EL SEGUNDO HERALD July 14, 2016 Page 5 Benji Kerin was unhittable in his two innings of work against Redondo. Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litiga tion 310-540-6000 Lifetime El Segundo Residents *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization Brian R. Brandlin • Bruce R. Brandlin • Christopher P. Brandlin First Half Finale By Adam Serrao The Los Angeles Dodgers are heading into the 2016 All-Star Break on a high note. After making it through some rough patches; like losing two of three to the Baltimore Orioles or three of four to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers have weathered the storm - and some injuries - to remain in this year’s playoff race. At a little bit past the halfway point of the regular season (91 of 162 games) the Dodgers have a lot of work to do if they want to catch the first place San Francisco Giants. Heading into the break having won three of four versus the San Diego Padres and seven of their last 10 games overall bodes well for a team that still has holes in certain areas, but exhibits major strengths in others. Six and a half games can be seen as quite a bit of ground to make up on the first place Giants if the Dodgers want to win this year’s NL West for the fourth season in a row. Despite their recent success within the division, however, Los Angeles has failed to achieve any postseason success. When you have the best pitcher in the entire league, simply getting to the National League Division Series or even the Championship Series just isn’t good enough. Clayton Kershaw, who has now been accepted into his sixth consecutive All-Star Game, should be enough to get the Dodgers to the World Series and this year, he is once again proving why. Though he’s been injured for the past couple of weeks, Kershaw continues to sport the best ERA and WHIP in the entire league and was leading in strikeouts as well, before his injury. Despite Zack Greinke’s departure to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers starting rotation, behind Kershaw, ranks in the top five in the entire league. A stable of pitchers that is only getting healthier as the season draws on still expects better results from Hyun-Jin Ryu and the return of Brett Anderson to help improve on their 3.44 team ERA that ranks them only behind the Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets at the break. So, if the Dodgers starting rotation has been next to excellent, then their bullpen must be horrible, right? Not quite. As good as the starters have been, L.A. relief pitchers have been even better. The Dodgers bullpen ranks second in the league at the break and has actually pitched more innings than the starting rotation has, as a whole. The bullpen, headed by the nastiness coming from closer Kenley Jansen’s arm, ranks as the best bullpen in the entire league with a 2.83 combined ERA. Jansen, who has finally garnered his first All-Star Game appearance, has been the linchpin. His 27 saves tie him for second most in the league and his 1.16 ERA, while basically being unhittable, is also second among closers in the MLB. Jansen isn’t the only one getting things done in the Dodgers pen, though. Adam Liberatore has been nothing short of outstanding. He recently set the franchise record for most consecutive scoreless appearances (24), passing John Candelaria. Liberatore now sports a 0.61 ERA, while Joe Blanton (2.09) and Casey Fien (2.49) have been excellent, to lead the league’s best bullpen, as well. With all of the great pitching going around, the Dodgers one major area of weakness has been their offense. Corey Seager has been the lone bright spot, earning his first All-Star bid to become the youngest position player in Dodgers history to make the All-Star team. Seager leads the team in almost every offensive statistical category, including batting average (.297), runs scored (60), and home runs (17). He’ll also be participating in this year’s Home Run Derby at the All Star Break. Behind Seager, Adrian Gonzalez has been his usual self while Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal have also turned things up a bit lately. Overall, though, the offense has been inconsistent. With the MLB trade deadline coming up (July 31), the Dodgers should be major players for another bat in the lineup. Look for the team to dangle Yasiel Puig in front of other teams to see what kind of offers they receive. With Andre Ethier set to return soon, the Dodgers have a surplus of outfielders that they can afford to play with in order to get another .300 bat in the lineup; something only Seager has managed to accomplish lately. The Dodgers 51-40 record at this year’s break will put the team 11 games over the .500 mark and rank them as the eighth best team in the entire league, right on the heels of the Boston Red Sox (49-38). Through 91 games last season, the Dodgers held the same exact record as they do now, at 51-40. Winners of seven of their last 10 games heading into the break, the only difference between this year’s Dodgers team and last year’s is the record of their rivals from San Francisco (47-43 last year, compared to 57-33 this year). First place might be pretty tough to accomplish in an even year when the Giants have the best record in baseball and are favored to win it at all, but if the Dodgers remain healthy and rested behind their three All-Stars, it’s not something that’s seen as being completely impractical. With 71 games remaining on the schedule after the break, anything is possible for the Boys in Blue. • Some All-Star Teams Continue as Others Fall By Gregg McMullin All-Star baseball teams from the El Segundo Little League and the El Segundo Babe Ruth League have ended. The 10-year-old, 11-yearold and 12-year-old All-Stars concluded their respective runs for a district title. The 15-year-old Babe Ruth League All-Star lost two straight at the state tournament and were eliminated. At the start of this week only two El Segundo All-Star teams remained, including the 14-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars and the 13-year-old All-Star team. For the rest it has been a nice run albeit too short. ESLL 10-Year-Old All-Stars El Segundo fell into the loser’s bracket but came up with an 11-1 win over Redondo Little League Blue team. ESLL took a 3-1 lead into the second inning when Landon Davis and Dylan Immel each had RBI doubles to increase the lead to 5-1. In the third inning, El Segundo couldn’t capitalize on three walks but more than made up for it in a six-run fourth inning. In the big inning, Benji Kerin had an RBI single and later scored on Holden Coulter’s RBI single. Immel, who had singled, scored on Cole Bernstein’s RBI single. Carson Brooks’ RBI single gave El Segundo an 11-1 lead. James Baldino started for El Segundo and went two innings before giving way to Kerin in the third inning. The hard throwing Kerin needed just four pitches to quiet Redondo in the third and struck out two in the fourth inning. ESLL came away with the 11-1 mercy-rule shortened game. Immel, who played brilliantly at shortstop, had two of El Segundo’s eight hits. In the next elimination game El Segundo’s season came to an abrupt ending with a close loss. ESLL 12-Year-Old All-Stars El Segundo had fallen into the loser’s bracket when they fell to Redondo in the winner’s bracket final. The locals faced Palos Verdes Little League in the loser’s bracket final. The fans may have gone to a baseball game but it turned out to be a 20-7 score in favor of El Segundo. Palos Verdes took their only lead in the game when they scored four first-inning runs to take a 4-2 lead. Connor Smith had given El Segundo its 2-0 lead with a mammoth two-run blast. In the second inning Conrad Bernstein, Cooper Katskee were each hit by a pitch. James Pearson then unloaded on the first of his two home runs to give his team a 5-4 lead. Eddie Grant walked and later scored to make it 6-4. In the third inning Bernstein was once again hit by a pitch and Pearson delivered an RBI single. Ben Hill’s RBI single to left centerfield made it 8-5. PVLL wouldn’t go away and tacked on two more third inning runs to cut El Segundo’s lead to 8-7. A seven run fourth inning was highlighted by seven hits. Katskee had an RBI double, Nelson Taback walked and scored and later scored on Brenden McAndrews’ double. Hill’s tworun single gave El Segundo an 11-7 lead. Smith’s laser single scored two more while Jack Stoker’s RBI single gave his team a 15-7 lead. Pearson’s 285-foot grand slam emptied the bases in the fifth and El Segundo went on to a 20-7 win. The win propelled El Segundo into a rematch with Redondo Little League. On a sundrenched afternoon, perfect for baseball, nothing went right for El Segundo. They took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning but Redondo Little League’s barrage of seeing-eye base hits over the next two innings gave them a 3-2 lead on their way to a 14-3 mercy-rule win. Cooper Stolnack’s 275-foot solo homerun, in the fourth inning, was one to remember, his last Little League hit. Babe Ruth All-Stars The 14-year-old All-Stars took care of Simi Valley, 11-1 in the opener of the state playoffs. With a berth to Pacific Southwest Regional at stake for the tournament winner, El Segundo demonstrated their dominance. Cameron Dornblaser stared for El Segundo and went the distance by throwing some 86 pitches. He gave up one earned run, three hits, struck out four and walked four to pickup the win. El Segundo took a 2-0 second inning lead when Jacob Snelgrove walked, Danny Boulgarides was hit by a pitch and both scored on Cameron Long’s double to right See All-Stars, page 8 “So, if the Dodgers starting rotation has been next to excellent, then their bullpen must be horrible, right? Not quite.”
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