Hello,
Hopefully this won't jinx the Dodgers, but they're starting to have the feel of a team of destiny. With the Pirates adding Justin Morneau they're also starting to have a bit of that feeling of a team of destiny as well. Of course sometimes a team can be a team of destiny but not win a title.
On Saturday the Dodgers won their 23rd game of August with a routine 2-1 victory over the Padres. The Dodgers are on such a roll that I pretty much expect them to win nearly every game they play, especially considering their opponents.
Although the Dodgers only scored 2 runs, they did have 13 hits. Carl Crawford lead the hit parade, he was 3 for 5 and is hitting .286 this season. Adrian Gonzalez keeps up his season long flirtation with .300 as he had two more hits tonight. Gonzalez is hitting .295 this season. Andre Ethier (.277), Jaun Uribe (.271) and Skip Schumaker (.275) also had multiple hit games.
Pitcher Chris Capuano had a very Hyun-Jin Ryu outing today, giving up a lot of hits but few runs. Capuano have up 8 hits in seven innings, but he only gave up 1 run. He didn't finish with a decision, but did lower his ERA to 4.50. Brian Wilson, and his 0.00 ERA, won his first game as a Dodger.
For starting pitching LA seemed to be set with Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Ryu and Ricky Nolasco. But what will they do about a 5th starter for the time they continue to use a 5th starter? Will the fifth starter be Capuano, their recent pickup Edinson Volquez or completely scrap having 5 starters when the playoffs start?
Speaking of new additions the Dodgers traded today with the Phillies for the services of Michael Young. It's the last day a team can add a player to their roster and for that player to be eligible for their playoff roster. Young will be a nice additional bat for LA, he's hitting .276, has 8 homers and 42 RBIs.
The third and final game of this series will be Sunday. The scheduled pitching matchup will be the very hot Zack Greinke (13-3, 2.86 ERA) vs. Tyson Ross (3-7, 3.05 ERA). With Greinke pitching I predict LA wins today and that the Dodgers sweep the Padres. Then the Dodgers travel to Colorado for a 3 game series against the Rockies, another of the NL West's patsies.
Pittsburgh keeps on rolling, they beat the Cardinals 7-1. Pittsburgh now leads the Cardinals by 1 game in the very tough NL Central. I'm very excited by the trade deadline deal they made today. They traded for Morneau, formerly of the Twins. Morneau is a 4 time All-Star and the 2006 AL MVP. He's hitting .259, has 17 homers and 74 RBIs this season. He's been on a homer tear in August, hitting 9 homers in August. He'll be a very useful bat in the Pirates lineup. Morneau was so excited to play for a winner, he hustled from Texas to join his new Pittsburgh teammates. (Thanks to espn.com.)
I absolutely love that the Pirates are going for it and they might as well, it's been 21 years since they've been to the playoffs. Who knows when the Pirates will have a season this good again?
As for the Dodgers they've been going for it ever since the new ownership group bought them. They've made some foolish decisions, but for the most part the moves have worked out very well. If you are looking to pick a team to follow through the years, go with a team that has deep pockets and a smart person to run the team.
If you have both money and smarts you will have teams like the Dodgers, Patriots, Lakers (well at least while Jerry Buss was alive) and the Red Sox. If you have plenty of money, but an idiot making your decisions then you have the 1 win in 17 years Dallas Cowboys. If you have someone smart in charge, but little money then you have teams like the Rays, A's and the Pirates this season. It seems as long as you have someone who knows what they're doing then you'll be alright. But deep pockets don't overcome idiocy, which is why the Cowboys are going nowhere until at least Jerry moves from this mortal coil. I don't have high hopes for the reign of Stephen Jones either.
I can't believe how good my MLB teams are doing this year. The Cubs were out of playoff contention a long time ago and the Orioles are just about done. However with the Pirates and Dodgers it looks like 3 of my other teams will make the playoffs, that's the Red Sox, Braves and A's.
themusicaddict
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