Freeway Series Win Gives Dodgers Some Much Needed Breathing Room

The Freeway Series we see now features two teams fighting to find their true identity on the diamond.

At their best, rivalries give us something to fight over as fans — the Freeway Series is ready to take that feeling and environment to a whole new level.

With both the Angels and Dodgers pushing for the top spot in their respective divisions, the baseball we see being played out couldn’t be any better.

On one hand, the Dodgers are looking for new ways to play keep away from the San Francisco Giants.

The defending World Champions have had their season come and go in streaks and if they catch hot at the right time that means the LA Dodgers could see their long-held division lead crumble.

Oops.

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Then for the Angels the situation for them is playing tug-of-war with the Houston Astros.

Neither team looks like they’ll be pulling away just yet as the clear favorite for the division, and the up and coming Astros are giving the rest of the league a run for their money earlier than expected.

Way earlier, to be exact.

Zack Grienke took the mound for the boys in blue on Friday night, helping preserve their hopes of not having the floor fall out from under them after all of the hard work and tremendous effort this year.

Greinke, a former Angel, bolstered his home record with the LA Dodgers to a staggering 23-5 since joining the team as a free agent a couple of seasons ago.

Modern day Angels Mike Trout and Albert Pujols are a tough part of the Angels’ line up, but against the Dodgers are complemented nicely by Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson.

Almost perfectly.

Last evening’s game began and ended with a home run.

First was a blast by Howie Kendrick in the bottom of the first to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

Then, in the top of inning number nine, Mike Trout sent a ball yard to get the Angels’ tally to 3 in an effort to try and spark some sort of rally — he was unsuccessful.

The other two times an Angel scored Trout was responsible; as he scored Kole Calhoun twice — off of a triple in the fourth and a single in the sixth.

Yasiel Puig knocked in Scott Van Slyke in the fifth and then scored himself later than inning following a hit from Yasmani Grandal.

Star power is what will carry both the Angels and the Dodgers in their respective futures, so seeing how they all handle this race for the top of the division will help us learn more about their best and worst moments as players.

With tests like this, and players being thrown into the fire, it’l either refine their talents or burn them out until they’re no good anymore.

Bottom Line: Late Game management will determine the freeway series.

All we can do from here on out is hope that the latter never comes true.

But we can only watch from the outside looking in.