Matt Kemp homers in his 5th straight as the Dodgers win 3-1 over Diamondbacks
Two National Championship Series, two losses to the Philadelphia Phillies, and one horrible 2010 season. Unfortunately for Torre, we will remember him for what he didn’t do rather than what he did, and that’s fine with me.
If you’re a major league manager your swan song shouldn’t end like this, 80-82 and a hugely disappointing season not because of lack of talent but because of front office turmoil and a lot of bad managing.
When Dodgers fans look back upon the Joe Torre days we won’t see that he finally got us out of the 1st round of the playoffs, the first time since 1988. Nor will we think about leading the National League in wins in 2009 despite a sub-par Manny Ramirez year in which he was suspended for 50 games and was never the same after being hit in the hand later in the season.
No, more than likely we will look back upon this debacle of a season, probably the most frustrating season I’ve ever experienced in my 19 years as a Dodger fan and wonder why we bothered to even hire Joe Torre, was he worth the $13 million that was given him over 3 seasons? It’s hard to tell. Two Championship Series is great but we got utterly humiliated in both series, it wasn’t even a hard fought series, the team went out in spectacular fashion both times and upset a lot of Dodger fans.
This was also Brad Ausmus’ final game as well, age 41, he is retiring after this season. Joe Torre allowed him to start this game and worked 8 innings. In his final at-bat he singled and left for a pinch runner “The first thing I thought was, ‘Please pinch run for me, I hadn’t caught that many innings since Houston”
Also John Lindsey who broke his hand was allowed to come up and pinch hit in the bottom of the seventh. While he was wearing a cast, since he wasn’t in the disabled list, he was able to at least come up to the plate where he received a round of cheers from the stadium and a congratulations from plate umpire Alfonso Marquez who knew Lindsey from the minor leagues.
Joe Torre also brought in Kuo, so that he could log 50 innings and record the lowest ERA in club history with an astounding ERA of 1.20, just over taking Eric Gagne’s previous club record of 1.202, the year in which he went 55-55 in saves and won the NL Cy Young Award.
Matt Kemp hitting 5 home runs in 5 consecutive games is the longest streak of his career and leaves him with a team leading 28 home runs and 89 RBI’s.
Matt Kemp continues his hot hitting as Dodgers defeat Diamondbacks 3-2
He’s only got 5 hits in his last 16 at-bats, but for the 4th straight game Matt Kemp has hit a home run revitalizing the team and helping them to win 3 of those 4 games.
The last time Kemp was this hot was back in April when from the 13th through the 16th Kemp hit a home run in 4 straight games as well. While I love the sight of him knockings balls out of the park, I worry that this is his main focus as his average has suffered while his power numbers have soared.
Matt Kemp now has 27 home runs on the season, leading the Dodgers and setting a new career high for him, could this be the start of his 40-40 trek for next season? I sure hope so.
On the other side of home plate, Chad Billingsley was superb again, striking out 9 over 7 innings while surrendering both runs and walking 1. After Bills was taken out, Bellisario finished the 8th and Jansen showed again that he should take over the closer role from Broxton as player-manager Jamey Carroll used Jansen to finish the game striking out all 3 batters he faced on only 15 pitches, 12 of which were strikes.
Unfortunately, GM Ned Colletti and soon to be manager Don Mattingly weren’t as impressed
Don Mattingly, Ned Colletti counting on Jonathan Broxton to be the #Dodgers‘ closer in 2011: http://tinyurl.com/248pwpy
The good news is that it’s not a solid affirmation, the bad news is that they still somehow think he’s got closer material. Although, this could be a ruse by Colletti so that if teams call for Broxton that he gets the max amount he can get because if he says that they will be actively trading him because they’re unhappy and because no one respects Colletti much anymore, there’s a good chance that we wouldn’t get back as much as we could. Then again…I don’t think Colletti is that smart to think of something like that, at least on his own.
Los Angeles Dodgers defeat Arizona Diamondbacks on the strength of Kershaw’s Arm
Usually when a team is out of the playoffs it’s hard to watch the games or even care about them at all, except when Clayton Kershaw pitches. All over I heard in regards to the team “I dont care about tonights game” but when told Kershaw will be on the mound “Ill definitely be watching that then.”
Clayton Kershaw has been one of the few bright spots, as we watch him in the 2nd half turn in one masterful game after another, we’re left to wonder if this is the start of something really special. I’ve always been high on the kid, it’s hard to go 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA at the age of 21 and not be considered a great pitcher but if you can believe it, when people would say we need an “Ace” and I’d point them to Kershaw all I heard was “Oh, he’s not ready yet.” When asked what that meant they’d usually say “He’s inconsistent,” “He walks too many batters,” or “He’s just not there yet.”
Since the end of June Kershaw has been wonderful, while his record isn’t all that great, 5-6, his ERA has been an awesome 2.78. Manager Joe Torre on his performance tonight “He was very special. He dominated right from the get-go,” Torre said.
His win-loss record isn’t totally reflective on his he’s pitched, 3 losses he only gave up 2 runs, usually more than enough to get an easy win on most teams and another couple masterful performances of 1 and 2 run games for him turned into no decisions.But as long as he keeps going along like this, we can expect many more wins.
Matt Kemp also extended his streak of consecutive games played to 196 which is the longest in the majors. Kemp didn’t start today but Torre asked him about the streak “I asked him if it was important for him, and it was,” Torre said of Kemp. “So that was good enough for me.” Kemp was pitch hit for rookie Trent Oeltjen in the 8th and remained in the game for the 9th inning.
After surrendered a single and a run scoring double Kershaw was replaced by Kenly Jansen who after going 1-1 coaxed 2B Kelly Johnson to pop out to short left center field, followed by a full count walk and two straight strikeouts. It was Kenly’s second save of the season and I hope a preview of what’s to come next season. If he continues to pitch like this, I can easily see a rookie of the year for him if he’s eligible next season.
Arizona Outlasts Dodgers in 11th, 9-7
The Dodgers bullpen hung in against the resilient Diamondbacks last night but eventually faltered to in the 11th inning, 9-7.
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The Dodger bullpen had it’s work cut out for them last night. Los Angeles used seven relief pitchers in the battle including last Sunday’s starter Charlie Haeger who pitched a scoreless ninth. But the Diamondbacks (5-3) came out on top after the 11-inning affair went late into the Los Angeles night.
The ‘Backs went ahead for good in the 11th when Chris Young (4-8, two RBI on the series) hit a bases-loaded single off Russ Ortiz (0-1) to bring in Stephen Drew. Second baseman Augie Ojeda added an insurance run plating Adam LaRoche with a sac fly to center, but Arizona really only needed one run to win the ball game. (more…)
Can’t Get No Relief
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Last season the NL West Champion Dodgers relied heavily on their bullpen to give them relief, but after leading the NL in runs allowed in 2009, the Dodger bullpen just can’t seem to put it together this year. What gives? (more…)
