Hello,
In another dominant pitching performance by Clayton Kershaw, LA won 1-0 yesterday. Kershaw was masterful again, pitching 7 innings. He only gave up 2 hits and 9 Pirates whiffed due to the handiwork of Kershaw. It was good for the Dodgers that Kershaw had another dominating performance as his teammates only scored 1 run for him. Thankfully the Dodgers didn't need any more than Mark Ellis driving in Carl Crawford for their lone run.
Speaking of the anemic Dodgers offense, they've scored 11 runs in 5 games. Actually the offense has only scored 10 runs, as one of the Dodgers runs was Kershaw's opening day homer. LA's everyday players are paid over $110,000,000 and so far they've only produced 10 runs? The Dodger whose having the biggest struggle is surprising, that's the great Matt Kemp. Last season Kemp started off the season on fire, which helped the Dodgers to their own blazing start. So far this season he's only hitting 1 for 18, which is a .056 batting average. To look at it in another way, Kemp is being $20,250,000 for each hit he's had so far this year. To make things even worse Kemp struck out 3 of the 4 times he was at bat today.
Carl Crawford continues to be very impressive. He was the complete opposite of Kemp, he got on base 3 of the 4 times he was at bat. Crawford is hitting .438 this season so far. So far he's a much better bargain than Kemp. Crawford is "only" being paid 2,979,591 per hit. Although Crawford is off to a blistering start and Kemp is really struggling, at the end of the season Kemp will end up being the much better deal. I think it's only an amount of time until Crawford is injured yet again.
Meanwhile the Dodgers are probably my favorite team, but another one of my teams in the Pirates. They have started off 1-4 on the season. If the Pirates want to finish above .500 for the first time in 20 years they'll need to fix their inept offense. The Pirates only scoring 6 runs in 5 games makes the Dodgers offense look absolutely explosive. Pittsburgh has also been shut out in their last two games.
A.J. Burnett has had a couple of masterful starts for the Pirates and yet is 0-2. Of course you can't blame either loss on Burnett. The Pirates have only scored 1 run total in the two games he has pitched. Sure Kershaw just won a 1-0 game, but that doesn't happen very often. Through his two starts Burnett has a solid 3.27 ERA and also has struck out 19 people.
One of the must watch rookies for this season was the Pirates Starling Marte, so far he's off to a slow start. The Pirates lead off hitter so far is only hitting 5 for 19, which is a .211 batting average. Also through 5 games he only has 1 RBI. Another much watch rookie is Boston's Jackie Bradley Jr., he's also off to a slow start. He's only hitting .176 through 5 games this season.
Red Sox pitcher John Lackey hurt himself in his season debut yesterday. That's no surprise that the extremely injury prone Lackey hurt himself yet again. Like with Daisuke Matsuzaka last season, I can't wait until the Red Sox can dump Lackey and his horrendous contract. Dearest Dodgers, let the Red Sox foolhardy ways of a couple of years ago be your example. Just because you have the money to make a move, doesn't mean you should make that move. Ironically LA bailed the Red Sox out of their mess, however no one is going to bail out the Dodgers.
Currently the Dodgers are in third place in the NL West, they are tied with the Giants with 3-2 records. Both those teams trail the Diamondbacks and Rockies, both of whom have 4-1 records. The NL West already is shaping up to be a battle, although I don't think it will be anywhere near as tough as the AL East. Right now Boston, Tampa Bay and Baltimore are all tied for first with 3-2 records. Toronto is only one game back. And hilariously the costly, old and injury prone Yankees are only 1-4. I love karma.
What's next: the Dodgers and Pirates finish their three game series today with an early 4:10 EST start. Hyun-Jin Ryu will be making his second start for the Dodgers, he had a decent start in his major league debut. The Dodgers play their first road game of the season when they go to play the Padres on Tuesday. I believe this is Adrian Gonzalez's first game back in San Diego, since he spurned the Padres for the millions of dollars of the Red Sox.
I'm guessing he'll get a better welcome than Josh Hamilton received when he returned to Texas. Thank you LA, or any of my teams, for not going after Hamilton. I got the sense that not even Texas wanted him back. He was an embarrassment in the Rangers loss to the A's in the AL Wild Card. Hamilton's body language is terrible, it seems like he doesn't care at all. And what's with those weak, flailing swings of his?
themusicaddict
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