Hello,
Without a doubt Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded" is one of the greatest CDs ever. It's classic in every sense of the word. From the gorgeous cover photo of Rihanna, to the many great songs and even Jay-Z's rapping works on "Umbrella". Many times guest rappers don't add anything to a song and it's a stunt that's obviously a desperate cash grab by the record company. But on "Umbrella", Jay-Z's rapping actually works.
Enjoy "Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded". Here's a slightly different of the full CD if you just want to listen to it straight through:
1) "Umbrella":
I like this funked up version of "Umbrella" at the 2007 Music Video Awards show:
2) "Push Up On Me": Damn Rihanna is hawt!
3) "Don't Stop The Music" is one of the funkiest songs ever:
"Don't Stop The Music" (Live in Japan):
4) One reason this is a classic CD is even though this is probably a throw away song, it's still a great song. "Breakin' Dishes":
5) When Rihanna says "Shut Up And Drive" I'm guessing she doesn't have to say please. Did I already mention that she's damn hot?:
6) "Hate That I Love You":
The only lull in this CD occurs over the next 3 songs. They are okay songs, but they don't live up to the rest of the amazing CD.
7) "Say It"
8) "Sell Me Candy":
9) "Lemme Get That":
After the brief lull, the CD closes out with 5 more classic songs and "Question Existing", a decent song in it's own right.
10) "Rehab":
11) "Question Existing":
12) This is probably my favorite Rihanna song, "Good Girl Gone Bad". I love how she sings "forever" at the 2:00 mark:
Here she is singing the title song live:
13) "Disturbia":
14) Another one of my personal Rihanna favorites is "Take A Bow". I love the lyric "Grab your clothes and get gone, you better hurry up before the sprinklers come on."
15) "If I Never See Your Face Again" (featuring Maroon 5):
themusicaddict
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
What I'm Not Writing About Today, July 16th and 17th, 2013: The Hated Knicks, Great Books and Rivera's Classy All-Star Farewell
Hello,
These are things that I'm definitely not writing about today.
Sports:
- I thought the way AL Manager Jim Leyland handled what could have been a prickly situation in the All-Star Game with Mariano Rivera was perfect. I loved how the Mets played Rivera's song, "Enter Sandman" as he approached the mound. The timing of his entrance to the music was perfect, in every way this was a very nice moment, even for Yankees haters like myself. Rivera very deservedly should be honored as one of the best pitchers of all-time. I also loved how the players paid tribute to Rivera as well. I spent a few minutes trying to find the video that best captured Mariano's moment. This is the best video, although the sound quality is less than I would like. Here's the moment:
I wonder how much sales jumped for "Enter Sandman" after Rivera's dramatic entrance. It's a great song, there's no doubt about that.
Another nice moment at the All-Star Game was Neil Diamond's performance of "Sweet Caroline":
- I love baseball, it's drama, excitement and how the tension builds slowly during the season. We are headed into my favorite time of the MLB season, getting into the fun of the pennant race. In spite of my loving MLB I had no interest in Monday night's Home Run Derby. I wasn't invested very much in the actual All-Star game either. I'm glad that I was able to see the whole Mariano Rivera farewell/tribute. That was extremely classy.
- I really missed following games on ESPN.com and watching the funny night crew on MLBN, Harold Reynolds and the other characters on that show.
- Are the Knicks trying to be the most hated team in the NBA? First they resigned J.R. Smith, which makes me laugh more than anything else. Why would they resign that bum? Although he does fit right into the Knicks dysfunction, especially when it was announced that he'll be out for 3 to 4 months due to surgery. The Knicks are clearly the Cowboys of the NBA. I wouldn't let Jim Dolan or Jerry Jones run a Kool Aid stand.
- Maybe New York just wants to be the NBA's most mediocre team? Let's take a look at the 2013 Knicks roster. They already have the overrated, selfish and poor shooting Carmelo Anthony. Add him to the oft injured and overpaid Amare Stoudemire, two players that don't compliment each other. The Knicks resigned Smith after trading for Andrea Bargnani, a player the Raptors might have just released. It seems they decided those players wouldn't take them over the top to be the most hated or mediocre team, so they had to go out and sign Ron Arrest? Which is doubly hilarious because it comes just a couple of days after Arrest said the NBA wasn't in his plans. Did he think that "threat" was going to raise a clamor among NBA fans? Did he think there would be petitions circulated to beg Arrest to stay in the NBA? That's such a delusional Knicks/Cowboys thing to do. Both of those teams devoted and long suffering fan bases will remain miserable. Of course those are the same fans that pay to support mediocrity, so they get what they deserve. Sadly I count myself a Cowboys fan, although they haven't made a logical move since um..... thinking.
It's a good thing the Knicks aren't in the Western Conference as they would only be battling for the 7th or 8th seed. Even in the much weaker Eastern Conference you can't honestly consider the Knicks better than the 5th best team. Enjoy another year of crap Knicks fans.
While the Lakers will never be considered the most lovable team ever, they certainly have become more lovable lately. Don't feel bad for the Lakers losing out on the Dwightmare sweepstakes, feel bad for the Rockets for "winning" that. Losing Dwight decreases Lakers drama by quite a bit, plus his poor shooting won't be clogging up the Lakers salary cap for the next 5 years. Then LA amnestied Ron Arrest, which should certainly increase their likability. Again I'm a 100% Lakers hater, but they'll be much more fun to watch without Howard and Arrest. Gaining by subtraction also decreases the number of bad shots by Lakers players.
Will the Lakers be any good this season, um no. But they'll only have to deal with Mike D'antoni one more season. He'll either be fired during the season or when the season is completed. Then I expect the Lakers will hire a much better coach this time and they'll have about $50 million underneath the salary cap. I know people are excited in Houston right now and are getting ready for their victory parade. But even at this point I'd much rather be a Lakers fan.
But I'm very glad that I'm a Jazz fan, I really like the direction they are going. In fact once the NBA season starts I think I'm going to write a blog after every Jazz game like I do now with my Dodgers Dailies. It will be a good way to keep track of the Jazz, but it will only be about half as many blogs as writing for a baseball season. Writing about 160 blogs about the Dodgers continues to be a lot of work.
Books:
- A quick recommendation about a book I recently read and quite liked. On Sunday, after picking it up only three days previous, I finished the very good "Six Years" by Harlan Coben. From the very start the book grabs you by the collar. I had a very hard time putting it down. Although as I was reading it I kept on hoping that the ending wouldn't be so bad that it would detract from the rest of the book. In other words I didn't want the experience I get after reading a Dan Brown book. I wanted to punch someone after reading the incredibly stupid "The Lost Symbol".
"Six Years" ending ended up being okay. It could have been better, but it also could have so much worse. Overall I'd give "Six Years" a B. As for "The Lost Symbol", I'm still irritated I read that stupid book. I wouldn't even give that book a F, it deserves a solid Z.
- When I finish reading a great book it puts me on a bit of a high and I look forward to starting another book. With that in mind, the fact I was missing baseball and feeling a bit nostalgic I started reading "Ladies And Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, And The Battle For The Soul Of A City" by Jonathan Mahler.
It's a good enough book about New York City being at a crossroads. The summer of 1977 was a crazy time in New York. Reggie Jackson had just joined the Yankees and that wasn't exactly smooth sailing. There were also strikes, a heatwave, it was the summer of the serial killer Son of Sam and a wild mayoral election. Definitely enough things to make for an interesting book.
I previously started reading this book twice, but I'm determined to finish it this time.
themusicaddict
These are things that I'm definitely not writing about today.
Sports:
- I thought the way AL Manager Jim Leyland handled what could have been a prickly situation in the All-Star Game with Mariano Rivera was perfect. I loved how the Mets played Rivera's song, "Enter Sandman" as he approached the mound. The timing of his entrance to the music was perfect, in every way this was a very nice moment, even for Yankees haters like myself. Rivera very deservedly should be honored as one of the best pitchers of all-time. I also loved how the players paid tribute to Rivera as well. I spent a few minutes trying to find the video that best captured Mariano's moment. This is the best video, although the sound quality is less than I would like. Here's the moment:
I wonder how much sales jumped for "Enter Sandman" after Rivera's dramatic entrance. It's a great song, there's no doubt about that.
Another nice moment at the All-Star Game was Neil Diamond's performance of "Sweet Caroline":
- I love baseball, it's drama, excitement and how the tension builds slowly during the season. We are headed into my favorite time of the MLB season, getting into the fun of the pennant race. In spite of my loving MLB I had no interest in Monday night's Home Run Derby. I wasn't invested very much in the actual All-Star game either. I'm glad that I was able to see the whole Mariano Rivera farewell/tribute. That was extremely classy.
- I really missed following games on ESPN.com and watching the funny night crew on MLBN, Harold Reynolds and the other characters on that show.
- Are the Knicks trying to be the most hated team in the NBA? First they resigned J.R. Smith, which makes me laugh more than anything else. Why would they resign that bum? Although he does fit right into the Knicks dysfunction, especially when it was announced that he'll be out for 3 to 4 months due to surgery. The Knicks are clearly the Cowboys of the NBA. I wouldn't let Jim Dolan or Jerry Jones run a Kool Aid stand.
- Maybe New York just wants to be the NBA's most mediocre team? Let's take a look at the 2013 Knicks roster. They already have the overrated, selfish and poor shooting Carmelo Anthony. Add him to the oft injured and overpaid Amare Stoudemire, two players that don't compliment each other. The Knicks resigned Smith after trading for Andrea Bargnani, a player the Raptors might have just released. It seems they decided those players wouldn't take them over the top to be the most hated or mediocre team, so they had to go out and sign Ron Arrest? Which is doubly hilarious because it comes just a couple of days after Arrest said the NBA wasn't in his plans. Did he think that "threat" was going to raise a clamor among NBA fans? Did he think there would be petitions circulated to beg Arrest to stay in the NBA? That's such a delusional Knicks/Cowboys thing to do. Both of those teams devoted and long suffering fan bases will remain miserable. Of course those are the same fans that pay to support mediocrity, so they get what they deserve. Sadly I count myself a Cowboys fan, although they haven't made a logical move since um..... thinking.
It's a good thing the Knicks aren't in the Western Conference as they would only be battling for the 7th or 8th seed. Even in the much weaker Eastern Conference you can't honestly consider the Knicks better than the 5th best team. Enjoy another year of crap Knicks fans.
While the Lakers will never be considered the most lovable team ever, they certainly have become more lovable lately. Don't feel bad for the Lakers losing out on the Dwightmare sweepstakes, feel bad for the Rockets for "winning" that. Losing Dwight decreases Lakers drama by quite a bit, plus his poor shooting won't be clogging up the Lakers salary cap for the next 5 years. Then LA amnestied Ron Arrest, which should certainly increase their likability. Again I'm a 100% Lakers hater, but they'll be much more fun to watch without Howard and Arrest. Gaining by subtraction also decreases the number of bad shots by Lakers players.
Will the Lakers be any good this season, um no. But they'll only have to deal with Mike D'antoni one more season. He'll either be fired during the season or when the season is completed. Then I expect the Lakers will hire a much better coach this time and they'll have about $50 million underneath the salary cap. I know people are excited in Houston right now and are getting ready for their victory parade. But even at this point I'd much rather be a Lakers fan.
But I'm very glad that I'm a Jazz fan, I really like the direction they are going. In fact once the NBA season starts I think I'm going to write a blog after every Jazz game like I do now with my Dodgers Dailies. It will be a good way to keep track of the Jazz, but it will only be about half as many blogs as writing for a baseball season. Writing about 160 blogs about the Dodgers continues to be a lot of work.
Books:
- A quick recommendation about a book I recently read and quite liked. On Sunday, after picking it up only three days previous, I finished the very good "Six Years" by Harlan Coben. From the very start the book grabs you by the collar. I had a very hard time putting it down. Although as I was reading it I kept on hoping that the ending wouldn't be so bad that it would detract from the rest of the book. In other words I didn't want the experience I get after reading a Dan Brown book. I wanted to punch someone after reading the incredibly stupid "The Lost Symbol".
"Six Years" ending ended up being okay. It could have been better, but it also could have so much worse. Overall I'd give "Six Years" a B. As for "The Lost Symbol", I'm still irritated I read that stupid book. I wouldn't even give that book a F, it deserves a solid Z.
- When I finish reading a great book it puts me on a bit of a high and I look forward to starting another book. With that in mind, the fact I was missing baseball and feeling a bit nostalgic I started reading "Ladies And Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, And The Battle For The Soul Of A City" by Jonathan Mahler.
It's a good enough book about New York City being at a crossroads. The summer of 1977 was a crazy time in New York. Reggie Jackson had just joined the Yankees and that wasn't exactly smooth sailing. There were also strikes, a heatwave, it was the summer of the serial killer Son of Sam and a wild mayoral election. Definitely enough things to make for an interesting book.
I previously started reading this book twice, but I'm determined to finish it this time.
themusicaddict
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Dodgers Daily: July 14th, 2013: Dodgers Forget How To Score In Final 3 Games Before All-Star Break (Updated July 15th, 2013)
Hello,
Sunday was the last game in the Dodgers-Rockies series, Colorado won the game 3-1. It was another low scoring game in the dispiriting and boring series. The combined final score of all 4 games was 7-7, fittingly the series ended with both teams winning 2 games each. This series was a stink bomb for the Dodgers after what had been an exciting few weeks. The sooner both teams put this series behind them the better.
The All-Star break starts on Monday and every team has to have at least one All-Star, I'm not sure who's representing LA. I'd prefer players like Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford to get rest than to be in the World Series. I'm much more interested in LA winning the World Series than the National League winning the All-Star Game. LA doesn't play again until Friday when they open a 3 game series against the struggling Washington Nationals.
Hopefully LA used the rest of Sunday and then Monday through Thursday to completely rest and get healthier. I hope that Puig gets as much rest as possible and gets back to as near as full health as is possible for this time of the season. I hope he learns how to take things a bit easier. I know this is a long shot but I'm hopeful that Crawford will use this time to rest and recover from his incredible assortment of injuries. I wonder how much longer until LA just puts Crawford on season ending DL, where he can join Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett. I ask again is there something LA can do that's better than the oft injured Crawford? The All-Star break will give Kemp 4 more days of rest with him missing no games. Plenty of rest is a good thing for the lately oft injured Kemp. Is Crawford rubbing off on him?
After LA only had 14 hits over their last 3 games, it's a good time for all Dodger players to get a mental break. Again it seems that LA needs Puig in the lineup to score runs. Puig didn't start today's game, but he came in about a third of the way through the game. He was 1 for 3 and is hitting .386. On Puig's only hit, Adrian Gonzalez drove him in. Puig scored the only Dodgers run.
LA is 25th in MLB in runs scored, they been in the bottom third of MLB all season. It seems they can't move into the top 20. If the Dodgers could get to about #15 in runs scored I believe they would have a great chance to do well in the playoffs. They have a very solid starting pitching staff.
Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 3, but did walk once. He's hitting .386 and has a .444 on base percentage. Gonzalez is hitting .297. Gonzalez is not going to overwhelm anyone with his explosive numbers ever again. He's that constant veteran presence in the clubhouse who you know what you're getting from him every night.
LA ends the first half of the season at 47-47, in second place and are 2.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. While this isn't what anyone expected with this Dodgers team after all the money that was spent on the roster, things could be much worse. LA and their fans should be very grateful that this team still has a 28.4% chance to reach the playoffs. In the topsy turvy NL West the Dodgers are still very much in the race to win the division. Of course so is Arizona, Colorado and the wily, veteran San Francisco Giants.
One of the things that holds the Dodgers back is how much dead weight they are carrying. The usual suspects Beckett, Crawford, Carlos Marmol, Ted Lilly and Brandon League. Even though Crawford still plays and sometimes even plays well, he's dead weight. If LA could dump him and his albatross of a contract they would. How much better could LA be if they didn't have to overcome the effects of the questionable 2012 trade with the Red Sox.
I realize that the Carlos Marmol signing has very little to do with him and is more about getting more money for the international draft. I still don't understand what that means exactly. But if it helps to get another Yasiel Puig then I'm all for it. Since LA traded for Marmol I haven't heard much. The latest I was able to find is that Marmol is in Albuquerque. Maybe when the rosters expand he'll come back to LA. However I think in the offseason LA will quietly let him go. I wish they could do the same with Beckett, Crawford, Lilly and League without ever having to pay any of them another undeserved cent.
Too bad that $20 million going to Lilly and League couldn't be spent elsewhere, like on a player who is both effective and healthy. I didn't know much about League when LA resigned him to a 3 year deal, but I remember at the time many baseball experts questioned the deal. I can see what they were talking about. At least the trade with the Red Sox is understandable as LA was taking a chance. I can't see any reason LA would resign League. Ned Coletti should've been tipped off by League's high school award. He was most likely to blow a save. In a series of many bad Dodger deals, the League 3 year contract extension could be Colleti's worst move by far. (Well maybe it's Andre Ethier's contract, he's getting close to being dead weight now.)
Go Dodgers!
themusicaddict
Sunday was the last game in the Dodgers-Rockies series, Colorado won the game 3-1. It was another low scoring game in the dispiriting and boring series. The combined final score of all 4 games was 7-7, fittingly the series ended with both teams winning 2 games each. This series was a stink bomb for the Dodgers after what had been an exciting few weeks. The sooner both teams put this series behind them the better.
The All-Star break starts on Monday and every team has to have at least one All-Star, I'm not sure who's representing LA. I'd prefer players like Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford to get rest than to be in the World Series. I'm much more interested in LA winning the World Series than the National League winning the All-Star Game. LA doesn't play again until Friday when they open a 3 game series against the struggling Washington Nationals.
Hopefully LA used the rest of Sunday and then Monday through Thursday to completely rest and get healthier. I hope that Puig gets as much rest as possible and gets back to as near as full health as is possible for this time of the season. I hope he learns how to take things a bit easier. I know this is a long shot but I'm hopeful that Crawford will use this time to rest and recover from his incredible assortment of injuries. I wonder how much longer until LA just puts Crawford on season ending DL, where he can join Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett. I ask again is there something LA can do that's better than the oft injured Crawford? The All-Star break will give Kemp 4 more days of rest with him missing no games. Plenty of rest is a good thing for the lately oft injured Kemp. Is Crawford rubbing off on him?
After LA only had 14 hits over their last 3 games, it's a good time for all Dodger players to get a mental break. Again it seems that LA needs Puig in the lineup to score runs. Puig didn't start today's game, but he came in about a third of the way through the game. He was 1 for 3 and is hitting .386. On Puig's only hit, Adrian Gonzalez drove him in. Puig scored the only Dodgers run.
LA is 25th in MLB in runs scored, they been in the bottom third of MLB all season. It seems they can't move into the top 20. If the Dodgers could get to about #15 in runs scored I believe they would have a great chance to do well in the playoffs. They have a very solid starting pitching staff.
Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 3, but did walk once. He's hitting .386 and has a .444 on base percentage. Gonzalez is hitting .297. Gonzalez is not going to overwhelm anyone with his explosive numbers ever again. He's that constant veteran presence in the clubhouse who you know what you're getting from him every night.
LA ends the first half of the season at 47-47, in second place and are 2.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. While this isn't what anyone expected with this Dodgers team after all the money that was spent on the roster, things could be much worse. LA and their fans should be very grateful that this team still has a 28.4% chance to reach the playoffs. In the topsy turvy NL West the Dodgers are still very much in the race to win the division. Of course so is Arizona, Colorado and the wily, veteran San Francisco Giants.
One of the things that holds the Dodgers back is how much dead weight they are carrying. The usual suspects Beckett, Crawford, Carlos Marmol, Ted Lilly and Brandon League. Even though Crawford still plays and sometimes even plays well, he's dead weight. If LA could dump him and his albatross of a contract they would. How much better could LA be if they didn't have to overcome the effects of the questionable 2012 trade with the Red Sox.
I realize that the Carlos Marmol signing has very little to do with him and is more about getting more money for the international draft. I still don't understand what that means exactly. But if it helps to get another Yasiel Puig then I'm all for it. Since LA traded for Marmol I haven't heard much. The latest I was able to find is that Marmol is in Albuquerque. Maybe when the rosters expand he'll come back to LA. However I think in the offseason LA will quietly let him go. I wish they could do the same with Beckett, Crawford, Lilly and League without ever having to pay any of them another undeserved cent.
Too bad that $20 million going to Lilly and League couldn't be spent elsewhere, like on a player who is both effective and healthy. I didn't know much about League when LA resigned him to a 3 year deal, but I remember at the time many baseball experts questioned the deal. I can see what they were talking about. At least the trade with the Red Sox is understandable as LA was taking a chance. I can't see any reason LA would resign League. Ned Coletti should've been tipped off by League's high school award. He was most likely to blow a save. In a series of many bad Dodger deals, the League 3 year contract extension could be Colleti's worst move by far. (Well maybe it's Andre Ethier's contract, he's getting close to being dead weight now.)
Go Dodgers!
themusicaddict
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 13th, 2013: Greinke Dominates, Pirates Won't Fade, Lincecum Pitches No-Hitter
Hello,
Following LA's 1-0 victory on Saturday, there's only one more game for both the Rockies and the Dodgers before the All-Star Game break. On Saturday, they played a classic pitcher's duel. LA and Zack Greinke won 1-0 and LA has won 2 of the 3 games in this series so far.
For the second night in a row the Dodgers only had 4 hits, although they were able to score a run in this game. The Dodger players getting the hits tonight were Hanley Ramirez (of course), A.J. Ellis , Zack Greinke and Skip Schumaker. It was Ramirez 25th RBI of the season that drove in the only run of the game. In Greinke's last 7 plate appearances he has 4 hits and a walk.
As I mentioned earlier this game was a pitcher's duel. Tonight's stud pitcher for the Rockies was Tyler Chatwood, he followed Juan Nicasio's outstanding pitching outing from Friday night. Saturday night Chatwood pitched a complete game 4 hit, 1 run game. He gave up only 4 hits and lowered his ERA to 2.56. There was no shame in his game tonight.
LA finally learned how to score in their recent hot streak, but they've only have scored 1 run in their last two games. Yes, I'm a more than a little concerned about that. For some reason it seems Yasiel Puig is the key to the Dodgers scoring runs. Even when he doesn't seem to have any direct influence to LA scoring, just him being in the line up seems to be enough. He was 0 for 2 and had to leave the game early yesterday, LA scored no runs. He didn't play in today's game and LA just barely pushed across a run.
Thursday night LA had moved to 22nd place in runs scored with 358 runs. They were tied with two other teams. After scoring a total of 1 run in their last two games, LA has slipped back to 25th place in runs scored. Through Saturday LA has scored 359 runs. They trail the 24th place Royals by 2 runs and lead the 26th place Pirates by 4 runs. Obviously great pitching is the answer for the Pirates, the team tied for the best record in MLB. Also congrats to the Miami Marlins for finally crossing the 300 runs barrier. They trail the first place Red Sox by 196 runs.
One of my biggest complaints about athletes is they get these big contracts and in so many situations they don't live up to them. The Rockets and their fans will never be satisfied with Dwight Howard's lack of desire or great play. I love what he said in his press conference today with the Houston media how he works on his game. If that's true then why is he such an abysmal free throw shooter? If he works on his game, then why is he getting worse at free throws? In his rookie season Howard shot a respectable .671 from the line. Last season, when the Lakers were paying him millions of dollars, he shot .492 from the line. I'm pretty sure he doesn't works on his game as much as he says he does, he just relies on his declining freak athleticism. Once his athleticism is gone his NBA career will be over.
In Dallas, head Cowboys nitwit Jerry Jones signed Tony Romo to an $108 million dollar extension. Jones may be one of few people that would sign Romo to that kind of contract. For such a great and capable businessman, he sure is dumb when it comes toruining running his Cowboys. Romo said this off season that he's not a 8-8 quarterback, I couldn't agree more. He's more of a 5-11 quarterback. I hope Romo's big improvement this season is that he throws the ball away more, he takes too many chances.
In fact thinking about it Tony Romo and Dwight Howard have a lot in common. Both are being paid a lot based on hype and now both play professional sports in Texas. Both have been in their respective leagues for about 10 years and have underperformed. Howard has a lot more athletic ability and at least Howard's teams make the playoffs and sometimes even do damage. However both are still earning more than they are worth and they'll continue to fail.
When Zack Greinke signed a 6 year, $147 million dollar contract back in December I was fairly certain he'd be one of those players who would never live up to his contract. Then when he got into that stupid fight with Carlos Quentin I was convinced even more. I thought he was destined to be another Dodgers pitching bust like Ted Lilly and Josh Beckett. Watching him pitch I can see he has great stuff, but he's also incredibly consistent.
However on Saturday night he acted like he might live up to this contract. He pitched a 9 inning, two hit shutout. In his 99th career victory he lowered his season ERA from 3.91 to .349. He was 1 for 3 in batting and is hitting .367 this season. After his hit he also had his first stolen base of the season. That's someone that's living up to their contract! After Greinke's victory tonight, he is 8-2. What are the chances the 29 year old starter will continue to play that well for the rest of his contract?
LA remains in second place in the NL West and continue to put pressure on the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead. LA trails the Diamondbacks by 2.5 games following the Diamondbacks 5-4 victory over the Brewers. LA's chances to make the playoffs is at 29.9%. Again for the Dodgers to make the playoffs, they need to win the NL West. The Dodgers are 4.5 games out in the NL Wild Card.
Tomorrow's scheduled pitching matchup is Ricky Nolasco (6-8, 3.70 ERA). The recently arrived from Miami via trade is Nolasco. After pitching for the Marlins most of the season, he's used to his teams not scoring very many runs. Let's hope the Dodgers give him more run support than they did either Clayton Kershaw or Greinke in the last couple of games. Scheduled to pitch for the Rockies is Jhoulys Chacin (8-4, 3.62 ERA).
Upcoming: The Dodgers and Rockies play one more game and then they have the All-Star break. Like me I'm sure they are glad, I'm also looking forward to the All-Star break. Writing a Dodgers Daily everyday has been fun, but it's a lot of work. I look forward to taking the All-Star break but I'll still be writing. I'll just have the opportunity to write about something else besides the Dodgers. I plan on writing at least one or two of my greatest CDs of all-time blogs.
Also the Pirates have won 3 games and this season they are refusing to fade. Pittsburgh is 56-36 and have a 90.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. Once again they are tied with the Cardinals for best record in the NL Central, which means they are tied for the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Andrew McCutchen was the hero again, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .303 this season. He also hit his 10th homer of the season and also has 49 RBIs.
The big story of the night was Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. Lincecum struck out 13 and walked 4 Padres in 148 pitches. 148 pitches! That's crazy. If it wasn't for the All-Star break coming up, I'd be surprised Bruce Bochy would have let him pitch the whole game. Lincecum probably has at least 6 or 7 days off. In a wierd bit of timing, Lincecum was the losing pitcher when the Reds Homer Bailey threw his no-hitter against the Giants 11 days ago. Last night he looked like the Lincecum of old, although this season he's only 5-9 with a 4.26 ERA. He's tied with Cliff Lee for 11th place in number of strikeouts, 125. (Thanks as always to ESPN.)
The Giants have really struggled of late, their record is 43-50 and they have a 9.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They are 4th place in the NL West, 6.5 games behind the Diamondbacks. However they have won 3 consecutive games, but only 4 of their last 10 games. The NL West is so mediocre that at this time no team has been truly eliminated. The defending World Series champs aren't eliminated from the playoffs by a long shot.
themusicaddict
Following LA's 1-0 victory on Saturday, there's only one more game for both the Rockies and the Dodgers before the All-Star Game break. On Saturday, they played a classic pitcher's duel. LA and Zack Greinke won 1-0 and LA has won 2 of the 3 games in this series so far.
For the second night in a row the Dodgers only had 4 hits, although they were able to score a run in this game. The Dodger players getting the hits tonight were Hanley Ramirez (of course), A.J. Ellis , Zack Greinke and Skip Schumaker. It was Ramirez 25th RBI of the season that drove in the only run of the game. In Greinke's last 7 plate appearances he has 4 hits and a walk.
As I mentioned earlier this game was a pitcher's duel. Tonight's stud pitcher for the Rockies was Tyler Chatwood, he followed Juan Nicasio's outstanding pitching outing from Friday night. Saturday night Chatwood pitched a complete game 4 hit, 1 run game. He gave up only 4 hits and lowered his ERA to 2.56. There was no shame in his game tonight.
LA finally learned how to score in their recent hot streak, but they've only have scored 1 run in their last two games. Yes, I'm a more than a little concerned about that. For some reason it seems Yasiel Puig is the key to the Dodgers scoring runs. Even when he doesn't seem to have any direct influence to LA scoring, just him being in the line up seems to be enough. He was 0 for 2 and had to leave the game early yesterday, LA scored no runs. He didn't play in today's game and LA just barely pushed across a run.
Thursday night LA had moved to 22nd place in runs scored with 358 runs. They were tied with two other teams. After scoring a total of 1 run in their last two games, LA has slipped back to 25th place in runs scored. Through Saturday LA has scored 359 runs. They trail the 24th place Royals by 2 runs and lead the 26th place Pirates by 4 runs. Obviously great pitching is the answer for the Pirates, the team tied for the best record in MLB. Also congrats to the Miami Marlins for finally crossing the 300 runs barrier. They trail the first place Red Sox by 196 runs.
One of my biggest complaints about athletes is they get these big contracts and in so many situations they don't live up to them. The Rockets and their fans will never be satisfied with Dwight Howard's lack of desire or great play. I love what he said in his press conference today with the Houston media how he works on his game. If that's true then why is he such an abysmal free throw shooter? If he works on his game, then why is he getting worse at free throws? In his rookie season Howard shot a respectable .671 from the line. Last season, when the Lakers were paying him millions of dollars, he shot .492 from the line. I'm pretty sure he doesn't works on his game as much as he says he does, he just relies on his declining freak athleticism. Once his athleticism is gone his NBA career will be over.
In Dallas, head Cowboys nitwit Jerry Jones signed Tony Romo to an $108 million dollar extension. Jones may be one of few people that would sign Romo to that kind of contract. For such a great and capable businessman, he sure is dumb when it comes to
In fact thinking about it Tony Romo and Dwight Howard have a lot in common. Both are being paid a lot based on hype and now both play professional sports in Texas. Both have been in their respective leagues for about 10 years and have underperformed. Howard has a lot more athletic ability and at least Howard's teams make the playoffs and sometimes even do damage. However both are still earning more than they are worth and they'll continue to fail.
When Zack Greinke signed a 6 year, $147 million dollar contract back in December I was fairly certain he'd be one of those players who would never live up to his contract. Then when he got into that stupid fight with Carlos Quentin I was convinced even more. I thought he was destined to be another Dodgers pitching bust like Ted Lilly and Josh Beckett. Watching him pitch I can see he has great stuff, but he's also incredibly consistent.
However on Saturday night he acted like he might live up to this contract. He pitched a 9 inning, two hit shutout. In his 99th career victory he lowered his season ERA from 3.91 to .349. He was 1 for 3 in batting and is hitting .367 this season. After his hit he also had his first stolen base of the season. That's someone that's living up to their contract! After Greinke's victory tonight, he is 8-2. What are the chances the 29 year old starter will continue to play that well for the rest of his contract?
LA remains in second place in the NL West and continue to put pressure on the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead. LA trails the Diamondbacks by 2.5 games following the Diamondbacks 5-4 victory over the Brewers. LA's chances to make the playoffs is at 29.9%. Again for the Dodgers to make the playoffs, they need to win the NL West. The Dodgers are 4.5 games out in the NL Wild Card.
Tomorrow's scheduled pitching matchup is Ricky Nolasco (6-8, 3.70 ERA). The recently arrived from Miami via trade is Nolasco. After pitching for the Marlins most of the season, he's used to his teams not scoring very many runs. Let's hope the Dodgers give him more run support than they did either Clayton Kershaw or Greinke in the last couple of games. Scheduled to pitch for the Rockies is Jhoulys Chacin (8-4, 3.62 ERA).
Upcoming: The Dodgers and Rockies play one more game and then they have the All-Star break. Like me I'm sure they are glad, I'm also looking forward to the All-Star break. Writing a Dodgers Daily everyday has been fun, but it's a lot of work. I look forward to taking the All-Star break but I'll still be writing. I'll just have the opportunity to write about something else besides the Dodgers. I plan on writing at least one or two of my greatest CDs of all-time blogs.
Also the Pirates have won 3 games and this season they are refusing to fade. Pittsburgh is 56-36 and have a 90.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. Once again they are tied with the Cardinals for best record in the NL Central, which means they are tied for the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Andrew McCutchen was the hero again, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .303 this season. He also hit his 10th homer of the season and also has 49 RBIs.
The big story of the night was Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. Lincecum struck out 13 and walked 4 Padres in 148 pitches. 148 pitches! That's crazy. If it wasn't for the All-Star break coming up, I'd be surprised Bruce Bochy would have let him pitch the whole game. Lincecum probably has at least 6 or 7 days off. In a wierd bit of timing, Lincecum was the losing pitcher when the Reds Homer Bailey threw his no-hitter against the Giants 11 days ago. Last night he looked like the Lincecum of old, although this season he's only 5-9 with a 4.26 ERA. He's tied with Cliff Lee for 11th place in number of strikeouts, 125. (Thanks as always to ESPN.)
The Giants have really struggled of late, their record is 43-50 and they have a 9.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They are 4th place in the NL West, 6.5 games behind the Diamondbacks. However they have won 3 consecutive games, but only 4 of their last 10 games. The NL West is so mediocre that at this time no team has been truly eliminated. The defending World Series champs aren't eliminated from the playoffs by a long shot.
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily, July 12th, 2013: Rockies, Nicasio Shuts Down Dodgers, End LA's 5 Game Win Streak
Hello,
In the second game of the 4 game series between LA and Colorado, the Rockies won 3-0. Rockies starter Juan Nicasio shut down the Dodger bats, holding LA to 4 hits and no runs. The series is now tied at 1 game each with two more games remaining before the All-Star break.
For some reason Dodger bats don't produce much offense when their stud Clayton Kershaw is pitching. No matter how well Kershaw pitches it's impossible for him to win if LA produces no runs. Kershaw wasn't the sharpest ever yesterday, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings. He did have 10 strikeouts, he's 4th in MLB in that category. The Rangers Yu Darvish, who's on the DL, leads MLB with 157 strikeouts. Kershaw also has a 1.98 ERA, which leads all of MLB. Pittsburgh's Jeff Locke is second best with a 2.15 ERA.
Carl Crawford missed the game due to "back stiffness". The fragile Crawford has missed 34 of 92 games so far and will continue to miss many more. Again he and Josh Beckett are the anchors of LA's 2012 trade with the Red Sox. By anchor I mean two players who have high paying contracts and don't play anywhere near how their amount of pay. Those two players are paid close to $40 million this season and have been less than 100%. I honestly don't ever expect anything out of Beckett ever again, even if he regains full health. After the 2014 season Beckett will be lucky to still be in MLB. As for Crawford, he'll play a few games, miss a few games and will have some good moments. When he's remembered as a Dodger it will be as someone that should have been a lot better. When his contract finally ends, LA will make only a ceremonial attempt to resign him.
Only 4 Dodgers had hits yesterday and one of them wasn't Yasiel Puig, in fact he had to leave the game due to his troublesome hip. He was 0 for 2, his batting average has dipped to .392. Puig still has a great batting average although in his last several games he's hitting less than .250. No complaint from me about him though. The 4 Dodgers who had a hit Friday and their current batting averages are 1) Hanley Ramirez, .397 2) Skip Schumaker, .255, 3) Adrian Gonzalez .301 and 4) Andre Ethier, .274.
LA is back to .500 at 46-46 and remain in second place in the NL West. They trail first place Arizona by 2.5 games and lead third place Colorado by 2 games. Scheduled to pitch in Saturday's game is Zack Greinke (7-2, 3.91) vs. Tyler Chatwood (5-2, 2.74). Next to Kershaw, Greinke probably has the best stuff on the Dodgers. However he's incredibly inconsistent and has struggled with walks this season, it would be nice if he could play up to his contract today.
themusicaddict
In the second game of the 4 game series between LA and Colorado, the Rockies won 3-0. Rockies starter Juan Nicasio shut down the Dodger bats, holding LA to 4 hits and no runs. The series is now tied at 1 game each with two more games remaining before the All-Star break.
For some reason Dodger bats don't produce much offense when their stud Clayton Kershaw is pitching. No matter how well Kershaw pitches it's impossible for him to win if LA produces no runs. Kershaw wasn't the sharpest ever yesterday, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings. He did have 10 strikeouts, he's 4th in MLB in that category. The Rangers Yu Darvish, who's on the DL, leads MLB with 157 strikeouts. Kershaw also has a 1.98 ERA, which leads all of MLB. Pittsburgh's Jeff Locke is second best with a 2.15 ERA.
Carl Crawford missed the game due to "back stiffness". The fragile Crawford has missed 34 of 92 games so far and will continue to miss many more. Again he and Josh Beckett are the anchors of LA's 2012 trade with the Red Sox. By anchor I mean two players who have high paying contracts and don't play anywhere near how their amount of pay. Those two players are paid close to $40 million this season and have been less than 100%. I honestly don't ever expect anything out of Beckett ever again, even if he regains full health. After the 2014 season Beckett will be lucky to still be in MLB. As for Crawford, he'll play a few games, miss a few games and will have some good moments. When he's remembered as a Dodger it will be as someone that should have been a lot better. When his contract finally ends, LA will make only a ceremonial attempt to resign him.
Only 4 Dodgers had hits yesterday and one of them wasn't Yasiel Puig, in fact he had to leave the game due to his troublesome hip. He was 0 for 2, his batting average has dipped to .392. Puig still has a great batting average although in his last several games he's hitting less than .250. No complaint from me about him though. The 4 Dodgers who had a hit Friday and their current batting averages are 1) Hanley Ramirez, .397 2) Skip Schumaker, .255, 3) Adrian Gonzalez .301 and 4) Andre Ethier, .274.
LA is back to .500 at 46-46 and remain in second place in the NL West. They trail first place Arizona by 2.5 games and lead third place Colorado by 2 games. Scheduled to pitch in Saturday's game is Zack Greinke (7-2, 3.91) vs. Tyler Chatwood (5-2, 2.74). Next to Kershaw, Greinke probably has the best stuff on the Dodgers. However he's incredibly inconsistent and has struggled with walks this season, it would be nice if he could play up to his contract today.
themusicaddict
Friday, July 12, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 11th, 2013: Cruising Dodgers Win Again, 16 of 19, AL East Remains A Battle
Hello,
In the first of a 4 game series between the Dodgers and the Rockies, LA won 6-1. For what it's worth: LA seems to really like the score 6-1, it's been the score of 3 of their last 4 games. In the recent past the Dodgers beat San Diego 6-1 on Saturday, June 22nd. They beat the Phillies 6-1 on Sunday, June 30th.
The heroes in this Dodgers victory were two players that have struggled this season so far. A.J. Ellis has been the best Ellis on the Dodgers this season, well Mark Ellis decided to throw his hat in the ring. Mark was 3 for 4 on Thursday and had 4 RBIs, although he's only hitting .261 this season. Mark Ellis is fifth on LA for number of RBIs this season, 26. He's right behind A.J., who's in 4th place, and has 27 RBIs. In batting average, excluding all the outliers, Mark Ellis is 9th on the Dodgers. In batting average, again he's right behind A.J., who's hitting .271.
The other maligned player who was a hero in the game for L.A. was Chris Capuano. He was blitzed in his last start, but he had a decent outing on Thursday. In 6.1 innings he gave up 6 hits, 0 runs and he added 8 strikeouts. Capuano improves to 3-6 as his ERA decreases to .463. Speaking of Capuano, I answered my own question about why Capuano was pitching yesterday. It's because LA is going with a rotation of 5 starters.
On the day Yasiel Puig found out he wasn't going to the All-Star game, he was 2 for 4. He raised his average back up to .397. He left the game due to a minor injury and may miss Friday's game. It's time for his teammates to pick up their games anyway. Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 2, his batting average decreases to .402. Even though he was 0 for 2, he still ended up on base 3 times. He walked 3 times, including at least once intentionally. His On Base Percentage (OBP) is .458 and he leads LA in both OBP and batting average. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 5 and is hitting .302.
Errata: The fragile Carl Crawford again entered the game as a pinch hitter, he was 1 for 1 and increased his batting average to .274. Crawford isn't just very durable and he'll probably miss a lot of games until his contract finally runs out and LA can dump him. I watched some of the Rockies broadcast of the Rockies -Dodgers game last night. It was mentioned a couple of times at least how Brandon League was the only Dodger who didn't play in LA's 14 inning game against Arizona. (Even Zack Greinke got in that game as a pinch hitter and earned a walk.) Why would Mattingly play him in that game, in fact why would he play him at all? It's not a big surprise the only run the Rockies scored on Thursday was against the terrible League. He gave up Carlos Gonzalez's 25th home run this season. League's ERA is at 6.25. That was hell of a signing by Ned Colleti and LA gets to pay League for two more years.
LA is above .500 for the first time since April, one of the great nuggets I found out from ESPN. LA is 46-45 and their chances of reaching the playoffs increase to 35.2%. LA has won an incredible 16 of 19 games and are easily the hottest team in MLB. They are probably at least one significant move away from being the best team in MLB. It would help LA towards that goal if they had a healthy Matt Kemp and Crawford. I would estimate right now that LA is about the 10th best team in MLB. They aren't even the best team in California right now, that would have to be AL West leading Oakland. The A's play the Red Sox in a 3 game series starting Friday, I hate when my teams play against each other.
LA still trails the Diamondbacks by 1.5 games in the NL West. Arizona is 48-44 and has a 51.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. LA's defeat of Colorado means that the Rockies trail the Dodgers by 3 games for second place. With 3 more home games against the Rockies, the Dodgers could do a lot of damage to Colorado's playoff hopes.
The scheduled pitching matchup is the amazing Clayton Kershaw (8-5,1.89 ERA) vs. Juan Nicasio (4-4, 5.31 ERA.)
Meanwhile the AL East remains incredibly competitive, the top 4 teams in that division won Thursday. Leading the AL East is the Red Sox, who beat the Mariners 8-7 in 10 innings. Boston also continues to lead all of MLB in runs scored. They have scored 28 more runs than the second highest scoring team Tigers. Boston is 57-37 and they lead the second place Rays by 3.5 games.
The Rays beat Minnesota 4-3 and have won 8 games in a row. In third place is the Orioles, who beat Texas 3-1. Chris Davis hit his 34th home run and has 86 RBIs. While his power numbers are still very impressive, his batting average has declined significantly. He'd been hitting about .330 just a few weeks ago, but has dropped to .310. The Orioles are 5.5 games back.
Meanwhile Team Drama, the New York Yankees beat Kansas City 8-4. New York welcomed back Derek Jeter, he ended up being 1 for 4, who had a hit on his first at bat of the season. Meanwhile Alex Rodriguez was scheduled to avoid and ignore questions by MLB investigators on Friday. Meanwhile the Yanks are secretly hoping, well maybe not secretly, that he gets suspended so they can save a lot of money. The Yanks are 6 games back. The Jays lost and they trail the Red Sox by 11.5 games.
themusicaddict
In the first of a 4 game series between the Dodgers and the Rockies, LA won 6-1. For what it's worth: LA seems to really like the score 6-1, it's been the score of 3 of their last 4 games. In the recent past the Dodgers beat San Diego 6-1 on Saturday, June 22nd. They beat the Phillies 6-1 on Sunday, June 30th.
The heroes in this Dodgers victory were two players that have struggled this season so far. A.J. Ellis has been the best Ellis on the Dodgers this season, well Mark Ellis decided to throw his hat in the ring. Mark was 3 for 4 on Thursday and had 4 RBIs, although he's only hitting .261 this season. Mark Ellis is fifth on LA for number of RBIs this season, 26. He's right behind A.J., who's in 4th place, and has 27 RBIs. In batting average, excluding all the outliers, Mark Ellis is 9th on the Dodgers. In batting average, again he's right behind A.J., who's hitting .271.
The other maligned player who was a hero in the game for L.A. was Chris Capuano. He was blitzed in his last start, but he had a decent outing on Thursday. In 6.1 innings he gave up 6 hits, 0 runs and he added 8 strikeouts. Capuano improves to 3-6 as his ERA decreases to .463. Speaking of Capuano, I answered my own question about why Capuano was pitching yesterday. It's because LA is going with a rotation of 5 starters.
On the day Yasiel Puig found out he wasn't going to the All-Star game, he was 2 for 4. He raised his average back up to .397. He left the game due to a minor injury and may miss Friday's game. It's time for his teammates to pick up their games anyway. Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 2, his batting average decreases to .402. Even though he was 0 for 2, he still ended up on base 3 times. He walked 3 times, including at least once intentionally. His On Base Percentage (OBP) is .458 and he leads LA in both OBP and batting average. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 5 and is hitting .302.
Errata: The fragile Carl Crawford again entered the game as a pinch hitter, he was 1 for 1 and increased his batting average to .274. Crawford isn't just very durable and he'll probably miss a lot of games until his contract finally runs out and LA can dump him. I watched some of the Rockies broadcast of the Rockies -Dodgers game last night. It was mentioned a couple of times at least how Brandon League was the only Dodger who didn't play in LA's 14 inning game against Arizona. (Even Zack Greinke got in that game as a pinch hitter and earned a walk.) Why would Mattingly play him in that game, in fact why would he play him at all? It's not a big surprise the only run the Rockies scored on Thursday was against the terrible League. He gave up Carlos Gonzalez's 25th home run this season. League's ERA is at 6.25. That was hell of a signing by Ned Colleti and LA gets to pay League for two more years.
LA is above .500 for the first time since April, one of the great nuggets I found out from ESPN. LA is 46-45 and their chances of reaching the playoffs increase to 35.2%. LA has won an incredible 16 of 19 games and are easily the hottest team in MLB. They are probably at least one significant move away from being the best team in MLB. It would help LA towards that goal if they had a healthy Matt Kemp and Crawford. I would estimate right now that LA is about the 10th best team in MLB. They aren't even the best team in California right now, that would have to be AL West leading Oakland. The A's play the Red Sox in a 3 game series starting Friday, I hate when my teams play against each other.
LA still trails the Diamondbacks by 1.5 games in the NL West. Arizona is 48-44 and has a 51.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. LA's defeat of Colorado means that the Rockies trail the Dodgers by 3 games for second place. With 3 more home games against the Rockies, the Dodgers could do a lot of damage to Colorado's playoff hopes.
The scheduled pitching matchup is the amazing Clayton Kershaw (8-5,1.89 ERA) vs. Juan Nicasio (4-4, 5.31 ERA.)
Meanwhile the AL East remains incredibly competitive, the top 4 teams in that division won Thursday. Leading the AL East is the Red Sox, who beat the Mariners 8-7 in 10 innings. Boston also continues to lead all of MLB in runs scored. They have scored 28 more runs than the second highest scoring team Tigers. Boston is 57-37 and they lead the second place Rays by 3.5 games.
The Rays beat Minnesota 4-3 and have won 8 games in a row. In third place is the Orioles, who beat Texas 3-1. Chris Davis hit his 34th home run and has 86 RBIs. While his power numbers are still very impressive, his batting average has declined significantly. He'd been hitting about .330 just a few weeks ago, but has dropped to .310. The Orioles are 5.5 games back.
Meanwhile Team Drama, the New York Yankees beat Kansas City 8-4. New York welcomed back Derek Jeter, he ended up being 1 for 4, who had a hit on his first at bat of the season. Meanwhile Alex Rodriguez was scheduled to avoid and ignore questions by MLB investigators on Friday. Meanwhile the Yanks are secretly hoping, well maybe not secretly, that he gets suspended so they can save a lot of money. The Yanks are 6 games back. The Jays lost and they trail the Red Sox by 11.5 games.
themusicaddict
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 10th, 2013: LA Finishes Sweep Of 1st Place Diamondbacks, Pirates Bounce Back, Ortiz Breaks Through
Hello,
Due to timely hitting and some great relief pitching LA was able to complete their 3 game sweep of the NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks. LA has won 15 of 18 games and has surged to within 1.5 games of the Diamondbacks. For long-time Dodgers fans like myself, this has been a fun stretch. The stretch might become more fun if the Dodgers make one more trade, a move where they'd end up with a Chase Utley, Cliff Lee or Matt Garza.
LA continues to win without Matt Kemp, on DL until after the All-Star break, and an ineffective Carl Crawford. They've been able to overcome all their injuries so far, the fact that they are even relevant right now is crazy. The fact that they're playing so well lately is amazing. Don Mattingly doesn't get a lot of love from the media, many complain about him not doing a good job with his pitching staff. Well he's doing something right, perhaps the media should cut him some slack.
LA beat Arizona on Wednesday night 7-5 in 14 innings. The story of LA's victory is timely hitting and great pitching. The Dodgers were down 2-0 when Scott Van Slyke came up to bat. He got the Dodger scoring going with a sacrifice hit in the 4th inning which drove in Hanley Ramirez. In the top of 5th inning Ramirez doubled to drive in Mark Ellis and Yasiel Puig, which put the Dodgers ahead 3-2. In the bottom of the 5th inning the Diamondbacks responded with 3 runs to jump back in front 5-3. The Diamondbacks were not to score again.
In the top of the 7th, Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo home run to bring the Dodgers to within 5-4. The score remained 5-4 going into the 9th inning and the Dodgers were down to their last chance to score. Mark Ellis grounded out and Puig struck out, quickly the Dodgers were down to their final out. Gonzalez was up and he earned a walk. Still two outs, but at least the Dodgers had the game tying run on base. Jerry Hairston Jr. ran for Gonzalez. Next up the now hottest Dodger, Ramirez, had a single. Two outs, two on base with A.J. Ellis coming up. Ellis has had some big hits of late and he had another big hit. He singled and Hairston scored and the game was tied at 5.
Then neither team could mount much offense until the top of the 14th. That's when the Dodgers had more timely hitting, Ramirez hit a solo shot. Next A.J. Ellis hit a solo homer and the Dodgers lead 7-5 going into the bottom of the 14th inning. Don Mattingly went with Kenley Jansen for two innings and he earned the win. Jansen is now 3-3 on the season and has a very small 2.38 ERA. Mattingly's move of having Jansen pitch more than usual worked out you of the unhappy media.
Hyun-Jin Ryu didn't have his best outing as a Dodger but their relief pitching was amazing. In the final 9 innings of the game 6 Dodgers pitchers held the Diamondbacks to only 2 hits and 0 runs. That's very good use of the relief staff by Mattingly. The relievers had to be that good for the Dodgers to win as it took the Dodgers offense so long to finally score the winning runs. This was a great win and a true team effort.
Yasiel Puig is struggling with all the pressure placed on him. Those pressures are starting to catch up with him on the field. On Wednesday Puig was 1 for 7 as his batting average drops to .394, which is the lowest I can remember all season. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm grateful for the offense, hustle, grit and the shot in the arm Puig has brought to LA. If I was a complete LA sports fan I would be glad for all he has brought to the city, especially after a season of the whiny Dwight Howard.
The now hottest Dodger is Mr. Hanley Ramirez, he was 3 for 6 and is hitting .409. He has 8 homers and 24 RBIs. A.J. Ellis was 3 for 6 and is hitting .271 this season, he has 4 home runs and 27 RBIs. Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and his batting average is exactly .300. Gonzalez has 14 home runs and 58 RBIs this season. With all the injuries and Puigmania etc. going on, Gonzalez has been the lone constant in this turbulent Dodgers season.
Carl Crawford didn't start, but came into the game as a pinch hitter. He then stayed in the game and hit 0 for 4 as his batting average continued to plummet to, he's hitting .271. He's gone from hitting around .300 all season and being one of the Dodgers best offensive players to struggling mightily. Is he really the best players the Dodgers have at his position?
LA finally returns to .500 with a 45-45 record. LA is within 1.5 games of the Diamondbacks and have a 30.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. The Dodgers are in second place, but they only lead the third place Rockies by 2 games. The Dodgers and Rockies start a 4 game series on Thursday, the Rockies are going to try and do what the Dodgers did to the Diamondbacks. Colorado wants to go into LA and smack around the Dodgers and show that they are also a power in the NL West.
Thursday's scheduled pitching matchup is Chris Capuano (2-6, 5.19 ERA) vs. Drew Pomeranz (0-2, 9.72 ERA). I'd read with the Dodgers acquiring Ricky Nolasco, that Capuano was no longer going to start. In the Dodgers rotation slot the last time it came up, LA went with Stephen Fife. It seems LA feels they have a better chance of winning with Capuano. With two starting pitchers who are struggling look for tonight's game to be high scoring. These 4 game are LA's final games before the All-Star break.
The Pirates bounced back for a 5-0 victory last night, preventing Oakland's series sweep. This is also the first time the Pirates have ever beat the A's, like ever (as Taylor Swift would say). Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano had another outstanding effort. In 7 innings, he only gave up 4 hits and no runs. He added 6 strikeouts and Liriano has a minuscule .200 ERA. All-Star Andrew McCutchen was 2 for 3 and is hitting .303. He also had his 47th RBI.
Pittsburgh is 54-36, although they have only won 4 of their last 10 games. They remain 1.5 games behind St. Louis. The Cardinals are 55-34 and have won 5 in a row. St. Louis vs. the sacrificial lamb Chicago Cubs is Sunday Night Baseball. Pittsburgh has Thursday off and they welcome the slightly better than terrible Mets (40-48). That three game series starts Friday.
Lastly congratulations to David Ortiz, Red Sox designated hitter extraordinaire. Ortiz doubled in his first at bat, which gave him 1,689 hits as a DH. He later added his 19th homer of the season, which is his 1,690th hit as a DH. He has the most hits for any DH ever, breaking the record held by Harold Baines. On Wednesday Ortiz was 2 for 3 in this game and is hitting .331. He also now has 65 RBIs. Good luck to many more years of great performance David Big Papi Ortiz.
themusicaddict
Due to timely hitting and some great relief pitching LA was able to complete their 3 game sweep of the NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks. LA has won 15 of 18 games and has surged to within 1.5 games of the Diamondbacks. For long-time Dodgers fans like myself, this has been a fun stretch. The stretch might become more fun if the Dodgers make one more trade, a move where they'd end up with a Chase Utley, Cliff Lee or Matt Garza.
LA continues to win without Matt Kemp, on DL until after the All-Star break, and an ineffective Carl Crawford. They've been able to overcome all their injuries so far, the fact that they are even relevant right now is crazy. The fact that they're playing so well lately is amazing. Don Mattingly doesn't get a lot of love from the media, many complain about him not doing a good job with his pitching staff. Well he's doing something right, perhaps the media should cut him some slack.
LA beat Arizona on Wednesday night 7-5 in 14 innings. The story of LA's victory is timely hitting and great pitching. The Dodgers were down 2-0 when Scott Van Slyke came up to bat. He got the Dodger scoring going with a sacrifice hit in the 4th inning which drove in Hanley Ramirez. In the top of 5th inning Ramirez doubled to drive in Mark Ellis and Yasiel Puig, which put the Dodgers ahead 3-2. In the bottom of the 5th inning the Diamondbacks responded with 3 runs to jump back in front 5-3. The Diamondbacks were not to score again.
In the top of the 7th, Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo home run to bring the Dodgers to within 5-4. The score remained 5-4 going into the 9th inning and the Dodgers were down to their last chance to score. Mark Ellis grounded out and Puig struck out, quickly the Dodgers were down to their final out. Gonzalez was up and he earned a walk. Still two outs, but at least the Dodgers had the game tying run on base. Jerry Hairston Jr. ran for Gonzalez. Next up the now hottest Dodger, Ramirez, had a single. Two outs, two on base with A.J. Ellis coming up. Ellis has had some big hits of late and he had another big hit. He singled and Hairston scored and the game was tied at 5.
Then neither team could mount much offense until the top of the 14th. That's when the Dodgers had more timely hitting, Ramirez hit a solo shot. Next A.J. Ellis hit a solo homer and the Dodgers lead 7-5 going into the bottom of the 14th inning. Don Mattingly went with Kenley Jansen for two innings and he earned the win. Jansen is now 3-3 on the season and has a very small 2.38 ERA. Mattingly's move of having Jansen pitch more than usual worked out you of the unhappy media.
Hyun-Jin Ryu didn't have his best outing as a Dodger but their relief pitching was amazing. In the final 9 innings of the game 6 Dodgers pitchers held the Diamondbacks to only 2 hits and 0 runs. That's very good use of the relief staff by Mattingly. The relievers had to be that good for the Dodgers to win as it took the Dodgers offense so long to finally score the winning runs. This was a great win and a true team effort.
Yasiel Puig is struggling with all the pressure placed on him. Those pressures are starting to catch up with him on the field. On Wednesday Puig was 1 for 7 as his batting average drops to .394, which is the lowest I can remember all season. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm grateful for the offense, hustle, grit and the shot in the arm Puig has brought to LA. If I was a complete LA sports fan I would be glad for all he has brought to the city, especially after a season of the whiny Dwight Howard.
The now hottest Dodger is Mr. Hanley Ramirez, he was 3 for 6 and is hitting .409. He has 8 homers and 24 RBIs. A.J. Ellis was 3 for 6 and is hitting .271 this season, he has 4 home runs and 27 RBIs. Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and his batting average is exactly .300. Gonzalez has 14 home runs and 58 RBIs this season. With all the injuries and Puigmania etc. going on, Gonzalez has been the lone constant in this turbulent Dodgers season.
Carl Crawford didn't start, but came into the game as a pinch hitter. He then stayed in the game and hit 0 for 4 as his batting average continued to plummet to, he's hitting .271. He's gone from hitting around .300 all season and being one of the Dodgers best offensive players to struggling mightily. Is he really the best players the Dodgers have at his position?
LA finally returns to .500 with a 45-45 record. LA is within 1.5 games of the Diamondbacks and have a 30.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. The Dodgers are in second place, but they only lead the third place Rockies by 2 games. The Dodgers and Rockies start a 4 game series on Thursday, the Rockies are going to try and do what the Dodgers did to the Diamondbacks. Colorado wants to go into LA and smack around the Dodgers and show that they are also a power in the NL West.
Thursday's scheduled pitching matchup is Chris Capuano (2-6, 5.19 ERA) vs. Drew Pomeranz (0-2, 9.72 ERA). I'd read with the Dodgers acquiring Ricky Nolasco, that Capuano was no longer going to start. In the Dodgers rotation slot the last time it came up, LA went with Stephen Fife. It seems LA feels they have a better chance of winning with Capuano. With two starting pitchers who are struggling look for tonight's game to be high scoring. These 4 game are LA's final games before the All-Star break.
The Pirates bounced back for a 5-0 victory last night, preventing Oakland's series sweep. This is also the first time the Pirates have ever beat the A's, like ever (as Taylor Swift would say). Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano had another outstanding effort. In 7 innings, he only gave up 4 hits and no runs. He added 6 strikeouts and Liriano has a minuscule .200 ERA. All-Star Andrew McCutchen was 2 for 3 and is hitting .303. He also had his 47th RBI.
Pittsburgh is 54-36, although they have only won 4 of their last 10 games. They remain 1.5 games behind St. Louis. The Cardinals are 55-34 and have won 5 in a row. St. Louis vs. the sacrificial lamb Chicago Cubs is Sunday Night Baseball. Pittsburgh has Thursday off and they welcome the slightly better than terrible Mets (40-48). That three game series starts Friday.
Lastly congratulations to David Ortiz, Red Sox designated hitter extraordinaire. Ortiz doubled in his first at bat, which gave him 1,689 hits as a DH. He later added his 19th homer of the season, which is his 1,690th hit as a DH. He has the most hits for any DH ever, breaking the record held by Harold Baines. On Wednesday Ortiz was 2 for 3 in this game and is hitting .331. He also now has 65 RBIs. Good luck to many more years of great performance David Big Papi Ortiz.
themusicaddict
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