So, we have all of that down. Since there really is no explaining the rhyme or reason to this team, we can only choose to look at the present and take a peak at the future. The Dodgers begin a three-game series today in San Diego against the Padres before going to Colorado for three and Pittsburgh for four. A 9-1 road trip, anyone?
An offense that couldn't muster any threat two weeks ago is suddenly producing at an optimal level, due in large part to Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier. In the last two weeks, Ramirez boasts a .465/.554/.953 line with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs. In the last six games, Ethier is hitting .650 (13-for-20) with 10 runs scored. He has been absolutely on fire and has firmly made the case for Joe Torre that he deserves the playing time, not Juan Pierre or Andruw Jones when he is healthy.
Above all of the hitting, the Dodgers continue to get great pitching through this stretch. Clayton Kershaw struggled in the heat Sunday, and he was the only pitcher who performed under par, surrendering three runs over four innings. On Friday night, Derek Lowe threw eight shutout innings and on Saturday, Chad Billingsley struck out 9 Diamondbacks over 6 1/3 innings. Yesterday we saw Jonathan Broxton escape a ninth inning jam to record his first five-out save of the season, a game the Dodgers desperately needed to keep the momentum going.
This has been a wild ride for the Dodgers; it's a story that we cannot confine to any particular parameters. The only thing we can do is look forward from here, keeping in mind the Dodgers current performance. They have gotten great hitting, great pitching, and the schedule is set up for them to race to the NL West title. This will be a fun few weeks.
* Johan Santana came up big for the Mets Sunday night, salvaging the final game of a three game series against the Phillies. With the win, the Mets take a two game lead in the NL East into this week's play, with the chance of gaining some ground as the Phillies open up a series at home with the Florida Marlins tonight. Philadelphia was a Santana-performance away from going into New York and sweeping the Mets out of Shea Stadium. That would have left New York one game ahead in the race, and these two teams do not match up again in the regular season.
The Mets have a chance to further their lead -- they play the Nationals and Braves twelve times over the next couple weeks -- and put to rest any doubts and any notions about a recurrence of September 2007. If Santana didn't step up last night and lift the Mets to victory, it would have been ugly in the papers on Monday morning. The headlines would have run rampant, everybody would have been in panic mode, and the Mets surely would have been labeled as on the verge of another collapse.
But today we don't have to worry about that. The season goes on and the Mets have games that they need to finish out. They still have issues, for sure, but those have been tampered lately due to exceptional performance. The bullpen has been solid, but the fact that Billy Wagner may not be back this season still looms large in their quest for post season relevance. Are they really comfortable with all unproven guys getting the ball late in October games? I'm not sold, but they have gotten them this far.
Arguably the best story in all of baseball has been the resurgence of Carlos Delgado. Delgado added two more home runs Sunday -- that's 33 for the season -- and has 65 RBIs in his last 65 games. He has been on a torrid pace since the All-Star break -- Delgado has risen his batting average 40 points in the second half compared to the first half, not to mention he has 10 home runs in the last two weeks. It was only a few months ago that Delgado was mercilessly booed at Shea, feuding with the fans every time he took the lonely walk from the dugout to the batter's box.
Delgado made news for not acknowledging the fans since he believed that he had been disrespected when he was struggling. If the fans were going to run him out of town when he had a bad April, he wasn't going to thank them for their cheers when he suddenly turned the whole league upside down with his bat. In essence, he's right. But all of that is behind him now, and he is back to being the threat that the Mets need in the middle of their order. Without Delgado, the Mets would be buried in this race and this series would have been rather moot, instead of the thriller that we enjoyed. Every day I see Delgado is another day I have flashbacks to Toronto.
* The Cubs woes continue as Kerry Wood blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning, and the Reds came in to swipe the game away. Wrigley has been ablaze in rumors and hysteria in the past month, and with real reasons for concern. Carlos Zambrano has some mild tendinitis and the Cubs skipped Rich Harden's start in order to rest his arm. All of the sudden, the Cubs were no better than the Houston Astros. OK, so hold on for a minute. Luckily for the Cubs, the Brewers have not played exceptionally well and Chicago still holds a four game lead in the NL Central. Zambrano is going to be ready to go in October; that is, I believe he will be until proven otherwise. Harden is going to be back on the mound for the Cubs Tuesday in St. Louis. Slumps are just that, but the whole season is not imploding on the Cubs right now. There are issues, but they can be resolved. Most importantly, the Cubs are going to get into the post season and then we will reevaluate from there. Anything can happen in October; anybody can suddenly get real healthy, real hot, or real cold.
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