Series Thread (Games 17-20): August 10-13 vs. Padres

 

The Dodgers are mashing like it's Home Run Derby (which is canceled this year--probably a good thing until they figure out how to manage those insanely wide fan sections down the first base line (field level is especially absurd))

Mon 8/10: Dustin May (1-0, 2.63) vs. Garrett Richards (0-1. 4.60)
Tues 8/11: Ross Stripling (3-0, 4.00) vs. Luis Perdomo (0-0, 5.40)
Wed 8/12: Julio Urias (1-0, 2.40) vs. Zach Davies (2-1. 2.87)
Thu 8/13: Clayton Kershaw (1-1, 3.60) vs. Chris Paddack (2-1, 3.18)
All games @6.30p

Two late-inning bombs on Sunday afternoon not only won us the game and series against San Francisco, but they extended the Dodgers' streak of games with a HR to 11 straight games, which the radio post-game show said led the majors. Despite their vaunted mashing, the interesting thing is that the Dodgers, with their fifth-best record in the majors, still haven't clicked on offense yet: Joc Pederson, Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy, and Austin Barnes all sit with batting averages below .200, and only A.J. Pollock has an average above .300. Jack Harris of the LAT notes that the Dodgers are tied for the major league lead in HR, but are 14th in team batting average.

Is this a sign of fluky swinging for the fences giving us some positive breaks, while we wait for the engine to start firing on all cylinders? Will we be even more potent once the bats come back, and we're not so reliant upon the longball for victories? With over a quarter of this "season" already complete, there's not a lot of margin for much more error.

In positive news, we've seen Mookie Betts get his swing back, inching up from that .200 average in late July closer to .300 now (Mookie had a three-run HR yesterday, to match Pollock's three-run shot). I can't imagine Muncy and Bellinger bottom feeding for much longer (Barnes, on the other hand, gives me less hope). This four-game series with San Diego is due for one of those guys to break out.