Rich Hill puts another win on the Dodger wall

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 7, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

Rich Hill and Logan Forsythe were two of the last holdouts this year in the summer of the Blue, but both have joined the fray, and the team looks unstoppable.

For the 3rd straight start, Rich Hill worked seven innings and now has twenty-seven strikeouts to only three walks over his last three starts. That is ace like work.  I’m still not convinced that giving the injury-prone thirty-seven year old a three-year deal was the best move but right now, it looks great.

I don’t do recaps unless the game is special since everybody else does them but this game fell under that special category.

You had the possibility of sweeping the Diamondbacks at home, breaking a little of that same spirit they broke with the Rockies two weeks ago.

Robbie Ray proved why he is an all-star. He doesn’t quite make up for the Diamondbacks trading Max Scherzer to the Tigers but it helps.  He was part of a three team deal that left the Tigers holding the bag while the Diamondbacks got Ray, and the Yankees got Didi Gregorious who has turned into a nice everyday SS.

Ray and Hill combined to strike out twenty-two hitters, out of thirty-nine outs. The game was 1 – 1 when both starters exited.

Luis Avilan was the first bullpen pitcher to get knocked around but he would not be the last.  None of Avilan, Morrow, or Fields did their jobs giving the Diamondbacks a 4 – 1 lead headed into the bottom of the 9th.

At which point Fernando Rodney lost the plate and eventually the game. The big hit was the Corey Seager single up the middle to tie the game.

Batting cleanup Chris Taylor would notch his fourth hit to win the game after Justin Turner was intentionally walked to load the bases.  His 1st hit was a bloop over the second baseman. His second hit was a bloop down the first base line.  His 3rd hit was shot to deep RCF.  His 4th hit was a walk-off line drive to LF over the head of the drawn in LF.

Joe Davis made a great call on the hit by Chris Taylor but the MLB videos have Charlie Steiner and that ain’t being linked. Oh fine, here is the link.

Which gets us back to Logan Forsythe. He’s been hot for ten games but in his last four starts, Mr. Forsythe has seven hits, four extra-base hits, three walks and is kick starting the offense.  His walk in the bottom of the 9th plated the first run and you just had faith that Logan was going to get something done, just like a month ago you had faith he would not get something done.

Forsythe is the craziness of baseball. A month ago he looked as lost at the plate as any hitter ever has, and right now he is as locked in as any hitter in baseball.

Anyway, the Dodgers won again. The swept another team trying to make a race of the NL West. It was their 9th sweep of the year. That is crazy.  It was their 58th win of the year and we still haven’t reached the all-star break. That is crazy. And according to their pythag, they are underperforming by two games.

You could make a case that the three best pitchers in the NL since Friday June 23rd have been Rich Hill, Alex Wood, and Clayton Kershaw.

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