Top Ten Dodger Homeruns of 2013: 9- Matt Kemp’s 86 at-bat HR Drought Ends

Six days before Hanley Ramirez‘s “I See You Bobblehead” night homerun dazzled Dodger Stadium, Dodger fans were still hoping to see Matt Kemp‘s homerun swing again sometime this season. Kemp had been in a long homerun drought dating back to September 30, 2012 before he finally hit one out at Citi Field versus the Mets’ ace Matt Harvey. Although there was a bit of a snag before Kemp’s homerun was ruled as such as the umpires needed to watch the replay in order to change the call.

9. Matt Kemp ends his 86- at-bat homerun drought with a two-run homerun against Matt Harvey at Citi Field Wednesday April 24, 2013

Matt Kemp couldn’t celebrate his first homerun of the season long (which occurred on his 76th at-bat of the 2013 season), because Jordany’s Valdespin’s bottom of the 10th inning walk-off grand slam versus Josh Wall gave the Mets the 7-3 win. I’m sure Valdespin’s first career grand slam will be listed upon a Mets top ten homeruns of 2013 list somewhere being that it was the first Mets walk-off grand slam in 22 years, but Matt Kemp’s two-run shot in the top of the sixth inning off Matt Harvey lands just over the right field fence and finally breaks Kemp’s long 86 at-bat homerun drought.

The Dodgers not only wasted the rare Matt Kemp homerun (he only hit 6 all season), they also threw away an uncommon Ted Lilly Start (the first start for the left-hander in almost a year). Matt Kemp’s homerun wasn’t immediately recorded at Citi Field though, and the umpires needed 2 1/2 minutes in order to watch the instant replay and overturn the incorrect call on the field.

The homerun hit the hands of a security guard Paulo Neto standing behind the right-field wall and bounced back on to the field. The two-run Bison Blast which came on a 2-0 95-mph Harvey fastball gave the Dodgers a momentary 3-1 lead in the game before the bullpen imploded in typical early 2013 Dodger fashion.

“Home runs are going to come,” Kemp said. “We don’t need to talk about home runs. Talk about the game. We’ve just got to get better, score more runs, do a better job of everything. We’ve just got to win these games.”

Matt Kemp seemed annoyed at fielding questions after the game, and if you remember the Dodgers only had 4 hits in the game including his two-run shot. Carl Crawford also dropped a fly ball in the ninth inning which was generously ruled a double for Mike Baxter which led to the tying run to score.

Matt Kemp went on to only play in 73 games for the Dodgers in 2013, and he recently underwent two surgical procedure this offseason on his shoulder and ankle. He is expected to be ready for Opening Day 2014.

I sure do miss Bison Blasts.