The Los Angeles Dodgers have been cruising along as of late, winning five of their last six, all against NL West.
Along the way, the have opened a six game lead in the division. Taking three of four from the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers have effectively buried the team to the south, who are 13 games back. They also took both games in Arizona, and the Diamondbacks now find themselves 11 games out of first.
The Dodgers sit at 67-46, second best record in the National League behind the Atlanta Braves. And in even better news, reinforcements are coming.
It starts Thursday night as the Dodgers start their longest home stand of the season with a four game set against the Colorado Rockies. And taking the mound will be Clayton Kershaw for the first time since before the All -Star break.
Kershaw went on the IL originally dealing with left shoulder inflammation after asking to come out of a game June 27th in which he had already thrown six scoreless innings. At the time, manager Dave Roberts said that he would be back shortly after the All-Star break.
The IL stint obviously went on a little longer and Roberts kept pushing the timeline of Kershaw’s return further and further. Clayton did not go out on any rehab assignments, but has been increasing the length of his bullpens in the last few weeks.
Before the game, Doc said that he sees no limitations with Kershaw for his first outing, but also it “wouldn’t be crazy” to see Ryan Yarbrough in the game also.
In other injury news, Walker Buehler faced batters for the first time Wednesday, after recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.
“It was good,” Buehler told reporters afterwards. “Just one inning, so nothing too crazy. But good to get out there, and cool to do it here, obviously, and not in the heat at Camelback. It was fun.”
As to how he pitched, Buehler said “It was fine. It’s never going to be perfect your first time out there. Made some good pitches, made some bad pitches. It’s over with.”
The team plans to have Walker face batters two to three more times before he goes out on a rehab assignment. While the hard throwing right hander had set September 1 as a goal to return, he will likely miss his mark, but should be back for the end of the season and beyond.
Blake Treinen also has made progress towards a return this season. The reliever tried to rehab himself from a tear in the capsule of his throwing shoulder before ultimately undergoing surgery last November. He had been rehabbing in Arizona, and as a surprise to most he followed Buehler in throwing off the mound at Chase Field after Buehler had finished.
Afterwards, Roberts spoke with reporters about Treinen’s outing.
“Blake was 100th percentile in the sense of he’s been throwing ‘pens and it’s kind of been 86, 87 (mph). And he touched 94 today, so it was a lot more than we anticipated. I stood behind and watched, the cutter and slider all had a lot of movement to them. So hopefully he comes out of it well and he should be throwing in the next three, four or five days again.”
Roberts also remarked that at this point, he is encouraged that Treinen also will return at some point in September.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
49 games left!!And ahead of the Giants by 7 in the loss column. So now it’s all about the playoffs. Lynn has impressed with his grit and innings and Kelly has dominated. Hernandez and Rosario have contributed. So AF had a good trading deadline and didn’t give away any of the top talent despite unwarranted criticism. Miller dueled Kelly scoreless through 6 showing his growth as he had 3 pitches under control. Dodger coaches describe Miller as a 6 foot 5 inch rendition of Buehler. The bullpen is still a concern. Treinen might help. Vesia and Almonte have been very hittable. Let’s see how it goes.
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I’m really pleased with the experience that Miller and Sheehan have gotten this year. They haven’t been totally lights out but we’ve managed to give them that exposure while still building a 6 game lead. They will be better pitchers for it next year when both may very well be in the opening day rotation.
I’m really starting to feel badly for Busch. He’s absolutely killing it at OKC but still no call to the big time. He hardly got any at bats when he was up earlier so we really have no clue what he’s capable of at the MLB level. I hope someone has had a talk with him and told him he’ll have every opportunity to make the big club out of spring training next year (assuming he isn’t traded).
I’m not as concerned about Vargas. I feel the extra half season at AAA will be of help to him and he’ll be ready to go next spring.
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I agree Busch Should be given a shot or traded, Vargas has adjusted and is hitting.and DeLuca was playing well. Stone along with Sheehan have learned the importance of a good slider. If I were the rest of the NL I would be very concerned that the Dodgers are in first and given several of their minor league guys valuable experience for 24. I read that Gonsolin is pitching despite a physical problem. In 24 does Urias re-sign? Kershaw retire? Do they re-resign Treinen? What about Ohtani? The Dodgers have the potential of a a powerhouse in 24! They have been very unlucky with key injuries this year and still have the second best record in the NL! Amazing.!
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They apparently have an option on Treinen for next year which will pay him between one and seven million, depending upon how much (or little) he pitches this year.
I would think that unless they think his arm will fall off, they’ll exercise that option.
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Second year in a row. I keep shaking my head. Essentially a 6 man lineup is lights out and the other 3 seem to chip in when really necessary. A decimated pitching staff, with a group of rookies that aren’t really pitching well so far, and they couldn’t bolster the starters at the deadline. And they are not playing half their games against those other 4 wannabes in their division. Doesn’t make sense that that Vargas and Busch are in the minors and they aquire Kiki and play him. Now is the time they should be getting experience and lots of at bats. Future doesn’t look so good if your top prospects are languishing in the minors and you keep playing the mendoza guys.
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I agree with Busch and Vargas playing so well in OKC. Why pick up Kike? Or Rosario? Have the Dodgers lost faith in those guys? Lynn and Kelly were good additions. Lynn eats innings and Kelly when on can be un-hittable.
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Vargas is hitting well at OKC but it really hasn’t been for all that long, and after he was really struggling with the big club. Rosario is a proven excellent hitter against lefty pitching and Kike is much more useful as a fielder because he can play both infield and outfield and also has decent, if not spectacular number against lefties.
If Busch were a right handed hitter, he’d have been up long ago, but unluckily for him he isn’t. With Peralta and JHey doing so nicely, Max hitting homers even if has batting average stinks, and JD taking up most all the at bats at DH, Busch is frozen out.
Meanwhile, we have no idea how long JDM will be out as the Dodgers usually play the game of waiting 8 or 9 days before deciding to put someone on the IL. This would have been the perfect time to rest Martinez and see what Busch could do with some regular at bats. But I don’t make those decisions.
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I think the point was that our two best prospects are languishing in the minors while we aquire and play Kiki and Rosario (And Taylor), while once again walking away with the division. That basically says the dodgers are writing them off, and we are better off with 2/3 mendoza players, rather than develope our prospects. We should be assessing their long term prospects and I think that’s what they’ve done. Remember ( listen to what they do, not what they say). Right now they are excellent trade material. Our development of position players has been pretty bad, but Andrew’s ability to pawn them off has been exceptional.
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