John Ely continues to make Dodgers believers in 6-2 victory over Astros
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No, seriously, he can’t be this good. No way. Not a chance … right?
John Ely, the right-hander who had never pitched above Double-A until throwing three games for Albuquerque in April, continued to throw like a phenom for the Dodgers on Monday in their eighth consecutive victory, this one 6-2 decision over the Houston Astros.
Ely was again in control, throwing strikes, pitching, acting like he’s been around awhile.
He went seven innings, giving up two runs and five hits. He struck eight, and for his third consecutive start, did not walk a batter.
Ely (2-1) has now faced 84 consecutive batters without issuing a walk, tops in the major leagues.
That’s the kind of control that seemed to be lacking from every Dodgers starter in April not named Hiroki Kuroda.
‘I’ll tell you one thing,’ said Manager Joe Torre before the game, ‘he believes he belongs here.’
For a rotation that had been badly struggling, Ely has been a baseball godsend. With a fifth spot in the rotation unclaimed and opening-day starter Vicente Padilla on the disabled list, the Dodgers were desperate for a reliable starter.
They almost went to Ely mostly because they had no one else, at least not remotely deserving. In his first start in New York, he gave up five runs and six hits while walking three. Nothing to indicate what was to come.
Since then, he’s been a wunderkind. He has a 2.28 earned-run average in his last three starts.
He’s making the trade for Juan Pierre look a hundred times better than anyone dared imagine -- and I mean anyone, including General Manager Ned Colletti.
Ely, who turned 24 last Thursday, gave up a run in the first on a pair of singles and then recorded 11 consecutive outs. The Astros scratched one more together on a pair of hits in the fifth, but that was it.
Otherwise, Ely was again in complete command. How long can this really last? Because he can’t really be this good … can he?
--Steve Dilbeck