Hello,
First things first, congrats to the Cincinnati Reds Homer Bailey for pitching a no hitter last night. He pitched the first no hitter of the season and is also the pitcher who pitched the previous no hitter. Since he had a no hitter, he was obviously dominating. I love the fact that one of the best pitchers now has the name of Homer. Thanks to MLBN for giving me the ability to watch Bailey get the final 3 outs in his no hitter. One of the many reasons I love MLB so much. Also thanks to Root Sports for being able to see a couple of innings of my LA Dodgers.
No matter what happens with Carlos Marmol in LA, no one will ever say today was the start of Marmol Madness. It's only a matter of time until the Dodgers send Marmol on his way, he seems to be the least important piece for the Dodgers in the trade that brought him to LA. I realize the Dodgers didn't give up much, but Carlos Marmol?
On Tuesday the Dodgers started a 3 game series against the Rockies in Colorado. They won the first game 8-0. Entering Tuesday's game the Rockies were 2 games ahead of the Dodgers. If the Dodgers sweep the series, which won't happen, LA would move pass Colorado in the NL West. As of now all 5 NL West teams could win this mediocre division. One reason the Dodgers have struggled so much this season is because of their inability to score runs. Even though LA scored 8 runs yesterday, they're still in 29th place in runs scored.
However with the NL Central so strong it's highly likely that possibly both of the NL Wild Cards will come out of that division. NL West teams that want to go to the playoffs, quite likely they need to win the NL West or start planning for next season.
Tuesday night's starting pitching matchup was Clayton Kershaw (6-5, 2.08 ERA) vs. Roy Oswalt (0-2, 7.36 ERA). Kershaw finally received some run support and pitched another fantastic game. His 7-5 record doesn't do true justice to how well he's been pitching this year. Entering this game Kershaw has the second lowest run support. He pitched a 4 hit shut out as his ERA decreases to 1.93. Although he's tied for 25th in wins, Kershaw leads all of MLB in ERA. Kershaw is also fourth in strikeouts, he has 126. He certainly deserves a raise in his next contract negotiations.
Kershaw pitched so well that even Michael Cuddyer couldn't get a hit off of him. Cuddyer was 0 for 4, which ended his 27 game hitting streak. After the game Cuddyer seemed to have a good attitude about the end of his streak. Don't feel too bad for him, he's still hitting .339. Oswalt struggled in the game, he dropped to 0-3 this season. His ERA took another hit and dropped to an even worse .788. Oswalt looked decent in the game, but the Dodgers certainly had him figured out.
Mark Ellis, who looks to be the casualty if the Dodgers trade for Chase Utley, led off the game. He popped out on his first at bat. Ellis finished 1 for 5, his batting average dropped to .258. He also had an error. The next batter was Yasiel Puig, guess what happened. He had a single, but then was caught stealing. Puig, who had another great game, finished 3 for 5. He hit his 8th homer of the season and is hitting .443.
Adrian Gonzalez popped out on his first bat as his batting average dropped to .295. However Gonzalez bounced back, finishing 2 for 5 and is hitting .298 as he continues to flirt with .300. He also had his 11th home run and his 49th and 50th RBIs of the season. He's been the one constant Dodgers offensive presence this season. Gonzalez is tied for a respectable 54th place in MLB for home runs. He's tied for a much better 24th for RBIs. He's all by himself at #34 in batting average.
Now if Matt Kemp could only remember how to hit, then you could see the full potential of this lineup. Kemp was 0 for 5, his batting average decreases to .248. Although his last at bat, he hit the ball to the warning track in the thin Colorado air. It will be nice when Carl Crawford comes back, but I hope they are giving him all the time he needs to fully heal. I just don't think the Dodgers can fully count on Crawford, he's just too injury prone.
The Dodgers have won 9 of 10 and continue to surge up the NL West. Thanks to the Giants poor play of late, LA is no longer last place in the NL West. The Dodgers are tied for third place with the Padres, the team that the Dodgers were able to turn this season around against. In the weak NL West, LA is still only 39-43. But they seem to have finally started playing to their potential and have a 13.6% chance of making the playoffs.
The Red Sox helped the Dodgers by beating the Padres 4-1. It's the least the Red Sox could do after LA took Josh Beckett off their hands. Boston has won 2 games in a row and 7 of 10. They are 51-34 and continue to lead the AL East. Boston leads the entire league in runs scored, they have scored an incredible 435 times. They have a 86.9% chance of making the playoffs. Baltimore is in second place in runs scored, they have 412 runs. Those same Orioles are second place in the AL East, trailing the Red Sox by 3.5 games. Baltimore has a 45.7% chance of making the playoffs.
Boston started John Lackey pitched 8 pretty good innings, only giving up a respectable 6 hits. He only gave up 1 run, lowering his ERA to 2.83. After losing Joel Hanrahan to season ending surgery and with Andrew Miller struggling, the Red Sox have turned to Koji Uehara to close games. He earned his 5th save of the season, has a small 2.06 ERA and has thrown 51 strikeouts.
Another one of my teams that's doing well is the Braves. Of course it helps them that they are playing in the mediocre NL East, clearly the NL Central is the strongest team in the NL. The Braves beat the Marlins 11-3 on Tuesday, Miami is the lowest scoring team in MLB. Kris Medlen was 2 for 2 at the plate and improved to 6-7 on the season.
Atlanta, 49-34, continues to dominate the NL East, the Braves have won 4 in a row. They are leading the second place Nationals by a full 7 games and have a 95.4% chance of reaching the playoffs.
themusicaddict
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