Why can't the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers? Coming into Tuesday night the Brewers were 20-28 and seven games behind NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds. Yet with their 2-1 victory over the Dodgers, the Brewers clinched the seven-game season series for the second consecutive season.
Dodgers Still Can't Beat the Brewers
With Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe Scratched, Dodgers Need To Figure Out Ways to Win
A day after I started wondering whether the Dodgers can be considered great this early in the season, circumstances will require for them to be great just to make it through a considerable stretch of games. A hint of what games will have to look like came in the Dodgers 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Are the Dodgers a Great Team?
Entering Sunday's matinee the Dodgers had a Major League-best 22-11 record. There has been a healthy dose of skepticism concerning the team given the level of competition they have faced and the overachieving performances. However the Dodgers 11-5 win over the Colorado Rockies showed they have something a little more.
Kemp Walks Away with the Headlines
When the Nationals had a rain out in Miami last Sunday that set their pitching rotation back a day, it seemed like a disappointment for baseball fans losing the would-be Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg duel Friday night. To compensate the baseball gods decided to bestow upon Los Angeles the Major League debut of the Nationals' wunderkind outfielder Bryce Harper.
LAst Night's Action: Kemp's Blast Prevents Sweep in Milwaukee
LA Dodgers defeat Milwaukee Brewers 4-3. After losing the first two games of the series by one run (in walkoff fashion no less), it was inevitable the Dodgers would win this game since the Dodgers had never been swept by the Brewers. Thanks to a Matt Kemp's power, the Dodgers could rest a bit easier as they head to Houston.
Triple Play Caps Jackie Robinson Day at Dodger Stadium
On a day when the Dodgers celebrated the most historic moment in both franchise and Major League history, the Dodgers pull a historic if not awkward triple play in their 5-4 walkoff victory against the San Diego Padres.
Matt Kemp Continues Powering the Dodgers
Matt Kemp has shown no signs of slowing down from his terrific 2011 season when he hit .324 with 39 homers and 126 RBI. Armed with a .417 batting average coming into Saturday's game, he powered the Dodgers to a 6-1 victory.
The National League Most Valuable Player Is...
The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the winner of the National League Most Valuable Player is Milwaukee Brewers’ leftfielder Ryan Braun. The Granada Hills native became the first MVP for the Brewers since Robin Yount won the honors in 1989.
Matt Kemp Is An Enigma
I don't understand Matt Kemp. We have seen him have a tough season in 2010. We have now seen him respond with a transcendent 2011 season. We have seen him in a paparazzi-filled relationship with Rihanna. We have seen him in a spread in Flaunt Magazine.
Dodgers, Matt Kemp Agree to Long-Term Contract
The Dodgers will announced in a press conference at Dodger Stadium at 11 a.m. this morning of an eight-year contract agreement with their All-Star centerfielder Matt Kemp. While rumored for over a week, the deal is worth a reported $160 million making it the largest deal done in the history of the National League and seventh-largest in Major League Baseball.
LAst Night's Action: The Best Night of Regular Season Baseball Ever
When people find out I write about sports the question invariably comes up: what sport do you like the most? I always answer baseball which elicits strange looks. It’s as though they feel I’m strange because baseball is an old-timey sport that drags and is boring. After what happened on this final day of the baseball season, I hope people finally understand.
LAst Night's Action: Matt Kemp's 40-40 Vision, Angels Death March, Simmonds Fag Watch
LA Dodgers defeat Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2. The Dodgers sent a press release this afternoon that summarized Clayton Kershaw’s Cy Young season. With 21 wins, 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts, Kershaw will most likely become the third Dodger pitcher to win the Triple Crown with Dazzy Vance (1924) and Sandy Koufax (1963, 1965, 1966).
LAst Night's Action: Clayton Kershaw Wins 21st and Triple Crown Lead, Kemp Still Chasing Triple Crown
LA Dodgers defeat San Diego Padres 6-2. Clayton Kershaw completed his Cy Young season with a 21-5 record, 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts with his 7 1/3 inning effort in San Diego having at least a share of the lead in each of the triple crown categories.
LAst Night's Action: Trojans Get Horned
Arizona State defeat Sun Devils defeat USC Trojans 43-22. You could sense this lurking in the shadows for the Trojans. They had a hard time closing out Minnesota and Utah in the first two weeks of the season. While they looked dominant last week, it was against an awful Big East team in Syracuse.
LAst Night's Action: Angels Choke Away October Hopes
Oakland Athletics defeat LA Angels 3-1. There is one word to describe the remaining teams fighting for playoff spots: choke. As bad as the Boston Red Sox have choked in September, it’s not like the Tampa Bay Rays or the Angels have lined right up there to overtake the Sox.
Matt Kemp Punctuates MVP Season in Dodgers Victory
Of course it was going to happen this way.
In his first four at-bats, Matt Kemp was close to getting the ball out of the park. Four fly balls yielded a career-high three doubles and an out, yet he was still stuck on 35 home runs.
Dodgers Laugh Away on Fan Appreciation Day
This was the kind of game it was for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 15-1 loss to the Dodgers.
In the first inning centerfielder Andrew McCutchen looked at the ball that came off Matt Kemp’s bat. He took a couple of steps back towards the wall as the ball was beginning its ascent into the hazy yet bright sky. As he continued to look at the trajectory, he stopped in his tracks realizing the futility of it and just went back to his position in centerfield.
Matt Kemp's 100th RBI Gives Dodgers Walk Off Win
Since Don Mattingly tinkered with the batting order on Monday in St. Louis, the Dodgers have averaged 7 ½ runs in those four games. Mattingly said the focus of the changes was Matt Kemp.
“It was really more with Matt getting him an extra at-bat,” Mattingly said. “We talked about it. Matt’s a three-hole guy: he hits for power, he hits for average.”
Dodgers Sacrificial Fifth Inning Gives Them Some Insurance
Sometimes it’s easy to think you’re too big for your own britches after watching baseball games day after day. Saturday night’s Dodger 6-1 victory over the Houston Astros humbled me a bit, but not because of anything big.
Dodgers' Matt Kemp Makes an Argument for MVP
Dodgers’ centerfielder Matt Kemp continues to make his argument for being the National League Most Valuable Player. Coming into the game leading the National League in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 6.3, Kemp was responsible for the Dodgers’ first five runs as they pounded the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-5.
Dodgers Run and Accept Gifts from Giants
What in the holy name of Davey Lopes is going on here? It’s one thing for Dodgers’ starting pitcher Chad Billingsley (W, 1-0) to take third on the fly ball to right field and taking leads off the bases as if he were an everyday player.
Dodgers Squeak Past World Champs
Dodgers vs. Giants. Clayton Kershaw vs. two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. That pitching duel was as spectacular as could be envisioned with neither ceding anything through five innings. But a stupid mistake by Giants’ catcher Buster Posey in the sixth inning helped buoy the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory.
Billingsley and Kemp Raise Dodgers to Victory
Jamey Carroll really didn’t have much to do as an acting manager. With Chad Billingsley (W, 12-11) pitching a shutout after seven innings, the Dodgers went on to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks despite a bumpy eighth.
Phillies Take Rubber Game from Dodgers
All the optimism after the Dodgers won four straight games last week to get to within 4 ½ games of the wild card have all but vanished now. Two solo homers did Clayton Kershaw (L, 11-9) and the Dodgers in as Philadelphia Phillies’ starter Roy Oswalt (W, 10-13) took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning for the Phillies’ 5-1 win and a 7 ½ game lead over the Dodgers in the wild card race.
Dodgers Stymied by Arroyo, Reds in 5-2 Loss
A day after the Dodgers exploded for eight runs, Cincinnati Reds’ starter Bronson Arroyo (W, 14-7) and his Rockettes-style high kick out of the wind-up confounded the Dodgers for seven innings in their 5-2 loss.
“He teases you a lot where he very rarely throws two pitches the same speed,” manager Joe Torre said about Arroyo.
One of the few Dodgers to touch Arroyo all day was Matt Kemp who led off the bottom of the second inning with a homer 413 feet to straight-away center field, his second homer in as many days, for the Dodgers first run.
Dodgers Add Another Bed in the Infirmary
Who needs medical school when all you need to do is cover the Dodgers? It surely isn’t get any easier for the Dodgers as they place right-handed pitcher Vicente Padilla on the 15-day disabled list with a bulging disk in his neck. The team will be recalling right-handed relief pitcher Travis Schlichting from Triple-A Albuquerque.
Dodgers Continue to Flail against Padres
The Benny Hill Show theme song that played after the third inning showing home video bloopers seemed like a more appropriate soundtrack for the entire game for the Dodgers. Base running gaffes, throwing errors and their inability to get a runner home doomed the Dodgers in their 10-5 loss to the first place San Diego Padres.
Two Is Just as Sweet for Dodgers
In an almost carbon copy with Wednesday night’s 2-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers rode to another 2-0 victory on starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda’s lights-out pitching and Matt Kemp’s pop.
“To put wins back-to-back is the most important thing now,” Torre said.
Unfortunately there was no complete game for Kuroda (W, 8-8), but it was more of the same for him facing off against New York Mets’ starter Hisanori Takahashi (L, 7-5). They faced each other six times in Japan with Kuroda coming out ahead with a 4-0 head-to-head record coming into the game.
Dodgers Rebound Against Marlins
After they couldn’t quite complete the comeback in last night’s 6-5 loss to the Florida Marlins, the Dodgers uncoiled against them and their starter Chris Volstad (4-8) in their 6-2 win.
“Everybody’s making their contribution,” Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre commented about the win. “[Blake] DeWitt, a couple of stolen bases tonight. We just did a lot of good things tonight.”
Kemp Powers Dodgers Past D-Backs in Bonus Time
Neither the Dodgers’ nor the Arizona Diamondbacks’ offense could muster anything beyond a single for nine innings. But with one swing of the bat, Matt Kemp got the game’s only extra-base hit - a walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth inning off of reliever Juan Gutierrez for the Dodgers’ 1-0 win.
“It was a great feeling, my first home run walk-off,” Kemp said. “Now I know how [Andre Ethier] feels when he hits all these home run walk-offs. It’s pretty exciting to do it for once in my life.”

