Scoreboard watching and different time zones

When your team is in a pennant race, you watch the scoreboard.

When the Yankees are blanking your Dodgers you gaze at the scoreboard and wonder if San Diego can knock off San Francisco two nights in a row to preserve the lead in the standings.

Living on the East Coast with our team on the West Coast often means waiting until morning to see the results of a game that started at 10:10 p.m. Eastern.

The Giants blew a ninth-inning lead to lose to the Padres last night, easing the pain of a 3-0 shutout to the Bronx Bombers. I didn’t know about it until this morning.

MLBTV’s online package provides highlights and condensed games for the fan who can’t get enough and the MLB Channel is chock full of highlights and analysis.

But you still gotta sleep.

For the Dodgers, the pennant race is now down to 17 games after today’s rubber match with the Yanks.

The Dodgers have four games in Arizona; three at home against the Giants; four at home against the Rockies and finish the season on the road with three against the Padres and three games in San Francisco.

I will sleep when the playoffs are over.

Keeping my cool in Miami

For the last several years I have made my annual trip to see the Dodgers by driving from Carson City, Nevada to San Francisco to see the Dodgers face off against the Giants at AT&T Park, a stunning stadium on the bay.

Since moving to Florida last fall, my options have changed. This year, getting my Dodgers fix meant a drive down I-95 to see the Dodgers square off against the Miami Marlins in beautiful Marlins Park, which opened in 2012.

I saw games with old friends, Jay and Lou, and even worked in a visit to my mother-in-law in Indiantown up in Martin County.

Some impressions:

• Marlins Park is a top-notch stadium. I fell in love with the retractable roof and the air conditioning system that maintained a cool 75 degrees inside as it sweltered outside.
• Jose Fernandez is a beast. He struck out 14 Dodgers in a 4-1 win and was consistently hitting the gun at 97-98 miles per hour.
• Rich Hill was perfect for seven innings on Saturday night but was pulled for health considerations by Dave Roberts. Roberts has his eye on October but it was still a tough decision. Hill is now 3-0 as a Dodger and has yet to allow a run. He's 36 but has been a godsend to the L.A. pitching staff.
• Clayton Kershaw showed the rust from being on the shelf for two plus months, giving up a homer and getting hit in a short three-inning appearance on Friday night. Give him a few starts and if his back holds up he will be nails down the stretch.
• Joc Pederson launched a moonshot in the 5-0 win on Saturday and followed it with a laser to right field the same night. He is coming along just fine.
• Cory Seager has a sweet swing and deserves to be in the running for Rookie of the Year and has an outside shot at MVP.
• Yasiel Puig may be growing up. He is playing within the framework of the team and made a highlight reel catch to preserve Hill's perfecto. 

The Dodgers dropped two of three to Miami this weekend while the Giants were sweeping the D-Backs. Their lead in the NL West has shrunk to three games with a critical series starting tonight in the Bronx. 

Ya gotta love a pennant race.

Greinke gets a harsh welcome at Dodger Stadium

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke bolted for the desert last off-season, signing a huge contract to join the D-Backs and break up the one-two punch of Kershaw and Greinke.

So there was a little nostalgia and emotion on tap when Greinke took the mound against his old team on Labor Day.

Greinke didn't finish the fifth inning.

The former Cy Young Award winner gave up eight runs on nine hits, including five round-trippers by the Dodgers.

The big blowup came in the fifth inning when the Dodgers clubbed four dingers with Joc Pederson, Cory Seager, Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal teeing off against Greinke.

Here was a pitcher who went 19-3 last year with a 1.66 ERA. He was 17-8 in 2014 and 15-4 in 2013. He used to own Dodger Stadium.

They say you can't go home.

Zack Greinke sure couldn't.

Dodgers pitching cavalry is coming

Dodger rookie right-hander Jose DeLeon made his debut in Chavez Ravine yesterday, tossing a six-hitter over six innings and getting a 7-4 win behind home runs by Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal.

DeLeon showed why his the top pitching prospect in the Dodgers organization, striking out nine and showing great composure on the mound. He and Julio Urias could anchor the Los Angeles pitching staff of the future.

DeLeon's start marked the 15th different starting pitcher for the Dodgers this season, the most in the major leagues.

Injuries have decimated the Dodgers pitching corps but the organization responded by acquiring Rich Hill from Oakland and bringing up Urias and DeLeon to bolster the staff.

The Dodgers erased an eight-game deficit to the Giants and now hold a three-game lead over San Francisco as the season enters the final stretch.

Clayton Kershaw, who hasn't pitched since late June, completed a rehab assignment in the minors on Saturday and will take the hill Friday night in Miami against the Marlins. If Kershaw can regain his form and stay healthy, Dave Roberts will have Kershaw, Hill, Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda along with DeLeon and Urias to call on.

Urias is believed to be on an innings limit and could come out of the pen for the Dodgers, which has been stellar this season.

Hill, since recovering from a deep blister injury, has been spot on, winning two games and posting a 0.00 ERA for Los Angeles. On the season, Hill is 11-3 with a 1.94 ERA. Maeda, who squares off against Zack Greinke and the Diamondbacks tonight, leads the staff with 13 wins.

Kazmir is also expected to come off the DL after suffering a neck strain. He also threw a rehab assignment last week.

Toles making most of his second chance

Dodgers rookie Andrew Toles was the hero last night, slugging a ninth-inning, two-out grand slam to give the Dodgers a come-from-behind 10-8 victory over the Rockies and avoid a sweep in Denver.

Toles was a third round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012 after playing college ball at Tennessee. He was dismissed from the team his sophomore year.

Toles sat out of baseball last year after being cut by the Rays and spent some time working in a grocery store to pay the bills.

Dodgers exec Andrew Friedman was at Tampa Bay when Toles was drafted and kept in touch. That contact resulted in Toles joining the Dodgers organization and he shined in the minors, earning a call up to the bigs this summer.

In his 58 at bats in the major leagues, Toles is hitting at a torrid .397 clip while showing good speed on the bases and in the outfield as well. He has hit three dingers, none more dramatic that last night's grand salami.

Dodgers taking off the training wheels

Last week, the Dodgers faced two critical series at Chavez Ravine.

Division rival San Francisco came into town followed by baseball’s best team – the Chicago Cubs.

When the dust had settled, the Dodgers had won four of six, taking both series and cling to a two-game lead in the National League West.

And though veterans played critical roles, it was the young guns who played beyond their years to hold off the Giants and the Cubs.

Julio Urias, Brock Stewart, Ross Stripling and Kenta Maeda turned in solid mound performances, pitching like they were seasoned veterans. The veteran bullpen, anchored by Joe Blanton, Jose Baez, Jesse Chavez, Adam Liberatore and Kenley Jansen, has emerged as one of the stingiest in the league.

At the plate, rookies Cory Seager, Andrew Toles and Rob Segedin have delivered, despite facing the likes of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Matt Moore and John Lester. Seager is a front-running candidate for Rookie of the Year and is in the conversation for NL MVP.

Players that are driving the Dodgers race for the pennant are not far removed from playing ball in places like Rancho Cucamonga, Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

It has been well documented that the Dodgers have put more players on the disabled list than any in baseball – yet the recent arrivals have stepped in to fill the voids.

And while the rooks have shined, veterans such as Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Turner, Chase Utley, Howie Kendrick and Yasmani Grandal have been steady producers.

The Dodgers have made this improbable run to first place without ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who stepped up his rehab by throwing from the mound this week. He is scheduled to pitch a minor league rehab game and the Dodgers are hoping to get him back for a stretch run.

Dodgers an unlikely front runner

Adrian Gonzalez found his power stroke last night, hitting two homers as the Dodgers completed a sweep of the Phillies to move 1.5 games ahead of San Francisco in the NL West.

Los Angeles has made this run to catch and pass the Giants because San Francisco has been in a free fall since the All-Star break and the Dodgers have been wielding some very hot bats.

Since the break, five Dodgers are hitting above .300 (Seager, Kendrick, Turner, Pederson, Gonzalez) and Yasmani Grandal has warmed up, bringing his average to .288 after hovering around .200 most of the year.

Seven Dodgers are in double figures with HRs with Turner and Seager battling for the team lead.

But the most amazing part of the Dodgers second-half run has been a pitching staff that couldn’t be recognized in a lineup.

Kenta Maeda (12-7) and Scott Kazmir (10-6) have been the anchors since Clayton Kershaw (11-2) went on the DL but Brett Anderson, Ross Stripling, Bud Norris, Brandon McCarthy, Jose Urias and a strong bullpen have kept the Dodgers in the running.

Los Angeles acquired Rich Hill (9-3, 2.25 ERA) from Oakland but he is still in Arizona trying to get his blisters to heal.

If Kershaw and Hill return for the stretch run the Dodgers may have enough pitching to challenge the likes of Chicago, Washington, San Francisco and St. Louis. The Dodgers have a good shot to get a Wild Card slot if they can’t hold off the Giants in the NL West.

The Dodgers get San Francisco and Chicago next week, which should give us a good indication of how we match up.