Monday, August 10, 2020

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.

54 comments:

Orel said...

GAME 1: BETTS & BELLI vs MACHADO & TATIS
Pederson 7
Betts 9
Bellinger 8
Turner 5
Muncy 4
Taylor 6
Beaty DH
RĂ­os 3
Smith 2

May 1

Orel said...

Couple of hard-hit outs for the first two outs of the game for May

Orel said...

Joc woc, Mookie & Belli singles make it 1-0 Dodgers

Orel said...

Still 1-0 after 3.5. Dustin May continues to impress

Orel said...

RANCHO ARDIENDO

Orel said...

nope

Orel said...

NOW WE'RE LOSING

Orel said...

Men on first & third, two out, bot 7

Orel said...

Sweet DP turned by CT3 off Machado's smash to save Treinen's bacon

Orel said...

That sucked

Steve Sax said...

Ugh

Orel said...

GAME 2: HOW ABOUT MORE THAN 4 HITS THIS TIME HUH
Pederson LF
Betts RF
Bellinger 1B
Turner 3B
Pollock CF
Muncy DH
Taylor SS
Hernandez 2B
Barnes C

Stripling SP

Orel said...

JT hits a double for his 1,000th career hit and CT3 knocks him in. Dodgers 1-0 in the 2nd

Orel said...

Two errors and Strip gives up the granny...surprise surprise

Steve Sax said...

Wow this sucks the big one. Dodgers in danger of dropping a series for the first time all year

Steve Sax said...

GAME 3 CAN WE WIN ONE FRICKIN' GAME

Pederson LF
Betts RF
Bellinger DH
Turner 3B
Muncy 2B
Pollock CF
Taylor SS
Rios 1B
Smith C

Gonsolin P (0-0)

QuadSevens said...

Catman to the rescue!

Orel said...

Cody is hurting

Steve Sax said...

Hey we are winning! 2-0 LA including a rbi bunt single FC from Austin Barnes

Orel said...

Cody is broken

Orel said...

Pitchers showing up tonight. Gonsolin, Treinen, Baez, Graterol

QuadSevens said...

Graterol made Machado look silly with that last K. Love it!

QuadSevens said...

Bellinger with an end of the bag double down the line. 3-0 now.

QuadSevens said...

Bat*

QuadSevens said...

TURNER!!

Orel said...

JT 3-run HR makes it 6-0!

Orel said...

Graterol touched 100 easy. Crazy the Red Sox didn't want this guy

Orel said...

Alexander loads the bases in the 9th and Jansen comes in with no out. Yikes

QuadSevens said...

Alexander loads the bases in the ninth. Kenley comes in to try and clean it up.

QuadSevens said...

Dammit!

QuadSevens said...

SHUTOUT!

Orel said...

WIN

Orel said...

Dammit!

Orel said...

GAME 4: FOR THE SPLIT
Betts, RF
Seager, DH
Turner, 3B
Bellinger, 1B
Pollock, CF
Muncy, 2B
Pederson, LF
Taylor, SS
Barnes, C
Urias, P

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

Splitsville let’s go!!!

Orel said...

SURPRISE we're losing

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

The stadium audio isn’t being very supportive right now.

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

Dodgers going doggy tonight... playing from behind

Orel said...

Mookie gets plunked to lead it off

Orel said...

Screwing the pooch etc.

Orel said...

Hahahahahaha tie game

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

Pollock crushed that one!!!

Orel said...

Boom A.J.!

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

The baseball humidor must be broken. Balls are flying out!

Orel said...

Quirky little thing that humidor

QuadSevens said...

Pollock got my magic potion delivery I see.

Orel said...

Good job Quad! Next recipient: Belli

Orel said...

Barnsey!

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

I thought home run derby was canceled this year?

Orel said...

Hahahaha nice

Orel said...

MOOK-THREE

Cliff Beefpile said...

Is Urias still on a limited pitch count, or are they gonna let him loose this season?

Orel said...

86 pitches tonight. With the expanded rosters they're not really letting any starters throw a ton of pitches

Orel said...

WIN