Hello,
After MLB threatened to suspend Ryan Braun for 100 games, they eventually worked out a deal with him which he agreed to accept a 65 game suspension. The Brewers weren't going anywhere anyway and Braun was battling injuries, so how much of a punishment was that really?
Currently MLB and Alex Rodriguez are fighting how long of a suspension that Rodriguez will serve. Rodriguez's lawyer says they'll fight any suspension that MLB gives him. ARod (or it it A-Ped) this is why people hate you, you might be one of the few professional athletes that's more despised than Dwight Howard. And of course this is also why people hate lawyers. We also have the namby pamby MLB saying they might suspend Rodriguez for "violations of labor deal". Why is it that I get the feeling that Rodriguez is in the driver's seat in determining what punishment he'll get.
It seems both Bill Clinton and OJ Simpson had the right idea about avoiding consequences. Their strategy seemed to be: Deny and lie until you get by. That worked for Clinton and Simpson and now it seems Rodriquez is trying the same strategy.
How about MLB man up and suspend Rodriguez for both PED and labor violations? I know there's the CBA to consider, but I can't believe that Commissioner Selig doesn't have the power to suspend anyone especially when there's overwhelming proof against them?
What in the name of Kenesaw Mountain Landis is going on with Major League Baseball? Why are there rules if they can't be enforced? Bud Selig needs to take on the spirit of Landis and start punishing people. It seems like he doesn't have that power now, but the commissioner should absolutely have that power.
Landis was the first commissioner of baseball. Landis was brought in as commissioner following the embarrassing Black Sox scandal. Landis was given "was given full power to act in the sport's best interest, and used that power extensively over the next quarter-century". (Thanks to Landis' Wikipedia page.)
"Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don't know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game."
(Thanks to the wikipedia.org post for Landis.)
Now hilariously Rodriguez says he wants to be a "role model". A role model for what? How to cheat and get away with it? How to be one of the most gifted baseball players of all-time yet still leave a bad taste in the mouth of baseball lovers? To be clear I don't want my kids to emulate Rodriguez or use him as a role model in anything. My kids have and will continue to mess up, but I don't want them to lawyer up or weasel their way out of accepting consequences. No ARod you aren't a role model for my kids or anyone else's. If you really wanted to be a role model, you should have thought about that about 15 years ago.
ARod's whole "role model" nonsense is a sign that he has no self-awareness. In the SI article ARod whines about the "noise" surrounding him. Alex, why is there noise? It's because of your poor choices, the refusal to man up and take your deserved punishment. Volunteer to take your punishment and you would be surprised by how much the "noise" decreases. Rodriguez should volunteer to sit out all of next season as his punishment, assuming that he's healthy enough to play. Then use that year to educate people on the dangers of steroid use. If Rodriguez has any awareness and did something simple like I suggest, he would be perceived a lot more favorably by the public. Just how unaware is Rodriquez?
theirritatedmusicaddict
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 28th, 2013: Puig Does It Again, Braves, A's Continue to Roll
Hello,
The Dodgers finished their series with the Reds on Sunday, with LA winning the final 3 games. LA won Sunday's game 1-0 in 11 innings and were powered by Yasiel Puig's 10th homer of the season. It was this walk off homer, I love the slide at the end of circling the bases:
I wasn't able to check the score on this game until about the 6th inning. At that time the Dodgers only had 1 hit and that hit was by pitcher Chris Capuano. LA ended up with only 5 hits in the whole game, however they had the only hit that mattered. That was Puig's 10th homer and also his 23rd RBI. I know it's not a coincidence that the Dodgers have been much better since he's been with the team.
After getting a contribution from Skip Schumaker yesterday, the Dodgers received another unexpected contribution on Sunday. Don Mattingly turned to Brandon League and he was able to deliver. League was one of 5 Dodgers pitchers that shut out the Reds. League pitched two very solid innings, he gave up no hits, no runs and only 1 walk. League got the win and improved his record to 6-3. He still has that unsightly 5.17 ERA and I'm not convinced he'll be on the Dodgers playoff roster. (Fingers crossed that LA makes the playoffs.)
With the Diamondbacks losing again, LA expanded their lead over them by 2.5 games in the NL West.
LA gets Monday off and then they have a two game series with the Yankees. Derek Jeter is back with the Yankees, hitting a home run on the first pitch he saw today. The Yankees won Sunday's game with the returning Alfonso Soriano's walk off hit. In fact Soriano was 4 for 5 in the game, I'm not sure but that seems to be how many hits he finished with in his Cubs career. Meanwhile no more word on when Alex Rodriguez will be able to play or if he's going to be suspended by MLB first. The Yankees are a decent team, at 55-50, but for them they have the misfortune of playing in the best division in MLB, the AL East.
With their current record the Yankees would be second place in the NL West. However in the AL East they are in 4th place, which is made even worse by trailing the first place Red Sox by 7.5 games. With or without Rodriguez things are looking bleak for the Yankees playoff hopes. This song describes the mixed emotions of any complicated relationship, which is what the Yankees and Rodriguez have:
Meanwhile the A's continue rolling, they slapped around the Angels today 10-6 as they strengthen their lead on the AL West. The Rangers have completely fallen apart, losing 4 in a row and 8 of their last 10 games. Meanwhile the A's have won 3 straight games and now lead the second place Rangers by 6 games. With some people thinking the A's are going to end up with Jake Peavy, it's looking good that the A's are going to reach the playoffs. In fact, ESPN.com says they have a 90.9% chance of reaching the playoffs.
Meanwhile the Braves continue to do well. Although I'm not 100% convinced they won't flop again once they reach the playoffs. They were able to sweep the Cardinals and won 4 of their last 5 games. St. Louis may be the best team in MLB now, they are a team that doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. In the NL East the Braves lead the second place Nationals by 8.5 games and the third place Phillies by 11 games.
The Nationals have won 3 games in a row, but they've only 4 of their last 10 games. The Nationals are still 8.5 games out in the NL East. I wonder how hard the Phillies are even trying, they've lost 8 games in a row. Also Philadelphia has Jonathan Papelbon whining that he didn't come to the Phillies for this kind of play. Honestly I wasn't real sad when Papelbon didn't resign with the Red Sox. I'm sure the Phillies aren't real happy about signing him either. The Phillies were planning on having a lot of success and they overpaid Papelbon to help them do that. There's still the last two years of Papelbon's 4 year, $50 million dollar contract that someone has to pay for. I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay him that kind of money. (Dearest Dodgers please don't consider trading for Papelbon.)
themusicaddict
The Dodgers finished their series with the Reds on Sunday, with LA winning the final 3 games. LA won Sunday's game 1-0 in 11 innings and were powered by Yasiel Puig's 10th homer of the season. It was this walk off homer, I love the slide at the end of circling the bases:
I wasn't able to check the score on this game until about the 6th inning. At that time the Dodgers only had 1 hit and that hit was by pitcher Chris Capuano. LA ended up with only 5 hits in the whole game, however they had the only hit that mattered. That was Puig's 10th homer and also his 23rd RBI. I know it's not a coincidence that the Dodgers have been much better since he's been with the team.
After getting a contribution from Skip Schumaker yesterday, the Dodgers received another unexpected contribution on Sunday. Don Mattingly turned to Brandon League and he was able to deliver. League was one of 5 Dodgers pitchers that shut out the Reds. League pitched two very solid innings, he gave up no hits, no runs and only 1 walk. League got the win and improved his record to 6-3. He still has that unsightly 5.17 ERA and I'm not convinced he'll be on the Dodgers playoff roster. (Fingers crossed that LA makes the playoffs.)
With the Diamondbacks losing again, LA expanded their lead over them by 2.5 games in the NL West.
LA gets Monday off and then they have a two game series with the Yankees. Derek Jeter is back with the Yankees, hitting a home run on the first pitch he saw today. The Yankees won Sunday's game with the returning Alfonso Soriano's walk off hit. In fact Soriano was 4 for 5 in the game, I'm not sure but that seems to be how many hits he finished with in his Cubs career. Meanwhile no more word on when Alex Rodriguez will be able to play or if he's going to be suspended by MLB first. The Yankees are a decent team, at 55-50, but for them they have the misfortune of playing in the best division in MLB, the AL East.
With their current record the Yankees would be second place in the NL West. However in the AL East they are in 4th place, which is made even worse by trailing the first place Red Sox by 7.5 games. With or without Rodriguez things are looking bleak for the Yankees playoff hopes. This song describes the mixed emotions of any complicated relationship, which is what the Yankees and Rodriguez have:
Meanwhile the A's continue rolling, they slapped around the Angels today 10-6 as they strengthen their lead on the AL West. The Rangers have completely fallen apart, losing 4 in a row and 8 of their last 10 games. Meanwhile the A's have won 3 straight games and now lead the second place Rangers by 6 games. With some people thinking the A's are going to end up with Jake Peavy, it's looking good that the A's are going to reach the playoffs. In fact, ESPN.com says they have a 90.9% chance of reaching the playoffs.
Meanwhile the Braves continue to do well. Although I'm not 100% convinced they won't flop again once they reach the playoffs. They were able to sweep the Cardinals and won 4 of their last 5 games. St. Louis may be the best team in MLB now, they are a team that doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. In the NL East the Braves lead the second place Nationals by 8.5 games and the third place Phillies by 11 games.
The Nationals have won 3 games in a row, but they've only 4 of their last 10 games. The Nationals are still 8.5 games out in the NL East. I wonder how hard the Phillies are even trying, they've lost 8 games in a row. Also Philadelphia has Jonathan Papelbon whining that he didn't come to the Phillies for this kind of play. Honestly I wasn't real sad when Papelbon didn't resign with the Red Sox. I'm sure the Phillies aren't real happy about signing him either. The Phillies were planning on having a lot of success and they overpaid Papelbon to help them do that. There's still the last two years of Papelbon's 4 year, $50 million dollar contract that someone has to pay for. I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay him that kind of money. (Dearest Dodgers please don't consider trading for Papelbon.)
themusicaddict
Dodgers Daily, July 27th, 2013: Dodgers Continue Rolling, Pirates Will Break .500 This Season
Hello,
After the Reds won the first game in their series with the Dodgers, LA has won the last two games. The final game of the series will be Sunday afternoon. The Dodgers get Monday off, before welcoming their traditional rival the New York Yankees. The Dodgers-Yankees series will be two games, they'll occur on Tuesday and Wednesday. Following that series LA will go on the road for 8 games. LA plays 4 games against the trade depleted Cubs. They may lose more players by the time LA comes to town. That's followed by LA playing 4 games against the very tough Cardinals.
Back to Saturday's game: one of the heroes of tonight's game was Skip Schumaker. Matt Kemp is still on the 15 day DL and Carl Crawford sat out the game with a "high temperature and fever". (Thanks to ESPN.com.) LA needed production from elsewhere, Schumaker was able to fill in and get the big hit. Schumaker had his second home run of the season and his 20th and 21st RBIs of the season. His hit was also timely, he hit the tie breaking homer in the bottom of the 5th inning. Schumaker finished the game 2 for 4 and is hitting .270.Whoever might fill in for when Crawford needs to miss a game should always be ready. Very few players miss as many games as Crawford, I'm still waiting for him to go on season ending DL. LA was able to coast to victory following Schumaker's big hit.
After giving up a lot of hits in his last couple of games Hyun-Jin Ryu had a much better outing tonight. In 7 innings he only gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He improves to 9-3 on the season and his ERA decreases to 3.14.
With the Dodgers up by 3 runs I was hoping that Don Mattingly wouldn't go with either of the blown saves twosome, Brandon League or Carlos Marmol. Thankfully he didn't, instead he brought in the very tough Paco Rodriguez, who only needed 2 pitches to get a needed out. Kanley Jensen pitched the 9th inning and earned his second save in as many nights. That's his 14th save of the season and he was able to decrease his ERA to 2.24.
Other notables in this game included Yasiel Puig. He was 2 for 3 and earned a walk, he's hitting .375 on the season. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and is hitting .302. Hanley Ramirez remains the Dodger with the best batting average, he was 1 for 4 and is hitting .383. Those are the 3 Dodgers every day players hitting over .300.
The Dodgers continue to play well, they are 55-48, where will they be 59 games from now? I still can't quite believe the Dodgers are in first place after how bad they were through about the first half of the season. Arizona got blasted 12-3 by the Padres, the Diamondbacks fall back to 1.5 games behind in the NL West. Go Dodgers!
There was some question about who MLB's weakest division is, but I think it's clearly the NL East. At least the NL West has two teams above .500. The Braves are playing like crap and they are still running away from their NL East rivals. Atlanta only won 5 of their last 10 games and yet they've gained two games on both the Nationals and Phillies. Atlanta is 59-45 and has a 97.4% chance of reaching the playoffs. The second place NL East team is Washington, they trail Atlanta by 8.5 games. The Nationals are 51-54 with a 4.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. In third place is the Phillies, Philadelphia seems to have given up. They are offering many of their key players as trade bait. Philadelphia is 49-55 and have a 1.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. Go Braves!
Many people have been waiting for the Pirates to collapse, like they did the last couple of years. But as a loyal Pirates fan over the last couple of seasons I say this is the year they break their 20 year streak of not finishing above .500. The Pirates only have to go 21-39 over their final 60 games to finish above .500, that would give them a 82-80 record. Of course the Pirates want more, right now they are 61-41 and have a 94.3% chance of making the playoffs. Go Pirates!
Good luck to all my other teams, the Orioles, Red Sox, Cubs and A's.
themusicaddict
After the Reds won the first game in their series with the Dodgers, LA has won the last two games. The final game of the series will be Sunday afternoon. The Dodgers get Monday off, before welcoming their traditional rival the New York Yankees. The Dodgers-Yankees series will be two games, they'll occur on Tuesday and Wednesday. Following that series LA will go on the road for 8 games. LA plays 4 games against the trade depleted Cubs. They may lose more players by the time LA comes to town. That's followed by LA playing 4 games against the very tough Cardinals.
Back to Saturday's game: one of the heroes of tonight's game was Skip Schumaker. Matt Kemp is still on the 15 day DL and Carl Crawford sat out the game with a "high temperature and fever". (Thanks to ESPN.com.) LA needed production from elsewhere, Schumaker was able to fill in and get the big hit. Schumaker had his second home run of the season and his 20th and 21st RBIs of the season. His hit was also timely, he hit the tie breaking homer in the bottom of the 5th inning. Schumaker finished the game 2 for 4 and is hitting .270.Whoever might fill in for when Crawford needs to miss a game should always be ready. Very few players miss as many games as Crawford, I'm still waiting for him to go on season ending DL. LA was able to coast to victory following Schumaker's big hit.
After giving up a lot of hits in his last couple of games Hyun-Jin Ryu had a much better outing tonight. In 7 innings he only gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He improves to 9-3 on the season and his ERA decreases to 3.14.
With the Dodgers up by 3 runs I was hoping that Don Mattingly wouldn't go with either of the blown saves twosome, Brandon League or Carlos Marmol. Thankfully he didn't, instead he brought in the very tough Paco Rodriguez, who only needed 2 pitches to get a needed out. Kanley Jensen pitched the 9th inning and earned his second save in as many nights. That's his 14th save of the season and he was able to decrease his ERA to 2.24.
Other notables in this game included Yasiel Puig. He was 2 for 3 and earned a walk, he's hitting .375 on the season. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and is hitting .302. Hanley Ramirez remains the Dodger with the best batting average, he was 1 for 4 and is hitting .383. Those are the 3 Dodgers every day players hitting over .300.
The Dodgers continue to play well, they are 55-48, where will they be 59 games from now? I still can't quite believe the Dodgers are in first place after how bad they were through about the first half of the season. Arizona got blasted 12-3 by the Padres, the Diamondbacks fall back to 1.5 games behind in the NL West. Go Dodgers!
There was some question about who MLB's weakest division is, but I think it's clearly the NL East. At least the NL West has two teams above .500. The Braves are playing like crap and they are still running away from their NL East rivals. Atlanta only won 5 of their last 10 games and yet they've gained two games on both the Nationals and Phillies. Atlanta is 59-45 and has a 97.4% chance of reaching the playoffs. The second place NL East team is Washington, they trail Atlanta by 8.5 games. The Nationals are 51-54 with a 4.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. In third place is the Phillies, Philadelphia seems to have given up. They are offering many of their key players as trade bait. Philadelphia is 49-55 and have a 1.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. Go Braves!
Many people have been waiting for the Pirates to collapse, like they did the last couple of years. But as a loyal Pirates fan over the last couple of seasons I say this is the year they break their 20 year streak of not finishing above .500. The Pirates only have to go 21-39 over their final 60 games to finish above .500, that would give them a 82-80 record. Of course the Pirates want more, right now they are 61-41 and have a 94.3% chance of making the playoffs. Go Pirates!
Good luck to all my other teams, the Orioles, Red Sox, Cubs and A's.
themusicaddict
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 26th, 2013: Dodgers Beat Reds, Kershaw's Good Game
Hello,
The Dodgers beat the Reds 2-1 in the second of their 4 game series. With the victory the Dodgers remain in first place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks slapped around the Padres 10-0 and are only a 1/2 game back.
There were two heroes in this game, the first was Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. I say that Kershaw had a good game, not a great game, as he did give up 6 hits. However he only gave up one run, had 8 strikeouts and lowered his already low ERA to 1.96. If Kershaw isn't the best pitcher in MLB, I don't know who is. The other hero was Hanley Ramirez, again, who hit his 11th home run of the season. He's also responsible for both of the Dodger RBIs, he has 33 on the season. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .387 this season.
Kenley Jansen earned his 13th save of the season, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. He also has a very low ERA, it's 2.28. Carl Crawford was 3 for 4 and is hitting .289 on the season. After having a rough stretch, he's slowly raising his batting average to near .300. LA would be a good hitting team if it could end the season with 4 .300 hitters.
The Dodgers had climbed as high as 16th place in runs scored, but as of Friday they had slipped back to 19th place. LA has scored 411 runs this season and they are almost within 100 runs of the offensive behemoth Boston. The Red Sox have scored 519 runs. But that offensive output didn't prevent them from losing 6 of their last 10 games or slip to second place in the highly competitive AL East.
themusicaddict
The Dodgers beat the Reds 2-1 in the second of their 4 game series. With the victory the Dodgers remain in first place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks slapped around the Padres 10-0 and are only a 1/2 game back.
There were two heroes in this game, the first was Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. I say that Kershaw had a good game, not a great game, as he did give up 6 hits. However he only gave up one run, had 8 strikeouts and lowered his already low ERA to 1.96. If Kershaw isn't the best pitcher in MLB, I don't know who is. The other hero was Hanley Ramirez, again, who hit his 11th home run of the season. He's also responsible for both of the Dodger RBIs, he has 33 on the season. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .387 this season.
Kenley Jansen earned his 13th save of the season, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. He also has a very low ERA, it's 2.28. Carl Crawford was 3 for 4 and is hitting .289 on the season. After having a rough stretch, he's slowly raising his batting average to near .300. LA would be a good hitting team if it could end the season with 4 .300 hitters.
The Dodgers had climbed as high as 16th place in runs scored, but as of Friday they had slipped back to 19th place. LA has scored 411 runs this season and they are almost within 100 runs of the offensive behemoth Boston. The Red Sox have scored 519 runs. But that offensive output didn't prevent them from losing 6 of their last 10 games or slip to second place in the highly competitive AL East.
themusicaddict
Friday, July 26, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 25th, 2013: Dodgers Coming Back To Reality?
Hello,
LA has been one of the hottest teams in MLB over the last couple of weeks, they had won their last 6 road games. Coming into their game against the Reds the lead the NL West by 1.5 games. Anytime that a team wins a road game that's impressive, especially 6 games in a row since the All-Star break. But to be fair LA beat the not very good Blue Jays and Nationals. Despite LA returning home, they currently are playing a very solid baseball team in the Reds. Although the Reds are 3rd place in the extremely competitive NL Central, they still have a 92% chance of reaching the playoffs.
LA returned to Dodgers Stadium on their fantastic run, however they ran into a determined Reds team. As of now Cincinnati would qualify for the playoffs. They would play the Pirates in a one game series to advance in the playoffs. After 162 regular season games the Reds want a better shot at being in the playoffs for awhile. (MLB's regular season is way too long. Due to greed the regular season will never be shortened, but wouldn't about 140 games be much better?) I don't think Cincinnati, or anyone else, is going to catch the Cardinals. St. Louis is on too much of a roll and they are too loaded. However if at least they could pass the Pirates, then at least they'd have home field advantage for the one game Wild Card playoff.
Of course the Dodgers are probably equally determined, they have to win the NL West or they aren't going to be in the playoffs at all.
With that as the backdrop the Reds went into LA and won the first game in the series 5-2. Dodger starting pitchers continued a not very good trend of outings. Zack Greinke wasn't horrible, but he also didn't deliver the kind of performance you'd expect from someone with his kind of salary. In 7 innings he gave up 6 hits, 4 runs and a walk. Greinke finished with the loss and drops to 8-3 on the season, his ERA rises slightly to 3.49. I'm sure that Don Mattingly has his reasons, but I don't understand why the ineffective Carlos Marmol ever plays. In one inning of work Marmol gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He has an unbelievable ERA of 6.53.
The two Dodgers that have been the most effective over the last few weeks continue that way. Hanley Ramirez remains in first place for the Dodgers in batting average. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .384. Yasiel Puig has bounced back from a brief slump. On Thursday he was 2 for 4 and he's hitting .379 this season.
The Dodgers were hoping for some help from the Cubs. Chicago ended their 4 game series with Arizona last night by losing 3-1. With the Cubs trading away many of their veterans, their already slim chances of winning continue to decrease. Although trading away Alfonso Soriono isn't a big loss to the Cubs. In fact, the postscript on that free agency signing a few years ago is that was a deal that didn't work out for the Cubs. The 8 year $136 million dollar contract Soriano signed looks ridiculous now.
I'm glad the Cubs got rid of the dead weight, although they should have held out a bit longer to make the Yankees pay more of his contract. Soriano's contract runs out at the end of 2014 season. Even though he won't be playing for the Cubs then, the Cubs will still pay him about $17.7 million of the approximately $24.5 million he's still owed.
With Chicago recently trading away both Matt Garza and Soriano they're clearly going to a youth movement. Nearly always I think that's the right idea once reaching the playoffs becomes unrealistic. Despite all the player turmoil the Cubs were able to take 2 of 4 against the Diamondbacks. However Arizona won the final game of the series last night. That meant Arizona moved back within into a 1/2 game of the Dodgers in the NL West. Arizona has 3 more games left in their 4 game series with the Reds.
Today's Dodgers-Reds scheduled pitching matchup is Clayton Kershaw (9-6, 2.01 ERA) vs. Homer Bailey (5-9, 3.84 ERA). Bailey has pitched a no-hitter both this season and last season. No disrespect to Bailey but my prediction is that most GMs would prefer Kershaw on their team. Although nearly ever GM would be happy as well to have Bailey in their starting pitching rotation.
While the Dodgers are playing a team better than them, the Diamondbacks will be playing a team that's worse than them. Arizona is playing the terrible Padres (46-57, 1.2% Poff). How bad are the Padres? They are so bad that they are last place in one of the two worst divisions in MLB, the NL West. It's hard to be that bad.
themusicaddict
LA has been one of the hottest teams in MLB over the last couple of weeks, they had won their last 6 road games. Coming into their game against the Reds the lead the NL West by 1.5 games. Anytime that a team wins a road game that's impressive, especially 6 games in a row since the All-Star break. But to be fair LA beat the not very good Blue Jays and Nationals. Despite LA returning home, they currently are playing a very solid baseball team in the Reds. Although the Reds are 3rd place in the extremely competitive NL Central, they still have a 92% chance of reaching the playoffs.
LA returned to Dodgers Stadium on their fantastic run, however they ran into a determined Reds team. As of now Cincinnati would qualify for the playoffs. They would play the Pirates in a one game series to advance in the playoffs. After 162 regular season games the Reds want a better shot at being in the playoffs for awhile. (MLB's regular season is way too long. Due to greed the regular season will never be shortened, but wouldn't about 140 games be much better?) I don't think Cincinnati, or anyone else, is going to catch the Cardinals. St. Louis is on too much of a roll and they are too loaded. However if at least they could pass the Pirates, then at least they'd have home field advantage for the one game Wild Card playoff.
Of course the Dodgers are probably equally determined, they have to win the NL West or they aren't going to be in the playoffs at all.
With that as the backdrop the Reds went into LA and won the first game in the series 5-2. Dodger starting pitchers continued a not very good trend of outings. Zack Greinke wasn't horrible, but he also didn't deliver the kind of performance you'd expect from someone with his kind of salary. In 7 innings he gave up 6 hits, 4 runs and a walk. Greinke finished with the loss and drops to 8-3 on the season, his ERA rises slightly to 3.49. I'm sure that Don Mattingly has his reasons, but I don't understand why the ineffective Carlos Marmol ever plays. In one inning of work Marmol gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He has an unbelievable ERA of 6.53.
The two Dodgers that have been the most effective over the last few weeks continue that way. Hanley Ramirez remains in first place for the Dodgers in batting average. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .384. Yasiel Puig has bounced back from a brief slump. On Thursday he was 2 for 4 and he's hitting .379 this season.
The Dodgers were hoping for some help from the Cubs. Chicago ended their 4 game series with Arizona last night by losing 3-1. With the Cubs trading away many of their veterans, their already slim chances of winning continue to decrease. Although trading away Alfonso Soriono isn't a big loss to the Cubs. In fact, the postscript on that free agency signing a few years ago is that was a deal that didn't work out for the Cubs. The 8 year $136 million dollar contract Soriano signed looks ridiculous now.
I'm glad the Cubs got rid of the dead weight, although they should have held out a bit longer to make the Yankees pay more of his contract. Soriano's contract runs out at the end of 2014 season. Even though he won't be playing for the Cubs then, the Cubs will still pay him about $17.7 million of the approximately $24.5 million he's still owed.
With Chicago recently trading away both Matt Garza and Soriano they're clearly going to a youth movement. Nearly always I think that's the right idea once reaching the playoffs becomes unrealistic. Despite all the player turmoil the Cubs were able to take 2 of 4 against the Diamondbacks. However Arizona won the final game of the series last night. That meant Arizona moved back within into a 1/2 game of the Dodgers in the NL West. Arizona has 3 more games left in their 4 game series with the Reds.
Today's Dodgers-Reds scheduled pitching matchup is Clayton Kershaw (9-6, 2.01 ERA) vs. Homer Bailey (5-9, 3.84 ERA). Bailey has pitched a no-hitter both this season and last season. No disrespect to Bailey but my prediction is that most GMs would prefer Kershaw on their team. Although nearly ever GM would be happy as well to have Bailey in their starting pitching rotation.
While the Dodgers are playing a team better than them, the Diamondbacks will be playing a team that's worse than them. Arizona is playing the terrible Padres (46-57, 1.2% Poff). How bad are the Padres? They are so bad that they are last place in one of the two worst divisions in MLB, the NL West. It's hard to be that bad.
themusicaddict
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Dodgers Daily: July 24th, 2013: Dodgers Win Again, Are They Too Good To Be True?, The Amazing NL Central
Hello,
The LA Dodgers continued their amazing winning streak. After sweeping the Blue Jays, LA has won all 6 of their post All-Star break games. LA has won 10 straight road games, which is their longest such streak since 1955 according to one ESPN source. (ESPN LA's Mark Saxon says it's a LA Dodgers longest road winning streak ever. Perhaps the other streak refers to the Brooklyn Dodgers?) LA has won 23 of their last 28 games.
All those wins and this great momentum usually would make me ecstatic. The Dodgers are one of the teams I've been following since I was a kid. My favorite player growing up was Steve Garvey. Usually I would be ecstatic about that team actually looking like they could make the playoffs. After playing very miserably for the first 70 games of the season and now they're playing lights out I wonder if this recent streak is too good to be true? Is this just a mirage?
The Dodgers hitting has been pretty great as of late, but pitching has only been okay. Hyun Jin-Ryu and Ricky Nolasco didn't overwhelm anyone lately. Ryu won his recent start, to move to 8-3 on the season. However he gave up 9 hits, 4 runs and 2 walks in only 5.1 innings. Ryu has a tendency to give up a lot of hits but not necessarily a lot of runs. His win loss record and 3.25 ERA bears that out. Last night Nolasco wasn't exactly dominant either. He was better than Ryu, but still gave up 2 hits, 2 runs and 4 WALKS in 5.2 innings.
For the most part LA's relief staff has been pretty decent. Kenley Jansen has been a solid closer. Paco Rodriguez seems to be automatic every time he pitches. I've noticed that Brandon League has been decent in his recent appearances, I just hope that Don Mattingly doesn't go to that well one too many times.
I wonder how strong of a foundation this Dodgers team is built on, especially when LA's scoring inevitability drops off? I also wonder how good this team will be with Matt Kemp going on DL for the second time this month and third time this season. With all the games he's missed and how relatively ineffective he's been the Dodgers haven't missed Kemp as much as you would think they would. If he could somehow come back healthy and hitting .280 with some power how good could this Dodgers team be?
I'll write that blog if it comes to that, until then I'm going to celebrate this Dodgers team surge. LA expanded their lead over the Diamondbacks to 1.5 games on Wednesday. The lowly Cubs knocked off the Diamondbacks in Arizona last night.
Yasiel Puig had a rough stretch right before and shortly after the All-Star break, but he seems to be bouncing back now. He had his second good game in a row on Wednesday. Puig was 3 for 5 and is hitting .376. He also hit his 9th homer of the season and has 22 RBIs this season. He's battling Hanley Ramirez for best batting average amongst the Dodgers. Ramirez had a rough game last night, he was only 1 for 6, his batting average decreases to .381. Obviously he's hitting incredibly well.
Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez, was 2 for 5 and is hitting .301 this season. Even Andre Ethier had 4 hits and raises his batting average to .275. My excitement level would definitely go up with a healthy Kemp and a consistently good Ethier. Up to this point Ethier has been consistently mediocre.
Upcoming: the Dodgers start a 4 game series against the Reds. The series is at Dodgers Stadium. The scheduled pitching matchup is Zack Greinke (8-2, 3.36 ERA) vs. Mat Latos (9-3, 3.53). Maybe Greinke can get the Dodgers pitching staff going in the right direction and gaining positive momentum.
I don't know how to put it, but the NL West and the NL East are pathetic. Other than those two divisions winning team, nobody else in the race for the playoffs. If the Dodgers were in the NL Central with their record, they'd be in 4th place. If the Braves were in the NL Central they would also be in 4th place.
As of now it looks like 3 of the 5 NL playoffs team will be from the NL Central. Let's review: First of all the top 3 NL Central teams won Wednesday night. That division's 1st place team is the Terminator like St. Louis Cardinals. Like the Terminator they are steam rolling over whoever they encounter. It's hard to believe St. Louis lost Albert Pujols and seem to be better now. The Cardinals are a lot better than Pujol's current team. The Cardinals are 61-37 and have a 99.2% chance of making the playoffs. They've won 3 in a row and 7 of 10 games. The NL Central's 2nd place team is the Pirates, they have a 95.3% chance of making the playoffs. Pittsburgh has won 4 in a row and also 7 of their last 10 games. It would take a monumental collapse for the Pirates to not finish at least with a .500 record. Then in 3rd place is the Cincinnati Reds, they have a 90.1% chance of making the playoffs. They've only won 1 game in a row, but they've also won 7 of their last 10 games.
The Reds just took 3 of 4 games from the defending World Series champs Giants in San Francisco. Now the Reds will play against the Dodgers for 4 games.
themusicaddict
The LA Dodgers continued their amazing winning streak. After sweeping the Blue Jays, LA has won all 6 of their post All-Star break games. LA has won 10 straight road games, which is their longest such streak since 1955 according to one ESPN source. (ESPN LA's Mark Saxon says it's a LA Dodgers longest road winning streak ever. Perhaps the other streak refers to the Brooklyn Dodgers?) LA has won 23 of their last 28 games.
All those wins and this great momentum usually would make me ecstatic. The Dodgers are one of the teams I've been following since I was a kid. My favorite player growing up was Steve Garvey. Usually I would be ecstatic about that team actually looking like they could make the playoffs. After playing very miserably for the first 70 games of the season and now they're playing lights out I wonder if this recent streak is too good to be true? Is this just a mirage?
The Dodgers hitting has been pretty great as of late, but pitching has only been okay. Hyun Jin-Ryu and Ricky Nolasco didn't overwhelm anyone lately. Ryu won his recent start, to move to 8-3 on the season. However he gave up 9 hits, 4 runs and 2 walks in only 5.1 innings. Ryu has a tendency to give up a lot of hits but not necessarily a lot of runs. His win loss record and 3.25 ERA bears that out. Last night Nolasco wasn't exactly dominant either. He was better than Ryu, but still gave up 2 hits, 2 runs and 4 WALKS in 5.2 innings.
For the most part LA's relief staff has been pretty decent. Kenley Jansen has been a solid closer. Paco Rodriguez seems to be automatic every time he pitches. I've noticed that Brandon League has been decent in his recent appearances, I just hope that Don Mattingly doesn't go to that well one too many times.
I wonder how strong of a foundation this Dodgers team is built on, especially when LA's scoring inevitability drops off? I also wonder how good this team will be with Matt Kemp going on DL for the second time this month and third time this season. With all the games he's missed and how relatively ineffective he's been the Dodgers haven't missed Kemp as much as you would think they would. If he could somehow come back healthy and hitting .280 with some power how good could this Dodgers team be?
I'll write that blog if it comes to that, until then I'm going to celebrate this Dodgers team surge. LA expanded their lead over the Diamondbacks to 1.5 games on Wednesday. The lowly Cubs knocked off the Diamondbacks in Arizona last night.
Yasiel Puig had a rough stretch right before and shortly after the All-Star break, but he seems to be bouncing back now. He had his second good game in a row on Wednesday. Puig was 3 for 5 and is hitting .376. He also hit his 9th homer of the season and has 22 RBIs this season. He's battling Hanley Ramirez for best batting average amongst the Dodgers. Ramirez had a rough game last night, he was only 1 for 6, his batting average decreases to .381. Obviously he's hitting incredibly well.
Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez, was 2 for 5 and is hitting .301 this season. Even Andre Ethier had 4 hits and raises his batting average to .275. My excitement level would definitely go up with a healthy Kemp and a consistently good Ethier. Up to this point Ethier has been consistently mediocre.
Upcoming: the Dodgers start a 4 game series against the Reds. The series is at Dodgers Stadium. The scheduled pitching matchup is Zack Greinke (8-2, 3.36 ERA) vs. Mat Latos (9-3, 3.53). Maybe Greinke can get the Dodgers pitching staff going in the right direction and gaining positive momentum.
I don't know how to put it, but the NL West and the NL East are pathetic. Other than those two divisions winning team, nobody else in the race for the playoffs. If the Dodgers were in the NL Central with their record, they'd be in 4th place. If the Braves were in the NL Central they would also be in 4th place.
As of now it looks like 3 of the 5 NL playoffs team will be from the NL Central. Let's review: First of all the top 3 NL Central teams won Wednesday night. That division's 1st place team is the Terminator like St. Louis Cardinals. Like the Terminator they are steam rolling over whoever they encounter. It's hard to believe St. Louis lost Albert Pujols and seem to be better now. The Cardinals are a lot better than Pujol's current team. The Cardinals are 61-37 and have a 99.2% chance of making the playoffs. They've won 3 in a row and 7 of 10 games. The NL Central's 2nd place team is the Pirates, they have a 95.3% chance of making the playoffs. Pittsburgh has won 4 in a row and also 7 of their last 10 games. It would take a monumental collapse for the Pirates to not finish at least with a .500 record. Then in 3rd place is the Cincinnati Reds, they have a 90.1% chance of making the playoffs. They've only won 1 game in a row, but they've also won 7 of their last 10 games.
The Reds just took 3 of 4 games from the defending World Series champs Giants in San Francisco. Now the Reds will play against the Dodgers for 4 games.
themusicaddict
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Dodgers Daily, July 23rd, 2013: Dodgers Make Huge Comeback, Pirates Continue Rolling
Hello,
The Dodgers have won their first two games in this series with the Blue Jays. Game 3 is Wednesday. The Dodgers season continues pointing up and it looks like the Blue Jays need to make a decision about when to give up on this season.
(My error previously I had said that LA was playing a two game series with the Blue Jays. I apologize as I looked at the schedule wrong.)
At one point LA was down 8-3 and stormed back to win 10-9. The big shot was Adrian Gonzalez's 430 foot bomb in the 8th inning. That was Gonzalez's 15th home run of the year, he also has 62 RBIs. Mr. Consistent strikes again, he was also 2 for 4 and his batting average is exactly at .300.
The Dodgers have won 5 straight games, all of which have been on the road. They've also won 8 of 10. This is the first time LA has scored double figures in back to back games since 2011, thanks to ESPN for that cool little nugget. Their hitting has been great of late, they've climbed to being tied for 19th in runs scored.
Their pitching however hasn't been great of late. Despite having both Carlos Marmol and Brandon League pitching yesterday, LA still won. Amazing. Although I have no idea how much longer LA can send either to the mound, especially Marmol. The stat Marmol is known most for is blown saves.
Also the Cubs weren't able to beat the Diamondbacks for a second day in a row, Arizona remains 1/2 game back of the Dodgers.
The Pirates continue rolling, they are are 59-39 and have a 93.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They defeated the rapidly fading Nationals, it's time for the Nationals to prepare for the future. Pittsburgh is still 1.5 games behind the consistently good Cardinals. St. Louis is probably the best team in MLB right now.
How will the Pirates react with needing to put closer Jason Grilli on the 15 day DL, how they react could determine if they make the playoffs.
The Red Sox signed Dustin Pedroia to a 7 year- $100 million extension. Unlike the similar length and money contract the Cowboys signed with Tony Romo, I actually think this deal is good for the team also.
themusicaddict
The Dodgers have won their first two games in this series with the Blue Jays. Game 3 is Wednesday. The Dodgers season continues pointing up and it looks like the Blue Jays need to make a decision about when to give up on this season.
(My error previously I had said that LA was playing a two game series with the Blue Jays. I apologize as I looked at the schedule wrong.)
At one point LA was down 8-3 and stormed back to win 10-9. The big shot was Adrian Gonzalez's 430 foot bomb in the 8th inning. That was Gonzalez's 15th home run of the year, he also has 62 RBIs. Mr. Consistent strikes again, he was also 2 for 4 and his batting average is exactly at .300.
The Dodgers have won 5 straight games, all of which have been on the road. They've also won 8 of 10. This is the first time LA has scored double figures in back to back games since 2011, thanks to ESPN for that cool little nugget. Their hitting has been great of late, they've climbed to being tied for 19th in runs scored.
Their pitching however hasn't been great of late. Despite having both Carlos Marmol and Brandon League pitching yesterday, LA still won. Amazing. Although I have no idea how much longer LA can send either to the mound, especially Marmol. The stat Marmol is known most for is blown saves.
Also the Cubs weren't able to beat the Diamondbacks for a second day in a row, Arizona remains 1/2 game back of the Dodgers.
The Pirates continue rolling, they are are 59-39 and have a 93.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They defeated the rapidly fading Nationals, it's time for the Nationals to prepare for the future. Pittsburgh is still 1.5 games behind the consistently good Cardinals. St. Louis is probably the best team in MLB right now.
How will the Pirates react with needing to put closer Jason Grilli on the 15 day DL, how they react could determine if they make the playoffs.
The Red Sox signed Dustin Pedroia to a 7 year- $100 million extension. Unlike the similar length and money contract the Cowboys signed with Tony Romo, I actually think this deal is good for the team also.
themusicaddict
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