Tag: Los Angeles Dodgers

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Padres strike back



Padres take 1 game lead

1. The Western Roller Coaster: On Monday the Dodgers took the NL West lead in incredible fashion. Yesterday, the lead was back in the hands of the Padres. Can somebody just clinch this one already? The Padres defeated the Diamondbacks 5-2 in what was pretty much your average game. Mike Cameron and Adrian Gonzalez homered for San Diego, and starter Clay Hensley remained hot with another win. Trevor Hoffman recovered from his Monday meltdown with his 40th save of the year. He’s at 476 career saves, two behind the all time record, and yet this is still not a more major story. This bugs us. Wouldn’t somebody chasing the all time homerun or wins record get unprecedented attention? And yet Hoffman is still pitching in relative obscurity in a pure case of East Coast bias. Whatever. Hoffman’s Padres are back on top.

2. Next to clinch: Yesterday the New York Mets clinched the first playoff spot and the NL East division title. Today the New York Yankees can do the same. Their magic number is just 1 after they beat the Blue Jays for the second straight day. Bobby Abreu hit a two-run homer in the seventh to break a 3-3 tie. Hideki Matsui, who returned from the DL a couple weeks ago, hit another homerun. He has two homers, five runs driven in, and is hitting .409 since his return from the DL. The Yanks won 6-3 to take their fifth straight game against the Blue Jays. They still have the AL’s best record.

3. Setback: The Tigers could have virtually eliminated the White Sox with a win against them yesterday. But with Freddy Garcia’s marvelous start and the usual homer-happy offense, the Sox crushed the Tigers 7-0. Garcia pitched 8 innings, allowing just two walks and one hit. It was his second straight eight inning, no run start as Garcia improved to 15-9. Offensively, Jim Thome hit his 41st homer of the season and Jermaine Dye hit his 43rd. AJ Pierzynski added four RBIs, and the ChiSox improved to five games back of the Tigers. However, the Twins won, so they are still four games behind them.

4. The Winners once again: The St. Louis Cardinals are just games away from clinching their third straight NL Central title. They’re seven games up on the Reds after both teams won yesterday. The Cards shellacked the Brew Crew 12-2, with good work on the mound and in the batter’s box. Jeff Weaver, who has slightly improved from his pitiful state earlier in the year, improved to 4-4 since joining St. Louis. He pitched six decent innings and got plenty of help from the team’s bats. Albert Pujols, who ranks in the NL’s top 10 in virtually every category possible, went 2-5 and had 2 RBIs. Ronnie Belliard went 3-4 with 4 runs, and Aaron Miles had a 4-6, three-RBI day. The Cards are 80-69 and have looked pretty good this month. They’ll go into the playoffs as a dangerous threat to the supremacy of the Mets.

5. Teams still alive: Here are the only teams still alive mathematically for the postseason. In the AL, the Yankees, Tigers, and A’s are leading their divisions, while the Red Sox (at least right now), Angels (only barely), White Sox, and Twins still have a shot. In the NL, the Mets are in, while the Cards are close. The Dodgers and Padres both refuse to claim the NL West, while the Phillies, Giants, and even the Marlins still have hope left. So there you have it. Those are the only teams still worth paying attention to.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Padres take the division lead


1. Overtaken: The San Diego Padres were finally able to pass the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West division lead. The Dodgers had been in first since August 10, when they passed the Padres after a huge winning streak. Now the Padres have returned the favor with two straight wins against their divisional rivals. They won 2-1 yesterday behind six innings of shutout, one-hit pitching by Chris Young. Young has surrendered just a .217 opponents’ batting average, ranking him third in the league. But Young didn’t get the win, as this game wasn’t decided until the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Terrmel Sledge hit a run-scoring single to gain a 2-1 lead, and then Trevor Hoffman closed the door. Hoffman’s 39 saves lead the NL and have brought him to within 4 of Lee Smith’s all-time record of 478. He’ll need to slightly increase his pace to get the record.

2. Right on their heels: The Dodgers lead the Wild Card now, but they have a team right behind them. That would be the Philadelphia Phillies, who have won 5 of their last 6 and swept the Astros over the weekend. All of this winning puts them at 77-72, just one game back of the Wild Card lead. Yesterday’s 6-4 win over the `Stros was powered by four Phillies homers, including one by slugger Ryan Howard. That gave him 57 on the year and ended a week-long power drought. He’s currently on pace for 62 shots this season. A more unlikely player, catcher Mike Lieberthal, hit two solo blasts himself in the Phillies win. The Phillies have got fire at the right time and seemed destined for a playoff berth. If they get that far, who knows what could happen in the postseason.

3. 10th-inning antics: In a game between the Marlins and the Braves, you know some crazy relief pitching may occur. That was the case yesterday, when 9 combined runs were scored in the 10th inning. The Marlins were first to strike, when Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla each drove in two runs in the top of the tenth to make the score 7-3. At this point it seemed like Chad Paronto was going to give the Braves bullpen another horrific memory from this season. But then that was all forgotten when Joe Borowski, the usual Marlins closer, got leveled. First Matt Diaz hit a two-run double. Then the Braves scored three more runs off two Marlins errors. That gave them an 8-7 victory and an overall series win over the Marlins, who are desperate to stay alive in the loaded NL Wild Card race.

4. Dark Horse: No one is really giving the Oakland A’s much attention in the American League, but this team has an excellent shot at going to the World Series. They swept the Chicago White Sox over the weekend, putting the Sox four games behind the Wild Card-leading Twins. Oakland edged them 5-4 yesterday, with Frank Thomas continuing his streak of dominance. He hit a homer and 3 RBIs, and already has 10 and 26 for the month. Though he looked terrible in April, Thomas’ batting average has increased each month of the season. He is now the A’s most dominant hitter. Their pitching is in good shape too, as Joe Blanton improved to 16-11 with a win. He is one of four Oakland pitchers with more than 10 wins this season. They are 7 games up in their division.

5. The homering pitcher: Carlos Zambrano is an excellent pitcher, and he’s also one of the best-hitting hurlers as well. He hit his fifth homer of the year yesterday and also has 10 RBIs. His homer came in the first inning, his second shot in the first this year. According to Elias Sports, that equals the total of first inning homers by every pitcher the last 21 years. By the way, Zambrano also pitched seven shutout innings to improve to 15-6.

Categories
MLB General

Sep 18 in Sports History: Dodgers outfielder goes nuts on flight



20 K day

In 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Len Koenecke was dismissed from the team by new manager Casey Stengel for erratic play and strange behavior. After being kicked off the flight home for being drunk and threatening the airline crew and passengers, Koenecke, a .297 career hitter, decided to charter his own plane home to Buffalo. On board that plane, he tried to grab the controls and fought with the pilots During the scuffle, the co-pilot reportedly hit Koenecke on the head with a fire extinguisher and killed him. He was 31 years old. (courtesy of baseballlibrary.com)

In 1996: For the second time in his career, Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox struck out 20 batters in a 9 inning game. Clemens fanned 20 Detroit Tigers and walked none in a 4-0 Boston vicrory at Tiger Stadium. Clemens also accomplished the feat against the Seattle Mariners in 1986.

In 1986: On the same day they tied the ML record for losses in a season in 1962, the New York Mets clinched the NL East Division crown with a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. It was their first division title since 1973, and their 108 victories was the most in the NL since the 1975 Reds. Jubilant Mets’ fans stormed the field in celebration, nearly destroying the playing surface. The Mets went on to defeat Houston in the NLCS and the Red Sox in the World Series.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Padres eyeing division title


1. The Battle for the West: Are you ready for a defining series? Just like the five-game Yankees-Red Sox melee a month ago, it could decide a division. That division is the NL West, and the teams are the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres will enter this four-game weekend set on a roll, having won 7 of their last 10 games. They finished off the Reds last night with a 4-2 victory, with all runs for both teams being scored in the 7th inning. San Diego will enter that series just a half-game back of the Dodgers for the division lead, as Los Angeles has been crumbling lately. They’ve gone 4-6 in their last 10, and they lost to the pitiful Cubs yesterday. It looks like the Padres have all the momentum going into this duel, and if they can sweep it they might virtually clinch the NL West division title.

2. Still going: When will the Giants run out of steam? They’ve been great the entire month, with an 8-4 record in September and a 19-9 record since August 14. Yesterday they shut down the Rockies 5-0, with Matt Cain having a fantastic start. Cain allowed no earned runs for his 4th consecutive start and has lowered his ERA from 4.89 to 3.75 since August 12. Yesterday, Cain gave up just two hits and struck out seven. He led the 74-72 Giants to another victory to keep them 2.5 games back of the Wild Card leader, the Padres.

3. What an offense: The Yankees offense this season has been truly great, and now they are boosted by the return of Hideki Matsui from injury. Matsui homered yesterday for the first time since May 9 as the Yanks destroyed the Devil Rays 7-4 to bring out the brooms. The sweep was won by a combined 27-12 in three games, with the D-Rays notching exactly four runs in each game and the Yankees simply outscoring them. Derek Jeter went 2-4 to extend his hit streak to 23 games, and .339 hitter Robinson Cano went 2-4 with 3 RBIs. New York leads the entire majors in runs scored, with 32 more than the second-place White Sox. They also lead the league in batting average (.285), OBP (.365), and OPS (.825). They’ll probably get Gary Sheffield back in time for the playoffs as well.

4. Making up for lost time: The Angels were battling with a .500 record for most of July and early August. Now, their focus is on the Oakland A’s after a 17-9 run the past month. The Angels are 9-4 so far in September, and they control their own destiny down the stretch. Though they are five games behind Oakland, Los Angeles plays them 7 times over the next two weeks. They also have 6 more games against division rival Texas, who they defeated 2-1 last night. Could they make an improbable run at the playoffs? That’s one of the more interesting occurrences as we head down the stretch.

5. The Amazing Races: What’s the status of each major race in baseball? Let’s start with the AL East, where the Yankees have things wrapped up. They lead by 11.5 games over Boston, who has little to no shot of catching them. the AL Central race is far more interesting. The Tigers still lead, but only by a measly game over the smokin’ Twins. The White Sox lurk at three games back, so don’t count them out either. We’ve already given you the AL West, so let’s move on to the NL. The biggest divisional lead in baseball, as it has been for a while, is the Mets over the Phillies in the NL East. They lead by 16.5 games and have a magic number of 3. In the Central, the Cardinals lead by 5.5 games, though the Reds have faded. St. Louis should have the division in their pocket by next week. Houston is six games back and should finish the year in second place. So there you have it.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Liriano down and out



Liriano out for the season

1. Double Blow: Yesterday was a big day for the Minnesota Twins; it marked the return of Francisco Liriano. While the day started out hopeful, it soon turned towards the negative. Liriano, though he pitched two great innings, left with elbow problems again. He hadn’t pitched for more than a month due to his elbow, and now Liriano will be out for the rest of the year. This will be a huge blow to the Twins, who need a pitcher down the stretch that can complement Johan Santana. The Twins lost to the A’s 1-0, with Oakland’s Dan Haren throwing eight innings of shutout ball. They still lead the White Sox by one-and-a-half in the Wild Card standings.

2. Perfect? Almost: After Anibal Sanchez’s no-hitter last week, we almost saw two perfectos last night. Ben Sheets and Freddy Garcia each took a perfect game into the seventh inning last night, with Garcia recording 23 straight outs to start his ballgame. Garcia and his White Sox faced the Angels, and he didn’t allow a baserunner until there were two outs in the eighth. Then Adam Kennedy, who is hitting .266 on the year, broke it up with the Angels’ only hit of the night. Garcia improved to 14-9 and his ERA dipped under 5 to 4.82. Meanwhile, Ben Sheets of the Brewers allowed nothing until a leadoff single in the seventh and a homerun to Pirates backup catcher Ryan Doumit. Otherwise he was perfect, finishing with eight innings pitched and 10 strikeouts.

3. Changing of the Guard: The San Diego Padres played the Cincinnati Reds yesterday in a matchup of current and past Wild Card leaders. The team currently on top, the Padres, stormed through the Reds, winning 10-0. Jake Peavy pitched 6 innings, allowing just 3 hits and no runs while extending his NL lead in strikeouts. Peavy has looked like the ace he is in three September starts, with a 1.66 ERA and .171 opponents’ batting average. Mike Piazza also hit his 22nd homer of the season, as he remarkably leads all catchers once again. The Padres Wild Card lead actually shrunk on the day, as the Philadelphia Phillies won both games of a doubleheader to move to 1.5 games back.

4. Ninety: The New York Mets became the first major league team to win 90 games on the season yesterday, improving to 90-55. They defeated the Florida Marlins 7-4, though they were trailing leading into the ninth inning. The Mets needed a pinch-hit RBI single by Carlos Delgado to send the game into extras, where they excelled. New York put up three runs in the 11th to beat the Florida Marlins, who got another great game from Josh Willingham. Willingham homered for his third straight game, and has 6 RBIs and 8 hits during that span. But that wasn’t enough to take down the mighty Mets, who have scored the second-most runs in the NL and allowed the second-fewest. They have the league’s best home record and its best road record, and should absolutely represent the NL in the World Series. Only a catastrophic injury or just poor playoff performance could keep them from that.

5. Penny’s worth to the Dodgers: Who is the most valuable player on the Dodgers? What player has propelled them from no-show to leader in the division? This is not a team loaded with stars. There are two players that have been particularly good though–and that made the All Star team. They are Brad Penny and Nomar Garciaparra, who each contributed yesterday in LA’s 6-0 victory. Nomar had two hits and two RBIs. He leads the team in batting average, homers, and RBIs among other things. Penny meanwhile, was in shutout form through seven inning to win his NL-leading 16th game. The 77-68 Dodgers are just 61-60 in games Penny has not recorded a decision. Both are valuable, but we’d take the player that started the All Star game and hasn’t looked back.

Categories
Boxing

August 31 in Sports History: Rocky Marciano killed in plane crash



Oh there they go. There they go, every
time I start talkin ’bout boxing, a
white man got to pull Rocky Marciano
out their ass. That’s their one, that’s
their one. Rocky Marciano. Rocky
Marciano.

In 1969: Former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano was killed in a plane crash near Newton, Iowa. The only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated at 49-0, Marciano died just one day shy of his 46th birthday. He had 43 career knockouts, including the great Joe Louis and Jersey Joe Walcott.

In 1881: As a precursor to the modern day U.S. Open, the first national tennis championship took place in Newport, RI. Richard Sears won the men’s singles (there were no doubles or ladies matches) for the first of seven straight titles.

In 1990: Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. became the first father-son tandem to start as teammates in a Major League game. With dad in left field and son in center, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Royals 5-2. Both singled and went 1-4.

In 1959: Sandy Koufax of the L.A. Dodgers tied Bob Feller’s ML record with 18 strikeouts in a 5-2 win against the Giants in front of 82,000 fans at the Coliseum. Koufax set another mark with 31 K’s over two games. The single-game record would be topped by Steve Carlton (19) in 1969 and again by Roger Clemens in 1986 and Kerry Wood in 1998 (20).

Categories
New York Mets

August 25 in Sports History: Doc Gooden enters the record books


In 1985: Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the youngest pitcher ever to record 20 wins in a season with a 9-3 victory over the Padres. “Doctor K” was 20 years and nine months, one month older than Bob Feller, who previously held the record. Gooden won the pitching Triple Crown that year with a 24-4 record, 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts. He helped the Mets win the World Series in 1986, but substance abuse and off-the-field problems ruined what probably would have been a Hall of Fame career. He became a journeyman instead, drifting to the Yankees (where he threw a no-hitter in 1996), Indians, Astros and Devil Rays. He retired as a Yankee in 2000. (baseballlibrary.com)

In 1939: The first nationally televised Major League Baseball game took place in Cincinnati, with a doubleheader between the Dodgers and the Reds. The game was broadcast by Red Barber over W2XBS, and the teams split the doubleheader. In 1995, Windows 95 debuted, and in 1853, potato chips were invented by chef George Crum (seriously). (Magic City Morning Star)

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Mets vs Cardinals as good as advertised



Bill Clinton approves this series

1. NLCS Preview?: In possibly the best overall matchup possible between National League teams, the Cardinals took on the Mets last night in Flushing. The result was better than anyone could have even anticipated, as the best offensive players for each side really took off. Albert Pujols hit a 3-run homerun in the third and followed it up with a fourth-inning grand slam. His 2 homeruns and 7 RBIs gave him 38 and 105 for the year, and he completely carried his team’s offense for the night. For the Mets, Carlos Delgado hit two blasts of his own, including a towering grand slam that gave him 400 career homeruns. But the Cardinals were still winning 7-6 heading into the 9th inning. That’s when Carlos Beltran stepped up. The slugger, who was 0-4 going into the inning, hit a walk off two run homerun to win the game for New York. It was one of the best games of the year in the NL, and there are still two games to go in this series.

2. NL West Showdown: We can’t believe we’re saying this after months of NL West bashing, but there is actually a watchable series in the division. The Dodgers are taking on the Padres in a battle of the top two teams in the West. So far, the Padres have absolutely dominated the season series over the division leader. They have taken 10 of 13 from LA, including a 1-0 win last night. Jake Peavy pitched a great game to continue his recent success, while Mike Piazza drove in the only run of the night. Peavy has had one of the more puzzling seasons of any pitcher. While he is third in the league in strikeouts and has a good 1.23 WHIP, Peavy owns an awful 7-12 record. That’s due in part to poor run support, and in part to Peavy’s underwhelming 4.35 ERA. But he won last night as the Padres won their third in a row to close the gap between them and the Dodgers to two games.

3. Next step: division lead: With the Cardinals loss, all the Reds needed to do was win to put them one game back of the division leaders. They did more than that. Cincy annihilated the Astros 14-0, crushing them in every way possible. Offensively they put up 4 runs in the second and 8 in the third. Brandon Phillips started the scoring with a solo shot, while Scott Hatteberg and Adam Dunn tacked on two more homers. Then Kyle Lohse, who had been simply awful before being traded from the Twins to the Reds this year, pitched his fourth straight quality start with 8 shutout innings. His masterpiece gave Lohse his first win as a Red and his ERA is now 1.65 with the team. Now at 66-60, Cincinnati is one game back of St. Louis and has the same amount of victories as the Cardinals. They are closing in on the team that has won two straight Central division titles.

4. AL Roundup: There were plenty of events in the AL yesterday as well. The Seattle Mariners ended an 11 game win streak with a 6-5 defeat of the Yankees. Adrian Beltre hit a walk-off homer, his second of the night and 15th of the year. The Red Sox continued their poor play with a 4-3 loss to the Angels, keeping them 6.5 back of the Yankees. Also, Kenny Rogers pitched 7 shutout innings for the Tigers as they beat the White Sox again, 4-0. Marcus Thames continued the Detroit tradition this year of unknown players stepping up, with a homer, a triple, and 3 RBIs. And finally, the Blue Jays improved after last night’s embarrassment, defeating the Athletics 4-3 as AJ Burnett won his 4th consecutive start. Fortunately, Jays manager John Gibbons didn’t challenge Burnett to a fight for the 3 runs he allowed.

5. Winning games, losing money: While the Yankees continue to spend, spend, and spend some more on free agents, few people think about whether the team has the funds to support their gigantic $200 million payroll. Well here’s the answer: they don’t. Yankees GM Brian Cashman (what a name!) reported yesterday that despite all the money the team is making, they are still losing money due to revenue sharing. Last year they made the most money in baseball with $277 million in revenue, but still lost $50 million overall. Perhaps this isn’t a good time to remember their $1 billion-plus new stadium that the team has to finance in part.

Categories
San Francisco Giants

August 22 in Sports History: Baseball’s ugliest brawl


In 1965: The ugliest brawl in baseball history took place at Candlestick Park in a game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. Upset that Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax would not retaliate against Giants’ pitcher Juan Marichal for hitting two Dodgers, catcher John Roseboro took matters into his own hands. When Marichal stepped to the plate, Roseboro threw the ball back to Koufax by barely missing Marichal’s head. Marichal said something, and a 14-minute melee ensued when Marichal hit Roseboro on the head with the bat. Roseboro needed 14 stitches to close the wound. Marichal, one of the best pitchers of the sixties, was suspended eight games and fined a then-record $1750. The brawl also cost him election into the Hall of Fame on his first two ballots. Check out this story for more.

In 2000: At Coors Field, Colorado Rockies’ catcher Brett Mayne became just the third position player in history to win a game on the mound. Having already used an NL record 10 pitchers, the Rockies sent Mayne to the mound, and he worked a scoreless 11th inning. He got the win when the Rockies scored in the bottom of the inning to beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6. Also, in San Diego, Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell of the Mets mopped up on the mound in a 16-1 loss to the Padres. He didn’t fare as well, giving up three hits, three walks and four earned runs. (baseballlibrary.com)

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Can Johan Santana pull off the Pitching Triple Crown?


1. After-break ace: Johan Santana, always an ace after the All Star break, is at it again. He improved to 5-0 after the break this year with a win last night over the Indians. He had a fantastic game, tossing 8 innings of shutout ball against one of the league’s toughest offenses. Santana struck out 9 to elevate his major league-leading total to 187. With a 14-5 record and 3.10 ERA to go along with those strikeouts, Johan has a realistic shot at the Pitching Triple Crown. He is 3rd in ERA (with two rookies ahead of him) and trails only Roy Halladay in wins. He helped the Twins roll along to 20 games above .500.

2. Detroit wins Duels: With the Tigers’ outstanding pitching and efficient offense, they can win just about any game in a pitchers’ duel. That remained true last night, when they ousted the Red Sox 3-2. Jeremy Bonderman and Curt Schilling each pitched very well for their teams. Strikeout specialist Bonderman mowed down 8 Sox in seven innings while only allowing 2 runs. Schilling didn’t walk anybody but allowed 9 hits and 2 runs in seven. The game wasn’t decided until the ninth inning, when Mike Timlin–who was oddly in the game instead of closer Jonathan Papelbon–allowed an RBI single to Craig Monroe. Then Todd Jones was able to save his 16th save chance in a row without blowing one. He has 33 on the year. The Tigers moved to 6.5 games ahead of the White Sox (who lost), while the BoSox fell to 3 games back of the Yankees (who won). Both teams will play their main rivals later this week.

3. Enough of 18: You could call the Houston Astros the most worn-out team in baseball, or you could call them the most dramatic. Whatever the case is, they always seem to be playing in extremely long games. Yesterday they went 18 innings against the Cubs, their third game of such length in the past year. Houston’s Roger Clemens, who has been an automatic quality start so far this year, allowed a season-high 5 runs but still almost got a win. The only reason he didn’t was because of the Cubs’ Matt Murton, whose homerun in the ninth tied the game at 6. it stayed there for a while, for 8 more innings in fact. The tie was finally broken in the 18th, when it was Murton who drove in the winning runs. So the Cubs won, but it is Houston and their sense to play in extremely long games that has us puzzled. Their pitching staff has now thrown an MLB-high 1081 innings on the year, about thirty more than most teams. Could this wear and tear affect them as they try to make another run down the stretch? We’ll see.

4. Another 18: In one of most coincidental twists in the entire MLB this year, another 18-inning game was played yesterday. It was the first time that two games of this length had ever been played on the same day. The other victims were the Diamondbacks and Rockies, who played the longest game in the history of Coors Field. It lasted almost 5 and a half hours and featured 15 pitchers (still short of the Astros-Cubs’ whopping 18). This one was lower scoring from the get-go. The Rockies’ Jason Jennings had another great start with 8 innings pitched and just one run allowed. Miguel Bautista of the D-Backs pitched 6 and also allowed one. That set the stage for an enormous drought in scoring. For a mind-blowing 12 straight innings, neither team put a single run on the board. The 1-1 tie was finally broken in the 18th, when Luis Gonzalez delivered his only hit in 8 at-bats: a single that drove in the winning run. So that was the second 18-inning game on the same day! This might never happen again.

5. LA Law: Los Angeles is “laying down the law” on opposing teams, with 17 wins in their last 18 games. The streak is now reaching the historic. They are only one of two teams in the last 100 National League seasons to have a streak of such magnitude. According to baseball-reference.com, the streak is better than any in Dodgers history over an 18-game period. It is better than any run since the A’s magical 20-game win streak in 2002, a record that might never be broken. LA now leads by 3.5 games in the NL West, and they have the best home record (39-25) in the National League. Can they keep it up? Considering their weak division, yes.