The Mets Should Be A Piece Of Cake For The Incredible Dodgers, Right?
Dodgers lineup vs. Mets
Crawford 7 M.Ellis 4 Gonzalez 3 Puig 9 Ethier 9 A.J. Ellis 2 Uribe 5 Punto 6 Nolasco 1Jenrry Mejia-1-1 vs. Ricky Nolasco-7-9
At least I hope it will be. After the incredible Dodgers finished off a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays on national television yesterday, the Mets should be a piece of cake right? Even with Rialto Ricky on the mound the Dodgers should win. The Dodgers are incredible, and I will keep calling them that through the rest of the season. The Incredible Dodgers welcome the Mets into town for a three game series which will end this current home stand.
(According to David Krell, the Mets have been playing better than their record indicates. Apprently Ike Davis is hot, and third baseman Wilmer Flores is hitting well. Shrugs shoulders. Im pretty confident the Dodgers should do fine.)
The Dodgers after their sweep of the Rays are now 67-50 and have a 7.5 game lead over Arizona in the NL West. The Dodgers are rolling right along and we’re getting closer and closer to magic numbers. Just wait until we do guys, it’s very exciting. Things are about to get really really fun. With just 45 games left, the Dodgers are getting closer and closer to that first step to bringing back the World Series to Dodger Stadium. The first step is to win the division.
First things first, beat the Mets. And this Met’s team is coming into Dodger Stadium sits in third place in the NL East with a 54-61 record, 16.5 games behind the division leading Braves. This Dodger team is a much different one than when the two teams met back in May. The Mets have sunk well behind the Braves in the NL East, and our without their team captain and franchise player David Wright. He’s out with a strained hamstring, and there is no timetable for his return at the moment. The Mets also activated Jonathon Niese and optioned Jeremy Hefner to triple-A.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco (47) pitches during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.-Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The Wright-less Mets will be giving the ball to rookie right hander Jenrry Mejia, who has pitched in parts of the last three seasons for the Mets, The 23 year old Dominican (signed as a free agent in 2007) has only pitched one inning against the Dodgers, and is 1-5 with a 5.09 ERA away from Citi Field. Mejia has actually pitched pretty well in his three games with the Mets. He was just called up and has a 1-1 record, and a 1.96 ERA in 18 frames. He’s whiffed 18 and walked just three while giving up just four earned runs. Note before the 2009 season he was considered a top prospect before succumbing to medical collateral ligament surgery in 2011.
This is Mejia-Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The Dodgers will counter with Ricky Nolasco. The right hander has struggled against the Mets in the past posting a 5-8 record, and a 5.13 ERA in 25 games. Nolasco’s last start was a win in St. Louis. In that game he allowed no earned runs on seven hits through five frames in a 13-4 rout of the Cardinals. While Nolasco has pitched decent, he has not pitched past the sixth inning in his last five starts. Nolasco is 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA in six starts with the Dodgers, Overall he is 8-9 with a 3.65 ERA and 117 whiffs against 36 walks. Check out what the rest of the Mets have done against the Rialto native. To put everyone’s mind at east, the current Mets are hitting just .244 against Nolasco. Without David Wright in the lineup, the Dodgers really shouldn’t have any issues with this New York lineup.
PA
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
Daniel Murphy30
28
8
3
0
0
1
1
4
.286
.333
.393
.726
Ike Davis24
23
5
2
0
0
1
1
8
.217
.250
.304
.554
Marlon Byrd12
11
2
1
0
0
0
1
3
.182
.250
.273
.523
Jonathon Niese
8
5
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
.200
.333
.200
.533
Mike Baxter4
2
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
.500
.750
.500
1.250
Eric Young4
3
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
.333
.333
.333
.667
John Buck3
2
1
1
0
0
3
0
0
.500
.333
1.000
1.333
Omar Quintanilla3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
.000
.000
.000
.000
Dillon Gee2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
.000
.000
.000
.000
Total
90
78
19
7
0
0
6
6
20
.244
.302
.333
.636
I think that’s about it for now. Hanley is still day-to-day, but still feels some discomfort when throwing. He may be back for this series, and possibly the upcoming road trip. Tomorrow’s pitching match-up is a good one as Young phenom Matt Harvey will take on Hyun-jin Ryu. Wednesday’s match-up will feature Dillon Gee versus Chris Capauno to close out the series and the home stand. Don’t forget to read Rising Apple’s series preview in which they sat down with Stacie and discussed the upcoming series and the Dodgers historic hot streak. Also don’t forget to check out my buddy Howard Cole’s latest article on Don Mattingly’s improvement. Not surprisingly Mattingly’s improvement has coincided with the club’s winning streak. Howard pinponts the exact moment when the season turned around, and it’s a bit of an eye opener.
That’s all for now folks. We hope that you will make your plans to be at Dodger Stadium, and with us over here as well. The game starts at 7:05 PM and you can catch the game on Prime Ticket. Don’t forget to join us over here for our recap after the game. Go Blue!