Hello,
This is my first of about 150ish nearly daily Dodgers blogs. I won't write a Dodgers blog everyday. When I do write them, they'll usually be short. I only plan on writing them on game days. Typically there won't be a blog on off days, including during the All-Star break, unless something dramatic happens. Something dramatic would be defined as a major injury or a huge trade. The reason they'll usually be short is because I still plan on writing about music a lot of the time.
Yesterday at Dodgers Stadium the Dodgers welcomed the defending World Series champion Giants. It's the first game in a season opening 3 game series. The Dodgers and Giants are big rivals, with the Giants dominating the series the last several years. To mention that Clayton Kershaw had a great game is a major league understatement. Kershaw had a very efficient 94 pitch outing, throwing 65 strikes in the game. (Remember sometimes that the pitcher intentionally doesn't throw a strike.) He gave up only 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs and 0 walks. He also threw 7 strikeouts. In every way it was a dominating performance.
Then in a scoreless 8th inning Kershaw came to bat. With the great Vin Scully calling the action, this is what happened:
On a beautiful Spring day in Los Angeles this game seems like it could be a good omen for the entire season. The Dodgers aren't even at full health as Hanley Ramirez won't be back until late May. That meant that the Dodgers started Justin Sellers yesterday and he'll be presumably starting until late May.
As a lifelong Dodgers fans, I was very excited by this game. There were so many positives that came out of this game. However I'm still not real excited about Carl Crawford being a Dodger, although he had a decent game yesterday. He was 2 for 4 from the plate, but he did get caught stealing. (I just had a Jane's Addiction flashback there.) With the Dodgers seeming to have chosen a win now philosophy, LA needs to win asap.
Why is that you ask. That's due to many of their star players that are already on the downside of their careers. Players like Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Juan Uribe all have their best years behind them. There are also players like Ramirez, who knows if he'll ever live up to his potential? Then there are players like Sellers, who only have a limited upside. Sellers will play until he no longer meets his limited upside or they find a better player. I have a really bad feeling that the Zack Greinke deal is going to end up being a very bad deal for the Dodgers, hopefully not as bad as Uribe's deal though.
One other minor concern is that the Dodgers already have 4 players on the DL. Since it's the start of the season the impact of the injuries is muted. Joining Ramirez on the DL include pitchers Ted Lilly, Chad Billingsley and Scott Elbert. Also I'm not sure if Greinke is at full health yet. Obviously if the Dodgers are going to make noise this year, Greinke and Billingsley will have to play close to their potential.
But I'm not taking anything away from the Dodgers fantastic start. A great Dodgers win, hopefully a sign of great things to come.
What's next: tonight is game 2 of the 3 game series between the Dodgers and Giants. Tonight's pitching matchup is Hyun-Jin Ryu vs. Madison Bumgarner. For those of you with MLB Network, you can start watching the game at 10:10pm EST.
themusicaddict
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