Dodgers 4 Rockies 1: Good Job Good Effort, Clayton

Sep 14, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) works in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Yo, Clayton Kershaw isn’t that bad, huh? He tossed 7 innings of 3 hit, 1 run ball to lower his ERA to 2.12, as the Dodgers held on to a 4-1 win against the Colorado Rockies. Kershaw looked a bit tired throughout the game, with him only striking out 5 Rockies and 2 walks. The command was a bit off, and to be fair, he didn’t get a lot of borderline calls all game.

The game was a lot closer than the score suggested, as the Rockies took the lead in the top of the 1st via a groundout from Carlos Gonzalez. Kershaw locked down, shutting the Rockies out the rest of the way, but not without a somewhat inefficient pitch count overall. Honestly I don’t know how you can complain about what he does, but compared to his historic standard, he was a bit off tonight.

The offense got it going in the bottom of the 2nd, with Andre Ethier being driven in by Yasmani Grandal on a long fly ball. Grandal hit the ball hard 3 times tonight and that’s the best news the Dodgers could get, he still has a 126 wRC+ but that’s down more than 20 points at his high peak, you can’t really say anything if your starting catcher hits like that, but he looked like a total non factor as recently as a couple of days ago

Also the Dodgers future looks pretty bright, Corey Seager hit a double in his first Chavez Ravine plate appearance, and he also singled and was hit by a pitch to raise his wOBA to .516 hahahahah that’s good. Scott Schebler is looking increasingly like a legitimate major league piece, he’s been a strong value add for the September “division race”. Also Joc Pederson hit a single, and is looking way better at the plate compared to a last month.

Also props to Luis Avilan, Juan Nicasio and Chris Hatcher who tossed 2 scoreless innings, I don’t know if the pen is good enough to take the team to the world series, but at least it looks a lot better than it did during August.

Magic number? 12. I can feeeeel it.