Yasiel Does It Again

Yasiel does have his redeeming qualities. Yesterday in the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds, Yasiel Puig struck out three times, was picked off of first base, and was caught stealing for the 5th time and walked once for good measure. In the bottom of the 11th inning, he launched a walk off home run, his 10th of the season, into the left field bleachers to give the Dodgers a 1-0 win and their 9th win in ten games since the All Star break. In his youthful exuberance from hitting the game winning home run, he slid into home plate to place an extra emphasis on the victory. In so doing, he broke the unwritten baseball code of showing up the other team. The Los Angeles Dodgers do play the Reds one more time in Cincinnati in early September and Yasiel had better be prepared to be ducking fastballs his first couple of at bats. The Dodgers got a great effort from starter Chris Capuano (6 2/3 innings, all three Reds hits) and and 4 Dodgers relievers combined to pitch 4 1/3 innings of hitless relief. Brandon League (6-3) pitched two scoreless innings to earn his third win in the last week and acquiring Carlos Marmol seems to have greatly improved League's pitching. The Cincinnati Teds had only had 3 hits in 11 innings and the Dodgers only had 5 so it is a good thing Puig hit that home run or they still might be playing.