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          SweetSpot

          Seventh-inning woes come back for Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw

          • Mark Saxon, ESPN Staff WriterOct 10, 2015, 02:16 AM
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              Mark Saxon covers the St. Louis Cardinals for ESPN.com. He served as the Dodgers team reporter for ESPNLosAngeles.com. through the 2015 season. He spent six years at the Orange County Register, and began his career at the Oakland Tribune, where he started an 11-year journey covering Major League Baseball. He has also covered colleges, including USC football and UCLA basketball.
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          LOS ANGELES -- It seems as if the Los Angeles Dodgers keep having the same nightmare in the postseason, but it proves all too real. Clayton Kershaw gets in trouble in the seventh inning and whatever button manager Don Mattingly pushes, or doesn't push, turns out all wrong.

          The plague of Octobers past resurfaced Friday night in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium, where New York scored a 3-1 victory. Truth be told, though, the Dodgers lost because they couldn't handle Jacob deGrom, who struck out 13 batters in seven innings.

          Kershaw looked like himself in the first six innings, striking out 11, but he walked three batters in the seventh, a stunning turn of events for a pitcher with Kershaw's command. Mattingly replaced him with reliever Pedro Baez, who fell behind and gave up a two-run single to David Wright.

          Thumbs up: It's remarkable how little solid contact the Dodgers made off deGrom, who was still throwing 97 mph in the seventh inning, but one Dodgers hitter seemed fairly comfortable: former Met Justin Turner. He lined a double over Michael Cuddyer's head (and off his glove) in the second inning and hit a solid single to left in the fourth. He was stranded on base both times in part because Andre Ethier struck out immediately afterward. DeGrom was simply too much, reaching a strikeout total only Tom Seaver had hit for the Mets in the postseason.

          Thumbs down: The scrutiny will be on Kershaw, but the Dodgers lost this because they couldn't figure out deGrom. Even the meat of their order looked overmatched. Adrian Gonzalez had a runner on in each of his first two plate appearances and struck out both times. In fact, Gonzalez, who came into the game 3-for-8 with two home runs off deGrom, went down swinging in each of his three at-bats against the Mets starter. One was on a 98 mph fastball, another was on an 87 mph changeup and the third was on a 97 mph fastball. The heart of the Dodgers' order couldn't cash in on the few opportunities it had, but then again, neither could any other area of the Dodgers lineup. Gonzalez later accounted for the Dodgers' only RBI with a bloop single to left field off reliever Tyler Clippard.

          What's next: The Dodgers all along have had a pretty good fallback plan. Zack Greinke, perhaps the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young award, is scheduled to pitch Saturday night for the Dodgers, opposed by another hard-throwing Mets right-hander, Noah Syndergaard. Greinke is coming off one of the greatest pitching seasons in a generation, with a 1.66 ERA and 0.84 WHIP, though he's no lock to win the Cy Young because of competition from Jake Arrieta and Kershaw.