Adrian Gonzalez Breaks Out

Adrian Gonzalez drove in 4 runs yesterday in support of Hyun-Jin Ryu's 6 1/3 innings of 2 run baseball. He picked up his first major league win in the process and gave the Dodgers the sweep of the Pirates in the 6-2 victory. Ryu's only mistake was allowing a two-run homer by Andrew McCutchen in the top of the first. The Dodgers quickly got that back on a two-run single by Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the frame. Gonzalez had three hits, all singles, on the day and Justin Sellers had his first hit on the season, a solo homerun in the seventh inning. I still really don't understand the reasoning behind keeping Sellers over Dee Gordon to open the season, especially with Hanley Ramirez on the Disabled List. Sellers is not going to hit much over .200 whereas Gordon is probably going to hit more but with less power. Gordon is going to offer much more speed on the basepaths and on defense as evidenced by his highlight making catch for the Albuquerque Isotopes a few games ago. Sellers does offer defensive versatility as he can play multiple positions but so can Luis Cruz and Nick Punto. Matt Kemp had his second hit and second RBI on the season so here is to Kemp breaking out of his mini-slump and regaining his MVP form.

Not The Beginning I Expected

Losing two out of three to the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants was not the beginning to the season that I envisioned. Dodgers starter Josh Beckett fell victim to the long ball as he gave up two homers in six innings, 5 runs, 3 earned, struckout 4 and walked 2. The Dodgers also failed to take advantage of Giants starter Tim Lincecum's uncharacteristic wildness, he walked 7 in 5 innings, as the Dodgeres went 1-14 with runners on base. The Giants starters did not give up an earned run in 19 innings in the three game series and calling the Dodgers offense anemic would be a gross understatement. Dodgers starters Matt Kemp and Luis Cruz have failed to get a hit thus far this season and Adrian Gonzalez only has one hit. The only Dodger that has come out with a hot bat is Outfielder Carl Crawford going 5-9 in the three games against the Giants.

Who Needs Singles?

The Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves last night 6-2 on 4 hits, all of them homeruns. Hanley Ramirez hit 2 and James Loney and Luis Cruz hit the others. In the top of the second the Dodgers hit back-to-back-to-back homeruns. All of these homeruns came off Braves starter Ben Sheets who is having an excellent comeback season. Beating the Braves is always a big deal for me. I live on the fringe of Atlanta Braves territory and the Braves are constantly thrown in my face. I refer to them as the "Buffalo Bills of baseball" for their inability to win the World Series in spite of having the best team in baseball for much of the early 1990's. The Dodgers blew one on Friday night and I need them to finish out the three game series strong this afternoon.

Sweeping The Giants

Clayton Kershaw finished off the sweep of the Giants yesterday with a 5-hit shutout in a 4-0 Dodgers win. The win allowed the Dodgers to tie the Giants for the lead in the National League West. After the Giants shutout sweep of the Dodgers about a month ago, this was a different Dodger team the Giants faced in this series. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier were both back and Hanley Ramirez has joined the team since then. Shortstop Luis Cruz has also joined the team since that series and he drove in 2 of the 4 runs in yesterdays game. Dee Gordon may have a hard time getting his job back when he comes off the Disabled List. Cruz plays a more consistent shortstop, hits for more power, and for a better average than Gordon. He has no where close to the speed Gordon has. Catcher A.J. Ellis had the unusual line in the boxscore of having no official plate appearances but he drew 4 bases on balls. Albuquerque Isotopes Outfielder Jerry Sands hit 2 grand slams in a AAA game yesterday and I would love for him to be able to bring that power with him when the rosters expand September 1.

Five In A Row

The Dodgers have surged to five wins in a row including a sweep of the New York Mets. In Sunday's finale against the Mets I thought the Dodgers bullpen (and James Loney's glove and hands) had blown another one when the Mets tied it at 3 in the bottom of the ninth. Don Mattingly pushed all of the right buttons in extra innings. Pinch hitters Matt Treanor and Adam Kennedy drove in two runs a piece in the top of the 12th and rookie Josh Wall got the win with a scoreless inning of relief in his major league debut. Wall has been appearing on the Dodgers top prospects list in Baseball America since 2006 and he has always been projected as a starter. This is his first year as a closer and he was leading Albuquerque in saves when he was called up. The Dodgers opened the series with the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-3 win as Chad Billingsley (5-9) came off the Disabled List and gave up one run in 6 innings for the win. Luis Cruz struck the big blow with a three-run homer in the 2nd inning and Mark Ellis drove in the other two.

New York, New York

The Dodgers started off a ten-game road trip by winning the opener against the New York Mets 7-6. The seven runs scored by the Dodgers represents about a weeks worth of runs scored here lately and I am hoping they didn't use it all up. Aaron Harang (7-5) hung around long enough to get the win and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth to get his 17th save. Sometimes watching the Dodgers bullpen labor through the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings is like watching a car wreck and this game was no different. Matt Kemp hit a homer, his 14th, in his second straight game and it is paramount for the Dodgers for him to get rolling again. Shortstop Luis Cruz hit his first major league homerun off Johan Santana of the Mets and I have to admit, I know very little about Luis Cruz and I had to do a little bit of research. He looked good in spring training from what I saw of him but so do a lot of players I never hear from again. He can play a variety of positions in the infield. He had previous experience with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers and I didn't realize he is as big as he is (6'2" and 220)and he has showed some pop in his bat in the minors, hitting 9 homeruns last year at Round Rock in the Pacific Coast League and hitting 8 homeruns thus far at Albuquerque this season before the call up. He became the Dodgers shortstop by default when Dee Gordon got hurt.