Dodgers ride the Ace and 8's

The Ace?  He did his thing, throwing shutout ball over eight innings, striking out 10.

The 8's?  That's three straight wins by scoring eight runs.

The end result?  Well, it was another win for the Dodgers by beating the Rockies, 8-0.  The flip side is that the Cardinals easily beat the Nationals, 12-2, so the deficit is still three games with five to play.

After Clayton Kershaw struck out five in the first couple of innings, the offense went to work in the second.  Adrian Gonzalez singled leading off, and Hanley Ramirez took a walk.  Andre Ethier found just enough room to bloop an RBI double into left to make it 1-0.  It was one of those hits where if the Dodgers were still losing, that would be caught.  Since they've gotten hot the last few games, it found grass.

Shane Victorino stepped in and lifted a long fly to left center that found its way out, a three-run bomb to make it 4-0.  It was his second big fly in 48 games with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers added another in the fourth.  The first three hitters reached when Ethier singled, Victorino singled, and A.J. Ellis was beaned.  Kershaw grounded into a "double play," though in reality he was clearly safe at first.  Ethier still scored to make it 5-0, but there would be no RBI for the pitcher.

Each team made a great defensive play in the next couple of innings.  In the fifth, the Dodgers had two on from a single by Luis Cruz and a walk to Matt Kemp.  With one out, Ramirez hit a long one to right center that sure looked like would bring in some runs.  Instead, Matt McBride made a fantastic catch at the wall, keeping the Dodgers from increasing the lead.

Kershaw set out to top that play in the seventh.  With all eyes watching him because of his recent hip injury, he didn't help his cause by walking Andrew Brown leading off.  DJ LeMahieu then grounded one back up the middle in which Kershaw gloved between his legs, threw to Mark Ellis to second for one out, then back to Gonzo to complete the double play.  It was a bit of a lucky play, but still awesome nonetheless.

The game was put away for good in the eighth, when the Dodgers reached the eight-run plateau again.  Ethier hit another single with one out, and soon advanced two bases on two wild pitches.  A.J. Ellis doubled into left center to bring him home, and it was 6-0.  Bobby Abreu pinch-hit for Kershaw, took a pitch high and tight, then smashed a two-run shot into right to make it 8-0.  He also took one of the slowest damn trots I've ever seen.  Good for him!

Josh Wall did a great job in setting the Rockies down in order to end the game.

It's hard to describe Kershaw in many more ways than we already have.  The guy just continues to go out there and dazzle start after start.  There's no way he's 100% right now either.  But completely healthy or not, there's no denying that he's once again a Cy Young contender.  On this night, he went eight innings for five hits, no runs, two walks, and 10 strikeouts.  He's now 13-9 with a 2.58 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.

To put things in perspective, Kershaw is first in ERA and WHIP, and one K behind R.A. Dickey for first.  He obviously won't win the pitching Triple Crown again because he only has 13 wins (thanks for some bad run support), but he's every bit the dominant pitcher this year as we was last.  And boy is he fun to watch.

All the bats needed to do was score one run thanks to Cy Kershaw, but it was great to again watch them string together some big innings.  Hitting a couple long balls certainly helps as well.  So now they have 24 runs in the last three games.  You want to know how many games before that it took to get to 24?  Try nine.  Uh, not good.

The game was a bit of a letdown before it even started thanks to the Nationals getting their clocks cleaned in St. Louis.  But like the saying goes, all the Dodgers can do is win their games and hope for some help.  It would be nice if that "help" maybe doesn't lose by 10 runs this weekend.  That would be nice.

Don Mattingly will now turn to Joe Blanton to make it four straight, and to slowly chip away at the Cardinals' Wild Card lead.  Blanton didn't get the win last start in Cincinnati, but still pitched very well.  As for the Rockies, they're just trying to win one of their last five games to avoid the magical 100-loss mark.  That's a full season of some really bad baseball.