Kershaw, Dodgers Fall Short

by Eric Stephen on Jun 10, 2009 11:01 PM PDT in Game Recaps Comment 6 comments

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Clayton Kershaw had his shortest outing of the season Wednesday night.

Judging from their performances tonight, you'd think Clayton Kershaw was the pitcher starting on three days rest and Kevin Correia was the one with five days off. Correia pitched excellently on three days rest, giving up one run and only three hits in six innings, as the Padres beat the Dodgers 3-1, to close out the Dodgers' nine-game homestand.

Clayton Kershaw couldn't find the strike zone from the start, and couldn't finish three innings. Leaving after throwing a whopping 84 pitches in 2.2 innings, Kershaw had the worst home start of his career:

Date	Opponent	Dec	IP	H	ER	BB	K	GmScr
Tonight	San Diego	L	2.2	5	3	4	2	34
9/7/08	Arizona	--	4.0	6	3	1	4	41
6/26/08	Colorado	L	4.0	6	2	4	3	41
6/20/08	Cleveland	--	5.0	4	4	3	5	45

The Dodger offense was also nearly nonexistant tonight, managing only five hits and a run off a beleaguered Padre pitching staff. The key play of the night was in the bottom of the seventh. With Matt Kemp batting with one out, a full count, and Russell Martin and Casey Blake on first and second base, respectively, Joe Torre called for a double steal (or perhaps even a run & hit play). Kemp struck out and, not surprisingly, Casey Blake was unable to inch closer to Rickey Henderson's stolen base record.

If there was one bright spot tonight, it was the magnificence of the Dodger bullpen. Jeff Weaver entered the game with the bases loaded, two outs, and a 2-0 count on pitcher Kevin Correia. He threw three straight strikes to end the inning, and the bulpen kept the Dodgers in the game all night. Weaver, Cory Wade, Ronald Belisario, and Ramon Troncoso combined to give up only one hit and one walk in 6.1 relief innings. The Dodger bullpen has a 3.40 ERA, sixth best in MLB.

The Dodgers have tomorrow off, letting fans concentrate on the exciting conference call that is the final 20 rounds on the MLB draft. A three game series in Texas starts Friday, as Hiroki Kuroda squares off against Derek Holland of the Rangers.

WP - Kevin Correia (3-4): 6 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts

LP - Clayton Kershaw (3-5): 2.2 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts

Sv - Heath Bell (18): 1 IP, 1 hit

Box Score

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If the Dodgers can't hit at Texas. They can't hit anywhere.

by Tripon on Jun 10, 2009 11:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

whatever magical drink billy buckner had the other night..

correia had a sip of it.

Dodgers - 2008 NL West Champions
Cardinals - 2008 NFC Champions

by wongy on Jun 11, 2009 2:38 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The run-and-hit was either an egregiously stupid call by the coaching staff, or Blake misread the sign; I hope it was the latter.

I’m surprised there wasn’t any discussion in the game thread about Furcal’s AB in the 8th innning and if he should have been sacrificing the two runners who representing the potential tying runs into scoring position. (He could even have tried to bunt for a hit and settle for a sac if that happened.) The old adage is “play to win on the road, play to tie at home.”

If Furcal sacrifices, the Dodgers are one single away from tying up the game. And it keeps the coaches from dreaming up risky base-running shenanigans.

by David Young on Jun 11, 2009 12:56 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Torre address the Furcal non-bunt in the postgame…he said he wanted three chances to drive in the runs instead of two.

Which makes me think the play might have been a missed sign…either way, it was quite perplexing.

by Eric Stephen on Jun 11, 2009 1:28 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I read that later in your comment in the "No Need to Worry About Kershaw" article.

I think sacrifice or not with Furcal as the #7 hitter is arguable either way, but I perceive “sacrifice” as the old-school choice, so I was a little surprised Joe didn’t do it.

According to TangoTiger’s run-expectancy chart:
1st and 2nd, no out = 1.573 runs
2nd and 3rd, one out = 1.467 runs
difference of 1/10 of a run.

So I guess the tipping point is if you think your batter is bad enough to skew the first expectancy by more than 1/10 of a run, you should bunt?

Did no one ask Torre if he called for run-and-hit, or Blake misinterpreted a sign, or … ?

by David Young on Jun 11, 2009 3:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs