Hanley Ramirez may not be the future of the Marlins anymore, but the Dodgers sure will take him.
Ramirez collected a couple RBIs on three hits, and a big two-run homer by Juan Rivera helped carry the Dodgers over the Marlins, 5-2. And as a nice bonus, the Rockies beat the Giants, so it's a tie atop the NL West.
After the Dodgers went down in order against Mark Buehrle in the first, Clayton Kershaw went to work. Justin Ruggiano continued his red hot start since being called up in late May by hitting a solo home run with one out, his 10th of the season.
The Dodgers couldn't capitalize with runners on in the fourth and fifth, but sure did in the sixth. Shane Victornio started things with a leadoff double. Mark Ellis sacrificed him over to third, and Matt Kemp ripped an RBI double to make it 1-1. Ramirez found a hole on the right side for a single, which turned into an RBI thanks to a speedy Kemp.
Andre Ethier struck out for two down, bringing up Rivera. It had been since July 22nd that Rivera went yard, but he picked a good time to get another one here, lining a two-run shot out to left, and it was 4-1.
The Marlins tried to get things going against Kershaw in the bottom of the frame. John Buck and Gorkys Hernandez hit consecutive singles to start. Donovan Solano also reached on a fielder's choice, and just like that the bases were loaded with nobody out. Ruggiano grounded into a forceout at home for the first out, and the Marlins could only score on Carlos Lee's sac-fly RBI to make it 4-2.
The final run came in the seventh. The Dodgers loaded the bases on one-out singles by A.J. Ellis and Kershaw, and an intentional walk an out later to Kemp. Ramirez hit a little dribbler along the third base line, which was the equivalent to a perfectly placed bunt, for an RBI single and 5-2 edge.
Kershaw would get the first out in the seventh, but Don Mattingly had to turn to three different relievers just to escape unscathed. Jamey Wright struck out Buck for two down, but Randy Choate walked Bryan Peterson to load the bases. Ronald Belisario got Solano to ground weakly to first to end the threat.
Belisario stayed on to set the Marlins down in order in the eighth. He got a big assist from James Loney, who made a great backhanded play on Lee's grounder, then threw him out from his back in foul territory. And that is why he still has a job - his glove is second to none. It's his bat that can't catch up.
Kenley Jansen got his 23rd save, but not without nearly melting down with two outs again. He struck out Austin Kearns and got Greg Dobbs flying out with ease. Then he watched Nick Greene hit a double and issue a walk to Buck. Scott Cousins grounded to Loney to end the game.
Maybe the mixed reaction Ramirez received only motivated him, as he was a big reason the Dodgers won hitting in the cleanup spot. I was also surprised he didn't get more cheers considering how good he was there at one time. On the other hand, he was terrible for them last year, and only was hitting .246 at the time of his trade this year. So, the negative stuff is still fresh in their minds, hence the boos.
Anyway you slice it, the Dodgers are glad to have him, as he slowly looks like he's regaining his old form. One guy who's happy to have him is Kershaw, who collected his 10th win by going 6 1/3 innings for three hits, two runs, one walk, and seven strikeouts. That's three straight wins in as many starts since getting punked by the Cardinals on July 24.
One guy who did have a rough game was Ethier, as he went hitless in four at-bats. At the end of May he was hitting .324, but it's gone all the way down to .284 now. This month he's hitting .185 with only one extra-base hit (a double). Do you realize he only has two home runs since the beginning of June. Wow... that's a pretty bad power outage.
I know Mattingly likes to hit Ethier in the cleanup spot against righties, but I have to wonder if he should just roll with Ramirez there for now. At the very least, let Ethier hit fifth until he gets his stroke going again. I'm just not crazy about a cleanup hitter who only hits singles, if that. Something to think about.
Joe Blanton will make his second start as a Dodger on Saturday. He was good in his first start with two runs in six innings, but didn't get a decision. He'll go against Ricky Nolasco, who at one point was supposed to be good, but just... isn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment