Hello,
The Dodgers won the third and fourth games in their series with the Padres, winning on Sunday 3-1. I predicted that the Padres would win 3 of 4, gladly I was wrong. But for those folks who think this team is finally rounding into shape, let's not get too excited yet.
The Dodgers have won 2 in a row, that's true. However they've still only won 4 of their last 10 games. They're still in last place in the NL West and trail first place Arizona by 8.5 games. They trail fourth place San Diego by 5 games. Clearly a lot of work still needs to be done. Other concerns: LA is still short handed. Matt Kemp had his first rehab assignment at Albuquerque last night, he was 0 for 5 with 4 strikeouts. It looks like Carl Crawford could be out a few more weeks, although LA planning for a future without Crawford wouldn't be the worst idea ever. With his injury history, LA can't just plan on him. When he can contribute, great. But LA needs to move on with healthier players as they have the chance.
Other concerns the Dodgers 27th place in home runs this season. One of the teams LA leads is the Giants, they actually have 8 less homers. Don't look for a lot of homers in their 3 game series starting today. The Dodgers are still 28th place in runs scored in MLB, they only lead the slightly less terrible Nationals by one run.
I'll start believing more in the Dodgers when they go on a similar run to the Blue Jays, winners of 11 in a row. If the Dodgers win 6 of 11, I would be impressed with that. According to ESPN.com LA has a 2.8% chance of reaching the playoffs.
Yasiel Puig seems to be cooling down a bit. Yesterday he was 1 for 4, but is still hitting an incredible .425. Puig also had a nice play in right field on Sunday. I'm glad he's still doing well, but I'll be glad when two or three other Dodgers start playing as consistently as him. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 4, had his 10th home run of the season and raised his batting average to .302. Hanley Ramirez followed Gonzalez's 9th inning home run with a home run of his own, his 4th of the season. Ramirez was 1 of 4 and is hitting .358 in the season.
Also Chris Capuano, pitching on short rest, was good in his 5 innings. He gave up 4 hits, but no runs and lowered his ERA to .409. Is Capuano rounding into the Dodgers 4th starter? Let's hope so as the Dodgers desperately need a 4th starter. I'd love that the Dodgers can move on from Josh Beckett and Ted Lilly before the trading deadline. I realize it's a long shot for Beckett, the Dodgers are probably stuck with his contract at the end of next season. Kenley Jansen gave up Carlos Quentin's home run in the 9th inning, but still ended up with his 4th save of the season.
Upcoming for the Dodgers, they open a 3 game series with the Giants today. The scheduled pitching matchup is Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) vs. Madison Bumgarner (7-4). The Dodgers have won 2 in a row, but can they win their third game in a row on Monday? The last time they won 3 in a row was April 7th, when they completed a 3 game sweep of the Pirates. San Diego beat them in the Dodgers next game, halting LA from winning 4 games in a row. That 3 game winning streak remains the Dodgers longest winning streak this season. Dodgers-Giants game 1 is on ESPN2 tonight, if you want a watch a probable low scoring game.
The Dodgers play only 1 of 4 games on Monday. There's a chance they can move out of the 28th place in MLB for runs scored. All they have to do is to score 9 runs tonight and they'll move past the White Sox for 27th place in runs. What's that? You say the Dodgers are one of the most anemic offensive teams in MLB. We'll just overlook the fact that it took the Dodgers their last 3 games to score 9 runs. We'll also overlook the fact that after tonight LA will have played two more games than the White Sox.
Things were looking grim for the Pirates yesterday as their game entered the 9th inning. They were down 6-3 and facing the Angels red hot closer. However the Pirates scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game. The Angels couldn't score in the bottom of the 10th inning and the game went into the 10th inning. Pittsburgh was able to score 4 runs in the top of the 10th to take a 10-6 lead. The Angels were able to score 3 runs in the bottom of the 10th inning, but the Pirates had just enough to win. Pirates closer Jason Grilli struck out Mike Trout to clinch the win for the Pirates.
After Grilli has been so rock strong the early part of the season, he has really struggled of late. Grilli did just enough to close the doors on the Angels, but he sure made the bottom of the 10th inning exciting. In his 1 inning of work he gave up 5 hits, 3 runs as his ERA rose to a still excellent 1.82. I do wonder how his confidence is going to be the next time he pitches though.
Pittsburgh, 46-30, has 4 games in a row and 7 of 10. They move to second place in the NL Central and only trail the first place Cardinals by 1 game. It helps the Pirates can sweep their weekend series while the Pirates are sweeping their weekend series. Pittsburgh and St. Louis are the only teams with a winning percentage above .600. Pittsburgh moves 16 games above .500 and has a 69.8% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile the Blue Jays continue to roll, rolling over my Orioles. Toronto is clearly MLB's hottest team with their 11 wins in a row. The team with the next longest win streak is the Rangers, who've won 5 in a row. They were the team to sweep the Cardinals over the weekend.
The AL East continues to contract, there's only 5 games separating the first place Red Sox and the last place Rays. Boston has struggled of late, losing 4 of 5, but still remain in first place in the AL East. It helps that the second place Orioles were swept over the weekend. The O's are two games behind the Red Sox. The Evil Empire is in third place, with a 41-34 record, they trail Boston by 2.5 games. In 4th place is those Blue Jays, they are 5 games back. Then the team the Blue Jays play today, the Rays, are also 5 games back.
We'll know a lot more about this Blue Jays team when their next 7 games are over. After battering Orioles pitching for 24 runs in 3 games, the Blue Jays start a 3 game series with the Rays today. That series is in Tampa. Then Toronto travels to play the Red Sox for a 4 game series, starting on Thursday.
themusicaddict
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