Dodgers Go For Gotham City Sweep, Broom Depot Open Through Midnight

Dodgers Lineup @ New York -5-22-14

Figgins 2B

Puig RF

Hanley SS

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp CF

Van Slyke LF

Turner 3B

Ellis C

Greinke P

Zack Greinke-7-1 vs. Jon Niese-2-3

So I’m sure you have all heard by now, the Dodgers have released catcher Miguel Olivo. The Dodgers had placed him on the suspended list on Wednesday, the club previously announced. But that was just temporary while they got his walking papers finalized. As you know Olivo flipped out and bit Alexander Guerrero’s ear off during an altercation in the Isotope’s dugout during a game at Salt Lake City.

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Hey don’t feel bad, the guy did it to himself. I knew the instant he took a bite out of Guerrero’s ear that his Dodger career was over. Sort of like a last meal. I say good riddance. He sucked anyways. We still have Federowicz if anything happens. Meanwhile Guerrero’s ear is mending. So I say we move forward. We have a game to win tonight.

The Dodgers are still in New York city, wrapping up the third game of a three game series. The Dodgers are trying for a sweep of the New York club. The boys in blue have won 11 of the last 12 they have played against the Mets.

Tonight Birdman Zack Greinke will be going for his National League best eighth win. The right hander is 7-1 with a 2.03 ERA. He’s whiffed 61 and walked 12 in 53.1 innings pitched this season. He has a 10.3 whiff per nine rate, to go along with a 5-1 whiff to walk ratio. Greinke has been fantastic this season. Greinke has made just two starts against the Mets, and he has a 1-1 record, with a 3.21 ERA in 14 innings. Greinke has made one start at Citi Field. He won that start throwing seven shutout innings and whiffing seven.

The Mets haven’t seen much of Greinke, and are hitting .218 (19 for 87). Although they have home runs from Granderson, Chris Young, and former Dodger Bobby Abreu.

The Mets will counter with left hander Jonathon Niese. We’eve seen that the Mets have a lot of rookies on their pitching staff. We’ve seen the flamethrower Rafael Montero. And we’ve seen the long haired Jacob deGrom, but tonight we’ll be seeing a veteran. Left hander Jonanthon Neise has been the Met’s best starter this year. He’s 2-3 with a 2.54 ERA in eight starts.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Niese is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in four starts versus the Dodgers. The 27-year old is 19-25 with a 3.60 ERA at Citi Field.The Dodgers haven’t done much against Niese. Theyre batting .264 (14 for 53) with a .667 OPS. Only Hanley has gone deep off of Niese.

You’re probably noticing that Dee Gordon is not in the lineup. Don’t worry he’s fine. He’s just getting a “day” while there is a tough left hander on the mound. But the real truth is much more disturbing. The truth is Don Mattingly loved Chone Figgin’s pinch-hit double in the eighth inning of Wednesday night’s 4-3 Dodger win. Explaining why he batting lead-off tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if that pinch-hit double got Figgins at least several more starts at second or third before the road trip is finished.

Don’t forget to use the special promo code “LairSweep” to get 15% off on all sweep paraphernalia at the Broom Depot. The discount will run through midnight.

We’ll see you after the game.

Go Blue!