Another night, another disappointing effort from the Dodgers.
And even worse, another win by the Giants.
Add it all together, and with a little over one month to go in the season, the Dodgers have plenty of work to do if they want to reach the postseason. Chris Young's two-run homer was all the scoring that was needed on Thursday night, as the Diamondbacks handed the Dodgers another loss, 2-0. With the Giants overcoming a four-run deficit to beat the Astros, their lead is up to 4 1/2 games in the NL West.
The game saw a matchup of Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and contender Ian Kennedy from last season. While Kershaw has enjoyed another great season, Kennedy came into this one 11-11 with a 4.44 ERA, so it's not like the Dodgers were facing the same guy from last season.
Then again, maybe they were, because Kennedy looked every bit like the guy who battled Kershaw deep into last year for that award. He pitched into the seventh inning and gave up only two hits and two walks without allowing a run. Even with Matt Kemp sitting, that's a pretty sad offensive effort.
Kershaw wasn't exactly at his sharpest through three innings, as he let a couple runners reach in the first and third, escaping without any harm. In the fourth, however, Young struck. Miguel Montero led off with a double. Young took a low breaking ball out to left for a two-run jack, and a 2-0 advantage.
It could have been worse, as Gerardo Parra singled and went to second on a questionable balk call. John McDonald singled and Aaron Hill was intentionally walked to load the bases. Jake Elmore got just what Dr. Kershaw ordered with an inning ending double play.
If you thought the offense would be rejuvenated from the double play, you would be wrong, as they continued to do absolutely nothing. A.J. Ellis kept his team in it with some great plays in the sixth. Both Young and Parra singled, but both were gunned down with ease trying to steal second. Once again, the defense came up big when needed.
The Dodgers chased Kennedy in the seventh when Andre Ethier walked and Luis Cruz was beaned with one out. Brad Ziegler came in, and sure enough, Juan Rivera grounded into a double play to squash any thoughts of a rally.
J.J. Putz came in for the save in the ninth, and the Dodgers at least made him sweat. Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez started things with consecutive singles. Ethier's grounder forced Ramirez at second, as there were now runners on the corners with one down.
Cruz lifted a fly ball to left that wasn't deep enough to score the slow feet of Gonzalez, so there were two outs. Rivera had a chance to make up for his DP last at-bat, but instead popped to short to end the game.
Kershaw did all he could on a bad night to give the Dodgers a chance to win, but it wasn't enough. He lasted six innings for nine hits, two runs, three walks, and nine strikeouts. Lots of K's, but lots of baserunners, too. Still, he got the DBacks to strand nine, not that it really mattered in the end.
Everyone on the offense is pressing way too much right now, and it's painfully obvious. How many times did we see lazy pop ups in this one? Too many times to count, probably. Like I pointed out a couple games ago, the Dodgers have completely gone away from what made them start off the year red hot: reach base, move runners over, and get them in. Now it looks like they're all trying to hit home runs, and failing miserably.
Don Mattingly rolled the dice with Nick Punto at the leadoff spot, and boy did that flop. He was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Shane Victorino has been moved down to the #2 spot, but is still only hitting .255 in 26 games, which is not all what the Dodgers thought they'd be getting from him. He's definitely scuffling.
When the top two guys aren't getting on, it adds pressure to the guys in the middle, and it shows. Gonzalez, Ramirez, and Ethier reached base only 3 times in 12 plate appearances, with no extra-base hits. With Kemp out, those kinds of numbers won't come close to getting it done. Maybe they didn't have any swings left in them after scoring 10 a day ago.
Mattingly called a team meeting after the game, with the message being that it's time for them to do their part. I couldn't agree more. It's not like they can't reach the postseason even with the season dwindling down. Just look at the run the Cardinals went on last year en route to being World Series champs. It's possible, but it's also time to get to work. If not, the Giants will leave them watching the postseason from their TV's at home.
With the Diamondbacks winning seven straight over the Dodgers, Aaron Harang will look to end the slide on Thursday. He'll go up against Trevor Cahill.
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