Dan Haren was sharp for the second straight game as the Dodgers pulled out a 4 to 2 victory against the Braves. Unfortunately, his nemesis, BJ Upton, slammed his sixth career home run off of him, but it wasn't enough to overcome his effort. Haren went six innings, struck out seven, walked one and allowed just two runs to score. Graphic above via
@Dodgers on twitter.
The afternoon, though, belonged to Darwin Barney. He was outstanding on the field and with bat in his first career start for the Dodgers. As you might expect, he
flashed the leather like a former gold glover should. The surprise was that he was great at the plate and on the basepaths. He
knocked in the first run of the game in the second inning, and manufactured a run, just like a modern day Jackie Robinson, in the ninth inning to give the Dodgers an insurance run.
That last play was a thing of beauty. Barney got on base via an error by the shortstop, then proceeded to take second on that very same play when the ball skipped to the outfield. He quickly moved to third base on a groundball out to the right side, and
scored when a wild pitch bounced in front of the catcher and scampered down the third base line. Wow! It was just like watching some olde-tyme Dodger Baseball.
The Dodgers are now 6.0 games ahead of the Giants. Now, here are some more links to check out.
- ICYMI: Dodger teenage prospect Julio Urias turned 18 yesterday. Happy Birthday, buddy!
- BTW, Topps 2014 Finest Baseball card set officially goes live today, so go to your local card shop to check them out. I'll photos of all the Dodger cards soon. In the meantime, check out some preview pics of Yasiel Puig and Mike Piazza (as a Dodger) below, via @Toppscards on twitter:
“I think it was almost like that last year, too,” Kershaw said. “Coming
up short didn’t feel good, and now we have that experience of what it’s
like to go deep and not win. Especially with the team we have now and
the guys brought in from last year, we feel like it’s World Series or
bust, for sure.”
- Via Mike Petriello at FanGraphs, "Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez and Appreciating Greatness."
- If you have SportsNet LA this is great news. They will be televising 5 of the remaining home games of the Albuquerque Isotopes. Below is a schedule:
SportsNet LA Isotopes TV Schedule
Game Date Opponent SportsNet LA TV Time
Fri., Aug. 15 @ 6:05 p.m. vs. Memphis Sun., 8/17 @ 11:00 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 16 @ 6:05 p.m. vs. Nashville Mon., 8/18 @ 2:00 p.m.
Mon., Aug. 18 @ 5:35 p.m. vs. Nashville Wed., 8/20 @ 11:00 a.m.
Fri., Aug. 29 @ 6:05 p.m. vs. Las Vegas Sun., 8/31 @ 6:00 a.m.
Sun., Aug. 31 @ 5:05 p.m. vs. Las Vegas Tues., 9/2 @ 11:00 a.m.
All times listed are Pacific Time.
