Matt Kemp Says Dodgers Need To Continue To Grind It Out
They followed Friday’s 9-0 loss with a 17-0 victory of their own and then added another win against their rival behind Clayton Kershaw on Sunday. One player on the team that has seen his game pick up lately is right fielder Matt Kemp, who has hit home runs in the past two games. Since the All-Star break, the 29-year-old has anchored the middle of the order along with Adrian Gonzalez.
According to Mark Saxon of ESPN LA, Kemp gave a breakdown of his season thus far:
Just consistently working, grinding at-bats out and letting everything take its course,” Kemp said. “I struggled at the beginning of the season. But it’s not the way you start — it’s the way you finish. I’ve always been a big believer in that. The season’s still not over with, so we’ve got to just grind it out.”
The Dodger offense is averaging 6.2 runs per game in their last 10 games, led by Kemp’s four home runs and 10 RBIs in that stretch. With Kemp and Gonzalez in the middle, the bottom of the order has also done well lately due to the hot streaks of Juan Uribe and Carl Crawford. It seems as if the offense is starting to hit its’ peak at the right time for the Dodgers.
Kemp added his thoughts on the offense as well:
Everybody’s starting to come around,” Kemp said. “This is a good time to get hot, hopefully going into the playoffs, and we’ve got to keep grinding it out and keep getting those good at-bats.”
With Hyun-Jin Ryu likely done for the rest of the regular season and the struggles of Roberto Hernandez in the rotation, the Dodgers will need their offense to continue to carry them through the final weeks of the season.
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