With left approach, Dodgers can solve righties

Matt Kemp is injured again, and the Dodgers were starting to lose their grip against right-handed pitching even before Kemp returned from the disabled list the first time. However, the Dodgers have demonstrated an approach to right handers that works. The question is whether they will go back to it.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Dodgers reached their first three-game losing streak of the season Wednesday night, the same night Matt Kemp's hamstring gave out again following a one-day return.

You might say this is the low point of the Dodgers season. Some low point -- first place, 5 1/2-game lead, best record in baseball. But the low points can plumb much lower, and this is precisely what is feared most in blue heaven.

As we endure the horror of this three-game losing streak, we look back on happier times, when the results were so satisfying despite a very long disabled list that has included Kemp, Jerry Hairston, Juan Rivera, Juan Uribe, Mark Lewis and Ted Lilly. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly somehow held the house together by his mode of tinkering that looks in one light like drawing names from a hat and looks in another light like interesting development.

But even before Kemp's brief return from the disabled list, it appeared this club's offensive foundation was cracking. The one attribute the Dodgers had demonstrated, with or without Kemp, was the ability to beat right-handed starting pitchers. The Dodgers won 20 of their first 25 games against right-handed starters. Since then, though, the Dodgers have lost four of their last five against right-handed starters.

This three-game losing streak is all against right-handed starters. A week ago, it was almost inconceivable that the Dodgers couldn't tack up six runs against most of the world's right handers. Then, just like that, they're being taken to the woodshed by Lucas Harrell and Michael Fiers.

About a week ago, our fascination with how Mattingly transformed the batting order without Kemp led to an analysis of the new lineup against right-handed pitching as a core and a shell. The core was four left-handed batters consecutively -- Bobby Abreu, Andre Ethier, Adam Kennedy and James Loney -- followed by A.J. Ellis in the seven hole. The results were rather impressive.

This particular core has taken six starts against right handers since Kemp first went on the disabled list. That lineup's output: six wins and 40 runs, nearly seven per game. The details of the core's first four games are discussed here. The hitters in the core, within the six games, are hitting .350 (40 for 114) with 22 runs and 20 RBI.

The core played its fifth game together on May 22 at Arizona. The Dodgers won, 8-7. Not a spectacular night for the core, which went five for 17, but it produced runs with just the right amount of tapping. For example, Mattingly decided in the seventh inning of that game, with the bases loaded, to pinch hit for Kennedy with Ivan DeJesus. The last time the Dodgers faced a right-handed starter, Mattingly took down Kennedy for Scott Van Slyke against a left-handed reliever in the sixth inning and Van Slyke hit a three-run homer to beat St. Louis, 6-5. This time, DeJesus hit a sacrifice fly in his pinch at-bat, then won the game in the ninth with a two-run double. Another golden victory.

Then, as always, the dynamics of the club changed. As a most welcomed development, Jerry Hairston returned from the disabled list, and, naturally, the manager wants him in the lineup. And you certainly aren't thinking that the reason your lineup bashes right-handed starters is because you have Adam Kennedy at third base in the No. 5 hole. It's seeming at this point like every time you pinch hit for Kennedy, you score three runs.

So, Hairston goes into the lineup against the next right hander, batting fifth at third base, on May 25. Hairston did fine -- one for three with a walk and an RBI. But the lineup, which was otherwise unchanged, laid an egg. The core was only three for 14 and the shell (the bottom two and top two slots in the order) was four for 18. The Dodgers lost, 3-1, to Houston and Harrell.

OK. So, let's go back to the core with Kennedy included on May 26, with the Astros tossing right hander Bud Norris at Dodger Stadium. And it's another winning performance by the core with four straight left-handed hitters. The core went seven for 19 with four runs, four RBI and a homer. The Astros won, 6-3, on Ellis's three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Monday night, against Milwaukee and Shaun Marcum at Dodger Stadium, Mattingly went back to the version of the core that broke up the left-handed hitters by batting Hairston fifth. The core did a less productive job -- seven for 22  with only one run and two RBI. Again, Hairston was fine -- two for three with an RBI and a walk. But the lineup was terrible. The shell, in particular, finished the night one for 16 with a run and nine strikeouts. The Dodgers lost, 3-2.

The last two nights, with Kemp in the starting lineup, Mattingly has tried some other combinations, including an order Wednesday night that had Loney batting second against Yovanni Gallardo. The Dodgers lost again, 6-3, their fourth loss in five games against a right-handed starting pitcher.

Now, with Kemp back on the shelf for a while, the Dodgers are scuffling all of a sudden, but they need not scuffle too much. At least, we know they have a productive approach with what they have against right handers. The problem with that approach is that lining up four consecutive left-handed hitters clashes with getting Hairston into the lineup at third base.

Look what's happened here. All the manager did was take Adam Kennedy out of the lineup against right handers and put Jerry Hairston in his place. Hairston produced, added value to the lineup, yet, the lineup tanked. Kennedy was nothing special in that slot, just six for 22 (.273) inflated by one four-for-four game. As No. 5, Kennedy drove in just two runs in six games. Hairston matched that in two games.

It doesn't add up. Then, again, it's not supposed to add up. Lineups aren't the sort of things that add up, like ledgers, balance sheets and math problems. Lineups either work or they don't. We might say of a successful balance sheet that it adds up. We say of a successful lineup that it works.

And when something works, you keep working it until it doesn't work anymore, or until you no longer must work it. In times of widespread injury, baseball management operates by the seat of its pants. Long-run statistical samples about this or that player or combination are not here to help. You need to win a game today. You’re past seeking the best probability. You’re down to your best chance, period. It’s good to know that something works.

Here's a tidbit about Loney as the last lefty: In the six games in which Loney batted sixth, right behind Kennedy, in the order against right-handed pitchers, Loney batted .385 (10 for 26) with a .928 OPS. Coincidence? No. Just an indication of how deep that lineup runs against right-handed starters.

But maybe Loney as the fourth consecutive left-handed hitter against a right-handed starter is quite better than the guy we normally see, and if there are reasons why stacking left-handed bats has worked so well, that might be one of them. So, here is a vote to going back to stacking a core of left-handed hitters  against right handed starters. Let’s test that out a little more.

And if you're worried that four straight left-handed hitters will be easy pickings for the other guy's left-handed reliever in the seventh inning, don't be. The left-handed hitters in that Dodgers core are seven for 12 against the first left-handed reliever during those six games.

The shell of that Dodgers lineup against right handers now is on its third iteration, since Mattingly relented and wrote in Dee Gordon as the No. 8 hitter for the May 22 game at Arizona. Here is how Gordon has responded in eight games at No. 8: 10 for 28 (.357 average) with a .400 on-base and a .793 OPS. He has walked a couple times, stolen a couple bases and scored four runs.

With Ellis batting right in front of Gordon, you now have two ways to start the offense from the bottom of the order, because Ellis knows how to get on and Gordon can do damage when he's on. If Gordon starts your inning by reaching, he can steal second, your pitcher can bunt him to third and you score on a sacrifice fly, at worst.

Then, we come around to the leadoff hitter, who has typically been Tony Gwynn against right handers. In his games leading off against righties for the last two weeks, Gwynn is nine for 33 (.273) with five runs and six RBI. Following Gwynn is Elian Herrera, who has 15 strikeouts and 14 hits, but he's also batting .292.

Submitted for your approval, then, is a modest proposal for how the Dodgers should arrange their batting order against right-handed pitching.

First, drop Gwynn from the lead off position and put him in the five hole. Then, put Hairston in the leadoff spot at third base. Playing the game in such a tough, engaging way, Hairston sets a good tone to begin the game for the Dodgers. He knows how to take a pitch and navigate the bases. Follow Hairston with second baseman Herrera, a switch hitter with speed.

After Herrera, march up the core, four straight left-handed hitters -- it actually becomes five straight left-handed hitters because Herrera switches. We'll call the proposed core Abreu in left, Ethier in right, Gwynn in center and Loney at first. After that, it's Ellis batting seventh and catching, followed by Gordon eighth at short, then the pitcher. If Ellis is on or Gordon has something working on the bases when the leadoff man comes up, then you're back to Hairston, who can hit line drives.

This obviously isn’t an everyday lineup, and we haven’t begun to consider how the Dodgers might attack left-handed starters. However, there is enough here, perhaps, to illustrate that the Dodgers ought to hold their own against right handers as they weather the newest storms.

Through Act One, Dodgers set up nicely

Right at about one-fifth into the 2012 season, the Dodgers are right where they want to be, leading the NL West. Whether they stay there will depend quite a lot on the next three weeks, which will be played almost entirely at Dodger Stadium.

Matt Kemp, who hit this game-winning homer against the Washington Nationals, is the main reason the Dodgers are set up well through one-third of the season (photo courtesy of Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

By this old baseball reporter's reckoning, the pennant race begins when every club across the major leagues has reached double figures in wins and losses. That's when the baseball standings really look, for the first time, like baseball standings. It generally happens about 20 percent into the season, which is very near the point to which we have arrived in 2012.

Up to that point, the season is like the time trials at the Indy 500, in which teams fight for starting position. We might also think of the season up to this point as the first act of a three-act drama. In the first act, we are introduced to the characters. In the long second act, which begins about now, we see the conflicts and tensions of the plot thickening. In the third act, the September playoff races, the tensions resolve into the outcome.

We haven't quite reached that second act, yet, because there's still one club straggling to reach double figures in victories. The Minnesota Twins have only eight wins. Largely, that's because the Angels have been fattening up on the Twins, beating them in five of six meetings since April 29.

To be perfectly official and precise about all this, we probably should wait until the Twins have reached 10 wins before declaring the first act (or the time trials) complete. However, the American League standings show that its teams are so spaced apart right now that they wouldn't look any different if the Twins had two more wins. Nor do we expect that the standings will look any different when the Twins reach ten wins. When that happens, they still will be in last place.

On top of all that, the Angels and Dodgers both are off until Friday evening, which makes the next couple days as good as any for saying that we comfortably know who these teams are. So, we might say, as they will say on Memorial Day in Indianapolis, "Gentlemen, start your engines."

We’ll take the better news first, which means we're talking about the Dodgers right now. We'll get to the Angels on Friday or Saturday. By then, the Twins might be up to nine victories. As of the moment, the National League standings are in order.

All of the leading indicators for the Dodgers right now are good. Not great. Good. They are tied with St. Louis for the National League's best record at 20-11 and they hold a five-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West, which is the largest lead for any division leader.

The Dodgers have been in every game this year except for a 12-0 blowout loss at Houston on April 22. Though half of the Dodgers games are one-run games, they have not been especially reliant on winning them. They are 9-6 in one-run games, meaning they are 11-5 in games decided by more than one run. Good sign. They are putting up a nice share of solid victories. A team that lives too much off winning one-run games is in permanent danger of losing them. It is, of course, dangerous merely to be in so many one-run games. However, it's better to be in a lot of 3-2 games, like the Dodgers, than to be in a lot of 6-5 games because it's easier to improve a batting lineup than to improve a pitching staff. The Dodgers have a lot of players on hand already who can, and should, hit better than they are.

One might think the Dodgers should have beefed up their offensive numbers in their last nine games, during which they played in home run parks Coors Field and Wrigley Field, then played the error prone San Francisco Giants. But the Dodgers are going to have games when they don't swing the bat well no matter whom or where they play. So, in those nine games, they scored 42 runs, which isn't all that great, everything considered. They scored three runs or fewer in three of them, all of which they lost.

All together this year, the Dodgers are scoring 4.23 runs per game, fifth in the NL. They are an outstanding 15-4 when they score four or more runs and a very impressive 5-7 when they score three runs or fewer. This club always gives itself a chance to win.

The pitching staff did take some beatings at Coors and Wrigley. During one four-game stretch at those parks, the Dodgers allowed 25 runs. However, in their last five games, one trip through the rotation, the Dodgers allowed only ten runs. They still lost two of those five games.

That's the Dodgers. They are so reliant on two hitters -- Matt Kemp (12/27/.385/.469/.780) and Andre Ethier (6/30/.284/.534/.888) -- that when those two guys don't hit, they will usually struggle to win no matter how good their pitching is. At the same time, their pitching and defense are so solid that they still have a chance in those games.

Kemp and Ethier are third and first, respectively, in the National League RBI race, even though the three hitters coming up before them include the pitcher and a leadoff hitter (Dee Gordon) with a .268 on-base percentage. But the No. 2 hitter, Mark Ellis, pitches in with a .377 on-base percentage, 16th in the NL. With Kemp and Ethier immediately following, Ellis is as likely as not to score when he reaches base. He has done so 21 out of 43 times.

Here's an indication of how weak the Dodgers have been in the bottom half of their order. Their No. 8 hitter, catcher A.J. Ellis, has 25 starts with a .303 batting average and a .927 OPS. He's batting .348 with runners in scoring position. And he still has only 11 RBI. Philadelphia second baseman Freddy Galvis has a .577 OPS and he has 11 RBI batting eighth in that lineup.

We shouldn't be too surprised to see Ellis move up in the order, placing him closer to the mix with more productive bats. The only problem is that it's great to have a No. 8 hitter who knows how to reach base with two outs and get the pitcher out of the way so the next inning can start with the top of the order. With two out and the bases empty this year, according to baseball-reference.com, Ellis has a .467 on-base percentage in 15 plate appearances. About as often as not, he keeps a dead inning alive for long to spare the next one.

As far as starting pitching goes, the Dodgers are strong, but Washington, St. Louis, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco are as good or better. The Dodgers are third in starting pitcher ERA across the NL at 2.95, behind the Nationals (2.26) and the Cardinals (2.82). The Dodgers' overall staff ERA is 3.27, tied with Cincinnati for fourth in the NL.

The three Dodger left-handed starters -- Clayton Kershaw, Ted Lilly and Chris Capuano -- have been just about everything you would want. However, the home run ball is hurting Kershaw. During his Cy Young 2011 season, Kershaw allowed 15 homers in 233.1 innings. At his present 2012 rate, he would allow 25 homers in those same innings.

Right hander Chad Billingsley has been good more often than not, and righty Aaron Harang eeks out an acceptable start about half the time (We use "acceptable" rather than "quality" start.).

Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly pinch hit for Billingsley in the fourth inning, and it wasn't just because the bases were loaded and the Dodgers trailed, 2-1. Billingsley couldn't find the plate and threw 85 pitches through four innings. As Mattingly told reporters, Billingsley had only one inning left, anyway, so, "It was a no-brainer." Pinch hitter Tony Gwynn made it an act of genius, tripling to right field and clearing the bases to charge a 6-2 win against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

We talked about the bullpen a bit a couple days ago. It remains to be seen if Kenley Jansen will make it as a closer. One concern is that the Dodgers don't have a left-handed reliever who can be counted upon to enter in the seventh or eighth inning and retire a tough left-handed hitter. The only lefty in their pen, Scott Elbert, isn't doing the job. Left-handed batters are seven-for-16 (.438) with a homer and a 1.214 OPS against him this year.

Defensively, this is a pretty nice ball club. Gordon is a bit of a circus at shortstop, for good and ill, and that's about the worst that can be said about the whole operation. It seems as though James Loney will never again hit like when he came up in 2006 and 2007, but his glove work at first base is so strong that you love seeing him out there. And wherever you put Jerry Hairston, he makes a really sharp play. He might be the team's best defender.

Behind the plate, A.J. Ellis is death to opposing runners, throwing out 10 of 22 attempting base stealers (45.5 percent), fourth in the league. Ellis has allowed more passed balls (four) than any other catcher in the NL. But adding together offense and defense, Ellis is right with Philadelphia's Carlos Ruiz as the NL's best catcher at this moment.

The Dodgers have made 17 errors, tied for second fewest in the NL with Philadelphia and Cincinnati and trailing only St. Louis, which has 14. The Dodgers have the fourth best unearned run average across the NL at 0.21 per game, behind St. Louis (0.12), Milwaukee (0.18) and Atlanta (0.19). The league average is 0.36. So, when the Dodger fielders do kick the ball, the pitchers are picking them up. In defensive efficiency, the Dodgers are third in the NL at .713, behind only Washington (.724) and Chicago (.722). The league average is .693. The Dodgers are doing a lot right defensively.

It's a little harder to say that about their base running. The derring-do that made so many thrills during the first ten games of the season turned into outs when the Dodgers started playing against better clubs. Once those dashes for the extra base became outs, the Dodgers dialed it back a bit, Now it seems sometimes like they don't run enough, and sometimes it seems like too much. A lot of that's in the results.

The Dodgers have been caught stealing 14 times, the most in the league, and they have only 20 steals, which is one less than the league average. The percentages say you need a 75-percent success rate to make base stealing worthwhile. The Dodgers lag well behind at 58.8 percent. Gordon has taken half of the club's base stealing attempts, succeeding 12 of 17 times.

The bench is not bad, but it could be better. Juan Rivera began the year as the regular left fielder, but Mattingly has since taken to platooning him a bit at first base, which puts his bat in the lineup against lefties while removing Loney’s bat against them. Now, left field is something of a catch-all for rotating various reserves into the lineup once or twice per week to keep them sharp. Not a bad idea.

Gwynn has taken a lot of starts there lately, but Bobby Abreu, acquired recently from the Angels, seems to have a new lease on life at Dodger Stadium, where he has made a couple starts in left field this week. The Dodgers have two 36-year-old benchers, catcher Matt Treanor and infielder Adam Kennedy, who struggle offensively.

Hairston also is 36 and he has not struggled offensively (.315/.403/.463). Plus, you can put a glove on him and send him anywhere. You probably don’t want to see him more than about 80 times per year because, the record shows, his best offensive seasons are about that long. But managers across baseball have been running him out there about 125 times per year for the last three seasons, likely because he brings so much presence of mind to the game that they just want to squeeze a little more out of him. Very nice player.

The Dodgers aren’t going to finish this season at their present .633 winning percentage, which would come to 102 or 103 wins. They just don’t have the depth going through their lineup or pitching staff. If all goes very well, they can approach 95 wins, and the guess here is that they would end around 92 or 93 wins. Obviously, they need to maintain their strong performance against the NL West. The Dodgers are 9-4 within the division, having played all those teams except the defending champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They play 59 of their remaining 131 games against division foes.

But they also need to remain good right now, while the getting is good. With their three games earlier this week against the Giants, the Dodgers began the most favorable stretch of their schedule. Through the end of May, they make only two road trips, and they are the shortest trips – two games at San Diego and three at Arizona. The rest of their games through May are at Dodger Stadium, where they are the best home team in the NL right now at 12-3. They are on all but a three-week home stand. Going through these next 20 games, it would behoove the Dodgers to win at least 14 of them and build a little bit of a cushion for a rainy day, because the schedule will become tougher.

Along with what we’ve seen already, though, there is other good news. First, no one else in the NL West is ten feet tall. The pitching that served Arizona so well last year has faltered. The Giants have to fight through injuries to Pablo Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez and Brian Wilson. The Rockies are flawed, and so are the Padres. The division is out there to be won. Also, the new owners make fans confident that the Dodgers can add a piece at the trade deadline, if they must.

Probably, they will have to. The players on hand are doing what they must, so far, to make that bold move a compelling possibility. And the possibilities don't end there. They might even include a pennant.

Dodgers change owners, but real change is on the field

The Dodgers passed into a transition during the last weekend of April as Frank McCourt made his last calls in the clubhouse and fans packed Dodger Stadium for three exciting games against another division leader, the Washington Nationals.

Even before the team's sale was finalized, the change already was being felt at Dodger Stadium (public domain image).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in LA

The Dodgers passed into a transition on the weekend April 27-29 as outgoing owner Frank McCourt made his final calls in the clubhouse. Fans, now giddy over the ball club's winning ways, just couldn't wait for the evil one to be gone and crashed the gates in numbers last seen years ago as the Washington Nationals visited Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers, off to their best start in 31 years, just kept grinding out narrow wins.

Among the suits, the transition didn't go smoothly. Earlier in the month, Major League Baseball (MLB) attorneys tied up the bankruptcy court for two hours, complaining to the judge that Guggenheim Baseball, the prospective Dodgers ownership group, wasn't coming clean about its arrangements with McCourt to share the Dodger Stadium parking lot. McCourt needed to have the $2.15 billion sale closed on April 30 so he could pay the $131 million he owes his ex-wife. The sale closed on May 1. As to how being a day late would affect matters between McCourt and his ex, who cares?

All of that seemed far away from Dodger Stadium. With three tight, exciting victories against the Nationals, the Dodgers again became the LA Dodgers, the city team pursuing a pennant before packed houses. The Dodgers and their fans were back without waiting for McCourt to be all the way gone.

No one looked at the schedule in March expecting a three-game visit from the Nationals to bring up so much energy. But the Nationals arrived on April 27 leading the NL East, the Dodgers led the NL West, and we witnessed a weekend of big games played by big stars in front of big crowds.

The Dodgers sweep sent 147,802 fans home with a sense that they will be back. The gate was the best at Dodger Stadium for a three-game weekend series in three years, since the Angels drew 164,476 for a Freeway Series played May 22-24, 2009. The Dodgers were contenders then, as they are now.

The series began with a Friday night game featuring Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers' Cy Young Award winner, against a weak Washington lineup. The Nationals came to town second only to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a good-pitch, no-hit operation. They had five starting pitchers with WHIPs of less than 1.0, but their best hitter, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, was out with injury, prompting the Nats to call up 19-year-old Bryce Harper. But Harper wasn't arriving until the next day. So, the Nats tried their luck with an order that included three hitters -- Mark DeRosa, Danny Espinosa and Xavier Nady -- batting less than .200.

Ease of victory appeared certain for the Dodgers in the first inning, when Andre Ethier followed a Matt Kemp single by hitting a 1-0 slider from Ross Detwiler over the right field fence. The Dodgers added a run in the fourth, when Juan Uribe batted a 2-2 slider from Detwiler into the hole at short, driving in Kemp from third.

With the game's best pitcher tossing, a 3-0 lead for the Dodgers appeared safe. But that appearance evaporated in the top of the sixth.

In the first inning, Kershaw hit a 2-2 count to Washington first baseman Adam LaRoche, then tossed him a letter-high, 85 MPH slider (we'll call it that, whatever it was) with no movement. Apparently not believing Kershaw would throw such a pitch, LaRoche watched it go by. Strike three.

LaRoche singled against Kershaw's fastball in the fourth inning, then faced Kershaw again in the sixth. This time, Kershaw had just walked Jason Werth, missing the plate with three of five fastballs. But Kershaw blew two fastballs past LaRoche here to reach an 0-2 count. Then, inexplicably, Kershaw went back to that lifeless, 85 MPH slider across the letters that made a fool of LaRoche in the first inning. This time, LaRoche was sitting on it, and he blasted it into the right field seats. Suddenly, the Dodgers were in a game, leading only 3-2.

Washington could not mount another threat, either against Kershaw or reliever Kenley Janson. The Dodgers escaped with a 3-2 win, huge because they had just lost two of three at home against Atlanta and they stood to be in for hard times the next two games against Washington pitchers Steven Strasburg and Gio Gonzales.

The middle game of this series truly brought the Dodgers home with brilliant individual performances following various adversities for a 4-3 win in ten innings. The largest adversity consisted in batting against Strasburg, who lives on a 98 MPH four-seam fastball and a big, hard curve that almost always finds the strike zone. The Dodgers barely touched him.

In particular, Kemp barely touched him. Kemp might have deservedly been the unanimous pick for NL Player of the Month in April, but on this night, Strasburg owned him. Kemp faced Strasburg three times and made four outs -- two strikeouts and a double play. Strasburg threw Kemp ten fastballs and three curves. Kemp hit one pitch from Strasburg fair -- a 1-2 fastball to trigger a double play around the horn to end the first inning. The grounder erased Tony Gwynn, who had just ripped Strasburg's fastball into right field for a single.

Strasburg whiffed Kemp in four pitches to end the third inning, finishing the job with a 1-2 fastball the Dodgers star watched for called strike three. In the sixth, Strasburg brought his most impressive wares against Kemp. After Kemp fouled off a fastball and a curve for a 1-2 count, the Nats right hander dialed up a 98.2 MPH four-seamer with so much backspin that it apparently defied gravity by the Magnus effect. The pitch was still going up when Kemp swung under it for strike three.

Thus, Strasburg shut down Kemp in a performance that should be noted as a measure of the young pitcher's dominance. It's not as if Kemp was in for a bad night.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley stayed with Strasburg, matching zeroes for six innings. The Nats finally put up a run in the top of the seventh on LaRoche's homer to right against Billingsley, taking a 1-0 lead. But the Dodgers were back with a run in their half of the inning, the most heartening run of the season so far, mostly a testament to the way Jerry Hairston, a third generation major leaguer, goes about playing this game.

It began with Strasburg hitting Hairston in the hands with a 98 MPH fastball. The left wrist took the brunt of it. The sound was rather disturbing. Hairston winced hard for a while. The trainer and the manager came out to check on him. Hairston stayed in the game, taking first base. Next, James Loney hit a bouncer towards the right of second base. As Hairston ran hard to second base, Washington second baseman Daniel Espinosa charged in towards the ball, but lost track and mishandled it. Hairston slid into the bag, holding his left hand as he popped up. Loney was safe at first on the error.

So, what do you know? The Dodgers didn't hit Strasburg all night. Strasburg completely overmatched the best hitter in the game right now. But by the gifts of a hit batsman and an error, they had runners at first and second with no outs. Now, though, the bottom of the order approached. So, the Dodgers finally had a runner in scoring position, but against this pitcher, he was a long way from home.

Strasburg apparently righted himself by striking out Juan Uribe, giving him nine Ks for the game. Not only had Strasburg not walked anyone, but he hadn't even run to a three-ball count. He still owned this game with a 1-0 lead and A.J. Ellis coming up.

Ellis is a 31-year-old catcher who began the season with 87 games in the major leagues. He did not rise quickly, nor with his bat. However, he has one outstanding quality as a hitter -- his sense of the strike zone. During his 543-game minor league career, Ellis walked 336 times and struck out 283 times. At this moment, he was 14 and 14 in 2012.

Now, with a chance to score a precious run at hand, Ellis and his eye put the flame-throwing phenom to the test. Strasburg started with a curve outside for ball one. Next came a smoking fastball right near the down-low corner, but Ellis thought it missed and home plate umpire Mark Carlson agreed. Ball two. Now Strasburg was in a fight. He followed with a high fastball through the zone and Ellis saw it coming, but he swung and missed. Next, another fastball. Ellis took a good rip, a tiny bit late, and fouled it hard into the first base seats. Next, Strasburg tried to put Ellis away with another high fastball, but Ellis watched it go high, running the count full and putting Strasburg in a three-ball count for the first time all night.

For his next pitch, Strasburg selected his curve ball. Before A.J. Ellis batted in the seventh, Strasburg had thrown 26 curves. Of the 13 that hitters did not swing at, seven were called strikes and six were balls. Of the 13 that hitters swung at, they missed three of them completely, fouled off five and put three in play for outs. Another curve to Loney earlier in this very inning resulted in the error at second base by Espinosa. Strasburg had allowed only one hit all night with his curve ball -- a fifth-inning ground ball single to right by A.J. Ellis.

So the odds more or less favored Strasburg getting out of this with his curve. But not against this hitter, this time. As Strasburg's curve broke down sharply, Ellis hit the top half of the ball hard and it bounced on two hops through the hole between third and short, skipping straight toward the charging left fielder Harper, who had been playing deep. Hairston, running on contact, went hard to third and was waved home by third base coach Tim Wallach. Harper scooped up the ball coming towards the plate and threw a bullet, right on time and mark, to Washington catcher Wilson Ramos. Hairston was out by three feet.

He was. Out by three feet. But not yet. Heading to a collision at the plate, Hairston, with his left hand, which had to be throbbing and sore as could be, swatted at the ball, the catcher's glove that held the ball, the catcher's arm -- whatever he could get. And it worked. He separated Ramos from the ball, sliding past the plate, then, reaching back across his body, slapped the plate with his right hand. The game was tied.

Hairston left the game in the ninth inning with an injured left hand. The club took precautionary X-rays, which were negative. Hairston sat out the next day's game against Washington, but returned to the field as a substitute in a series opener at Colorado a day later. 

The game tied, 1-1, Strasburg and Billingsley both left after the seventh inning. In the eighth, set-up men Josh Lindblom for Los Angeles and Tyler Clippard for Washington both pitched successfully, taking it 1-1 to the ninth inning, when closers Javy Guerra for the Dodgers and Henry Rodriguez for the Nationals both pitched unsuccessfully.

Guerra might claim extenuating circumstances, but he shouldn't. He entered for Scott Elbert with one out and Rick Ankiel at first base. He still had the edge. They still had to cross three bases before he could get two of them out. Unfortunately, the Nats immediately moved Ankiel up two bases to third with a single by Espinosa. Harper, who had doubled for his first big league hit in the seventh, hit a sacrifice fly to left, bringing in Ankiel. Next, Ramos singled to right field, driving in Espinosa from second and giving the Nationals a 3-1 lead.

The Nationals, then, were about to celebrate a huge win for their early-season contender. They went on the road against another division leader, their ace shut down the opposition and their phenom enjoyed a nice debut. All that remained were three more outs.

But their closer, Rodriguez, could not get them in time. The inning unraveled for Rodriguez from the start, when Mark Ellis led off with a single to right. Rodriguez responded with his first of two wild pitches in the inning, moving Ellis to second base. Next, Loney singled to right, moving Ellis to third, and the Dodgers had Rodriguez on the ropes with no one out.

Rodriguez slowed himself down a bit and threw two sliders to Uribe. The first time, Uribe swung and missed. The second time, Uribe pounced for a ground rule double down the left field line. Ellis scored, Loney moved to third, and now the Dodgers were within an eyelash of winning this one. But those hopes fizzled quickly.

Rodriguez threw too much fastball for A.J. Ellis, who fouled off one and missed two others completely for a strikeout. Then, Adam Kennedy, pinch hitting for Guerra, hit a ground ball to LaRoche at first. LaRoche fired home for Loney, who ran on contact. Out at the plate. Uribe moved up to third, but with two out and light-hitting Dee Gordon coming up, the Dodgers were a long shot to even tie the game.

The at-bat went seven pitches before reaching 3-2 on a changeup in the dirt. Working off the change, though, Rodriguez had to know Gordon would never catch up to his best fastball. So, Rodriguez threw it. 101 MPH. Gordon swung and missed. Strike three. Game over.

Except that Ramos, behind the plate, couldn't hang onto this wild ball, which skipped to the backstop. And one thing Gordon can do is run. He was still alive and on his way to first. Meanwhile, Uribe barreled in from third base and beat the throw home. The game was, once again, tied, now at 3-3. After Gordon took second base without a throw (for whatever reason, the winning run taking second base was scored as defensive indifference), Gwynn lined out to LaRoche, ending the inning.

After Jamie Wright pitched a one-two-three tenth for the Dodgers, Kemp led off the bottom of the inning against a new Washington pitcher, lefty Tom Gorzellany. Like his at-bats against Strasburg, this one began inauspiciously for Kemp. First, he took a fastball for a strike. Next, Kemp swung and missed at a change, plunging himself into a 0-2 hole. Kemp watched the next pitch, a change, go wide for ball one. And then, Gorzellany dialed up his best fastball, 92 MPH, and Kemp naturally viewed a 92 MPH fastball as a welcomed sight. Kemp drilled the pitch high over the center field wall.

Great as Kemp has been in the clutch this season, no one could believe it. This game was over and the Dodgers were celebrating. The crowd went wild as Kemp rounded third and leaped into a scrum of teammates at the plate. The fans hung around for Kemp's TV interview, broadcast in the stadium. In the end, the night belonged to Matt Kemp. But it certainly didn't begin that way. He got his chance in the tenth, and we can point to a number of reasons, but nothing stood out like the run in the seventh, when Hairston's game approach and a patient at-bat for A.J. Ellis made it possible for the star to later take his turn.

The Dodgers went to the Sunday game seeking a sweep behind their new lefthander, Chris Capuano. Washington countered with its new lefthander, Gio Gonzalez. The two battled to a 0-0 tie through five innings.

But there was something a little strange about how Gonzalez got there. The Dodgers appeared to be helping him. Gonzalez made it through five innings throwing only 59 pitches. And he was fairly wild, throwing 34 balls and 25 strikes. Gonzalez began the game wild, walking Tony Gwynn, then moving the runner up on a wild pitch. But Gonzalez rallied with strikeouts against Kemp and Ethier to stop the inning.

The next four innings found the Dodgers making two outs on 1-0 pitches, two outs on 2-0 pitches, two outs on 2-1 pitches and three outs on first pitches. In the sixth, though, the Dodgers got wise to Gonzalez and stopped swinging at him.

As a result, Kemp, Ethier and Uribe all walked on a total of 13 pitches, loading the bases with one out. Gonzalez needed a double play or a strikeout. But after going up 1-2 on Loney, the Dodgers first baseman flaired a curveball the other way. The ball fell between the shortstop and the center fielder. Two runs scored.

Entering the game, Gonzalez had retired 48 straight hitters after reaching two-strike counts. For the first five innings of this one, he added six more. But in the sixth inning, facing a hitter who has to be  considered a weak link in the Dodgers lineup, Gonzalez lost his streak, and the game, to a flair.

It was that kind of a weekend for the Dodgers. The Nationals didn't make a serious threat for the remainder of the game. The Dodgers prevailed in a 2-0 win, sweeping this early meeting of division leaders.

Monday night, the new Dodgers ownership group will introduce itself to the fans as the Dodgers bring the San Francisco Giants to their stadium. No doubt, the crowd will cheer Magic Johnson as he introduces members of Jackie Robinson's family in a pre-game ceremony. A glorious past and a compelling future will come together in one moment.

But baseball is every bit as much about the present, which is no good unless the ball club is. And the Dodgers showed a week earlier that they have something of what it takes. The fans responded. They just couldn't wait. And, now, they no longer have to.