The Dodgers trip to the Queen City was… Not good. They lost their fourth straight game and got swept by the Reds. Tonight’s villains were Jay Bruce, who hit two home runs off of Clayton Kershaw, and Ryan Hanigan, whose ninth inning double drove in Zack Cozart the winning run.
It would be natural to feel uneasy that the Dodgers got swept against a potential playoff opponent (who are still in 3rd place despite what I commented earlier, the Pirates lead by .001). The team’s two best pitchers, Kershaw and Greinke, couldn’t stop a losing streak. The offense sputtered in all three games.
However, the team the Dodgers are pursuing for best record in the National League, Atlanta, got swept in Atlanta Philadelphia, so the team is still just two games in the race for best record. Effectively, it’s three games since Atlanta holds the tiebreaker. The NL Central leading Cardinals did move to within 1/2 game of the Dodgers after a three-game sweep of the Pirates. The Dodgers closest pursuer, Arizona, split four games against last place San Francisco.
Tony Jackson had an interesting piece about whether Clayton Kershaw was “back.” His ERA skyrocketed to 1.92 after Sunday’s performance.
The Dodgers return home on Monday night to face Arizona to start a three-game series. Ricky Nolasco will face Randall Delgado. Just the NL West the rest of the way.
John_from_Aus
Hope we bounce back quickly
KT
BT It would have been nicer if the Barves had actually been in Atl. because they play so well at home but they were in Philly
Bob Timmermann
Thanks. I actually meant to type Philadelphia. But I have learned a valuable lesson about typing on an iPad for a lengthy period of time.
DON’T DO IT
btimmer
Thanks. Fixed it.
KT
Puig’s homer against Latos…unbelievable write up and gifs:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/when-yasiel-puig-crushed-a-pitchers-pitch/
btimmer
The Rockies lead the Padres in the standings by .0006. The Padres are off today. The race for third is exciting. If you had put down a trifecta bet that is
btimmer
RIP, Cal Worthington. We can no longer go and see him.
dalegribel
Another piece of my childhood gone. I’ll miss his dogs Spot too.
KT
Alexander Guerrero rumors:
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130909&content_id=60049042&vkey=news_la&c_id=la
Bob_in_Vegas
The best pitchers on the staff can’t get a victory if no runs are scored for your team.
We all wish (and probably expect) Zack and Kersh to pitch a shutout each time they go out, but that ain’t gonna happen. They each gave up two runs which is better than a “quality” start. Zack even tried his best to get the offense going.
We’ve seen these batters beat quality pitchers . . . and we’ve just seen the flip side of that: all-but-totally shut down in the runs dept. (We’ve also seen them make run-of-the-mill pitchers look like Cy Young candidates, but I’m really hoping that’s in the past.)
Puig and Hanley can’t do it alone unless there IS a shutout. Let’s hope the Dodgers are once again infected by the hitting bug.
Go, Dodgers — let’s knock down Magic’s # even faster!
Linkmeister
Remember the 1966 World Series? The Dodgers had two runs in Game One and were shut out the rest of the way. Games Three and Four were 1 – 0.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1966_WS.shtml
The Dodgers started Drysdale, Koufax, Osteen and Drysdale.
Your best pitchers don’t win if you don’t score, as Bob says.
Bob_in_Vegas
Tough farewell for Sandy!
KT
.
KT
Dodgers lineup:
Puig RF
Crawford LF
Ramirez SS
Gonzalez 1B
Ethier CF
Uribe 3B
M Ellis 2B
Federowicz C
Nolasco P
Bob_in_Vegas
We’ve gotten on Donnie’s case before about lineups (and many other things), but I’m giving him credit here for switching the top 2 . . . the offense wasn’t scoring, so try something different . . . and separating Puig and Hanley — the two consistent producers lately — may do the trick. So will a W, in whatever fashion it arrives . . . let’s get it!
KT
Also switching Gonzo and Ramirez
Bob_in_Vegas
That’s right — for some reason I thought AGon was clean-up before. I DID notice there is speed up there until AGon slows it down . . . giving new meaning to the #4 runner being the anchor!
DeucesAreWild
Random thought:
Since the Dodgers were last in the World Series, the following NL West clubs have made it:
– Giants 1989, Lost – 2002, Lost – 2010, Won – 2012, Won
– Reds 1990, Won
– Braves 1991, Lost – 1992, Lost
– Padres 1998, Lost
– Diamondbacks 2001, Won
– Rockies 2007, Lost
So that’s 6 teams other than the Dodgers that have made the WS from the NL West. Between them they have played in 10 World Series (out of a possible 24) and won 4.
So this has got to be our year!
Go Blue!
btimmer
NPUT