Dodgers’ Ryu Hyun-jin collects 4th win of season vs. Mets

The Los Angeles Dodgers are chasing history and competing with one of the greatest teams the sport of baseball had ever seen.

The left-hander has now thrown at least five innings and held his opponents to two earned runs or fewer in each of his past six starts. Rather than lay such a ridiculous price on the best team in baseball, why not target the more reasonably priced runline, where the Dodgers have covered the 1.5 runs in 34 of their 47 home wins this season (.723).

As stated in that analysis, the Diamondbacks will need a minimum of three solid innings from each starter and by solid, that means not allowing the Dodgers to score more than one run. Hyun-Jin Ryu tossed another seven shutout innings as he continues his return to old form. In the third, Ryu allowed a single to Travis d’Arnaud, but struck out the next two batters – Amed Rosario and Steven Matz – and got Michael Conforto on a grounder to second to end the inning. Here’s Rose, waiting to call the game’s first pitch.and waiting.and waiting some more, for the “network stooge” to give the okay to begin play. And how, Matz is crumbling and quickly losing his status as an elite starting pitcher for the Mets and in the National League.

Save for his first inning from the last start; Rich Hill is dealing, as are Ryu and Maeda (as of late).

In the third, Justin Turner hit a two-run home run to extend the lead to 5-0 and with another two-run home run by Cody Bellinger in the eight, the Dodgers finalized their victory. In this case it was Turner. Valencia homered two batters in, Seager hit his 18th later in the first inning, and Cruz hit the first of his two homers in the second. The New York Mets were only able to muster one hit tonight. “We’ve told him along with everybody else: Of 30 starts, you’re going to feel good one-third of the time, feel bad one-third of the time and the other one-third you’re going to be OK, and now you got to learn how to pitch when you’re just OK. But he’s got to pitch”. It is now evident this is not their season to be, it appeared that way since the month of May.

Matz (2-5) allowed five runs in 5 1⁄3 innings in the Mets’ 8-0 loss to the Dodgers, continuing a disturbing trend in which the Long Island lefty’s ERA has ballooned to 5.77.

Matz gave up three runs in the first and two in the third. Los Angeles swept the seven-game season series – the first time either team has swept the other since NY began play in 1962 – by a whopping 57-15 margin.

This is how the games will be managed in October, so why not get a head start?

With a series of acquisitions before the trade deadline, the club is better-positioned to bring a World Series championship to the city of of Los Angeles than any of the teams that failed before them since the Dodgers last won it all in 1988. “I know our players and they realize that we haven’t done anything yet”.

The problem was the Dodgers couldn’t figure out Mets starter Seth Lugo, who was either forcing L.A. into soft contact or striking its hitters out (he finished with seven for the game).

Jeff Samardzija pitched 6 1/3 strong innings, Jarrett Parker hit a two-run homer, and San Francisco defeated Arizona. He had a 2.12 ERA after his first five outings, but it’s 11.06 in the last six.

“It’s shocking”, Collins said. “This guys has got too good of stuff”. “I think we got a little complacent”. And for that matter Steven Matz can be a dominant pitcher.