June 28th, 2023 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka The (now) 44-34 National League West third place Los Angeles Dodgers shut out the (now) 31-50 National League West last place Colorado Rockies by a lopsided score of 5-0 in front of a crowd of 38,738 at mile high Coors Field on Tuesday night, as well they should have.
A bit presumptuous, you say? Perhaps. Except for the fact that three-time Cy Young Award winner, (soon to be) ten-time All-Star, five-time ERA title holder, former Gold Glove winner, former MLB Player of the Year and MLB MVP, and future first ballot Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw was on the mound for the Dodgers.
All the Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in Dallas did was allow no runs and only one hit to the 18 Rockies batters he faced in his 6.0 innings of work. That alone should be reason enough to capture this morning’s sports headlines, right? Under most circumstances it certainly would have.
Not today.
That honor belongs to Dodgers designated hitter and fellow 2023 All-Star hopeful J.D. Martinez, who slugged two home runs in support of Kershaw’s MLB-leading 10th win of the season, accounting for three of those five Dodgers runs.
Martinez’s first home run on the night was a third-inning 391-foot two-run blast to right field to give the Dodgers a then 4-0 lead, and his second a sixth-inning 384-foot solo shot to left to make it 5-0. That second dinger was also J.D.’s (appropriately nicknamed ‘Just Dingers’) 300th career home run, making him the sixth player to hit their 300th career home in a Dodgers uniform:
(SportsNet LA)
“Obviously, it’s a big achievement, you know, just for my career and, you know, from where I started to where I’m at now.” Martinez told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “You know, I give all the blessing to God and, you know, it’s been a rollercoaster ride of a career, but I’m very fortunate. I’ve been blessed.”
It was the third time this season that ‘Just Dingers’ has had a multi-home run game.
Keep those dingers coming, J.D.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
I was watching Justin Turner do his thing in Boston and thought about how much we all miss him, but what J.D. is doing for the team this year is close to the spectacular. Up to the mid-point of the season, we have all experienced the agony and the ecstasy of what is baseball. I really love the composition of this team and whether they win or lose, I am all in on these boys of summer. Rumors are that the front office will be looking for a power arm before the trade deadline, please don’t let that be Verlander, past his prime with a huge guaranteed contract. We have a lot of finger crossing to do; 1) Cross them that the great CK continues pitching like a #1 2) Cross them that Julio can rise back to the level he has been over the last two year 3) That Dustin May is going to be alright and can pitch like he did before he went on the IL. Then for the 4th spot we can cross them for Bobby Miller or Tony Gonsolin or even Emmet Shehan so that we can compete and win 4 of 7. As for the hitting, top 4 all appear to be solid (although Mookie would say that he should be doing better). Then comes our next three Muncy, Heyward and Peralta, all lefthanded batters which helps balance the attack. Then our poor rookies that are getting a taste of the MLB, I love the youth movement, but high k rate (Outman) and low average (Vargas) are very difficult to watch. If the other seven can produce, 8 and 9 (Rojas who is actually starting to pick it up), can kind of just blend in. We definitely need the bullpen to stop being Jeckel and Hyde and protect our leads when we have them. Hoping that Hudson will be of help. And last but not least, I love and appreciate AB as the back-up backstop, but it is such a dramatic fall off from our own Iron Will that it begs the question, should AB be a coach rather than a player? Half way through the season and we are all having fun with this team; Go Dodgers Go!
Outstanding assessment, Cid. Thank you!