July 21st, 2019 at 8:30 am 
by Ron Cervenka The Dodgers won on Saturday night, that’s the bottom line. But make no mistake about it, Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw was not happy when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would not let him go back out for the seventh inning – and with good reason.
The Dodgers bullpen.
When the 31-year-old future Hall of Famer came out of the game, he and his team were up 6-0, with the Dodgers ace having allowed only two harmless singles, while walking one and striking out a season-high 10 Miami Marlins batters. He had made a total of 97 pitches, of which 64 were strikes.
When the top of the seventh ended – without Kershaw on the mound – it was 6-1.
And then it happened … again.
As the Dallas, Texas native and Dodgers 2006 first-round draft pick watched (hopelessly) from the Dodgers dugout during the near half-hour long top of the eighth inning, he saw his brilliant 6.0 innings of shutout work flushed down the drain by a completely inept Dodgers bullpen, turning what should have easily been his ninth win of the season into a no-decision.
It was criminal.
Kershaw answered curtly when asked if he was disappointed to be leading 6-0 and not getting a win out of it.
“Yes,” the Dallas, Texas native answered in a word.
Asked if he campaigned with Roberts to try to remain in the game for one more inning, Kershaw again pulled no punches with his answer.
“Yeah, I wanted to stay in,” he answered directly. “I think the outcome of the game decided I would have liked to have stayed in. I think, you know, Doc’s decision, obviously, and the results are what it is and we ended up winning the game, so it’s all great.
“I think that knowing what’s ahead – two off days coming up – I felt it was a good time to get one more in,” Kershaw added. “But Doc’s always got the bigger picture in mind, which you can’t argue with.”
But for as disappointed as he was for not getting what would have (and should have) been his ninth win of the season, and despite not being allowed to go back out for one more inning, Kershaw showed, yet again, why he is one of the classiest and most professional pitchers to ever play the game when asked about his team’s on-going bullpen struggles.
“We have some good arms down there,” Kershaw said. “I think guys with some good stuff and it’s just a matter of getting more consistent. It’s not any different than a starting pitcher going through a rut or anything like that.
“You saw last night, Kenley [Jansen] looked unbelievable,” he added. “Tonight didn’t go as well, but we’re just going to have to find that consistency.”
When it was pointed out to Roberts that his ace very much wanted to go back out there for the seventh inning, the Dodgers skipper gave the response that you would expect and could have predicted.
“Yeah, absolutely. And I think that… and I love that about him and I love that about all of our starters,” clearly knowing that this one was coming.
“I thought he was very good tonight. I thought his slider was good, I thought the curve ball was good, he sequenced well, his fastball command was very good, and 10 punch / no walk, a very good night,” Roberts added, in an obvious attempt to deflect the initial question. (By the way, Kershaw did issue one walk in the top of the sixth inning, but promptly got out of the inning with his 10th strikeout of the night, followed by a pop out and a fly out).
Fortunately, recently re-re-called utility infielder / outfielder Matt Beaty delivered a huge three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, followed by an opposite field ground rule double by Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager (who went 3-for-4 on the night), followed by a RBI single by pinch-hitter Russell Martin to give the Dodgers the eventual 10-6 win.
“For a guy that doesn’t have a lot of service time, you just see it, he wants to be that guy,” Roberts said of Beaty’s game-winning eighth-inning three-run blast that sent the Dodger Stadium sellout crowd of 53,778 home with a smile. “He isn’t afraid of that moment. The little time we’ve seen him, he’s just a pro. The pulse is pretty special.”
Special indeed.
Play Ball!
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Great piece Ron-thanks!
I wouldn’t have minded Kershaw going out to pitch the 7th last night, if he was STILL in his prime (lol). Roberts made the right call, this year is about one thing and one thing only: winning the WS. That means the older players need to be given rest days whenever and wherever possible down the stretch until playoff time.
As for the bullpen, the only issue I had with it was Roberts not going with either Baez or even Sadler (LOVE his power sinker) the very moment Ferguson worked himself into trouble again (no doubt unable to shake that costly defensive miscue by Seager in foul territory which started that whole 8th inning mess in the first place). Bringing in Garcia for him, notorious flyball pitcher that he is, was like adding fuel to an already out-of-control fire. I also didn’t like how Garcia wasn’t utilizing his much superior fastball right out of the gate and basically let the Marlins hitters tee off on his average slider. Not good pitching smarts on his part, ugh. Hernandez’s forced error trying to turn a DP behind Baez certainly didn’t help either, which leads to my main point: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DODGER DEFENSE THESE PAST FEW WEEKS!?!?!? Because of their inability to back up the pitching staff on their end, they’ve been playing basically .500 ball during that time. Gotta clean that up ASAP or it’s gonna make the pitchers feel like they gotta be perfect everytime they take the mound.
That said, better not see Beaty sent back down again. Like Will Smith, he’s another definite key piece to the Dodgers’ WS puzzle this year and I can’t see that bench thoroughly filled out without his presence for that matter.
MLB rule change is needed for games like this when a starting pitchers goes more than 5 effective innings, leaves with the lead, and the subsequent pitchers are ineffective. Crediting Yimi Garcia with a “W” for pitching 1/3 of an inning, allowing 1 hit, and a walk is absurd. Sometimes rules interpretations need some old fashioned common sense.
It was actually Baez who got the win, and a vulture win at that, having also blown the save.
Thanks.
I’ve long thought that myownself, but I’ve never come up with a reasonable rule change.
Anybody else have one?
My thought…. make the reliever who comes in and lets inherited runners score share the earned runs.
It’s great to take a deep breath after Beaty’s game winning HR, but I can’t stop worrying about the bullpen. The defense is in some kind of a slump lately, but that’s usually a passing thing. With the Yankees playing so well, it’s one thing, but the Dodgers have got to look better if they ever get that far.