The New York Mets (54-61) travel to the west coast Monday to kick off a three-game series against the first place and red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers (67-50) at 10:10 p.m. ET at Dodgers Stadium. The game can be live streamed here; Mets fans can listen to the action on WFAN at 660 AM or 101.9 FM while Dodgers fans can do the same by tuning in to KLAC 570.
Jenrry Mejia (1-1, 1.96 ERA) toes the rubber for the Mets while Ricky Nolasco (8-9, 3.65) will get the starting nod for the Dodgers. Nolasco was acquired from the Marlins on July 6.
The Dodgers are 37-8 since June 22 and now lead the National League West with a 7.5 game margin over the second place Arizona Diamondbacks and have won 11 out of their last 15 series. The Mets, on the other hand, sit in third place and are 16.5 games behind the surging Atlanta Braves, after taking two out of three games from the Diamondbacks over the weekend.
The Dodgers were 12-games under .500 before tying the franchise's best 45-game stretch in history. Los Angeles comes into Monday's game a little banged up. Hanley Ramirez, who is hitting .359 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs, has had an injury-plagued season, and hasn't played in the last seven games after hurting his right shoulder diving into the stands on a catch attempt. Adrian Gonzalez leads the Dodgers in homers (16) and RBIs (72), but left Sunday's game in the ninth inning due to dizziness. Center fielder Matt Kemp hasn't played since injuring his left ankle sliding into home plate in June, but reports indicate he's close to returning.
Despite the injuries, the Dodgers have shown no signs of letting up. One reason for the Dodgers success has been Cuban defector Yasiel Puig. Puig hasn't shown any signs of slowing down in August, having a batting average of .411 this month.
Meanwhile, the Mets have dealt with their own injuries as well. Captain and third baseman David Wright has been sidelined with a hamstring strain and he may not return this season. It's not all bad news on the injury front for the Mets as starter Jon Niese said he didn't experience any pain in his return from the disabled list Sunday, after he threw six innings.
While he's not having quite the call-up that Puig had, Mets 22-year-old infielder Wilmer Flores hit his first career long-ball in Sunday's game and continues to play well as the Mets look to fill the void left in the lineup by the injury to Wright.
It'll be an interesting clash between the Mets and Dodgers Monday night. The Mets are destined to not make the playoffs, while Los Angeles is looking to expand its NL West lead. While Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is excited for how his team is playing, he was quoted over the weekend saying that he almost lost his job when the Dodgers struggled earlier this season.
"[Team president] Stan [Kasten] was really honest," Mattingly told ESPN. "He didn't want to do anything but he said, 'Donnie, at some point I got to do something,' I understood it. I was fine with that. I understand. At some point you need a change of voice, a different voice."
Luckily for Mattingly, the way his Dodgers have played in the last 45 games leaves very little doubt that his future with the team is in jeopardy.
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