The Dodgers have had one 5-game winning streak so far this season. But another one, or even longer, wouldn't hurt!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Trying To Keep Up
It seems like my posts are fewer are farther between, weekly instead of daily, but I promise to at least try to stay on this more frequent!
Anyway, great homestand so far, with one more to go tomorrow. We already know how that last game in Chicago turned out, and things were looking good in San Francisco last weekend, but they Giants got the best of us in two of those three games with late inning heroics off Brox, two games the Blue had in the bag, too.
The team has been playing great since they lost the opener on Monday to San Diego. The pitching has been soild, Chad Billingsley and Takashi Saito, most notably, and how about that James Loney?! This guy is just tearing it up! He's hitting EVERYTHING in sight these days, and is almost single-handedly carrying the offense on his shoulders. But it's nice to see the rest of the offense helping out a little, and its even nicer to see a couple of the vets making their presence felt, as well. We know about Kent and his recent surge again that has seen his average get back up to near .300, and check this out... Kent's the lone Dodger with 20 dingers! But Nomar and Gonzo have really made the most of their playing time these past few days, as well. Nomar's had two very nice games this weekend so far, and Gonzo's had two huge hits this week that helped them get a couple of wins.
Dodgers have won four straight (I believe they're looking for their first 5-game winning streak of the season!) and what a perfect time for a nice long winning streak! They've made up a lot of ground in the standings of late (just 1.5 behind San Diego for the Wild Card, and 3.5 behind Arizona for first with 13 to go), so every game is magnified now as they're knocking on the doorsteps of Arizona and San Diego. They have four remaining with Arizona (one tomorrow at the Ravine, and three next weekend in Phoenix), six with the Rockies (three in L.A., three in Denver) and the final three against the Hated-Ones-to-the-North.
As for tomorrow, Esteban Loaiza gets the nod against Eddie Gonzalez. Obviously it is very crucial that Loaiza has a better game than his last outing against the Padres...
Anyway, great homestand so far, with one more to go tomorrow. We already know how that last game in Chicago turned out, and things were looking good in San Francisco last weekend, but they Giants got the best of us in two of those three games with late inning heroics off Brox, two games the Blue had in the bag, too.
The team has been playing great since they lost the opener on Monday to San Diego. The pitching has been soild, Chad Billingsley and Takashi Saito, most notably, and how about that James Loney?! This guy is just tearing it up! He's hitting EVERYTHING in sight these days, and is almost single-handedly carrying the offense on his shoulders. But it's nice to see the rest of the offense helping out a little, and its even nicer to see a couple of the vets making their presence felt, as well. We know about Kent and his recent surge again that has seen his average get back up to near .300, and check this out... Kent's the lone Dodger with 20 dingers! But Nomar and Gonzo have really made the most of their playing time these past few days, as well. Nomar's had two very nice games this weekend so far, and Gonzo's had two huge hits this week that helped them get a couple of wins.
Dodgers have won four straight (I believe they're looking for their first 5-game winning streak of the season!) and what a perfect time for a nice long winning streak! They've made up a lot of ground in the standings of late (just 1.5 behind San Diego for the Wild Card, and 3.5 behind Arizona for first with 13 to go), so every game is magnified now as they're knocking on the doorsteps of Arizona and San Diego. They have four remaining with Arizona (one tomorrow at the Ravine, and three next weekend in Phoenix), six with the Rockies (three in L.A., three in Denver) and the final three against the Hated-Ones-to-the-North.
As for tomorrow, Esteban Loaiza gets the nod against Eddie Gonzalez. Obviously it is very crucial that Loaiza has a better game than his last outing against the Padres...
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Back In It...
Been a couple of weeks since I've had a chance to post anything. Sorry for the long layoff.
Been a good couple of weeks for the Blue. They officially signed David Wells (and dumped Brett Tomko - since picked up by the Padres) who's had two effective starts so far (he is now serving his suspension he received while he was with San Diego and Eric Stults took his spot in the rotation last night). The team also picked up Esteban Loaiza off waivers from Oakland, and he had a very good start on Monday against the Cubs in his first start . Loaiza is signed through next season so this could be a bargain pick-up and he should ultimately help them next year, as well, provided he's healthy.
Minus two rough weekends (one in New York, and one in San Diego) where they lost two out of three, the Dodgers have been rolling and have picked up as much as 4.5 games in the standings in both the division and Wild Card races. They are currently three games back in the Wild Card, tied with Philly (great finish yesterday against Atlanta if you didn't see or hear about it), and four games back of Arizona in the division, three back of San Diego.
Grady still insists, even this time of year when every game is bigger than the one before with less than a month left, on giving certain guys days off and playing certain guys who really shouldn't be playing at all. Still not sure how Gonzo still finds his way into the lineup every other day. And I'm beyond disgusted with Juan Pierre's play in centerfield, even moreso because he doesn't even come close to making it up with his offense. The guy still hits far too many balls in the air. And the bone-headed base-running plays have got to stop. This team runs out of so many innings it's almost laughable. I don't mind the aggressiveness on the bases but I hate guys who don't make fundamental judgments. And because he's only 22 and hitting around .345 over the last few weeks hitting in the three-slot in the lineup, Matt Kemp gets a slight reprieve from all of this even though he's the one making more mistakes on the base paths than anyone else.
Anyway, enough ranting. The team has won 13 of its last 20 and the offense has found its groove again. The pitching has been even better, on most nights. That said, getaway day at the Friendly Confines today as the Dodgers look to take three of four in the series and five of seven overall against the Cubbies. Lineup is posted already on Inside the Dodgers. No Kent (day off) but Gonzo is in there as the clean-up hitter (why?) and Martin's back after a day-off last night and a precautionary MRI on his knee. Enjoy the game Game time is in 90 minutes on FSN Prime Ticket with Vin!
Been a good couple of weeks for the Blue. They officially signed David Wells (and dumped Brett Tomko - since picked up by the Padres) who's had two effective starts so far (he is now serving his suspension he received while he was with San Diego and Eric Stults took his spot in the rotation last night). The team also picked up Esteban Loaiza off waivers from Oakland, and he had a very good start on Monday against the Cubs in his first start . Loaiza is signed through next season so this could be a bargain pick-up and he should ultimately help them next year, as well, provided he's healthy.
Minus two rough weekends (one in New York, and one in San Diego) where they lost two out of three, the Dodgers have been rolling and have picked up as much as 4.5 games in the standings in both the division and Wild Card races. They are currently three games back in the Wild Card, tied with Philly (great finish yesterday against Atlanta if you didn't see or hear about it), and four games back of Arizona in the division, three back of San Diego.
Grady still insists, even this time of year when every game is bigger than the one before with less than a month left, on giving certain guys days off and playing certain guys who really shouldn't be playing at all. Still not sure how Gonzo still finds his way into the lineup every other day. And I'm beyond disgusted with Juan Pierre's play in centerfield, even moreso because he doesn't even come close to making it up with his offense. The guy still hits far too many balls in the air. And the bone-headed base-running plays have got to stop. This team runs out of so many innings it's almost laughable. I don't mind the aggressiveness on the bases but I hate guys who don't make fundamental judgments. And because he's only 22 and hitting around .345 over the last few weeks hitting in the three-slot in the lineup, Matt Kemp gets a slight reprieve from all of this even though he's the one making more mistakes on the base paths than anyone else.
Anyway, enough ranting. The team has won 13 of its last 20 and the offense has found its groove again. The pitching has been even better, on most nights. That said, getaway day at the Friendly Confines today as the Dodgers look to take three of four in the series and five of seven overall against the Cubbies. Lineup is posted already on Inside the Dodgers. No Kent (day off) but Gonzo is in there as the clean-up hitter (why?) and Martin's back after a day-off last night and a precautionary MRI on his knee. Enjoy the game Game time is in 90 minutes on FSN Prime Ticket with Vin!
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