American Flag being heled by members of the U.S. Armed Forces On April 1st 2012
Opening week is in the books and it has been a real memorible one. We have seen Sandy Koufax throw out the first pitch, Clayton Kershaw hit his first career home run as well as shut out the Giants. We saw the debut of Hyun Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke pitching and Carl Crawford do work as the lead off hitter. Yes what an eventful week it was for the Dodgers. As Los Angeles prepares for their week long road trip lets look back at Opening Week.
Epic Moment of Opening Week: As if Opening Day wasn’t big enough with the game the Cerimonial first pitch was huge. Magic Johnson was prepared to throw out the first pitch until Don Mattingly came out and made a change. The cange turned out to be non other than Sandy Koufax. The Whole stadium erupted including myself. It was crazy to see and how the way the whole thing was played out wasell done including the video on how the ball got there.
Play of the week: There were a lot of good plays this week but I believe this has to go to Clayton Kershaw and his Home Run. The fact that no one expected him to hit a home run and how the way he got under it was something else. Hit a home run and have a complete game shut out against the hated Giants? What more can you ask for?
Carl Crawford was hurt?: From the time of the trade last season and on the huge question mark was at Left Field and carl Crawford. Crawford missed the rest of the 2012 season with Tommy John Surgery when he was with the Red Soxs. When the Dodgers traded for him people expected him to be out at least until June. When Spring Training came there was talk that Crawford playing April 1st until he had a set back which had many fans wondering if Crawford will even play Opening Day. Well late Spring Training Crawford played and made it to start on Opening Day and it seems as if he wasn’t hurt. Crawford has been playing really well Opening week batting .450 leading off for the Dodgers. Carl Crawford is doing this playing little games to really get him going and being eased into the line up. If he can stay healthy then there’s no doubt that he can help this team get into a position to strike.
Slow start for Kemp and Cruz: Matt Kemp and Luis Cruz have really been in a funk to start out the season. Matt Kemp who really had all of Spring to heal up seems to not get it together at the moment. When ever they have an opprotunity to do some damage and get runs on the board they either strike out or hit into a double play. Yes it’s early in the season but you can’t do that with runners in scoring position at all. Kemp and Cruz will get their act together but right now the slow start really hurts.
Zack Greinke Debuts: Zack Greinke was the most sought after Pitcher during free agency. When the Dodgers signed him he was expected to be number 2 behind Clayton Kershaw. April 5th Greinke made his Dodgers Debut and did not disapoint at all. Zack managed to pitch 6 innings striking out 6 batters and only giving up 2 hits. Batting wise he went 1-2 (Error was charged in his first at bat) and even manage to some what break up a double play. Zack Greinke had a good game and makes another start in San Deigo April 11th. I would love to see if he can follow up with a repeat of last week.
Zack Greinke had 6 Strikeouts, Gave up 2 hits and also went 1-2 batting in his Debut April 5th vs the Pirates.
현 진 류(Hyun Jin Ryu): Another Pitcher the Dodgers signed in the off-season was the Korean stand out Hyun Jin Ryu. Through out Spring Training Ryu had to quickly adjust to MLB baseball. The exhibition game vs Anaheim he was fantastic which had many fans really looking forward to seeing him pitch. His debut game was something else. April 2nd Ryu made his first career start against the Giants and was knocked around quite a bit. Ryu gave up 8 hits in a 3-0 loss to the Giants. If anything this is all apart of the process of him adjusting to the MLB. His last start Sunday vs the Pirates was a better game. Yes he gave up 5 hits and a bomb to Andrew McCutchen but he struck out 6 in 6 innings. While some say he had all of spring training to adjust many have to remember he pitched limited games and it’s still an adjustment when the regular season comes because he’ll be pitching more frequently. Hyun Jin Ryu will be in a learning process for a few starts before he can really get it together.
What will we learn from the Dodgers on the road: Getting an early road trip in will show what the Dodgers can do in streatches like this. If anything we’ll see if the Dodgers can fix their problems with the slow start and leaving runners on base. San Deigo and Arizona will be interesting to see. My main concern is the Arizona series just for the fact the D-Backs have had the Dodgers numbers quite a few times before.
