Hello,
The Dodgers completed a 3 game sweep over the Nationals on Sunday. This was Matt Kemp's first game off of DL and he had a spectacular game, until the 9th inning. In the Dodgers dominating 9-2 victory, Kemp hit his 5th homer of the season and added a double and a single. Kemp was 3 or 4 and raised his batting average to .263. He has 27 RBIs this season.
But in an ugly play at the plate, Kemp severely sprained his ankle. So in his first game off of DL, he gets injured again. If he's not there yet, he's pretty close to being an injury prone player. To be fair the human foot isn't meant to bend like his foot did on that play. He joins other Dodger players in the same injury prone category as Ted Lilly, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett. (If LA hasn't learned yet to stay away from injury prone players, they need to turn their eyes to the Dallas Cowboys. Tyrone Crawford is already out for the season. Anthony Spencer and Jay Ratliff are already battling injuries and it's just a matter of time before DeMarco Murray, Sean Lee and a couple of other players join them on the injury list. The emperor, Jerry Jones, has no clothes.)
According to ESPN.com it seems Kemp is going to miss the entire three game series against the Blue Jays. Kemp might go back on the DL again, which would be the third time this season. LA optioned Scott Van Slyke back to the minor leagues. With Crawford and Kemp on the roster, LA should option him to the nearest LA hotel room. That way he'll be nearby when he's needed to replace another injured Dodger.
I liked what Don Mattingly did with Yasiel Puig yesterday. Puig is obviously in a funk and Mattingly gave him most of the day off. Hopefully that will give him an extra day to charge his batteries and he'll be able to hit .300 down the stretch run. That might have been Mattingly's best move all season.
The Diamondbacks were able to win, preventing the Dodgers from moving into first place. In the very mediocre NL West Arizona remains in first place at least for one more day. Arizona is 51-47 and has a 43.2% chance of making the playoffs. However the Dodgers are only 1/2 game back. LA is 50-47 and has a 40.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. Since the NL West is so mediocre the Rockies are still in striking distance, even with a below .500 record. They're in third place, 3.5 games back and have a 19.1% chance of making the playoffs. And you can never count out the wily defending World Series champs San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers are 20-5 since June 22nd, tied with the Rays in being the hottest team in MLB in that time frame. Interestingly both teams are in second place in their divisions.
Upcoming: As I mentioned above LA opens a 3 game series with the Blue Jays on Monday. In the first game of the series the scheduled matchup is Hyun-Jin Ryu (7-3, 2.85) vs. Josh Johnson (1-5, 5.32 ERA.) Meanwhile the Diamondbacks open up a 4 game series against the downtrodden Cubs. I already cheer for the Cubs, I'll just doubly cheer for them for the next 4 games.
themusicaddict
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