Clayton Kershaw, (The Fisherman) Blanks Marlins, BlueBeard Makes Dodger Debut

You probably thought Yasiel Puig wasn’t going to play today after hearing about his calf tightness and his IV he had to have after some dehydration issues after last night’s 4-1 Dodger win. You probably were worried about him. Despite all of that, Puig still played today. You know some little calf soreness and dehydration isn’t enough to keep the wild horse out of the lineup. The dehydration might be from the Miami heat, but it also could be from the partying with Lebron at club traffic. Puig is a wild child, and you can’t take the “wild” out of the horse. Puig was Puig tonight, going 1 for 3 with a sac fly, and a huge booming double that was just a foot shy of a home run.

Kershaw lowers his ERA to 1.72-Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Kershaw is better than your team-Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Clayton Kershaw was the story of this game though. Which is the same story in every one of his starts. If that story had a name it would be domination. Or maybe Kershawmination? That’s a unique kind of domination that results when a Kershaw takes the mound and the opposing team has no chance of winning. Kershaw pitched eight shutout frames tonight limiting the Fish to just six hits and three walks, while whiffing six Marlins. This was a game where Kershaw started out shaky, if you can believe that. He walked the first batter he faced in the first inning, and then allowed two singles in the second frame, and needed a fly ball, a force out, and a grounder to escape that jam. After that Kershaw didn’t allow much. He got three double plays to help him out, and threw 66 of his 103 pitches for strikes. He also added an RBI single in the fourth. Kershaw lowers his MLB leading ERA to 1.72, which is getting to Koufaxian proportions. According to the Dodgers, his 1.72 ERA is better than Koufax’s best season ERA of 1.73 in 1966. Kershaw really is a complete player, and deserves to win another Cy Young award.

Puig was making headline news again-Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

And it was hot as blazes in Miami today. The Dodgers were sweltering, the Marlins were sweating, the fans were hot, even I was hot watching the game from home. Speaking of hot, that’s what the Dodgers remain after their 6-0 whitewashing of the Fish. The Dodgers shutout the Fish, who have now been blanked for the 15 time this year. Hanley took a day off as the Dodgers took three of four from the Fish.

The Dodgers scored six runs off eight hits against opposing starter Henderson Alvarez, who allowed five runs in seven hits through five wobbly frames. The Dodgers scored three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one more in the seventh.

The Dodgers got their runs when Puig hit a monster double off the top of the center field wall, that was about a foot shy of being a home run. How many players can hit a ball that far? Not many I’m guessing. Eventually Puig went to third, on a grounder, and after Schumaker was hit by a pitch, resulting in a slide to home that was nullified, Uribe’s walk loaded the bases. Then Kershaw’s RBI single, a line drive to left, scored Puig. Carl Crawford followed with a two-run double, that got past a diving Giancarlo Stanton, to put the Dodgers ahead 3-0. Back-back doubles from Adrian Gonzalez and A.J. Ellis in the fifth scored one of the runs in that frame, and Skip Schumaker‘s RBI single plated the fifth run of the game. The Dodgers tacked on one more, when Gonzalez doubled again, went to third on a Jeff Mathis passed ball , and scored on a sac fly from Puig.

Ruggiano makes a fine catch in center field-Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

That was really it. The Dodgers never had a problem in this game. Oh and Brian Wilson finally made his Dodger debut, pitching a scoreless bottom of the ninth inning. What’s odd is that he was throwing some sliders, and Wilson’s slider usage had been steadily declining over the last three or four years. Wilson looked pretty well actually. We were all wondering when the Dodgers were going to use him. He whiffed Stanton, and got Morrison to ground out before giving up a double down the right field line to Greg Dobbs. He whiffed Ruggiano for the final out, and then did his little cross thing. His hat barely fitting over his mohawked head. I’m not going to lie, it’s bizarre seeing Wilson in a Dodger uniform, but he looked good, and is going to help us down the stretch.

BlueBeard finally pitched, and it was as wierd as we all thought it would be-Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

It looks like Arizona lost again, so the Dodgers are now 9.5 games up in the NL West, and a season high 23 games above .500. Is this amazing or what? What more can I say, the Dodgers are great. I feel like partying it up, but I don’t party as hard as Puig. Alas, I am just a lowly blogger. Wink, Wink. Celebrate Dodger fans! Life is good right now.

Now they hop on a plane and return home after a 5-2 road trip. The Dodgers open up a nice long nine game home stand tomorrow with the much anticipated three game series with Boston. Ricky Nolasco squares off against John Lackey at 7:10 PM.