After one game the Dodgers are first in the West!
Well the post I wrote earlier today was supposed to be the game recap. However, as I began to write it I got sidetracked by what really was an incredible pitching effort Clayton Kershaw put forth. So now in this post I will do a quick recap of the game.
To start the game Kershaw threw better than anyone could have hoped for. After he finished Josh Lindblom, showed why he was picked to stay on the team with two shutout innings. Mike was his normal wild self, and after giving up a walk, he allowed one run, knocked in on a Jesus Guzman double. in his one inning of relief. Gurrier worked a scoreless inning, getting out on a double play. Jansen, allowed a two run homer, and I must say I'm a little worried about the number of homers he's allowed lately in spring training and here. To me it looks like he has slowed his fastball a few mph to get more control of his pitches, but also losing some of it's late movement. A close eye will need to be kept on him to make sure this doesn't blow up into another Broxton. And Guerra pitched a scoreless inning for the save. Overall a solid outing from the bullpen.
On the other side of the tape the Dodgers had a decent day as well. Kemp and Rivera both had good days with two hits apiece. Kemp hit his first homerun of the season, a high pop fly, that just happened to come down over the outfield scoreboard (and by inches). Also of note with Kemp is that he did not strike out at all, so perhaps we were all worried for nothing about his spring numbers. Kemp also was caught stealing, when he picked a bad pitch to run on, however, on the other side of things, the pitch was a fastball right down the middle of the plate, and Ethier who was up to bat, should have taken a swing at the batting practice pitch. AJ Ellis performed as expected having a hit, and working out a bases loaded walk. In fact AJ didn't even swing his bat for the first 17 pitches he saw, and worked out full counts all three times he came up to the plate including his walk. I mean "wow" talk about patience at the plate. Also his single came off a ten pitch at bat. In all Ellis saw 27 pitches in just four at bats. Even more incredible was Juan Uribe managed to work himself a walk in between his two strikeouts. Now on to the distressing portion of the offense. Dee Gordon managed to walk away from the game 0 for 5. Now I contest that he was actually 1 for 5 as his "triple" was labeled an "error". An error is defined as: a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder. Anyone, other than the scorer could see that the amount of effort it took Camron Maybin to track down Gordon's long fly ball was not, I repeat NOT, an ordinary effort. However, it was clear that Dee was not identifying the pitches well out of Volquez's hand. Also he did not show his bunt attack, something which given the effectiveness when combined with his speed, should be used at least once each game.
Overall it was a solid game by the Dodgers, but to quote Wills and Uribe's new shirt "You can do better!"
On the minor league side of things, the Dodgers High A affiliate, the Rancho Cucamunga Quakes, and AAA affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes both lost. Despite that some prospects performed well. Future ace Zach Lee pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and one walk, with 5 strikeouts. For the Topes some offense showed up to the game despite the loss. Castellanos played the whole game at second, went 1 for 4 with a triple and drew two walks and had two steals. Scott Van Slyke had a walk and went 2 for 4 with a homerun. Future backstop Fedex went 1 for 3 and worked 2 walks. Lastly, despite not getting a hit in 4 at bats, Sands knocked in 2, one with a walk, and the other on an error. Despite some great hitting from the Topes' they were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position, which ultimately led to their loss.
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