Johan Santana mowing down Rangers hitters yesterday was like Baxter eating an entire wheel of cheese...it was so remarkable, you couldn't even be angry about it.
Yeah, it is a bad Rangers lineup right now, but still, Santana's 17 Ks are a career high for him, which says a lot. Santana's game score from yesterday of 95 is the highest of his career, and only the 2nd time in his career he's cracked 90.
Edinson Volquez returns to the majors on Tuesday, and will start against the Orioles. I'm still not convinced Volquez isn't going to end up in the bullpen, ultimately, but given the way he's performed the last several weeks in the minors, he's earned another shot at the major league rotation.
Dave Sessions says Akinori Otsuka could be shut down for the season if he's not ready to pitch in the next couple of weeks. Given that Otsuka was initially not put on the d.l. in early July, because it was believed he wouldn't be out 15 days, this forearm issue has gotten pretty troubling. If he doesn't pitch the rest of the way, you aren't going to be able to deal him this offseason, but he should have some value at the trade deadline next year if he comes back healthy...
The Dodgers are now 6.5 games back of the first place Arizona Diamondbacks in the N.L. West, and 2.5 games back of San Diego in the wild card race (with the Phillies and Braves both ahead of them, and the Rockies and Brewers right behind them). You can argue either way, that this means the Dodgers blew it in not making a move for Teixeira, or were smart in not giving up a ton to get Teixeira.
However, James Loney, whose emergence supposedly meant that the Dodgers didn't need Teixeira, is hitting .203/.253/.275 since July 26. The Dodgers, as a team, are hitting .241/.290/.347 in August, 80 points of OPS lower that the next-closest N.L. team, and they've scored just 56 runs this month, 17 runs fewer than any other N.L. team this month.