Hello,
It's been a busy day and this likely will be a relatively short blog.
In the second and final game of their series with the Yankees, the Dodgers "offense" finished with 6 hits and no runs. All of the hits were singles, not an extra base hit among the hits. In LA's last 6 games they've scored 2, 2, 4, 1, 3 and no runs last night. In those 6 games LA has scored a not so grand total of 12 runs, which works out to 2 runs a game. Thanks to great pitching, amazingly LA has won 4 of those 6 games.
With the Diamondbacks winning Wednesday, LA's lead was cut to 2.5 games. LA still has a 68.7% chance of reaching the playoffs.
Hard luck Clayton Kershaw was betrayed again by the alleged Dodgers offense. Kershaw only gave up 5 hits and no runs. He also had 5 strikeouts while lowering his ERA to 1.87. Kershaw currently leads all of MLB's starting pitchers with that amazing ERA. I know I've written this before: if Kershaw isn't the best pitcher in MLB then who is? Don't be fooled by Kershaw's 10-6 record, that's more a sign of the LA's offensive ineptness than Kershaw's ineffectiveness.
With MLB's trading deadline passing yesterday mostly very quietly, I was a bit disappointed that LA didn't go out and get one more player. I know there's still the waiver deadline and any team has until August 31st to trade for players who pass through waivers. The Dodgers and Red Sox made their big 2012 trade during the month of August. It's been announced that Matt Kemp probably won't be back until September. I don't know how actively they were looking to make a move, but I was hoping they would add one more bat. I would feel better with another bat in their lineup with the ineffective Andre Ethier and injury prone Kemp and Carl Crawford on the roster.
Kemp has played in 62 games so far this season, let's be optimistic and say he's back on September 1st. LA has 27 games in September. If Kemp plays in them all, that would mean he played in 89 games this season. That means he would just barely play in slightly more than half of LA's games. Of course that's assuming that he's actually back on September 1st and that he doesn't get injured again. If he goes on DL again, the Dodgers should just shut him down for the season back. For you keeping track at home, Kemp currently is on his 3rd DL stint. Although if he comes back as a healthy player, it would be like making a trade but without any additional salary.
LA starts play against the 49-58 Cubs on Thursday. With only a scant chance of making the playoffs, the only thing the Cubs have to play for is pride and their jobs next season. I'm hoping the Cubs will be much better next season, that's year 3 of Theo Epstein running the Cubs. If his reign is going to be successful I'd expect some positive signs of that in season 3. Anyway Thursday's scheduled pitching matchup is Ricky Nolasco (6-9, 3.72) vs. Chris Rusin (1-0, 2.93 ERA.)
Will the Braves be the first team to reach a 100% chance of making the playoffs? As of Wednesday's game they had a 99.4% chance of reaching the playoffs. The NL East continues to fall apart below them. The Braves lead the second place Nationals by 11 games.
Meanwhile in Pittsburgh's current 5 game series with the Cardinals, the Pirates have won the 4 games played so far. Pittsburgh is 65-42 and they're 23 games above. 500 for the first time since 1972. Long time Pirate fans know that was 7 years before their magical "We Are Family" World Series winning season. Pittsburgh only has to go 17-38 to finish above .500 for the first time in the 20 years. If they can't accomplish that minor goal, then they are in a collapse for the ages. But I don't think that's going to happen.
themusicaddict
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