Reds And Diamondbacks And Dodgers, Oh My!

The Dodgers got swept by the Reds last weekend which in the greater scheme of things really, did not mean that much. The Reds needed the wins much more than the Dodgers at this point and time in the season but I am looking at any potential Playoff matchup. The Reds still have to leapfrog either the Pirates or the Cardinals to win the Wild Card spot or even winning the National League Central is not out of the question. The Dodgers have taken the first two games from the Diamondbacks with 8-1 and 5-3 wins and have shown some rarely seen power for this season. In the 8-1, win Juan Uribe went deep three times and Adrian Gonzalez hit his 20th. Starter Ricky Nolasco improved to 8-1 with the Dodgers, 13-9 overall. In Last night's 5-3 win, Pinch Hitter Scott Van Slyke hit a two run walk off homer in the 11th inning to seal the deal. It gave reliever Chris Withrow his third win of the season against no losses. Newly signed Edinson Volquez had a solid showing in his second start for the Dodgers. The Dodgers now own the largest lead, 13 games, of any team in baseball with only 18 games to go in the season.

Carl Crawford Vs. The Boston Red Sox

The media seems to have turned the three game series versus the Boston Red Sox into Carl Crawford versus the Boston Red Sox. Carl Crawford basically said before the series that he really didn't enjoy his time in Boston for whatever reason and he really wanted to win all three of these games pretty badly. Just about every player would say that about his old team. This series is much bigger than a Carl Crawford grudge match. The Dodgers are now leading the National League West by 10 1/2 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston is fighting it out with Tampa Bay over the leadership of the American League East. Boston and Tampa are virtually tied for first place. Now the Dodgers have to be thinking about potential World Series matchups. The Dodgers won game one of the Boston series 2-0 behind Ricky Nolasco (10-9). He allowed 2 hits in 8 innings and Kenley Jansen closed them out in the 9th for his 22nd save. Nolasco got all the run support he needed from Hanley Ramirez who hit his 13th homerun, a two run shot to center field in the 4th with Carl Crawford on second. Crawford had two of the Dodgers three hits and stole two bases. He is playing to win all three of these games.

The Streak Ends

A couple of Hanley Ramirez errors in the ninth inning, including a potential inning ending double play, allowed the Philadelphia Phillies to score the winning run in a 3-2 loss on Sunday afternoon. Starter Ricky Nolasco pitched a solid game, 6 innings, 2 earned runs, but reliever Brandon League absorbed the loss (6-4). The Dodgers offense consisted of Andre Ethier's solo homerun, his 9th and he scored both runs, the second on a Jerry Hairston, Jr., RBI single. The bottom half of the Dodgers lineup-Ethier, Van Slyke, and Hairston all had 2 hits- had 7 of the Dodgers 8 hits. That loss ended the Dodgers 10 game winning streak and dropped their lead in the National League West to 7 1/2 games.

Back With A Vengeance

The Dodgers got back on the winning track with a vengeance in a 13-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Carl Crawford knocked out Cardinals starter Shelby Miller with a line drive off his pitching elbow on the second pitch of the game and Miller's night was over. The Dodgers scored 6 runs in the second inning off of pitching replacement Jake Westbrook and they ran away with it from there. Andre Ethier and Skip Schumaker had 3 hits and 4 RBI's a piece, Carl Crawford had 4 hits and Tim Federowicz had 3.The Dodgers totalled 18 hits but only three of them went for extra bases. Dodgers starter Ricky Nolasco went 5 innings, gave up 3 runs (0 earned) to improve to 8-9 on the season, 3-1 since being acquired by the Dodgers.

11 In A Row

The Dodgers notched their 11th consecutive road victory last night 6-4 over the Chicago Cubs. All four of the Cubs runs came via solo home run- 2 each by Junior Lake and Anthony Rizzo. Dodgers starter Ricky Nolasco gave up 3 of the home runs but stuck around long enough to get the win, (7-9 overall and 2-1 with the Dodgers) by lasting 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 runs, and he had 6 strikeouts. He was pulled in the top of the sixth for pinch-hitter Jerry Hairston, Jr. who delivered a two-run single and the go ahead runs. He probably inherited that skill from his father. Adrian Gonzalez later drove in Hairston from third after a Yasiel Puig double and Puig added an insurance run in the ninth with his 11th homerun. Four Dodgers relievers combined to pitch 4 innings of one run baseball. J.P. Howell, Chris Withrow, Paco Rodriguez (who gave up Anthony Rizzo's second home run), and Kenley Jansen, who struck out the side in the ninth for his 15th save. Hanley Ramirez drove in the first two Dodgers runs with a third inning double.

Getting The Second Half Off To A Good Start

The Dodgers got the second half of the season off to a good start on the road by beating the Washington Nationals 3-2 last night. Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer (his 9th) over the right centerfield fence in the top of the third inning off of Nationals ace Stephen Strasborg that drove in Adrian Gonzalez to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Ramirez may hit the hardest homeruns in the the major leagues because that ball left the field in a hurry. Andre Ethier hit his 6th homerun in the top of the ninth off of Nationals closer Rafael Soriano that barely cleared the rightfield fence to provide the winning margin. Kenley Jansen got the save with a scoreless bottom of the ninth, striking out two. Ricky Nolasco got his third start of his Dodgers tenure and he went 5 1/3 innings, giving up 2 earned runs, and Jose Dominguez (1), Paco Rodriguez (1 1/3), and Ronald Belisario (1/3), all came in and pitched scoreless relief in support of Nolasco. Belisario (4-5) got credit for the win. Yasiel Puig may have gone 0 for 4 in the game but he made the defensive plan making a running catch of a foul ball in the right field corner, crashing into the fence and holding on to the ball.

A Successful Debut

Ricky Nolasco showed why the Dodgers gave up three pitching prospects for him last night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched 7 innings, gave up 4 hits and one run, and struck out 5 with no walks. Nolasco also went 2 for 2 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI. That gives Dodgers pitchers 5 straight hits. I wonder what the record is? Adrian Gonzalez carried the big bat with 3 RBI's giving him 57 on the season. With the big push on to get Yasiel Puig put on the National League All Star team, Adrian Gonzalez got overlooked and he has been the Dodgers Offensive MVP thus far this season. Andre Ethier and Skip Schumaker both had 2 hits and Andre Ethier has boosted his batting average up to .272 over the past couple of weeks.

Greinke On The Mound And At The Plate

Zach Greinke did the job on the mound and at the plate last night. His stat line read 7 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed, 7 strikeouts, and 2 walks. He also went 3 for 3 at the plate with a run scored, raising his season average to .370. Puig had 2 hits, Hanley Ramirez had 3 with an RBI, Ethier had 3 with an RBI, and A.J. Ellis had 2 more RBI's. It was an important series opening win versus the National League West leading Diamondbacks. Newly acquired Ricky Nolasco makes his Dodgers debut versus the Diamondbacks tonight and he is now in a pennant race. It will be interesting to see how he reacts.