Hello,
The Dodgers scoring drought of late last season seems to have carried over to this season. In LA's last 4 games the Dodgers have only scored 10 runs. As I state in this blog's title, not so coincidentally they lost 3 of those 4 games.
On Sunday the Dodgers ended their 3 game series with the Diamondbacks by scoring 0 runs. A too infrequent Josh Beckett masterpiece was ruined. Although it was Beckett's best start of the season by far, he was still hung with the loss. This loss can't be blamed on him. The blame for this loss has to go to the so-called Dodgers offense. On Sunday they were truly offensive, but not the right kind of offensive.
Adrian Gonzalez had 3 hits and Nick Punto added two hits. The following players had 0 hits: Matt Kemp (again), Mark Ellis, A.J. Ellis and Luis Cruz. Kemp also struck out 3 times and only has a .174 batting average. Carl Crawford was held hitless in this game too. However I'm giving a pass to Crawford as he's started off the season on a torrid streak. He also bounced back with 3 hits against the Padres in the first game of that series.
In the Dodgers-Padres first game since the Zack Greinke- Carlos Quentin tussle there didn't seem to be much friction. Although Quentin charged the mound, I still think that Greinke was more in the wrong. Not only that but Greinke can't risk getting hurt over something so stupid. I'm guessing the less than expected lack of friction last night partially had to do with the tragic bombing of the Boston Marathon earlier in the day. Also the fact that MLB executive Joe Torre called both managers and reminded them the importance of the day probably didn't hurt. Yesterday throughout the MLB was Jackie Robinson day. On April 15th, 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the MLB's color barrier. I've always been proud that I'm a fan of the Dodgers, the team that made that momentous move. Jackie Robinson is a true hero.
There were no fireworks because of repercussions of the fight. Another thing that wasn't explosive was the Dodgers offense. Although after being shut out in 2 of their last three games I'm relatively happy LA could push 3 runs across the plate. The Dodgers did have 12 hits but left 10 runners stranded. Carl Crawford had another good game, although he is cooling down slightly. He was 3 for 5 and his batting average lowered to .396. Adrian Gonzalez has bounced back from a slow start and now is also hitting .396. Gonzalez also has 11 RBIs, 19 hits, including 2 home runs. Gonzalez leads the Dodgers in most offensive categories.
The Dodgers desperately need to add two more bats for this season to live up to the hype. I realize that Hanley Ramirez will be back in a few weeks, so there's one bat. I also can't wait until the real Matt Kemp comes back, his bat is very much missed. The Dodgers need to have a run of about 10 games where they hit multiple home runs in each game. With runs at such a premium it didn't help that Greinke was stupid in engaging Quentin a few days ago.
After fighting for 1st place in the NL West over the weekend, the Dodgers have slipped to 4th place. LA is now 7-6 and they trail the first place and defending World Series champ Giants by 2 games. As of now LA only leads the terrible Padres, who are only 3-10.
Upcoming the Dodgers play two more games against the Padres. Tonight new to the Dodgers starting rotation is Chris Capuano. He'll be matching up against Jason Marquis. This weekend the Dodgers will be playing their first interleague series of the season. They're traveling to Baltimore to take on the Orioles for 3 games.
themusicaddict
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