Much like Opening Day, the second half of the baseball season brings optimism for each team. A little R&R from the All-Star break, and everyone feels ready to go.
And much like Opening Day, the Dodgers got slapped around in the first game back.
The Cardinals chased Clayton Kershaw in the fifth, as they cruised to a win, 7-1. With the Padres idle, the Dodgers are now 2 1/2 games back in the NL West.
Coming into this four-game set, the Cardinals had plenty of reasons to be motivated. They had their ace Chris Carpenter on the mound, the Dodgers had swept them in Dodger Stadium this year, and out of the playoffs last year. For one game at least, the Cards made sure to get some revenge.
Carpenter got the Dodgers down in order to start the game. Felipe Lopez and Colby Rasmus then led off with walks. Albert Pujols got a check-swing single to right to load the bases. Matt Holliday and Aallen Craig followed with RBI fielder's choices, and it was 2-0.
In the fourth, the Dodgers cut the lead in half for a little bit, then gave it right back. Andre Ethier was the only one to get to Carpenter, as he hit a solo homer to right center, his 15th of the season. That would be only one of four hits the Dodgers would get on the night.
Kershaw couldn't hold the lead, though bad defense and some bad luck were the main reasons why. Yadier Molina singled to left, and Manny Ramirez, playing in his first game back from the DL, booted it to get Molina to second. Aaron Miles blooped an RBI single over Rafael Furcal's head to go up 3-1. Lopez hit a two-out RBI double for a 4-1 lead.
Joe Torre let Kershaw start the fifth, but it didn't last long. Pujols greeted him with a double and Holliday a single for two on. Craig lifted a sac-fly RBI to center for a 5-1 lead, and that would be it for Kershaw. Justin Miller came in, balked Holliday to second, but settled down to get out of the inning.
Travis Schlichting pitched a perfect sixth, but gave up a couple in the next inning. After Holliday walked with one down, Jon Jay doubled him home. The last run came on Molina's RBI single.
There's not a whole heck of a lot that went right for the Dodgers, as the Cards outplayed them in every way. Ethier collected two hits to get his average up to .326, which is now good for first in the National League. Other than that... blah.
The wild side of Kershaw made an appearance to start the game, and it hurt him. Two walks leading off led to two runs scoring. He finished at 4 1/3 innings, eight hits, five runs (four earned), three walks, and one strikeout. I think the line looks worse than he actually did, as Manny's error and a couple of lucky hits did him no favors. He'll bounce back.
George Sherrill got another chance to show he can get batters out. It worked for the first two, getting Brandon Ryan and Lopez. But, Randy Winn singled, and Torre yanked him. Sherrill recently said that he gets paid too much money to only pitch to lefties. Well I have an idea - stop giving up so many damn hits and you'll be in there more. Just a thought.
The Dodgers will look to shake this one off on Friday, as they send Chad Billingsley to the mound. He'll go against Jaime Garcia, who's really tough to hit at home. Let's hope that changes for one night anyway.
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