“Hey hey hey
Yes I’m jumping like a jumping jack
I’m dancing, screaming, itching, squealing, fever feeling
Hot hot hot”

~The Cure

The weather is heating up. Even here in PA, it’s going to be in the 90’s today. And the Dodgers might finally be putting together a hot streak of their own. Series wins versus Arizona and Milwaukee have the Dodgers starting to look pretty good. If only those stupid Giants would stop winning.

Going to take a little moment to say, “Hey, I was right!” Last week, I suggested that Justin Turner was finally turning things around, and it appears that he is. In his last seven games, he’s hitting .462 with a .500 OPS and a .962 SLG. Friday night, he was single-handedly responsible for all of the runs, hitting two homers and singling in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th. His defense has been stellar, and its nice to see his bat finally catching back up.

The Dodgers bullpen is still holding their own. They’ve been called upon to do more heavy lifting than usual, as anyone not named Clayton Kershaw hasn’t been able to pitch too far into games.

They did an especially wonderful job on Saturday, when Mike Bolsinger only went 2-2/3 innings, and the bullpen only allowed one run for the rest of the game.

Manager Dave Roberts was very complimentary of his relief corps after the contest.

“I can’t say enough. Just the way they take the baseball, pick one another up, pick the team up,” Roberts said of his relievers. “To go 6-1/3 and give up just one run is obviously more than commendable. … To take the ball and go extra, I’m really proud of them.”

Help is also coming, as Carlos Frias was called up on Sunday. It was not determined whether Frias would start any games, and Roberts said that the team may go with a nine-man bullpen for awhile.

I like this nugget from Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

This team is working hard to come back and win when they are down. The were also 3-1 in one run games in the last week, something they had not been very good at.

Feel good moment of the week – Enrique Hernandez hitting a game-tying pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the eighth. Last week, Kike shaved his head, partly in solidarity with his dad who is currently battling cancer.

“As soon as I hit it, I had goosebumps,” Hernandez said. “Once I tied the game, everyone said well it is really hot, can you please score another one, we don’t want to play extras and sure enough we did.”

To hit a home run for your dad on Father’s Day truly is a special thing.

The Dodgers have now moved into second place in the National League wild card spot. Winning the division is still the goal, but making the playoffs is the most important goal of all. Heavens knows that wild card teams can win the whole thing (see- San Francisco Giants). As long as they can keep this hot streak going through the summer, the Dodgers will be sitting pretty.