After two very winnable games that became two very brutal losses to start the series against the Phillies, the same formula repeated itself in the finale. The Dodgers jumped out to an early lead, Blake Snell was dominant, and it looked like they would cruise to victory ... and this time they actually did?! They tacked on a pair of insurance runs late, and the pen pitched two scoreless as they managed to salvage a 5-0 win from a series they arguably should've swept.
"I mean, yeah, I would love to help the team right now. I don't know if it's pressure. I still have to focus on myself, because I'm not out of the woods yet. You know, I got to continue to build up with the rehab program that they're putting together for me, got to continue to build up throwing. So no, I mean, I'm still at the point of taking it one day at a time."
The MLB playoffs are just around the corner and shaping up to be a wide-open affair. For the second consecutive season, there is not a single team on pace to win 100 or more games. That means there is plenty of parity across the majors, which is bound to carry over to October.
"I really don't feel anything when I'm hitting right now," Edman said. "In terms of it affecting me by being painful, it's not painful at all when I hit. So I don't know if I got into bad habits when I was trying to come back and it still did hurt, but right now I don't feel it at all."
The 33-year old was taken No. 7 overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2011 MLB Draft. Most scouts presumed Bradley to become an elite starting pitcher out of his native Oklahoma. Instead, Bradley morphed into a very credible reliever over the course of what was a nine-year career. He featured mostly for Arizona - though his time in the big leagues also included stops with the Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and the Miami Marlins.
That remains to be seen how Josh feels about the matter. It's never easy when you're in a playoff race to open discussions like that. I know that there is interest on our end, and I believe that there is interest on Josh's end.
Edman, 30, joined the Dodgers in a three-team trade with the White Sox and Cardinals last year. In 123 regular season games since then, Edman has slashed .231/.285/.403 with 18 homers, nine steals, and a 17.9% strikeout rate in 485 plate appearances. That's good for only a wRC+ of 90, although it's worth noting that Edman hit .328/.354/.508 during the Dodgers' World Series run last year and even earned NLCS MVP honors for his work against the Mets.
The Angels were dealt a tough blow during their win over the Athletics last night when catcher Logan O'Hoppe was struck by a warmup backswing off the bat of A's shortstop Jacob Wilson. Wilson's warmup swing hit O'Hoppe under the face mask, and he immediately fell to the ground in pain before exiting the game shortly thereafter. After the game, interim manager Ray Montgomery told reporters (including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com) that O'Hoppe was "doing OK".
