I really hope I’m not jinxing this, but damn the Dodgers
look good this year. Best record in baseball, a pitching staff that seems to be
finding a groove, an offense that looks like they’re ready to explode at any
minute, and a closer who is just nasty.
Thursday night they swept the Pirates in the first series at
Dodger this season, and they’ll face the Padres this weekend. I’ll be the first
to admit that these aren’t exactly the cream of the crop, but hey, it’s a
start. I’m looking at this kind of like the college football season. Most high
profile schools that are projected to contend for a title play some small
school who gets the absolute snot kicked out of them, this is to build the
confidence of the team. Well the scheduling Gods smiled on the Dodgers and
handed them a pretty easy first half of the month of April. Started in San
Diego, just swept the Pirates, the Padres will be in town this weekend, then it’s
off face the Brewers (and boo the hell out of Ryan “PED” Braun), and then they’ll
be in Houston for 3 before returning home to face the Braves. Yes Milwaukee did
make the playoffs last year, but they lost the catalyst to their team. I’m not
worried about them. Going into the series with the Braves, they could
potentially have only 1, maybe 2, more losses on their record. I can see the
Brewers winning one, and maybe losing a close one in Houston simply because it will be the first time they're on the road for back-to-back series.
It was good to see Loney get his first hit Thursday,
hopefully he’ll be able to pull himself out of this slump, and it was hilarious
to hear Matt Kemp yell “Hey get that ball!!!” after he scored on Loney’s
single. I said it in an earlier post,
but Kemp just seems so relaxed right now, and I think it’s really helping the
team, especially the new guys. I would love to complain about Uribe, as is
becoming a theme, but he went 2-4 with an RBI that actually came with 2 outs,
so for this post, I won’t rip him. I was
also pretty impressed with Capuano on Thursday. He didn’t pitch spectacular,
but he didn’t walk anyone and he struck out 7 over 5 and 1/3 innings. Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned how
impressed I’ve been with Javy Guerra so far. He just looks ridiculous right
now. His fastball has good late life and his breaking ball looks unhittable. I
am worried about Friday night though. Guerra has pitched in the last 3 games,
and I’m not so sure he’s going to be available. This means one thing, the
Dodgers are going to need to score a good amount of runs.
Again, I realize it’s incredibly early in the season. But
getting off on the right foot is very important for this team. The negativity
that was present last year and during the majority of the offseason could have
easily crippled this squad. Instead, the team looks like they’re ready to
battle for the division. It’s rare that I’m so optimistic this early in the
year, but these Dodgers have me pretty excited. Oh, and Vin Scully is
improving, and while he will miss Friday’s game, it’s possible he’ll be back in
the booth Saturday or Sunday. I think I speak for all Dodger fans when I say,
take as much time as you need. If he isn’t 100% then he should take the weekend
off and use the team’s upcoming road trip to get to 100%.
As always, feel free to hit me up on Twitter, @TwittinSports
and/or leave a comment here if there is something you would like me to talk about in a later post, Dodgers related or not.
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