For the first time in a while, the Los Angeles Dodgers are firing on all cylinders.
It’s not like they’ve played really bad baseball at any point this season, but there has always been one aspect of their game that has kept them from making a significant jump in the NL West standings.
Until now.
Sure, there have been a few games here and there when the offense has been dreary; but overall, fans are seeing an entirely different team compared to the midseason version. Over their last 18 games, Los Angeles has gone 15-3 and climbed to within 1-1/2 games from the division lead. The club has won eight straight.
The Dodgers still have a few aces in the hole as far as upgrades go. Mookie Betts is feeling better, and although neither Clayton Kershaw nor Danny Duffy is close to returning, the team hopes that both will be back for the stretch run of the year, even if they’re used as relievers.
Before Friday’s game against the Mets, the team announced the signing of reliever Shane Greene and immediately moved the 32-year-old righty to the active roster.
Greene hit free agency last winter, but he never signed with anyone until the Braves took a chance on him in May. After about a month in the minors, Atlanta recalled Greene without much success. In 19 appearances, he tallied an 8.47 ERA, a 6.76 FIP and a 1.824 WHIP over an even 17 innings, all career worst numbers.
His best year came in 2019, as it was the only season he was selected to an All-Star squad. Splitting the year with the Tigers and Braves, he made 65 appearances and registered a 2.60 ERA, notching 64 strikeouts and collecting and 23 saves over 62-2/3 innings.
The Braves released him Greene last weekend, and it only took the Dodgers a few days to pick him up.
Should Greene see game action anytime soon, he will become the 36th pitcher the club used this season, far and away a franchise record.
Since returning to the majors, Greene saw somewhat of a drop in velocity on his four seam. Over the month of July, he averaged just 91.95 MPH after sitting just a tick shy of 94.0 MPH for most of his career, according to Brooks Baseball.
It should be interesting to see if Greene sticks in Los Angeles, as the team’s number of high-leverage arms continues to grow. Despite pitchers like Victor Gonzalez and Scott Alexander not meeting their usual expectations, a whole new wave of pitchers is emerging as trusted late-inning options, including Phil Bickford and Alex Vesia.
If all goes according to plan, Max Scherzer will eat his typical seven-ish innings on Saturday. If the Dodgers find themselves in a groove offensively, there might be enough cushion to insert Greene into a late-inning role. In a perfect world, it might be sensible to use the veteran in low-leverage situations until he rebuilds his confidence.
If the trend continues, he will pitch two innings and either go on IL or be released as Kelly gets reactivated.
In Kelly’s rehab game the other night, he stuck out one batter then walked two and was then pulled. That doesn’t sound to me like he’s going to show up at Dodger Stadium any time soon, but of course with Kelly we never know what’s going on. Maybe they just wanted him to throw some pitches and didn’t care what the results were.
After signing numerous one and done players released by other teams and auditioning most of our top prospects, it seems the bullpen has been solidified by no name farm .hands.
If he has anything left, now is the time to show it. Feliz has been on the team for close to a week and has not even pitched yet. Games have been too close. The perfect time would have been in the blow out the other day. Turner out of the lineup today and Bellinger is hitting 8th. Pujols in the 3 hole playing first against Dick Mountain. I hope they light Hill up like a Christmas tree. I like the guy, but he is a Met now.
Well, Greene and Feliz have made their Dodger debuts. One sucked and the other was ok. With Urias, Kelly and Betts likely activated tomorrow what mysterious injuries can we expect or will Greene be DFA? With Gonzalez back, my guess is for Bruhl to be optioned and they keep Feliz for another audition but Greene will be off the active roster one way or the other. Next question which position player is optioned or hits the IL. Not sure if McKinney has options? If not, Lux may go back to OKC until roster can be expanded to 28 in September. With Kershaw coming back at some point in September, will be interesting who makes up the 28 until end of season.
The Giants win two this week, with late inning two run PH HRs, by Wade and Solano. I’m still not a believer and expect a losing streak by them at some point.
I haven’t been a Giants believer either but I think they finally convinced me this weekend. I still don’t think they’re all that good a team but maybe this is just one of those years, like ’88 was for us.
And I’m really concerned with the next three we have against the Pads. They’ve been playing terribly, they hate us, and they’re going to be very mad. I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see us drop 2 of the 3 and lose another game to the Giants in the standings.
Logic tells me we should still win the division, but it sure ain’t gonna be as easy as I thought.