Matt Kemp Bobblehead Preview

From the official Dodgers Twitter

I Just Threw Up in Mouth a Lil

Kemp and Ethier Collecting Hardware

While both outfielders didn't make the NL All-Star team, Kemp and Ethier are getting their fair share of offseason hardware. Both of them have won the Silver Slugger awards for their position. Kemp also has a Gold Glove this year and Dre has the Clutch Performer of the Year award. All that and no All-Star nods? That's why the All Star game is so flawed in baseball. I don't like midseason AS games. The only reason why it works in the NBA is that the players are consistent throughout the whole season. Baseball players are play well in stretches. Therefore, an All-Star might struggle tremendously through the second half because of injury or whatnot. I'm talking about you Raul Ibanez.

Save Some for Sunday

Manny hit one out, like 15 hours too late. Juan Pierre did his best to fill in for Ethier, knocking in 2 runs with 3 hits. Kemp hit his 20th homer, and Jeff Weaver pitched another strong outting in relief.

Now, can the Dodgers save some for tomorrow's game? Usually when they score a bunch of runs, they have trouble scoring any the next game.

Remember Tulowitzki's comment about how the pressure was on the Dodgers? Well, now the Rockies have lost four in a row and are five games back and their wildcard lead is now cut to 1 game. Hey Troy, I guess the pressure is on you now!

No Runs, No Problem

Despite scoring a total of four runs in the past 2 games, the Dodgers are within a Sunday victory of sweeping the slumping Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have scored 1 run in the past 2 games and 4 runs total in the past 3 games versus Dodgers pitching. Spanning the past 24 innings, the Cubs have scored once on a bloop single by Ryan Theriot.

Saturday's matinee game featured another excellent start by knuckleballer, Charlie Haeger, who went 7 shutout innings, frustrating an anemic Cubs offense, that have really struggled on the road this season. Broxton survived a jam with runners on second and third after Kemp lost a flyball in sun that came off of Derek Lee's bat by striking out 2 and forcing a lineout. Sherrill got his first save of the year after laboring through the ninth.

The Dodgers got solo blasts from Kemp and Blake, and that was all they needed. Kemp's homer seemed like it was launched out of a cannon, as it landed over the home bullpen, onto the field level entrance area.

The Dodgers have not been playing their best since the All star break. With this victory, they finally break even record-wise, but still have the task of facing the second-place Rockies this coming week. Hopefully, their bats will wake up at the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field. Tap the Rockies, indeed.

Broxton Blows it on Kemp Bobblehead Night

Clayton Kershaw had another rocky game. Dodgers managed to tie up the game on 2 homers by Either and Blake, but Jonathan Broxton blew the lead after Martin's attempt to throw out Albert Pujols stealing second bounced into center field.

Off to Kemp Bobblehead Night

Truthfully, I am more psyched about this bobblehead than even the Manny one. Hopefully, there will be some Kemp heroics that would result in a Dodgers win in the rubber game against the Cardinals. I might try to hit up Crooks on Saturday to see Kemp and Loney's t-shirt collab. Hope there isn't too insane of a line.

Here is the collab shirts from Crooks' Twitter:

No Mercy

One night after having a 9th inning rally come 1 run short against the Brewers, the Dodgers made sure that this game would not require any late-inning heroics. The Blue Crew crushed the Brew Crew 17 to 4, scoring 9 earned runs off starter, Yovani Gallardo, and 8 more off their bullpen. If there was any doubt that Manny's hand was bothering him, all doubts were negated tonight, as he had a solo homer and a 2-run double down the line. It was his first run-batted-in since his pinch hit home run on his bobblehead night over 2 weeks ago.

Everyone in the lineup had their licks against the Brewers pitching staff, even Guillermo Mota. But most importantly, the Duck Dodgers favorite, Matt Kemp, had 4 hits, including a 2-run homer off R.J. Swindle to deep center to add insult to injury. The Bison had led the club with 5 RBIs.

Hiroki Kuroda had to get himself out of several jams and was finally hit up for 3 runs in the top of the 5th inning to trim the deficit to 1. However, the Dodgers put up 13 unanswered runs starting with Manny's solo shot. After struggling for runs for many games after the All-Star break, the Dodgers offense have scored 20 runs in the past 9 innings, including their 3 run rally last night.

The game got so out of hand, I was just collection Vin Scully zingers for most of the rout. Here are some of my favorites for the night:

"Strike out on that and you have been Swindled" (referring to Swindle's 52mph breaking ball)

"...and the beer has gone flat here."

"Since we have a no game right now..." (before discussing Trevor Hoffman's history against bases loaded jams)

Kemp 4, Astros 3

Rarely can you say that one guy singlehandedly won the game in the sport of baseball, but Matt Kemp showed that his career-high 4 runs were enough to take the final game of the series against the Houston Astros. Ever since being put into the Final Vote ballot, Kemp has been impressing fans on both sides of the ball. Today, he went 3-3, stole a base, scored 3 runs, and hit the game winning home run on the bottom of the 8th, allowing the Dodgers to fuel another comeback and win another one-run game. His homer was a massive blast to left-center, measuring about 450 feet.

The bottom of the lineup did all of the damage for the Comeback Kids. Andre Ethier, Brad Ausmus, and Kemp accounted for all of the team's hits. Ausmus had 2 timely doubles and 2 RBI filling in very well defensively and offensively for Russell Martin. Hiroki Kuroda looked very shaky in 5 innings of work, as his pitches weren't fulling anyone in the Astros lineup. He was fortunate not to give up more than the 3 runs he gave up in the 3rd inning.

It was another hot day at the ballpark, as I kept drinking a lot of fluids to keep from getting heatstroke. But I was glad to finally witness a late-inning comeback in person. This is my 3rd blog posting about Matt Kemp, so I might as well be joining the Kemp and also the Clayton Kershaw fan club.

Speaking of Clayton, he had another magnificent pitching performance last night, picking up his 5th straight win with his 7 shutout innings. By far, these two youngsters have carried the load for this team for the past month. Kershaw has given up 4 earned runs in the past 7 outtings (42-2/3 innings). In that same stretch, Chad Billingsley has not won a game in 6 tries, including losing 2 of them, and allowing 25 earned runs in the last 33-1/3 innings. Very interesting numbers to consider for fans and observers.

Anyways, I will be at the game tomorrow to watch the return of Jason Schmidt, our highest paid player in the pitching rotation.

Manny Meets Mantle, Kemp Does Mays Impression

Yesterday's game against the Brewers, Manny Ramirez tied Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list, but that was not the only historical homage that would happen. If you read my previous post, I praised Matt Kemp's amazing week. After hitting a grand slam in the top of the 10th last night, he did his best impression of Willie Mays in the bottom of the 10th to end the game and prevent a disastrous night from Jonathan Broxton.

Here is the picture of the catch taken from Orel's blog on Sons of Steve Garvey. Remember, he had his back to the flyball. Enjoy.

Matt Kemp, Where Amazing Happens

A couple days after losing the MLB Final Vote and being snubbed by Charlie Manuel, Matt Kemp is showing the nation where amazing happens. Though he isn't an elite player just yet, Kemp has been playing on an impressive and all-star caliber level for the past week.

Just to illustrate how much of a tear Kemp is actually on, here is what Kemp has been doing on the roadtrip: He has a 7-game hitting streak, batting .556 (15-27) with 1HR and 9 RBIs. Also, Kemp has 5 multi-hit games during the roadtrip. In the past 3 games, he has gotten 9 hits in 12 official at-bats (.750).

Tonight, Kemp went 3 for 5 with a grand slam in the top of 10th, which proved to be the difference in the game. In the bottom of the 10th, he ended the game with a Willie Mays-esque basket catch running towards the center field warning track, preventing an extra base hit.

Now, my question is will Raul Ibanez play in the All-Star game? Also, if he doesn't play, will Manuel pick Kemp to fill in? Gut feeling he will not pick Kemp even if Ibanez sits out.