Clayton Kershaw got his 14th win, young Justin Sellers got his first big league hit, and the Dodgers got a win over the Astros for the second straight game, 6-1. It was a matchup of two teams... going pretty much absolutely nowhere. But hey, they printed the tickets well ahead of time, so the game had to be played.
The first couple runs of the game were a gift courtesy of Carlos Lee. Jamey Carroll hit leadoff and grounded one to him. As Wandy Rodriguez was covering the bag, Lee's toss was off the mark, and Carroll reached via the error. A couple outs later, Matt Kemp smashed a two-run homer, and it was 2-0. It was Kemp's first home run of the month.
With Kershaw on the mound, even a two-run lead was good enough, but the Dodgers got more cushion in the fifth. Tony Gwynn had a great night, and he singled and stole second leading off. Sellers then collected his first career major league hit to put runners on the corners. Kershaw was asked to lay down a bunt, and as he did, Gwynn raced home and scored on a fantastic slide to make it 3-0. A sac-fly RBI by Casey Blake put it at 4-0.
In the sixth, Gwynn's legs again made plenty of noise. With one out, he singled into left. Sellers grounded out, but Gwynn got to second. With Kershaw now up, Gwynn took off for third, and Carlos Corporan's throw went sailing into left allowing him to score and make it 5-0.
The Dodgers tacked on their last run in the seventh. Blake and Andre Ethier hit consecutive singles with one out. Kemp struck out, but Juan Rivera picked him up by roping an RBI single into center, and it was 6-0.
Kershaw nearly made it a scoreless outing, but he finally gave up a run in the eighth, albeit kind of a cheap one. Jason Bourgeois led off and hit a bloop fly ball to right that fell in. Maybe Ethier was playing too deep, but it sure looked like he should have caught it. But who knows. J.D. Martinez took an 0-2 pitch into right for an RBI double to make it 6-1. Kershaw got Lee swinging, then took a gift final out when Martinez was tagged out at third on a horrible play.
Scott Elbert, the birthday boy, got the Astros in order to end the game. That's now 10 straight appearances without giving up a run, lowering his ERA from 5.73 to 3.00 in the process. The Dodgers sure can use numbers like that in the bullpen.
Kershaw had a typical performance for him, which only adds to his Cy Young candidacy. He lasted eight innings for six hits, one run, one walk, and nine strikeouts. He's still tops in the National League in strikeouts at 193, and only one win behind Roy Halladay and Ian Kennedy. In other words, it's hard to imagine him possibly doing any better this year.
Gwynn gave the Dodgers a couple of runs that they may not have gotten all because of his aggressiveness and speed on the bases. With a logjam in the outfield, he's still fighting for playing time, but is trying to make the most out of what he gets. After a horrific May in which he went 2-for-30, he hit .309 in June and .303 in July. He's dipped down to .231 this month, but still with plenty of time to go.
In my mind, Gwynn has every opportunity to be the everyday left fielder if he can end the year swinging the bat well. You know you're going to get stolen bases and great defense from him regardless, which is why he appears late in so many games. But, if he can hit a little more like dad, he can be such a force at the top of the order.
There's not a whole lot else to say about this game considering how awful this year has been for both teams. Actually, Dodger fans may actually be somewhat thankful that our team isn't the Astros. If you're a fan of that team, I feel for you. They traded away their two best players in Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn, and don't have a much of anything left other than an aging Carlos Lee. Man, that's rough. A 38-82 record proves it.
For the Dodgers, about all they can do is continue to stay out of the cellar, currently occupied by the Padres. The Rockies have also fallen apart, so all three teams are only separated by three games. Hiroki Kuroda will go on Sunday afternoon looking for the sweep.
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