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Angels try to help, but Dodgers stumble in 8-3 loss

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That was not pretty. Two struggling teams get together, rivalry or no, and it’s probably not best to expect a work of beauty.

As it was, the Angels survived some of their ugliest baserunning seen in some time to overcome the Dodgers, 8-3, Friday night before an announced crowd of 43,640.

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The Dodgers hadn’t drawn a crowd of under 50,000 for an Angels game in 10 years.

Not that anyone missed much Friday. The Angels’ aggressiveness on the bases killed them early. Four of their first six outs were recorded on the bases.

That happily kept rookie right-hander Rubby De La Rosa in the game against Angels and starter Dan Haren.

De La Rosa (3-2) hardly looked like some incredible phenom. He was in some kind of trouble in all but one of his six innings. He gave up nine hits, walked four and struck out six.

Matt Kemp had staked De La Rosa to a 2-0 lead with his National League-leading 21st home run in the first inning, a blast that went several rows up.

De La Rosa hung onto the lead, due largely to the Angels’ ineptness on the bases. In the first two innings, the Angels were caught stealing, thrown out at the plate, picked off first by catcher Dioner Navarro, thrown out trying to advance to third on a single and picked off first again by Navarro.

The Dodgers were up 2-1 in the fifth, when the Angels scored three times to take the lead for good. Maicer Izturis doubled in one run before Erick Aybar hit his fourth home run of the season.

The Dodgers got one back in the bottom of the inning on an Andre Ethier double and Tony Gwynn Jr. groundout, but their offense had run out of steam against Haren, who had a 6.00 ERA in his last five starts.

The Angels added a solo home run by Howie Kendrick in the sixth, scored two more in the eighth, one thanks to a James Loney throwing error, and a final run in the ninth.

The loss dropped the Dodgers to 34-43 and matched their season high of nine games back in the National League West. Boos were heard frequently throughout the night.

Worse, they suffered yet another injury when Marcus Thames doubled in the second. Appearing to run gingerly, he strained his left calf and left the game. He’s being called day-to-day.

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The Angels haven’t exactly been tearing it up either at 38-39, but they benefit from playing in the weak American League West and remain three games back of Texas.

RELATED:

Angels-Dodgers box score

-- Steve Dilbeck

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