Hello,
Sunday was the final game of the Dodgers-Rockies 3 game series. The Rockies won 2 of those games, including the finale 7-2. Dodgers starting pitcher, Matt Magill, only had a couple of hours to prepare for his start against the Rockies. To say he struggled is an understatement, in 6 innings, he gave up 5 hits and 7 runs. But the stat that really jumps out at me is that he issued 9 walks (9!). How does a major league pitcher issue 9 walks? The Rockies also hit 4 homers off of him, including two by lead off hitter Dexter Fowler. With all the walks and all the home runs, I'm surprised the Rockies didn't score more than 7 runs. Magill's ERA soars to 6.38 and he's 0-1 on the year.
Following the game Magill was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque and Yasiel Puig was recalled from Double-A Chattanooga.
With Matt Kemp on the DL for at least a few more days, the Dodgers have promoted Puig. I realize that the Dodgers don't want to rush their young prospects too quickly and I hope this turns out to be the right move. Puig was hot in spring training, hitting .517, and has been doing well in Double A Chattanooga. Puig, in 40 games, is hitting .313, with 8 homers and 37 RBIs.
Puig is expected to be the every day center fielder until Matt Kemp returns. I think this will be a good, relatively low pressure way for the Dodgers to kick the wheels on their $42 million investment. I'm hoping Puig isn't another Ned Colleti contract boondoggle. My only concern is about his April arrest for reckless driving. I hope that was a one time lapse and not the sign of a deeper problem. (Thanks to ESPN LA's Mark Saxon.)
The Dodgers also have Joc Pederson in Double-A Chattanooga. In 55 games he's hitting .303, with 8 home runs and 22 RBIs.
One of Coletti's contract boondoggles is Andre Ethier. Ethier was 1 for 4 and is now hitting .240 on the season. It's kind of sad when going 1 for 4 actually helps a player's batting average. It's also kind of sad that the Dodgers owe over $60 million more to a batter with a worse batting average than Clayton Kershaw.
I'm glad that the Dodgers are promoting Puig, this Dodgers lineup is deficient in runs. The fact that the Dodgers are giving so many at bats to light hitting Luis Cruz is embarrassing. Anyway on Sunday the Dodgers only had 6 hits and 2 runs. The only player with multiple hits was Skip Schumaker. I've been critical of him, but he's really been picking up his game of late. His batting average is slowly but surely becoming decent. On Sunday he was 2 for 3 and drove in both of the Dodgers runs. Schumaker is now hitting .260 this season.
The Dodgers drop to 23-32 and they are 2.5 games behind the 4th place Padres, the team they open up a 3 game series with today. Not that it matters, because this Dodgers team has so many deficiencies, but the Dodgers are 8.5 games behind the first place Diamondbacks. LA now has a 2.4% chance of making the playoffs.
Again the Dodgers open up a 3 game series with the Padres today. The Dodgers offense isn't the only reason the Dodgers are so bad this year. The Dodgers starting pitching has really struggled this season. Scheduled to itch for the Dodgers in this 3 game series are Stephen Fife (0-0, 7.71 ERA), Ted Lilly (0-2, 4.26 ERA) and the man Clayton Kershaw (5-3, 1.85 ERA).
Best case scenarios, LA returns the favor and sweep the Padres in this series in Dodger Stadium. If the Dodgers do get the sweep, they'll move into 4th place in the NL West. Fife and Lilly have great starts while Kershaw maintains his high level of excellence. And Puig serves as a spark plug to wake up the Dodgers anemic offense. Puig plays so well that the Dodgers can't take him out of the lineup even when Kemp returns. The Dodgers then actually start playing much closer to their high payroll. All those would be best case scenarios.
What I expect to happen is that the Dodgers will win at least 1 game. Fife and Lilly will really struggle. Kershaw will pitch well, but the Dodgers will give him little run support. Puig will be decent, won't embarrass himself or the Dodgers, but in no way will be mistaken for Mike Trout last season.
In the exciting race for the lowest scoring MLB team, the Dodgers need to watch out. Although this past weekend the Dodgers surged to 28th place, the Marlins exploded. Miami, the team with the fewest runs, had 24 runs in their 3 game series over the weekend. They closed a lot of ground on the Dodgers. LA now only leads Miami by 24 runs, Miami now has 171 runs, but are still in last place. In 29th place is the Chicago White Sox- they have 186 runs. Then flying high, relatively, are the Dodgers. They have scored 195 runs and they are nipping right at the heels of the 27th team in runs scored. The struggling Nationals only have 197 runs. Again the Dodgers ($216 million) and Nationals ($112 million) show that high payrolls don't guarantee success. Although the Dodgers have a higher payroll, it looks like both the present and the future are better for the Nationals.
Check this blog tomorrow for more up to date information on who the wimpiest offensive teams are in all of MLB. Or you can do what I do and go to ESPN and check for yourself.
themusicaddict
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