Game #88: Dodgers 6, Mets 0

Terry Collins inexplicably avoids ejection despite getting in the face of home plate umpire Greg Gibson for his missed call on Paulino's tag. (Alex Gallardo/AP)

The Mets had already won the series in LA, but the wheels came off on the road to SF.

Clayton Kershaw baffled New York for 8 innings and a 5-run 6th proved fatal for Dillon Gee's outing, spiraling the Mets to a 6-0 loss at the hands of the Dodgers.

The Bad Stuff:

• It's one thing for a makeshift lineup to beat the likes of Ted Lilly and Hiroki Kuroda; it's a whole 'nother thing to beat the likes of an All-Star. Not much New York could have done tonight against Clayton Kershaw, who cruised through 8 scoreless innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks (he also hit a guy) while striking out 9.
• The Mets biggest offensive chance didn't come till the 8th inning, when they had the bases loaded and two out. Two-out RBIs have been a NY specialty as of late, but Kershaw slammed the door by striking out Ronny Paulino, all but sealing the deal for a Dodger team in desperate need of a W.
• On the other side of the hill, Dillon Gee did his best to match Kershaw for 5 innings, limiting LA to 1 run. Then came the 6th inning...things didn't go quite as well. With 2 on and 1 out, Matt Kemp showed Gee why he was an All-Star starter, lashing a double to the wall in left to score 2. Juan Uribe followed with a double of his own to plate Kemp, this one of the ground-rule variety. After Gee got James Loney to watch a third strike go by, Aaron Miles hit a double of his own to score Uribe. After Gee was pulled, Dioner Navarro (I know...who?) decided to one-up Kemp, Uribe, and Miles, and hit a triple to make it 6-0 and add one final run to Gee's tab for the night.

The Good Stuff:

• And that, as they say, is all she wrote.

Final Analysis:
A series win is a series win, but it would have been nice to get out of Chavez Ravine with at least some of the momentum we spent the past three days building up. Instead, the Mets will go upstate to San Fransisco to take on the next three parts of a monumental task: Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain. All three are All-Stars. Kershaw was an All-Star. The first three games after the break are against Philly's three All-Stars. Need I say more?

This loss also comes on the heels of Jose Reyes' trip to the DL. He will be out at least three weeks, and knowing New York's medical staff, it could be much longer than that. The team had won 4 straight prior to this game, and the replacements have been doing the best they can, but tonight's onslaught begs the question: How many of these seven games can the Mets win with an infield of utility men? Will the absence of Ike Davis, David Wright, and now MVP candidate Jose Reyes be too much of a burden against Big-Time Timmy-Jim and "those animals coming in from Philly?"

MM