Hello,
Happy 4th of July!
In the second game of the Dodgers-Rockies series, the LA won 10-8. LA has won 10 of 11 games and are on absolute fire. I'm always proud to be a Dodgers fan, but now I'm also excited to be a Dodgers fan. But is this Dodgers resurgence built to last? The Blue Jays floundered the early part of the season and then out of the blue won 11 games in a row. They looked like they were on their way to fulfilling the potential of all their off season moves. However since the Blue Jays 11 game winning streak, they have only won 3 of their last 10 games. Is that how things will turn out for LA?
Hanley Ramirez is playing out of his mind. Wednesday he was 4 for 5 and is hitting .412 this season. I didn't think any Dodger would get close to Yasiel Puig's batting average until Puig cooled off. Well Puig isn't cooling off and Ramirez is closing in on him. Ramirez also hit his 7th home run of the season in the 9th inning, giving the Dodgers another insurance run in the thin air of Colorado.
Puig has the reputation of going all out. I would say that usually that's a good thing, however he injured himself yesterday because of it. He crashed into the wall, but did make the catch. He injured himself but is listed as day to day. Wednesday he was 1 for 3 and he's hitting .440. Puig also added his 18th RBI of the season. As for the controversy of whether he should be in the All-Star game I wonder who really cares. The All-Star game is so watered down now anyway and the game seems to be losing a lot of its prestige. As a Dodgers fan I'd rather have him have 4 days of rest.
Adrian Gonzalez hit his second home run of the series with a laser to the second deck of Coors Field. Matt Kemp finally hit his 3rd home run of the season, although he still doesn't look 100% right yet. His batting stance makes him look stiff, although that same batting stance has worked well for him over the years. He was 2 for 5 and is hitting .251 this season.
While things are looking good now for LA, Zack Greinke continues to be mediocre. The $21,000,000 man continues to struggle. In 5 innings he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs and 7 walks. (7 walks?!). Thanks to the Dodgers incredible run support, he still got the win and improves to 6-2 on the season. His ERA is non-impressive at 4.30. Clayton Kershaw, a much better pitcher, is probably wondering what he has to do to get such run support.
On July 4th the Dodgers go for the sweep, the scheduled pitching match up is Chris Capuano (2-5, 4.72 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (7-3, 3.59 ERA). Capuano looks like he might have some potential, but I wish the Dodgers would go out and get either Matt Garza or Ricky Nolasco for the stretch run. I'd rather have either of those pitchers than Ted Lilly.
The Dodgers are 40-43 and have a 16.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. LA is in third place in the NL West. In terms of games behind, they are tied with the Rockies at 2.5 games behind. Whoever wins the Dodgers-Rockies game today will be all alone in second place in the NL West. That would be an incredible turn of events for the Dodgers. Of course it helps that Arizona is only 2-8 over their last 10 games. San Diego is also 2-8 over their last 10 games and it looks like they are about to be swept by the Red Sox on July 4th. The defending World Series champs San Francisco Giants have forgotten how to score and are only 1-9 over their last 10 games. The NL West is there for the Dodgers to take.
LA's Wednesday win is also the first time all season they've scored 5 or more runs in three straight games. Actually they've scored at least 6 runs in their last 3 games, over those games they are averaging 8 runs a game. No coincidence they won all 3 games.
The Dodgers are also finally rising up the ranks in something else, the stat for runs scored. LA scored 10 runs yesterday and leapt from the 29th to 26th highest run scoring team. The previous best I can remember the Dodgers were at was tied for 26th place. All alone in 26th place is better than that. LA trails the Astros by two runs. Maybe the Dodgers, the team with the second highest payroll, can finally pass the MLB team with the lowest payroll, the Astros.
The Dodgers will never catch the Red Sox, who have scored 125 more runs through July 3rd. If the Dodgers can sneak into the top ten that would mean good things for them. Currently they are 77 runs out of 10th place.
The Orioles also won on July 3rd, beating the Chicago White Sox 4-2. Chris Davis hit his 32nd home run of the season. But he's not just a home run hitter, he finished 2 for 4 and is hitting .331 this season. In the race for the Triple Crown, Davis is 4th in batting average. He leads all of the MLB with his 32nd home run, having hit 6 more home runs than the incredible Miguel Cabrera. However Cabrera is first in RBIs, leading second place Davis by 2 RBIs.
The newly traded for Orioles pitcher Scott Feldman had a decent debut. He pitched 6 innings, only giving up 6 hits and 2 earned runs. He earned no decision in this game, but he's 7-6 on the season. He also lowered his ERA to an even 3.00.
Meanwhile the Alex Rodriguez train continues to head to obscurity. In 4 at bats in single A ball so far, he's 0 for 4. Meanwhile the Biogenesis mess continues to close in on Rodriguez. Once the process is done, the MLB wants to suspend ARod 100 games for his committing his second known violation of the steroids policy. If he's suspended, the Yankees wouldn't have to pay him. That would probably save the Yankees about $15,000,000. Would that be the first suspension that actually benefits the team?
I love how on Thursday that Rodriguez said he won't give up on the Yankees. Um Alex that's not what you have to worry about. What you need to worry about is when the Yankees will be giving up on you. If I'm the Yankees I've already given up on Arod. In those same comments Rodriguez says that most people would suggest the Yankees trade him. I'm sorry but Alex but I hope that "most people" would realize you are untradeable. Who'd want a player that's injury prone, paid way too much, out of touch completely with reality and is about to be suspended at least 50 games?
Congrats to the Detroit Tigers Max Scherzer for improving to 13-0 this season. This is the first time a pitcher has been 13-0 to start a season since 1986. (Thanks to ESPN for that great little nugget.)
themusicaddict
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