No aces, a banged up outfield... and the Dodgers sweep the Mariners anyway

Sometimes the mark of a good team is how you compete when the chips are down.

The Dodgers came into their three-game Interleague set against the Mariners losers of two of the last three, and did not have Clayton Kershaw or Zack Greinke on the mound.  They also would have to battle through injuries to two starting outfielders in Carl Crawford and Yasiel Puig.  They also found themselves down 4-0 and 3-0 in two straight games.

And you know what?  None of it mattered.  They found ways to stage big comebacks in games one and two, and then turned the tables with a big start of their own to get the sweep.  Who knows where the Mariners will be when the season is over, but they are considered division favorites in the AL West, so it was good to see.

There were a whole bunch of different parts to make this sweep possible, so let's review:

* Howie Kendrick had a game-tying and game-winning RBI in the first two games, proving why he's a clutch bat in the cleanup spot, even without the power.

* Andre Ethier doubled to start the rally in the 10th inning of the first game, hit a solo homer in the second game, and an RBI single in the third game.  Yes, signs of life from Ethier!

* Joe Pederson reached base seven times in the three games with three RBIs.  Plus, he added a fantastic diving catch in center on Wednesday night.

* Adrian Gonzalez continues to rake, collecting a hit in each game, five hits total, and is hitting .528.  He's been simply amazing.

* Alex Guerrero just keeps rolling along, hitting a walk-off single to win the first game, then a pinch-hit RBI single in the next.

* For two straight nights, Yimi Garcia picked up the win with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts.  Fill-in closer?  I wouldn't mind it at all.

Andrew Friedman wanted the Dodgers to be a deeper club this year, and in this series anyway, he certainly got his wish.  There were clutch hits from all over the place, and good pitching at the end of the game to put the club in a position to win.

Wednesday night showed what happened when the Dodgers get a good start by the guy on the mound.  Brett Anderson went five innings giving up two runs (one earned), and struck out three.  The offense put the pressure on right away with three runs in the first, pushed the lead to 5-0 after three, and cruised to a 5-2 victory.  It was especially fitting since it was the Civil Rights Game honoring Jackie Robinson.  It's always fun to win on that night.

The Dodgers will now welcome in the surprising NL West leader, Colorado Rockies.  They're playing great baseball at 7-2, and have given up only 25 runs.  Oh ya, they're 6-0 on the road, so they shouldn't be scared coming into Dodger Stadium for three starting Friday.  Kershaw takes the hill looking to get back to normal.

Key games in the Dodgers' 2015 season

Spring Training is humming along without much news to report of.  About the only exciting things to have happened were Will Farrell pitching a perfect 1/3 of an inning, and Aroldis Chapman throwing behind Justin Turner for God knows what reason.  Other than that, not much going on.

So, let's get ourselves excited for when the games count for good.  Here's a look at some key/big/fun games in the Dodgers' 2015 schedule.

Monday, April 6 vs. Padres - Home opener, and the return of Matt Kemp
Monday, April 13 vs. Mariners - First Interleague set
Tuesday, April 21 at Giants - First tilt against the defending World Series champs
Monday, May 11 at Marlins - First matchup with old friends Dee Gordon and Dan Haren
Friday, May 29 at Cardinals - First matchup with the team that knocked the Dodgers out of the playoffs... again
Monday, June 22 at Cubs - Four-game set again Jon Lester, Joe Maddon, and a suddenly relevant Cubs team
Friday, July 17 at Nationals - First game after the All-Star break against a preseason World Series contender
Friday, July 31 vs. Angels - Freeway Series begins
Thursday, August 13 vs. Reds - First time seeing Chapman since Spring Training...
Monday, September 14 vs. Rockies - Last big homestand of the season, a 10-game set with the Rockies, Pirates, and Diamondbacks
Sunday, October 4 vs. Padres - Final game of the regular season, coming full circle

There you have it.  In examining the schedule, there are a heck of a lot of division games to start the season, and of course the last couple of weeks as well.  Then they have this quirk: they start July by playing the DBacks, end August with the Giants, and have no other division games in between.  That's right - there's virtually no games within the NL West for two straight months.  That seems very unusual.

The Interleague games are with the AL West.  The Freeway Series is always fun, and a bit more so this year with Howie Kendrick in Dodger blue.  Who knows what the A's will look like, but they always find a way.  The Mariners have two stars in Robinson Cano and King Felix.  The Rangers were just dealt a huge blow by losing Yu Darvish for the season.  And the Astros?  Well, they do have young talent, so we'll see.

From no hits to 14 overnight

Hey, the Dodgers could only go up from being no-hit, right?

That was certainly the case, as one night after six Mariners' pitchers combined for a no-hitter, the Dodgers broke out 8 runs on 14 hits to get the win, 8-3.  Throw in 12 strikeouts from Clayton Kershaw, and the Dodgers emphatically bounced back from the no-no.

As the Dodgers have done better than any team in baseball this season, they got on the board in the first.  Dee Gordon singled leading off, which is always a good sign.  With one out, he stole second, and then with two outs, Andre Ethier drew a walk.  Jerry Hairston, Jr. was your offensive star of the night, and he blasted a three-run homer to left for the quick lead.

Clayton Kershaw had to work around a single by Ichiro and double by Jesus Montero in the first to escape harmless, thanks to striking out the side.  It was a sign of things to come for the Mariners.

In the third, the Dodgers again struck.  Elian Herrera singled to start, and two outs later, stole second.  More solid two-out hitting came next, as Hairston collected an RBI double to make it 4-0.  The lead was increased by one again on an RBI single by James Loney.

Kershaw had seven K's at this point, but in the fifth, ran into some trouble.  With one out, Justin Smoak singled to center.  A walk to Kyle Seager came next for two on.  Much like his last start against the Phillies, a bad slider resulted in a home run, this time a three-run job by Miguel Olivo, making it 5-3.

Both teams played evenly until the eighth, when the Dodgers began to pull away again.  Juan Rivera singled with an out.  Once again with two outs, the offense delivered, as Hairston again smacked an RBI double to go up 6-3.

Ronald Belisario put the Mariners down quietly in the bottom of the frame, and the Dodgers ran away with it in the ninth.  Tony Gwynn singled and Gordon did as well an out later.  Both executed a perfect double steal to get into scoring position.  Herrera scored one on a fielder's choice, and Rivera on a sac-fly to make it 8-3.

With the increased lead, Kenley Jansen was given another day off, which is a good thing since he was very busy in Philly during the week.  Todd Coffey allowed one walk in the ninth to finish it off.

Kershaw upped his record to 5-3 thanks to a season high 12 K's, his first double-digit effort as well.  He lasted seven innings for four hits, three runs, and two walks.  Even though his ERA has crept up an an astronomical 2.65 (yes, sarcasm), he's still 11th in the NL.  Opposing teams are only hitting .213 off of him, so I wouldn't expect him to keep giving up homers like that.  He's still the best pitcher in the NL.

Hairston came off the DL on May 25, and thanks to a 3-for-4 effort in this one, has hit .426 since then.  That's just incredible for a guy who was only supposed to fill a utility role off the bench.  Much like Herrera, it's hard to keep him out of the lineup with production like that.  It's definitely a good problem to have if you're Don Mattingly.

It obviously wasn't fun watching the Dodgers flail away helplessly on Friday night, but once again they showed their mental toughness by coming right back a night later for a win.  It's another reminder of why they have the best record in baseball at 38-22.

And besides, the defending world champs were also no-hit, so why not the Dodgers?  Maybe it's a good sign!  Or at least I can tell myself that.

Chad Billingsley takes the mound in the rubber match Sunday afternoon, and he's coming off a good start in Philadelphia.  Can he possibly put together two straight solid starts?  History tells us to be very skeptical, but we'll see how it plays out.

Bats go quiet in weekend struggle

I think the Dodgers were still suffering the effects of facing King Felix.

A day after Felix Hernandez completely handcuffed the Dodgers, Garrett Olsen pitched five strong innings, and the bullpen was practically hitless as the Mariners won, 4-2. The Dodgers could only gather three runs and 10 hits in both losses this weekend.

Hiroki Kuroda was the starter for L.A., and he never really seemed to find his groove. The Mariners were only able to score in the second and third, but it was enough to hold up.

In the second, Jose Lopez singled with one down, then stole second. The aggressive baserunning turned out to be a good thing for them, and Franklin Gutierrez singled to center to make it 1-0.

The third is when the Mariners made their mark, much like the night before. Ichiro singled with one down, followed by another one from Russell Branyan. The former Dodger Adrien Beltre, who's due for shoulder surgery which will sideline him for two months on Tuesday, singled home a run for the 2-0 lead.

Kuroda got Ken Griffey Jr. to pop up for two outs. Then he tried to pick off Branyan at second, and ended up launching it into center, advancing Branyan to third. It really didn't matter, as Lopez double over the outstretched arms of Matt Kemp to score two and make it 4-0.

The Dodgers made a run in the fifth by cutting the lead in half. Kemp lead off with a solo home run, his 10th of the season. Juan Castro, starting for Rafael Furcal, singled next. Kuroda sacrificed him over to second with a good bunt. Juan Pierre then hit a single as well, and runners were on the corners with one down.

Andre Ether was able to plate a run with a sac-fly RBI to make it 4-2. Orlando Hudson then grounded out, and the threat was over.

The sixth inning and on were obsolete, as both bullpens did a fine job. Unfortunately, the Mariners were the ones with the lead, so they got the win. Their 'pen of Miguel Batista, Mark Lowe, and David Aardsma went four innings and gave up only one measly hit.

The loss was a rare one for the Dodgers at home, who still have a fantastic 26-12 mark at Chavez Ravine. But, they've now dropped four of their last five overall, something we're not used to seeing. A baseball season is full of peaks and valleys, and the Dodgers are going through a small valley right now. It happens. The key is to make sure it doesn't happen a lot.

The Dodgers now welcome the Rockies into town, and they've been absolutely sensational in the month of June, going 20-6. To put in perspective just how great they've played, they started June with three straight losses. Then they ran off 17 of 18. Wow. Give old Dodger manager Jim Tracy plenty of credit - he's pushed all the right buttons.

Thankfully, the Dodgers avoid Aaron Cook, who's won five in a row. I'm sure they don't feel bad about that. Randy Wolf goes Monday night in the first game against Ubaldo Jimenez.

Ethier's 3 homers breaks power slump

Andre Ethier hasn't hit much of anything lately. Coming into Friday night's game, his last home run was on June 9 against the Padres, in which he hit two. Since then, he only has two extra-base hits.

Apparently seeing the Mariners in town was all it took to put an emphatic end to the power outage.

Ethier cranked three homers, all of them no-doubters, to help lift the Dodgers to an 8-2 win. With the win, the Dodgers have still not had a three-game losing streak this season.

It all started in the second. Casey Blake doubled to lead off, and James Loney followed with a single. After an out, Ethier hit a three-run shot to right field, and it was 3-0.

Jose Lopez did his best to keep the Mariners in the game, as he hit a couple of RBI singles, one in the fourth and the other in the sixth. Too bad it little to dent the Dodgers' lead.

Up 3-1 now, Casey Blake hit a solo home run to lead off the fourth. That's his 11th of the year, and first since June 14. Like Ethier, he too has suffered a power slump. The difference is that he's been getting hits anyway, as his average starting the month was .300, and is now .301.

Ethier's night would only get bigger in the sixth. He absolutely crushed one into the stands in right, a two-run shot that made it 7-2. To top it off, he hit another one out in the eighth, this one a solo shot to close the scoring.

As I was watching the Dodgers-White Sox game the other day, I believe it was Steve Lyons who pointed out that Ethier has way too good a swing to be in such a slump. Last night, he showed how good he can be when he's on. He'll never be a huge home run threat, but he certainly can pack a punch. With Manny Ramirez's impending return, getting a guy like Ethier back on track will only make the offense a much bigger threat.

Lost in all of the Ethier hype was the great night by Clayton Kershaw. He lasted six innings, giving up two runs, five hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts. His stuff was electric, as the Mariners never looked comfortable. Oh, and he also hit an RBI single. I'd say it was a pretty good night.

Eric Milton has been activated off the DL and will start for the first time since June 5. He's gotten the job done with an ERA of 2.89, but his 1.55 WHIP means that he's playing with fire way too much. We'll see if he can figure that out today.