The Dodgers are in less of a precarious situation than they were a week ago, but they can take control of the their situation and division in their upcoming series with the Colorado Rockies beginning Monday.
Los Angeles did exactly what they needed to do in St. Louis, taking three of four from the Cards. Aside from laying an egg on Sunday Night Baseball, the offense looked locked in. They scored a total of 29 runs, with Manny Machado and Yasiel Puig each hitting multiple home runs. Puig hit five homers in two games, earning him NL Player of the Week. The pitching was pretty decent, aside from one bad inning from Kershaw and one bad inning from Rich Hill.
The series win moved them into a tie with the Cards for the second wild card spot. More importantly, the Rockies lost two of three to the San Francisco Giants, so the Dodgers currently are only a half game out of the divisional lead.
The Dodgers have their top pitchers lined up to face the Rockies, who scored only three runs Sunday, and no runs on either Friday or Saturday. Tonight’s matchup will be Jon Grey and Hyun-Jin Ryu; Tuesday will be Kyle Freeland and Clayton Kershaw; and Wednesday will be Tyler Anderson and Walker Buehler.
The Dodgers last faced these pitchers in Colorado 10 days ago. Puig homered against Gray, and the Dodgers took that game 4-2. Kyle Freeland held the Dodgers to one run on a Chris Taylor homer in the second game, where the Rockies won 4-2. The Dodgers fared better against Tyler Anderson the next day, winning 9-6 and taking the series.
The Dodgers will no doubt be very tired, having had to fly home after the late game in St. Louis last night. But in this stretch where every game matters, the Dodgers have won when it counted. They seem to play to their opponent, which will bode well if they make it to the playoffs. (That cannot happen in the upcoming series with the San Diego Padres or San Francisco Giants, if they want to stay in the playoff contention.) But first thing’s first, they must take care of the Rockies while they have them in their sights.
Think Blue Planning Committee 