Fact: The Dodgers will not go 162-0 this season.

Fact: Justin Turner and Joc Pederson will not hit two doubles every game this season, nor will the team hit a combined seven doubles every game.

Fact: Not every Dodger in the starting lineup will score at least once in every game this season, nor will Adrian Gonzalez and A.J. Ellis drive in three runs every game this season.

Fact: Yasiel Puig will not hit a Little League home run (i.e. – a triple and an error) every game this season.

In other words, what happened in Monday’s 15-0 rout of the San Diego Padres at their Home Opener at Petco Park was the exception not the rule, and Dodger fans need to keep their wits about them that what happened was extremely rare – historical even.

While it would have been fun to call Puig’s triple and an error an inside-the-park home run, it was a triple and an error. (Photo credit – K.C. Alfred)

Okay, enough of the stoicism and the reality check. What happen on Monday afternoon in front of an over-capacity crowd of 44,317 (of which half were Dodger fans) was freaking GREAT!

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who was making his sixth consecutive Opening Day start as a Dodger, was a sun-single away from throwing a no-hitter through his seven innings of work while striking out nine and walking only one. He threw 96 pitches of which 61 were strikes and got to a three-ball count on only five of the 23 batters he faced. In a word, Kershaw was sensational.

“Maybe unfairly, but we expect him to be great every time he takes the mound, and tonight he was,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after the game.

Kershaw was absolutely brilliant in his sixth consecutive Opening Day start for the Dodgers.
(Photo credit – K.C. Alfred)

Behind Kershaw’s absolutely stellar pitching, the Dodgers collected 17 hits of which eight were extra base hits, yet there were no home runs hit. But in spite of this, the 15-0 Dodgers victory was the largest Opening Day shutout win in MLB history, topping the Pirates 14-0 Opening Day shutout win over the Cincinnati Reds in 1911. It also tied the largest Opening Day margin of victory with the New York Giants 18-3 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1912.

“I just think you look at the at-bat quality and we didn’t hit a ball over the fence today, but there were a lot of balls squared up and getting into the game,” Roberts said. “You see guys taking extra bases and doing a lot of things right. If we can compete every pitch with our offense and the way we pitch, we’re going to be fine.”

While the facts are indisputable that the Dodgers wont win every game this season, or hit like they did on Monday afternoon all season, or even have Kershaw pitch the way he did on Monday in every start, it’s impossible not to like what the Dodgers did in game number one of 162.

…unless you’re a Padres fan, that is.