Game 3 Thread: April 4 @ Brewers, 5.05p

Dodgers start Jason Schmidt (0-0) vs. Jeff Suppan (0-0).

Dodgers: 0-2 (Solely in last place, NL West)
Brewers: 2-0 (T-1st, NL Central)

From dodgers.com, the scouting report on the starters:

Dodgers: Somebody doesn't want him to pitch against his old friends in San Francisco so he comes up third despite the ace-like contract. He's not the pure power pitcher of earlier years and his spring was erratic, but he's smart enough to win when he doesn't have his best stuff.

Brewers: The Brewers' money man makes his home in Los Angeles and is 3-3 lifetime against the Dodgers with a 3.98 ERA in seven games. This will be his Brewers debut, but he will be pitching in comfortable surroundings; Suppan is 5-0 in seven career starts at Miller Park with a 1.76 ERA, one reason the Brewers decided to pursue the free agent last winter. He has also been very good at his home ballpark throughout his career, going 60-47 with a 4.37 ERA for his various teams.

COMMENTS

• We'll start with the positive. This is ace Jason Schmidt's Dodgers debut and we can't be more excited. His velocity appeared to be down in spring training, but we'll see if he can help the Dodgers avoid the sweep in Milwaukee. It would be great to have one of our starting pitchers get a win.
• On the flipside, Schmidt can pitch great but if you can't score, you can't win. So let's talk about the Dodgers who have not yet gotten hits, right Juan Pierre (3 LOB yesterday, though he did walk and score a run) and Luis Gonzalez (4 LOB yesterday)? Matt Kemp also went 0-for-4, meaning that his platooned spot with Andre Ethier has collectively gone 0-for-6. Russell Martin alone will not get it done.
• Finally, there's the defense. The rag arms of Gonzalez and Pierre have led the Brewers to run on any ball hit to the outfield. Pierre did have the wheels to catch up to a tough fly ball yesterday, though, which is more than we can say for Gonzo. Brewers manager Ned Yost is clearly telling his team to be aggressive on us. Aside from the Giants, I'm guessing the rest of our opponents this year will do the same until we address this issue.

UPDATE

The lineup, courtesy of Inside the Dodgers:

Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Garciaparra, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzalez, LF
Betemit, 3B
Ethier, LF
Martinez, SS
Schmidt, P

UPDATE #2--BREAKING NEWS!!!: Sons of Steve Garvey will be at today's Dodgers/Brewers game, our first SoSG game of the season. Look for us! We'll be wearing the blue LA hat.

Pictures to follow....