Hello,
On Tuesday Matt Kemp was activated from the 15 day DL, he'd been on a 3 game rehab assignment in Albuquerque. He didn't exactly burn up the base paths in his three games in Albuquerque. He was 2 for 11 and struck out 6 times as an Isotope. The Dodgers had talked about leaving Kemp in Albuquerque to get his swing back, I'm so glad they didn't. I do wonder after he missed 24 games, will we be getting the start of 2012 (great) Kemp or the start of 2013 (not so good) Kemp?
After the Dodgers lost 5 straight games to the Giants, they've won the last two in this long-time rivalry. With their 6-5 win on Tuesday, LA has won 4 straight games. That's their season long winning streak. After only one game, it looks like LA may be getting the 2013 early season Kemp. Again it's only one game so I'm not jumping to any conclusions. Kemp was 1 for 4 and is hitting .251 this season. He also made a nice catch to end the game.
The offensive star of the game was Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez hit his 5th home run, was 2 for 4 and he's hitting .361 this season. This offense needs his bat desperately, I'm hoping he'll stay healthy and productive.
Of course this Dodgers offense needs any offense. LA has played 76 games and have scored at least 5 runs only 24 times. To no one's surprise the Dodgers are 19-5 in those games. Even though LA seems to be finding it's offense of late, they remain 28th place in MLB in runs scored. They are closer to the 29th place team than to the 27th placed team.
Yasiel Puig continues to show that he's human. Monday night he misplayed a fly ball, but I like that he hustled after the ball after he missed the catch. He didn't pull a Josh Hamilton and act like his team is lucky to have him. On Tuesday, Puig was 0 for 4 and his batting average lowers to .420. Even when Carl Crawford gets back, in about 2 weeks, I hope Puig continues to be the starter.
For the most part the pitching was good. Stephen Fife had a decent game for the Dodgers, improving his record to 2-2. He has an ERA at 3.41. Kenley Jansen had pitched 3 straight days, so he was given the night off. Paco Rodriguez earned this first save of the season. Sadly the game ended up being closer than it should have been. One of Ned Colleti's worst signings, Brandon League, made the game very exciting. He pitched to three batters and recorded no outs. Instead he gave up 3 hits and 2 earned runs as his ERA continues to soar around 6. His current ERA is 5.72, which is probably pretty secure as I don't know how much more Don Mattingly is going to trust him to pitch.
The Dodgers are now 34-42 and they've won 6 of their last 10 games. But they are still in last place in the NL West, trailing the first place Diamondbacks by 7 games. The chances for the Dodgers making the playoffs have improved all the way to 4.8%. Can they break 5%?
Upcoming: the Dodgers go for a rare series sweep on Wednesday as they host San Francisco one final time. It will be Dodgers hard luck pitcher Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 2.06 ERA) vs. hard hit Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum (4-7, 4.52 ERA). Lincecum has slipped a lot since he was known as the Freak.
Of the 7 teams that I follow, 6 of them won on Tuesday. Besides LA, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Boston and Atlanta won. My only team that didn't win, predictably was the Cubs, but they did win in one way yesterday. Having exhausted any chance to trade Carlos Marmol the Cubs "designated him for assignment". That's a nice way to say they dumped him. He should be a free agent soon, although I'm not sure why any team would sign him. Marmol was 2-4 this season, with a 5.84 ERA. He also had 3 blown saves, which is more than the saves he had: 2
The Cubs need to prepare for the future and Marmol wasn't part of the Cubs long term plans anyway. The Cubs, who are 31-44 and 16 games behind St. Louis, only has a 1.9% chance of making the playoffs. The Cubs look like they could trade starter Matt Garza soon. Maybe they could trade Garza to the Pirates, although I'm sure that's a pipe dream.
Garza would give the Pirates one more solid starter, which is one of their weaknesses currently. In spite of that the Pirates are rolling. Last night, after they blasted Seattle 9-4, the Pirates improved to 47-30. They have the second best record in MLB and trail the incredibly hot Cardinals by 1 game. St. Louis is the team with the best record in MLB.
Clearly this is shaping up to being one of the best seasons in Pirates history, at least their recent history. The Pirates have won 5 games in a row and 7 of their last 10 games. Pittsburgh hit 5 home runs in this game, the first time they've done that since 2009. Starling Marte continues his very good rookie season by having 3 more hits, he had a triple and two solo home runs. Marte finished the day 3 for 5 and is hitting .283 this season.
themusicaddict
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