The Los Angeles Dodgers used a balanced attack of timely hitting and decent pitching on Sunday to defeat the Colorado Rockies 8-3, securing the series sweep and maintaining a healthy 8-1/2 game lead over the second place San Francisco Giants in the National League West.
The victory was the eighth straight for the Dodgers and their 12th win over their last 13 games.
Lefty starter Julio Urias was solid for Los Angeles in Sunday’s finale, throwing seven strong innings and allowing three earned runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts. The Dodgers used a southpaw attack all day, trusting Alex Vesia and Victor Gonzalez in the final two frames to secure the victory.
Designated hitter Amed Rosario and right fielder Mookie Betts both had two hits apiece for Los Angeles. One of the game’s big blows came in the bottom of the fourth when Miguel Rojas hit a solo shot to left field to break a 3-3 tie. Betts delivered the clincher with a double to center field in the sixth, scoring max Muncy and Chris Taylor and stretching the lead to 7-3.
The series victory was expected over the Rockies, who fell to 45-73 and now trail the Dodgers by 26-1/2 games in the division.
Next up for Los Angeles is a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers beginning Tuesday, as the Dodgers continue the season’s longest homestand. The Brewers lead the Cubs for first place in a tightly contested National League central by 3-1/2 games and are coming off a sweep of their own against the White Sox.
Tentatively starting for Los Angeles are Bobby Miller, Clayton Kershaw and Lance Lynn, respectively. Going for Milwaukee are right-hander Adrian Houser, lefty Wade Miley and righty Corbin Burnes.
Earlier this season, the Dodgers took two out of three against the brewers in Milwaukee, highlighted by a strong seven-inning performance from Kershaw.
It’s tough to really gauge the outlook for the Dodgers right now because there’s still plenty of action left in the season, and the club has show previous tendencies of inconsistencies. The overall offense can become dry at times, which is a huge concern with guys like Rosario and Muncy sitting in the middle of the lineup.
Rosario has been decent since arriving in Los Angeles, but his overall .694 OPS this year shows the type of offensive player he can be over the long haul, leading many to wonder if he’s a legitimate threat near the top of the order. Muncy remains one of the streakiest hitters in the MLB with a .194 average.
With a healthy rotation, Los Angeles rivals other clubs for one of the top five or six starting fives in the National League. It’s difficult to say how far this club can go with this roster, especially if the offense goes dry and the bullpen falters in the opening rounds of the postseason.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I don’t think they got Rosario with the idea that he’d be playing every day. He’s been terrific against lefty pitching, both this year and throughout his career, with a batting average right around .300 and and OPS over .800. He’s always hit southpaw pitching well and this year has been no exception.
If he winds up batting cleanup against a right handed pitcher, we could have problems if it’s not just a one off, but hopefully our mid order guys (Max, JDM, etc.) will stay healthy and that won’t be necessary.
Overall, our 5 new guys have been great. If they can keep this up we could go quite far in the post season.
In the meanwhile, Eduardo Rodriguez, who said “no thanks” to Andrew, pitched against the Red Sox today and gave up 10 hits and 6 runs in 5 innings.
Ryan Pepiot, on rehab at OKC, pitched a gem today. 6.2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 11 k’s. He was perfect through 6 and gave up the hit in the 7th.
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If the offense goes bad and or the bullpen falters we will have 22 redux. If Rosario and Hernandez can have timely hits with RISP the Dodgers may make it to the WS.
I am very pleased with Lynn, Rosario and Hernandez. A bit concerned that Kelly is out all ready with forearm soreness that is never good.
I am amazed at the complete explosion of the Padres. It blows my mind that a team with so much individual talent is not playing well enough to get into the playoffs. I would hate to be a team to face them if they get hot as they have so many talented players. Does Machado or Tatis create a non winning culture?
Watching Lynn pitch it is a puzzle why he has not won more games this year. He is a bulldog.
I am curious to see Miller pitch. Will he continue to show progression? He certainly pitched a gem against the DBacks.
I too watched the OKC game and Pepiot. He looked very much in command.
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Maybe “implosion” is a better word than “explosion.” I still think Miller is doing well. He probably set his progression bar a little high with his first few outings. Let’s see where he’s at this time next summer.
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Implosion is a better word.
Miller and Sheehan getting MLB innings is a great development for 24 as many are guessing Kershaw retires.
I am hoping they re-sign Urias but Boras is the problem..Ohtani is going to go for a ton of money and a long contract so ?.
Experienced dynamic young arms that are under wage control are incredibly valuable. I am hoping they give at least Stone and Pepiot innings. And maybe Knack and others.
And hopefully they give Busch a call up or trade him this winter.
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Totally a gut feeling, but I don’t see either Urias or Ohtani with the Dodgers next year. A little too much money for Friedman’s tastes.
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I also don’t see Ohtani here next year but I wouldn’t be totally shocked to see it happen. I think he’s one of the few players out there who won’t place money at the top of his list when deciding where to play.
Obviously he wants to win so we’ll score high there. He may have a west coast preference so again, that will help us. We know he has a good relationship with Mookie, so there’s another advantage. Most people say that this is the most cohesive clubhouse the team has ever had, so there’s another plus because I’m sure that’s important to Shohei.
I do, however, think there are teams with deep pockets (NYY, NYM, SF) who will be much more desperate to make a massive signing than Andrew will be, so may just blow his offer out of the water, to the point where Ohtani just wouldn’t be able to take the Dodgers offer. Taking slightly less money, no problem. Taking a boatload less money…………………………………..?
I also felt Urias would be somewhere else next year until I heard his quote over the weekend saying how important it was to him as a Mexican player to play for the team that Fernando played for. If Julio continues to pitch for the rest of the season the way he did yesterday, he’ll have a dozen teams after him. It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure.
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For the first half of the year I was 50-50 in terms of Kershaw returning next year, but then I heard that while he was on the IL, he developed a new pitch. I think it was changeup related and he’s starting to use it a few times a game now.
That tells me he’s still working on his game and as competitive as he is, I don’t think he’ll be ready to hang it up unless he gets hurt again. I think he’ll want to have at least one more season to see how effective he can be with that new pitch.
I agree that the innings that our young pitchers have gotten this year will serve us (and them) well going forward. The experience has been of huge benefit to them. If CK, Catman and Urias hadn’t all had problems or injuries which they are now working through and all of them need innings themselves, it would have been nice to see Stone, Pepiot and even Knack added to the rotation or at least the bullpen in order to get some innings of experience. We’ll see how that all plays out and it may have to wait until next season for those three. Of course one or more of them may be wearing different uniforms next year.
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Kike should only start against lefties and play in the outfield. And Muncy should sit against lefties. We have the players and versatility to make it work.
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They swept the Brewers and a rejuvenated Lynn pitched a scoreless 7 innings! The Dodger pitching magic is real. With a improving Urias, Kershaw building his innings back, an impressive and learning Miller, a bulldog in Lynn and hopefully Gonsolin getting healthy the rotation looks great! And they have added a couple of veteran arms in the bullpen & have Shelby Miller due back. Plus they are on a 11 game win streak and 14-1 since the Aug 1 trade deadline. Very impressive and pulling away in the west and only 4 back of Atlanta
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We’re about to get to the point where we have too much pitching. We may have to dfa Clayton.
If my math is correct, we can still win 116 if we don’t lose again this season.
We should all remember this wonderful feeling just in case we hit a losing streak between now and game 162. Reversion to the mean works with teams just as it does with individual players. But in the meantime, we can sit back and enjoy the hell out of this.
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The old saying is u can’t have too much pitching. The great thing is they should be well set up for 24 and beyond as pitching is a top trade chip! They will probably need to trade but for what position? DeLuca showed potential as has Busch and Vargas.?? What position would you trade for? The infield is set and there should have competition for 3rd
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