The Dodgers encountered a critical early season matchup with the Rockies on Wednesday night at the Ravine, and came away with an important 4-2 victory behind ace Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw went 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, while striking out 10. He improved to a 3-1 on the season, but his 97 pitch effort was not as typical as the Dodgers usually get from their ace. It still required the use of three relievers to secure the win. That included Luis Avilan, Sergio Romo, and Kenley Jansen, who earned his 4th save of the season.
The Dodgers started the night 3 full games behind Colorado in the NL West. A loss would have been a big set back, even in this early in the season. Skipper Dave Roberts acknowledged the importance of the win.
“April 19th , you don’t want to say you’re in a must-win mode, but I do believe, when your ace takes the mound it’s a must-win game,” he said.
Kershaw’s start was anything but smooth in the 1st inning. He walked leadoff man Charlie Blackmon, then gave up back-to-back singles to DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado, so the Rockies had the bases loaded with nobody out. However, Kershaw limited the damage by striking out two of the next three batters, while giving up a sacrifice fly in between.
Scott Van Slyke tied the game in the Dodger half of the 2nd inning, hitting a solo homer to center field. It was his first home run of the year.
The Dodgers would tack on three more in the 5th inning. Kike Hernandez hit an RBI double to left, scoring Chris Taylor. Corey Seager followed with RBI single to right, scoring Kershaw. Two batters later, Adrian Gonzales recorded an RBI fielders choice, which made it 4-1 after Hernandez crossed the plate.
The Rockies got one back in the 6th inning on an RBI single from Stephen Cardullo. Kershaw shut down Colorado after that. Avilan, Romo, and Jansen combined to give up just 1 hit over the remaining three innings.
The Dodgers improved to 8-8 on the season. They are 3-1 when Clayton Kershaw starts, and 5-7 when anybody else starts.
LA will now travel to Arizona to open a 3-game series with the Diamondbacks on Friday night. Kenta Maeda (1-1) will get the start for the Dodgers, while the D’Backs go with Taijuan Walker (2-1).
The Angels took another loss in Houston on Wednesday night, this time by a score of 5-1, and it was their usually stellar defense that let them down.
Dallas Keuchel went 7 strong innings for the Astros, and Josh Reddick had 3 hits including a home run in the victory for Houston. Reddick drove in 2 runs, scored 3, and finished just a single shy of the cycle.
The Halos started an unusual outfield, which included Jefry Marte in right field, and Cameron Maybin in left. Marte did not play a single inning in the outfield during spring training, and Maybin has spent little time in right field. It was evident on Wednesday night.
Reddick was just the second batter of the game, and hit a line drive near Marte, which he missed by a few feet after getting a late break on the ball. That hit turned into a triple. Reddick would score shortly after when Jose Altuve singled to right field, on a play where Maybin also got a late break on the ball and couldn’t corral it after sliding. That gave the Astros a 1-0 lead.
The Angels were fortunate to escape that inning without any further damage. Altuve stole 2nd, and got to 3rd on a single by Brian McCann. A wild pitch by Angel starter JC Ramirez got by Martin Maldonado, but the ball bounced off the backstop and back to the the Angel catcher, who tagged out Altuve.
The Angels would tie things up in the 3rd inning, on what would be their only run of the game. Danny Espinosa doubled, and two batters later, Yunel Escobar singled him in.
Ramirez made his 2nd career start, and was on a roll for the next three innings. He struck out the side in the 4th, and had 5 straight overall. However, he ran into trouble in the 5th inning. Alex Bregman led off with a double and scored on a Yulieski Gurriel single.
In the 6th, Reddick led off with a drive to left field, which gave Marte more trouble. He tracked it back to the wall but could not glove it, giving Reddick a generous double. Ramirez then retired Altuve, but his night was over after that. Jose Alvarez came in to face McCann. Alvarez retired McCann on a flyout. Blake Parker would come in next to face Evan Gattis, who ripped a run-scoring single to right. That made it 3-1.
The Astros delivered the final blow in the bottom of the 7th, when Reddick crushed a 2-run homer to right field off of Mike Morin. Ramirez ultimately took the loss, falling to 2-2 on the season.
The Angels are now 7-9, and are losers of 7 of their last 8 games. They’ll try to find the win column during a matinee showdown with Houston on Thursday. It will be the final game of the four game set. Matt Shoemaker will be on the mound for the Angels. He’ll be looking for his first win of the season against Lance McCullers Jr, who is 1-0 on the year.
Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 24 points while DeAndre Jordan added 17 points and 15 rebounds, as the Clippers defeated the Jazz 99-91 at Staples Center. The best-of-seven series is now tied 1-1, and will head back to Utah for the next two games.
Chris Paul scored 21 points and added 10 assists, and the Clips pounded the Jazz in the paint, outscoring them 60-38.
The Jazz were led by Gordon Hayward, who scored 20 points in the loss. Joe Johnson provided 13 points off the bench. The Jazz played without Rudy Gobert, who sat out with a hyperextended knee.
LA jumped out to a 12-point lead after the 1st quarter. After a DeAndre Jordan dunk off a lob pass from Jamal Crawford, the Clips had a 9-point lead at halftime.
“We got into movement. We went downhill a lot more,’’ said Doc Rivers. “Every time they made a run, we pushed the ball up the floor.”
Both teams scored 28 points in the 3rd quarter, but the closest the Jazz would come to take the lead was a 3-point deficit in the period. The Clippers took a 79-70 lead into the 4th quarter.
In the 4th quarter, the Jazz got within 6 points of the Clippers, but LA answered. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute pull down an offensive rebound that led to the Griffin’s three-pointer. That put the game away.
“They raised their level tonight,” said Jazz Coach Quin Snyder. “They played with an intensity from the beginning of the game, It was impressive. That’s who they are.”
“This is what we should do,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said afterward.
Game 3 of the series will be Friday night in Utah against the Jazz.
Nolan Arenado hit a pair of home runs, and Trevor Story added another, as the Rockies held off a late Dodger rally to win 4-3 at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night.
The Dodgers tried to rally in the 9th inning, but came up short. Justin Turner had an RBI single, scoring Chase Utley. Yasmani Grandal had a run-scoring single as well to pull the Dodgers within 1. However, Adrian Gonzales grounded out to short to end the game with runners at 1st and 2nd.
Despite giving up the two runs in the 9th, Greg Holland earned his 4th save. Chris Ruslin earned the win in relief for the Rockies. Kyle Freeland went 4 innings for Colorado, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run on 87 pitches. Hyun-Jin Ryu took the loss for LA, falling to 0-3 on the season. Ryu gave up 4 runs on 6 hits, in his 6 innings of work.
Arenado got the Rockies off to a strong start in the 1st inning with a 2-run shot to left field. Story connected on a solo blast in the 4th. Joc Pederson put the Dodgers on the board in the 4th, reaching on an infield single which scored Kike Hernandez.
However, Arenado and the Rockies answered in the 5th again, after he put another ball into the Pavilion.
The boys in blue fell to 7-8 on the season, and are 3 games back of the 1st place Rockies in the NL West.
The Dodgers are back at it tomorrow in the 2nd game of the series. Clayton Kershaw will be on the hill for LA, and the Rockies will counter with Tyler Anderson.
The Angels snapped a 6-game losing skid on Tuesday night against the Astros with a 5-2 victory. Albert Pujols hit a tie-breaking 3-run homer in the 5th inning to help secure the victory.
Ricky Nolasco pitched 6 strong innings for the Halos, giving up just 2 runs on 8 hits, and striking out 3. He improved to 1-2 on the season. Cam Bedrosian pitched the 9th to earn his 3rd save of the season.
The Angels jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Andrelton Simmons hit a solo homer in the 2nd inning off of Astros starter’ Joe Musgrove. The homer snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak for the Angels.
The Astros came back in the 3rd with a pair of solo homers. One of them came from Yuli Gurriel and the other from George Springer. Those were the only two runs Nolasco allowed in his 103-pitch performance.
Mike Trout put the Angels back in front in the 5th with an RBI double, which made it 3-2. Pujols was the next batter, and he delivered the decisive blow with homer.
“We have a lot of confidence in our offense,” skipper Mike Scioscia said. “I don’t think anyone was doubting that we would get back on track. But the sooner the better, and we did a good job in the fifth inning.”
Musgrove took the loss, and fell to 1-1 on the season. He gave up all 5 runs on 8 hits, in 5 innings of work.
“We turned the page on last night and got a win,” Trout said. “You can always look at the negatives, but this team looks at the positives. … It’s a good win. Just go and build on this momentum for tomorrow.”
The Angels will be back at it tomorrow in game 3 of the 4 game set. JC Ramirez will be on the mound for the Angels, and Dallas Keuchel will go for the Astros.
Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal 1:30 into overtime, and the Ducks rallied from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Flames 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday night in game 3 of their 1st round series. The victory game the Ducks a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, and put them one game away from the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Perry shot the puck from the right wing boards, which deflected off of Flames’ goalie Brian Elliott, then off of defenseman Michael Stone, and into the net. It was Perry’s first playoff goal since Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals.
The Ducks tied the game at 4-4 with a little over 4 minutes left in the 3rd period. Shea Theodore sent a wrist shot toward Elliott with traffic in front of the net, which got by the the Flames netminder, who had to battle traffic in front of the net on the play. It was his 2nd goal of the game.
Anaheim trailed 4-2 heading into the 3rd period, but Nate Thompson pulled the Ducks within 1 at the 11:14 mark of the 3rd. Thompson tipped in a shot, which had to be reviewed by the referees to insure that he didn’t knock the puck out of the air with a high stick.
Theodore started the Ducks rally with under a minute left in the 2nd period. His wrist shot from the left circle beat Elliott to the glove side.
The Flames built their 4-1 lead on goals by Sean Monahan, Kris Versteeg, Michael Stone, and Sam Bennett. Monahan and Versteeg’s goals came on the power play, 7 minutes apart to give the Flames an early 2 goal lead. Nick Ritchie got the Ducks on the board at 15:33 of the 1st period, to cut the lead to 2-1 after the 1st period.
After Bennett’s power play goal in the 2nd period, the Ducks pulled John Gibson, and replaced him with Jonathan Bernier. Gibson made 12 saves, while facing 16 shots. Bernier stopped all 16 shots that he faced for Anaheim.
The win was the largest playoff comeback for Anaheim in franchise history. The Ducks will go for the sweep on Wednesday night in Calgary.
Jake Lamb hit a solo homer in the 8th inning, and David Peralta added an RBI triple in the 9th, as the D’Backs beat the Dodgers 4-2 at the Ravine on Monday night. Both teams split the four-game set with two wins apiece.
The Dodgers had a 2-0 lead in this one after a 2nd inning sacrifice fly from Logan Forsythe, and a solo homer from Enrique Hernandez in the 4th inning. That was all the offense that LA could generate against Robbie Ray. The Arizona lefty went six innings for the Diamondbacks, allowing the two runs on three hits and four walks, while striking out 10.
Brandon McCarthy started for the Dodgers, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks in five innings. He struck out eight. Neither starting pitcher got a decision.
J.J. Hoover got the win for the D’Backs and Fernando Rodney earned his 5th save of the season. Chris Hatcher took the loss for LA.
Arizona tied the score at 2-2 in the 5th inning, when A.J. Pollock and David Peralta had back-to-back RBI singles.
The bullpen has been very reliable for LA, but unfortunately on this night this they were unable to hold down the opposition.
“They’ve been great,” skipper Dave Roberts said of his bullpen which has thrown 49-1/3 innings already this season (among the most in the majors). “Lamb’s an aggressive hitter. Hatch tried to stuff it in there, but it just leaked back over the plate.
The Dodgers will now begin a short series with the Rockies on Tuesday night at Dodgers Stadium. Hyun-Jin Ryu will get the ball for the Dodgers, and the Rockies will go with Kyle Freeland.
Just when the Angels pitching starts to get a little better, their offense goes into the tank. The Halos were shutout in Houston on Monday night by a score of 3-0. It was their 6th straight loss, and the Angels haven’t scored a run in their last 20 innings.
Charlie Morton and three Houston relievers combined to throw a 5-hitter. Jose Altuve drove in two runs for the Astros as well.
Jesse Chavez pitched 7 innings for the Angels, giving up only two runs on 7 hits, but he took the loss. Yusmeiro Petit pitched the 8th inning, and gave up Altuve’s RBI double, which extended the lead to 3-0.
Altuve also had a sac fly in the 3rd inning, while Alex Bregman got the Astros on the board in the 1st inning with an RBI single.
In their last twenty innings, the Angels have generated only seven singles. In their last 46 innings, they have mustered two extra-base hits.
“It’s not ideal,” first baseman C.J. Cron said. “We haven’t been hitting like we should, like we know we can.”
The Angels also played without Albert Pujols, who decided, along with Mike Scioscia, that Monday would be a rest day.
“I think we had a bunch of good at-bats, at times, and then a couple that obviously we didn’t get it done in,” Scioscia said. “I thought we hit the ball hard a couple times with guys in scoring position. We worked some counts, had [Morton’s] pitch count up. We just left a lot of guys on base early in the game.”
The Angels and Astros will get back it tomorrow in the second game of the series. Ricky Nolasco gets the ball for the Halos, and he’ll go up against Mike Fiers.
Wasn’t this postseason supposed to be different for the Clippers? I know we said that last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that. But we really meant it this year. 18 seconds into Saturday night’s game, this series should have been over, after the Jazz lost Rudy Gobert to a knee injury. Somehow, it was like the series was just getting started. The Jazz are making this series more physical than a flight on United Airlines, and the Clippers are in for a serious challenge. You know it’s playoff time when the Clipper bench is getting destroyed by their opponents. It’s like an annual curse that has returned once again. This is going to be a long series.
Then there’s the Lakers, whose season has mercifully come to an end. As bad as it was, 26 wins is a lot better than 17 from a year ago. Had they stayed healthy in December, it might have been well over 30. The real question though is whether or not Magic and Rob Pelinka are going to keep a bunch of 20 and 21 year-olds and let them grow together, or are bunch of them are going to be traded for a veteran star or two? I don’t get the sense that these two gentleman came to run the Lakers to wait 5 years to hope the team is competitive again. I also don’t get the feeling that Jeanie Buss hired them to wait that long as well. It’s tough to sign a star player if you don’t already have one here, so be prepared for the Lakers to be in some blockbuster trade discussions.
The NBA Playoffs started Saturday. That special time of year with slam dunks, tough defensive battles, and nonstop flopping! It’s also that special time of year when Draymond Green really steps up efforts kicking opponents in the junk. The Raptors took a a game 1 loss. In other news Canada is cold and they love maple syrup. Brad Stevens should call Bill Belichick for some tips on how to cheat to win playoff games. The Grizzlies took a senseless beating from the Spurs in game 1. Who knew ESPN could show violence like that? The Cavs were fortunate to win game 1 against the Pacers, but I still don’t think they are going to have any problem getting to the finals. I also don’t think the Warriors are going to have a problem winning them.
The Dodgers have taken their problems hitting left-handed pitching to a whole new level. After two weeks they are hitting just .226 against left-handers. It’s like Andrew Friedman asked himself how it was possible to make the team worse at hitting lefties than last season. It’s become so bad that teams are now starting left-handers that have now business being in the big leagues against the boys in blue. To make matters worse, it feels like they can only beat crummy NL West teams, and that they aren’t really that good. I don’t know why I’m acting surprised. The only bright spot is that Yasiel Puig appears to have remembered how to play baseball again.
Then there’s the Angels who’s season is starting to fall apart two weeks in. The team finally got a couple of reasonable pitching performances over the weekend, and they still managed to get swept by the Royals. Mat Shoemaker and Tyler Skaggs aren’t going to pitch like that consistently. It’s as though the team has a collection of #4 starters in their rotation. There’s no point in having great defense when your pitchers can’t keep the ball in the ballpark. Were in not for two miracle comebacks, you would realize a lot faster that the Angels just aren’t very good.
If the Anaheim Ducks can’t win the Stanley Cup this year, I’m not sure they ever will again. The Blackhawks and Sharks could be eliminated shortly, leaving a bunch of inexperienced and less talented opponents for the Ducks to take advantage of. It also helps to be playing a Calgary Flames team that hasn’t won in Anaheim in 29 tries. You can’t have any bigger psychological edge that that. Plus when goals like this happen, it makes you think that you are just a team of destiny…..
Then there’s the LA Kings, who cleaned house last week by firing coach Darryl Sutter, and GM Dean Lombardi. This just goes to show you how brutal sports are. Lombardi and Sutter won two Stanley Cups in four years, and went to a a conference finals as well. Although they missed the playoffs in two of the past three seasons, they are easily the most successful coach and GM in franchise history. Still, the fact that they were fired shows how dedicated the Kings are to winning, and the kind of expectations ownership has for the franchise. For the time being though, they will be dedicated to sitting on their couch for the next 3 months watching the playoffs.
The hot rumor around LA is that the Rams could hire Peyton Manning to run their front office. My only question here is what is taking so long for this to happen? Manning adds instant credibility to a team who appears to have given up their credibility for Lent. The Rams trade for Jared Goff was more of a headline grabbing move, as opposed to a sensible football move. Manning would bring far more of that sensibility to the organization.
Finally, Better Call Saul is back on AMC. The season 3 premier was last Monday, and it’s a great show. However, as great as it is, it’s no Breaking Bad, and nor will it ever will be. Most of the excitement that is generated by the show is from all the connections to Breaking Bad, which many fans of both shows pick up. For instance, most people are just excited by the fact that Gus Fring is going to play a major role in this season, since he played a huge role in Breaking Bad. I still don’t understand however, why they can’t figure out what to do with Rhea Seehorn. Her character just isn’t very interesting on the show compared to everyone else around her. Don’t get me wrong….it’s a great show, but at the end of the day, it’s always going to leave you wanting more from it.
Rich Hill had more trouble with the blister on his finger while Taijuan Walker pitched 5 solid innings for Arizona, as the D’Backs beat the Dodgers 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Ravine.
Hill came off the 10-day disabled list on Sunday, after missing some time with a blister on his left middle finger. However, he re-aggravated the blister after making 54 pitches. The Dodger left-hander departed after just three innings of work.
The D’Backs got a solo homer from Chris Ianetta in the 3rd inning, followed by a based loaded walk to Jake Lamb, which gave them a 2-0 lead.
The Dodgers got on the board in the 4th inning with an RBI double from Yasiel Puig, which scored Yasmani Grandal.
However, Sergio Romo gave up an RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt in the 7th, which made it 3-1. That gave the D’Backs all the offense they would need on this day to hold on for the win.
Walker picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the season. He struck out 7, while allowing just a single run on four hits and a walk. Fernando Rodney pitched the 9th inning for Arizona to get his 4th save.
Hill took the loss. He gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits in his brief three innings of work. He was visibly frustrated after the 3rd inning and went straight to the clubhouse. He returned for the start of the 4th inning, but skipper Dave Roberts and the LA trainer met him on the mound before he threw another pitch. That’s when he was pulled from the game.
Logan Forsythe did not start for the Dodgers, but he was available to pinch-hit. After aggravating his right hamstring on Saturday night, he is expected back in the lineup on Monday.
The final game of the four game set will be on Monday evening. Brandon McCarthy will go for LA, while the Diamondbacks will counter with Robbie Ray.
