The Dodgers have two things going for them right now: Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. So it was quite fitting that Sunday's game was won because of their clutch hits.
Down 1-0 entering the bottom of the ninth, Ethier doubled and Kemp cranked a two-run, walk-off homer to finally beat the Cardinals, 2-1. The win avoids a sweep of the four-game series.
Chad Billingsley had the tough task of trying to limit a Cardinals' offense which scored a whopping 29 runs in the previous three games. Hiroki Kuroda, Jon Garland, and Clayton Kershaw all got raked. Billingsley came into the game with an ERA of 9.00.
Today, however, Bills stepped up. He was tremendous in completely shutting down a hot offense. He finished the day by going eight innings for two hits, no runs, two walks, and 11 strikeouts. Not that I need to say it, but it's obviously his best start of the season, and couldn't have come at a better time.
Of course, that great effort was almost wasted as the Dodgers' offense did a big pile of nothing against Chris Carpenter. He ended up pitching seven innings for five hits, no runs, no walks, and six strikeouts. He more than bounced back from a rough start in Arizona.
With a 0-0 score through eight innings, there weren't many highlights to report about. Only once did either team put more than one man on in any inning, and that was in the third for the Dodgers. With two outs, Tony Gwynn reached on an error by Ryan Theriot. Jamey Carroll walked, but Ethier lined to Albert Pujols at first for the final out.
Fast forward to the ninth, and "closer" Jonathan Broxton was brought in to keep the game as is. Could he do it? Nope. For the whatever number of time, he couldn't make the big pitches when he needed to. He got two outs right away in Colby Rasmus and Pujols. Then Matt Holliday doubled to center. Rather than regrouping after an intentional walk to Lance Berkman, Broxton surrendered a bloop RBI single to David Freese, and it was 1-0.
Look, I'm fully aware that Freese's hit wasn't exactly scorched, but the bottom line remains the same. Broxton simply cannot be counted on in big situations. Every excuse in the world can be given, but a run is a run, and if not for Kemp's homer, the story would once again by Broxton's downfall.
Thankfully for Big John, it wasn't the story. Lefty Trever Miller entered to start the ninth to face Ethier, and Ethier greeted him with a double down the right field line.
Quickly Miller was gone, and in came Ryan Franklin, who like Broxton, has really struggled. That continued, as on a 1-2 count, Kemp unloaded on a long two-run shot to dead center for the victory. It was a signature moment for Kemp, who is playing like one of the best players in the league right now.
And it's a good thing he is, because take away his .474 average and Ethier's .377, the rest of the team is just pathetic at the plate. Before Kemp's homer, Vin Scully gave a very eye opening stat: take away these two, and the rest of the team is hitting .088. Holy crap does that suck! I can't imagine that will remain that poor, but it needs to get a whole lot better for the Dodgers to start winning more consistently.
Today's win was great, but as I pointed out before, it's scary in that the Dodgers have to rely so much on Kemp and Ethier just to even get close to winning. Juan Uribe and James Loney have got to wake up at some point. It seems like this is being said every game, but it's true. They are just a couple of slugs right now. Hey, guys, the 2011 season has started... feel free to show up anytime now!
There's no rest for the Dodgers, as they will welcome the Braves for four starting Monday. They get a little lucky in that they avoid Tommy Hanson since he took the mound against the Mets today. Ted Lilly will look for his first solid start of the year against Tim Hudson.
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