Seriously, guys, we may have to adopt this twitter handle on the side.
We are the worst first-place team I have ever seen.
NL West lead down to one game, pending the outcome of tonight's Giants @ Pirates game (Vogelsong vs. Liriano). I want to vomit.
Wait a second, you mean to tell me that we get a day off, while the Giants and their cushy schedule actually have to play a game? Of course, it's against the lowly Braves, who are eight games out of the NL East lead (tied between the Mets and Nationals). Matt Cain (2-2, 4.50) goes up against the lengthy last name of Mike Foltynewicz (3-3, 5.04). Foltynewicz, who goes by the absolutely crazy baseball nickname of...wait for it..."Folty", should really be a reliever but Atlanta is trying him out as a starter. Which should go really well tonight, I'm sure. Thanks, Atlanta! First pitch, 4p PT.
Clayton Kershaw overcame the hip issue that had scratched him from two starts, and sat many an Angel down (7 Ks; retired his last 15 batters) en route to victory today. Kid K's scoreless streak is now at 38 innings; the Angels got a run in the ninth off of Kenley Jansen, whose shakiness is starting to get a little concerning. Albert Pujols snuck in a pop fly right in front of Scott Van Slyke to score David Murphy for the Angels' only run; Jansen did have two Ks, including Mike Trout, in the final frame.
The Dodgers' offensive outburst came in the sixth inning, with a Van Slyke sacrifice fly to left (scoring Howie Kendrick, and a Yasmani Grandal HR scoring Adrian Gonzalez. The Dodgers had other chances, ending the game 0-for-6 with RISP. But three runs was enough to make Kershaw's effort stand up.
Scoreboard watching: The Giants are facing Cole Hamels in his debut with Texas, and are down 2-0 in the second (Giants have Chris "Charlton" Heston on the mound: 11-5 / 3.14). As of this posting, the Dodgers have a two-game lead in the West, with only 58 left to play.
I suppose this is more "scoreboard watched" given the time of posting, but the Mets finally decided to win a game against San Francisco, taking the final game of the series 5-4. The Mets are in first place with a 32-29 record, a half-game ahead of the Nationals, which is a shocker--just as Michael Cuddyer's walkoff single was in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the game from Sergio Romo, who suffered his third loss of the year.
With the Giants loss, the Dodgers have a 1.5-game lead in the NL West going into the weekend. We play @ San Diego; the Giants are at Birdshit Park hosting the Diamondbacks.
Elsewhere in the NL West, the Padres beat the Braves 6-4 in 11 innings, in Atlanta. Tempers were hot today after San Diego lost Tuesday's series opener, punctuated by a five-run inning which included Andrelton Simmons sliding hard into Padres catcher Derek Norris for the fifth run (which tied the game). Yesterday, Padre Tyson Ross threw behind Simmons; today, Julio Teheran had a 1-2 count on Matt Kemp and hit him on the shoulder, clearing the benches (no punches thrown). Kemp did not look happy.
Anyway, it's always nice to wake up and see the divisional lead expand, so we'll take it.
