Hello,
This will serve as the Dodgers Daily blog for April 24th and 25th as LA played very early Thursday morning. After wining the first game of the series LA lost the second game on a walk off grand slam by Jordany Valdespin. Valdespin has hit 6 pinch run home runs last season plus the start of this season. LA bounced back today, they were powered by an Andre Ethier single in the 9th inning. The Dodgers won two of three against the Mets. I should be optimistic about the Dodgers winning two of three on the road. However the fact that the Dodgers were able to take 2 of 3 from the Mets in New York makes me think this Mets team isn't very good. But I'll take a series win on the road anytime.
The Dodgers are now 10-11 and there are some good trends for the Dodgers. Ted Lilly made his season debut for the Dodgers yesterday and pitched well enough. If they can get 5 good innings out of him every fourth or fifth day the Dodgers will take it. Matt Kemp continues to round into the kind of player he can be. On Wednesday he hit his first home run of the season. Thursday Kemp was 2 for 3 and he raised his batting average to .266.
Also it sounds like desperately needed Hanley Ramirez will be going to a rehab assignment soon and could be playing for the Dodgers as soon as the first weekend in May. He'd be welcomed back so much. His bat would be so great to have back in the Dodgers lineup. Let me give you an example why. Wednesday nights Mets-Dodgers game was tied at 3 going into the 10th inning. The Dodgers quickly got two outs in the top of the 10th inning. Who was the player left to provide some offense for the Dodgers? The legendary Skip Schumaker, legendarily bad that is, he was hitless in his previous 4 at bats. Because Schumaker is consistent he was also hitless in his 5th at bat, which lowered his batting average to a sizzling .107 this season.
LA will remain in fourth place in the NL West even after the results to later games on Thursday.
Thanks to ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball I was able to see some of the Dodgers-Mets game last night, yes I sadly saw the walk off grand slam. But the Spurs-Lakers game overlapped the Dodgers game a bit. As someone that hates the Lakers and all the hype that surrounds them I had to hate watch the Lakers some. From the way Reggie Miller was loving on Dwight Howard I sometimes forget that it's the Spurs that are the #2 seed. I love that the Spurs have won the first two games, although that shouldn't be that big of a surprise for anyone. Any team that plays Steve Blake so many crucial minutes isn't that good. Oh how I love watching the Lakers lose. And as Jim Rome pointed out this morning, the Lakers are even going to be older next year.
While watching Sports Center this morning ESPN had a graphic on their screen that said the Lakers are in trouble. Actually the Lakers were in trouble when this playoff series started. ESPN is one of the worst at hyping up the Lakers. This Lakers team is just not good and the Spurs should need no more than 5 games to win this series. Remember hype is a tool to make something bad seem better than it actually is. It's Jerry Jones favorite tool to cover up his and the Cowboys deficiencies.
Back to the MLB: The Pirates finished a 4 game series against the Phillies in Philadelphia today. The Pirates won the final 3 games of the series and are now 12-4 over their last 16 games. Will this finally be the year of the Pirates, finally breaking the .500 mark?
There are more games later tonight, but as of now the Pirates are tied for second place in the NL Central. The NL Central is shaping up to be the second toughest division in MLB, it won't be tougher than the AL East. The NL Central has four very solid to great teams, it seems any one of them could win the Central. Of course the home of the Central is also the home of the Cubs, who are off to a terrible 6-14 start.
themusicaddict
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