Earlier this season, I tried to predict the future and admitted to some worries about the depth of the Dodgers bullpen, but it’s time for a slice of humble pie as the regular season comes to an end.
As I write this blog, the Dodgers have a magic number of five to secure their place as NL West champions, and could just about afford to lose every other game this season and still sneak in as a wildcard.
But many of those recent wins have come courtesy of, and thanks to, an amazing bullpen which leads the ERA standings in the whole of baseball by nearly half-a-run (and the lead is over rivals San Francisco just to make it that little bit more important).
I did say back in the middle of the summer that new blood was probably needed to make things better at the back-end of the ‘pen, and that came in the form of George Sherrill, who had been doing well this season in his role as closer for the Orioles.
But the lefty’s return to the West Coast has improved his form even more, with a miniscule 0.40 ERA in 24 appearances for the Dodgers so far and opposing batters hitting only .188 against him.
That means he has given up one run (just one) in 22 1/3 innings and he has been just about unhittable in his outings other than that one blown save at the end of last month, providing a perfect bridge to a now fully healthy Jon Broxton.
James McDonald has also been an excellent add to the pen since starting to bring down his walk rate, with just one bad outing in San Diego, but that was all forgotten about in a superb three-inning outing last week against the Pirates, a game the Dodgers went on to win in 13 innings.
But not all is quite so bright, as Chad Billingsley’s struggles continued when he returned to the bullpen in a defeat by the Giants, and it is beginning to look doubtful if he will even be fit enough mentally to pitch in the post-season, let alone be able to fulfil a vital starting role.
With Clayton Kershaw due back from his injury this week, in the pen at first, baseball betting suggests that Randy Wolf will be on the mound when the Dodgers (let’s make an assumption now) open their playoff run later this month, and the chances of Vicente Padilla being in the rotation have improved…just like his health and general performances.
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