Red hot Kemp leading the way for rampant Dodgers

Matt Kemp and the Los Angeles Dodgers were the main talking points in the second week of the 2012 National League campaign.

In a pair of three game series against the Padres and Pirates, the Dodgers went 6-0, while their star centre fielder went 12-of-22 (.545) with a remarkable four home runs and eight RBIs, while striking out just three times. It would be remiss not to mention, however, the pitching staff too. Clayton Kershaw got things underway against the Pirates on Tuesday, returning from having pitched just 3.0 innings in his first game against the Padres the week before due to a flu, with a stellar 7.0 innings, in which he gave up just one run in a 2-1 victory. He was followed by Chad Billingsley who posted similar figures the next day in a 4-1 triumph in which he gave up just one run in 6.0 innings. The series sweep was completed by Javy Guerra claiming his third save in as many games as the Dodgers improved to 6-1 with a 3-2 win.

While their pitching was less than stellar against the Padres, Ted Lilly’s season debut being the obvious exception (7.0 IP, 0 ER in a 6-1 victory in game two), their offence took up a notch and manhandled the Padres pitching staff with extreme ease, scoring 20 runs in the three game set. The third of those games was highlighted by the first triple play of the season, turned by the Dodgers after the Padres base-runners stood still thinking their teammate had either bunted foul or been hit by the pitch, showing that even at the top level, players do not always ‘play to the whistle.’

While the Dodgers impressed all those following baseball, the Giants are doing anything but that. They started off the week on a positive note with Barry Zito recording his first complete game shutout in his 147^th game as a San Francisco Giant in a 7-0 victory over division rivals the Colorado Rockies. One assumes that had the Giants front office known it would have taken Zito so long to perform to that standard they wouldn’t have splashed the cash some years ago. Then, it all went downhill. Tim Lincecum followed a poor first game with an even worse second game, giving up six runs in 2.1 innings. If you thought that was bad, Guillermo Mota gave up six hits and five runs (four earned) while recording just three outs as the Rockies notched up the highest score of the season with a 17-8 win in which four players collected at least three hits and Michael Cuddyer notched three of the twelve extra base hits given up by the Giants pitching staff. Oddly, perhaps, the only homers in the game were hit by San Fran, with Nate Schierholtz depositing two balls in the stands.

Despite winning the rubber match behind a great outing from Madison Bumgarner, who would later sign a five year contract extension, and Brian Wilson recording his first save of the season, the joy was to be short lived as it was revealed that Wilson will likely miss need elbow surgery that would keep him out for the rest of the campaign. They went on to claim two of three against the Pirates, upping their record to a slightly more respectable but still disappointing 4-5 heading into a Monday showdown between The Freak and Halladay. Matt Cain’s performance in the opening match of the series against the Pirates was the main talking point of that series. The 27 year old bounced back from a poor display to throw a complete game one hitter as he befuddled and baffled many a Pirates hitter. He recorded eleven K’s.

Elsewhere in the West, the Padres have struggled, which is perhaps to the surprise of nobody. They went 1-5 on the week, scoring two runs or less in four of those games and entering Monday with a team batting average of a woeful .191, and that was helped by a ten hit display in a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers on Jackie Robinson Day. One must confess that the early part of the Padres season is exactly how one envisioned it to be, as the pitching staff is, generally speaking, performing well enough to keep the offence in games (they lost of three against Arizona despite giving up just eight runs the entire series). The offence, however, simply isn’t performing at a similar level. A case in point would be the leadoff man Cameron Maybin, a player who has long frustrated with his inconsistency, who has started the season hitting just .175. The Rockies have been a hit and a miss, while the Diamondbacks, like the Padres but in a more positive light, are performing exactly how we (or I certainly) thought they would.

Colorado entered the week off the back of two emotional losses to the Astros that saw Jamie Moyer attempt to become the oldest pitcher ever to win a game, and Juan Nicasio returning from a broken neck. They were, frankly, humiliated by Barry Zito on Monday in a 7-0 shutout in which Todd Helton saw his average drop to .083, before exploding in a 17-8 victory the following night in which they recorded 22 hits and, more importantly, the second victory of the season. In the rubber match, Jamie Moyer had a second bite at the cherry, but again failed in his bid to become the oldest pitcher ever to win a game in the Majors, although a two run, 5.2 inning effort is hardly a poor showing. Moyer is next scheduled to pitch again on Tuesday. Arizona, meanwhile, are sitting comfortably just behind the Dodgers, despite losing two of three against the Rockies with uncharacteristically poor starting pitching. Daniel Hudson gave up six runs in 3.2 innings in the opener, while teammate Josh Collmenter hardly fared better with a 4.0 inning, five earned run display. They are, however, getting results from their offence, especially Chris Young who was hitting .364 come Monday morning.

Over in the East, the Mets are surprising everyone with a 6-3 record following a couple of tough series against division foes. While New York only took one game from the Nationals, a series that featured an enthralling match-up between Stephen Strasburg and Johan Santana, they managed to take two of three against a Phillies side that has shown too little offensively thus far in the season. Although that’s hardly surprising given the loss of both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. New York managed to walk-off against the Nationals on Monday, thanks to a bullpen performance that didn’t allow a hit in 3.1 innings, but dropped the next two and lost All-Star third baseman, albeit not for long, with a broken pinkie. In the marquee match-up, Johan struck out eight and allowed just one run in 5.0 innings, but took the loss as Strasburg allowed just two hits and no runs in 6.0 innings.

David Wright homered on the first pitch he saw on his return in a 5-0 win over the Phillies, one of three hits, while Jon Niese took his record to 2-0 with stellar display.

The Nationals young pitching staff is certainly living up to its potential in the early part of the season, giving up just ten runs in the first six games of the week, before allowing eight on Sunday to the Reds, rendering the fact that their offence scored four or less runs in five of the seven games essentially meaningless as they were able to win games with just three runs in the bag. Indeed three members of the starting rotation currently possess a WHIP less than 1.00.

Meanwhile, the Marlins play on the field has been somewhat overshadowed by the comments of their manager, Ozzie Guillen, who was given a five match ban after publicly expressing some interesting views on ex-Cuban President Fidel Castro. On the field, they largely flattered to deceive and the gung-ho offence we all expected has been largely posted missing. After beating the Phillies on Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park, they managed just two runs in the next two games, with Josh Johnson having a second consecutive poor outing, this time opposite Roy Halladay in a 7-1 defeat. They did take two of three against the Astros to improve their record to 3-6 in a series in which all three games finished 5-4. Omar Infante is leading the way offensively with a .343 average.

The Braves enter the third week of the season on a five game win streak, having started 0-4, with Chipper Jones smashing a homer on his season debut, much to the joy of Brave fans everywhere. They finished the week with a three game sweep of the Brewers that was highlighted by a 7-4 victory on Jackie Robinson Day that included 7.0 shutout innings from Brandon Beachy and long balls from Chipper and Jason Heyward.

In the Central, it appears to going to plan, even this early in the season, as the Cards already have a three game lead and are the only team with a winning record, proving that life after Pujols and LaRussa isn’t all bad. Taking two of three from both the Red and Cubs, the Cardinals not only improved their own record, but hurt those teams around them with dominating displays. They notched up five homers in the first two games of the series against Cincinnati, while the starters in those games, Jake Westbrook and Kyle Lohse went a combined 13.0 innings, allowing just one run. Against the Cubbies, it was a dominant five RBI display from Matt Carpenter, who went 4-for-4 and hit his first career homer in a 10-3 win on Jackie Robinson Day, while Jake Westbrook was solid yet again, giving up just a single run in 7.0 innings of work. That performance, coupled with a win the previous night, meant that a defeat in the home opener was quickly forgotten about.

Elsewhere in the division, though, it appears that the teams are frightened of challenging the current World Series Champions. The other five teams in the division combined to go 10-23 for the week. Houston went 2-4 in series defeats to Atlanta and Miami, although bright spots included Marwin Gonzalez’s three hit, three run display in the sole victory over the Braves, and a four run ninth inning on Sunday to defeat the Marlins 5-4, although they were helped somewhat by three errors. The Pirates looked impressive in their opening series against the Dodgers, but were anything but last week, as they went 1-5, scoring a mere four runs in the first four games of the week. The fact that centre fielder Andrew McCutchen, who is hitting .333, has just a single RBI this season, tells you all you need to know about the Pirates run scoring ability thus far, although it is admittedly very early days. The pitching has been impressive, largely, with Kevin Correia giving up just a single run in 6.0 innings on Tuesday against the Dodgers and Erik Bedard being in the somewhat unfortunate position of having an 0-2 record despite a 2.25 ERA.

As for the rest, the Brewers have been a massive disappointment, with Zack Greinke giving up eight earned runs while recording just eleven outs in an 8-0 thumping against the Cubs, for whom Matt Garza’s 8.2 innings of three hit ball was one of two main highlights of the week, the other coming when they spoiled St.Louis’ home opener with a convincing 9-5 victory, in which Adam Wainwright recorded just one more out (nine) than runs he gave up (eight). Milwaukee started the week off taking the first three games against the Cubs, but have since lost their last four games, giving up 27 runs in the process. Cincinnati went 2-5 in series against St. Louis and Washington, during which they failed to score more than a single run in four games. Hardly surprising, therefore, that they find themselves below .500. Even so, bright spots are there for all to see. Aroldis Chapman was flat out nasty, fanning ten hitters in five innings, while allowing just two hits and no free passes, while the pitching staff in general had a good week. Just a shame the offence couldn’t replicate. As expected, the bullpen has been lights out, with Arredondo’s performance against the Cards on Monday night (0.1 IP, 3 ER) being the exception that proves the rule. Even so, the Reds, and indeed the rest of the National League already appear to be behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.