Hello,
Pittsburgh took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in their series this weekend. I predicted that Pittsburgh would win 2 of 3. That's not because I'm a genius, these two teams are clearly going in opposite directions. Also the Pirates were playing at home, so the reasonable expectation was that they would win 2 of 3.
Yasiel Puig is doing everything he can to carry this team, but he's just not getting enough support. After having an off day yesterday, Puig was back to his usual level of performance today. He was 3 for 4 and is hitting an incredible .479 through 48 at bats. The Dodgers scored 3 runs today and Puig scored or was on the base paths for every run that they scored. Puig was also 1-1 with runners in scoring position. Puig was the clean up hitter today, too bad the 3 batters in front of him were only 2 of 12.
Andre Ethier continues to round back into form, he was 2 for 4 Sunday. His batting average is now up to .249. One of my criticisms of this Dodgers team is their inability to have key hits in situations where they can score runs. I was glad that Ethier was 2 for 3 with runners in scoring position.
Zack Greinke earned the loss, his record drops to 3-2-2. That's 3 wins, 2 losses and 2 brawls. He gave up 8 hits, 5 runs and 2 walks in 5 innings. His ERA increased to 4.22. I'm pretty certain the Dodgers could have paid much less than $21,000,000 this season for such a subpar performance.
For the Pirates, pitcher Gerrit Cole continued his magical start. For much less money than Greinke, he was more effective. Cole pitched 5 2/3rd innings, giving up 7 hits, 3 runs and no walks. He also has a lower ERA, 3.75.
Don Mattingly keeps on talking about how this team just needs to go on a run. He also said something very similar last August and we know how well that worked out. The 2012 and 2013 Dodgers remind me a lot of each other and that's not a compliment to either team.
The Dodgers are now 29-39 and last place in the NL West. Meanwhile the top 4 teams in the NL West are bunching together. There's only a two game difference between the first place Diamondbacks and the 4th place Padres. However the Dodgers are in 5th and last place, they trail the 4th place Padres by 5.5 games. According to ESPN.com, LA now has a 2.0% chance of making the playoffs. Even though that number is low, it almost feels optimistic for how bad the Dodgers are playing. Thankfully LA gets Monday off.
Meanwhile as the Dodgers quickly drop to the bottom of the National League, Baltimore is quickly rising to the top of the American League. The Red Sox came into Baltimore and this series on a roll, they led the Yankees by 3 games. After Baltimore took 3 of 4 from Boston, they've cut the Red Sox lead to 1.5 games. The Orioles have surged past the Yankees in those 4 games. Previously the Yankees were 1/2 game ahead of Baltimore, now Baltimore leads the Yankees by 2 games. The Yankees won today, just barely, after losing their previous 5 games.
Boston and Oakland are tied for the best record in the American League, the Orioles are in third place overall in the AL.
While the Orioles are playing great, one of their players is playing even better. Chris Davis seems to be breaking out on his way to becoming a superstar. Davis, who's challenging Miguel Cabrera among others, for the triple crown hit his MLB leading 23rd home run today. It's also his 100th home run of his career. In number of home runs, Davis leads 5th place Cabrera by 5. However Cabrera is running away in RBIs, he has 69, Davis is second in MLB with 60. Cabrera is tied with Yadier Molina for the batting average lead, both players are hitting .352. Chris Davis is 4th in batting average as he's hitting .335.
As many people expected the AL East is the toughest division in MLB. I've already written about the Top 3 teams, but both the Rays and even the Blue Jays are making noise. Tampa Bay is 36-33, fourth place in the AL East and trail the Red Sox by 5 games. Tampa Bay has a 41.1 % chance to make the playoffs, which is actually better than third place New York. Then all of a sudden the Blue Jays are starting to live up to the potential of all their off season moves. Toronto, currently 32-36, has won 5 games in a row and 8 of 10. With 94 games remaining they trail the Red Sox by 8.5 games and their chances of making the playoffs is 12.1%. With a 32-36 record a team would be in 3rd place in the AL West and tied for 3rd place in the NL East.
The AL East could be a classic race down the stretch.
themusicaddict
No comments:
Post a Comment