We witness miracles rarely, but tonight on Tuesday September 12, 2017 (The year of our lord) we witnessed one. The clouds parted, the skies opened up and the oceans rumbled. Birds sang and soared through the night. The traffic on the 405 came to a halt. The Dodgers finally won a baseball game, snapping their franchise record 11-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over the last place Giants. For the record the game was close and they barely beat one of the worst teams in baseball, but a win is a win is a win. I won’t complain. We’ll take it.
All of the pressure was certainly on the Dodgers. The Giants are out of it, in last place 40 games out of first place. The Dodgers were trying to win a baseball game for the first time in two damn weeks. The ninth-inning was cringe-worthy with the Giants loading the bases with one out against Kenley Jansen. I had the feeling of dread throughout the game and that wouldn’t go away until after the last out was made. God I hate the Giants.
Dodgers 5 9 1
Giants 3 14 0
WP-Kershaw-17-3
LP-Cueto-7-8
SV-Jansen-37
HR-Tomlinson-1-Utley-8
Clayton Kershaw pitched and hit the Dodgers to victory as he improved his record to 17-3. Kershaw tossed 6 innings allowing two runs, one earned on eight hits while striking out 6. He made 91 pitches and also contributed with a double and a run scored at the plate.
The Dodger bats showed some life again scoring five runs on ten hits while also stranding 13 runners on base. They were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position. Chris Taylor was 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored, and Cody Bellinger was 2 for 2 while being intentionally walked three times. Yasiel Puig drove in two with two doubles and Chase Utley homered into McCovey cove.
The Giants are certainly annoying and it doesn’t matter where they are in the standings they’ll never stop trying to torture the Dodgers. The agony began first when Kelby Tomlinson (the infielder with the glasses) hit his first home run of the season off of Kershaw to put the Giants up 1-0.
The Dodgers would respond with four runs in the top of the fourth against opposing starter Johnny Cueto. Utley splashed one into the cove to tie the game at 1-1. For the record that’s the third Dodger splash shot at At&T Park (Todd Hundley, Dioner Navarro) since the stadium opened in 2000.
Then Kershaw doubled into the gap in left center field thanks also to Gorkys Hernandez taking a bad route to the ball. Kersh was pretty pumped right? What do you think?
Taylor’s fielder’s choice grounder advances Kershaw to third. Kershaw slides in around the tag, but seemed to be possibly banged up. The trainers come out to check on him, and thankfully he’s fine. Corey Seager’s sacrifice fly scores him and the Dodgers take the lead by a 2-1 score. After Justin Turner is struck out looking, Cody Bellinger is intentionally walked. Puig immediately doubles off the top of the wall to score Taylor, and Bellinger and the Dodgers take a 4-1 lead.
The Giants rallied in the bottom half of the fourth, but couldn’t score thanks to a Puig-esque throw from Taylor. Hundley doubles and Slater’s ground ball single was overturned as Bellinger made a great leaping into the air tag. One out later Tomlinson singles to center and Hundley tries to score but is nailed at the plate.
The Dodgers had the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, but guess who Dave Roberts allowed to bat? You guessed it, Curtis Granderson. The cooked veteran predictably grounded out to first. How many times have we seen that in the last few weeks?
The Giants would rally to score one in the sixth and another run in the bottom of the seventh. The sixth inning would be Kershaw’s final frame. Hunter Pence’s ground ball single and Buster Posey’s line drive single put two on with none out for the orange and black. Kershaw would strike out Nick Hundley for the first out. Austin Slater would reach on a chopper to third with Turner’s throw way too high pulling him off the bag. With the bases loaded rookie Orlando Calixte’s sacrifice fly cut the lead to 4-2. Kelby Tomlinson walked and with the bases loaded Kershaw strikes out old friend Tim Federowicz. Jesus. By the way I was unaware that Fedex was still in baseball.
Flash forward to the bottom of the seventh. Ross Stripling comes in and immediately begins to give away hits. The red-hot Denard Span doubles down the first base line and Joe Panik singles him to third. Pence’s ground ball force out scores Span, and the Dodgers are unable to get the double play. The score is now 4-3 Dodgers. They finally get the double play on Posey to end the inning.
An RBI double from Turner in the top of the eighth gives them an important insurance run and they take a 5-3 lead. Brandon Morrow tosses a scoreless bottom half of the eighth notching two strikeouts in the process. Move to the bottom of the ninth.
Enter Kenley Jansen on to save it and end the long nightmare. He strikes out Brandon Crawford for the first out. Then of course, the Dodgers happen. Or should I say the stupid Giants and their stupid little grounders. First Span legitimately singles, and Panik follows with a little grounder that deflects off of Kenley’s leg. Hunter Pence hits a dribbler towards the mound that nobody can get to and the bases are loaded. With doom approaching, Kenley settles down and remembers that he’s better than the Giants. Buster Posey strikes out. Two down. Finally Hundley is struck out as well and that’s the game! The Dodgers win it 5-3!
Honestly this felt like a postseason win. I wanted to jump up and down and celebrate. I wanted to sing from the rooftops. I felt like I was on top of the world. I’m sure the Dodgers will feel that way themselves. With the win the Dodgers improve to 93-52. The Dbacks lost to Colorado so the magic number to clinch the NL West is now down to 8. Oh and the Dodgers clinched a playoff spot with the win.
The Dodgers will look to set the world on fire by winning two games in a row on Wednesday evening in the rubber game tomorrow at 7:15 PM PST. The seemingly broken Yu Darvish takes on lefty Matt Moore.
Thank god this nightmare is over.
Looking to set the world on fire with a 2 win streak. That was really funny Scott. Nice one.
I’m not relaxing. Darvish show me what you got (as everyone here knows I wanted Verlander, not you).
Just want to also say something here (mostly for my kids), Puig and Seager have been solid through the thick and thin. Now if Taylor, Bellinger and Turner can pick it back up, we will be back big time.
Kershaw pressing the issue on the base paths was a big moment and good thing Seager cashed him with the sac fly on the first pitch. Sac flies are underrated, as is Seager. Forsythe and Grandal take note please you idiots.
nothing wrong with Taylor, Belli, or Turner. Look no further than Granderson & Grandal who are not grand, and Forsythe & Hernandez who have gone AWOL at the plate. Target those 4 players and we will see more production.
As for pitching?, this is where we may have major difficulties. Darvish has no control. All the other starters give up too many early runs and HR’s for any comfortable feeling to settle in. We need those pitchers to step up and out of their bad habits pronto. We also need to send Roberts on holiday for a week or so. He’s just about useless. Why would you put Stripling in to replace Kershaw? Morrow should have gotten the early call and go from there. Stripling is weak and inconsistent. He does not deserve a bullpen role at this point. Roberts knows jack about pitching substitution. Way too many mistakes this season. It’s really a blind spot, similar to Mattingly.
I’m not relying on Forsythe, Granderson or Grandal for anything. We will have to do it with their dead weight.
YF
When Corey hit that sac fly I thought right then, that Corey is such a productive hitter, because although Corey does strike out, he is very good at putting the ball in play, when we need it.
And when we were really doing well, we saw more of this, with our top four hitters.
Let’s give Taylor some applause. His throw to home and his hustle/slide to beat the throw to 1B ended up being one less run for them and a big insurance run for us.
The streak is over. Everybody off the ledge.
I hated the Dodgers, and the baseballs Gods, in that last inning, that last inning was pure torture!
Turner has almost always been good for us in must RBI situations, but he is going to have to protect the plate better with two strikes, especially when runners are in scoring position.
We can’t trust what these umps will make the right call, so Turner just needs to foul off, a close pitch
Because he has had this problem when runners are in scoring position, these last couple weeks, and arguing with the ump doesn’t get the job done!
And I know Turner hit in a very important run later in the game, but he probably could have hit in more runs, is he didn’t watch a close pitch go by.
I have no idea why Roberts hit Grandal and Granderson ahead of Utley in this line up, but Grandal left four runners on, and Granderson left three runners on, and these two hitters, are part of the problem, although Grandal did hit the ball better last night, to be fair.
And we were very lucky to even win that game last night, so Roberts better stop making these line ups up, like he has!
Granderson hasn’t showed a thing, since he hit that grand slam, and he is a liability on defense.
And if Roberts doesn’t wake up soon, he has no excuse, because he should have learned from last year, with Reddick, who was also a liability on defense, and just a singles hitter, when he started hitting.
About Darvish, if he doesn’t have a good start tonight, they better stop trying to make him, make this adjustment!
Darvish pitched his best game in his first start, before they talked to him, about making this adjustment.
He has been such a frustrating pitcher, because he has good stuff, and such a good fastball, but he needs to attack hitters, and stop throwing way to many pitches.
That 9th inning had me feeling exactly like I felt in NLDS game 5 at DC last year.
Phew!
Bobby
Like I said, that was pure torture, and against the Giants, and it had to be Posey with the bases loaded!
We used to discuss< Can the Dodgers reach 115 wins, then can the Dodgers reach 110 wins, now we are faced with Can the Dodgers reach 95 wins? Wow the wheels on the tricycle really fell off this mess.
At this point my level of trust in the bullpen is gone with two exceptions, Morrow and Jansen. Jansen is a heart attack waiting to happen. He has gone from a pitcher that NEVER walked anyone to the pitcher that you can bet your ass is definitely going to walk at least one batter. Wow, the wheels are getting very wobbly on that tricycle.
Even with a win last night, it really wasn't the type of win that gets a team believing or even gets Old Mo even waiting at the curb to enter the house.
Ground control, we've got a problem!
Please for God's sake no more Grandal, no more Granderson, in fact no references at all to anything with the word "grand" in it. Reddickson (don't ask Michael, just figure it out) is killing us at the plate and he ain't that hot in the field. If you noticed, Reddickson has really become a very slow and poor baserunner, that dude wouldn't know how to cut a bag if his life depended on it.
BTW, Bellinger work at 1B makes Gonzo look like he never played the position before (that includes Gonzo's prime when he was winning gold gloves too). The leaping grab and swipe down tag to get the runner at first was out of this world athletic.
Keep Puig in the line-up regardless of pitching match-up, PLEASE!!!
True
That play at first by Cody, just shows that Cody’s great athleticism, and wheels, are wasted, by having him play first.
I would never pegged Cody as a first baseman, when he was young!
llike i said the day before Utley should be in are line up..he is way better then the other guy logan.. seem to me ..he makes thing s happen
Oh lordy, those two soft ‘hits’ in the ninth had me ripping my hair out! How is it that this game can be so damn frustrating to a team like this? I swear it feels like a valid curse (and I don’t believe in those… at all)? This team is definitely a conundrum wrapped in a riddle with a side of enigma!
KLD
The baseball Gods have not been that good to us lately, have they?
Are you kidding me, the bottom of the ninth, the Giants, the bases loaded, and it had to be Posey, didn’t it?
And that wasn’t that last game in this series, and that game still doesn’t mean much at this point, but for now, we will take it!
That Posey pitch, he just missed. It was the best pitch anyone got to hit from Kenley all night.
Bleeding slowed for one day at least.
A couple of things. First, a win is a win no matter how much hair you pull out in the 9th inning and it felt so damn good. They clinched a playoff spot, so that part is good too. Cody was intentionally walked 3 times with Puig behind him. I think that strategy is going to backfire on teams that try it. Now Scott, it was Slater who fanned on CK’s liner. They said he lost it in the lights, and Kenley came in to pitch in the 8th inning for a 4 out save. Morrow got the only two batters he faced. And Blue, Kenley did not walk anyone in the 9th. He struck out Crawford, Panik singled, Span hit a dribbler Jansen could not handle, and Pence hit a tweener that no one got. Jansen then struck out Posey and Hundley, game over. Get some glue and put that hair back on there KLD. Another thing Blue, I am plenty smart enough to figure out that Reddickson is your word for the Grandy man who has been about as grand as a root canal. My one concern last night was two awful throws by Turner. Bellinger saved him on one, and the other was uncatchable…..
Michael
Since you gave Scott and True a hard time, I can’t let you get away with this.
But you probably just wrote it wrong, and didn’t see it, to correct it, just like the rest of us do, from time to time.
Span had the only hard hit, against Kenley last night.
But like you said a win is a win, and we will take it.
And how often do we see Posey strike out?
Wrong MJ……Span had a double against Kershaw. In the 9th after Crawford Struck out, Panik hit a single up the middle. Then Span hit a dribbler back at Jansen that went off it looked like his hip. Pence then hit that little dribbler between Kenley and the line to load the bases. Posey struck out and so did Hundley. Game over. As for Posey, not very often. If you doubt my memory watch the replay. That double Span hit was a pinch hit double in the 7th. Nothing wrong with my memory, I just went on my MLB channel and watched just to make sure. If Span had hit the ball hard off Jansen, Panik would have gone to third. Panik hit the only hard hit ball of Kenley.
Actually you are right. Span singled to right and then Panik hit the ball off Kenley. My bad..sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry…..
Michael
No big deal, like I said I was more just joking with you, and giving you a hard time.
The truth is, non of us is always precise.
I was just replying to your snarkism…..I am perfectly capable of deciphering your witticisms.
I know, I just like to be correct when I post stuff. What I was doing was remembering game 1 where Panik hit leadoff and Span was behind him…..
Don’t get all butt-ass hurt Michael, shyte! You typically are lost on names I throw out there. Do you need a roadmap for who Forshyte is? There now we can be friends, lol or you can start attacking my every post and I’ll replace MJ as your favorite target. Funny shit!
True
Now that is funny!
I am in no way lost on names you throw out there…, they are all too obvious….
I just wanted to take a minute and compliment the sites writers, Scott, Oscar and James. Your write ups are always entertaining and informative. I love coming on the site to see what your description of the game is going to say. Of course I have MLB TV so I watch every Dodger game. And though sometimes I see things a different way, I know where you are coming from. I have a pretty good memory of things and sometimes I catch small gaffs, so excuse me if I point them out. Just the musician in me I guess. I like my music to be as close to perfect as possible. But for the most part the site is very enjoyable to be on, and as long as the topic remains baseball and not politics or anything like that, I am in. Looking forward to the playoffs, and hopefully a World Series appearance. It will not be as easy as they thought it would 3 weeks ago, but it is still doable. From this point on they have to play crisp error free smart baseball. The hitters and pitchers know what is expected, now is the time to prove than can do it when it is most needed…..
I can tell both Scott and Oscar are good guys, because they’ll write with a sarcastic, facetious, and sometimes self-depricating style. It’s funny to read how the world is ending after a loss (or when Baez comes in)
Bobby
I just don’t understand why some people take them so seriously, because sometimes we all act like it is the end of the world.
Tonight’s line up…Taylor CF Seager SS Turner 3B Bellinger 1B Forsythe 2B Barnes C Hernandez LF Puig RF Darvish P…. Forsythe hitting 5th? I know Puig has not hit lefty’s well, but I would rather have him in the 5 hole than Forsythe no matter how well he hits LH.
Well another Roberts lineup. Different again. Maybe he thinks it is strengthening the lineup. Afterall, tonight we have KiKi, and Logan. That should knock em dead. One thing is sure, no younguns to evaluate.
We pushed SF to lose # 90 yesterday. Let’s push them to #91 tonight!