Clayton Kershaw Goes For 18th Win Versus San Diego

The Dodgers should be feeling good, and so should we. After completing a three game sweep of the Dbacks, with a 7-2 win on Sunday, they also picked up a game on the Giants. Spanking the Dbacks never gets old. Now the Dodgers are looking to keep their momentum going as they close out the home stand with a three game series against the San Diego Padres.

With the win and coupled with the Giant’s loss at Detroit on Sunday night Baseball means the Dodgers are now three games ahead in the NL West. The Giants are idle today as they await the Dbacks. So if the Dodgers win tonight, their lead would increase to 3.5.

Dodgers Lineup vs. San Diego

Gordon 2B

Hanley SS

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp RF

Crawford LF

Puig CF

Uribe 3B

Ellis C

Kershaw P

Odrisamer Despaigne-3-5 vs. Clayton Kershaw-17-3

The Dodger’s power was on full display on Sunday. Adrian Gonzalez hit two three-run home runs to give him 22 and 100 RBI on the season. Matt Kemp added a solo home run of his own. All seven runs scored for the Dodgers were from the home run ball.

Let’s hope the Dodgers can continue their power surge against Odrisamer Despaigne and the Padres. The Dodgers are 10-6 versus San Diego this season. They’ve won five out of nine at San Diego, and five out of seven at Dodger Stadium.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres will have one tough hombre on the mound Monday night. 27-year old Odrisamer Despaigne will be given the ball for San Diego. The Cuban right hander faced the Dodgers back on July 10. This is a rematch of that July 10 game. In that game Despaigne was out-pitched by Kershaw in a 2-1 loss. Despaigne pitched well in that game, despite losing. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits over seven frames that night. He whiffed eight and walked none. That’s the only time he has ever faced the Dodgers.

In his last start on September 2, he beat Arizona with seven one-run innings. Overall he is 3-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 13 starts. He’s whiffed 54 and walked 25 in 79.1 innings pitched. Despaigne had a nice career with the Cuban National team, posting a 3.38 ERA in eight seasons.

Despaigne throws a lot of pitches in his arsenal, but doesn’t have big swing and miss stuff. He has a 6.1 whiff per nine rate, and a 2-1 strikeout to walk ratio. He’s struggled away from Petco Park this season as well. On the road he is 1-4 with a 4.45 ERA in six starts.

The Dodgers will counter with Clayton Kershaw. The ace lefty was ejected from Sunday’s game by home plate umpire Laz Diaz for yelling from the dugout. Kershaw will be looking for his MLB leading 18 win of the season. Kershaw has faced the Padres twice this season, and has beaten them in both games. The last time he faced the Padres was the August 21 game in which he dueled Tyson Ross. That was the game Justin Turner hit the two-run home run in the eighth inning, and the Dodgers pulled out a victory.

Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Overall Kershaw is 17-3 with a 1.70 ERA. Kershaw has 202 whiffs and 25 walks in 23 starts. You all know of course, that Kershaw leads the league in just about everything. He leads in ERA, tied in wins, complete games, ERA+, WHIP, hits per nine, and strikeouts per nine. But look at his miniscule hits per nine rate of 6.1. That’s even better than his previous Cy Young seasons. It also leads the league as well.

Against the Padres Kershaw is 11-6 with a 2.31 ERA in 23 career starts. He’s whiffed 140 Padres in 148 innings. Now check out these numbers below.

The Padres are hitting just .165 (17 for 103) with a .456 OPS against and one home run. The question is, how the hell did Kershaw ever lose six games against San Diego? I don’t know. The only guy with even a semblance of success against Kershaw is Yasmani Grandal. He’s hitting .455 (5 for 11) with a double against Kershaw. Jedd Gyorko has hit the only home run.

Matt Kemp is heating up, and has been swinging a hot bat in the second half. The bison is batting .307 with 11 home runs since the all-star break.

Prediction: Matt Kemp gets two more hits Tonight

Game Time – 7:10 PM

Go Blue!