Clayton Kershaw was masterful: CG 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 Ks, 1 BB, 107 pitches in a 3-1 victory. Kershaw almost got through the last three innings without a baserunner, save an error from the always volatileDee Gordon (0-for-4 with 2 Ks, 3 LOB, and an error tonight).
But the awesome highlight was watching Matt Kemp knock his second HR of the year, a no-doubt-about-it shot to the stands in deep left center. (Andre Ethier also knocked a solo HR of his own, along with an RBI triple, before ridiculously getting thrown out of the game for arguing an inning-ending pitch call at the plate.) The Dodgers went 0-for-6 with RISP, but the Brewers were 0-for-3 with RISP so we won.
Dodgers snap a three-game losing streak and win the opening game of the series for the first time in May (actually, the first time since April 26; against the Brewers).
Yes, we just beat the second-worst team in the NL, forcing our ace to pitch a complete game, while failing to convert any runner in scoring position. And we're damn proud of it.
Steve Lyons, from yesterday's telecast:
So in 1985, my rookie season, Jerry Neudecker's behind home plate with his pillow*.
And he called a pitch that was about chin high for a strike on me.
And I said, "Gee, Jerry, I can't swing at that pitch. There's no way I can even hit that pitch!"
And he looked at me and he said, "Son, you don't tell me that pitch was high. You ask me if that pitch was high." [...]
I said, "All right, Jerry, was the pitch high?"
He said, "Yep."
*According to Baseball Reference, "Neudecker is best remembered for being the last umpire to use a balloon (outside) chest protector."
Didja hear? Lots of Dodgers are on the hot seat, and people in the know have plenty to say about it:
"Stick a fork in the 2013 Dodgers. They are dead."—Eric Stephen, True Blue LA
The box score (and recent history) tell it all: The Dodgers only had three hits today, yet led 2-1 going into the eighth inning, when Kenley Jansen and Brandon League combined to allow four runs.
Who can we blame for this one? How about ourselves for actually believing things would be different this year?
Matt Magill (0-0, 6.92) vs. Mike Minor (5-2, 2.75).
After yesterday's dispiriting loss, and the dispiriting loss the day before that, in what has been a most dispiriting season, we get to today's game, which will almost certainly be another dispiriting loss for the last-place Dodgers that will complete the first-place Barves' dispiriting sweep.
Each team is starting a pitcher with the initials MM, but only Atlanta's MM belongs in the majors right now. Minor is fresh off a win over the gritty Diamondbacks, while the Dodgers have yet to win a game started by Magill. (Sometimes it seems they have yet to win a game started by anyone.)
For the tattered bullpen's sake, let's hope Magill can eat a few innings today, because this road trip continues tomorrow in Milwaukee.
So: crappy team, yet we keep pulling for them. That's dispirit!
UPDATE:
First pitch is expected at 12:15pm PT.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 19, 2013
Can't blame this one on Donnie. Chris Capuano was stellar, allowing one earned run over 7.1 innings. In the 8th, Donnie went to Kenley Jansen, who promptly served up back-to-back dingers. And when your offense scores one run a game, ya gonna lose (again).
And this just in: Atlanta's still not Miami!
Chris Capuano (1-2, 6.60) vs. Kris Medlen (1-5, 3.44).
Do the Dodgers possess road toughness? After getting whacked by Justin Upton and his MLB-leading 14th home run (and a granny at that), the team turns to Capuano, fresh off his first win of the season — over Miami. Atlanta ain't Miami. Will Cap notice the difference?
When it comes to which reliever he trusts with the game on the line, Don Mattingly is splitting hairs:
"I don't like a committee of guys, that's always unsettling, like every day is a tryout, and that's not the environment I want for my pitchers," said Mattingly. "I want them to know I'm confident in them and trust them. It's not like you give up a run and you're out.
"But the way it's been going is the best way to do it. Kenley gets the tougher part of the order, and there's a chance of anybody in the ninth. We don't have Mariano [Rivera]. You see teams changing all the time in the last inning or two."
But Mattingly said that doesn't mean "closer" Brandon League has necessarily lost his job.
"Brandon never scares me," Mattingly said. "He always comes back with a clean slate. It's a new day. He said he likes the ball more often, he needs to keep pitching."Don Mattingly has adjusted his late-inning bullpen use recently by deploying Kenley Jansen to face the hitters posing the greatest threat, no matter the inning.
On the other hand, League scares the hell out of me, clean slate or not. He could certainly pitch with frequency earlier in the game, or even in another league. But Jansen definitely deserves yet another shot at the closer role--which is exactly what I think Mattingly is signalling, anyway.
What an artful Dodger!
Larry's just now getting around to seeing Ted?Wow, Dodger series where u don't face pitchers named Kershaw, Greinke, Beckett or Billingsly! Need to take advantage of that. At Ted tmrw!
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) May 17, 2013
The Dodgers might even be able to make up some ground even on a day where Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, or Hyun-Jin Ryu isn't starting. Maybe.
Giants at Rockies pits Matt Cain (2-2, 5.04) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (3-2, 2.70). First pitch, 5:40p.
Nationals at Padres has Stephen Strasburg (1-5, 3.10) vs. Edinson Volquez (3-3, 5.15). First pitch, 7:10p.
Diamondbacks are idle; they kick off a three-game series with the Marlins tomorrow, at about the same time we go against the Braves.
Look, I was there last night to see Zack Greinke lead the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Nationals, earning a series victory (and our fourth win in the last five games). That was cool and all, I agree.
But it's funny to read the press today and see the coverage that this is going to turn around the entire season. First, Mark Saxon from ESPN.com:
Now, this could be just the jumping-off point.
"I think he'll get stronger and stronger as he goes," Mattingly said. "It's pretty amazing what this guy was able to do tonight."
The Dodgers didn't go 10-19 in Greinke's absence because he wasn't pitching every fifth day. At most, his outings would have gotten them another couple of wins. They'd still be under .500, still be digging to get back to contention.
But Wednesday felt like a mile marker for this Dodgers season. Greinke's return means the Dodgers have, essentially, their Opening Day roster once again. If they continue to flounder, they won't be able to say it's because they're hurt. So, let the evaluation period begin.
Greinke said he started feeling a bit of soreness in the area of his collarbone after an awkward swing in the second inning, but he recovered well enough to stroke an RBI single to right. He said he was nearing exhaustion as his pitch count got into the 70s in the fifth inning, but he got a second wind in the sixth.
In other words, this could just be the trailer for what he can do for the Dodgers' rotation. The movie is still in pre-production, but if Clayton Kershaw, Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu get on a collective roll, it could -- despite early appearances -- have a happy ending.
"We start to see the vision," Mattingly said. Greinke didn't consider it anything out of the ordinary. In fact, he said he felt he could have pitched two weeks ago, or barely over two weeks after the doctor cut him open, fixed his bone and sewed him back together. It's not as if Greinke doesn't deserve some credit for getting back so quickly, three weeks ahead of schedule. He went about his business in a quiet, grimly determined manner while he was out.
Hmm. Well, maybe I couldn't see the entire "vision," as my view from the third-base seats was obscured by Juan Uribe (both literally as well as figuratively, Uribe going 0-for-3 with a GIDP). And without Hanley Ramirez in the lineup, Dee Gordon continued to try to bunt his way onto base, unsuccessfully (Gordon went 0-for-4). And Scott Van Slyke performed valiantly in left field to rest Carl Crawford, who came in for a sacrifice fly RBI PH.
But okay, maybe this is indeed the start of a turnaround. So echoes Lyle Lyle the Crocodile Spencer of mlb.com:
Back sooner than logic suggested, Greinke was good on the mound across 5 1/3 innings and handy with the bat. His opposite-field single cashed in the second run against Ross Detwiler in the second inning after Matt Kemp had doubled and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's two-out single to jump-start Greinke in the first.
"It looked like a textbook win -- the Dodger way to play the game," Carl Crawford, the new left fielder and leadoff catalyst, said in the afterglow.
That's four happy endings in the past five games for manager Don Mattingly and his troupe as they head off to Atlanta and Milwaukee looking to keep a good thing going. That eight-game losing streak is in the rearview mirror, receding in the distance along with the April 11 brawl in San Diego that took Greinke out of the equation for a month.
"Winning definitely helps," Greinke said when asked about the need for a positive chemistry to develop within a club that has not played anywhere close to expectations. "The fact we have a bunch of new guys helps, too. If a team's been together five or six years, it's not as big a deal."
With Clayton Kershaw in front of him and Hyun-Jin Ryu behind him in the rotation, Greinke gives the Dodgers a fair chance to sweep a series, any series.Zack Greinke came back on Wednesday night, well ahead of schedule in his recovery from a broken collarbone, and looked like $147 million in a 3-1 decision over the Nationals at Dodger Stadium.
We must be going to a three-man rotation now, right?
Look, we're still 5.5 GB the Giants, with only the Marlins, Mets, Brewers, and Cubs behind us in the NL. I am excited for Greinke's return and hope that this is a turning point, but I wouldn't start cutting the confetti for that tickertape parade just yet.
photo: AP/Reed Saxon
The #Dodgers became the first @mlb team to go over the one million mark in attendance this season, doing so in 24 home games.
— Dodgers PR (@DodgersPR) May 16, 2013
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