August 14th, 2019 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka The Miami Marlins are not a good baseball team. In fact, heading into Tuesday nights game against the National League West first-place Dodgers at Marlins Park, they were 44-73 on the season and in last place in the National League East division a full 24.5 games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves.
They are now 44-74 and 25.5 games back, thanks to an absolute pounding by said Dodgers, who amassed 15 runs on 15 hits that included six home runs, six doubles, one triple, and only two singles in the 15-1 blowout.
As you might expect in a 15-1 pounding, the Dodgers toyed with history on several fronts, including setting a modern era (since 1900) record as the first team to score 15 or more runs in a game while hitting only two singles. They also hit a combined six doubles (three by Dodgers centerfielder A.J. Pollock) and a triple by Beaty.
On the other side of the ball, 21-year-old Dodgers right-hander Dustin May, making only his third major league start, was nothing short of brilliant on the mound for the (now) 80-41 NL West first-place (by 18.5 games) Dodgers.
In his 5.2 innings of work, May allowed only one run on three hits, with one walk and five strikeouts. He made a total of 90 pitches, of which 59 were strikes.
Brilliant, right?
Not according to usually extremely complimentary Dodgers manager Dave Roberts who, for whatever his reasons, found fault in May’s first MLB career win.
“Dustin didn’t get ahead as much as he did his last start, wasn’t as sharp,” Roberts told reporters after the game. “In spurts, there were some good throws in there. Getting ahead, he didn’t do as good a job. But when you don’t have your best stuff or your best command, to still go out there and put up zeroes, that’s where you have to tip your hat to a young player like Dustin.”
(Photo credit – JC Ruiz)
Since his promotion from Triple-A Oklahoma City on August 2, May is (now) 1-0 with a very good 2.65 ERA in his combined three starts and combined 17.0 innings pitched. During that time, he has struck out 15 while walking only two, for an excellent K/BB ratio of 7.50 and an excellent WHIP of 1.118. As a point of comparison and though a much larger sample size, Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw has a K/BB ratio of 4.68 and a WHIP of 1.038 thus far this season.
If this isn’t “sharp,” quite frankly, I hope the young Justin, TX native and Dodgers third-round draft pick in 2016 out of Northwest High School in Justin, TX never is.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
Excessive Force?
No way, the other guys resisted, OK not much, but just the same they resisted.
While some might have found the pounding administered to those bottom lurking aquatic vertebrates barbaric, I think it was just right. I admit, I did feel one or two MOMENTS of pity for those fish, but they were fleeting. I think I could even watch and enjoy, the Dodgers dish out another brutal beating just like that one.
Does that make me a bad person?
I thought the same thing. A fantastic pitching performance by the big red “big” haired rookie. It was nice to watch the Dodgers take batting practice. A thing I don’t normally get to see.