Dodgers On the Road: The Big Apple and Big Curveballs

After squeaking out one win against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday morning thanks to another solid performance by starter Mike Bolsinger, the Dodgers move on to their next road destination in the Big Apple. The Dodgers open the four-game series against the Mets with Clayton Kershaw on the mound followed by Zack Greinke in game two. Games three and four slated for Saturday and Sunday still have not been assigned a starting pitcher on the Dodgers side after Brett Anderson injured his Achilles tendon in his last start.

The Mets will have Bartolo Colon on the mound on Thursday afternoon with Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and the long-haired Jacob deGrom on the mound for the finale. deGrom dazzled the All-Star audience when he took the mound in Cincinnati, and the Dodgers will surely have their work cut out for them against the impressive right-hander.

Kershaw takes a 20-inning consecutive scoreless inning streak into Thursday’s opener against the Metropolitans. The southpaw has been completely dominating in that stretch, and he’s only allowed 3 walks and struck out 43 batters with a 0.58 ERA over his last four starts. It’s almost as if All-Star appearances mean absolutely nothing.

More from Dodgers Way

• Kevin Kiermaier being ‘top target’ to replace Cody Bellinger is bad sign for Dodgers
• Are the Dodgers really prepared to hand Shohei Ohtani a blank check?
• Dodgers fans shouldn’t dismiss interest in Dansby Swanson for this reason
• Giants laughably sign pitcher that Dodgers absolutely own
• Dave Roberts’ quote about Padres in NLDS should motivate Dodgers

Coincidentally, Kersh’s scoreless streak began against the Mets when he faced them at Dodger Stadium back on July 3rd. Kershaw is 5-0 against the Mets with a 1.58 ERA against them in his career.

The Mets will send Bartolo Colon to the mound, who has pitched poorly of late. The 42-year old right-hander hasn’t won since June 12th. His last start was of the disastrous type after he allowed 7 runs on 8 hits with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks over 4 1/3 innings in the 12-2 drubbing by the St. Louis Cardinals. Over his 18-year career, Colon is 2-4 with a 6.03 ERA in 6 starts against the Dodgers.

Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .429 against Colon with 2 homeruns and 3 RBI in 21 at bats.

Also, Colon’s at bats are what legends are made of. The portly pitcher is hitting .147 this season with 5 hits including a double and 3 RBI in 27 plate appearances. His falling helmet á la Hanley Ramirez is an image engrained into our minds as much as the iconic Yasiel Puig bat flip.

Colon’s career may be coming to a close, but his 213 career wins will live on in infamy.

The Dodgers go into the series with New York with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Giants in the N.L. West. So far they are .500 on the 10-game road trip going 3-3. They’ve had to battle lighting malfunctions, Bryce Harper‘s hair, Juan Uribe‘s revenge and less than peachy results on the east coast adventure. With no one officially slated to start for the Dodgers this weekend yet (Zach Lee is presumably going to make his Dodger debut on one of those days), the Dodgers would really like to take these first two games against the Mets with Kershaw and Greinke on the mound.