Rubber Match - The Young Guns Edition

Twenty -One year old Clayton Kershaw and Twenty Three year old Yovani Gallardo match up in the last game before the break.  Kershaw rolls into Milwaukee on a roll having allowed only two runs in his last five starts while Gallardo got hit hard by the Cardinals after fanning 12 Mets in the prior start. Gallardo has thrown over 100 pitches in each of his last seven starts. Yovani is consistent, 4th in the league in K's with 120 and 4th in the league in walks with 51. Clayton is second in the league in walks with 54 just one behind Chad Billingsley so it is a good bet that Kershaw will enter the break with the most walks in the NL. Kershaw will have to bear down when he faces Yovani, as Yovani has hit as many home runs this year as Russell Martin.

This may be the last time that either Kershaw or Gallardo are not in the all-star game as they have two of the brightest futures in the major leagues.

With Broxton down the Dodgers have lost both of the Bullpen Bullies in Belisario and Broxton in the last week. It will be upto Troncoso, Mota, and company to nail this one down for Kershaw since we can only hope he goes at least six innings. Maybe Kuroda will be available.

The good news about Broxton is that something was wrong and he was crappy for a reason. Now get that toe fixed right this time and take your time coming back.

Even if the Dodgers lose they will enter the break with the best record in baseball with at least 55 wins. It has been quite a first half and Eric will have plenty to say about it over the break.

Per Dodger Notes:

HOMER HAPPY – The Dodgers have hit seven home runs in their last two games after hitting seven in their previous eight contests before that. Outfielder Andre Ethier is tied for 10^th in the National League with 18 home runs and has hit three on this road trip, including one each the last two games. The Dodgers have hit 73 home runs this season and had just 65 at the break in 2008. The last time the club belted this many homers at the All-Star Break was in 2006, when the squad had 77 after play on July 9. Behind Ethier, Casey Blake has 12, Matt Kemp has 11, and Manny Ramirez has nine in just 118 at-bats.

BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL – At 55-32, the Dodgers have the best record in the Majors, 2.0 games better than the Boston Red Sox (53-34). Los Angeles has had the Majors’ best record since the start of play on May 4, when it entered the game that night vs. Arizona with an 18-8 mark. The Dodgers are off to their best 87-game start since 1977 when they were 56-31 through 86 games.

STREAKING – Dodger first baseman James Loney extended his hitting streak to 10 games last night and currently holds the longest active streak on the club. Loney’s hit streak is the seventh Dodger hitting streak this season to go at least 10 games. A look at the list:

 

Player                    Streak                                   Dates

Hudson                   17 games                        May 9-27

Kemp                      14 games                       April 6-21

Hudson                   11 games                     April 13-25

Loney                     11 games                      May 17-28

Furcal                     10 games                        June 5-17

Kemp                      10 games                May 27-June 5

Loney                     10 games             June 29-current

 

►The longest Dodger hitting streak in 2008 was Matt Kemp’s 19-game run from July 9-Aug. 1.