Hello,
In the second of the four game series between LA and Miami, the Dodgers were able to win that game. LA's victory broke their two game losing streak. The Dodgers should also win the final two games of this series. Miami does have the second worse record in MLB for a reason.
As has often been the case this season, the hero of the game was Yasiel Puig. His 8th inning homer broke a 4-4 tie and the Dodgers went on to win. On Tuesday Puig arrived late for the game and he received a fine from manager Don Mattingly. Mattingly said that Puig sat out the early part of the game for "baseball reasons". I'm not exactly sure what that means, but LA was still able to get the win. Not only was it a nice win, but it also means LA doesn't have a 3 game losing streak. A 3 game losing streak may cause panic amongst a team that doesn't have much playoff experience.
That was Puig's 12th homer, 28th RBI and he's hitting .352 this season. Puig has been with the Dodgers for over 2.5 months, I think it's safe to say that he isn't just a flash in the pan. I get the feeling that this season will be known eventually as the Summer of Yasiel.
Of course Puig wasn't the only one that came through for LA, Adrian Gonzalez also had a nice game. He was 3 for 5 and is hitting .298 this season. Gonzalez added his 77th RBI of the season. The other Dodgers that had multiple hit games include Carl Crawford (.290), Mark Ellis (.281), Andre Ethier (.271), Juan Uribe (.283) and Tim Federowicz (.238). The number in the parenthesis is that players current batting average.
Chris Capuano had a decent enough start, in 5 innings he only gave up 6 hits and 3 runs. He lowers his ERA to 4.70, but didn't finish with a decision. Several pitchers held the fort, including Paco Rodriguez who struck out the only batter he faced. Rodriguez has a 1.94 ERA this season. Chris Withrow picked up the win, improving to 2-0 this season. Kenley Jansen notched his 20th save of the season.
With both LA and Arizona winning, the Dodgers remain 7.5 games ahead of Arizona. Arizona has won 6 of 10 games and seem to be trying to edge their way back in the playoff race. But go ahead and put a fork in the Diamondbacks as they are done. They won't catch LA or any of the NL Central teams for a wild card spot.
Wednesday evening is the third game of the four Dodgers-Marlins game series. The scheduled starting matchup will be the hot Zack Greinke (11-3, 3.02 ERA) vs. Nathan Eovoldi (2-3, 3.96 ERA)
As are the Yankees, I'm looking forward to next season when Alex Rodriguez will be suspended and likely miss the season. That will save the Yankees a lot of money and MLB fans a lot of drama and his desperate need to be in the spotlight. But there's no denying that the Yanks have played better since he's been back. Derek Jeter may be playing for the Yankees soon as well. As much as I hate to say this here come the Yankees! Boston should have squished them this past weekend when they had the Yanks at Fenway for a 3 game series. Sadly the Yanks won 2 of those 3 games and that has given them some momentum.
On Tuesday Boston and Baltimore lost while the Rays and Yanks won. The Rays have won 3 straight games and have surged into first place in the AL East, they are percentage points ahead of Boston. The Rays are 72-52 and have a 83.2% chance of reaching the playoffs. Boston is in second place, are 74-54 and have a 87.1% chance of reaching the playoffs. Those two teams are virtually tied for first place. In third place is the struggling Baltimore Orioles, who trail the AL East leaders by 5.5 games. Baltimore has lost the first 2 games of a 3 game home series against the Rays. They've only won 3 of their last 10 games and quickly are dropping out of the playoff race. In fourth place is the Evil Empire, like a cockroach they seem to be able to survive anything. They've won 8 of 10 and 3 games in a row and trail the Rays and Red Sox by 6.5 games. New York has a 11.0% chance of reaching the playoffs.
Finally I'm sure I heard what was said incorrectly. But I thought I heard an ESPN announcer say that the Angels still had a chance to get an AL Wild Card spot. But let's be real, the Angels virtually have no chance of making the playoffs. They've lost 3 games in a row and 8 of 10 and are 17.5 games out in the Wild Card. Oakland and the AL East second place team would have to completely collapse for the Angels to sneak into the playoffs. Even more importantly the Angels have to start playing good ball with Albert Pujols out for the rest of the season and an underperforming Josh Hamilton. The Angels are 15 games under .500, them making the playoffs ain't going to happen.
themusicaddict
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