NLDS Rematch: Dodgers Open Weekend Series in St. Louis

The Uribe-less Dodgers travel to St. Louis for an NLDS rematch with the Cardinals. This is the first time the two clubs have faced each other since last year’s NLDS. While the Dodgers continue their decent into mediocrity, the Cardinals have the best record in the National League. Although the Cardinals have their own injury problems. They have already lost Adam Wainwright for the entire season, and just recently lost fatso Matt Adams for an indefinite amount of time with a quad tear.

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I’m sorry if I don’t sound too optimistic right now, but the Dodgers are just not playing good Baseball. They’ve been mediocre at best the entire month of May. They have a ton of injuries, and the front office has made a lot of weird moves. I’m not just talking about the Uribe trade. A lot of the moves the brain trust have made have not worked out. Brandon McCarthy was a disaster, Chris Hatcher is awful, Jimmy Rollins is hitting below the Mendoza line, and the front office believes that Alberto Callaspo brings “value” to the roster. Sweet! Another guy that can’t hit his weight. He should fit right in.

Dodgers Lineup @ St. Louis-

Pederson CF

Rollins SS

Kendrick 2B

Gonzalez 1B

Turner 3B

Ethier RF

Guerrero LF

Ellis C

Bolsinger P

Mike Bolsinger-3-0 vs. John Lackey-2-3

Game Time – 5:15 PM

Meanwhile the Giants keep winning. They’ve won eight of their last ten games, and sit just a half game behind the Dodgers now. If the Dodgers lose tonight, and the Giants defeat Atlanta, (which they probably will), the Dodgers will fall into second place. I know it’s very early in the season, but marinate on that for a minute. Doesn’t that infuriate you? It should. Doesn’t it make you furious that the Giants keep outplaying, and outhustling the Dodgers? Their 0-6 record in San Francisco, their 2-7 overall record against the Giants, and their poor road performances. It’s frustrating. It irritates me, and I don’t care if it’s May, or June, or September. The Dodgers are about to fall out of first place if they don’t get it together, and it’s not fun.

Of course it’s hard to win games when you have four automatic outs in the lineup. Chris Heisey is horrible, I don’t why he’s even here. I don’t care if there is a left hander on the mound. The following guys are automatic outs, Heisey- .125 (1 for 8), Alberto Callaspo .206 (22 For 207), Jimmy Rollins .203 (25 for 172), and A.J. Ellis .146 (7 for 48). I’m sorry, I love A.J. too, but he can’t hit anymore.

The match-up for tonight’s game will be Mike Bolsinger in the series opener, countering right hander John Lackey.

Bolsinger has been a joy thus far, and truly has been a find. He’s 3-0 with a 0.71 ERA in his first four starts. He has 22 strikeouts against six walks, and has allowed just 5.0 hits per nine. His last start against San Diego was the best game of his career. He threw eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit, and one base runner, and retiring 23 batters in a row. Increased usage of his curve, and great pitch sequences have helped him tremendously this year.

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Let’s hope he’s that incredible again against a very tough Cardinal club. Bolsinger has no record against the Cardinals, and has never started against them.

36-year old veteran right hander John Lackey will counter for St. Louis. He’s been very solid, posting a 3.18 ERA in nine starts. He has a 2-3 record, and has a 1.63 ERA at Busch Stadium. He is very tough to beat at home. He has allowed 8.1 hits per nine, and has struck out just 38 in 56.1 innings pitched. He’s not invincible.

However against the Dodgers over his career, he has been very good. He is 5-3 with a 1.93 ERA in 11 games against the Boys in Blue. The current Dodgers are hitting .258 (23 for 89) with one home run versus Lackey. Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .300 (6 for 20) against Lackey. Oh lord look who’s hitting .353 (6 for 17) with the only home run off of Lackey. You guessed it, Callaspo. That means he’ll be playing for sure, and probably takes an ohfer. I’ll happily eat my words though if he doesn’t.

Anyways, the Cardinals are 31-16, and have an 18-5 record at home. The Cardinals have a very comfortable 5.5 game lead over Chicago in the NL Central. The Dodgers are 7-11 on the road, and have their paper thin lead against the Giants. The Dodgers are 2-2 versus the NL Central.

Stat of the day-Here’s an interesting stat. Joc Pederson bats .295 with 8 home runs in Dodger wins. Yet he hits just .189 with 4 home runs, and 9 runs batted in during Dodger losses. That means when Joc doesn’t get one base, the club loses. Because Rollins never gets on base (And can’t hit in general), so if Joc doesn’t reach base, this means NOBODY gets on base in front of Kendrick and Gonzalez. That is bad.

The injuries are hurting the club more than the lousy lineups, and lame moves from the front office. When is Yasiel Puig coming back? Where is Carl Crawford? Do we have to go the entire road trip without Yasmani Grandal? When the last three hitters in your lineup are Heisey/Ellis/pitcher, or Callaspo/Heisey/pitcher, you’re not scoring runs.

This really is going to be a big test for this club. If they can;t beat the Cardinals and Giants, then they won’t get far. All we can do is hope for the best here. Stacie will have the call, so stop by here after the game. Have a great Friday night everyone!

Go Blue!