He's had 10 Major League starts, and no wins. Still, it had to happen someday. Sunday was that day.
Clayton Kershaw has finally broken into the record books on the winning side for the first time in his career as he completely shut down the Washington Nationals, 2-0. At only 20-years-old, it's hopefully the first in a long line of wins down the road.
Much like Friday's game, scoring was at a premium for both teams. Fortunately for the Dodgers, they were playing the Nats. And Good Lord do the Nats suck. 2 runs in 3 games. Shutout the final 2 games. Like I said last night, any of you National fans that are reading this, I really do feel badly for you. That's gotta really suck.
Kershaw finished with a line of 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. He never faced more than 4 hitters in an inning. The thing that has plagued him all year long - lack of control - was not at all an issue today. Rather, he threw 57 of his 86 pitches for strikes. If he's got his control down, forget about it. His blazing fastball and nasty hook are good enough to get him by. Plus he's still developing his changeup, making him more effective. Now it's time to build on that, starting with his next start against the Diamondbacks on Friday.
It's not like there's a whole lot of offensive highlights to discuss, but here goes. James Loney started the 2nd with a solo shot to right, his 9th. They struck again in the 5th when Juan Pierre singled with 1 down. Matt Kemp also singled, and Russell Martin drove in Pierre with his own single. That's Dodger baseball! But seriously, against the Nationals, that's all you really need.
A couple of news bits comes from this game. The first is that Matt Kemp extended his hitting streak to 14 games, his career-high. In looking at his stats, he's actually hit safely in 30 of his last 33 games. That's pretty damn good. Now the funny thing is that his average is practically the same: .291 then, .290 now. Let's just call him consistent.
The other is that Nomar Garciaparra left after the 5th with irritation in his left knee. That happened because of Lasting Milledge's slide into 3rd the previous inning as Nomar was tagging him out. The knee twisted a bit, and here we go again. He claims it feels fine, but we shall see. I'll hold judgment for now, but excuse me for not being overly optimistic.
The San Francisco Giants come into town for 3, followed by the big 4-game set against Arizona. Hiroki Kuroda is the starter tomorrow, and he is looking to rebound off of 2 poor starts on the road. He's definitely a better pitcher at home. There will be no start from Tim Lincecum, which is huge.
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