In a season where the Dodgers have done a nosedive in the standings, two players have managed to stand out: Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw.
So who was responsible for Monday night's win in San Diego? That's right, Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw.
Kemp doubled and tripled, and Kershaw went the distance as the Dodgers downed the Padres, 6-2. Kemp extended his RBI lead with 83, and Kershaw did the same with his strikeout lead at 177.
The Padres took the early lead, something they failed to capitalize on as the game progressed. Cameron "Tiki" Maybin walked and stole second to start things. He went to third on a couple of groundouts and scored on Jesus Guzman's RBI single to make it 1-0.
In the second, the Dodgers grabbed that run right back. Juan Rivera singled with one out and went to second on a wild pitch. Rod Barajas hit the first of his two singles to put runners on the corners. James Loney lifted a long fly to center which was plenty deep enough for the sac-fly RBI, and it was 1-1.
The Dodgers took the lead for good in the fourth. Kemp doubled leading off. Following an out, Barajas found just enough room in the outfield for a bloop RBI single and a 2-1 lead. For Barajas, it was his first multi-hit game since going 3-for-5 against the Rockies on June 12.
With Kershaw finding his groove, the Dodgers put up a couple more runs in the fifth. Jamey Carroll led off with a double down the left field line. Kershaw then laid down a bunt, and instead of letting it go foul, pitcher Cory Luebke picked it up and fired late to first for the infield hit. He had to make a quick decision, but it was obviously the wrong one.
Dee Gordon then grounded out back to Luebke on the mound, but Carroll hustled like he always does and easily beat the throw home to make it 3-1. A wild pitch moved both runners up to scoring position, and Casey Blake's sac-fly RBI put the lead at 4-1.
The Padres tried to chip away at the deficit in the seventh. Believe it or not, it was the O-Dog, Orlando Hudson, who did the damage. He took the first pitch he saw out to center for his third homer of the season. That came out of nowhere!
Not wasting any time, the Dodgers responded in a big way. Blake singled to start the eighth. Andre Ethier forced Blake at second for the first out. Ernesto Frieri relieved Luebke to pitch to Kemp, and it backfired, as Kemp's RBI triple made it 5-2. Another sac-fly RBI, this time by Rivera, ended the scoring at 6-2.
The question from there was whether or not Kershaw would get the final six outs for another complete game. He most certainly did, only allowing a single to Maybin in the eighth. All in all, he gave up six hits, two runs, two walks, and four strikeouts. We're used to seeing him strikeout more, but he forced a lot of groundouts, as Blake and Gordon were busy all night.
The offense collected 11 hits and three sacrifice flies. Carroll also added a couple stolen bases. They did a great job of moving runners along, and taking productive outs, as evidenced by the sacrifices. Kemp did his thing, but it was good to see others contribute as well. It sure hasn't been that way for much of the season.
I'm glad to see Gordon getting another start at short, as Don Mattingly has seemingly made it clear that he will be the everyday starter from here on out. I thought he should have been up all along, but maybe it worked out for the better that he got more seasoning in the minors, and Rafael Furcal played good enough to get the Cardinals to trade for him. If those two were splitting time, it's possible Raffy wouldn't have gone anywhere. So, it seems to have all worked out in the end.
With Kershaw on a five-start winning streak and taking seven of his last eight overall, the challenge for the Dodgers is to now follow it up. Kershaw is as close to a sure thing as they can get, so let's see if the others (Hiroki Kuroda, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly) can keep the momentum going.
Well, I probably shouldn't include Kuroda in that list, because he receives practically no run support, which is why he's 6-13 with a 3.13 ERA. I didn't think he'd be with the Dodgers at this point, but he is, so let's enjoy it while we can. He'll go against Mat Latos, who's having a a bit of down year for him, but is still capable of big things.
No comments:
Post a Comment