Before this series began, the Colorado Rockies young pitching staff was showing cracks, but they probably felt pretty good about themselves and their chances against the Dodgers. This early June series however, is serving notice to Colorado that climbing the mountain to the pennant is a long, tough road. And the Dodgers are a huge, home run hitting, excellent pitching, obstacle in their way.
Clayton Kershaw got the ball tonight, and he started out a bit shaky. He loaded the bases with one out in the first, but he is Clayton Kershaw after all, so he struck out the next two Rockies to get himself out of the jam. Pitch count:33
The Dodgers got on the board in the second. Logan Forsythe and Yasiel Puig walked, and Enrique Hernandez poked a single through shortstop to bring in Forsythe with the Dodgers’ first run of the night.
The Dodgers turned it on in the third, led off by red-hot Joc Pederson.
The boys scored two more with and without their bats. Yasmani Grandal knocked in Justin Turner for a run, and later Clayton Kershaw drew a bases loaded walk to bring in the third run of the inning.
Coming into the fifth inning, Kershaw retired 11 Rockies in a row, with six strike outs, including striking out the side in the fourth. He got the first two out in the fifth to make it13 in a row, before giving up his first base hit in four-plus innings. He ended up surrendering two singles but that was it for the Rockies’ “threat”.
In the sixth, Kersh was right back at it, retiring the side and recording his 8th strike out. The trouble was that first inning ran his pitch count too high (33), so he finished the sixth at 103 pitches. The skipper sat Kersh and it was going to be up to the bullpen to preserve the win.
They did exactly that. Brandon Morrow, Pedro Baez and Sergio Romo combined to finish off the Rocks and get the Dodgers over the hump to their 50th win of the season. I liked the use of Romo in the ninth. It was his second night in a row out of the BP, and he was given the responsibility of closing. He did well last night, and tonight was a great opportunity for him to add to his confidence and that of his team behind him. Atta boy, Sergio!
Dodgers Win 4-0. They go for the their third series sweep in arow tomorrow. Don’t miss it!
The results are in: Nomar hung on to his big lead and he won the “Who would you rather have a beer with?” poll with 63%.
Sweet Sixteen: The Dodgers have hit home runs in 16 consecutive games. That ties them for third-longest streak in team history and second-longest since arriving in LA.
Sweeter 93: When given four runs, Clayton Kershaw is 93-0.
What a glove on the Wild Horse: Yasiel Puig came up with two outstanding catches in right field tonight.
Hold your horses: In a troubling development, Puig is showing signs of a tender hamstring. I’m hoping he gets the day off tomorrow.
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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Great win. Shutting out the Rockies anywhere is not an easy task. We are getting into July and I hope Kershaw can start to dominate out of the all star break. Let’s see how the Colorado bats respond.
Right now the team is playing as well as the 42-8 squad did. Fun to watch.
Badger
If we win today we will tie there record for the most games won in a row, which is ten.
Kershaw sure has had some tough first innings in games this year, I wonder why.
He did settle down, and pitched better then he has for some time, later in the game.
I guess he had better command of his fastball and he had all of his other pitches, working.
I don’t even think we out hit the Rockies, in that game by much.
But we did take advantage of their pitcher’s lack of command and walks.
It is suppose to be 100 today, so the balls should be flying out
I didn’t see Joc’s HR live because I was walking into another room, but it sounded like he swung at the first pitch again.
Like Nomar said, sometimes the first pitch is the best pitch you will get, so you have to be ready.
The Rockies hasn’t looked like the same team in this series.
I think the season is catching up with them, and their young starting pitchers.
But I know their starter last nite was not one of their young pitchers.
They look like they were not playing with much emotion in this series, maybe they are tiring.
The Rockies have had good starts in the past. What they haven’t been able to do is finish.
First ball fastball. We’ve had this discussion before. I’m an advocate of what I call dead red attack. Have been since Little League. Look fastball over the plate and attack it. If it isn’t there, let it go. It always worked for me and for those I coached. Obviously it worked for Nomar and it’s working for Seager. Pitchers would be wise to start him off with another pitch and make it a strike.
Kershaw does not look like the dominant pitcher he was. The Rockies let him off the hook in the first. I’m somewhat concerned. It’s a very long season and he’s working very hard early.
Badger
What is better with this team, than the 2013 team, is that we don’t have just one or two players, that are carrying the team, like Hanley and Puig did, that year.
Bellinger has been a spark, but we have a lot of players on this team, that have contributed to this winning streak.
I am a little concerned that we are scoring a lot of these runs with HRs.
Because we can’t keep hitting HRs at this pace, and we also need to be productive as a team on offense, especially when we face good pitching.
I agree Kershaw hasn’t been as good this year, but he was pretty good yesterday, after the first two innings.
I still think that Roberts should continue to try to keep Kershaw’s innings down.
Kershaw has been allowed to have to much control, and it looks like Roberts is trying to take some of that control back, to protect Kershaw, and the team.
Sometimes I think we have to wait and see what Kershaw does in the post season, if we make it, before thinking about resigning Kershaw, to a big contract.
But with Urias out, my thinking about Kershaw has changed a little, because we have no one to step up to be our number one, in the future.
Wood might be a good guy to try to sign before he reaches free agency, but I am a little concerned, about his durability.
I know Urias is young but the little I have read about his injury, doesn’t sound good at all.
It kind of sounds like when a joint dislocates, but even more complex then that.
If a joint dislocates and it isn’t put back in a certain time frame, it causes nerve damage, and so can the dislocation itself, when it happens.
I had that happen with my hip, and when the nerves are damaged, that causes the muscles to atrophy.
And Urias’s issue is even more complex, then that.
Injuries is my major concern, when we trade one of our young pitchers.
Yes we did have a lot of depth in young pitching, but pitchers, have so many injury issues, because overhand pitching is going against our bodies, natural movements.
Dodger record for consecutive wins is 13 in LA set in May to June in 1962 and in September of 1965. Team record is 15 set in August-September of 1924. Just checked the media guide to make sure.
Where the Rockies are now was summed up in the first inning. With Kershaw laboring, the bases loaded, Desmond strikes out swinging at a ball and Story looks at a fastball right down the middle. The rest of the night was downhill.
Things will even out over 162 games. I still believe this Dodger team will win the West but remain unsure about the long haul into extended playoffs. I think some moves need to be made and as much as I’d like to see stronger starters, my guess is FAZ will go for more bullpen help.
Today’s lineup looks like a spring training lineup. But the way this team has been playing, I guess it doesn’t matter.
Why would you say that? Two of those players are in their primary positions, three counting the pitcher. Another look-at-what-I-can-do game from the FAZmeister…
Now if he had put Grandal on first, Hernandez catching, Forsythe at short and Turner at second, he would really have something….
Gutierrez to 10 day DL. Freeman called up.
Who’s Freeman? That guy hitting a buck sixty seven in the minors?
We’re due for a hiccup. This lineup looks like it could be a beer belch.
Mike Freeman. Reserve infielder that they picked up on waivers from the Mariners when they claimed Heston the same day. He was hitting .295 at OKC and .325 overall this year at AAA. McCarthy could not find the plate with both hands and a road map. He was really awful today. Looks like the Yips are back….Stripling showing his rust….not as sharp as usual….
The pitch Joc hit out was a 95 mph fastball right down the middle. But he did not swing out of his shoes for once. He put a level swing on it and let the fastball do the work. It looked somewhat like a AGon home run, actually.
Chris Taylor is in a slump and batting under Barnes now. But he’s finding ways to contribute through walks and steals. Grandal has cooled off as well. We really need Forsythe to pick it up to keep the streak alive.
Could not expect Taylor too keep that hot streak up. Forsythe has a good day, then a couple bad. What we need is consistency. Dodger Nation reports that the team is looking at pitchers, both starting and relievers for the trade deadline. I think they need a bench bat from the left side really bad.
According to MiLB, Freeman is batting 325 in the minors in 2017.
Well that game was a real roller coaster ride….5 runs scored on wild pitches. Kenley doubles in a run, Bellinger hits 2 dingers. The kid has to be in the MVP conversation because the Dodgers have been almost unbeatable with him in the lineup………….Thank you Ned and company for finding this kid.
Just really good.
Agree that Taylor is probably regressing to his true level.
Forsythe will progress to his.
Team is just so deep. Verdugo and Thompson have been really hitting of late.
lol, love this submitted question for McCullough’s mailbag:
Andy, do you think Fraudman deserves to get fired for signing Jurrjens?
Hopefully McCarthy isn’t reverting….
Bluto, that was just brutal to watch. If his YIPS are back, look to Maeda to be back in the mix on a regular basis. Hopefully he was just having trouble gripping the ball. But Ottovino bailed us out with that awesome display of wildness.
Crazy game, that was.