Monday, September 13, 2021

Series Thread (Games 145-147): Sept 13-15 vs. Diamondbacks

Mon 9/13: Kershaw vs. Gallen
Tue 9/14: Gonsolin vs. Weaver
Wed 9/15: Urias vs. TBD

Congratulations, Max Scherzer!

Right on the heels of Scherzer's 3,000-K milestone (and third immaculate inning!), another former Cy Young Award winner, Clayton Kershaw, kicks off this series with the Snakes. Kershaw has not pitched since July 3 (@ Washington, 4.0 IP ND), and is only 347 Ks short of the 3,000-K milestone himself. I want to celebrate Clayton's return to the mound, but I'm guessing he is much more focused on helping the team claw back ground against the Giants, still 2.5 games ahead after sweeping the Cubs this weekend (and matching our sweep of the Padres). FanGraphs' Playoff Odds gives us a 44% chance of winning the division, starting this series.

96 comments:

Steve Sax said...

GAME ONE

1 Mookie Betts RF
2 Max Muncy 1B
3 Trea Turner 2B
4 Corey Seager SS
5 Justin Turner 3B
6 Cody Bellinger CF
7 Gavin Lux LF
8 Austin Barnes C
9 Clayton Kershaw P

Wow, a lot to ask from our 6-9 hitters. Cody and Gavin had better build off of yesterday's performance.

Steve Sax said...

Holy cow. Giants already up 5-0 (B2). Dodgers down 1-0 and the Snakes have two on with two out (T1). Not good.

Steve Sax said...

Kershaw gets a K to stop the bleeding.

Looks like the Snakes scored a run when Bellinger made a throwing error. Wonderful.

Steve Sax said...

Thanks, Yu Darvish, for laying an egg there

Steve Sax said...

Betts leadoff double. Muncy flies to left, Betts to third. One out.

Steve Sax said...

Great Trea Turner AB there, to work a walk. Men at the corners, one out, Seager up.

Steve Sax said...

Corey RBI single! Mookie scores. Trea to third. 1-1

Steve Sax said...

Justin Turner!

Steve Sax said...

JT double to left scores two!

3-1 LA!!!

Steve Sax said...

Meanwhile, San Diego actually scored a run! 5-1 SF, T3

Steve Sax said...

Cody grounds out on three pitches (all strikes). Lux grounds out to pitcher.

3-1 through 1.

Steve Sax said...

Kersh had a baserunner on second but got Nick Ahmed to strike out for the second time to end the top of the second.

Clayton has 3 Ks through 1.5. 3-1 LA.

Steve Sax said...

Barnes Ks.

And then Kershaw singles and Betts walks!

But then Muncy Ks. Two out.

QuadSevens said...

I loved the replay of Scherzer and his disbelief of Kershaw getting an infield single on a weakly hit ball.

Steve Sax said...

Now it's 3-1 LA, Top 6, AZ threatening with two on and two out--and Vesia gets Jake McCarthy for the final out.

Steve Sax said...

Cody is 0-for-3. He popped to second on a 3-2 count.

Barnes RBI double scores Lux, though!

Steve Sax said...

4-1 LA, one out, Barnes on second, Beaty up. Come on, Matt!

Steve Sax said...

Beaty HBP on the first pitch. Geez.

Steve Sax said...

Let’s go 🐄🔑

Steve Sax said...

Betts flies to deep right-center. Barnes advances to third. Two out.

Steve Sax said...

Muncy with a 2-2 count. He is without a hit tonight.

Steve Sax said...

Dammit he flies to short for the final out.

4-1 LA through six

Steve Sax said...

Knebel with a sweet K to start the top of the seventh.

Steve Sax said...

Knebel with a not-so-sweet four-pitch walk to the next batter.

Steve Sax said...

Marte ropes one but it stays in the field. Two out.

Steve Sax said...

JT! Solo HR

Steve Sax said...

Bellinger almost fouls out to the catcher (who drops it), and then ropes a double down the right. Good swing, Cody! KEEP IT UP

Steve Sax said...

Barnes flies to second to end the inning, with Cody on third and Lux on first.

Steve Sax said...

Mitch White comes in to close down the ninth.

5-1 WIN

Steve Sax said...

Kershaw’ Dri-fit shirt has a weird ripped front collar. I gotta get that.

karen said...

YAY!! A well deserved win.

Sorry I'm so late to this one Sax. Jenn and I had to run errands today and I think the heat got to us. We both fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 8:30 or so. I'll try to do better tomorrow!

Steve Sax said...

No worries karen! Was great to see Clayton back on the mound (5Ks). Let's goooooo

Steve Sax said...

FiveThirtyEight has us at a 33% chance at winning the division. Fangraphs has us at 41%.

Ugh

Steve Sax said...

GAME TWO

1 Mookie Betts RF
2 Max Muncy 1B
3 Trea Turner 2B
4 Corey Seager SS
5 Justin Turner 3B
6 Will Smith C
7 Cody Bellinger CF
8 Gavin Lux LF
9 Tony Gonsolin P

karen said...

I an trying to make sure I am awake for the one!!!

karen said...

RIP Norm Macdonald. I loved this guy on SNL and later on on My name is Earl when he played the younger version of Burt Reynolds. Way back in the '70's people used to mistake my dad for Burt and ask for his autograph!! He was also mistaken for Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel. Another time I was about 15 and Dad and I were walking back to the car after a Dodger game and two women said loud enough for us to hear "He's old enough to be her father". Dad and I just looked at each other and laughed!



Steve Sax said...

Hi karen, yes RIP Norm Macdonald. Just watched some of his video highlights. The long moth joke on Conan was pretty good.

Steve Sax said...

Gonsolin gets two Ks in the first.

0-0 through 0.5

Steve Sax said...

Giants already up 1-0 on SD through 1

QuadSevens said...

I always loved Norm on the Celebrity Jeopardy skits on SNL. He was great for the Weekend Update too.

Steve Sax said...

1-0 LA through 1. Back-to-back doubles from Muncy and Trea Turner!

Steve Sax said...

Up 4-0 now, thanks to a Muncy 2-run HR (scoring Mookie), and a RBI FC from Will Smith.

Cody, however, GIDPs to end the threat.

Top 4, 4-0, 2 out and man on first.

Steve Sax said...

Pavin Smith Ks to end Top 4. Catman with 5 Ks through 4.0 IP.

Steve Sax said...

Lux leads off the fourth with his second K of the game. In two ABs.

Steve Sax said...

Trea Turner goes yard with one out in the fifth. 5-0 LA

Steve Sax said...

Gonsolin done. Good outing, 5.0 IP, 6 Ks 0 R.

Price in for the sixth.

Steve Sax said...

Price gets a K for the second out but it’s 5-1 with two RISP

Steve Sax said...

At least it’s only 5-1. Could have been worse for price there

Steve Sax said...

Let’s go Will Smith

Steve Sax said...

Smith goes yard! 6-1

Steve Sax said...

Nice hustle there Gavin

Steve Sax said...

Tight play at first though. Challenge on the field

Steve Sax said...

Lux retired but Belli on second.

Here’s a guy we need to get a hit: Matt Beaty

Steve Sax said...

Beaty gets squeezed, but he should have swung anyway. 2 out.

Steve Sax said...

Great play by Seager

Steve Sax said...

Three-run HR for Marte. It’s 6-4 LA now. Not good.

Steve Sax said...

Bruihl looking shaky here

Steve Sax said...

Lead off walks for Muncy and Trea to start B7. Let’s go

Steve Sax said...

Seager was down 0-2 and fought back to 2-2, then singled to right.

Rancho ardiendo!

Steve Sax said...

JT sac fly, scores Muncy and advances Turner.

7-4

Steve Sax said...

JT was close to a GS there, but fell short of the warning track.

Steve Sax said...

Sac fly to left for Will Smith. 8-4 LA

Steve Sax said...

Padres lose. They’ve scored five runs in their last five games. Geez.

Steve Sax said...

Treinen with a clean 8th.

Steve Sax said...

WIN

Clinches playoff spot

karen said...

GAME 3

Mookie Betts RF
Max Muncy 1B
Trea Turner 2B
Corey Seager SS
Justin Turner 3B
Will Smith C
Cody Bellinger CF
Gavin Lux LF
Julio Urias LHP

karen said...

Giants game starts 25 minutes before us.

karen said...

Happy ROBERTO CLEMENTE Day! A great baseball player and Humanitarian. RIP Mr. Clemente, "The Great One".

karen said...

Padres up 5-0 in second. I think I might have stopped breathing for about 10 seconds when I saw that.

Steve Sax said...

Hey guys, what did I miss?

4-3 LA, B6. Trea up with two out. He ekes out an infield single to score the runner from third! 5-3 RBI single, scoring Beaty!

Steve Sax said...

Damn, Trea is so speedy.

Steve Sax said...

Apparently the Giants have clawed another run back, so it's 5-3 SD.

Steve Sax said...

Diamondback wearing their snake-biting-a-baseball hats tonight.

Steve Sax said...

Two-out single for Seager up the middle, sending Turner to third.

Steve Sax said...

JT flies out to end the rally.

Vesia, top 7, gets a fly out to Betts for out #1.

Steve Sax said...

Vesa with a three-pitch K and bolts with a brisk walk around the mound. Wow.

Steve Sax said...

Idiots on the field. Glad they aren't showing them.

Steve Sax said...

Why is Will Smith trying to stretch from first to second on a throwing error? There was no way that was going to work. Instead of leadoff single, one out and none on.

Come on, Will.

karen said...

I just checked Padres score and it's SD 7-4 over the bad guys in seventh.

Steve Sax said...

how was that 3-2 pitch not called a strike? HORRIBLE call by the ump.

Steve Sax said...

@karen: 7-5 on the reviewed Belt HR (fan interfered, but they gave it to Belt anyway)

Steve Sax said...

GIDP! Boom

Steve Sax said...

3-2 count to Walker, who homered earlier in this game.

Steve Sax said...

walked Walker. two out, man on first.

Steve Sax said...

Trea Turner leaps for the third out. That would have moved Walker to third had it gotten past him. Wow.

Turner is so smooth.

Steve Sax said...

Betts with a one-out double roped to left. 5-3 LA, B8

Steve Sax said...

Jansen gets a K for out #1. Still 5-3 LA

Steve Sax said...

Kenley gets Young to K on three straight strikes, all fastballs.

JUMBO JACK TIME

Steve Sax said...

Very late call, but gets the third strike.

Dodgers WIN

karen said...

Kenley was dealing tonight. SD has scored and is up 9-5 in ninth

Steve Sax said...

Just noticed, JT is wearing #21 tonight (no name on the back). Cool.

Steve Sax said...

@karen: the Giants are so hot though...crossing fingers.

karen said...

@Sax...GIANTS LOSE GIANTS LOSE Dodgers are 1.5 back with 15 games to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve Sax said...

Thanks karen!

Was watching Norm Macdonald clips. RIP Norm.

karen said...

Padres winning 2-0 after three.

Steve Sax said...

Padres won 7-4.

One-game deficit, going into this weekend. Los Angeles @ Cincinnati; Atlanta @ San Francisco.