Jeff Birney
The Dodgers have done everything right the last four games, sweeping San Diego and taking the first game of two from Texas as the NL West race continues to throttle forward. L.A. is now within a game of 1st place. Colorado and Arizona are tied in the number one spot, as the Rockies beat the Angels Tuesday night.
The Dodgers pounded Texas 8-4, putting together a hit-parade that included 4 RBIs from Manny Machado and a solo shot from Brian Dozier. L.A. pitching faired well, even though Walker Buehler only went four innings and gave up two runs. The bullpen put up zeros until the ninth when Kenley Jansen came in.
With a comfortable lead, putting the struggling Jansen in in a low-leverage situation made sense. Jansen gave up two runs but ended on a high note, making a back-hand snag off a broken bat grounder from Shin-Soo Choo that turned two to end the game.
With several teams ahead of L.A. in the Wild Card race, at this moment the best chance at a playoff berth is taking the West, something L.A. has done every year since 2013. Like many (most? all?) Dodger’s fans, I begrudgingly hoped for a Giants win Tuesday night against Arizona and was awarded just that.
L.A. faces Texas for one more tonight before hosting the D-Backs for four, in what very well could set the stage for the final stretch of the season.
As Joe Davis might say, fasten those seatbelts…
