As expected, the blame for Friday night’s 3-1 loss to the New York Mets in Game-1 of the National League Division Series reaches far and wide. Among the favorites are Dodgers manager Don Mattingly being brutally criticized for pulling his ace Clayton Kershaw too late (although he would have been equally criticized had he pulled him sooner) to Pedro Baez piping a 99-MPH fastball right down the middle of the plate on a 3-2 count to Mets slugger David Wright with the bases loaded and two outs in the top half of the seventh inning – the result of having fallen behind 2-0 in the count in an extremely high-leverage situation. But the real blame for the Dodgers’ painful loss is something that has haunted them for decades – their inability to hit with runners on base and even more so with runners in scoring position.

The Dodgers had their chances on Friday night but failed to take advantage of them.

But aside from this blatantly obvious Achilles’ heel of the Dodgers, there is another reason for Friday night’s loss, one that no Dodger fan wants to hear: Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, often referred to as the best pitcher on the planet, was simply out-pitched by Mets ace Jacob deGrom – something that Kershaw himself readily admits.

“I got out-pitched, basically that’s the moral of the story,” said Kershaw after the game. “Jacob pitched an amazing game. We battled him, got his pitch count up there, but he out-pitched me, plain and simple.”

Whereas Kershaw allowed three runs on four hits with four walks and 11 strikeouts, deGrom allowed only one run on five hits with one walk and a franchise-tying 13 postseason strikeouts. No, that’s not a typo, Kershaw actually walked four, including walking the bases loaded in the seventh inning. It was the fourth time in three years that Kershaw has failed to get out of the seventh inning in postseason play.

Kershaw’s troubles began in the fourth inning when he left a 94-MPH fastball up over the middle on a 2-0 count to Mets second baseman Danial Murphy, which the left-handed-hitting Murphy launched into the Right Field Pavilion to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Murphy, as you may recall, has always been a thorn in the Dodgers side – even off of Kershaw. He is 44 for 139 (.317) against the Dodgers in his seven-year MLB career and 4 for 13 (.308) against Kershaw with a home run and two RBIs in regular season play.

But the bottom fell out for the defending NL MVP and Cy Young award winner when he walked Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada and Curtis Granderson in the seventh inning, with Duda and Tejada scoring on Wright’s single up the middle off of Baez, who Mattingly had brought in to replace Kershaw. It was Baez who allowed a devastating two-run home run to Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday when he replaced Kershaw in the seventh inning of Game-1 of the 2014 NLDS

The seventh inning has proven to be extremely cruel to Clayton Kershaw in the postseason.
(Photo credit – Kevin Sullivan)

The Dodgers lone run came in the bottom of the eighth inning after a one-out double by second baseman Howie Kendrick followed by a two-out RBI single by Adrian Gonzalez. But AGon missed out on an earlier golden opportunity when he struck out to end the third inning with shortstop Corey Seager standing on second base – just one of the eight runners stranded in scoring position on the night for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers only run came on an eighth-inning RBI single by Adrian Gonzalez. Until then the Dodgers were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Things won’t get any easier for the Dodgers in Game-2 of the best-of-five series when the Mets send Noah Syndergaard to the mound. The hard-throwing rookie right-hander posted a 9-7 record and 3.24 ERA during the regular season and had a no-decision against the Dodgers on July 3 at Dodger Stadium when he allowed only one run on two hits (including a home run by Gonzalez) while walking two and striking out six. Syndergaard will be opposed by 2015 Cy Young hopeful Zack Greinke, who was 1-1 against the Mets this season allowing two runs on eight hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in his 14 innings of work.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:07 pm PT.