Los Angeles Dodgers

Kershaw pitched a complete-game victory to improve to 5-2 on the year. 

Kershaw gave up just an RBI ground out in the third inning for the only run he allowed. He gave up three hits and a walk over his nine innings, throwing 107 pitches. Kershaw struck out five batters and lowered his ERA to 1.35. 

Kershaw, 25, has picked up consecutive wins with one run allowed over 17 2/3 innings with 16 Ks over that span. He hasn't lost since falling to 2-2 on April 17 against San Diego. Kershaw makes his next start Sunday against the Cardinals. 

Gonzalez is striking out less and hitting fewer grounders and more line drives, all of which goes a long way towards explaining his .331 batting average. He's also driving in runs at a prolific pace, possibly headed towards eclipsing his career high of 119 RBI. Gonzalez's spray chart from TexasLeaguers.com shows that he's hitting the ball deep, so more homers could be in his future.

The only problem that Gonzalez may not be able to fix is his lack of runs scored. He's crossed home plate just 11 times, and given the lack of pop in the latter half of the Dodgers' lineup, that pace may not improve much. With everything else that could go right, though, Gonzalez is a nice buy-low target.

"It wasn't affecting pitch execution out there," Capuano said. "It just feels a little tired. I've got an extra day before the next start (Friday against the Cardinals). With treatment and stuff we should be able to get that ready."

Capuano, who was activated off the DL May 6, is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in his last three starts. He's allowed two runs on 10 hits and a walk in his last two starts (13 2/3 innings).

Ethier is batting .308 (16 for 52) in his last 16 games, raising his season average from .237 to .262. He has one triple, two doubles, five runs, six walks and six RBI in that span.

It's not as if he has suddenly stopped hitting flyballs, like Dustin Pedroia and Eric Hosmer have. Kemp normally hits for the most power on balls that go to center field, and he hasn't hit many deep shots that way so far. Still, he has hit just 67 balls up the middle this season -- and that includes grounders -- so we're still looking at a pretty small sample.

As long as Kemp continues to put the ball in the air and avoid popups -- and he's been doing both at reasonable rates -- there's a chance for him to rediscover his power.

But he was greeted by a two-run homer from Evan Gattis and Andrelton Simmons followed with a solo shot, sending Jansen (1-2) and the Dodgers to an eventual 3-1 loss. 

Jansen said Gattis "just hit a good pitch." Gattis said Justin Upton gave him advice about avoiding cutters that appeared to be bound for the middle of the plate because they would break off the plate. Gattis said Upton's instruction was to wait on a pitch "starting at you, or it looks like it's starting at you. That's going to be the one that you want."

"What could I do?" Jansen asked. "I'm not going to let that bother me. Tip your hat. He hit a good pitch. You've got to go in there. Period. He's creeping up on home plate every time I'm throwing outside. I put it where I wanted to put it."

"Don't steal third," Dee Gordon repeated, "unless you know you'll be safe. I felt it was 100 percent, but I got thrown out."

Mattingly was still annoyed Sunday morning.

"The first year he was here, you want to be patient with him and you're always teaching, but yesterday, we've been there before, and I told him when he got to the dugout that you can't run there unless you're 100 percent," Mattingly said. "There's no real upside to stealing the base. Only an infield hit or a passed ball. It doesn't make any sense to me. It's just a mistake you really can't make. I don't want to come down on Dee. He's trying. But it's just not the right time to steal a base. It's a useless base."