One of the rarely talked about things when you are the staff ace on a major league baseball team is that often times your opponent is the staff ace of their team as well. Granted this isn’t always the case but it certainly is most of the time – it’s just the way that pitching rotations are normally set. A team’s number one or two starter will usually face the other team’s number one or two starter – which usually means that there won’t be a lot of offense.

Such was the case a little over two weeks ago when defending Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw faced Giants starter Tim Hudson, who currently sports the lowest ERA among all Giants starters and fifth lowest in the National League. On May 11, Hudson held the Dodgers offense to only two runs; that’s it – only two runs from an offense that was supposed to dominate all of baseball. Unfortunately, in that game Kershaw hung one of his famous ‘public enemy number one’ curveballs (as Vin Scully calls them) to weak-hitting Giants second baseman Brandon Hicks who deposited it several rows deep into the Left Field Pavilion of Dodger Stadium. Although the Dodgers managed to fight their way back in that game and spared Kershaw the loss, the Dodgers offense stranded 11 runners on base and went a dismal 3 for 14 with RISP.

Well it happened again last night at Dodger Stadium when Kershaw tried to come inside with a 94 MPH fastball to Cincinnati Reds perennial All-Star second baseman Brandon Phillips. It wasn’t a bad pitch, but when you don’t come inside enough to a good hitter and leave it a little too much over the middle of the plate, a good hitter isn’t going to miss it – and Brandon Phillips is a good hitter and he didn’t miss it. The ball landed several rows deep into the Left Field Pavilion to give the Reds a 2-0 lead – a lead that Reds ace Homer Bailey (of two no-hitter fame) was able to protect by limiting the Dodgers to only two runs and five hits in an eventual 3-2 Dodgers loss.

“Phillips put a good swing on it in the first,” said Kershaw after the game. “Obviously, you’d like to have that one back. I’d like that to be a solo homer, that’s probably the difference.”

Although Kershaw struck out nine on Wednesday night and was otherwise brilliant, it was the one fastball that he left over the plate to Reds slugger Brandon Phillips that caused him to suffer his second loss of the season. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Once again the offense that was supposed to dominate all of baseball failed to give Kershaw any run support and twice had a runner on third base with less than two outs and stranded him there. On the night the Dodgers left five runners on base and were 0 for 7 with RISP. It’s to the point where Kershaw has to pitch a shutout in order to win a game.

Even though Yasiel Puig slugged his 11th home run of the season on Wednesday night, it was his first inning strike out with one out and Dee Gordon on third base that hurt the Dodgers, who were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But there’s more to this Dodgers loss that makes it even harder to swallow. With Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis sidelined with a sprained right ankle suffered in the scrum after Josh Beckett’s no-hitter last Sunday, back-up catcher Drew Butera has been doing the bulk of the catching for the Dodgers. And while Butera’s bat appears to be heating up (albeit only slightly), he had a passed ball on Wednesday night that allowed the eventual winning run to score. Butera now leads all of baseball with 7 passed balls – not good when you consider that he is a back-up catcher and has been behind the plate in only 21 of the Dodgers 54 games this season.

“I have to block it,” said Butera after the game. “That’s my job. My fault. I need to block that ball.”

One has to believe that recently recalled catcher Tim Federowicz, who excels at blocking balls, will begin to see some playing time in the next few games. Federowicz began the season as Ellis’s back-up but was later optioned back to Triple-A after posting a .109 batting average. If FedEx starts hitting, he very well could become the Dodgers primary catcher until Ellis returns.

Ironically, prior to Wednesday night’s game the Dodgers acquired 28-year-old minor league catcher Johnny Monell from the Baltimore Orioles for cash. Although Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said that the move was made to bolster catching depth after losing Ellis to the DL and dumping Miguel Olivo after he bit the ear off of teammate Alex Guerrero, one has to believe that the Dodgers may have future plans for Monell if he does well at Triple-A Albuquerque. Monell was drafted by the Giants in the 30th round of the 2007 First Year Player Draft but was later traded to the Orioles. The Bronx, New York native was hitting only .207 with one RBI for the Orioles’ Triple-A Norfolk Tide this season.