SAN DIEGO — The 2015 Dodgers are an interesting baseball team.
Clayton Kershaw struck out 11 batters in 6 ⅔ innings tonight. He got hit by a line drive. He gave up a home run to Clint Barmes, of all people. He threw more pitches than he’s thrown all season. This was a minor subplot.
(Watch Kershaw’s postgame interviews here.)
Alex Guerrero had one plate appearance. He fell behind 0-2, took a pitch in the dirt, then did something he’s done often enough this year to make you forget he’s a rookie, dumping a pinch-hit single into center field to win the game. Again: not the most compelling aspect of the Dodgers’ 4-3 win.
This is a team capable of making the extraordinary look completely ordinary, then turn around and look so fallibly human, like when Justin Turner and Yimi Garcia collided in the infield, A.J. Ellis ran the bases, and Adrian Gonzalez lost his cool:
Adrian Gonzalez cursing at the home plate ump. #Padres #Dodgers https://t.co/UamosEZdy2
— Brady Phelps (@LobShots) June 13, 2015
Gonzalez talked about that quite a bit in my game story. The box score is here.
Paco Rodriguez has a bone spur in his left elbow. He’s hoping to postpone surgery until after the season is over.