Dodgers Daily, July 5th, 2013: Uribe's Big Game, Kemp Injured Again.

Hello,

The Dodgers started a 3 game series against the Giants in San Francisco Friday night. The Dodgers continued their potent offensive onslaught, winning 10-2. This is the fifth straight game that LA has scored at least 5 runs.

Yasiel Puig had a hit and extended his hitting streak to 9 games. Hanley Ramirez continued his hitting streak, he's hit in 16 straight games. Ramirez continues his hot hitting overall as he was 2 for 3 and is hitting .413, right behind Puig's .420.

LA has finally learned how to score runs, they added 10 more runs on Friday. They continue to slowly but surely climb up the rankings for runs scored. As of Friday, LA has 327 runs and are 25th place, of 30 teams, for runs scored. In position #24 is Pittsburgh, the team with the best record in MLB, who has 337 home runs. Once LA catches up with the group ahead of them, assuming they do, they could move up quickly. They've only scored 20 less runs than #15 San Diego. Boston continues to lead MLB with their 451 runs.

Matt Kemp injured himself again, he's getting to be as injury prone as Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett. I was hoping they didn't rush Kemp back, at the plate he just didn't look right. Ironically it seems that Carl Crawford is back. In a weird twist Crawford replaced Kemp when Kemp was forced to leave the game. This is the first time Crawford has played since June 1st.  LA should certainly let Crawford play as much as he can, but I wonder how long he'll remain healthy.

The Dodgers continued their amazing run, look how quickly things can turn around in MLB. On June 14th the Dodgers were 8.5 games out of first place. On that day they were shut out by the Pirates 3-0 and only had 6 hits in the game. At the end of day on June 14th, the Dodgers only had a 1.8% chance of making the playoffs. The Dodgers were very close to the bottom of all MLB for runs scored.

Only 3 weeks later, they've moved up out of the NL West Cellar. They are 3.5 only games behind the first place Diamondbacks. Once again LA is tied with the Rockies for second place in the NL West. LA came off of a shellacking of the Giants 10-2 and have a 17.6% chance of making the playoffs. While LA isn't in the top 20 in runs scored they continue climbing their way there.

I thought the Orioles were going to be able to beat the Evil Empire on Friday, sadly Jim Johnson had his 6th blown save of this season. He's in such ignominious company as Brandon League and Carlos Marmol. Johnson is tied for the lead in blown saves, he and the Cubs James Russell both have 6. I hope the Orioles have a plan in place to get a top line closer before the trading deadline. I don't even know if that's possible though.

The Yanks were able to come back and win 3-2. New York is only a 1/2 game behind the Orioles for second place in the AL East. Meanwhile the Red Sox seem to be determined to run away with the AL East. Boston has won 5 in a row and 9 of 10, they may have bypassed the Dodgers as the hottest team in the league.

themusicaddict