Hello,
The Dodgers-Braves game was the MLB Saturday Night Game in my market. I love MLBN and how well they have baseball covered from coast to coast. One thing I especially liked about this specific game is listening to the great Vin Scully. He's still doing the play by play after all these years. Listening to Scully is like listening to living history. His great voice, keen insight and long experience brings joy to the home viewer. He waxes eloquently on modern players just as well as he talks about the great players of the past. No matter what else happens this season, at least the Dodgers still have Vin Scully.
If you are a true baseball fan I would urge you to the listen to the master while he's still calling games so well.
I don't know this for sure, but I'm sure one of the players that Scully called play by play for was the great Sandy Koufax. The MLBN broadcast showed Koufax out at the park, signing authographs for both fans and players alike. Many Braves players surrounded Koufax and acted a bit star struck, I can't say I blame them. Koufax was way before my time, but his numbers and feats are extraordinary. I hope both Koufax and Scully have many years left to live.
Sadly Scully and Koufax were treated to yet another anemic offensive performance. The Dodgers only scored 1 run in their 2-1 loss to Atlanta. I just don't understand how a team with a $216 million payroll can't score runs. Subtract Yasiel Puig's timely grand slam on Friday and the Dodgers have only scored 4 runs in their last 3 games. The fact the Dodgers have as "good" of a record as they do says more about their pitching than hitting. Although their starting pitching has had a few struggles as well.
I suggest subtracting Puig's grand slam as he seems to be about the only one getting timely hits for the Dodgers. Although I do acknowledge Hanley Ramirez's pinch hit RBI yesterday. Too bad Ramirez is flirting with going on the DL for the third time this season. (Although he looked surprisingly spry in helping to rip Skip Schumaker's shirt off after LA's Friday win.) In limited action, 9 games, Ramirez is hitting .350.
So why can't the Dodgers score runs? Ramirez being on DL twice and Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford being on the DL now don't help. But even when Kemp wasn't on DL, he was a shadow of his former self. Crawford has been surprisingly efficient, although lately he's not hitting as well as he had earlier in the season. Also with Crawford you never know when he'll get injured again. Of course that could apply to about 1/3rd of the team.
Andre Ethier isn't performing any where near his contract and his batting average is heading the wrong way. Scott Van Slyke has provided some pop to the Dodgers lineup, but he's only hitting .234. Also any time a team has to give a lot of plate appearances to a hitter, Luis Cruz, only hitting .136, is not a good sign. Adrian Gonzalez has been playing well, hitting .316 and leads the Dodgers in nearly every offensive category. However I don't get the feeling he's playing with a lot of passion. I'd love for him to be breaking a bat over his leg out after getting out.
Two players going in opposite directions are Puig and Ethier. Puig again had a good game, going 2 for 4. He's now hitting .435. He's been a spark plug in making the Dodgers offense even less pathetic. On the opposite side of the spectrum Ethier is coming precariously close to the Mendoza Line. The Mendoza Line is named after Mario Mendoza, a career .215 hitter. Although when the Mendoza Line idea originated in 1979, Mendoza seemed to always be hitting within a few points of .200. Typically the Mendoza Line is about .200. Ethier was 0 for 3 as his batting average dropped to .229. He also failed to drive in Nick Punto in the 6th inning, he hit a not deep enough sacrifice fly. LA ended up losing by 1 run. (Thanks to wikipedia.org.)
One player I have to apologize to is Skip Schumaker. He started out the season hitting terribly, but as of late he's been hot. He has a 14 game hitting streak and was 3 for 4 yesterday. After he was below the Mendoza Line earlier in the season, Schumaker has increased his batting average to .280.
I have to give a shout out to Braves pitcher Kris Medlen, he pitched a very effective game Saturday. He started this season out sort of rough, but seems to be returning to his form of the second half of last season. Although his record is only 3-6, he made a lot of good pitches yesterday. I'll always tip my hat to a pitcher who helps his own cause, Medlen also added a home run yesterday.
The Dodgers are now 27-34 and are 5-5 over their last 10 games. Winning 5 of 10 games qualifies as a hot streak for the Dodgers. The Dodgers are 27th in runs scored and they are actually losing ground to the 26th team Mets, who the Dodgers trail by 11 runs. According to ESPN, the Dodgers have a 4.3% chance of making the playoffs.
I hope the Dodgers continue to do what they can to make the playoffs, but not at the expense of the future. Can they trade Ethier for a prospect? Should the Dodgers bring up Joc Pederson and see what he can contribute to the Dodgers?
Upcoming: Sunday afternoon is the final game in the 4 game series between the Braves-Dodgers. In spite of having virtually no offense, the Dodgers somehow have won 2 of 3 games so far. Today's scheduled pitching matchup is Matt Magill (0-1, 6.38 ERA) vs. Mike Minor (7-2, 2.52 ERA). Ted Lilly originally was scheduled to be the starting pitcher, but has been pulled. I can't say I'm real heartbroken as he's been extremely ineffective this season, even those rare times he's been healthy.
I love the Dodgers and have been following them for the longest, but I also cheer for the Pirates, Cubs, Red Sox, Orioles and Braves. The Braves continue to dominate the NL East. Atlanta is 38-24 and 7-3 over their last 10 games. They lead the second place Phillies by 7.5 games. The Braves have the 13th most runs in MLB and have a 96.2% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile the team that has scored the most runs in MLB, the Boston Red Sox, continue to roll on. The Red Sox are only one of six teams that have scored 300 runs or more. Yesterday Boston split their double header with the Angels. They won the second game 7-2 and were powered by David Ortiz's 12th home run. Ortiz is hitting .317 on the season. His teammate, Dustin Pedroia, continues his excellent season. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .335 this season.
But the story of this game was the sterling pitching of Clay Buchholz. He improved to 9-0 as he gave up 6 hits and only 2 earned runs. Buchholz's ERA is now 1.71, Buchholz is so good that giving up two earned runs actually raises his ERA.
The Red Sox are 38-25 and have won 6 of their last 10 games. They have a 84.9% chance of making the playoffs and lead the AL East. They lead the Evil Empire by 1.5 games as Baltimore has slipped to fourth place, they are 3.5 games back. The AL East is just as strong as many expected it to be, although Toronto definitely qualifies as a major disappointment.
themusicaddict
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