1-Man’s Opinion on Sports–Wednesday “Baseball-So Where Are We Really?”
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“Baseball-So Where Are We?”
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These are truly the dog days of summer in baseball.
July grinds into August and spills into September, for cities and teams already out of the playoffs.
The Dodgers have pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, and have put themselves into the wildcard playoff race, with still plenty of time to chase down first place in the NL-West.
That is amazing when you consider, the top five starting pitchers have all been on the disabled list, some multiple times. And they lost their key guys in the infield, 2nd-SS-3B for extended periods of time with injuries.
Who could have forecast rookie Max Muncy would hit 20-home runs, Joc Pederson would find his hitting stroke again, and Yasiel Puig would go thru the first half of the season without any discipline issues.
So LA fans have something to look forward too, even if 60-percent of the fans still cannot see their games on TV in the LA market.
Down the 405, it has been one injury after another to the Angels, who are staggering in a very tough AL-West, the division owed by the Houston Astros.
No one cold forecast the Seattle Mariners would have this type of season, putting themselves in the wildcard race, and the very young Oakland A’s would be so competitive.
Mike Trout is a superstar by himself, but seems to be wasting away another year, on a team that isn’t hitting, and has more hurt pitchers than healthy arms.
When you pay 46-million this season and see a combined (.245) batting average from Justin Upton-Albert Pujols. 4-other starters in the lineup are hitting (.215) or worse.
And to compound it, the pitching staff is ailing again. Garrett Richards cannot do it by himself, and 3-other starters on the disabled list, won’t be coming back this season.
Another lost year under the Arte Moreno-Mike Scoscia banner.
In San Diego, send the Padres mail in care of last place baseball.
You see flashes of specialness from the kid pitchers Joey Luchessi and Eric Lauer. They have a quality bullpen that is now borderline burned out. It’s been a lost season for starters Luis Perdomo and Danilson Lamet.
Journeyman starters Clayton Richard and Tyson Ross sometimes don’t get out of the 5th inning, other times do well without run support, and lose.
There’s no one to protect first baseman Eric Hosmer in the batting order.
There is more streak hitting that trust-worthy hitting from Will Myers, Hunter Renfroe, Manny Margot.
The rest of the batting order shows little consistency. So all Padres fans can do is wait and hope more quality kids are coming from a blossoming minor league farm system.
But what is there to guarantee that the next young bat will be any more consistent than the other young bats, who struggle on Monday-Wednesday-Friday.
A low batting average, and a likely record setting strikeout mark, with few home run threats in the lineup. Doesn’t sound like a playoff contender.of a franchise anytime in the near future.
Hot-humid summer weather, and the dogs days of the baseball season. Another summer in Southern California.
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