Hello,
Thanks as always to ESPN for their excellent stats,insight and amazing amounts of information.
On Friday LA started their 7 game East Coast road trip against a couple of the NL dregs. Heading into this game the Dodgers had won 40 of their last 48 games. I have so much confidence in the Dodgers that I picked them in ESPN's Streak For The Cash. Usually there's no way I'd pick the Dodgers to win on the road, but I did tonight and I was rewarded for my faith.
Zack Greinke is finally starting to be the pitcher LA expected when they gave him all that money in the offseason. (Sadly the Cowboys won't get that level of performance from Tony Romo after he signed his own high paid contract.) On Friday Greinke pitched 7.1 innings, gave up 3 hits but no runs. He improves to 11-3 as his ERA decreases to 3.02. I hope he continues lowering that ERA, it's a bit of a concern. All the walks he gives up also makes me a bit nervous. Will he start to be mentioned more prominently in Cy Young contention soon?
Of course he might not be the only Dodgers pitcher mentioned in the Cy Young race. LA have 3 top line starters with Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu. If their offense keeps on playing as well as they have lately I like LA's chances to win any playoff series.
Their offense certainly benefits from having Hanley Ramirez back in the lineup. He was 2 for 4, hit his 12th homer and has 39 RBIs this season. Hanley's two run homer in the 4th inning was all the scoring LA needed on this night. By hitting .500 this game, Ramirez resumes leading the Dodgers in batting average. He's hitting .363, just slightly ahead of Yasiel Puig. Puig was 0 for 4 and his batting average decreases to a still sterling .362.
Barring some unforeseen disaster we pretty much know how the playoffs will look in the NL this season. LA will be the NL West Division Winner and Atlanta will be the NL East Division winner. Of the other teams in the NL, the only team that has at least a very small chance of making the playoffs is the Diamondbacks. But keeping it real, how likely is that to happen? The NL Central will have 3 of the 5 teams in the NL playoffs. The only question is about the NL Central is who'll win it. The second and third place teams will play each other in the NL Wild Card game.
The AL is much more up for grabs. In all likelihood the Red Sox and Rays will represent the AL East. Oakland and Texas will probably represent the AL West. Both divisions are up for grabs as to who'll win and who'll represent their division in the Wild Card playoff game. The only team in the AL East or AL West with more than a remote chance of making the playoffs is the Orioles. However Baltimore is really struggling right now and desperately need a 10 game winning streak to be considered relevant. In the NL Central I'd bet money the high scoring Tigers will win the NL Central. Both the Indians and Royals have about a 20% chance of reaching the playoffs.
Meanwhile in Boston, the Red Sox are starting to make me nervous. On Friday they lost their third straight game and have lost 6 of their last 10 games. Boston welcomed the Yankees to Fenway for a 3 game series with the Red Sox having a solid chance to put their foot on the throat of New York. That's not what happened though, the Yankees were the ones kicking butt tonight. The Yankees abused Boston's pitching staff for 10 runs tonight at Fenway.
The Red Sox should be playing some of their best baseball now, but seem to be playing some of their worst. Boston still leads the very tough AL East, but they look vulnerable. Is this shades of their 2011 end of season meltdown? I hope not and the Red Sox need to show that it's not. Boston needs to come out and win the next two games and knock the Yankees completely out of playoff contention. The Red Sox need to lead the Yanks by 9.5 games by the end of Sunday Night Baseball.
I'm so sick of hearing about Alex Rodriguez and he's in the news once again. The TV newsmagazine "60 Minutes" is reporting someone from ARod's inner circle stated that ARod implicated other players in this Biogenesis mess. Of course Rodriguez is denying that he implicated anyone. A lyric from "Les Mis" comes to mind "you'd expect that from a con".
Is Rodriguez thinking that someone is out to "get him" and if so why? When you are as guilty of as many things as Rodriguez is, nobody had to make up stuff. Rodriguez needs to come completely clean and then go away for a long time. Rodriguez has made so many mistakes in his life that he's used up all benefit of the doubt. I can't believe that he still has people defending him. I agree that he has a right to counsel, but does anyone really believe that he's innocent?
He's clearly desperate to get the money the Yanks owe him with that horrendously misguided contract. I believe Rodriguez would do anything at this point to get that money. How many lawyers does he have fighting for him? He's not agreeing to a plea bargain and is fighting his suspension every inch of the way. Why would anyone question that Rodriguez would sell out other players? Especially if that would help him personally? I can't wait to read his mea culpa, "Alex Rodriguez: My Story" in the next 10 years. Why do I know that he'll write one, because someone will pay him for it. I'm not a Yanks fan by any stretch of imagination, but it's a shame he's tarnishing all his hard working teammates with his mere presence.
From ESPN Boston about claims that Alex Rodriguez named names in the latest steroid scandal:
"Alex Rodriguez on Friday strongly denied a report that he implicated fellow players, including New York Yankees teammate Francisco Cervelli, as PED users to a website back in January. "It's not true," Rodriguez said.
Sarcasm alert: I can't believe all these people are lying about Rodriguez. Does he have an credibility left at all?
Finally what is going on with Alfonso Soriano, 18 RBIs in his last 5 games? Why didn't he play like that when he was with the Cubs?
themusicaddict
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