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It was bound to happen at some point.

Clayton Kershaw cruised through his start, using 51 pitches to get through the first four innings before imploding and allowing 8 runs in the 6th inning, including 2 RBI double to pitcher Adam Wainwright. Very unlike Clayton to do that, but hey, it happens. It was super hot in St. Louis, Kershaw had thrown 120 pitches in his last start, and he’s human.

This happens to aces. It just does.

That the Dodgers lost 8-2 points both to a hot St. Louis Cardinals team and to the offensive woes that the Dodgers faced for the entirety of July. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are good, but they are not enough, and the team cannot continue to rely on the likes of Luis Cruz for driving in runs if they want to sniff playoff contention.

Unfortunately, things are about to get a bit worse, as Adam Kennedy will hit the disabled list with a strained groin. While Kennedy hasn’t exactly been something to write home about, he hasn’t been horribly terribly awful enough to get DFA’d (he’s hitting .250/.331/.340). The two likely candidates to be called up, per Ken Gurnick, are Elian Herrera and Alex Castellanos. Or maybe the owners will get a new bat.

Anything is possible, right?