Hello,
Welcome to themusicaddict blog # 1510.
Due to having my kids this weekend, my time has been limited. That's why I'm putting two Dodgers Dailies into one blog. At my real job I'll be working 56 hours this week, so my time will be a bit limited this week as well. I'll write when I can.
This past Friday the Diamondbacks shut out the Dodgers 3-0. Clayton Kershaw had another good game, but not quite good enough to get the win. Even more importantly he didn't get into a stupid fight with anyone and hurt himself. Kershaw started off the season pitching 19 scoreless innings. Kershaw also struck out 9 Diamondbacks, moving to 999 strike outs in his stellar career. However he did give up 6 hits and was ultimately responsible for all 3 runs. Kershaw drops to 2-1 on the season. Overall it wasn't his best day, but I'm still extremely happy that he's a Dodger.
Obviously in being shut out the Dodgers didn't have much offense, Kershaw had one of the Dodgers 6 hits. Kershaw has 2 hits in his 7 at bats, that's a .286 batting average. That's better than the batting averages of Jerry Hairston Jr., Matt Kemp, Juan Uribe, Andre Ethier, A.J. Ellis, Skip Schumaker and Justin Sellers.
One of the reasons why I don't have a ton of confidence in this Dodgers team is that they have players like Jerry Hairston Jr. playing significant time for them. Hairston has been at bat 13 times and only has 1 hit. That's a .077 batting average. That's bad enough, but combine it with his actions in the last Padres game and I wonder don't they have someone better in Albuquerque? The Dodgers-Padres melee was calming down and all of a sudden Hairston rushed the Padres dugout. Why would he do that and what did he hope to gain from that? Approximately a $215,000,000 payroll doesn't give the Dodgers better options than Hairston? He's one of a few of less than stellar players on this Dodgers team.
Last night the Dodgers offense was much better, including 3 hits by starting pitcher Hyun-Jyn Ryu. By the way Dodgers batters, Ryu is hitting .429. Ryu even had a double. Ryu had a decent pitching performance. In 6 innings he gave up 6 hits and allowed three earned runs. Ryu also had 9 strike outs, very similar to Kershaw's game the night before. However where the Dodgers gave Kershaw no run support, Ryu was supported by 7 runs. Like Kershaw, Ryu is 2-1 on the season. So far Ryu is shaping up to be a solid MLB pitcher.
This was a good game for the Dodgers offense to show up for. The Dodgers racked up 14 hits and scored 7 runs. Adrian Gonzalez started out slowly this season, but has been coming on lately. Gonzalez is hitting .375 this season and had 3 hits last night. That included his second home run. Gonzalez also had 2 more RBIs, giving him 10 on the season.
Carl Crawford continues his hot start. He had two more hits and is hitting so far this season. Meanwhile Matt Kemp continues his slow start, he only had 1 hit in 5 at bats. He's hitting .190 on the season now. I keep on expecting Kemp to round into form and for Crawford to injure himself or to fall off. Time will tell.
Now the Dodgers are 7-4, they are one of the three NL West teams tied for second place. Those three teams are the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and the Rockies. All three of those teams trail first place San Francisco by 1 game. San Diego, who'll be the NL West's punching bag all season, is last at 2-9.
What's next for the Dodgers? They close their 3 game series with the Diamondbacks tonight. I'm not liking the Dodgers chances as Josh Beckett will be taking the mound. That's Beckett who has the 0-1 record and 4.91 ERA. Starting for the Diamondbacks will be Trevor Cahill, who is doing even worse than Beckett. Cahill is 0-2 and has a 5.91 ERA.
Then tomorrow the Dodgers will be playing in Dodgers Stadium. It will be the first game between the Dodgers and Padres following the Zack Greinke- Carlos Quentin tackle fest. Neither Quentin or Greinke will be in this game.
Records wise the best team in MLB is the extremely hot Atlanta Braves. The Braves are 10-1 so far this season, including winning their first two games against the Nationals in Washington. The third and final game of that series is being played as I write this blog. As of now the Braves are all alone in first place in the NL East. They lead the second place Nationals and Mets by 3 games. Mets enjoy this, this may be the last time all season your team in second place in the NL East.
themusicaddict
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