Today’s afternoon game (morning for us in LA) brought Clayton Kershaw and A.J. Ellis up against rookie Atlanta pitcher Matt Wisler.
This getaway day also featured a different lineup for Dave Robert’s Dodgers; for the first time in his young career, Joc Pederson batted clean up – on his 24th birthday, no less!
Here’s how the rubber match played out…
1st inning
Dodgers
Joc Pederson skied a soft fly ball to left that scored Corey Seager. Dodgers drew first blood.
Braves
Back to back doubles for the first two Atlanta batters tied the game. That was all for them, but it was enough.
2nd inning Dodgers 1 – Atlanta 1
Atlanta
Three quick singles brought bases loaded and nobody out.
Kershaw bore down and got his first K of the game, bringing Wisler, the pitcher to the plate.
4-6-3 Dodgers double play! Inning over. Whew!
3rd inning Dodgers 1 – Atlanta 1
Atlanta
It looked like Kershaw settled in as he recorded two more Ks.
4th inning Still tied at 1
Dodgers
Adrian Gonzalez and Joc opened up with back to back singles.
Wasted.
Also in the inning, Clayton Kershaw uncorked a 46 mph Eephus pitch which blew the internet’s mind:
5th inning Still tied
Atlanta
Kershaw got a 1,2,3 inning and notched his 6th strike out of the game.
7th inning Tie score
Dodgers
Kershaw’s high fly ball to CF led to a nasty collision between Nick Markakis and Mallex Smith. It looked painful, but nobody was hurt, and Kershaw ended up on second.
Corey Seager rapped a sharp single and Kerhaw rumbled home.
Play at the plate!
Called out by out of position, lousy umpire Angel Hernandez, skipper Dave Roberts called for a replay review. It looked to me like Kershaw ‘s left foot was in before the tag, but the out was upheld.
Nothing much happened for the Dodgers after that, except Kershaw kept the game tied through eight.
The Dodgers threatened in the ninth, but birthday boy Pederson struck out with the go-ahead runner on third. He chased two lousy pitches with giant swings, and just plain missed on the best pitch he saw, earning a Golden Sombrero for the day. I think it’ll be a while before the skipper trusts the kid in the clean up spot again.
10th inning Score tied.
With Enrique Hernandez on first, Yasmani blasted a Dodgers double to CF. Kiké scored from first to break the tie!
Atlanta
The big man, Kenley Jansen came to the mound with a one-run lead to protect.
K
Fly out right field
Fly out center field
Dodgers win!!
With that series win, the Dodgers bid “Good riddance” to Atlanta, and perhaps the worst infield in the majors. That thing they call a diamond looked like the No Man’s Land between the trenches of World War 1. Stories are floating that the team may have their union complain to the league about their playing conditions. Good luck with that, because that field is a disgrace to the game.
What wasn’t a disgrace was the first half of this road trip. On to Colorado!
Clayton Kershaw went 8 innings, with 10 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 10 K’s. ERA 1.5
Doubles: Utley and Grandal
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Solid wins the last 2 days. Bullpen has almost drawn even after the first week. Agon is still the heart and soul of the team. Atlanta surprisingly tough. It will be interesting to see how Stripling responds to his first off start. Grienke did his job last night. I love the giants’ losing. Maybe a series sweep by the D’backs today at giants’ yard. It will be beautiful to see. Now strap on the helmets for the Rockies. Wood is probably not sleeping well thinking about it. Kazmir too.
I’m watching dbacks now.
Just saw a pickoff at first, guy called out, they reviewed. Replay clearly showed the guy was safe. Same observation as the Kershaw call. Ump at first did not have the 90, was blocked out from the tag, but guessed, and guessed wrong. Replay booth supported the out call. Brenly went nuts of course. Why use it if all you’re going to do is run the “not enough evidence to overturn” narrative. That’s bullsh*t and every fan watching can see what’s going on here. They’re backing their brothers and padding their own stats.
They need to take the umpire’s in the same Union, out of the booth in NY.
The replay just slows down the game and makes the umpires look worse. If they can’t even get it right after seeing slo-mo from all angles they should be in another line of work.
Is Atlanta’s pitching really that good? How did they slow the offensive juggernaut that is the 2016 Dodgers? Lucky to win the last two, thanks to the pen (yeah, I can’t believe I said that) and Kersh.
Az 3-2 up in the 6th.
Could be a good day.
Eating a little crow per Grandal..he has been better than I thought he would be…..but that’s ok as long as the team benefits from his play……best starter in the minors right now……….Zack Lee…..3-0…..ERA under 2……..Holmes is also 3-0…but he has a 2-1 K to walk ratio…needs to improve on that.
Grandal is yet to do it for a full season. This is his 5th year playing in the big leagues. He is a positive OPS+ player, but it would be nice to see 450 or more injury free plate appearances out of the guy. When he’s not in there we have Ellis. And I can’t tell if AJ is done, or just off to a slow start, but he looks bad in the box and behind the plate. I’m pulling hard for Yasmani this year, and until he turns 30…. in three years. We need everybody if we are to compete this year.
We’ve seen AJ do this plenty, this time of the year, then somehow turn it on in September. Maybe he’s been pacing himself, hopefully.
Grandal has done really well, since he has come back. I wish Howie was the same.
I knew Grandal could hit, it was to bad Mattingly insisted on playing him, when he was hurt, especially with AJ hitting.
Kershaw just amazes me. Gives up 9 hits and allows only one run. He certainly did not have it today and yet he keeps the Dodgers in the game. He is truly an Ace.
Yep, best pitcher in the game no matter what Gnat fans think
April thru Sept, he is the best, by far
That’s true. Every year there is somebody else that is new and good enough to be Cy Young worthy. However, Clayton is always in the running. But, it’s tough to look at the Snotrocket’s post season and not think he’s clearly the better big game pitcher.
Dbacks sweep the midgets. That’s good, right?
It would be much better, if we could sweep there A.
On the radio broadcast the uproar wasn’t necessarily that Kershaw was safe rather that it took longer than is permitted to review the play.
I personally don’t like instant replay. Make the call (right or wrong) and move on. People complain the game is too slow this just makes it slower.
I still think that Roberts should move Cory down in the order, so he will get better pitches to hit. Even with his hit today.
I have a question. Won’t Maeda have a lot of problems in Colorado, because he depends on the movement of his pitches, and not really speed?I hope he does ok there, but I know Colorado kills pitchers.
I don’t understand why the Rockies don’t find out, and see, if they can get a moving roof, so they can control the environment, in there stadium. They have so many weather problems, and this would help with there pitching.
IT IS TIME TO WIN 5 GAMES IN A ROW.
You guys might remember me saying that I thought Puig would make a good third baseman, well, here is this: http://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-video-yasiel-puig-plays-third-base-batting-practice/2016/04/21/
Roberts looks quite impressed. The Dodgers top prospects are mostly pitchers and a couple of outfielders. They do not have too much for the infield and nothing for third. Now they do.
Bums do you really want Puig throwing in the infield? Bum Joc is making me mad, because he pulled a Puig today, in his last at bat. Joc knows how to swing, but he swung like he was batting fourth.
Puig could probably play anywhere. With that arm and that speed, I think he’s best suited for right field. I hope he starts taking his profession seriously enough to soon begin working on the details that separate good from great.
We may keep Seager at short because he’s just good enough defensively to do it. Who knows, maybe he gets better. But he’s not going to stay this skinny for very long.
Seager is putting up a lot of errors though in the early going.
Probably should discount any errors made in Atlanta as the infield is not much better than the dirt infield that was full of rocks I played on.
Yeah, what was that? Inexcusable field conditions. Felt like Atlanta has just given up.
That said, Seager and Turner showed a few plays of lazy footwork. I can relate on some level. I remember some fields where I didn’t want to bend down and stick my nose into that unavoidable bad hop.