The old Matt Kemp found his way back in the lineup, and for the first time all month, the Dodgers enjoyed a blowout victory.
Kemp was a triple short of the cycle, belting his 20th homer of the season to go with four RBIs, and the Dodgers beat the Padres, 8-2. Almost exactly one month ago on August 25, the Dodgers beat the Marlins by the same 8-2 score. Since then, it's been a bunch of close game, a bunch of loses, and barely any margin for error in the wins.
What this game did do was put the Dodgers 3 1/2 back of the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot with seven left. They'll need a few more nights of wins and Cardinals' losses to even think about pulling it off.
The tone was set from the get-go, as the Dodgers put a couple on the board in the first. Nick Punto had a great night at second, and his single with one out got things going. Kemp got his first hit with a single to put runners on the corners. Adrian Gonzalez followed with an RBI single up the middle, and Hanley Ramirez added one into left to make it 2-0.
In the third, Punto started things with a bunt single. Kemp recorded his only out of the night by grounding one hard back to the mound, but Punto did get to second. Another RBI single from Gonzo later, it was 3-0.
The runs soon kept coming, which was a welcome sight for a team that has struggled to consistently score anything. Juan Rivera started in right to face the lefty Clayton Richard, and he crushed a solo homer to left, his eighth of the season, making it 4-0.
Matt Treanor then reached on an error in left on a misplayed fly ball by Jesus Guzman, and he went to second. A couple outs came next, but a single by Punto kept the inning alive, which led to an RBI double from Kemp for a 6-0 lead.
At this point, Aaron Harang was well on his game, as his mix of fastballs and breaking stuff held the Padres hitless entering the fifth. He got a couple of outs, but with Cameron "Tiki" Maybin on first from a walk, Everth Cabrera legged out an infield single, just beating a great effort from Ramirez. Logan Forsythe flew to left to end it.
The Dodgers got their last runs of the night in the sixth. Harang slooooooowly doubled leading off. Two outs later, Kemp launched a two-run bomb into deep center to go up 8-0.
The Padres did chase Harang in the sixth when Yasmani Grandal, Yonder Alonso, and Will Venable all singled with one out. Shawn Tolleson came in and did an excellent job in striking out Guzman and getting Maybin to pop up for the last out.
The only runs the Padres could muster came in the seventh. With Tolleson still on, Chase Headley's double and Grandal's single each brought in a run, and the scoring ended at 8-2.
While it was great to see the Dodgers put together a complete effort on both sides of the field, it does seem like quite a long time ago that Gonzalez and the boys from Boston came over via trade, then lit it up in that first game against the Marlins I mentioned before. Never at one point when I was watching that game did I think the Dodgers were about to go into a huge slump. If anything, I'm sure we all thought the pitching might let them down. Not the other way around.
But in this one, it all went right. Kemp had four hits, Punto had three hits and four runs, Gonzalez had two hits and two RBIs, and Ramirez and Rivera each had two hits and a run driven in. Production up and down the lineup... it's been awhile. But hey, at least it finally happened again.
Harang did a fantastic job of keeping the Padres held in check as the offense was going to work. He lasted 5 1/3 innings for four hits, no runs, four walks, and three strikeouts. Most importantly, he earned his 10th win of the season. He won't get to the 14 wins he had in San Diego last year, but his ERA this year (3.68) is nearly identical to last (3.64).
Let's see if this win can springboard the Dodgers towards bigger things, as their last three wins were followed by losses. With only seven games left, they obviously can't keep doing that. They pretty much need to run the table, or win six of seven, and still get plenty of help. We all saw the Cardinals sneak in last year and win it all, but even as a die hard fan, it's hard to imagine the Dodgers doing that now. I wish I could say differently, but I'm just being realistic.
All they can do is keep winning the game in front of them, and they wrap up their road schedule on Thursday night. Chris Capuano will try to get over .500 by getting his 12th win.
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