Clayton Kershaw never really could find a groove in his 2nd career start, being forced out during the 4th inning. But, in a nice change of pace, the offense was able to lift the Dodgers to their 1st victory since Sunday, snapping their 4-game losing streak to beat the Mets, 9-5.
Juan Pierre started things off by walking and stealing 2nd off of Mets starter John Maine. After Matt Kemp and Jeff Kent could not reach base, it was starting to look like the same old inning for the Dodgers. James Loney, though, stroked a double to center, scoring Pierre, and then he came around to score on Russell Martin's ground rule double. Andre Ethier singled home Martin, and it was quickly 3-0.
As I said before, Kershaw just couldn't get going. Hey, he's only 20-years-old, so it's not like we shouldn't expect bumps in the road. His curveball was still excellent, but he had trouble locating the fastball. He left one up to Luis Castillo, who pounded a 2-run shot. He walked the bases loaded in the 3rd, but luckily only gave up a sac-fly for a run.
Chan Ho Park was called on for long relief, and ended up getting good results, despite not being in total control himself. He walked 3 and and gave up 2 hits in 3.1 IP, but only allowed 1 run. He and Hong-Chih Kuo have really been great in the long relief role. Park has totally exceeded anyone's expectations. I guess the Dodgers really are good at finding 1 washed up pitcher per year and finding success.
After going down 5-4 entering the 8th, the offense really picked up... though to be fair, they got some help from the men in black. Pierre hit a slow roller to Jose Reyes, who appeared to gun him out at 1st, but the umpire called him safe. It all unraveled after that for the Mets. A double by Kemp, followed by 4 singles and a wild pitch brought in 5 runs to open the game up. The Dodgers still can't hit for power, but when they get in a groove like that, they can up up runs.
Takashi Saito got some of his good vibes back with a scoreless 9th. He still walked Carlos Beltran and beaned Ramon Castro on an 0-2 count, but Carlos Delgado grounded out to end the game. It wasn't perfect, but far and away better than Wednesday's appearance in Chicago.
Considering they have to face Johan Santana on Sunday (with me in attendance), tomorrow's game would be good to have. Chad Billingsley gets the start against Mike Pelfrey, so on paper, the matchup favors the Dodgers. We shall see.
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