Thursday, March 28, 2024
Home > Regular Season Recaps/Previews > Dodgers Try To Move Into First Place Again, Velasquez vs. Maeda

Dodgers Try To Move Into First Place Again, Velasquez vs. Maeda

Chase Utley

The Dodgers did their part on Monday night defeating the Phillies 9-4 in the opening game of their three game series. Unfortunately the stupid Marlins and stupid Don Mattingly did not do their jobs and blew a 5-1 lead allowing the Giants to come from behind and win 8-7.

The slimy Giant’s 14-inning win kept them in first place for another day as the Dodgers remain one game back of first place entering tonight. We’ll try it again and hope for another Giant’s loss. The Marlins need to cooperate and do their job tonight.

Tonight the Dodgers will battle the Phils as they look to win their fourth game in a row. Right hander Vincent Velasquez will take on Kenta Maeda in the second game of the series.

The 24-year old Montclair, California native has become the Phillie’s ace since he was acquired from the Astros last year in the Ken Giles/Mark Appel trade. Over 19 starts Velasquez has an 8-3 record and a 3.33 ERA.

He’s posted a 3.47 FIP and struck out 114 across 102.2 innings pitched. Velasquez has whiffed 10.7 per nine and allowed 8.2 hits per nine while walking 3.4 per nine innings. Velasquez is a power pitcher but he also has a solid changeup, a 12-6 curveball and slider as well.

He can mix all of those in with his upper 90’s heaters. This could be a tough assignment for the Dodger offense tonight. Velasquez has never faced the Dodgers other than one appearance for two-thirds of an inning. The flame thrower has a 4.29 ERA away from Citizen’s bank park.

Dodgers Lineup vs. Philadelphia

Utley 2B

Seager SS

Turner 3B

Reddick RF

Gonzalez 1B

Grandal C

Pederson CF

Kendrick LF

Maeda P

Vince Velasquez-8-3 vs. Kenta Maeda-10-7

Game Time – 7:10 PM – TV- SNLA

Kenta Maeda is coming off of a win last week against Colorado. He turned in an impressive quality start at Coors Field. Maeda is 10-7 with a 3.22 ERA in 22 starts. He’s struck out 125 and walked 32 over 125.2 innings pitched. Maeda has struck out 9.0 per nine and turned in 11 quality starts for the Dodgers. Maeda has had an up and down month of July. He was 2-2 with a 4.61 ERA but struck out 31 and walked 4. Maeda had his best month in April when he posted a 1.41 ERA and 0.93 WHIP.

We have more injury news. Apparently Scott Van Slyke was placed on the disabled list with a sore right wrist. Infielder Chris Taylor was recalled from Oklahoma City. Injuries may explain Van Slyke’s terrible hitting this season. He’s hit just .225 with a .606 OPS in 113 plate appearances. He’s hit just one home run and driven in seven runs in 52 games this season.

On a funnier note, it looks like Yasiel Puig won’t stop the party just because he was optioned down to Oklahoma City. Puig will always be Puig no matter where he plays. Perhaps he should focus on baseball instead of partying. Posting these types of videos probably won’t help him get called back up to the big club. Step your game up Yasiel.

Game Note: Justin Turner has a 9-game hitting streak

Meanwhile the Giants will be playing the Marlins in South Beach. Lefty Matt Moore will counter Tom Koehler. Tonight could be the night the Dodgers finally get back into first place where they belong. Tonight is the night!

National League West Standings
#
Team
W
L
PCT
GB
HOME
AWAY
L10
1
Giants
64
48
.571
32-21
32-27
5-5
2
Dodgers
63
49
.563
1.0
36-21
27-28
6-4
3
Rockies
55
58
.487
9.5
28-29
27-29
4-6
4
Padres
48
63
.432
15.5
27-30
21-33
5-5
5
Diamondbacks
45
66
.405
18.5
19-39
26-27
3-7

Go Blue!

Scott Andes

Scott Andes: Longtime writer and Dodger fanatic

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Scott Andes
Scott Andes: Longtime writer and Dodger fanatic
https://ladodgerreport.com

53 thoughts on “Dodgers Try To Move Into First Place Again, Velasquez vs. Maeda

    1. As good as Kendrick has been for the last 30 games, outside of Reddick, all the players hitting before him have done better. So there is that.

  1. Howie hasn’t hit well for the last 15 days, but he is batting 301 for the month.

    Snider I don’t get that either.

    So far Reddick hasn’t impressed me, when he is up to bat, but I am still giving him time, to change my mind.

    And I hope he does, because that would be best for the team.

    There are a couple players, not hitting as well in the last month, as Howie has, but Howie is been cold lately.

  2. I agree; he should heat up soon as he’s always been a productive player. However, for now, no reason to bat him 4th at this time.

    Maybe he’s just waiting for Rich Hill to pitch on Friday, and then they both can start to tear it up??

    1. Bobby
      Cory shouldn’t be making a second tag, if he already made the tag.

      It makes it look like he missed.

      Cory missed a tag, from a throw from Toles once.

      And on another throw from Toles, that got there before the runner, Cory made a second tag, even though he already tagged the runner.

      We will be reading about Corys tag in Dodgers Digest tomorrow I bet.

      They mentioned it the last time this happened.

      1. Bobby
        I really think he is.

        Like I said earlier, Joc getting hurt, might have been the best thing, to happen to him.

        1. Joc needed about a month out of LA last year.

          Whatever it is, coaches, roommates, time off, I trust him more and more wrisp.

  3. Guys, there is going to be a couple of new ads on the site. I hope they are not too annoying. Let me know. I can always remove them. We’re hoping this helps out with a few extra dollars.

      1. Chrome Browser has an AdBlockPlus Extension that filters out pop-up ads. Makes browsing much more enjoyable…

    1. It helps with expenses for the site. hosting fees, domain renewals, Oscar’s Dodger dog addiction…etc…etc…

      I might not keep the infold add that pops up. That is kind of annoying me to be honest. Right now I want to see how they look

    1. This is the time that the Giants and the Dodgers schedules, are starting to even out, and there is still a lot of August to go.

  4. It’s a big relief that Grandal’s swing doesn’t seemed to be affected by that foul yesterday. I had my fingers crossed and looks good today.

  5. About time that the hitters hit. It has seemed like they should have been hitting better all season. I don’t know what they have been drinking lately but I hope that they keep drinking it.

  6. Scott do a go fund me type thing. Faster for the funds. Not sure how it works out an ongoing basis. But I’m in.
    Makes the Dodger Dog budget much more accessible.

    1. I’m going to have the code redone and take out the ad that pops up. It’s annoying me and Im sure will annoy all of you. The text ads will stay though.

  7. Seager will be the key to convince Kershaw to stay. The Dodgers need to convince him that they can be perennial WS contenders, vis a vis the Cubs and the Mets, for the duration of Kershaw’s next contract.

    So far it’s looking good. Roberts style helps too, and we need to keep AJ and Utley around. I think Kershaw needs to see a gritty style. He’s not Kemp.

  8. I know he’s not a Dodger any longer, but has anyone noticed Cotton pitched a 1 hitter for the A’s with 12k’S?

    1. Wish the best for Cotton at AAA 2016. But wish even better for Rich Hill and Reddick for MLB 2016.

      And we’ve got more Cotton’s coming ….

  9. Just nitpicking, but I would’ve let Dayton finish the game here to get the handshakes. He’s a rookie and we’ve got a 6 run lead. Giving Howell a spot here … the best he can do is a “C”.

      1. Bobby
        He has to have a lot of deception, with the way he pitches.

        He looks way to good, for someone to have traded him.

  10. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here on out.

    Lasorda’s best teams tend to win the division going away in the last leg of the season.

    I’d love to see that in this team. Fingers crossed and knocking on wood. The grit and camaderie is there. It all started with how the bullpen pulled together after the early tire fires and adversity (well deserved, by the way, but it pulled them together). And wasn’t Lasorda a relief pitcher ….

    1. Kershaw going out, brought out the best in this team.

      That is how much respect that everyone has for Kershaw, on this team.

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