The Clayton Kershaw-Tim Lincecum duel was everything we thought it would be: neither man would give an inch. Once those guys left after eight innings, it was a battle of the bullpens.
On Friday night, it was advantage Dodgers.
Jamey Carroll's RBI grounder scored Eugenio Valez in the ninth as the Dodgers downed the Giants, 2-1. At 8 1/2 games in back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West, the Giants can forget about the playoffs. They may have to worry about the Dodgers taking over second, who are now only 3 1/2 games in back of them.
The only run of the night for the Giants came at the very beginning of the game. Justin Christian grounded one to Dee Gordon at short, who then fired to first wide for an error. An out later, Christian stole second and Carlos Beltran walked. Pablo Sandoval hit an RBI single to make it 1-0. Gordon more than redeemed himself by making a great diving/leaping catch off Cody Ross's blooper to end the inning.
There wasn't much action to report of until late in the game. The Dodgers did get some runners on, but couldn't deliver them to the plate. In the second, Juan Rivera and Jerry Sands walked with one down, but were stranded.
In the fourth, Matt Kemp and Rivera opened the inning with singles. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Aaron Miles popped up, and Sands and Rod Barajas struck out. So much for getting at least one run in.
As Kershaw was getting stronger and stronger as the game progressed, his offense finally got on the board in the eighth. It started innocently enough with two outs, as Kemp reached on a little dribbler along third for his second hit. As usual, he stole second for his 38th swipe of the season. Rivera delivered an RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 1.
After Kershaw finished out the eighth, the Dodgers struck gold in the ninth against Santiago Casilla. Barajas started it all with a single. As he was lifted for Valez, Justin Sellers laid down a great bunt to get him to second with an out, and a wild pitch would then get him to third. With the infield in, Carroll hit one sharply to second. Valez used his speed to beat out Jeff Keppinger's throw to home, and it was 2-1.
With momentum clearly on the Dodgers' side, Javy Guerra collected his 17th save with ease as the Giants went down in order to end the game. Guerra is now 17-18 in save opportunities with a 2.04 ERA.
For anyone who has paid close attention to these two teams lately, it's not too surprising how the end of this game went. The Giants have struggled mightily to win, and the Dodgers have quietly been playing much better baseball. Hence, the Dodgers were the ones to take control the last couple of innings to grab the win.
Kershaw was, once again, simply phenomenal. In eight innings pitched, he allowed three hits, one unearned run, one walk, and nine strikeouts. Like I said before, he got stronger as the game progressed. He's now 18-5 with a 2.36 ERA and 1.00 WHIP. His 231 strikeouts are by far the most in the NL, and only one behind Justin Verlander for the most in the majors.
With the season winding down, Kershaw has three starts left in him against the Diamondbacks, Giants, and Padres. So, he's got a great chance to get that magical 20th win. How awesome would that be? Very awesome considering it's been since Ramon Martinez did the trick in 1990. That just seems crazy.
Roy Halladay and Ian Kennedy also put together great starts the last couple of days (no surprise there), so this race could very well come down to their last starts. With the playoff races pretty much non-existent, this could get more attention than usual. I just hope Kershaw finishes on a high and the Dodgers give him some run support so he gives the voters every reason to give him the Cy Young nod.
The Dodgers will look to have more fun in San Francisco when they tangle again on Saturday night. Dana Eveland had his last start rained out in Washington, so he'll get the call here for his second start.
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