I'll take a two-game sweep any day. Last night the Dodgers continued their good play by completing a short series sweep of the Rangers, 3-1, to extend their winning streak to five games. Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:
"You're at the point in the year where you need to win the games you're supposed to win," said Wood. "It's really nice for us to string five together like we have, especially with us about to play a club we've struggled against in Arizona. Those five games came at the right time and we're pretty excited to go home and see these D-backs again. We saw them so much in such a short span and it was when we weren't playing so well."Clearly, this weekend is the most important series of the season.
Photo above of Kenley Jansen and Manny Machado in the Dodger dugout via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2018 at Dodger Insider. Below are more links to check out
- This Day in Dodgers History: In 1918 the Dodgers and Giants play a 56-minute game at the Polo Grounds that saw New York beat Brooklyn, 1-0. In 1952 former Dodger infielder and future Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan dies in a fishing accident. He and a friend drowned in a lake near Eagleville, CA when their boat capsized. In 1953 Roy Campanella tied a NL record for RBI's by a catcher during a season at 122. He did it by going 4-for-5 with five RBI's and three runs scored against the Cardinals. Campy would finish the year with a Major League best 142 RBI's for a catcher. In 2015 Cubs hurler Jake Arrieta no-hit the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, 2-0. It is the 12th no-hitter ever thrown at Chavez Ravine.
- Happy Birthday, Bert Tooley, Kiki Cuyler, Tommy Dean & Roberto Hernández!
- Rowan Kavner at Dodger Insider has the 2019 Spring Training schedule, here.
- Via Matt Borelli at Dodger Blue; "Julio Urias Promoted To Triple-A Oklahoma City But Unlikely To Join Dodgers On First Day Active Rosters Expand."
- The legend of Adrian Beltre, via a tweet by Pedro Moura:
This is the next in a long installment of Adrián Beltré sending gifts to the opposition: Yesterday, Cody Bellinger asked Beltré about his Jordan Brand cleats. Today, Beltré sent over a new blue pair in Bellinger’s size.— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) August 30, 2018
- Per Daniel R. Epstein at Beyond the Boxscore; "Kenley Jansen is struggling and that’s sad."
Since the quality of his heavily used cutter hasn’t changed, perhaps he’s just not hitting his spots. Statcast charts every pitch into 29 different zones. Zone five is middle-middle; it’s the fat part of the plate that pitchers all strive to avoid. From the beginning of the season through August 7, Jansen threw 848 total pitches, and only 64 of them landed in zone five (7.6 percent). Since returning from the DL, he put eight of his 86 pitches in zone five (9.3 percent). That might not seem like a huge difference, and small sample size is a factor of course, but one mistake by a closer can ruin a game.Obviously, no pitcher wants to groove pitches right down the middle, but it’s still up to the batter to do damage. For whatever reason, they’re doing a lot more damage on Jansen’s zone five pitches in the last four games than they have been all season. On those eight zone five pitches, six were put in play while one was taken for a strike and another fouled off. The average exit velocity of the six in play is 93.8 MPH, and they resulted in two home runs, two singles, and two fly outs. In other words, he’s getting jacked up.
- Minor league promos are the best. Per Dalton Johnson at NBC Sports; "Dodgers Double-A team in Oklahoma doing Kevin Durant-themed promotion."
- Just announced! There'll be a Orel Hershiser given out on Fan Appreciation Day.
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