Clayton Kershaw sure helped avoid the “OMG WHO WILL CLOSE WTF BBQ” conundrum, didn’t he? You generally don’t have to worry about who’s pitching in the ninth when the starter doesn’t get out of the sixth. He was actually fine through five before… well, look. This game wasn’t very interesting. Once Kershaw tired in the sixth, all the air seemed to go out of the building (though the fact that there were about 15 people there didn’t help), so since it’s been a trying last 24 hours, and since there’s another game in about 14 hours, let’s just move on.

That said, I’d be remiss to not point out that James Loney had four hits, all singles. They all came off a righty and all, of course, on the road. The theory holds. Jerry Sands also doubled – at one point, I tweeted, “Jerry Sands now has 5 doubles in 36 PA over 9 games. Loney has 5 doubles over his last 176 PA spanning 46 games.” That’s still true, and I very much hope that Sands is playing first base when the Padres throw out lefty Clayton Richard this weekend in Dodger Stadium.

Finally, the Dodgers are going to have to do something about their short bench. Both Casey Blake and Juan Uribe have missed several games in recent days, and besides for forcing Aaron Miles and Ivan DeJesus into the lineup, it means that Tony Gwynn and Marcus Thames are the only two bats available other than the backup catcher. Uribe pinch-hit in the ninth, which I assume means he’s almost ready to return if only because it reset any retroactive DL date.

Early game tomorrow. Don’t forget.