Hello,
After a much deserved day off the Dodgers started a 3 game series against the awful Padres. LA's offense was firing on all cylinders and rolled to a 9-2 victory. Like 2 other divisions in MLB, the NL West shapes up to be a yawnfest. The NL West, the NL East and AL Central look to provide very little excitement down the stretch. Other than to have the best record in the NL and playing for pride, what else do the Braves, Tigers and Pirates have to play for.
LA finished with 13 hits in this game. The Dodgers that had multiple hit games were Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, Hanley Ramirez and Mark Ellis. Ellis had two hits and is hitting .273 this season. Although AJ Ellis had a homer in this game, Mark is starting to pull away as LA's best Ellis.
Adrian Gonzalez came back to haunt one of his old teams in a big way. Gonzalez finished 2 of 4, but both hits were 2 run homers. Gonzalez hit his 18th and 19th homers and has 85 RBIs this season. Can Gonzalez get 15 more RBIs in the next 28 games to finish with at least 100 RBIs, I'm going to say yes. If he has two or three more good RBI games like today he's practically to 100.
After being pulled from the game in LA's previous game, Puig responded by going 4 for 5. He's hitting .354 this season, also had his 19th double and 31st RBI this season.
Meanwhile pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu had another typical Ryu outing, that means giving up a lot of hits but few runs. He scattered 8 hits in 6.1 innings, but only gave up 1 run. Ryu improves to 13-5 this season and lowered his ERA to 3.02. The Dodgers have a good hitting pitching staff. Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Ryu have all had big hits this season. In this game Ryu hit his 3rd double and drove in the Dodgers first run of the game in the second inning. Ryu has 5 RBIs this season, it's always nice when a pitcher helps himself and his team with his bat.
The Dodgers aren't even playing great, but they continue to pull away from the rest of the weak NL West. The Diamondbacks lost tonight, so LA now leads the Diamondbacks by 10.5 games.
In Saturday's game the scheduled pitching matchup will be Chris Capuano (4-7, 4.74) vs. Andrew Cashner (8-8, 3.55 ERA). If the Padres are going to steal a game, this would be the one. LA is at it's most vulnerable when Capuano is pitching.
After this series the Dodgers play 3 games against the Rockies, have a day off and then play 3 games against the tough Reds in Cincinnati. LA will close the season playing 20 consecutive games against inferior NL West teams. The only question about the NL West that needs to be resolved is when will the Dodgers clinch it?
Is it just me or is the MLB season way too long?
The Pirates keep on plugging along, beating the Cardinals 5-0 on Friday. Not too many teams can beat the Cardinals consistently, but for some reason the Pirates can. Pittsburgh has won 9 of 14 games this season against the Cardinals and the Pirates have needed every win. With Pittsburgh's latest win over the Cardinals the two teams are again tied for first in the NL Central. Pittsburgh is only 4 wins away from having a winning season, it would be their first winning season in 21 years.
The struggling Garrett Jones was the offensive MVP of this game. He hit a home run, his 100th career homer, and also drove in 4 RBIs. Although Jones is only hitting .240 this season, he had 3 hits in this game.
Francisco Liriano had another impressive start for the Pirates. He only gave up 2 hits in 8 innings and improved to 15-6. He also has a very good ERA at 2.57. Mark Melancon pitched the 9th inning to complete the shutout. With Jason Grilli being out for a while with an injury, Melancon has been an effective closer. This season he has 9 saves and a .90 ERA.
Jason Grilli continues to rehab, he's scheduled to pitch an inning for Double A Altoona and then pitch in back to back games for AAA Indy. He could be back with the Pirates in 7 to 10 games, which is obviously great news for a team that is going where it hasn't for so many years.
themusicaddict
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