If there was ever any doubt that Clayton Kershaw should win the Cy Young Award, another masterful performance on Sunday put an end to all of that.
Kershaw hurled 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball, and Rod Barajas's two-run blast keyed the Dodgers in beating the Padres, 6-2. The Dodgers took two of three in this series to up their record to 80-78 with a three-game set to go in Arizona.
While Kershaw came into this game as the most likely favorite to win the award, this was still a big start in that he had to put that one last great effort in to convince the voters. What was important as well was getting the win and tying Ian Kennedy for tops in the National League at 21.
The offense made sure to back him up, as they got on the board right off the bat. Jamey Carroll took a walk with one out. Matt Kemp, who as we know is battling for the MVP and Triple Crown all at once, got his only hit of the day with an RBI double to make it 1-0. Juan Rivera's fly ball got Kemp to third, and he came home on an RBI single from Aaron Miles.
Would Kershaw not be his normal self and perhaps try too hard to win? Nope. He struck out three of the first four hitters he saw, and kept the Dodgers in the lead.
Another one-out walk to Carroll led to more runs in the fifth. Kemp dribbled one to third, but it went right underneath Alberto Gonzalez's glove for two on. No controversy here, because it was a clear error. Rivera smoked one into center for an RBI single, and it was 3-0. Miles followed that up with an RBI on a fielder's choice, and the Dodgers were in full control at 4-0.
The Padres finally gave themselves a little bit of hope in the bottom of the frame. Up until this point, Kershaw had only faced one over the minimum, issuing a walk to pitcher Cory Luebke in the third, and picking Nick Hundley off of first after his single in the fourth. With two outs, Aaron Cunningham got into one to left for the solo shot, going down 4-1.
Both teams didn't have much going at the plate until Barajas changed that in the eighth. Erik Hamren was brought in with two outs to pitch to Jerry Sands, and Sands responded with a walk. Barajas then launched his 16th jack of the year out to left, putting the Dodgers in full command at 6-1.
After Kershaw got through the seventh in order, I thought Don Mattingly should've turned the game over to the bullpen and called it a season for him. But, with his pitch count still manageable, and with a new five-run lead, he was sent back out there. Right away, Orlando Hudson doubled leading off, and scored on Gonzalez's RBI triple an out later.
That would be the last batter of the season for Kershaw, who gave way to the flamethrower, Kenley Jansen. Like usual, Jansen was simply overpowering, striking out pinch-hitter Will Venable (after Venable sent his bat flying by swinging and missing twice) and Cameron "Tiki" Maybin. Those poor batters looked as lost as could be.
Javy Guerra pitched the ninth, and gave up a single to Hudley and a walk to Jesus Guzman with one out. After Barajas called him down, Chris Denorfia grounded into the game ending double play. It was a non-save situation, but Guerra still lowered his ERA to 1.97.
There isn't a whole lot left to say about Kershaw, other than giving him another "WOW." His last loss on the season was on August 7 in Arizona, which put his record at 13-5 with a 2.79 ERA. Since then, he's gone 8-0 in nine starts, and his ERA is 2.28. That's as remarkable an end-of-season run as you can get.
As Kemp is hanging on to his Triple Crown hopes, Kershaw has all but locked up the pitching Triple Crown. He's tied in wins with Kennedy at 21, and first in ERA at 2.28 and strikeouts at 248. The only man standing somewhat in his way is Cliff Lee, who will start on Monday against the Braves. Lee's ERA is 2.38 along with 232 strikeouts. Obviously, he'll have to pretty much throw a no-hitter with a ridiculous amount of strikeouts to overtake Kershaw. But he is Cliff Lee, so don't fall asleep on him.
In switching gears to Kemp, for the second straight game, he collected a hit in his first plate appearance, then struggled the rest of the way. His 1-for-5 day puts his average at .324. Ryan Braun came up big again by going 2-for-3 to raise his average to .333, and Jose Reyes was 2-for-4 to jump to .331.
The uphill climb for the Triple Crown became even tougher, with lots of credit to the two guys in front of him. Albert Pujols was hitless, so Kemp is still tied with him at 37. Ryan Howard collected his 115th RBI, but Kemp matched that with one of his own to get to 120.
Kemp has three games to go, and figuring he'll get 4-5 at-bats per night, he'll have between 12-15 more trips to the plate to make his final push. It's going to take a combination of big swings from him and Braun and Reyes cooling off for the deed to happen, but it's still possible. Maybe not probable, but certainly possible.
There's three games left in the season, and they'll start Monday against the Diamondbacks. The DBacks have already clinched the NL West, so I'm sure we'll see some strange lineups out there, from both teams for that matter. Dana Eveland got rocked his last couple of starts, so he'll look to end on a good night in the first game.
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