The opening game of a matchup between the National League's two best teams went the Dodgers' way on Friday, as they were able to down the Nationals, 3-2. Both teams now sport identical 14-6 records, just above the Braves and Cardinals at 13-7.
It's no surprise to anyone who follows the Dodgers that a big part of their win came from doing damage in the first inning. With two outs, Matt Kemp hit a sharp single into left. Andre Ethier had four homers at this point, but none against lefties. That changed, as he took southpaw Ross Detwiler deep for a two-run blast, and it was 2-0. The runs also gave the Dodgers a 21-5 advantage in the opening frame this year.
With Clayton Kershaw cruising, the Dodgers tacked on an extra run in the fourth that would eventually pay off big time. As Vin Scully described so well at the end of the game, "the left hook and right cross" of Kemp and Ethier started it with singles. Jerry Hairston, Jr. sacrificed them over to scoring position, but James Loney grounded out for two down. Juan Uribe was just able to beat out an infield single for the RBI and 3-0 lead.
Somehow Kershaw worked around two straight errors in the fifth by Dee Gordon and Loney on routine grounders that were thrown away. In the sixth, however, he wouldn't be as lucky. Jayson Werth walked leading off. Adam LaRoche then took a bad 0-2 breaking ball that stayed up out to right field for a two-run homer, and it was now 3-2.
The Dodgers had chances in the seventh and eighth to get more runs, but came away with nothing instead. In the seventh, Kemp found himself up with Kershaw on third and Ellis on second with two outs, but grounded out. The next inning, Uribe ripped a double to right in which pinch-runner Tony Gwynn tried to score on, but was denied by a blocked plate and was called out.
Kershaw got through the heart of the order and finished with 113 pitches in the eighth, and once again, the Dodgers found themselves in a save situation. Javy Guerra got the night off, probably for a combination of mental (two straight loses) and physical (liner off the face) rest.
So, Kenley Jansen was given the shot, and came within inches of blowing it himself when Danny Espinosa just missed a homer to right. After two straight liners to Kemp in center and a beaning to Chad Tracy, Jesus Flores struck out to end the game. It was Jansen's first save of the season to go along with five holds.
The Nationals just lost Ryan Zimmerman to the DL with a bad right shoulder, so they're not going into this series with all of their ammo. Still, they're no longer a pushover by any means, as their starting pitching has been incredible so far. It's a good test for the Dodgers just like the Braves series, so a win is always a good thing.
Kershaw put up his usual awesome numbers, even on a night he wasn't quite as sharp as he could be. He lasted eight innings for three hits, two runs, one walk, and six strikeouts. The homer by LaRoche was obviously his biggest blow, but he shut 'em down the rest of the way. He improved to 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.
Four of the Dodgers' seven hits came from the "left hook and right cross" combo, not that anyone should be surprised by that. Uribe had two himself. The funny thing is, he actually has five multi-hit games this season, good for a .275 average. Considering he was hitting .211 as recently as April 22, we'll all take it.
Hopefully Guerra is able to come back soon, as he's still the closer according to Don Mattingly. Jansen got the job done on this night to his credit. Still, and I know this will seem picky, but he worries me a bit. He's a power pitcher, which works quite often. But I can't help but think he's one fastball down the middle away from giving up a big run. He needs to keep developing his cutter and slider so he's not relying on just the pure heat so much.
Another guy who's worrying me is Gordon, who went 0-for-4 and committed his sixth error already. He's young, he's got blazing speed, and is just an electric player when he's clicking. Right now he's not, as his average has dipped to .224 with only five walks all season. I have to wonder if he'll be dropped in the order soon, maybe just temporarily. He's definitely pressing now and he's having some bad at-bats because of it.
Those negative things aside, the Dodgers have won 14 of the first 20, which is just awesome considering nobody thought they'd come close to winning the division. So far they are showing that their hot end to last season has carried over, and maybe, just maybe, they actually are a good team and aren't just getting lucky over and over. We'll see if the "baseball experts" agree or not.
Saturday night will be a fun one in Dodger Stadium. Chad Billingsley will take on young stud Stephen Strasburg. But what's being talked about even more is the Major League debut of Bryce Harper, who replaced Zimmerman on the big club. It would have been something else if Kershaw somehow got this start, but it wasn't meant to be. Regardless, this will be a great game to watch for both sides.
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