On April 30, 2015, Dodgers team physician and orthopedic specialist Dr Neil ElAttrache performed Tommy John surgery on (then) 31-year-old right-hander Brandon McCarthy. If everything went as planned, the Glendale, California native would hopefully be back on the mound for the Dodgers in roughly 14 months. Everything went as planned and on Sunday, July 3, 2016, McCarthy made his first post-Tommy John surgery start in front of 41,836 at Dodger Stadium.

Exactly what Dr. ElAttrache ordered.

On June 29, 2016, back and spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins gave 28-year-old Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw an epidural in his lower back to relieve pain due to a mild disk herniation. If everything went as planned, the Dallas, Texas would avoid back surgery that would most likely bring an end to his Cy Young and MVP-caliber season. As Kershaw, the Dodgers and the entire baseball world anxiously await to see if the epidural is successful, Brandon McCarthy returned to the Dodgers starting rotation in his stead … and pitched magnificently.

Exactly what Dr. Watkins ordered.

It’s probably safe to say that no one expected the kind of outing that Brandon McCarthy has on Sunday afternoon – not even McCarthy.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

As Kershaw watched from the dugout, McCarthy allowed no runs and only two hits while walking one and striking out eight in his first five MLB innings pitch in nearly 15 months. It was as close to a Kershaw-esque pitching performance as McCarthy, Kershaw, both doctors and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could have hoped for. In fact, it far exceeded all of their hopes and expectations.

“It was great. This is as good as I’ve seen him in years past,” Roberts told reporters after his team’s 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. “The fastball had life late, threw the breaking ball when he needed to, and mixed in a few change ups. Got eight punchouts in five innings. Really excited for him.”

Of course, it would be criminal not to also mention the stellar pitching performances over the past week by right-handers Kenta Maeda and Bud Norris (who was acquired by the Dodgers only hours after Kershaw went down) and left-hander Scott Kazmir. In fact, since the Dodgers ace was placed on the 15-day disabled list, the four have allowed a grand total of one earned run and only 10 hits over a combined 23 innings pitched for an insane ERA of 0.39. If this isn’t what the Doc (ElAttrache, Watkins and “Doc Dave Roberts) ordered, nothing is.

“It was surprisingly normal. I wasn’t really expecting it to feel like I’d just get in the swing of things, but it felt normal,” McCarthy said after the game. “I didn’t feel too nervous. There wasn’t anything going on that I wasn’t expecting. Just settled in normally. We’re still monitoring pitch count, making sure we’re conservative with things. I haven’t built up too far in my rehab, but got into a good place where it was two times through the lineup and my pitch count was manageable, so [Roberts] said good job and that was enough.

“That’s part of the coming back, we monitor everything and track things,” McCarthy added. “If there was some velocity dip late in the games or something was happening that was worrying, I don’t think they would have let me make this start.”

The Dodgers fifth starter (although the actual rotation numbering is now debatable) Julio Urias will follow the lead of Messrs Maeda, Norris, Kazmir and McCarthy on Monday evening when he will attempt to extend the Dodgers current four-game winning streak (and phenomenal nine-game winning streak at Dodger Stadium) against the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles. Although the 19-year-old Culiacan, Mexico native has been victimized by the Dodgers lack of run support through his first seven starts and has a rather pedestrian 1-2 record and 4.09 ERA, he has 41 strikeouts through his 33.0 innings of work. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he has also walked 15 batters and owns a BB/9 ratio of 4.1 and a K/BB ratio of 2.73.

With Kershaw expected to be out until after the All-Star break – perhaps even well after the All-Star break – the Dodgers revitalized starting rotation is going to have to continue to step up their game if they hope to not only keep pace with the red hot San Francisco Giants, but overtake them in the intense NL West race.

Can they do it?

After seeing what they’ve shown over the past four games and with their offense finally heating up, I certainly wouldn’t bet against them.