Game 103 Thread: July 23 vs. Twins, 1p

After last night's debacle, I am so damn salty about this team. Henriquez making that three-run error was the final straw.

I need a break.

Game 102 Thread: July 22 vs. Twins, 7p

Yamamoto vs. Woods.

Sure, we got a victory yesterday (two, if you count Freddie Freeman's return to the lineup without debilitating injury from Sunday's HBP). But facing the Twins' opposing starter today, I'd say we're not out of the Woods yet.

Game 101 Thread: July 21 vs. Twins

Ohtani vs. Festa.

The Dodgers are now 2-10 on their last twelve games, having been swept for a second time by the Milwaukee Brewers following Sunday's loss. Oh, and Freddie Freeman got hit on the wrist and will likely need amputation, the way this season is going.

Surely, we can beat a pair of twins, right? (But man, they are cute.)

Post-Game 15 Thread: The Bottom of the Lineup Abyss

Use this tool to see Chris Taylor's batting average.

TWINKIES 3, DODGERS 2

The Dodgers dropped the final game of the series in Minneapolis solely because the bottom of the lineup is absolute rubbish. James Outman, who broke out for his first two homers of the year in the first two gmes, did get a hit today, raising his average to .186. But Kiké Hernandez was 1-for-4 with a K in the six hole; Miguel Rojas (also with two HR on the year) was 0-for-2 with a K for a .278 average; and Austin Barnes was 0-for-3 at the bottom of the order, with 2 Ks and what was almost a game-ending GIDP (Dodgers challenged and won, but Mookie Betts popped out to end the game).

The Dodgers went 1-for-7 with RISP, and that included a late-game pinch-hitting appearance from Chris Taylor, batting .037 (1 hit in 27 AB this year), who promptly struck out. Taylor used to take a lot of walks to partially offset his diminished batting skill the last two years, but these days he is striking out over 50% of the time (14 Ks in 27 AB). All those off-season attempts of Taylor trying to level out his swing (rather than uppercut it) do not seem to be paying off.

Bobby Miller was servicable through four innings and 73 pitches, yielding five hits and 2 ER (3 BB and 4 Ks). Alex Vesia gave up another HR to Edouard Julien, his second of the day, which ended up being the game-winning run. Michael Grove had 4 Ks in 2.1 IP and Joe Kelly had a scoreless eighth inning.

But we should have done better this series; we should have swept. We get a day off tomorrow before hosting the Padres at home this weekend.

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!

Series Thread (Games 42-44): May 15-17 vs. Twins

Mon 5.15 7p: Noah Syndergaard vs. López
Tue 5.16 7p: Clayton Kershaw vs. Ober
Wed 5.17 12n: Dustin May vs. Gray

Technically, the Loudon Wainwright III song "Gray in LA" refers to Wednesday's afternoon matchup, starring the Twins' Sonny Gray (4-0, 1.39 this year, but 1-3 vs. the Dodgers and 1-2 in Dodger Stadium).

But there's gloom across the rest of this series as well. Clayton Kershaw will be pitching with a heavy heart Tuesday, following the passing of his mother on Saturday. Our condolences to Clayton and Ellen and their family.

Less serious, but still gloomy, is Monday's starter Noah Syndergaard, who will be trying to rebound after his exploded blister derailed his last start. Syndergaard is 1-3 with a 6.12 ERA this season, and this setback to his digits will likely mean...a setback to his (ERA) digits. My expectations are low. And that's just the first game of the series (at least attendees will get a great consolation prize).

Despite this gloom, though, the Dodgers have been rolling of late, inlcuding a sweep of the Padres over the weekend. But now the Dodgers will play a winning team, as the Twins sit atop the largely weak AL Central with the division's only >.500 record. We'll see if the Twins bring rainclouds with them to the Stadium this week.

Games 109-110 Thread: Aug 9-10 vs. Twins

Tue 9 7p: Urias vs. Ryan
Wed 10 7p: TBD vs. Gray

The new-look Padres came into town this past weekend, and the Dodgers smoked them in a series sweep.. This, of course, after taking all four games in San Francisco before the Padres series. And the Dodgers have won 28 of their last 33.

Even more interesting, the bats of Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger look to be heating up a bit; Muncy with a key three-run HR on Saturday, and Bellinger with two HR on Sunday. Paired with the potent Mookie-Trea-Freddie trio at the top of the lineup, and the offensive firepower allows even the dismal trade deadline pickup of Joey Gallo flounder through a couple of weekend starts (Gallo went 0-for-5 with four Ks on Saturdaya and Sunday).

So a couple of days off, bookending a mini-series with the Twins, and the only thing which worries me is if the Dodgers are peaking too soon. Twins? Peaking? Hmm, sounds like a Series Thread theme (no, not that one).

Post-Game 5 Thread: Dodgers #5 Starter Ks 13, Perfect Through Seven Innings

DODGERS 7, TWINS 0

One night after a rain-delayed 7-2 victory that was nip and tuck until a six-run top of the eighth inning, the Dodgers sent their #5 starter to the mound against a tableau where no other starting pitcher had lasted more than five innings all season.

Except this #5 starter was Clayton Kershaw.

And these were the Minnesota Twins. Without Carlos Correa in the lineup, as Correa was busy scheming other ways to cheat (and, dealing with a hangnail issue).

Clayton Kershaw was incredible. pic.twitter.com/eODbAeRgOa

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 13, 2022

Kershaw dealt 13 Ks over seven frames and was pulled after only 80 pitches, withthe Dodgers nursing a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.

Fans are pissed off thst Kershaw was pulled, and I get it. But Kershaw himself said on the post-game show that it was the right decision and his slider had lost its bite the last two innings. Not to mention, he isn't stretched out given the lockout, and it was 38 degrees out there today. I am cool with the decision.

We had 5 LOB through two frames and had notched three runs, but the middle frames were scoreless, before we opened up the eighth inning with consecutive HR from Cody Bellinger (whaaaaaaat?), Gavin Lux, and Austin Barnes, the latter of whom regained his lead atop the Dodgers 2022 HR board (with two).

Dereck Rodriguez was the victim of these three HR, two of which (Bellinger's and Lux's) ended up in the same spot, in deep right-center. It was a pretty cool show of offense from a team that hasn't had many outbursts yet this year, certainly not vs. expectations. And Max Muncy added a solo shot in the ninth to raise his average to .118.

Really good to see Muncy and Bellinger get good swings on the ball, for one of the few times this year. As it is, Muncy and Will Smith are the only starters below .200 so far this year. Chris Taylor went 0-for-5 with 2 Ks (Lux had 3Ks today), and dropped his average to .313.

Alex Vesia relieved Kershaw for the seventh and gave up a one-out single, but that was the only hit the Twins had in the shutout loss (Justin Bruihl had a scoreless ninth).

But the story today was clearly Clayton Kershaw, who now has as many Ks as our other four starters, combined (Walker Buehler and Andrew Heaney with five each; Tony Gonsolin with 3; Julio Urias with a goose egg). Dodgers come back to home for four with the Reds and then three with Kenley Jansen's Braves. Good to be back above .500, though we're still third in the division and one game out of first pending tonight's results.

Series Thread (Games 4-5): April 12-13 @ Twins

4.12 4.40p: Andrew Heaney vs. Chris Archer
4.13 10.10a: Clayton Kershaw vs. Chris Paddack

Aren't these twins cute?* Except the Dodgers are facing a different group of Twins, who re-stocked their last-place lineup with cheater Carlos Correa as well as former San Diego Padre Chris Paddack (whom the Dodgers see on Wednesday). Wednesday would also mark the 2022 debut of Clayton Kershaw, on whose shoulders we could be leaning to get us back above .500 (assuming we win Tuesday, that is).

(*) I know, you expected me to put up a different type of photo to accompany this post. See how much we've matured here at SoSG? Well, not really. But for this particular picture, yes.

Feeling Minnesota

Post-Game 29 Thread: Twins Swept

Sorry I couldn't maintain the Star Wars theme.

DODGERS 4, TWINS 3 (12)

Well, imagine that, we did in fact get the sweep! It was a close one in the nightcap, with the Dodgers battling back from a 1-0 deficit in the sixth on a Juan Uribe RBI single to tie the game at 1, as well as in the seventh when Adrian Gonzalez homered to left to tie it at 2.

But the home runs really were clutch in the 12th, when Andy Scott Van Slyke hit a solo shot to leadoff the inning, and Drew Butera added a HR with two out to make it 4-2. The Dodgers gave one back in the bottom of the 12th when Kenley Jansen (who really, really needs a rest) let one run score on a sacrifice fly, making it 4-3. But Jansen shut down Trevor Plouffe and Chris Colabello to preserve the victory and earn the Dodgers a sweep in Minnesota.

Red Patterson went 4.2 IP over 87 economical pitches, but Jamey Wright notched the victory with three innings of one-hit, scoreless ball; Jansen got his 11th save. And what about errors? Two more (Uribe, throw; Brandon League, throw). Try and catch us now, Nationals!

photo swiped from here

Post-Game 28 Thread: Dodgers Stay On Target (Field)

DODGERS 9, TWINS 4

Despite the Twins getting to Dan Haren early for two runs in the first (Jason Kubel, two-run single to left, that was benefitted by errors by both Carl Crawford and Miguel Olivo), the Dodgers rallied to retake the lead in the second and didn't look back after that. Dee Gordon had an RBI FC followed by a Yasiel Puig double to make it 3-2 through 1.5 innings. Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe each had an RBI in the third to make it 5-2 Dodgers. Uribe, Olivo, and Crawford all had RBI in the 7th to make it 8-4 Dodgers, and then Olivo snuck in a sacrifice fly to left to score Andre Ethier and make it 9-4 in the ninth.

All in all, 15 hits for the Dodgers, while Haren went 6.2 IP and gave up 6 H and 4 R, 3 ER, 7Ks with 3 BBs. Haren's depth into the seventh allowed us to save our bullpen for the second game of the doubleheader this evening. If not for adding three more errors to our season tally of 29 errors (leading the majors; Gordon had a throwing error to add to the other two), this would be a pretty good win. Now, if we could only win the night game and notch the sweep...

Games 28/29 Thread: May 1 @ Twins, 10a/4p

"Red Ten standing by."

"Red Three standing by."

"Red Six standing by."

"Red Two standing by."

"RED PATTERSON STANDING BY."

10 AM: Dan Haren (3-0, 2.03) vs. Mike Pelfrey (0-2, 7.32).
4 PM: Red Patterson? (0-0, -.--) vs. Kris Johnson (0-2, 6.10).

OK, I know Red has the flu and might not pitch today. But how often do we get a pitcher named Red? Cut the chatter, Red Two!

How bad is the Twins' pitching? They have the second-worst team ERA (5.04) in the majors, ahead of only the Diamondbacks' 5.26. (Oh, how we miss the D'bags.) The Dodger bats got healthy at Target Field yesterday, and there's no reason why they can't continue to tee off of Pelfrey and Johnson.

As for the doubleheader, well, these things are a rarity nowadays, so you might as well call in sick and stay in front of the TV today. What's that, you don't have Time-Warner? Neither do I. Get clear, Wedge, you can't do any more good back there!

Post-Game 27 Thread: 10,000 Franchise Wins

DODGERS 6, TWINS 4

Despite an unscheduled day off yesterday and mucky 44-degree weather today, the Dodger pitching and bats finally showed up in the same game. Appropriately, it happened in an AL park, and it was good for franchise win #10,000.

Thank goodness for Zack Greinke during Kershaw's absence, because he's been a rock for us. Today he went six innings, allowing only an unearned run. Offensively, we haven't seen a game like this in a while. With two out in the third inning, Hanley had a two-run two-on, one-run single, followed by a two-run two-on, one-run single by AGon. And with two out in the seventh, Ethier (!) hit an RBI double. Uribe followed that with a two-run single. Puig chipped in with an RBI in the eighth.

This being the Dodgers, we couldn't finish the game without a little bullpen shittiness. Once Paco allowed a run to make it 6-2 and a man reached second, I guess it became a save situation because Donnie brought in Kenley to close it. Naturally, Kenley allowed two more runs to score before getting the save.

But a little history was made tonight, folks, so let's focus on that. Oh, and Clayton's coming back soon!

Game 27 Thread: April 30 @ Twins, 5p

That's a cold set of twins.

Zack Greinke (4-0, 2.45) vs. Kyle Gibson (3-1, 3.63)

It's cold in Minnesota. How cold is it? It's so cold, ...yesterday's game was obviously postponed, but...heck, I might as well just show you.

That's pretty bad. But no worries, it's not like we need to heat up either the Dodger bats (Dodgers rank 17th in the majors in runs scored, well behind #4 Minnesota), or the Dodger gloves (Dodgers rank dead last in errors committed, below #6 Minnesota). The Dodgers have lost five of our last seven games, so today's game at frigid Target Field should be icing on the cake. If there's any hope, it's that Gibson is coming off a poor start (seven runs, 10 hits, two walks over 4+ innings), whereas Greinke delivered one of the last two wins we've notched.

Whoopee, interleague play! In the freezing cold, no less!

Boooooo

Today's #Dodgers and Twins interleague game has been postponed to Thursday at 6pm as part of a split doubleheader due to inclement weather.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 29, 2014

Dodgers Lose Two Starters in Two Days

First Rod Barajas (85 starts at catcher in 2011) bolts for the Pirates. Now the Twins have signed Jamey Carroll (111 starts between second and short) to a two-year deal. "It's not general manager Ned Colletti's style to go into Spring Training without a veteran option at virtually every position," writes Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com, so bring on the old guys!

Post-Game 82 Thread: Starting The Second Half Limp

TWINS 1, DODGERS 0

Rubby De La Rosa went an admirable seven innings (take note, Ted Lilly!) and only gave up a single run (take note, Ted Lilly!), but that was more than enough for the Twins. Minnesota starter Scott Baker had 9 Ks on the day to hold the Dodgers in check; Andre Ethier was the worst offender, going 0-for-4 with 3 Ks. Even worse, however, is the fact that Juan Uribe (1-for-4), Marcus Thames (1-for-3), and Dioner Navarro (1-for-4) aggregated for 5 LOB and yet all three of them raised their batting averages. Criminy.

For a series that started with such a flourish, it's depressing (but not altogether surprising) to go down so meekly in the finale.

Game 82 Thread: June 29 @ Twins, 10a

Rubby De La Rosa (3-2, 5.26) vs. Scott Baker (5-5, 3.39).

"Good morning, baseball!" cried the mitt after waking up. "Good, morning baseball!" cried the Dodgers fan who can't wait to see the team play. It's not exactly a marquee matchup: the tied-for-last-place Dodgers conclude their brief Midwestern jaunt with a rubber match against the next-to-last-place Twins in a battle for your attention while you settle in for a day of work or a late breakfast. But baseball is baseball, so enjoy the early tilt.

Post-Game 81 Thread: Take Your Pick: 25 (Hits), Or 6 To 4 (Loss)

TWINS 6, DODGERS 4

One night after the Dodgers stroke a MLB season-best 25 hits, they lose 6-4 to the Twins.

Ted Lilly gets behind in the score 3-0 and 4-1, only to see the Dodgers improbably rally to tie the game in the top of the fifth inning that included an unlikely Aaron Miles HR. And then Lilly promptly goes out in the bottom of the fifth and can't even complete the bottom of that frame, yielding a two-run HR to Luke Hughes that proved the difference in the game. Dodgers drop to nine games below .500 at the halfway point of the season.

That video sure has a lot of horns.