With the Giants in the middle of a push towards the playoffs, Tuesday night in AT&T Park was all about Clayton Kershaw.
After 80 career starts, Kershaw was finally able to go the distance without surrendering a run. An error by Juan Uribe in the sixth was all the Dodgers needed in edging the Giants, 1-0. The Giants remain just a bit behind the NL West and Wild Card lead.
I would love to sit here and rehash all of the Dodgers' hits and scoring opportunities. But, they only collected one hit and one run the entire night. And they still won! I'm guessing not too many teams other than the Dodgers would be able to pull off something like that.
The lone hit came in the second when Matt Kemp led off with a single. He was soon erased when he got caught stealing with one out. Remember last year when Kemp stole 34 bases in 42 tries? Geez, you wouldn't know that by looking at his numbers now: 18 steals in 32 tries. Yikes.
Both Kershaw and Barry Zito wouldn't budge an inch through five innings. Zito hasn't won a game since July 16 against the Mets. He was atrocious in August with a 7.75 ERA. But against the Dodgers, he looked like his old Cy Young - Oakland A's form. Are you surprised? Not with the Dodgers' porous offense.
The Dodgers got their only run in the sixth, and the Giants practically handed it to them on a silver platter. Jamey Carroll started the inning by grounding out for one down. Reed Johnson stepped up and was beaned, which led to Kershaw's sacrifice to get Johnson to second.
With two outs, Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier walked to load 'em up. Casey Blake then ripped one up the middle that would have been a clean hit had it not hit the mound. It bounced to Uribe at short, but he couldn't get the ball out in time for the force at second. Johnson scored, and it was 1-0.
From there, Kershaw continued his brilliance. The only hits he gave up the rest of the way were a ground rule double to Cody Ross in the sixth and a single by Freddy Sanchez in the ninth. The rest had no chance.
The Dodgers came into this game a whopping dead last in batting average the last 30 days at .229. Yes, that would mean all 29 other teams in the majors hit better than the Dodgers. About the only way they were going to win games was by dominating pitching. That's certainly what happened on Tuesday.
There haven't been many reasons to smile the second half of the season, but this is something to feel good about. Kershaw shut down a team that has played great baseball and can easily make a run if they get in the playoffs. Plus it was the Giants, so anytime they get the short end of the stick is a welcome sight.
By my count, Kershaw has pitched in 11 games in which he's taken either a loss or no-decision that he did well enough to get a win. His current record of 12-10 isn't even close to an indication to how well he's done. If he won about half of those 11 games he should've, a record of 16-10 or 17-10 looks a whole heck of a lot better.
Nonetheless, that's the reality of the situation he's in. Make no mistake about it, he is making a name for himself as a complete pitcher, and not someone who just has great stuff. With guys like Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda, and Vicente Padilla possibly on their way out after this season, Kershaw is clearly the top guy to build around for the future.
The Dodgers will continue to try and play the role of spoiler by locking up with the Giants again on Wednesday. Chad Billingsley will look to pick up where Kershaw left off by going against Matt Cain.
4 comments:
So hey, did you hear Andre Ethier said he wants to play for the Sox? Not sure if it would happen because he's so good and I think the Dodgers would have to be pretty crazy to trade him now. Interesting though. Here's the link:
http://www.nesn.com/2010/09/report-andre-ethier-would-welcome-trade-to-red-sox.html
I'd say we're pretty much in the same boat now anyway. Neither the Red Sox nor the Dodgers are going to the playoffs this year.
Patty, I didn't know about those comments. Can't say I blame him for saying that. He has plenty of talent but he's also one of the big reasons the Dodgers have tanked in the second half. I like him, but he's barely made any difference lately. Still, I wouldn't trade him unless the Dodgers get overwhelmed with a deal.
Aaron,
If anyone, I wonder if Dice-K would be good to put in a package for Ethier. He only has two years left on his deal, would probably play better in the NL, and would most likely approve a deal to LA because it's closer to home. Maybe Dice-K and a prospect for Ethier?
If Dice-K is the center of the deal, I don't think the Dodgers should do that. The Dodgers need more run producers. Trading one away for a starting pitcher wouldn't made sense to me. Then again, if the Dodgers get one via free agency, maybe an Ethier deal would be possible.
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