Van Slyke, Kershaw put on a show in ‘Opening Day Victory’

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By Jon Weisman

In a weirdly joyful way, Scott Van Slyke was the starter, Clayton Kershaw provided the middle relief and Chris Perez, Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen were together the closer.

For fans of the theater, it made for a nice play in three acts, this 3-1 Opening Day victory (recapped here by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) by the Dodgers over Arizona.

Overture

“It has been a marvelous week. The weather has been splendiferous.” – Vin #Dodgers

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 22, 2014

Act I

Van Slyke, continuing the rebuild of his career after being lopped off the Dodgers’ 40-man roster following the 2012 season, dominated the early going.

It began in the top of the second inning, when he followed an Adrian Gonzalez walk with a towering fly to left field off Arizona starter Wade Miley that looked every bit like a home run. Van Slyke actually slapped hands with first-base coach Davey Lopes (in a manner that would have gotten Yasiel Puig excoriated had he been the one), but no one was more fooled by the ball then new Diamondbacks left fielder Mark Trumbo, whose leap at the wall was a couple of yards to the left and above where the ball reached the fence.

The double moved Gonzalez to third base, from which outpost he was able to score the season’s first run on Andre Ethier’s grounder to second.

Two innings later, Gonzalez reached first when a swung-and-missed third strike eluded Arizona catcher Miguel Montero and went to the considerable acreage behind home plate. Van Slyke then went the opposite way, slicing one down the line that wasn’t as powerful as his second-inning blast but was twice as effective, staying inside the foul pole for a two-run home run to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead.

MVanP! MVanP! #Dodgers

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 22, 2014

For good measure, in between the two at-bats, Van Slyke went back smoothly on a Montero drive for an out.

Act II

Though Kershaw needed only three pitches for his first strikeout of the season, it wasn’t an easy first inning for him. Aaron Hill and Paul Goldschmidt followed with singles, the second coming shortly after a pitch on which Kershaw’s plant foot slipped out from under him, on the hallowed Sydney Cricket Ground’s not-so-hallowed pitching mound. Martin Prado grounded out on a comebacker, moving runners to second and third — the first jam of 2014. But Trumbo, moments before his Waterloo in left field, grounded to short to end the inning.

Kershaw struck out two in the second inning, but the third began with Miley extending his pitching rival into a nine-pitch at-bat. With early season pitch counts in play, that had the potential for being costly — underscored one batter later, when Hill went from 0-2 in the count to a walk. Goldschmidt flied to center, and Kershaw had escaped this second, smaller threat.

As events progressed to the middle innings, what initially seemed like troubling moments for Kershaw soon could be reconceived as opportunities for him to exert his authority.   Montero had a fourth-inning single, but every other batter in the frame grounded to Justin Turner. Gerardo Parra singled to lead off the fifth, but Kershaw sandwiched a fly to Puig with two strikeouts.

Only a wild pitch interfered with Kershaw pitching shutout ball. Goldschmidt led off the sixth with a double to the left-center gap, then advanced when a pitch in the dirt eluded A.J. Ellis. Prado grounded to Juan Uribe at third, which meant Goldschmidt had to hold, but a Trumbo grounder did get the first Arizona run home, one that without the wild pitch would have only moved Goldschmidt to third. Montero then grounded to first to end the inning.

Nevertheless, by this time, the spotlight was firmly on Kershaw. Despite his shaky showing in Spring Training previews, the Broadway star had taken to the stage for the official premiere and delivered moment after moment — to the point that neither he nor the Dodgers could resist an encore.

With 91 pitches already to his credit, one more than what was predicted for him in this pre-April outing and only three fewer than he used in his Opening Day 2013 shutout, Kershaw batted for himself in the top of the seventh. That was surprising enough, but then he sliced a single to left field and didn’t hesitate rounding first, testing Trumbo. He was thrown out at second base, an attempt that Vin Scully called “ill-advised,” and then came out to pitch the bottom of the seventh.

Kershaw would have completed that inning in 10 pitches had Turner, who had also singled in addition to cleanly fielding several grounders in his Dodger debut, not fumbled the ball on a transfer of a Parra grounder from glove to hand. Instead, having crossed the 100-pitch mark that was apparently his limit, Kershaw left the game with 6 2/3 innings added to his resume, having allowed five hits and the one walk while striking out seven and compiling 10 groundouts against three flyouts.

He had earned a nice toweling off.

Both pitchers are looking like Albert Brooks in Broadcast News.

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 22, 2014

Act III

When you’ve seen a good show, the last thing you want is to be let down in the final act — yet those can sometimes be the hardest to write. However, the Dodgers wrapped things tightly and masterfully.

Chris Perez made his Dodger debut and did his job in three pitches, inducing a fly out by A.J. Pollock to end the seventh. Brian Wilson took 14 pitches to wield a perfect eighth inning, striking out two. And then Kenley Jansen brought down the curtain by turning Trumbo, Montero and, after a Chris Owings for mild suspense, Parra into mere touchstones of his own personal monologue.

The 2013 season is history. The 2014 season has begun, and the Dodgers are looking good – in what, of course, is actually Act I of at least CLXII.

Waiting to meet the press: pic.twitter.com/rzt3tq7dEN

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 22, 2014