Blue Crew Report: Going Gonzo

By SBRForum.com

And we thought the Dodgers were already all-in on this season.

After adding Hanley Ramirez and Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton and a few others, LA made one more big (some would say “crazy”) move over the weekend, bringing in Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford (who’s useless for this year) and Nick Punto, and their contracts, of course, from Boston for the final push toward the playoffs.

The question now becomes “Will all these new acquisitions get the Dodgers to the World Series?”

A Good Start

LA just took two of three games from the Marlins over the weekend, missing out on the sweep by falling Sunday 6-2. And they got an immediate dividend from Gonzalez, who went three-for-nine from the plate with a homer and four RBI in his first two games with the Dodgers.

LA will now look for immediate help from the struggling Beckett, who will start the opener of a three-game series in Denver vs. the Rockies Monday night.

Speaking of Colorado …

The Rockies just lost two of three games vs. the Cubs at Wrigley over the weekend, but even as Colorado plays out the string on this season, it’s shown some life recently, winning 10 of its last 14 games.

And it was only three weeks ago the Rockies took two of three games from the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.

On the season LA and Colorado have split 12 games, with the totals also splitting 6-6, even though Dodgers-Rockies games have averaged a healthy nine runs per.

Who’s Throwing

LA will throw Beckett (5-11, 5.23) Monday night, Chris Capuano (11-9, 3.38) Tuesday and Joe Blanton (8-12, 5.02) Wednesday, while Colorado will counter with Jeff Francis (4-4, 5.79), Tyler Chatwood (3-3, 4.98) and Drew Pomeranz (1-7, 4.78).

Place Yer Bets

For those thinking about making some MLB picks on this series Bovada is listing the Dodgers at -170 for Monday night’s game, with Colorado getting +150. LA is also favored by -225 to win this series at Bovada, with the Rockies getting +185.