Games 101-104 Thread: July 22-25 vs. Giants

All the changes you put me through...

Mon 7.22 7p: Ryan vs. Snell
Tue 7.23 7p: Knack vs. Hicks
Wed 7.24 7p: Glasnow vs. TBD Ray
Thu 7.25 1p: Kershaw vs. TBD Webb

This is shaping up to to be quite the rivalry series. First, we open up with the major league debut of Dodgers prospect River Ryan, who has 24.1 whole innings of minor league work this year (2.22 ERA, 32 Ks vs 8 BBs), who has started all of five games this year for Oklahoma City. The Dodgers made room for Ryan by felling "Big Maple" James Paxton, who was servicable in yesterday's 9-6 victory over Boston (notching the series sweep), but still carried a 4.43 ERA and 0.4 WAR despite a decent 8-2 record.

Put frankly, the Dodgers may have appreciated the 89 IP this season from Paxton, but think they can do better than an average with Ryan.

And who knows, maybe Friedman has more tricks up his sleeve to fill out the rest of the starting rotation. Looking at the rest of the starters this series, there might be something to justify the Paxton DFA (like getting some value for him from another team): Landon Knack has a 0.8 WAR; Tyler Glasnow is 1.8 WAR (despite nearing his high-water mark for innings (120) already (109 IP this year).

And then there's the season debut of Clayton Kershaw--who knows what to expect from our workhorse at this stage of injury recovery, but he's got a 3.60 ERA over three rehab starts and ten innings in the minors this year.

So maybe Gavin Stone (1.8 WAR) continues fighting on; Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1.5 WAR) comes back; Bobby Miller (-0.9 WAR) shakes his 2024 blues; and Walker Buehler (-0.7 WAR) returns to some sort of form? And we pick up another starter? Or two?

I don't know, but this series against the Giants will definitely be telling...starting with Monday, with the Giants starting this familiar foe (Blake Snell is 0-3 on the year, but the Giants have won his last two starts (both no decisions) since returning from the IL):

"Hmm, maybe I should have signed before Spring Training?
Even so, it's still $62M."

I'll be at the game on Wednesday night, alongside my friend, a Giants fan. Let's go!

Games 89-91 Thread: July 5-7 vs. Brewers

Fri 7.5 7p: Glasnow vs. Civale
Sat 7.6 4.15p: Paxton vs. Peralta
Sun 7.7 1p: TBD vs. Keuchel

The series against the Diamondbacks was supposed to be the easy part, except that Christian Walker pummeled us into dust. So now we host an actually good team, the Brewes, who are six games up in the NL Central (basically the same lead we have over second-place San Diego in the NL West). Get ready for a drowning.

Also, interesting to see Dallas Keuchel back from the dead in Sunday's matchup. To the Brewers' credit, at least they have named a starter for that game.

Games 83-85 Thread: June 28-30 @ Giants

Fri 6.28 7.15p: Knack vs. Webb
Sat 6.29 4.15p: Glasnow vs. TBD
Sun 630 1p: Paxton vs. TBD

Lots of injuries on the rosters of these two rivals. While we try to push through losses to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts, Walker Buehler, and Max Muncy (not to mention Clayton Kershaw, Michael Grove, and Joe Kelly), the Giants are suffering through injuries to Jung Hoo Lee, Blake Snell, Keaton Winn, Mike Yastrzemski, and Kyle Harrison.

San Francisco might get Lamonte Wade Jr. back for this weekend series, though. I haven't heard of any returning Dodgers scheduled for this weekend (though I expect we'll have Will "Slappy" Smith back in the lineup, sitting recently due to a slump at the plate).

Which means we'll probably see more Cavan Biggio, Chris Taylor, and Austin Barnes this weekend, I reckon.

And that makes me the stick figure in the middle of the above picture.

Games 68-70 Thread: June 11-13 vs. Rangers

Dan Hurley, also not in the running to be new Dodgers manager

Tue 6.11 Paxton vs. TBD Dunning
Wed 6.12 Buehler vs. TBD
Thu 6.13 Yamamoto vs. TBD
All games 7p

Winning two out of three over the YankMes on the road should be cause for celebration, I suppose. But let's remember that we didn't see Juan Soto in their lineup, nor did we see Gerrit Cole in their rotation. So I'm not going to get too excited here.

I might get excited if we can dispatch the defending World Champion Rangers, even if they're 5.5 games behind the AL West-leading Mariners (Dodgers still have a 7.5-game lead over the .500 Padres), and they're a sub-.500 team this year.

I'm going to the game Wednesday night, probably to see another shaky start from Walker Buehler, who is clearly still finding his form. Hey, at least we've named our three pitchers for this series by now.

UPDATE 6/12 11p: Yamamoto's start pushed back a couple of days.

photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images

Games 62-64 Thread: June 4-6 @ Pirates

Tues 6.4: Glasnow vs. Jones
Wed 6.5: Paxton vs. Skenes
Thu 6.6: Buehler vs. Falter
All games 3.40p

Paul Skenes is the hottest young prospect in baseball today, with a wicked 100 mph fastball that has the young Pirates pitcher referenced to Stephen Strasburg. And Skenes, from Fullerton CA, is worthy of the hype: after a late call-up likely due to service time manipulation, Skenes has gone 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA and has 30Ks in 22 innings.

And seriously, when you watch these highlights of Skenes shutting down the Cubs at Wrigley Field with some wicked movement, it's pretty impressive (from May 17, 2024):

It's too bad we won't have Max Muncy in the lineup, as Muncy is one of the few guys in the Dodgers' lineup who hunts fastballs. We'll see if the rest of the guys can keep up, but I'm guessing the bottom of our order goes pretty quickly.

Skenes is also known for being boyfriend to LSU gymnast (and NCAA champion) Olivia Dunne, who has a large social media following on multiple platforms. I'm sure this Wednesday game against the Dodgers will get the requisite amount of hype. We'll see how James Paxton (still undefeated at 5-0, with a 3.29 ERA) holds up under the pressure.

Oh yeah, and there are two other games bookending the Skenes showdown.

photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images

Games 56-58 Thread: May 27-29 @ Mets

Tues 5.28 1p: Glasnow vs. Megill
Tues 5.28 TBD: Stone vs. Quintana
Wed 5.29 1p: Paxton vs. Peterson

Quick Game Thread today after that bender of a Memorial Day weekend. I had too much whisky! But while we were enjoying sunny skies here in Los Angeles on Monday, the Dodgers were getting rained out in Queens and now have to squish in a double-header on Tuesday.

Let's hope the extra day off, mulling over getting swept in Cincinnati over the weekend, gives the offense some time to figure out how to rebound against a struggling Mets squad. I'm not hopeful, by the way.

Games 53-55 Thread: May 24-26 @ Reds

Welcome to Cincinnati! We will give you nightmares for weeks!

Fri 24 4.10p: Paxton (5-0, 2.84) vs. Ashcraft (3-3, 4.25)
Sat 25 4.15p: Buehler (1-1, 4.05) vs. Greene (2-2. 3.22)
Sun 26 10.40a: Yamamoto (5-1, 3.17) vs. Abbott (3-4, 2.68)

The Dodgers finished up their 13-consecutive-games stretch with a couple of meek showings vs. the Diamondbacks at home, putting a downer on a trip that had some momentum after taking three of four games from the Reds to start the homestand. But now they've got three days off in between three series (six on the road, starting tonight in Cincy; then three at home with the Rockies), so hopefully we can get back to form.

A third of the way through this season, we are 33-19 and have a 6.5 game lead over the Padres and the third best run differential in the majors (only to the Phillies, who have beaten up on sub-.500 teams for 45 of their 51 games; and the Yankees). And in the top echelon of teams that has seemed to emerge early--alongside the Phillies, Braves, Yankees, and Orioles--the Dodgers' divisional position should give us the option to continue working out kinks in the lineup (like who can hit in bottom of our batting order; or why Tyler Glasnow can be dominant some nights and lay some serious turds on others).

There's no better pace to try out some things than Cincinnati, where injuries have ravaged a team that had high expectations earlier in the year. So yeah, let's trot Chris Taylor out there for a game this weekend. Why the hell not?

I'm not stressing out by the fact we've gone 7-6 in our last 13, we have a 2-game losing streak, or the fact that we can't beat interdivisonal rivals in a series. Really, I'm not.

Sure.

Games 46-49 Thread: May 16-19 vs. Reds

I'm getting this bad boy tonight! And apparently, there's a randomly assorted grey uniform variant (~4.25%)

Thu May 16 7p: Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 2.53) vs. Brent Suter (0-0, 3.86)
Fri May 17 7p: James Paxton (5-0, 2.58) vs. Frankie Montas (2-3, 4.20)
Sat May 18 6p: Walker Buehler (0-1, 7.36) vs. Graham Ashcraft (3-2, 4.12)
Sun May 19 1p: TBD Landon Knack (1-1, 2.81) vs. Hunter Greene (2-2, 3.27)

Things were rolling against the Giants earlier this week with two good wins, however the series unfortunately culminated in our meek 4-1 loss last night, with plenty of wasted opportunities throughout. Blame the bottom five in the lineup again: Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Andy Pages, and James (Automatic) Outman, who went a combined 0-for-18 with 7 Ks, to thoroughly squash any potential rally we tried to muster.

The healthy division lead gives us time to figure out who else outside the Big Four is going to hit. I had high hopes for Muncy and Lux, both of whom have picked up their defensive play, but Muncy has fallen back to a .223 BA / .798 OPS (still an OPS+ of 125, shockingly) and Lux a .194 BA / .525 OPS (OPS+ 50). And then there's Automatic Outman, batting .151 with an OPS of .530 (OPS+ 51).

I'm excited to go to the Stadium tonight and pick up the Shohei Ohtani bobblehead. And I've got an outside shot at going to the Sunday game, featuring Notre Dame Sherman Oaks High School's Hunter Greene.

Post-Game 41 Thread: Teoscar Hernandez Grand Slam Gives Padres Fan Instant Headache

DODGERS 5, PADRES 0

I don't have much to say about this great shutout victory over the Padres at Petco Park tonight, except that watching this Padres fan react to Teoscar Hernandez' sixth-inning grand slam is great comedy:

The Dodgers wasted a ton of opportunities throughout the game, but James Paxton pitched another great game to pick up his fifth win and keep the Padres off the scoreboard. The Dodgers also had a number of solid defensive plays all over the lineup (Max Muncy, Gavin Lux, James Outman, and Mookie Betts), which was also notable becuase none of those guys got a hit tonight (save Lux, who went 1-for-3). Freddie Freeman also had a solo HR in the first.

Rubber match tomorrow!

Games 40-42 Thread: May 10-12 @ Padres

Remember this?

Fri 5.10 6.40p: Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 2.70) vs. Michael King (3-3, 4.29)
Sat 5.11 5.40p: James Paxton (4-0, 3.06) vs. Matt Waldron (1-4, 5.82)
Sun 5.12 1p: Walker Buehler (0-0. 6.75) vs Yu Darvish (2-1, 2.94)

2022 was not a good postseason for the Dodgers (losing the NLDS to San Diego)--and 2023 (getting swept in the NLDS by the Diamondbacks) wasn't any better. In both years, the Dodgers won the NL West by healthy margins (22 games and 16 games), and it didn't matter, with the team unable to even advance past its first playoff round.

So here we are, again well ahead in the NL West, but into the Friar's pan. We avoid seeing Dylan Cease (who just struck out 12 Cubs in seven innings on Wednesday), but we are still facing a guy who has already beaten us this year (King, who beat us in Korea game #2), not to mention old friend Darvish.

San Diego should be pumped to get their season in gear. The Dodgers walk in with a seven-game win streak.

What could possibly go wrong?

Games 34-36 Thread: May 3-5 vs. Braves

Interesting that the Dodgers went with 1B Freddie Freeman here...hmmmmmmmm

Fri 5.3 7p: Gavin Stone (2-1, 4.68) vs. Charlie Morton (2-0, 3.60)
Sat 5.4 6p: Tyler Glasnow (5-1, 2.72) vs. Bryce Elder (1-0, 1.50)
Sun 5.5 1p: James Paxton (3-0, 3.51) vs. Max Fried (2-0, 4.02)

Wow, what a monumental divisional showdown here early in the season (and just after the four-game Yankees @ Orioles series, with Baltimore taking three of four at home to move into first place in the AL East)! These two teams have been divisional powers in epic struggle for at least the last five years, but also threading back all the way to 1969, when the Braves were inexplicably rivals in the NL West. The Braves actualy won five NL West titles, but never won the World Series from those finishes.

This year, the Dodgers are 20-13, 4.5 games up on the Padres and Giants, with a run differntial of +49. But the 2024 Braves are an even better 20-9 on the year, a half-game up on Philly, with a run differential of +48.

Surely, when these two titans meet this weekend, something's got to give.

This series won't be everything; after all, the Dodgers will still play a three-game series in Atlanta in September. But it certainly will be high-stakes at Chavez Ravine this weekend. I'm out of pocket for most of the weekend, but will try and weigh in with pithy sarcasm from afar!

Games 31-33 Thread: April 29-May 1 @ Diamondbacks

Mon 4.29: James Paxton (2-0, 2.61) vs. Tommy Henry (1-1. 5.55)
Tues 4.30: Landon Knack (1-1, 3.27) vs. Jordan Montgomery (1-1, 2.77)
Wed 5.1: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-1, 3.54) vs. TBD
All times 6.40p first pitch

Jordan Montgomery played a big role helping the Texas Rangers win their first World Series last year, by beating the Diamondbacks. In 2023, Montgomery went 3-1 across six games, and though the loss came against the Snakes in WS Game 2, he had 17 Ks in 31 IP and was a big reason why the Rangers kept advancing through the 2023 playoffs. After an off-season standoff in which a long-term deal did not materialize, Montgomery ended up signing with the Diamondbacks in late March for one year, $25M (with player options for subsequent years): well under the $100-150M multi-year projections that had been floated.

And then Montgomery fired agent Scott Boras and went with Wasserman Sports soon thereafter.

So this now becomes an important year for the 31-year-old, as Montgomery has to again show his value in the hopes of signing a long-term deal at year's end. He beat Blake Snell in his first start against the Giants (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB and 3 Ks), but then dropped a decision to Kyle Gibson and the Cardinals last week (7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB and 4 Ks). He's got a potent arsenal, though, as chronicled during last year's playoff run by the WSJ:

Montgomery, who has seven years of major-league experience under his belt, has made changes to his pitch repertoire and usage in the time since he left New York. Montgomery has long relied on secondary pitches, namely his curveball and change-up, to get him through an opposing lineup. It’s the progression of two different types of fastballs, two-seam and four-seam, that have helped him create the varied and effective approach that has befuddled hitters in this year’s postseason.

Oh, and the Diamondbacks also have Joc Pederson this year. The former Dodger is batting .296 with a 169 OPS+ and 2 HR on the year.

photo: Ken Murray / Shutterstock

Games 25-27 Thread: April 23-25 @ Nationals

Let's see if the Dodgers kept their bats warm in the airplane ovens while flying over to Washington, D.C.

Tues 4.23 3.45p: James Paxton (2-0, 2.81) vs. Patrick Corbin (0-3, 8.06)
Wed 4.24 3.45p: Landon Knack (0-1, 3.60) vs Jake Irvin (1-1, 3.13)
Thu 4.25 1p: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1, 4.50) vs. MacKenzie Gore (2-1, 3.60)

The Dodgers wrapped up their pitiful 3-6 homestand with a breakout 10-0 win over the Mets, marking their first 10-run victory of the year (they had four such games last year of at least a 10-run margin). But that doesn't erase dropping each series in the homestand, including losing the bookends against the Nationals. At least we face Patrick Corbin in the opener, as Corbin was tagged for 5 ER in 6.1 IP in the April 16 loss to the Dodgers, the Nationals' only loss of the series.

Barely above .500 at 13-11, the Dodgers have nine games on this roadtrip. We enter play on Tuesday with a scant half-game lead over the Padres, and a two-game lead over the Diamondbacks (whom we play at the end of the roadtrip). Not that I'm looking ahead. A good outing against the Nationals would be a great start to this trip.

Post-Game 18 Thread: Padres Scrappy, Dodgers Crappy

Paxton, en route to his eighth walk of the outing

PADRES 6, DODGERS 3

The Padres took the rubber game on national television today, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win, 6-3, at Chavez Ravine. Dodger pitchers gave up an astonishing 14 walks today, eight of which came at the hands of Dodger starter James Paxton, who was tagged for three earned runs thanks to another subpar outing from Ryan Brasier.

But it was J.P Feyereisen who coughed up a bases-clearing double to Jurickson Profar, whose ridiculous antics the night before caused Will Smith to name Profar "irrelevant." That quote might have been enough to propel Profar to his heroics tonight.

The bottom of the Dodgers lineup (James Outman, Kiké Hernandez, and Gavin Lux) was once again pathetic, going a combined 0-for-9--except that the malaise actually spread up the lineup to Teoscar Hernandez, who also went 0-for-4 on top of that. So the six hits from the top of the lineup didn't mean much when we couldn't convert any of those baserunners; the Dodgers were 1-for-5 with RISP and had many leadoff baserunners stranded in place.

Tonight marked the second time in this series that the Padres clawed their way back to a victory. I didn't see that spark from the Dodgers this weekend. We'll see if we get something back against the Nationals, starting tomorrow.

Game 16-18 Thread: April 12-14 vs. Padres

Strangely, these colors almost match the uniforms!

Fri 4.12 7p: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1, 4.09) vs. Michael King (2-0, 3.14)
Sat 4.13 6p: Gavin Stone (0-1, 7.88) vs. Matt Waldron (0-1, 3.86)
Sun 4.14 4p: James Paxton (3-0, 1.64) vs. Yu Darvish (0-1, 3.86)

The Dodgers and Padres go back at it, after splitting two games in Korea to kick off the season. Since then, the Padres are off to a more tepid start, but they did take a series from the Cubs (albeit, playing at home), which is something the Dodgers couldn't do at Wrigley last week.

Jake Cronenworth is batting .304 with a .883 OPS, and Jurickson Profar is batting .333 with a 1.012 OPS. But their stars Fernando Tatis (batting .263), Xander Bogaerts (.237), and Manny Machado (.220) haven't come to life yet...though I expect them to bring their A-games to Chavez Ravine.

Saturday is Brusdar Graterol Bobblehead night, and the Dodgers' PR team is so excited, they referenced the wrong opponent on the ad (the Nationals come unto town Monday 4/15):

Graterol is on the 60-day IL with shoulder inflammation, so we won't see him in this homestand anyway.

Games 13-15: April 8-10 @ Twins

Mon 4.8 4.40p: James Paxton (1-0, 0.00) vs. Bailey Ober (0-1, 54.00)
Tue 4.9 4.40p: Tyler Glasnow (2-0, 3.18) vs. Louie Varland (0-1, 6.75)
Wed 4.10 10.10a: Bobby Miller (1-1. 5.87) vs. Chris Paddack (0-0, 4.50)

The last time the Dodgers were at Target Field, it was April 2022 and the Dodgers took both games en route to a 4-0 record against the Twins that season. Last year wasn't quite as good, with the Dodgers hosting Minnesota at home, winning two of three.

But those games weren't off the back of a miserable day at Wrigley Field, where Sunday's persistent rain and persistent Dodgers fielding errors led to a 8-1 thumping in the rubber match vs. the Cubs. Beaten, bruised, and cold, the Dodgers arrive in Minnesota a more fragile team.

Max Muncy was out of the lineup on Sunday in Chicago, and the abyss at the bottom of our lineup got even deeper:

• Kike Hernandez, 0-for-4 with 3 Ks; now batting .182;
• Chris Taylor, 0-for-3 with a K, now batting .048;
• Gavin Lux, 0-for-3 with a K, now batting .156;
• Miguel Rojas, 0-for-3 with a K, surprisingly batting .313.

To be fair, Sunday's top of the order wasn't much better, with a second-straight 0-for game by Mookie Betts, and an 0-for-4 outing by four-hole Will Smith. (Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-4 with a double and triple, and an RBI; Fredie Freeman went 1-for-3). But with Muncy out of the lineup, the automatic outs start coming early and often for the Dodgers, and honestly it's something we can't afford if we want to succeed this season.

Let's get cracking, Robert van Scoyoc!

Games 7-9 Thread: April 1-3 vs. Giants

Blake Snell, brimming with enthusiasm over joining the Giants.

Monday 4/1: James Paxton vs. Keaton Winn
Tuesday 4/2: Tyler Glasnow TBD vs. TBD Logan Webb
Wednesday 4/3: Bobby Miller Tyler Glasnow vs. TBD Kyle Harrison
All games, 7p

With the Giants' off-season excising of Gabe Kapler and the decision to move on from shortstop stalwart Brandon Crawford, San Francisco finally took the opportunity to re-tool their lineup this off-season...and went nuts. Six years, $113M to Korean Baseball Organization star Jung-Hoo Lee; three years, $54M (and opt-outs!) to 3B Matt Chapman, and two-years, $62M (also with opt-outs!) to 2023 Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.

So far, Farhan Zaidi's moves have paid off. The Giants are 2-2 including Chapman's two-HR performance to earn the Giants' first win, followed by Lee's first MLB home run in Saturday's win over the Padres. (The Giants were spanked by the Padres, 13-4, on Sunday.)

Speaking of which, guess what other Asian star does not have a home run yet this year? (Shohei Ohtani, who is also batting .269 with a .656 OPS, to Lee's .286 BA / .868 OPS.)

Dodger foil Blake Snell will likely get one of the two "TBD" starts in this series. In the regular season, Snell is 2-2 with a 2.59 ERA lifetime against the Dodgers, but we'll always have this.

So there's a lot of reasons to bring the hateHateHATE to this series, but here's another one: thanks to this stupid balanced schedule, this is one of only two series the Giants will play in Los Angeles this year. So bring your vitriol.

UPDATE 4/2 11.38a: Tyler Glasnow's start shifted to Wednesday, so there's a TBD for today's game. Giants named their starters for Tuesday and Wednesday--and neither start is slated for Snell.

UPDATE 4/3 8.50a: Game Thread for Game 9 is here.