The Nationals' Dan Haren was pretty good tonight, going 7.0 IP and yielding four hits. Except one of those hits was a two-run-scoring shot up the middle, surprisingly off the bat of Andre Ethier.
And that was all the Dodgers needed, given that Clayton Kershaw was incredible: 8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 11 Ks and 1 BB. Kershaw was dealing tonight and though it was prudent to pull him after Adam LaRoche singled with two out in the ninth (a career 132 pitches for Kershaw), it's a little sad that Kershaw couldn't snag that last out.
(Kershaw, who reached 1000 innings tonight, has the lowest ERA (2.70) among all pitchers in the live ball era, and if I heard it correctly from the radio broadcast tonight, ranks third all-time behind Mariano Rivera and Hoyt Wilhelm in the modern age.)
But guess who did get that last out? No, not that "closer...for now" that coach Don Mattingly mentioned last night. No, Kenley Jansen came in, using four pitches to get his second save of the season. The Dodgers split the first two and head to tomorrow's rubber match...with a very special starter coming off the DL. Be there!
UPDATE 11:15p: Oh, and about that Kings 2-0 win; do you want to see highlights? Try this claasic shot from the ESPN.com galleries (photo, Jeff Gross/Getty Images):
4 comments:
Oh yeah, and the KINGS WON
FUCK YEAH KINGS!
If Mattingly had brought in League and he choked, Mattingly would have been crucified.
If Mattingly had brought in League and he succeeded, there still would have been questions.
By bringing in Jansen, Mattingly protected himself from downside risk, even if the players now know his endorsement publicly doesn't mean shit. Whether that last part backfires on him later, remains to be seen.
A pair of 2-0 victories for LA last night.
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