Results tagged ‘ Washington Nationals ’
Zack Greinke Goes Hollywood
Many Baseball fans and players usually say the game isn’t over until the final out and that anything can happen in baseball. In the 2012 season that was what the Dodgers thrived off of until they were knocked out of playoff contention. Apparently they brought that into the Off-Season as well. Let me go ahead and make the long story short. In case you haven’t heard the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed Zack Greinke. When Off-Season started many Front Office executive’s and Analyst were predicting the Dodgers to sign the 29 Year Old Right Hand Pitcher. The Angels and Nationals going into Winter Meetings were also two teams who could sign him as well but as time went the Angels trade for Hanson and Signing Joe Blanton took the Angels out of it and the Nationals getting Dan Haren took them out as well. So all that leaves are the Dodgers right? Wrong because the before the end of the Meetings the Texas Rangers got into the Greinke race and made an aggressive push for him. By Friday it looked as if the Dodgers were going to walk away from Greinke and by Saturday morning many reporters had the Dodgers out of it. That same day reports started to come out that the Dodgers were close to signing Greinke to a 6 year deal which had many Dodger fans excited about the possible signing. Once the report that the Rangers were out it was all clear from there. Greinke and the Dodgers agreed to a 6 year $147 Million Dollar deal pending on the physical. Dodgers made a big splash in the Off-Season as expected by many.
A lot of people and some fans may not like this deal because they feel the Dodgers overpaid for Greinke and some felt that he isn’t worth that much. Going into the Off-Season it was known that teams were going to drop big money on Greinke and while people fear of him being a bust I don’t see it happening. Greinke played in Kansas City for most of his career and trust me those weren’t good teams at that time. When he came to the Brewers and traded a season later to Anaheim he had 15-16 wins with a ERA of 3.44. With this Dodgers ballclub he’ll get the run support needed to get the wins and help this team. Not only is this a great signing but this provides a solid Number 2 Starting Pitcher that the Dodgers been looking for since Chad Billingsley was consistent. An Ace behind Kershaw is just what this pitching staff needed. Pending on the physical Zack Greinke will be the highest paid Right Hand Pitcher in MLB History which is pretty amazing looking at the deal but the Dodgers had a lot of money to spend and was willing to pay big for Greinke.
Zack Greinke will come from the O.C. to Hollywood as many expected and that will be huge but the Dodgers will not stop there. With about an hour left the Dodgers are working on signing the Left Hand Pitcher from Korea Ryu. If L.A. can’t get a deal done with Ryu then look for them to go after either Anibal Sanchez or Kyle Lohse who are both solid Starting pitchers. Don’t forget that Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang are both on the trading block as well so the Dodgers are working to put the team together to win a Championship this year. It’s a great time to be a Los Angeles Dodger and Dodger fan!
Dodgers Start off Hot
Dodgers starting off the season on Fire going 9-1 making it their best Start since 1988…That was the year they won the World Series. After All that the Dodgers have went through this is a start that the Dodgers and it’s fans could use. Now not to rain on parades but the last time the Dodgers had a great start was 2005 where the Dodgers jumped out of the gate at 12-2 but ended the season at 71-91 which was one of the Franchises worst records but what makes this so different is that the Dodgers have the players to do damage. I’ve heard it all from people regarding this start and while Many are excited about the 9-1 start others are skeptical stating that they’ve only played two teams that the Dodgers Should handle. I for one am Excited at the 9-1 Start but see room for improvement but what can you say?
I understand that we’re 10 games into a 162 Game season and anything can happen but rallying the wins for this Ball club won’t hurt. I will throw out one argument is the whole “Look at who the Dodgers played” or They’re suppose to be them comments. Its hard to go 9/10 In Baseball against Any Team in Baseball and the way the Dodgers Did it makes this start impressive. The Dodgers will be tested this week against on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers and get the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals (Yes I said the Nationals) at Dodgers Stadium before hitting a tough month of May. The 9-1 Start is a good build in momentum leading up to the tough games.
Why are the Dodgers on this good start. Well 10 Games in the Dodgers are playing really good Baseball. offensively the Dodgers are getting great production from Matt Kemp who has been continuing to play out of his mind and Andre Ethier is redeeming himself from a not so good 2011 Season and Juan Rivera is still that solid player to back them up but it’s not only those three stepping up to help. Mark Ellis, AJ Ellis, and YES Juan Uribe are also contributing with their bats. The Dodgers however need Dee Gordon to get on base to provide another Base Stealing threat for the Dodgers but Dee will have to have better plate discipline for that to happen. Pitching has also been pretty good. While Clayton Kershaw has yet to record a win others behind him has stepped up to help provide the wins. Chad Billingsley in two games has played like he did in his All-Star years proving to be a Solid number two. Ted Lilly in his first start back from injury and Chris Capuano has really stepped up as well. While some like the Bullpen right now Outside of Javy Guerra, Kenley Janson, and Josh Lindbloom ,who has done a great job so far, Im not yet sold on the Bullpen but so far has done a good job.
What does this start mean? Well for the Dodgers and Dodger fans it means a lot. After enduring what went down last season and the off-season with McCourt the Dodgers and the City of Los Angeles are riding a high off Momentum. Momentum that has started with Magic’s Group Purchase of the Dodgers and continuing with the Dodgers play and if the Dodgers keep this up then sky is the limit for the team. Now the Dodgers won’t sweep everyone or win every series but if the Dodgers can take 2 of 3 or 3 of 4 in most series games and the NL West then they’re in the Playoffs and add another NL West title. Los Angeles is buzzing thanks to the Boy in Blue. Something Special is happening in Los Angeles Baseball Fans.
Matthew
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