Hello,
After a glorious 15 game consecutive road winning streak by LA, it came to a grinding halt last night. I still want to celebrate that amazing streak, the longest such single season streak since 1984. Obviously it wasn't going to last forever and there's no shame in losing to the powerful Cardinals. I would still like to congratulate LA for their amazing streak! I'm not a big fan of roller coasters, but this roller coaster season has had many good memories.
St. Louis and LA have split the first two games of their 4 game series so far. The third game in the series will be shown on ESPN tonight.
This loss continued two disturbing trends for the Dodgers. The first trend is how few runs each game LA scores and the second is how little of run support is given Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers are in 21st place in runs scored. Currently they are scoring more runs than earlier in the season, but their recent lack of run production won't be enough in the playoffs. LA has scored at least 5 runs in only two of their last 12 games. By my count LA is 34-6 when they score at least five runs. However LA has only scored 8 runs over the last 4 games. That's the kind of run production you'd expect out of the Marlins or White Sox, not a team fighting to make the playoffs.
The Dodgers were only able to score 1 run for Kershaw, continuing an unbelievable streak of lack run support for Kershaw, perhaps the best pitcher in MLB. Not that you could tell that by his 10-7 record, his ERA tells his true abilities much better. His ERA is 1.91, he leads all of MLB in that stat.
LA had 9 hits, but weren't able to string enough hits together to produce more than a lonesome run. Of course both Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez are still both out. LA's offense will be better once those two get back, assuming that Kemp eventually does get back. In this game Carl Crawford was 2 for 3 and is hitting .284 this season. The only other Dodger with more than 1 hit was Nick Punto, he was 2 for 3 and is hitting .252. Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez, had one hit and he's hitting .297 this season. Mr. Everything, Yasiel Puig, also added a hit and his batting average decreased slightly to .373.
Although LA lost and Arizona won, LA still leads Arizona by a comfortable 5 games. It seems to me that the Diamondbacks are pretty much done, I don't think they have enough gas in the tank to catch LA. Not that LA has the NL West in the bag, despite current appearances. I expect a few more rough patches for LA in the days ahead. They're still a long ways away from having the NL West nailed down, although none of the other NL West teams really make me nervous.
I found it ironic, on the day that Don Mattingly was talking about almost being fired earlier this season, he summoned Brandon League to pitch in a 2-1 game. Since I'm not in the Dodgers clubhouse, perhaps their other relievers needed a break. But other than that I'm not sure why Mattingly would tab League to pitch. League has been awful this season, his play on Tuesday was more of the same. League lasted all of 1/3rd of an inning, he was able to produce some amazing numbers...... for the Cardinals. He gave up 2 hits, both of which were home runs, 3 runs and 1 walk. League has a 5.53 ERA and the Dodgers still owe him money for two more years. Did the Cardinals batters eyes light up when League walked in from the bullpen?
Why oh why are the Dodgers ever playing League, if they are that desperate for a pitcher go with Skip Schumaker.
The Pirates have the best record in MLB, just barely. Pittsburgh is 68-44 for a .607 winning percentage, the Braves are right behind with a .605 winning percentage. Pittsburgh continues to hold a slim 2 game lead over the tough Cardinals in the NL East. Andrew McCutchen had a great game for the Pirates on Tuesday. He was 2 for 3 and is hitting .309 this season. He added his 31st double and his 63rd and 64th RBIs. McCutchen also had a nice diving catch in the 7th inning with 2 Marlins on base. MLBN keeps on talking about how McCutchen hasn't even got hot this season.
That was a big walk off homer by Josh Harrison to give the Pirates the victory. That's his second home run and 7th RBI of the season.
The Pirates also have a hard time scoring runs, I don't think they are going to win the World Series this season. It's hard to be good at something that you've never done before. That being said when the Pirates make the playoffs, I hope they aren't overwhelmed by the experience. I fully expect the Pirates to get to the playoffs and I plan on enjoying every minute of that. Getting to the NLCS or World Series just would be the cherry on top of the sundae. (I do realize that cheering for the Pirates, Braves and Dodgers that two of my teams will be playing each other in the playoffs.)
The Braves won their 12th straight game and continue running away from their embarrassingly bad division. With the Braves, Red Sox, Dodgers and Pirates doing so well I think there's a good chance that one of "my teams" will win the World Series this season. Also you can't count out the Orioles or A's if either of those teams get on a hot streak. My last team to win the World Series was the 2007 Red Sox. Of course with all my optimism the Cardinals will win the World Series.
themusicaddict
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