Clayton Kershaw was just what the Doctor ordered. The slump stopper. The ace. The best pitcher in baseball. It’s a pleasure to watch this man pitch. It’s like watching Rembrandt paint, Mozart compose a symphony, or Neil Armstrong captaining a space craft.
This is a master at work. A perfectionist that continuously is honing his craft and finding another area of his game to improve. 1.35 is his ERA now. He's talied a win in 28% of the Dodgers victories this season, and a bit of better luck would have added a few more positive decisions to his side.
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| Kershaw picked up his 5th win and second complete game of the season (photo by Morry Gash/AO) |
With Greinke going tomorrow, you have to feel good about the Dodgers chances again. This two-some may be the best pitching duo in baseball. They couldn’t emerge at a more crucial time this season. The sharks are circling Don Mattingly’s sinking ship and Clayton Kershaw just bailed out a ton of water. Greinke attempts to plug the holes tomorrow.
As much as we are depressed about the Dodger doings so far this season, they aren't buried yet and an 8 out of 10 streak would put the club right back in the thick of things. With Kershaw and Greinke pitching in four games this week, you've got to feel good about their chances of turning the corner.
Being seven games back on May 21st is not the end of the world at all. This ball club has a lot of games left with the D-Backs, Giants, Rockies and Padres and better results against those teams has to be forth coming. History is on their side too as the Dodgers took the division five years ago after being as much as 7 1/2 games behind early in the season.
There is no doubt that they've dug themselves into a hole and there are a lot of problems with the ball club, but the positives from today at least get us feeling a little better. Matt Kemp homering is a very positive sign. Ethier breaking forward today as well.
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| Matt Kemp hits his second homer of the season (photo by Morry Gash/AP) |
Today, for example, we were all feeling good about things in the 8th inning because we knew that Kershaw was going to finish this thing out. The bullpen was NOT going to mess things up tonight. Tomorrow will probably be more of an adventure as Greinke hasn't been stretched to pitch into the late innings yet. Unless he somehow is able to keep his pitch count low, we can expect the slumping Dodger bullpen to be called upon. Hopefully the Brewers come out and swing at a lot of first pitches.
Who knows? Maybe four months from now we'll look back at May and remember all the crazy talk about firing Mattingly and turning the roster upside down. For now a win feels very good and another one tomorrow night make some forget the disastrous weekend series in Atlanta.
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