Gonzo goes boom in LA debut

It took all of one at-bat for Dodger fans to already love this Adrian Gonzalez guy.

Gonzalez crushed a three-run shot in his first plate appearance, become the sixth Dodger in history to do so.  Mark Ellis and Andre Ethier would soon add homers of their own, and the Dodgers easily won over the Marlins, 8-2.  With the Braves defeating the Giants earlier in the day, the lead for them in the NL West is down to two games.

The night didn't start off so well, as for the fifth straight game, the Dodgers let their opponent score first.  Gorkys Hernandez led off the game with a double down the left field line.  A grounder by Donovan Solano got him to third, and Jose Reyes' RBI groundout made it 1-0.

It didn't take long at all for the Dodgers to erase the deficit, and then to take the lead for good.  With Shane Victorino scratched late because of a sore back, Ellis hit in the leadoff spot and had a big night, starting here with a double.  Luis Cruz was bumped up to the #2 spot, and his RBI single tied the game at one.

Matt Kemp had a three-hit night, and he singled to put two on.  That brought up Gonzalez, who certainly knew how to seize the moment, as his three-run jack made it 4-1.  He would go hitless the rest of the night, but it hardly mattered, as his debut could not have possibly gone any better.

It took all of one swing from the mighty Giancarlo Stanton to quiet the crowd, as he unleashed a 458-foot bomb to left, cutting the score to 4-2.

Clayton Kershaw would settle down from there, giving up only one more hit the rest of the way, and the Dodgers' offense would continue to go to work.  Ellis got that run right back with his fifth homer of the season in the bottom of the second, and it was 5-2.

In the third, Ethier kept his hitting streak going with a leadoff double.  He then went to third on Juan Rivera's grounder, and scored right after that on an RBI single from A.J. Ellis, making it 6-2.

With eight consecutive hits at this point, it was all a matter of setting history for Ethier.  And that is exactly what he did, as his solo homer in the fifth tied the Dodger record at nine straight, and made the lead 7-2.  He then set the record a couple inning later on a bloop single to center.  That's an impressive run.

The last run was scored in the eighth off of Heath Bell, who used to be good, but now is relegated to measly middle relief work.  Nick Punto also made his first Dodger appearance, and he walked leading off.  Mark Ellis got on again with a single, and Cruz ripped an RBI single, and it was 8-2.

Ronald Belisario pitched a perfect ninth, getting Stanton to ground to Cruz at third for the game's final out.

I can only imagine what the last couple days have been like for Gonzalez.  He went from taking BP with the Red Sox in Boston last night, to being a late scratch as the trade rumors swirled, to hopping on a plane with Punto and Josh Beckett to get to LA in time for this game, to homering in his first at-bat.  Wow, that's got to be mentally and physically draining.

Make no mistake about it, the Dodgers are clearly a better team now, and this game showed why.  With Gonzalez locked in at the cleanup spot, the offense has so much more punch to it.  If guys like Cruz and Ellis (both of them) keep getting on, then they'll be tough to beat.  And let's just hope that Ethier keeps hanging on to his second wind, as he's swinging a red hot bat right now.

Oh by the way, Kershaw was awesome again.  Seems almost like an afterthought with all of the trade drama!  But after a shaky first couple of innings, he regained his form to throw eight innings for three hits, two runs, two walks, and eight strikeouts.  He ups his record to 12-7 with a 2.84 ERA and 0.99 WHIP.  Not too shabby.

I guess it's only fitting that after getting swept by the Giants earlier this week, they're on the verge of doing the same to the Marlins.  They have got to be the streakiest team in baseball, and as I've said before, that's a dangerous way to play heading into the home stretch.  I mean hey, it's good they can put together a few straight wins, but they obviously still need to do a better job of halting slides when they occur.

Of course, they could always just score 8 runs on 16 hits while giving up only 3 hits like this game, and win every contest from here on out.  That'll work, too.

With an exciting day in Dodger history in the books, it'll now be up to Aaron Harang to end the homestand on a high note.  He'll take on wily veteran Mark Buehrle.