Hello,
On Thursday the Dodgers started a 4 game series with their arch rival, the San Francisco Giants. In extra innings LA was able to escape with the victory. With the win they reduced their magic number for winning the NL West to 5. Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez, came through again with that walk off single in the 10th inning. His single drove in Carl Crawford which led to another Dodgers celebration.
Zack Greinke had a decent outing for the Dodgers, in 6 innings he gave up 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 run. He didn't earn a decision, but lowered his ERA to 2.74. Greinke has been slowly lowering his ERA the last couple of months, it looks like he's getting ready to pitch in the playoffs. It's great that he's doing so well now, but where he's really going to win his paychecks is in the playoffs.
Dodgers closer, Kenley Jansen, didn't fare quite as well. In fact he had a blown save, his first blown save since June 29th. Since that time he had 18 straight saves. The Beard came in to earn the win and save the Dodgers. Brian Wilson, pitching against his former team, had a shutout inning. He earned the win to go to 2-1 and has a 1.17 ERA.
Will Matt Kemp actually be able to return this season? ESPN is reporting that Kemp ran on a treadmill Thursday and will be evaluated by the team's medical staff early next week. With Kemp still only 28, I hope the Dodgers don't rush him back this season if it could be detrimental to the rest of his career.
The Dodgers have a 99.9% likelihood of reaching the playoffs, they lead second place Arizona by 12.5 games. Arizona had Thursday off, they start a series against the Rockies on Friday. Next they welcome the Dodgers for a 4 game series starting Monday. With LA's magic number down to 5, I expect LA to have clinched the NL West by no later than Sunday.
The AL East continues to baffle me. What I almost assuredly thought was going to be a close race has turned into a runaway by the Red Sox. Although Tampa Bay did put a temporary brake to the Red Sox steamroller yesterday. However Boston still leads Tampa Bay by 8.5 games.
In the NL Central it's almost assured that 3 teams will make the playoffs, will the same thing happen in the AL East? Boston is pretty much guaranteed to make the playoffs, the Rays are really struggling and the vampire like Yankees keep on sticking around. Baltimore still has a chance to reach the postseason, but I would almost guarantee that won't happen. They are playing too poorly now. Right now the top two teams in the AL Wild Card race are the Rangers and the Rays. The Yanks are only 1 game behind Tampa in the AL East and in the race for that second Wild Card spot.
The vampire Yanks start a 3 game series against the Red Sox on Friday, the finale of the series will be on Sunday Night Baseball. Can the Red Sox drive a stake through the heart of the Yankees.
The Braves, A's and Pirates keep on rolling to the playoffs. Both the Braves and A's are in first place in their respective divisions. I'm not sure what's happening in the Dallas area, but the Rangers seem to have the same choke gene that usually haunts the Cowboys. Oakland is pulling away from the Rangers in the AL West, they lead the Rangers by 3.5 games. Just a few days ago I thought the Rangers would make the playoffs easily, but now they're making that a bit more exciting than their fans would like. The Rangers have lost 3 straight and 8 of their last 10 games, but still have a 78.8% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile the Pirates have won 4 consecutive games, including their recent sweep of the Rangers in Texas. St. Louis had their 5 game winning streak snapped Thursday night, the Pirates and Cardinals are tied once against for first place in the NL Central. So much for the Pirates fading, although they want to win the NL Central. In no way do they want to be involved in that 1 game NL Wild Card blood bath.
themusicaddict
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