, the second-most prolific pinch hitter in the game's history, is batting .135 (7-for-52) as a pinch hitter this season,with three doubles and five walks.
--3B Casey Blake, acquired in a three-player trade with Cleveland on Saturday, was ejected from his third game with the Dodgers. First-base umpire Greg Gibson ruled that Blake went around on a checked swing for strike three in the eighth inning, after which Blake continued to yell at Gibson from the dugout until Gibson ejected him. Blake responded by running out of the dugout to first base to argue further with Gibson, with manager Joe Torre following behind, and Torre eventually was ejected as well.
BY THE NUMBERS: .281 -- Batting average for the Dodgers in their first nine games of the second half, during which they averaged 5.2 runs and won six times. The Dodgers hit a collective .253 before the All-Star break, 12th in the National League, while averaging 4.1 runs a game. They entered play Sunday with the third-best second-half batting average in the N.L., trailing only Colorado (.383) and Pittsburgh (.295).
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Don isn't going to tell you what you want to hear. He will tell you what he sees. Some players don't like that. They want to hear that they took a good swing when they rolled the ball over, and that's not a good swing. As a coach, your job is obviously to root for these guys, but at least be honest. If you can't be honest, you're not doing your job as a coach, and you're definitely doing a disservice to the athlete." -- Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa on what to expect from new hitting coach Don Mattingly.
