By Charles Jay
The Los Angeles Dodgers went into the season hoping that Josh Beckett could recover successfully from surgery to repair thoracic outlet syndrome, which it appears he has done. His 2014 campaign thus far rates him as a primary contender for Comeback Player of the Year honors, and he put the icing on the cake last Saturday with a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Beckett is now 3-1 on the season, but his ERA is a very impressive 2.43, and opposing hitters are batting just .189 against him. For a Dodger team that won the National League West last season, his success should be regarded as a bonus. The Dodgers have had pretty decent luck with everybody else so far, and they hope that continues.
On Friday night, MLB betting followers will see Beckett take the mound at Dodger Stadium against the Pittsburgh Pirates (10:10 PM ET start) and left-hander Francisco Liriano, who authored a bit of a comeback story of his own last season.
In the MLB betting odds that have been posted by the people at VietBet, the Dodgers are favored in this ballgame:
Los Angeles Dodgers (Beckett – R) -126
Pittsburgh Pirates (Liriano – L) +116
Over 7 Runs -120
Under 7 Runs +100
Theoretically, Beckett can equal a major league record by throwing a second consecutive no-hitter; the only other man to do that was Johnny Vander Meer, back in 1938 for the Cincinnati Reds. But who knows if Don Mattingly would leave him out long enough to do it. Beckett threw 128 pitches on Saturday, which was his season-high, although he has gone past 100 three other times. But the likelihood is that Beckett will have a tighter pitch count than usual on him.
As VietBet patrons saw last night, the Pirates snapped a nine-game losing streak at Dodger Stadium with a 6-3 win. Dan Haren was serviceable enough for the Dodgers, giving up only three runs, but the bullpen, namely Brandon League, fell apart.
Baseball bettors know that if the Dodgers are going to win the World Series, it is going to be with pitching. Zack Greinke is looking like a prime contender to pick up his second Cy Young Award (8-1, 2.18 ERA). The general feeling is that southpaw Clayton Kershaw, who has won two Cy Youngs in the last three seasons, will improve upon his current numbers (3-2, 3.57 ERA), although he has already done a stint on the DL. Hyun-jin Ryu had a perfect game going against Cincinnati the day after Beckett’s no-hitter, and he’s been steady with a 3.10 ERA. Haren is a rather accomplished veteran who has not embarrassed himself. Then there is Chad Billingsley, who is coming off Tommy John surgery and is starting to throw a little now.
VietBet customers may not be overly impressed by the bullpen numbers, but they also know that when all is said and done, Kenley Jansen, Brian Wilson and Chris Perez will help comprise a very effective committee to take the team through the last third of a game.
Right now the Dodgers are having something of a problem in the starting lineup. There’s no difficulty with Yasiel Puig, who has now reached base in 30 consecutive games and is hitting .348. And Andre Ethier has been warming up of late. But Carl Crawford is out of the lineup with an ankle injury; third baseman Juan Uribe, a .303 hitter, is out as well. Matt Kemp, who has been bugged by injuries the last couple of seasons, has been shifted to left field because he couldn’t play center, and he is unhappy about it. There are cries for Hanley Ramirez to be shifted to third, because he is a liability at shortstop.
Some balance will probably have to be achieved, and the Dodgers are not back to third place in the NL West, 6.5 games behind San Francisco. What’s interesting is that even though they are still three games over .500 (29-26), they are still just one game in the standings better than they were at this time last year, when they were the last-place team in the West with a 22-30 record.
So I guess it’s just a matter of how you look at things.
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