For Dodgers, the kids were a lot better than all right

There’s youth served and youth force fed.

Sometimes the play of a kid is just so exciting it demands that he be called up. And sometimes, bodies are just falling everywhere and a team has little choice but to reach into its system, give ’em a push and let go of the bicycle.

Outside of the play of their big two –- Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp -– the most encouraging aspect to the Dodgers’ improved performance over the final two months was the play of their kids. Lots and lots of kids, and almost every one responded. And most at a level the team had little right to anticipate.

None were really in their plans for 2011. Position players Jerry Sands and Dee Gordon and right-hander Rubby De La Rosa were scheduled to be September call-ups. The rest were still deep in the development stage.

Then injuries hit the Dodgers unusually hard, though it wasn’t exactly totally unexpected given the age of their roster. Down went Casey Blake, Jon Garland, Jay Gibbons, Dioner Navarro, Vicente Padilla (all before opening day), Hector Jimenez (remember him?), Rafael Furcal, Hong-Chih Kuo, Marcus Thames, Jonathan Broxton, Blake Hawksworth, Kenley Jansen, Rod Barajas, Juan Uribe and Andre Ethier. Some made repeat visits to the disabled list. Some never came back.

All of which created opportunity. At least the Dodgers were willing to give the kids a chance, rather than signing or trading for some tired journeyman. They get points for that. And the Dodgers were delighted with how most responded:

-- Jerry Sands: The lone power prospect, he struggled during his first call up in (.200 average, .622 on-base plus slugging percentage) but was a different hitter in September (.342, .908). He hit in 15 of his last 16 games (.407, 1.063). Could start next season back in triple-A or in the starting lineup.

-- Dee Gordon: There are still real concerns about his defense, but he figures to be their starting shortstop next season. The final month of the season, he hit in 21 of 26 games (.372) and stole 12 bases. There will be growing pains, but an exciting talent.

-- Justin Sellers: Struggled at the plate (.203), but can play three infield positions and is a heady player. If Jamey Carroll doesn’t return, option as a utility infielder.

-- Javy Guerra: The surprise of the season. Guerra only figured to be up a couple weeks while Hawksworth was on the DL, but he was pitching so well he stuck and by early July had become the Dodgers’ unexpected closer. Saved 21 games in 23 opportunities.

-- Kenley Jansen: You’d pay to see him pitch. After he came back from a sore shoulder, he was almost unhittable. In his last 31 games, had a 0.55 ERA. Set an MLB record of 16.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

-- Josh Lindblom: The former second-round draft pick seems to have found himself as a reliever. Had a 2.73 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 27 games.

-- Rubby De La Rosa: The hard-throwing right-hander was looking like a rotation find for years to come, before injuring his elbow and undergoing Tommy John surgery. He could return next summer, though initially as a reliever.

-- Scott Elbert: Not a rookie, but after a frustrating few seasons finally appeared comfortable as the left-handed reliever (2.43 ERA, 1.23 WHIP).

-- Nathan Eovaldi: Another called up largely out of desperation, but in six starts had a 3.09 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. Penciled in as a starter.

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-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Dee Gordon, next year's starting shortstop, has been a pleasant surprise. Credit: Christian Peterson/Getty.

That's a wrap: Dodgers complete longest season with 7-5 win

And that is your Dodgers’ 2011 season.

All the ownership ugliness, all the wondrous individual play of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp, the lousy team start, the surprising team finish. All now done with.

The Dodgers wrapped it up Wednesday with a 7-5 victory over the Diamondbacks, completing their longest season at 82-79 -– only the second time all year they were three games above .500.

All the baseball craziness on Wednesday was left to those chasing wild-card berths. This one on a warm desert night had no significance, the Brewers winning earlier Wednesday to assure they would have homefield advantage over Arizona.

There was no stunning, final two-homer game by Kemp that enabled him to join the 40 home run, 40 stolen base club. He just settled for a final two-run homer.

Alas, Kemp ended up hitting .324 with 39 homers, 126 RBI, 114 runs and 40 stolen bases on the season. Otherwise, he just never could seem to get it going.

The homers, runs and RBI all led the league, and the 126 RBI are also the second highest total ever for a Los Angeles Dodger (Tommy Davis, 153, 1962).

Kuroda shines, but Roberts' slam wins it in 10th for Arizona

If that was goodbye, Hiroki Kuroda made it memorable. Then Ryan Roberts added his own memory.

Kuroda will become a free agent at the end of the season, and at age 36, has said he’s uncertain whether he wants to pitch in the majors again next year or return for a final season to Japan.

When Kuroda took the mound Tuesday against the Diamondbacks, everyone knew it might be his final performance as a Dodger. So all he did was go out and throw six scoreless innings, holding Arizona to five hits. While not walking a batter and striking out five. It was Kuroda at his best.

Just so the humble Kuroda didn’t think anything had changed, the Dodgers typically offered modest support, scoring  only one run for him. They finally pushed five across in the 10th, only to see the Diamondbacks come back with six of their own in the bottom of the inning, Roberts' walk-off grand slam leaving Arizona with a stunning 7-6 victory.

Kuroda completed his fourth season with a 13-16 record and a 3.07 earned-run average -– ninth lowest in the National League.

Clayton Kershaw makes his Cy Young closing statement in 6-2 win

Clayton Kershaw did his part. Laid it all out there, left his great numbers to stand like small monuments to his memorable season.

Kershaw won his final start of the season Sunday afternoon, as the Dodgers beat the Padres, 6-2, in San Diego. Kershaw all but clinched the pitching triple crown, and very likely the Cy Young award.

The victory left him 21-5 on the season, with a 2.28 earned-run average and 248 strikeouts. The ERA and strikeout total lead the National League, and the 21 victories tie Kershaw for the lead with the Arizona Diamondbacks' Ian Kennedy.

The 11 previous winners of the pitching triple crown all won the Cy Young award.

Kershaw, 23, went 7 1/3 innings against the Padres, holding them to two runs on four hits and a walk and striking out six.

Kershaw's main challengers for the Cy Young award are Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Kennedy.

Matt Kemp takes his show on the road in Dodgers' 2-0 win

As the bankrupt Dodgers' 2011 season winds to an end, you have to admire its consistency. A regular Swiss watch.

On Friday there was more of what this season has consistently delivered: turmoil with ownership and Matt Kemp starring on the field.

On the same day Major League Baseball asked the Bankruptcy Court to put the Dodgers up for sale, Kemp continued his torrid finish to the season.

Kemp hit his third home run in three games, tying him with Albert Pujols for the National League lead at 37, and led the Dodgers to a 2-0 victory over the Padres in San Diego.

Kemp's hot finish has him within striking distance of winning the triple crown, something that has not been accomplished in the National League since Joe Medwick did it in 1937 for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Not a bad way for Kemp to celebrate his 27th birthday. With his mom in the crowd.

Kemp in the three triple-crown categories: first in runs batted in (119), tied for first in home runs and third in batting average (.326, behind Jose Reyes at .32948 and Ryan Braun at .32903).

Matt Kemp adds capper to the Dodgers' home season in 8-2 win

And so ends another season at Dodger Stadium. Can’t say it wasn’t memorable, on the field and off.

The Dodgers completed their 2011 at home Thursday with an 8-2 victory over the Giants before an announced crowd of 37,560 that once again saw Matt Kemp polishing off his MVP resume.

Kemp had three doubles and a two-run homer. It was Kemp’s 36^th home run of the season and he looks like a guy trying to hit one almost every at-bat now. And almost managing it.

He was once again greeted with frequent chants of "MVP," and when he hit his towering two-run homer in the eighth inning, the crowd brought him out for a curtain call. The four hits raised his season average to .326.

The victory left the Dodgers 42-39 at home for the year. Not exactly the stuff of their dreams, but not the nightmare at which it once hinted.

And in the short term, they took two of three games from a Giants team that came in on an eight-game winning streak but left with their playoff hopes severely damaged. So it was hardly all bad.

The Dodgers had Tom Lasorda in the dugout as an honorary coach on his 84^th birthday, Kemp going nuts at the plate and right-hander Hiroki Kuroda limiting the Giants to two runs in his seven-plus innings.

Kuroda gave up a solo home run to Carlos Beltran in the first inning, but the Dodgers came right back in the bottom of the inning against Madison Bumgarner with Kemp’s first double and Juan Rivera's two-run homer.

Surgery for Jonathan Broxton goes well, but now what?

And now what becomes of Jonathan Broxton?

Broxton underwent minor right elbow surgery Monday to remove a bone spur and loose bodies, a procedure that, of course, was deemed successful.

Broxton hasn’t been seen on a pitching mound for the Dodgers since May 3, his 2010 season reduced to slightly longer than a month, or 12 2/3 innings.

He was initially diagnosed with a bruised bone in his elbow, and then when that healed and the pain persisted, the spur was identified as the problem.

The procedure performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache was not considered major surgery and Broxton is expected to begin a rehab program within days and be able to start throwing again in six to eight weeks.

By then, of course, he will no longer be a Dodger. His $7-million contract expires at the season’s end, at which time he’ll become a free agent.

As his own agent, BB Abbott admitted to The Times' Dylan Hernandez, Broxton may no longer be able to simply throw the ball past hitters.

"The days of Jonathan Broxton throwing 99 and 100 [mph] might be over," Abbott said. "But I think he can reinvent himself. He's still going to be 93-97.

Finding reasons to appreciate the Dodgers 2011 season

They’re having fan appreciation day for the Dodgers on Sunday, which is curious for a couple of reasons. They still have three more games to play here and, of course, what exactly is there to appreciate in the worst season in organizational history?

That’s why we’re here to help:

• No traffic problems getting to the game.
  
  
• Matt Kemp played like the Matt Kemp everyone always thought was there, and not like the one who was here last season.
  
  
• Vin Scully remained perfect, even when he wasn't. And he’s coming back.
  
  
• Don Mattingly earned his stripes.
  
  
• Steve Soboroff came and then went.
  
  
• The suspense that is Eugenio Velez.
  
  
• Buy a nose-bleed seat, walk down to the better seat of your choice.
  
  
• Clayton Kershaw arrived as an ace.
  
  
• Tim Federowicz shaved his mustache.
  
  
• Young arms boded well for future.
  
  
• No one uncovered another Vladimir Shpunt, as if that’s possible.
  
  
• Josh Rawitch is leaving (kidding).
  
  
• Kenley Jansen was sick.
  
  
• Tickets available on-line for $1.85.
  
  
• Frank McCourt disappeared from his look-at-me seat.
  
  
• McCourt sold one of his mansions. Hurry, only seven left!
  
  
• Teammates nicknamed heavily tatted Justin Sellers "Cell Block."
  
  
• Dodger Dogs. Real, grilled Dodger Dogs.
  
  
• No traffic problems leaving the game.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp gets set in the batter's box. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

And on the 144th game, the Dodgers reached .500; beat Giants 3-0

Being mediocre never felt so good.

The Dodgers got to a place Saturday they hadn’t visited since the second day of May. Hadn’t really even sniffed it in more than four months.

An even .500.

The Dodgers continued their recent strong play, dropping the Giants, 3-0, behind journeyman left-hander Dana Eveland.

The victory was their 15^th in their last 18 games and it left them 72-72. It’s the first time they’ve been at .500 since May 2 (15-15). And considering everything they’ve been through on the field and with ownership, no minor accomplishment.

The win over the shrinking-so-small-you-can-barely-see-them Giants assures the Dodgers their sixth consecutive series victory. It’s the first time they’ve managed that in three years. Suddenly they're good, if late, these days.

Saturday the Dodgers used a pair of triples and a bunch of balls that never made it out of the infield to make a loser of right-hander Ryan Vogelsong (10-7).

Eveland, who spent all season at triple-A Albuquerque until being called up last week to start against the Pirates, was once again just shy of brilliant.

Kenley Jansen is making hitters look silly

Kenley Jansen is not of planet Earth. He is plain nasty. If you’re a hitter, you do not want to see him on the mound. You probably don’t want to see him in a stadium hallway.

Jansen has very quietly put together a phenomenal sophomore season. Been so good it’s just stupid. Been so good that despite Javy Guerra’s remarkable success, you have to wonder if the heat-throwing Jansen isn’t the Dodgers’ closer of the future.

He’s had only two bad outings all year, and both came the first three weeks of the season when his shoulder was probably already bothering him. Since returning from the disabled list June 18, he’s been as close to unhittable as you can dream.

I wrote in jest -– anyway, I pretended it was in jest -– back in July that Jansen had become the world’s greatest reliever. All he’s done since is make that overstatement appear modest.

Even after going on the DL again with an irregular heartbeat, he has returned same as he ever was. Which is absolutely lights out.

In his 21 games since returning from his shoulder problem in June, Jansen has fashioned a stunning 0.38 ERA. He has struck out 40 in his 23-2/3 innings, allowed one run, only five hits (.068 batting average) and 10 walks.

This has been somewhat lost because his overall season numbers are more modest (2-1, 3.22 ERA). Yet subtract those two poor April outings which accounted for nine of the 16 runs he’s allowed all season, and his ERA is 1.45.

Jansen doesn’t turn 24 until the end of the month and is in only his third year as a reliever after starting his career as a catcher. So much about the Dodgers right now is cloudy, but Jansen is a supernova.

ALSO:

Clayton Kershaw outduels Tim Lincecum in 2-1 win

Andre Ethier is headed for knee surgery

Frank McCourt and Bill Burke: Not pals

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen after striking out Colorado's Dexter Fowler to earn a save in a 3-2 win on July 26 at Dodger Stadium. Credit: Jeff Gross / Getty Images