Los Angeles Dodgers Sweep Giants, Kershaw Fans 15

The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the San Francisco Giants with a win on Wednesday night. The three-game sweep gave the Dodgers a lead of 6 ½ games over the second place Giants. Los Angeles has now won three straight and the Giants have lost five straight.

The Dodgers are a competitive group and that was evidenced by the way Wednesday’s winning pitcher, Clayton Kershaw reacted in the ninth inning when manager Don Mattingly came to the mound to check on his status, after the left-hander had two on and two out.

Kershaw immediately turned his back, kicked the mound and began to stomp around the pitching rubber. What he did not want to see was Mattingly’s arm being raised to call a reliever from the bullpen.

The yank by Mattingly never came, in fact the conversation between the two was short lived.

Mattingly asked Kershaw, said the southpaw, how he was doing. Kershaw replied he was good. Conversation ended. Mattingly turned around and returned to the dugout, not reliever needed.

Five pitches later, Kershaw struck out Marlon Byrd to end the game. The strikeout was Kershaw’s 15th a career high for the talented Dodger ace.

Kershaw may have a record of just 12-6 but he has been pitching phenomenal of late. With his 15 Ks on Wednesday, he became the first pitcher in the Dodger organization to have 14 or more strikeouts in two straight starts.

He induced 35 swings and misses, which is the most ever during a major league game, though that has been tracked only the past 10 years.

The Dodgers ace might not have enough starts to overtake teammate Zack Greinke for the Cy Young Award this season, but he currently is on a big charge. In his past 12 starts, Kershaw is 7-1 with an ERA of 0.95, with 120 strikeouts and only 8, yes 8 walks.

Los Angeles came in fired up for this series with the Giants and it showed in how they played defense, had timely hitting, ran the bases and their bullpen closed out two of the three wins.

Manager Mattingly was worried immediately following the sweep that his team would have a letdown this weekend versus San Diego.

However, that was  likely put to rest when Kershaw said that the Padres might be further down in the standings, but the Dodgers could not let up know and needed to keep their foot squarely on the gas pedal.