[mlbvideo id=”34958221″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
Matt Kemp is having a week.
With a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 10th tonight, Kemp drove the Dodgers to their fifth victory in a row, 3-2 over Atlanta, and extended his recent dominance.
Kemp is 6 for 8 with three home runs, four runs and six RBI in his past two games. He now has a .353 on-base percentage and .465 slugging percentage this season.
Kemp’s wRC+ is now 133. It’s better than his career avg. It’d be third best year of his career. Top-35 in baseball.
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) July 31, 2014
Following a best-in-his-Dodger career 13 strikeouts in eight innings from Zack Greinke and two runs from Kemp — one in the second inning on his latest homer, the other by racing from second to home on a Juan Uribe infield single to break a 1-1 tie in the eighth, the Dodgers were within three outs of a tidy 2-1 win.
[mlbvideo id=”34959631″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
But then Kenley Jansen allowed his first run in 14 games to start the bottom of the ninth, a home run by Justin Upton. Consequently, the Dodgers found themselves playing their first extra-inning game at Dodger Stadium since May 11.
The Dodgers played 10 extra-inning games in their first 39 games of 2014, then one extra-inning game in their next 68 games before tonight.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) July 31, 2014
Atlanta threatened in the 10th, but shot itself in the foot when J.P. Howell picked Jordan Schafer off second base with one out.
And then came Kemp. Again.
Michael Green
I wonder whether Matt Kemp’s shoulder and leg are finally healed. I’ve always marveled at the players who play hurt though it hurts their team, and how players who don’t play hurt are criticized (remember Mike Marshall, the OF-1B?).
Now to be totally cynical. It would be fun for a researcher to explore how often a player starts hitting or pitching better immediately after being subject to trade rumors and concomitant press criticism. I have memories of Eric Karros suddenly hitting better after he would be mentioned in trade rumors. No, I don’t mean they weren’t trying. But athletes are like the rest of us. Reggie Jackson once asked Earl Weaver why he couldn’t be Mr. October all the time and Weaver said because no one can sustain that kind of performance over 162 games. It’s interesting to ponder what makes them tick.
oldbrooklynfan
5 straight and counting.