Dodgers draw even with Arizona

On an off-day, preparing for a Freeway Series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (formerly the California Angels and still suffering an identity crisis), the Dodgers moved into a first-place tie with Arizona last night when the Diamondbacks fell to San Diego.

It has been a roller coaster ride for the Dodgers, who came out of the gates like the Three Stooges, stumbling through April like a drunken sailor.

Arizona took advantage, rushing out to a sizeable lead in the standings.

But around mid-May the Dodgers woke up. Their resurgence was led by some unlikely heroes. Matt Kemp was supposed to be washed up, but he showed up from Atlanta slimmed down and hungry, earning a starting spot in the All-Star game with a .318 batting average, 20 dingers and 55 RBI. At this pace, Kemp will hit 40 home runs and drive in more than 100 RBI.

Then there's the curious case of Max Muncy. After two forgettable seasons in Oakland, the A's released the chubby infielder. The Dodgers signed him as a free agent in April 2017 and invited him to spring training this year.

The 27-year old from Midland, Texas found something during his sojourn to Los Angeles. Muncy has crashed the party in Dodger town. He is hitting .280 with 20 home runs and 38 RBI and can play first or second base. Muncy has gone yard 11 times in the last 30 games and is hitting .329 over that period.

The Dodgers lead the NL in home runs and over the last 30 games Muncy, Joc Pederson (9), Cody Bellinger (8), Kike Hernandez (8), Kemp (6) and Justin Turner (4) have provided the juice.

Pitchingwise, over that same period, Alex Wood (4-1) and relievers Daniel Hudson (0.68 ERA) and Kenley Jansen (1.32 ERA) have been the stalwarts.

This week, the Dodgers swept a three-game set against Pittsburgh and outscored the Bucs 31-8 with six home runs in one game and four in another. 

And then there's the promising status of Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw went six innings against the Pirates on Tuesday for his longest outing of the season. Kershaw gave up two runs on four hits and struck out two. Not a commanding performance, but a strong sign he is on the mend.

Dodgers having summer breakout

Kike Hernandez and Chris Taylor went yard and Dodgers’ right-hander Kenta Maeda posted nine strike outs last night in a 2-1 win over the Cubs at Chavez Ravine, pulling Los Angeles to within 1.5 games of first place Arizona.

The Dodgers are having a breakout month of June, posting a 16-5 record with five games left to play in the month.

Matt Kemp, headed for the All-Star game, and the likes of Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, Hernandez, Taylor, Max Muncy and Yasiel Puig have heated up in June, leading the Dodgers to the most home runs in the National League. And then there’s Justin Turner, who missed 40 games with a wrist injury. He’s back and starting to find his stroke.

But they say it always comes down to pitching – and that’s where Los Angeles is starting to restock the shelves. After having the entire rotation on the DL, Clayton Kershaw, Maeda and Rich Hill have returned to the mound and the once generous LA bullpen has jelled, giving the Dodgers a formidable roster.

With Walker Buehler and Hyun Jin-Ryu still on the DL, the Dodgers are not yet back to full strength. Manager Dave Roberts has options. Ross Stripling (6-2, 1.99 ERA) is having his best season and Alex Wood and rookie Caleb Ferguson have had decent outings as of late.

Roberts could go into the second half with a rotation of Kershaw, Stripling, Maeda, Hill and Wood with Buehler, Ryu and Ferguson getting spot starts. Before getting a rib injury, Buehler was looking like the real deal. If the rookie comes back healthy he may force Wood or Hill out of the rotation.

It’s the bullpen that has made the most dramatic turnaround. Edward Paredes, Erik Goeddel, Josh Fields, Scott Alexander, Daniel Hudson, Tony Cingrani and Yimi Garcia are getting most of the work to get to closer Kenley Jansen.

During the sizzling month of June, the LA pen has been stellar in shutting down opposing offenses. The Dodgers have 14 pitchers, including starters, with ERAs under 4.0.

Dodgers continue pursuit of Arizona

Matt Kemp and Kiki Hernandez hit homers and Alex Wood turned in a solid mound performance last night as the Dodgers posted a 3-1 win over the Giants for their fifth straight win and 21st out of the last 27 games to pull within 1.5 games of first-place Arizona, 5-1 losers to New York.

Wood went 5.2 innings, allowing four hits, for his second win of the season. Yimi Garcia, Scott Alexander, Josh Fields and Kenley Jansen finished the final 3.1 innings without surrendering a hit as the once generous bullpen has become downright stingy.

Kemp continued his all-star season with his 12th homer, raising his batting average to .340. Kemp is currently the third top vote-getter for the NL all-star outfield and deserves a starting slot.

Hernandez, who owns San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner, launched a two-run jack in the fifth inning for the winning margin. Hernandez has faced the Giants' ace 34 times and has hit for a .455 average with four dingers and five doubles.

The Dodgers lead the National League with 90 home runs. Five American League teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Angels and Astros) have hit more.

The Dodgers are now 11-2 in June and hope to sweep the Giants this afternoon. L.A sends rookie Caleb Ferguson to the mound today against San Francisco's Chris Stratton as the Dodgers try to complete a sweep of the three-game set.

Dodgers tip-toe past Texas

Well, apparently you can mess with Texas.

Kike Hernandez showed off some nifty footwork to score on a play at the plate last night as the Dodgers outlasted Texas, 3-2, in extra innings to keep Los Angeles on a roll.

With the two-game sweep of the Rangers, the Dodgers improved to 9-2 in June and 19-6 in their last 25 games to pull within two games of first-place Arizona in the NL West.

The Dodgers welcomed Kenta Maeda back into the rotation after a hip injury and he turned in a solid five-inning performance before turning it over to the bullpen. Los Angeles relievers pitched six innings of shutout ball, surrendering only three hits, to shut down the Rangers.

Justin Turner, still nursing a sore wrist, opened the scoring with a dinger to left in the first and the Dodgers added a single run in the second on an error by Adrian Beltre.

The Dodgers won the game in the bottom of the 11^th inning when Hernandez drew a walk, alertly moved to second on a fly out to left field by Cody Bellinger and to third when Logan Forsythe drew a walk, loading the bases with one out.

The winning run scored when Austin Barnes grounded back to Texas pitcher Matt Bush, who threw errantly to catcher Carlos Perez. Perez had to leave the plate to take Bush’s throw and his tag on Hernandez missed when the Dodgers’ runner danced around the glove.

Perez was behind the plate because starting catcher Robinson Chirinos was tossed out of the game after a third inning collision with Matt Kemp at the plate. Kemp barreled over Chirinos and was called out. After a shoving match ensued, both players were ejected.

Next up for the Dodgers is a three-game set with the Giants at Chavez Ravine starting Friday night before heading to the Windy City for a three-game set with the Cubs.

Dodgers back in the race

After sleepwalking through April and May, the Dodgers have come alive this summer. On May 10, the Dodgers opened a four-game series at Chavez Ravine against the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincy swept the four-game set and the Dodgers looked like toast. On May 15^th and 16^th the Dodgers lost to Miami on the road, extending the losing streak to six games and the word on the street was that Dave Roberts was in trouble.

But in the May 17, get-away game in Miami, the Dodgers posted a 7-0 win and headed to Washington to face the Nationals.

Despite facing Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, the Dodgers managed to sweep three from the Nats and hope started peeking around the corner.

Then the first-place Rockies came to L.A. and the Dodgers took three out of four after losing the opener, 2-1.

Next up, the Dodgers took two of three from San Diego at home and split a four-game series with Philadelphia to end the month of May.

From May 10-31 the Dodgers went 10-10 but were starting to once again resemble the defending National League champions.

The Dodgers started the month of June in Colorado and the mountain air agreed with them. The Dodgers put up 33 runs in three games to sweep the Rocks and suddenly the NL West was looking like a race.

The Dodgers then took two out of three against the Pirates and two out of three against the Braves in Chavez Ravine.

The Dodgers open a two-game set against Texas tonight in L.A. The Dodgers are 7-2 in the month of June and are 19-13 since May 10. Arizona, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Colorado are all bunched up in the NL West standings with the D-Backs holding a three-game edge over L.A. and a 3.5 game lead over the Giants.

Amazingly, the Dodgers have fought their way back into the race with Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Walker Buehler and Justin Turner all fighting injuries.

Ross Stripling has emerged as the ace of the staff and Roberts has been patching together a starting rotation with duct tape and baling wire. On more than one occasion Roberts has rolled out a bullpen staff with different relievers pitching an inning or two to get to Kenley Jansen in the late innings.

The offensive star for the Dodgers has been Atlanta castoff Matt Kemp, who returned to the Dodgers in super hero fashion. Kemp is hitting .338 with 10 dingers and 41 RBI and is among the top three outfielders in All-Star voting. All this from a guy the Dodgers tried to move after picking him up for salary reasons in the offseason.

Other hot hitters have been Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson and Yasmani Grandal. Muncy has gone yard 12 times, Bellinger 12 times, and Grandal 11 times. Pederson has hit seven dingers and raised his average to .275. Yasiel Puig has shown flashes of brilliance, hitting seven dingers and hitting at a .260 clip.

Dodgers’ comeback has echoes of 2017

A year ago, the Dodgers had a magical season, winning 104 games and falling one game short of a World Series title.

The baseball gods may not grant them another shot. Clayton Kershaw may end his brilliant career without a World Series ring. The Dodger faithful, waiting for a title since 1988, may have to wait longer.

But last night in Chavez Ravine the Dodgers showed a little spark that had the look and feel of 2017. After being no-hit for five innings by Philadelphia’s Vince Velasquez, the Dodgers found themselves in a 4-0 hole.

The Dodgers got out of the hole with two runs in the sixth inning and three more in the eighth to knock off the Phillies, 5-4.

LA got big hits from Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Matt Kemp, Justin Turner, Yasmani Grandal and Max Muncy and a little help from a shaky Philadelphia defense.

LA’s bullpen bailed out starter Brock Stewart, who left after four innings as Scott Alexander, Erik Goeddel, Yimi Garcia and Kenley Jansen stitched together five innings of shutout ball in relief for the win.

With the win, the Dodgers remained 3.5 games behind Colorado but slipped past San Francisco for third place in the division. LA has Colorado and Arizona in their sights, winning for the ninth time in the last 11 games.

If they keep this up, we may have to party like its 2017.

Maeda shuts down Rocks for series win

Kenta Maeda tossed two-hit, shutout ball for 6.2 innings last night, striking out 12, as the Dodgers shut out the first-place Colorado Rockies 3-0, won the three-game set and moved to 3.5 games out of first place.

With the shutout, the Dodgers won for the sixth time in the last seven outings and served notice that Los Angeles will be part of the equation in the National League West this year.

Clayton Kershaw tossed a bullpen session and is reportedly getting close to returning to the rotation. If Kershaw comes back healthy and finds his fastball, the Dodgers, suddenly clicking on all cylinders, will give Colorado, Arizona and San Francisco some competition for the NL West flag.

All but written off a few weeks ago, the Dodgers have a pulse and the heart monitor is skipping a beat or two. It lives!

Justin Turner had another two hits last night and the sizzling hot Matt Kemp knocked in another run. Logan Forsythe had a big ground-rule double for the Dodgers.

Arizona is now in a free fall; the Giants don’t figure to have the legs to go the distance and the Rockies don’t have the bats they have had in recent years.

The Dodgers, it appears, may be fortunate enough to be playing in a division where excellence will not be a prerequisite to win the division.

Last-place San Diego rolls into Chavez Ravine tomorrow night for a three-game set as the Dodgers try to keep Big Mo in town.