Incredible Dodgers Look For 8th Straight Win, With Hanley Scheduled To Return

Dodgers Lineup vs. Mets

Crawford 7Puig 9Gonzalez 3Hanley 6Schumaker 8M.Ellis 4Hairston 5Federowicz 2Capuano 1

Dillon Gee-8-8 vs. Chris Capuano-4-6

All I could think of after last night’s 4-2 win was Dam duuuuuuuuuuude! Punto is soooooooo clutch! Dude!

It wasn’t just Punto though. It was another collective team effort. It was A.J.’s two-run single, and Hyun-jin RYu’s dominance, and let’s not forget Carl Crawford’s super sweet diving catch in the ninth inning. The entire team contributed in the win.

After consecutive 4-2 victories over the Mets, the Dodgers look to complete the three game sweep over the hapless Mets. The Dodgers have won seven in a row, and are now 21-3 since the all-star break. The club is looking for it’s eighth straight win, which is the longest winning streak of the season. Consecutively anyways. The club is breaking all sorts of records for being awesome. Oh don’t you know young man? The Dodgers are awesome. The Dodgers are now 12-1 in the month of August. And 39-8 over their last 47 games. I think the Dodgers are pretty good. The Mets may be bad, but they’ve actually out up quite a fight. Probably more than some of the contending teams the Dodgers have played over the last few weeks.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

But they’re still the Mets, and they will find a way to lose somehow. What did you really think the Dodgers would lose to the Mets? Pfffft! Come on now. Be serious. But watching this series you can really see why the Mets are as bad as they are. It’s the little things. Or the little things they don’t do. The Mets don’t hit with runners in scoring position, they don’t hit the cut-off man on throws back to the infield, and they really don’t hit particularly well in general. They have decent pitching but, they’re the Mets. When you have a lineup filled with Josh Satins’ and John Bucks’ well you might lose alot of games with those guys.

The Dodgers will probably win tonight, and then we can look forward to four easy games in a row against the Marlins on the upcoming road trip. The Dodgers may not lose again the rest of the season.

Today is supposed to be the day that Hanley Ramirez rejoins the Dodger lineup. That’s what Mattingly said, so I’m going to hold him to it. Although I suppose it’s possible that they hold out Hanley one more day with an off-day tomorrow, but they said they want him to play today. Hanley still feels some discomfort while throwing, but batting isn’t a problem. I think Hanley should be ok as long as they work him back slowly. We’ll see if he’s in the lineup today.

Someone who probably won’t be in the lineup today is Andre Ethier who is still nursing his sore left calf. The injury is pretty minor, and the Dodgers expect him to play on Friday. Tony Jackson has some more info on Ethier’s leg about how it wasn’t healing properly since it was originally injured in Chicago on August 4. (Remember when Ethier got hit in the leg with a pitch?) The Dodgers sent Ethier to the doctor for precautionary reasons.

New York Mets starting pitcher Dillon Gee (35) throws a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park.-Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The pitching match-up for tonight has Dillon Gee facing off against left hander Chris Capuano. The 27 year old Texas right hander has had an up and down season. He is 8-8 with a 3.82 ERA in 23 starts this year. Gee’s last start produced a 2-1 win over Colorado as gee went seven frames, allowing just the one run and eight hits with no walks, and three whiffs. It’s been a while since the Dodgers last saw Gee, but in three career starts against the Boys in Blue, gee is 0-2 with a 4.76 ERA. Plus he’s lost both of his stats at Dodger Stadium. I guess the Dodgers are 4 for 28 (.143) against him? That doesn’t look right, but it is.

RBI

OBP

SLG

OPS

Juan Uribe

.143

.333

.286

.619

Andre Ethier

.000

.333

.000

.333

Clayton Kershaw

.000

A.J. Ellis

.500

.333

1.000

1.333

Dee Gordon

.333

.667

Ricky Nolasco

.000

Hanley Ramirez

.500

.667

.500

1.167

Zack Greinke

.000

Skip Schumaker

.000

Total

.143

.265

.214

.479

Since last night was national left handers day, it’s not surprise that the Dodgers start their second straight lefty in as many days. Last night it was Hyun-jin Ryu picking up his 12 win, tonight left hander Chris Capauno will take the mound for the Dodgers.

Of course we remember that Capuano used to pitch for the Mets. The way Cappy has been going this year, he’ll either give up five earned runs or pitch a shutout. There is no in between with Capuano. He has yet to face his former team, but last outing against Tampa Bay he served up five runs on ten hits in 4.1 frames. Let’s not do that again Capuano ok?

Capuano has a career 1-5 record against the Mets with a 5.53 ERA. But n those seven starts he’s whiffed 42 batters in 42 frames, with 11 walks. Capuano is 4-6 this season with a 4.50 ERA, and 62 whiffs in 80 frames.

These current crappier Mets haven’t done much of anything against Capuano. You can check out the numbers below.

RBI

OBP

SLG

Marlon Byrd

.333

.417

John Buck

.000

.091

.000

Ike Davis

.167

Eric Young

.750

Andrew Brown

.667

1.000

Daniel Murphy

.000

Omar Quintanilla

.000

Carlos Torres

.000

Total

.238

.256

.286

Minor Notes

Nick Punto coming through in the clutch.

I don’t think I can say enough about the wonderful job Nick Punto has done filling in for Hanley while he recovers from his shoulder injury. After hitting a home run on Monday night, and driving in two with a double, and making another spectacular play in the field, what else more can Punto do? The plucky infielder is batting .458 (11 for 24) in August with a home run and five extra-base hits. Punto was also nominated for his second career heart and hustle award. Congrats Nick! Punto is sooooooooo clutch!

Wilmer Flores ailing

The Mets will again be without the services of third baseman Wilmer Flores, who is still nursing an ankle injury. Reports are stating that there is a strong possibility that he could land on the disabled list. Last night the Mets played Josh Satin at third base.

Dishing Up The Dodgers returns.

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30PM, our Dishing up the Dodgers podcasts returns as Nick Hamilton and myself magically reappear from our hiatus. Tomorrow we’ll be interviewing Brad Cook from Out Of The Park Baseball, and talking about Nick’s meeting with Yasiel Puig at the playboy mansion. Yes Nick went to the playboy mansion and did not invite me. Which shows how wildly unpopular I am. I mean Nick is out canoodling with playboy models and Puig, and there are some days I don’t even leave my couch. I’ve got some life guys I really do. Obviously Nick is astronomically cooler than I am.

The Dodgers will leave after the game and begin a seven game road trip on Friday night with a three game series at Philadelphia, and a four game series in Miami against the Marlins. Piece of cake right? Tomorrow the Dodgers have an off-day before they set out on the road trip. Catch the game tonight at 7:10 PM on Prime Ticket, and our Dodger recap afterwards. The Dodgers can win their 70th game tonight! doesn’t that sounds sexy? 70 wins. Sure it’s not playboy cool, but we think it’s close enough. Go Blue!

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