Daily Archives: September 28, 2012

Sep 28

Eight is enough?

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For the third game in a row the Dodgers scored 8 runs and won a game they had to win. This time they went a few steps better than the previous night, with Kershaw and Josh Wall denying the Rockies even a single run. Kershaw is now 13 -9 on the season with an ERA of 2.58 and 221 strikeouts. More importantly, as reported at the ESPN LA Dodger blog, Kershaw “told Mattingly he felt ‘nothing’ in his injured right hip entering Friday night’s start at Dodger Stadium.”

Fans can be forgiven if they wonder “where was this offense for the first three weeks of the month?” As commenter scooplew noted in the game thread, the Dodgers scored 57 runs in their first 21 games this month for an average of 2.71 runs per game. In the last three games they’ve scored 24 runs.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the Cardinals whomped the Nationals today, 12 – 2. That reduces their magic number for wild card #2 to 3; any combination of Dodger losses and Cardinals wins totaling 3 means the Cardinals are in and the Dodgers are toast.

Sep 28

Six to go

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Kershaw v. Francis on Prime Ticket @ 7:10pm PDT.

I’m still nervous about Kershaw’s continuing to pitch with a diagnosed hip impingement. All we can do is hope that the Dodgers’ medical staff, coaches and front office know what they’re doing when they sign off on allowing him to do so.

Francis had a wonderful year in 2007, helping the Rockies to their only World Series appearance as he went 17 – 9. Since then he’s played for the Rockies, the Royals, and back to the Rockies, and he’s been essentially mediocre. This year he’s 5 – 6 with a 5.54 ERA.

Lineup:

Ellis, M, 2B
Cruz, L, 3B
Kemp, M, CF
Gonzalez, A, 1B
Ramirez, H, SS
Ethier, A, RF
Victorino, S, LF
Ellis, A, C
Kershaw, C, P

Gameday

My attention may be diverted a little this evening, as the U of Hawai’i plays Brigham Young University in Provo beginning at 2:00PM HST. The Dodgers game starts at 4:10PM HST, so I can see a full half of football before I have to worry about Kershaw.

Late news: The Dodgers have sent Stefan Jarrin, Jaime’s grandson, to the Phillies as the PTBNL in the Victorino deal. Young Jarrin hit .209 with three homers and nine RBIs in 26 games for the rookie-level Arizona Dodgers.