The Los Angeles Dodgers were left for dead back in early May when the team was playing awful baseball, but after an amazing run fueled by the play of Cuban rookie Yasiel Puig, the team is right back in contention and now has the chance to start the second half of the season with some success against the Washington Nationals.
Los Angeles has been playing at a 17-5 clip since late June and now they have dug themselves out from under their poor play to get just 2 1/2 games of NL West-leading Arizona and with a win against the Nationals the team can start the second half the right way. Manager Don Mattingly said the team has been playing inspired ball and that despite ranking 26th in the majors in runs per game, the team has been fantastic over the past 22 games, scoring nearly five runs with an ERA of under 3.00.
The team has been helped by the trade for Marline pitcher Rocky Nolasco and now the team may be in the mix for Matt Garza from the Cubs as well. The Nationals will counter Nolaso on Friday night with Stephen Strasburg, who will be motivated after having one of the worst starts of his career. The Nats are six games behind Atlanta in the AL East and have been awful on offense, so they will need a strong start from Strasburg. The team ranks in the bottom part of the league in nearly all categories on offense and after going 2-5 into the break, they will be looking for some wins here as the second half starts.
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Strasburg is 5-7 with a 2.99 ERA this season and he will be happy to get on the mound to erase the memory of his last start, as he only lasted two innings and gave up seven earned runs to Miami. Puig will get the attention on Friday night, but Strasburg has been excellent against the Dodgers in his short career, coming in with a 0.75 ERA and striking out 13 in 12 innings. Puig was pushing to get into the All-Star game the way he was playing after hitting .391 with eight homers, 19 RBIs, 28 runs and five stolen bases in less than 40 games, but the true hot hitter for the Dodgers right now is Hanley Ramirez, who is batting .427 with seven homers and 22 RBIs over a 26-game stretch and now the Dodgers will try and continue that strong play as they play the Nationals for a three game set on the road.