Hello,
Clayton Kershaw pitched another amazing game for the Dodgers last nigh. In 8 2/3rds innings he only gave up 5 hits and didn't give up a run. He also had 11 strikeouts and lowered his already low ERA to 1.40. Kershaw also earned his 1000th career strikeout. Thanks to ESPN SportsCenter for pointing out these two interesting facts: 1) Kershaw's home ERA this season is .80. 2) Kershaw has the lowest ERA, 2.70, of any pitcher after 1000 innings ever in the live ball era. The live ball era started in 1920.
It was good that Kershaw was so great on the mound as the Dodgers offense continues to be anemic. They had 4 hits and only scored two runs. The Dodgers offense has only scored 30 runs in their last 9 games, an average of 3.33 runs per game. Generally it seems that a team has to score at least 4 runs a game to win the majority of their games. The Dodgers only scored more than 4 runs twice in those 9 games. So being 3-6 over their last 9 games seems appropriate for how few runs they scored. And how would have the Dodgers done yesterday if they didn't have Kershaw pitching? For the second straight game, not one Dodger earned a base on balls. One of the runs was scored by Kershaw after he was hit by a pitch. He later came around and scored. Does the man have to do everything?
Quite simply the Dodgers need to find a way to score at least 4 runs a game if they want to be the kind of team many expected them to be before the season started.
Meanwhile Zack "Rocky" Greinke is scheduled to start for the Dodgers in their final game of this home stand and in this series against the Nationals. It will be interesting to see how Greinke performs tonight after being out for about 5 weeks. Ross Detwiler, 2-3, 2.53 ERA, will pitch for the Nationals tonight.
The Dodgers have only won 3 of their last 10 games and according to ESPN they only have a 6.3% chance of making the playoffs. Sad to say for the Dodgers, their pitching is better than their offense. Their pitching overall hasn't been great, but much better than that offense. I won't completely blame that on Dodgers management or Don Mattingly. The Dodgers certainly haven't been shy about spending money to have a good payroll. Sure it's not a well thought out roster for the most part. That being said I think the majority of the blame has to go on the players themselves. They are paid well to perform and quite simply they aren't performing very well.
Here's another question, who's the worst starter in MLB now? Is it Josh Beckett, who has often been criticized on this blog? Or is it John Lackey? Lackey was terrible again last night. He pitched 4 1/3rd innings and gave up 9 hits. Lackey is now 1-4 and has a 4.05 ERA. Stats wise he's performing better than Beckett, but that's not saying much. What were the Red Sox thinking when they signed both of these underachievers? Just as with the Dodgers it's nice to have deep pockets, but just as important you have to do well at finding good players.
For the Pirates Andrew McCutchen hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the 12th inning. Previously the Pirates were 0-15 with runners in scoring position.
themusicaddict
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