It was all Dodgers for their debut in new Citi Field on Tuesday night, as the Mets put up practically no resistance in an 8-0 thrashing. Quite simply, the Dodgers put men on base, drove them in, and were much better pitching. It's pretty much your formula for success.
But the real story of the night was... you guessed it, Manny Ramirez. He stole the show not only for his bat, but for his arguing as well.
Manny finished the night 2-for-4 with three RBIs. The two outs he recorded were via strikeout - and he was not happy about it. So unhappy he was that after K'ing the second time, he flipped his elbow pad in the direction of home plate umpire John Hirschbeck and got tossed.
Of course, the called third strike on Manny was way outside, so it's pretty much a natural reaction to get mad. But I'm sure Manny just wanted some time off anyway to rest. So hey, it all worked out in the end!
That was about the only highlight of the night for the Mets, who are just getting lousier and lousier. Granted, injuries have really depleted them, but they're just hard to watch these days.
The Dodgers got on the board in the second, and never looked back. Russell Martin singled to start, and Matt Kemp did the same one out later. Clayton Kershaw laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt for runners in scoring position with two down.
Mike Pelfrey was his own worst enemy after that. He walked Rafael Furcal to load the bases, then walked Orlando Hudson to force the first run in. Manny then stepped up and dropped a broken-bat single into center that drove in two for the 3-0 lead.
In the fourth, Raffy reached on an error by Luis Castillo. O-Dog broke out of his long slump by doubling home Furcal, and it was 4-0. It was increased by a run the next at-bat as Manny singled into right, and the blowout was on.
More runs were chipped on later, not that it mattered as the Mets never put up a fight. Blake DeWitt, recalled for the fourth time already this season, crushed a long homer to right for his first of the year in the seventh. A sac-fly RBI by Casey Blake and a bases loaded walk to Kemp in the eighth closed out the scoring.
Lost in all the Manny drama was the great start by Kershaw. He pitched six strong innings, giving up three hits, no runs, and striking out seven. Most importantly, he only walked two. In his last five starts, he only given up two runs. I didn't even realize how impressive he's been until now. Those are just fantastic numbers.
The best part about Kershaw's last five starts? They've all been wins for the Dodgers. Can't do much better than that.
Hiroki Kuroda takes the mound tonight against the returning Oliver Perez. Perez has an ERA of 9.97, so it's hard to imagine he'd get any worse. Then again, with the way the Mets looked last night, maybe it is possible...
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