Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Fireworks were expected, but the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ came up with a bunch of duds.
Zack Greinke and the Los Angeles Dodgers headed to Arizona to square off against the D’Backs for the first time since the two clubs duked it out on June 11 in an ugly bench-clearing brawl. The Dodgers were a lot further back in the standings when the first meeting happened, so it seemed like this one might carry a little extra weight.
Greinke stole the show, racking up impressive performances both on the mound and with the bat. He went 3-for-3 at the plate to go with his masterful pitching performance. He tossed seven innings allowing just two hits and no runs.
The Dodgers are now nipping at the Diamondbacks heels, trailing them by just 3.5 games after taking the first game of the series. No other team in the National League West has been showing signs of life lately. The San Diego Padres have dropped their last nine games since reaching the .500 mark, while the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants are just coasting along.
None of the teams are that far out of the division race, but the Dodgers are the clearly the team to beat right now. They have won 13 of their last 16 games and have Yasiel Puig igniting the offense. They’re finally starting to look like the team that people expected them to be before the season started. They’re quickly nearing the .500 mark (currently 43-45) after being 10 games under on June 14.
Whether it’s Puig, Greinke or whoever else, the Dodgers are the top dogs in the division for the time being.
David Fouty is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davefouty, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google+.
