Streaking Dodgers Go For Rocky Mountain Sweep Behind Sideways Hat Wearing Volquez, Magic Number 12
By Scott Andes
Dodgers Lineup @ Colorado
Hairston 5Punto 4Hanley 6Young 3Van Slyke 9A.J. Ellis 2Uribe 5Schumaker 8Volquez 1*This is the lineup you roll out when you are 13.5 games ahead, with a magic number of 12. This is the 13.5 games ahead lineup*
Edinson Volquez-9-10 vs. Jorge De La Rosa-15-6
Thank god this is the final game at Coors Field in 2013. Goodbye Coors Field you temperamental bitch. Sorry guys, but I say that in a Sigorney Weaver at the end of Aliens kind of way. Charlie Culberson sure has a heart of gold though. Sing it with me guys….Charlie Culbersons’ got a heart of gooooold. You guys like Neil Diamond? That’s Neail Diamond right? Well it was the converted infielder’s dropped fly ball last night in the top of the ninth, that gave the Dodgers three gift insurance runs that helped the Boys in Blue to a 7-4 win. We should make Culberson an Honerary Dodger for that error last night. It was quite costly for Colorado considering they scored a run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Congrats to Withrow on his first save by the way. Ricky Nolasco continued on his path of impressing the crap out of us, with another strong performance, and Nick Punto, and Carl Crawford provided the offense with seven hits. Hey if Colorado wants to hand us an easy win, then we’ll take it to the bank thank you very much. It means another series win for the Dodgers, who are now 83-55 and 13.5 games ahead of Arizona in the NL West. The Dodger’s magic number is 12 with 24 to play.
August 30, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Edinson Volquez (30) pitches during the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
We’re not sure if Yasiel Puig is going to play tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dodgers give him an extra day with an off-day tomorrow, before the club heads into Cincinnati for a three game series starting on Friday night. Puig still has a strained right knee. The injury isn’t serious, and the Dodgers said Pug could have pinch-hit last night if he was needed. I would expect for Puig to play in Cincy on Friday. Do expect for the lineup to be a getaway day type of lineup. Crawford and Andre Ethier are expected to be resting, and so might Adrian Gonzalez. I would assume Hanley will be back in the lineup, but we’ll see. Remember the Dodgers are 13.5 up, and are now concentrating on getting guys rest and preparing for the playoffs. We really otta be making our postseason ticket reservations right about now.
So this huge lead is what is allowing for tonight’s match-up. The huge lead is the reason the Dodgers can start Edison Volquez tonight, giving the rest of the rotation an extra day of rest. Why not right? The Dodgers are saying screw it. I mean they have a huge lead, they’ve already won the series anyways. So why not just send Volquez out for a start, even though he has horrendous numbers against Colorado at Coors Field. Because if you were to look at his 1-4 record, and 8.39 ERA at Coors, or his career, 3-7 mark, and 7.71 ERA versus Colorado you would probably not be happy. Try not to look at the fact that he is 0-4 versus the Rockies in 2013. Try not to look at the Rockie’s numbers against Mr. Sideways hat wearer. It will make you want to kick a puppy. Not that you would do that or anything. Alright that was just a bad analogy there. Cargo is batting like .564 against Volquez so good thing he’s all banged up with a finger injury. Maybe he won’t play?
Jorge De La Rosa-Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
PA
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
Dexter Fowler26
22
8
1
1
1
2
4
5
.364
.462
.636
Carlos Gonzalez21
19
10
3
2
0
6
2
4
.526
.571
.895
Wilin Rosario20
18
8
1
0
2
9
2
2
.444
.500
.833
Todd Helton15
13
5
2
0
0
4
2
3
.385
.467
.538
Jordan Pacheco15
11
3
1
0
0
1
4
0
.273
.467
.364
Michael Cuddyer13
10
3
0
0
0
0
3
4
.300
.462
.300
Troy Tulowitzki12
10
2
1
0
0
3
1
2
.200
.333
.300
DJ LeMahieu10
7
2
1
0
1
1
3
1
.286
.500
.857
Jhoulys Chacin
9
9
1
0
0
0
0
0
3
.111
.111
.111
Jonathan Herrera9
5
3
0
0
0
2
2
0
.600
.714
.600
Nolan Arenado8
8
3
0
0
0
1
0
0
.375
.375
.375
Corey Dickerson6
5
3
2
0
0
1
1
0
.600
.667
1.000
Josh Rutledge6
5
2
0
0
0
0
1
1
.400
.500
.400
Yorvit Torrealba
4
4
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
.250
.250
.250
Ryan Wheeler4
4
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
.250
.250
.250
Charlie Blackmon3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
.000
.000
Tyler Chatwood3
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
.500
.667
.500
Jorge De La Rosa
3
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
.333
.333
.333
Total
187
158
57
12
3
4
31
26
31
.361
.454
.551
Left hander Jorge De La Rosa will counter for Colorado. The 32 year old Mexican lefty has been the club’s de facto ace this season. He is 15-6 with a 3.33 ERA, but not many whiffs, (108), and 58 walks. But only 10 dingers allowed in 28 starts. De La Rosa has won six straight decisions, and hasn’t lost since August 3. De La Rosa is 1-1 against the Dodgers this year, losing on April 30, but beating them on June 2. That win on June 2 was his first ever against the Dodgers. The left hander is 1-8 with a 6.28 ERA in 11 starts versus the Dodgers. De La Rosa is 34-12 all time at Coors Field. De La Rosa is a fastball, Changeup, slider guy with a Curve. The Dodgers are batting .282 off of De La Rosa. Adrian Gonzalez is the main agitator, hitting .375 with three home runs and nine runs driven in versus De La Rosa.
PA
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
Adrian Gonzalez
38
32
12
2
0
3
9
5
12
.375
.447
.719
Juan Uribe26
22
6
0
0
0
0
3
8
.273
.385
.273
Hanley Ramirez22
18
7
4
0
1
3
4
4
.389
.500
.778
Andre Ethier
19
19
3
1
0
0
1
0
6
.158
.158
.211
Nick Punto
19
17
8
1
0
0
1
1
0
.471
.500
.529
Jerry Hairston13
10
2
0
0
0
1
2
2
.200
.385
.200
Mark Ellis8
7
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
.143
.250
.143
Skip Schumaker6
6
3
1
0
0
2
0
1
.500
.500
.667
Michael Young6
5
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
.000
.167
.000
A.J. Ellis4
3
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
.000
.250
.000
Tim Federowicz3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
.000
.000
.000
Clayton Kershaw3
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
.333
.333
.333
Scott Van Slyke3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
.000
.000
.000
Edinson Volquez
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
.000
.000
Chris Capuano2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
.000
.000
.000
Carl Crawford
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
.000
.000
.000
Hyun-jin Ryu
2
2
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
.500
.500
.500
Total
179
156
44
9
0
4
18
18
42
.282
.362
.417
Minor Notes
The Dodgers have won six in a row, and this is the fourth six game winning streak the Dodgers have had since the run began in June. The longest streak was the ten game streak last month.
The Dodgers may want to play Adrian Gonzalez, as he has clobbered Jorge De La Rosa in the past to a tune of a .375 (12 for 32) average, with a .1.166 OPS and three home runs.
Edison Volquez has lost four decisions to Colorado this year, including back-to-back starts from April 7-13. He has issued 26 walks to Colorado.
Cargo is batting .564 (10 for 19) against Volquez with two triples, three doubles, and six runs driven in.
Carl Crawford has been red-hot of late. The often rusty left fielder has 10 hits in his last 17 at-bats, with three doubles, including three hits last night. He has 12 multi-hit games since August 1st.
The magic number is 12, 12!!! Wouldn’t it be so cool if Volquez like pitched a shutout or something? The good vibes would just keep on rolling. What was it that Lucas said? Rick Honeycutt could look like a genius. Stacie calls him the pitcher whisperer. And if he fixes Volquez, then he really is. Everybody would start turning their hats sideways. A sideways hat trend would sweep Southern California as Volquez mania takes over twitter. But wouldn’t that be so cool??? Too bad Volquez and his hat are going to get lit up like a Christmas tree. Oh well, as long as nobody else gets hurt today is all that matters. I want the Dodgers to win, but this is the last game at Coors Field this year, and I just want the Dodgers to get out in one piece. We have a 13.5 game lead so we can do these things dag nabbit.
Catch the game at 5:40 PM on KCAL 9. With the blackout lifted we can all finally just watch Dodger Baseball on our tubes as god intended us to do. We’ve got postgame, jokes, and bronto burgers after the game. Go Blue.