Steve Webb
Another subpar day in Arizona for the Dodgers
CAMELBACK RANCH, AZ — Well, that was underwhelming. The Dodgers, finishing up their Arizona portion of their Spring Training camp, were drubbed by the rival San Francisco Giants 10-2. And that in itself is not such a big deal. Spring Training, so no big whoop, right? However, there were a couple of things that were of note. First, Clayton Kershaw had another good outing, and looks ready to take his place in the roster. Second, can we ask the White Sox what their return policy is?
Kershaw pounds the zone, gets results
Anyway, let’s start with the good news. Clayton Kershaw wants you all to know that he is still a pitcher in the major leagues. He might not be starting the Opening Day game this season, but he was looking very sharp indeed in his final Cactus League start. He gave up one run on two hits during a four plus inning outing. But most impressive was his command of the strike zone. In a lights-out first inning, Kersh struck out the side on only eleven pitches. It was a masterful performance.
He did walk a guy and give up a ground-rule double to Austin Slater in the 3rd, but other than that it was smooth sailing.
Kimbrel shelled in Dodger debut
Now the bad news. Craig Kimbrel, the vaunted closer lately of the Chicago White Sox, made his debut out of the Dodgers’ pen in the bottom of the seventh inning. And, sorry to say, he started his Dodger career in the most inauspicious way possible. He threw a get-me-over curve ball to Mauricio Dubon, who absolutely pulverized the pitch off the left field fence for a stand-up double. Okay, no biggie. One bad pitch. This is Craig Kimbrel, right? The guy who has more career saves than career hits allowed.
Well, the Dubon smash was followed by another bad pitch, and another and another. Before you could buy a hot dog, Kimbrel had given up the aforementioned double, a home run to ham-and-egger Austin Dean, another home run to minor leaguer Brett Auerbach, and a solid single to Jason Krizan. Yuck. He did manage to strike out the final batter he faced before Dave Roberts came to the mound to put a merciful end to his maiden voyage in Dodger Blue. It was… not good.
Back to LA…
So that does it for the Arizona portion of this abbreviated version of Cactus League play. The Dodgers catch the next flight out of Sky Harbor and will starting the freeway series against the Angels in Anaheim on Sunday evening.
It’s time to get this wining machine revved up and ready to go, fellas. So far, I’m feeling very McKayla Maroney about the whole thing…
