Game #34: Dodgers 4, Mets 2

The Dodgers' Jamey Carroll greeted Andre Ethier after Ethier's two-run homer in the seventh inning. The Mets' Ronny Paulino could only watch. (NYTimes.com)

Sunday is generally the Sabbath: the day of rest. The Mets bats must be believers, cause they took today off too.

Dodgers' starter Clayton Kershaw dominated for almost 7 innings and Andre Ethier rediscovered his power swing, as Los Angeles held off a late New York charge for a 4-2 victory in the series finale.

The Bad Stuff:

• There wasn't much the Amazin's could do against Kershaw today; the L.A. ace gave up just 1 run on 6 hits in 6 2/3 innings, walking 3 and sitting down 8 Mets by way of the K.
• New York's best chance came in the 7th, with Kershaw knocked out and the bases loaded. But Jason Bay flew out to end the threat. Bay was batting cleanup in place of Carlos Beltran, who was given the day off after 20 straight starts in right field.
• R.A. Dickey still couldn't find his touch from last year, giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 10 hits in 7 innings, walking 2 and striking out 3. The 36-year-old knuckleballer kept NY within one until the 7th inning, when Andre Ethier jump-started another hit streak with a 2-run homer that proved to be the difference.
• The Mets scored one in the 9th and had another on third base, but David Wright went down in typical David Wright fashion: swinging and missing. Is it bad that I knew he'd strike out before he even took one pitch? The supposed superstar is batting .240 on the year and has more Ks than hits. The trade rumors are circulating about Jose Reyes, but I think the Mets should keep Reyes and ship off Wright. Hard-hitting third basemen are a dime a dozen, but a shortstop as electrifying as Reyes doesn't come around very often. Trading Wright over Reyes wouldn't be as popular with the fan base in the Big Apple, but from this outsider's view, it's the better move. The only question is this: the way he's hitting now, who would possibly take Wright?

The Good Stuff:

• Ronny Paulino continues to make his case for starting catcher, going 2-4 and driving home the Mets' first run in the 1st. Also making a splash on in the box score were Justin Turner (1-3 w/ 1 run) and Scott Hariston (2-3).
• But once again, the best bat in this game belonged to Jose Reyes, who went 2-5 and brought home Daniel Murphy in the 9th on his 4th triple in 4 games (his 6 for the year lead the NL and are double the 2nd place total). In the Dodger series, Jose was an outstanding 7-14 at the plate with a double, 3 triples, and 2 RBIs.
• Additional props to Michael O'Connor, who pitched 2 perfect innings of relief in his second appearance with the team, striking out 2.

Final Analysis:
Would have been nice to sweep L.A. and bring a 4-game winning streak on the road, but this one wasn't too bad a loss. We've certainly lost worse games than this so far.

New York ends its week-long homestand a not-great-but-okay 3-3. The bad news is we're on the road again, but the good news is in this next week we face a team that's 3-7 in its last 10 and has lost 4 straight (Colorado Rockies) and an NL cellar-dweller even worse off than we are (Houston Astros). Winning on the road is always tough, but if things line up favorably for the Mets, they can come home next week with some momentum.

The other bad news is Chris Young, the guy who's come closest this year to being our ace, just bought a frequent-goer pass to the DL, going back on the List with tightness in the shoulder. Ouch.

MM

P.S. Found this article on ESPN about moving the Dodgers back to Brooklyn. Yeah, like that will ever happen. The Dodgers are Los Angeles' new as much as they were Brooklyn's then. And as big as it is, we don't need a third team in the Big Apple.