It’s a continuing saga in Dodgers history – they pick up reclamation projects off the trash heap (usually pitchers) who initially do exceptionally well in their first few games with their new team and then one-by-one they begin to show exactly why they were either traded away from their previous teams or let go completely.

To his credit, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti has pulled a rabbit out of his hat several times with a few of these throwaways – most notably (and recently) guys like Chris Capuano, Aaron Harang and Vicente Padilla. But he has also signed a number of clunkers (including several for insanely expensive contracts) such as Jason Schmidt, Brett Tomko and (uggh) Ted Lilly. And while many of these reclamation projects have temporarily filled the void in the Dodgers rotation because of injuries to the regulars, when they begin to struggle (and they all usually do), it puts added pressure on the rest of the starting rotation – especially staff ace and defending NL Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, who has been a staple of consistency since hitting the big leagues in 2008.

But how can being ‘that guy’ who is always called upon to stop the bleeding after a losing stretch or to carry the rest of a struggling rotation (including a couple of Colletti’s reclamation projects) not weigh heavy on Kershaw? To compound matters, the level of expectation on Kershaw’s shoulders is increased exponentially on those rare occasions when he takes the mound following a loss of his own, such as he will this evening after having lost his last (complete game) start against the Brewers last Saturday night – a game that the Dodgers absolutely should have won but for a complete lack of offense.

“It was a good game, a clean game,” said Kershaw after the disappointing 3-2 loss. “Both guys were pitching alright, I just made more mistakes than [Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo] did and it showed up on the scoreboard.”

Although Kershaw struck out Brewers slugger Ryan Braun in the first inning of Saturday night’s game, Braun struck back with a back-breaking two-run home run off of Kershaw in the fourth inning.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

This is so Clayton-esque – he takes on the entire responsibility for the loss, this in spite of the fact that he pitched nine innings, gave up only three runs on five hits while striking out 11 and walking none. Unfortunately, two of those hits were home runs – the first time Kershaw has given up two home runs in a game since September 8, 2013 against the Cincinnati Reds.

But even though you will never ever hear Kershaw place the blame where it clearly belongs, on the Dodgers offense which consisted of six singles and a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning by Matt Kemp, he once again carried the entire weight of the team on his shoulders – and never said boo about it.

With Zack Greinke battling elbow irritation for the second time this season (the first being in spring training), Greinke’s scheduled start for tonight has been pushed back two days to Saturday night – although even that start is questionable. Realistically, with the Dodgers having next Monday and Thursday off, the Dodgers should keep Zack off the mound at least until next Friday (August 29) against the Padres in San Diego. Moving him back only two days as opposed to nine days serves very little purpose – especially with the playoffs looming large a little over a month from now.

To put those concerned about moving Kershaw up a day at ease (he was originally scheduled to start tomorrow night), because of last Monday’s off day Kershaw will be going tonight on his normal four days of rest which, for those of us who are big into not fixing what isn’t broken, is a very good thing. And with those aforementioned two days off next week, the 26-year-old Dodgers ace will probably get an extra day off somewhere along the line anyway.

Unfortunately, it is the rest of the Dodgers patchwork rotation that is (and should be) of concern for Dodger fans – at least until Hyun-jin Ryu returns from the disabled list and Zack Greinke’s elbow stops barking.

…if it stops barking, that is.