Hello,
So there's no confusion, I get most of my stats and information from ESPN. Thanks to them for their excellent website that baseball fans like myself can find all the stats and info that we could possibly want.
The Dodgers defeated the Diamondbacks 6-1 in the first of their 3 game series. The story of the game was Zack Greinke's great pitching outing and the Dodgers having 17 hits. The Dodgers were able to close within a game of the Diamondbacks with their victory.
Before the game was played Matt Kemp was placed on the 15 day DL once again. He obviously isn't fully healthy and I'm glad LA isn't rushing him back. In my opinion he should be as close to full health as possible before he returns. This DL move is retroactive to Saturday and I believe this is a great move. LA plays 7 more games and then it's the All-Star break. Saturday was July 6th, which is when Kemp's 15 day DL started. The Dodgers first game after the All-Star break will be on Friday, July 19th, which will be 13 days.
Kemp can skip the first series of the season's second half against the Nationals. LA should allow Kemp to come off of the DL on Monday, July 22nd. Kemp should next play in the 3 game series that starts on July 22nd against the Blue Jays. I have a feeling he'll be battling this shoulder injury for the rest of the season. Perhaps if he gets injured again at that point just shut him down for the rest of the season. Let him have the rest of the season and the offseason to get back to being as healthy as possible. My hope is that the healthy 2014 Kemp would be the Kemp Dodgers fans know and love.
Scott Van Slyke was called up from Triple A Albuquerque to fill Kemp's roster spot.
Entering this game the Dodgers two hottest hitters were Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez, following the game they're still the two hottest hitters. Puig was 2 for 5, he's hitting .409. Ramirez was 3 for 5 and is hitting .419. He also extended his hitting streak to 19 games and he had his 21st RBI of the season. On Monday night the Dodgers had 17 hits, other players getting 2 or more hits include Juan Uribe. Uribe was 2 for 5 and is hitting .273 this season. The Dodgers had so many hits even Andre Ethier had three hits, he was 3 for 5 and is hitting .269. Adrian Gonzalez continues his flirtation with .300, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .298 this season.
The story of this game was the 17 hits that the Dodgers had. The Dodgers had so many hits that even Zack Greinke had 3 hits, he's hitting this .370 this season.
Yes, the Greinke that's the Dodgers pitcher, he was great from the mound on Monday as well. In 7 innings he only gave up 2 hits but no runs. After giving up 7 walks in his previous start, he only gave up 2 walks in this game. Greinke, who was extremely sharp most of the night, is now 7-2 and his ERA decreases to .391. He had a great game, but the only thing he's been consistent with all season is being inconsistent. I continue to question the $147,000,000 LA gave him this past off season. I also question them for signing him for 6 years.
Not only has he been inconsistent, I still question where his head was at when he fought the Padres Carlos Quentin. Injuries and bad games are going to happen, no complaints about that. However things that happen because of poor decisions is inexcusable, especially when a player is a veteran like Greinke How much of an impact would have Greinke had if he hadn't missed the about 5 weeks due to his injury from the fight?
Players like Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford have signed shorter contracts and have suffered injuries. Although the effort appears to be there for both of those players, LA is quite simply not getting equal value for how much money they are paying. Those players are getting the better end of the guaranteed contracts. Long after Crawford and Beckett are gone I will still be cheering for the Dodgers.
With the Dodgers 6-1 win, LA remains in second place in the NL West. The Dodgers improve to 43-45 and close to within 3.5 games of the Diamondbacks. LA has won 13 of their last 16 games, but will they be able to eventually make it to first place? To make the playoffs they'll need to win the division as only one team from the NL West will make the playoffs this season. The hot Dodgers have a 21.3% chance of making the playoffs. Colorado is in third place, they are 4.5 games back. Meanwhile both the Padres and Giants have gone straight to the NL West cellar. The Padres have lost 10 games in a row.
Upcoming: Tuesday night the Dodgers newest acquisition Ricky Nolasco is scheduled to make his debut. It will be interesting to see what he brings to the Dodgers. Arizona's scheduled pitcher Arizona is Ian Kennedy, one of the main participants in the LA-Arizona brawl a few weeks ago. That may be Kennedy's most notable achievement this season as he's only 3-4 with a 5.16 ERA.
It still hasn't been announced whether Puig will be an NL All-Star. But someone that should be an AL All-Star is the A's Grant Balfour. He broke Dennis Eckersley A's record of 40 consecutive games with his save last night. Balfour has had 41 straight saves and he hasn't blown a save in 2013. The A's continue to lead the AL West, leading the hot Rangers by .5 games.
Other sports news: The Cavs have made a 2 year, $24 million dollar offer to Andrew Bynum. Are they serious, did they forget that he didn't play a game at all last season? Did they forget that he injured himself bowling? Bowling? Did they forget how brittle his knees are and how he has no heart? Did they forget once the season was over, he was filmed dancing? Andrew Bynum is the answer to this trivia question. Which drama queen does themusicaddict want on his Jazz even less than whiny Dwight Howard?
Ron Jaworski has rated his Top 30 quarterbacks and he's counting them down. Yesterday he got to # 15, which is where he placed Tony Romo. As a long time Cowboys fan, I couldn't agree more. Romo's ardent deluded fans always talk about how many yards and 4th quarter comebacks he's responsible for. For me what I remember is his 1-6 record in win or go home games and all the other times he has spectacularly failed. As for that 1 win, how mediocre was that Eagles team that the Cowboys beat? Don't remind Romo fans how poorly he and the rest of the Cowboys performed in the playoff game after the win over the Eagles. Only Jerry "Idiot" Jones would sign this freak of hype to an expensive long-term contract.
Oh yeah and Jerry, cut Josh Brent already.
themusicaddict
No comments:
Post a Comment