Hello,
As a person who's seen his teams fall apart way too many times I've been very nervous about this LA Dodgers season. (I'm also a Cowboys fan and it's amazing how that team continues to fall apart, yet Jerry Jones still won't or can't admit he's the Cowboys biggest problem.) I've often wondered if this season is too good to be true? The Dodgers started out poorly and then they started playing pretty well about 3 months ago. However as they've kept winning, they started to run out of things to play for. LA also has a few players who are injured and a couple that seem to be only one wrong step from a season ending injury. What I'm trying to say this recent poor run doesn't surprise me very much, perhaps it's even inevitable. LA has lost 4 games in a row and 9 of 12 games. Their magic number remains at 4, it seems to have been that for the last several days.
I'll note though that neither Carl Crawford or Hanley Ramirez played on Monday. Although LA only scored 1 run and lost, I'd rather players get as much rest now as they can. Matt Kemp played in his first game since July 21st and only was used as a pinch hitter. He looked terrible in striking out to end the game. But then I've thought that he hasn't looked right for most of the season, he's struggled all season. Even if he's near full health now, I doubt that he'll reach his level of last season. He's missed too many games at this point and I wonder should the Dodgers just shut him down for the season?
In Monday's inept performance the Dodgers only produced 4 hits. LA has barely averaged more than two runs over their last 6 games, only scoring 13 runs in those games. Because of their anemic offense, they've slipped to 18th in MLB for runs scored. The four teams ahead of them in runs scored are highly unlikely to make the playoffs. Those teams are the Diamondbacks, Yankees, Nationals and Royals.
Despite their recent poor play LA is still well on their way to winning the NL West, they still lead the Diamondbacks by 9.5 games. Arizona is the only other NL West team that still has any kind of chance to reach the playoffs.
Sadly since LA only scored 1 run, they wasted Hyun Jin-Ryu's excellent game. Ryu pitched 8 innings, only giving up 2 hits and 2 runs. Ryu drops to 13-7 on the season and decreased his ERA to 3.03. Along with his great pitching outing he also walked and scored the Dodgers lone run.
On Tuesday Zack Greinke needs to shut down the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers offense needs to scratch out a few runs. Greinke is 14-3, with a 2.74 ERA, and needs to come through with the kind of game he's being paid a ton of money for. The struggling Dodgers offense won't have much of a break tonight, as Diamondbacks scheduled pitcher Patrick Corbin is 14-6 with a 2.92 ERA this season.
If LA can win two of the next 3 games they'll clinch the NL West. At that point they can get a bit more rest as they prepare for the playoffs. LA also still has a chance for the best record in the NL, although they trail the Braves by 3 games for that honor.
themusicaddict
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