Cy Kershaw shuts down the Cards

As A.J. Ellis accurately stated after the game, Clayton Kershaw just keeps getting better... and it's scary.

Kershaw went the distance for his fourth career shutout, as the Dodgers beat the reigning World Series champs again, 6-0.  It's also another day atop Major League Baseball at 27-13, and an incredible 18-4 at home.

The game was scoreless until the fourth, and that mainly changed thanks to an injury from Lance Berkman earlier in the game.  Bobby Abreu walked leading off, and Andre Ethier smacked a ground rule double.  Berkman's replacement, Matt Carpenter, then botched a grounder from Adam Kennedy, allowing both runs to score to make it 2-0

Of course, that's all Kershaw would need, but the Dodgers poured it on anyway in the seventh.  With one down, Justin Sellers hit his first homer of the season to left.  Kershaw "helped himself" (typical pitching cliche) by hitting a double, the first extra-base hit of his career. 

Out went Jake Westbrook, and in came Eduardo Sanchez.  Tony Gwynn met him with an RBI single to center, and it was 4-0.  After Gwynn went to third on a groundout and Abreu walked, Gwynn scored on a wild pitch.  An RBI single by Ethier capped it all.

Kershaw was given the chance to go for the shutout, and he got help from double play balls in the eighth and to end the game.  The last one came from Carpenter, so it's safe to say Saturday night was not alright for him.

It's hard to constantly come up with new things to say about Kershaw, but it's fun anyway.  He only had four strikeouts, which is low for him, but he also didn't walk anybody.  He's now 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.  That's just unbelievable. 

Oh ya, he's also 14-1 with a 1.40 ERA in his last 19 starts at home.  That's slightly above average.  Or better.

Don Mattingly gave Dee Gordon the night off, and will continue this going forward for the next few days.  Sellers started at short and homered.  Gwynn hit leadoff and had an RBI single.  We'll take it.

Ethier went 2-for-4, and has played well this week in Matt Kemp's absence.  I looked at him as being the main guy that would need to lead the way while Kemp serves his DL stint, and so far, so good.  In six games this week (I'm counting Monday since Kemp didn't play, even though he technically went on the DL after the game), he's 7-for-22 (.318 AVG) with a double, a homer, and four RBIs.  More importantly, the Dodgers have gone 4-2.

A sweep tonight would be sweet, much like it was last year when the Dodgers pulled it off in St. Louis.  That may have been the best thing that happened to the Cardinals, as we all know how they went on to win it all soon after.  It won't be easy, as Mr. Inconsistency Chad Billingsley gets the start.  Maybe the offense can put up a 10 spot on Kyle Lohse.