Following LA's 1-0 victory on Saturday, there's only one more game for both the Rockies and the Dodgers before the All-Star Game break. On Saturday, they played a classic pitcher's duel. LA and Zack Greinke won 1-0 and LA has won 2 of the 3 games in this series so far.
For the second night in a row the Dodgers only had 4 hits, although they were able to score a run in this game. The Dodger players getting the hits tonight were Hanley Ramirez (of course), A.J. Ellis , Zack Greinke and Skip Schumaker. It was Ramirez 25th RBI of the season that drove in the only run of the game. In Greinke's last 7 plate appearances he has 4 hits and a walk.
As I mentioned earlier this game was a pitcher's duel. Tonight's stud pitcher for the Rockies was Tyler Chatwood, he followed Juan Nicasio's outstanding pitching outing from Friday night. Saturday night Chatwood pitched a complete game 4 hit, 1 run game. He gave up only 4 hits and lowered his ERA to 2.56. There was no shame in his game tonight.
LA finally learned how to score in their recent hot streak, but they've only have scored 1 run in their last two games. Yes, I'm a more than a little concerned about that. For some reason it seems Yasiel Puig is the key to the Dodgers scoring runs. Even when he doesn't seem to have any direct influence to LA scoring, just him being in the line up seems to be enough. He was 0 for 2 and had to leave the game early yesterday, LA scored no runs. He didn't play in today's game and LA just barely pushed across a run.
Thursday night LA had moved to 22nd place in runs scored with 358 runs. They were tied with two other teams. After scoring a total of 1 run in their last two games, LA has slipped back to 25th place in runs scored. Through Saturday LA has scored 359 runs. They trail the 24th place Royals by 2 runs and lead the 26th place Pirates by 4 runs. Obviously great pitching is the answer for the Pirates, the team tied for the best record in MLB. Also congrats to the Miami Marlins for finally crossing the 300 runs barrier. They trail the first place Red Sox by 196 runs.
One of my biggest complaints about athletes is they get these big contracts and in so many situations they don't live up to them. The Rockets and their fans will never be satisfied with Dwight Howard's lack of desire or great play. I love what he said in his press conference today with the Houston media how he works on his game. If that's true then why is he such an abysmal free throw shooter? If he works on his game, then why is he getting worse at free throws? In his rookie season Howard shot a respectable .671 from the line. Last season, when the Lakers were paying him millions of dollars, he shot .492 from the line. I'm pretty sure he doesn't works on his game as much as he says he does, he just relies on his declining freak athleticism. Once his athleticism is gone his NBA career will be over.
In Dallas, head Cowboys nitwit Jerry Jones signed Tony Romo to an $108 million dollar extension. Jones may be one of few people that would sign Romo to that kind of contract. For such a great and capable businessman, he sure is dumb when it comes to
In fact thinking about it Tony Romo and Dwight Howard have a lot in common. Both are being paid a lot based on hype and now both play professional sports in Texas. Both have been in their respective leagues for about 10 years and have underperformed. Howard has a lot more athletic ability and at least Howard's teams make the playoffs and sometimes even do damage. However both are still earning more than they are worth and they'll continue to fail.
When Zack Greinke signed a 6 year, $147 million dollar contract back in December I was fairly certain he'd be one of those players who would never live up to his contract. Then when he got into that stupid fight with Carlos Quentin I was convinced even more. I thought he was destined to be another Dodgers pitching bust like Ted Lilly and Josh Beckett. Watching him pitch I can see he has great stuff, but he's also incredibly consistent.
However on Saturday night he acted like he might live up to this contract. He pitched a 9 inning, two hit shutout. In his 99th career victory he lowered his season ERA from 3.91 to .349. He was 1 for 3 in batting and is hitting .367 this season. After his hit he also had his first stolen base of the season. That's someone that's living up to their contract! After Greinke's victory tonight, he is 8-2. What are the chances the 29 year old starter will continue to play that well for the rest of his contract?
LA remains in second place in the NL West and continue to put pressure on the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead. LA trails the Diamondbacks by 2.5 games following the Diamondbacks 5-4 victory over the Brewers. LA's chances to make the playoffs is at 29.9%. Again for the Dodgers to make the playoffs, they need to win the NL West. The Dodgers are 4.5 games out in the NL Wild Card.
Tomorrow's scheduled pitching matchup is Ricky Nolasco (6-8, 3.70 ERA). The recently arrived from Miami via trade is Nolasco. After pitching for the Marlins most of the season, he's used to his teams not scoring very many runs. Let's hope the Dodgers give him more run support than they did either Clayton Kershaw or Greinke in the last couple of games. Scheduled to pitch for the Rockies is Jhoulys Chacin (8-4, 3.62 ERA).
Upcoming: The Dodgers and Rockies play one more game and then they have the All-Star break. Like me I'm sure they are glad, I'm also looking forward to the All-Star break. Writing a Dodgers Daily everyday has been fun, but it's a lot of work. I look forward to taking the All-Star break but I'll still be writing. I'll just have the opportunity to write about something else besides the Dodgers. I plan on writing at least one or two of my greatest CDs of all-time blogs.
Also the Pirates have won 3 games and this season they are refusing to fade. Pittsburgh is 56-36 and have a 90.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. Once again they are tied with the Cardinals for best record in the NL Central, which means they are tied for the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Andrew McCutchen was the hero again, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .303 this season. He also hit his 10th homer of the season and also has 49 RBIs.
The big story of the night was Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. Lincecum struck out 13 and walked 4 Padres in 148 pitches. 148 pitches! That's crazy. If it wasn't for the All-Star break coming up, I'd be surprised Bruce Bochy would have let him pitch the whole game. Lincecum probably has at least 6 or 7 days off. In a wierd bit of timing, Lincecum was the losing pitcher when the Reds Homer Bailey threw his no-hitter against the Giants 11 days ago. Last night he looked like the Lincecum of old, although this season he's only 5-9 with a 4.26 ERA. He's tied with Cliff Lee for 11th place in number of strikeouts, 125. (Thanks as always to ESPN.)
The Giants have really struggled of late, their record is 43-50 and they have a 9.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They are 4th place in the NL West, 6.5 games behind the Diamondbacks. However they have won 3 consecutive games, but only 4 of their last 10 games. The NL West is so mediocre that at this time no team has been truly eliminated. The defending World Series champs aren't eliminated from the playoffs by a long shot.
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