Hello,
I know it's only about 1/6th of the way through the season, but I think it can clearly be said that the Dodgers are done for this season. In fact, I expect the Dodgers to spend more time battling the Padres for 4th place rather than battling the Rockies, Diamondbacks or Giants for first place.
The Dodgers lost yesterday to the Giants 2-1 on Buster Posey's walk off home run. Yet another game where the Dodgers couldn't muster enough offense. It didn't help that Adrian Gonzalez had to miss the game with a stiff neck. Also Hanley Ramirez, who's only been back for a few games, injured his hamstring and will go back on the DL. Ramirez is out for the foreseeable future, someone this stagnant Dodgers lineup can't afford to be without. Where will the Dodgers find their offense now?
Not only that but yet another Dodgers pitcher went to the DL, Ted Lilly is on the 15 day DL. He's on the DL for the second time this season. He only lasted for 3 innings in his last start, a game where the Rockies scored 12 runs. Lilly being on DL doesn't really break my heart. At 37, he's not a great starting MLB pitcher anymore. This season he's 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA. I hope this is the last year of his Dodgers contract.
Looking at ESPN.com these are the Dodgers pitchers on DL: Starting pitcher Chad Billingsley is out for the season and Zack Greinke is probably out for at least a few more weeks. Fellow starters Ted Lilly and Stephen Fife are out for at least the next few days. Chris Capuano is also on DL, but he could be activated this weekend. If needed it looks like he can pitch Monday or Tuesday. From looking at the upcoming Dodgers schedule, it looks like he'll be needed. Scott Elbert is also on the DL and he hasn't even played this season. Last but surely not least, Shawn Tolleson, has at least played in a game this season. Although he didn't record an out and walked two batters. Tolleson recently had back surgery and will be out 3 to 5 months.
So you would very wisely ask who the active starting pitchers for the Dodgers are now. Thankfully LA does have Clayton Kershaw, who pitched last night. Kershaw is 3-2 with a 1.66 ERA. He's also third in all of the MLB with 52 strikeouts. Kershaw can't be blamed for the Dodgers loss Friday night. He only gave up 3 hits and 1 run in the LA's loss. LA also have Hyun-Jin Ryu, who's scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball tomorrow. Ryu is 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA. He's also among the league leaders in strikeouts. Those two pitchers are the complete good news for Dodgers starting pitchers.
Other Dodgers starting pitchers include the $17 million dollar man Josh Beckett. Beckett is doing even worse than I expected this season. And it wasn't like I had a lot of confidence in him. Beckett is 0-4 and has a 5.24 ERA. Beckett is scheduled to start Monday night against the Diamondbacks. Kershaw pitched last night and Ryu and Beckett have upcoming scheduled starts. Capuano, Billingsley, Greinke, Lilly and Fife are all injured. So who's pitching for the Dodgers against the defending World Series champs Saturday night? That would be none other than the magnificent Matt Magill. Magill pitched 6.2 innings and has a 2.7 ERA so far this season.
The Dodgers are 13-15 and in 4th place in the NL West. They are 3.5 games behind the tied for first place Diamondbacks and Rockies. According to ESPN the Dodgers have a 15.4% chance of making the playoffs. Again I think the Dodgers will be fighting the Padres for 4th place this season. They only lead the Padres by 1.5 games and LA has two more games against the Giants in San Francisco. With the Dodgers many injuries and their inept offense, I wouldn't be surprised by a Giants sweep.
Meanwhile the Pirates are doing very well compared to their last 20 seasons. The Pirates are thriving even with Andrew McCutchen not at his normal hitting level yet, he's hitting 2.57 with 4 homers and 17 RBIs. I'm not worried, he's just off to a slow start. Other Pirates are individually doing well. Starling Marte is having a very strong rookie season. He's hitting .328 with 3 homers and 13 RBIs. Former Dodger and Yankee Russell Martin is doing better than I expected for the Pirates. He's hitting .267 with 6 homers and 10 RBIs. Also with Joel Hanrahan going to the Red Sox in the offseason, I thought the Pirates closer would be a position of weakness. Gladly I was wrong about that. Jason Grilli earned his 12th save of the year, meaning he's earned the save in over 2/3rds of the Pirates victories. Grilli has a .69 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 13 innings.
If Grilli hasn't been the Pirates best individual player this season then it probably has been veteran A.J. Burnett. At 36, the crafty pitcher is having a very solid second season with the Pirates. He's 3-2 with a 2.57 ERA. He's also second in the MLB in number of strikeouts. With 57 strikeouts, he only trails the Rangers Yu Darvish by 1.
Meanwhile the Pirates are second place in the NL Central, they only trail the first place Cardinals by 1 game. The Pirates are 7-3 over their last 10 games and according to ESPN, they have a 38.9% chance of making the playoffs.
How are my other teams doing? Both the Braves and Red Sox are in first place in their divisions. The Braves, 17-12 overall, have struggled of late. They've only won 3 of their last 10 games, however they have a 71.2% chance of making the playoffs. Boston, at 20-9, have the best record in all of MLB. The Red Sox are 7-3 over their last 10 games and have a 69.5% chance of making the playoffs. In spite of them having a better record than the Braves, they play in the extremely loaded AL East. That's why they have a lower chance of making the playoffs. Meanwhile the Cubs, well they are the Cubs. It seems no matter what they do they'll always suck. They are tied for the 4th worst record in MLB, tied with the ridiculously overpaid Angels. The Angels are paying approximately $38 million more dollars for their 11 wins than the Cubs are. Again just because you have the money doesn't mean you need to spend it.
themusicaddict
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