John Ely's spot start didn't go so well on Sunday, as two homers surrendered led to his undoing as the Padres won the finale, 7-2. The Dodgers are now 5-4.
The Dodgers were looking to complete the sweep after taking the first couple of games on Saturday. Tony Gwynn hit leadoff and started in left, and he walked and stole second. Aaron Miles then laid down the sacrifice, advancing Gwynn to third. Andre Ethier grounded out, but Gwynn scored for the 1-0 lead.
Ely worked around a couple of baserunners in the second, but had no such luck starting in the third. With one out, Will Venable walked, but was soon caught stealing for two outs. Orlando Hudson doubled and scored on Jorge Cantu's RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
It was from there that Ely fell victim to the Padres' power. You might wonder why I would say that considering the Padres barely have any power, but you wouldn't know that after Sunday's game.
First came Ryan Ludwick's solo shot in the fourth to give the Padres the 2-1 lead. In the sixth, Ely struck out the first couple of hitters, but walked Ludwick and watched Nick Hundley crank a two-run shot for the 4-1 advantage.
The Dodgers had their best chance at getting back into the game in the seventh, but once again couldn't get that big hit with runners on. The red hot Matt Kemp singled and stole his sixth base to open up the inning. James Loney then hit one back to the mound, but Aaron Harang threw the ball away at third, allowing Kemp to score and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Luke Gregerson then relieved Harang and promptly plunked Juan Uribe for two on. Rod Barajas had a chance to come through, but he grounded into a double play. Jamey Carroll struck out, and that pretty much ended the day for the Dodgers.
Kenley Jansen gave up a solo shot to Cameron "Tiki" Maybin in the seventh, making it 5-2. Lance Cormier pitched the eighth and was hit around, giving up an RBI single to Alex Gonzalez and an RBI triple to Maybin.
One day after pounding out 13 hits, the offense was non-existent, gathering only four. Two of them were by Kemp, who is now hitting a blistering .438 with six steals. Obviously we're way early in the season, but he is making some serious noise and has to be in the lead for an All-Star start if he keeps running wild like this.
Gwynn is another good sign. He's gotten hits in the last four games for a .429 average. He's a career .246 hitter, so he'll have to stay more consistent to prove he's turned things around. But if he can keep getting on base like this, then his legs will be a huge lift for the lineup.
Ely, on the flip side, once again proved why he is not ready to be a regular starting pitcher in the bigs. He lasted 5 2/3 for six hits, four runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. The strikeouts were good, but he couldn't find a way to make the big pitch to get out of innings. That's the biggest concern to me. With John Garland and Vicente Padilla on their way back, who knows when we'll see Ely again.
Through the opening three series of the season, the offense ranks nearly last in the majors in runs scored. They're about middle of the pack in batting average, so once again, that shows the lack of timely hitting. Some days they'll get it, some days they won't. With Kemp scorching the ball and Ethier hitting .353, Uribe and Loney still have to pick up the slack. They're hitting a combined .254. That's a lousy average for one person, let alone two!
Monday the Dodgers travel to San Francisco for three games. Considering the fiasco with those couple of IDIOT fans beating up the one Giants' fan, I'm sure there will be a fair amount of tension in the crowd. I can't blame those fans either. I just hope those two dumbasses are caught soon and thrown in jail. And of course, that the victim fully recovers.
The pitching matchup will feature two good lefties, as Clayton Kershaw takes on Madison Bumgarner. Kershaw already shut down the Giants in the opening game, so they'll be looking for some revenge.
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