This has Dodgers Fans VERY concerned...

This has Dodger fans very concerned, and I'll get to that story, but I mean, there might be some silver lining on this one. We'll get to that story because starting pitching for the Dodgers has been atrocious, and it continues to get worse, and I mean, the brightest spot that we have on our starting rotation obviously is going to be Yamamoto, but Kershaw pitched for the first time this season yesterday. Very happy Sunday to you all. We got the final game against the Angels going on today But Kershaw started and hit the mound yesterday And things did not go as well as you'd like it to for Kershaw The command was not there Giving up three runs right off the bat What do you do? What do you do if you're Kershaw? What do you do if you're a Dodger fan here? Well, I think the thing is You just got to You got to hang in there That's all you got to do So Clayton Kershaw's debut Here are the numbers for the Kersh and not good ones, four innings, pitched, five hits, five runs, three walks, two strikeouts is all he got. And I feel like if you erase the first inning, you know, he had a lot of pitches in the first inning, he gave up three runs in the first inning, so that is a problem right there. But in Kershaw's defense, he usually doesn't have a good first inning, and this can go back for years. If you look at traditional for Kershaw in his first innings, he doesn't have really good first innings. And yesterday was proof that he did not have a good first inning again. Now the 37-year-old was limited to only seven starts last year, had the shoulder surgery, had the toe surgery, had all kinds of surgeries going on. Dodgers gave him a one-year deal. He wants to retire a Dodger. He said three or four years ago he would have entertained a move, but now he wants to retire as a Dodger, and that's what he wants to do. So Dodgers, Kershaw won't push anything given his recent injury history. They'll take whatever he can give them. And I'll tell you, right now we need him. And if he could have just got to that first inning without those three runs, Dodgers have a chance and they could actually wind up with a win on that game. But you can't put all the blame on Kersh. You cannot do it. But starting pitching has been our Achilles heel for sure for the Dodgers so far. But, look, let me break it down. It's only one outing for the Kersh, okay? It's okay. Think about it. He's been out since way, way back since last year. before the Dodgers even won the World Series. He was a spectator during all that, right? So then in the offseason, he gets two surgeries. And then he goes and rehabs a little bit. That's still going to be, even though you rehab, still the nerves are going to play into it and all that. So I think he got caught up in it a little bit, had a couple little stumbles, didn't have his command. But you've got to give him a number two start. So don't be too concerned. It's baseball. It's a marathon, not a sprint. So you've got to give Percival another shot at it. And once again, it's a first-inning blues, I feel like. Clayton always gets bit by those first-inning blues, and yesterday was no exception on that. All right. Bullpen also giving up hits, too, so that's not quite as good as we like to see. Here is the numbers from last night's game. You see with Kearse getting the four innings, the five hits, the five earned runs, the three based on balls, the two strikeouts bringing him ever closer to the 3,000 mark, which you've got to see him get as a Dodger. Kasperius, he had some problems too. Two innings, he's given up three hits. He gave up two earned runs. Did have two strikeouts. And then not sure what happened with Kirby on that one, but three hits and three earned runs and one base on balls. And you only work at .1 in anything. That's not good for Kirby on that one. Luis Garcia came in. He gave up a hit. Tanner Scott was pretty solid. Had two strikeouts. Looked great. But Alex Bessia, I'm a little concerned about it. I think last year, he was not giving up the long ball as much, and this year he is giving up a lot of home runs for Alex Bessia. A guy who's only going to pitch one or two innings a game, but he's been giving up the long ball, you know, and he did it again yesterday. Yeah, that's only one run, but it seems like it's the norm, so maybe he needs less work, maybe you don't use him as much, not sure of the deal there, but the bullpen was getting work, And as the numbers climb up, you see what's going on. The Dodgers are going to need to solve some problems here with the bullpen. We need starters to go longer. First of all, so the bullpen doesn't have to be taxed all the time. And that's the problem with that in general. All right. Despite the back-to-back losses to the lowly Angels, the Dodgers still looking good in the standings. What's the standings right now? first place up by a game against the Padres look for the last 10 well five for five i mean the only thing that's been good for us is the Padres were four out of four for six so four wins and six losses which keeps them below us by a game so dodgers is still in first place no need to worry about that let's talk about some of the hitting yesterday hey look uh i was critical of max Muncy at the start of the season i'm a little better on the max Muncy situation now because Max has actually been doing something. He's been showing up and getting at least a hit. He got another hit yesterday. He did get that, and also a base on balls, too. It was a base on balls, base on balls, and he got a hit, too. So he's hitting his average to, what is he at, 211 now? Remember, he's a career 227, so any time we see him inching towards his career number, we'd like to see that with Max Muncy. So it's good to see him still getting hits. It's been, what, three or four games in a row that he has done something. So props out to Max for continuing to improve throughout the season. And I like the Dodgers. Roberts has been sending him out there and making him play. And look for him to play today, you've got to think. Well, also, let's talk about Pages. Pahez has actually been crushing it for the Dodgers. And I know there's a lot of you that were saying at the beginning of the season, like Pahez, he wasn't getting the hits, he needed to be sent down. But look, having confidence in Pahez, Roberts staying with Pahez, I think that has been absolutely amazing. Crushed another home run. So big props to Pages and what he has been doing for the Dodgers. But listen, it's going to be hard to win a game, right? It's hard to win a game when your all-time best offensive player on the team is Shohei Ohtani, and he goes 0 for 6 yesterday. And, you know, he's going to have bad games. It's not like, oh, we're going to trade Shohei. No, no, no. But Shohei went 0 for 6. It's hard to win a game. Like, if you're giving your star offensive player six shots at getting a hit and he doesn't get anything, 0 for 6 for Shohei, that wasn't looking good. Also, Mookie just had the one hit yesterday, too, as well. So your top two guys, you know, that's 1 for 11 out of those guys. Freeman still continuing to do what Freeman does, probably as we talked about a month or two as well. And I like what Kike's been doing. He's been contributing. But Conforto, I've got to talk about him. He did have a hit. He did have a walk. But his hitting has not improved enough. And Dalton Rushing getting in some action, too, as well. He got himself a run, and he got two hits. So a big up for Rushing. Got to get him in the game more. That's what I'm saying. You got to get him in the game more. And then you got Will Smith comes off the bench and immediately gets a hit, a pinch hit. So Will Smith has been crushing it, too, as well. All right, so that's what it's looking at. And then for tonight or today, McCoochie and Gonsolin going at it. But here's the numbers. You can see right there, 2.81 ERA for Gonsolin. He's got a 2-0 record. McCoochie, the left-handed pitcher, well, he's a 3.72 on his ERAs, 0-4-4. But he does have 43 Ks in that 0-4-4 for McCoochie. So that's what it's looking like for the Dodgers. Need to get back on track. It's a big game. You've got to make things happen. And you've got to beat the team you're supposed to beat. And the Dodgers were not supposed to be beat two games in a row by the Angels. So, at least salvage one game and get that done. Let's get Gonsolin with the win. Hey, subscribe if you're digging Dodgers. Don't forget to subscribe, like, turn on notifications. I'm Brad J. Thanks for tuning on in. And as you go through the day, people, just keep thinking Dodger Blue. Let's go Dodgers!