The Los Angeles Dodgers return home Friday night to face the San Diego Padres in the first of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. Ted Lilly and Clayton Richard are tonight's starters, three weeks after facing off in a game that, thanks to rain, took two days to complete. On April 8 in San Diego, these two teams played an 11-inning game which was interrupted by four rain delays, suspended, then completed the next night, a game won by the Dodgers 4-2.
Since that weekend when the Dodgers were in San Diego, the Padres' offense has struggled mightily, scoring just 2.24 runs per game in 17 contests. In their last eight games, the Padres have scored just 16 total runs and are 2-8. San Diego has received next to no production from first base this season. James Loney has been terrible for the Dodgers so far, hitting .206/.234/.245 with two extra-base hits, but he has towered over San Diego's production. Padres' first basemen -- a combination of Brad Hawpe and Jorge Cantu -- have hit just .131/.178/.202 with one home run and seven RBI.
Andre Ethier has a 24-game hitting streak, the longest in MLB this season, and an MLB record for the longest hitting streak in April. There have only been four longer hitting streaks in L.A. Dodger history. The last Dodger to hit in 25 straight games was Paul LoDuca in 2003.
For more news and information on the Dodgers, or on tonight's game, be sure to read the SB Nation blog True Blue LA.