The Dodgers are on fire. They are locked in on both sides of the ball. New manager Dave Roberts has this club running like a finely tuned locomotive. It’s a far cry from bump on the log Don Mattingly. The Dodgers just demolished the Padres by a combined score of 25-0. They set a new franchise record by shutting out the Padres in three consecutive games to start the season, and haven’t allowed a run in 27 consecutive innings. The Dodgers will try and break the major league record, which is 32 consecutive innings set by the 1963 Cardinals. The Dodgers are just the second club in MLB history to open the season with three consecutive shutouts.
The bullpen has been shut down. The offense has had professional at-bats every time up to the plate. Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, and Kenta Maeda have been spectacular. Maeda even homered in his first MLB game. Yasiel Puig has looked to be the old 2013 version of himself, and Corey Seager makes us all swoon.
I know the Padres are very bad at playing baseball, and the club is not going to play like this all season. It’s still really fun to watch. It makes you think how super talented this club is. I said it before, this is a 90-win club. The postseason is a different story. Just think that the club will only get stronger once Howie Kendrick, and Yasmani Grandal return from injuries.
Dodgers lineup @ Giants
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Puig RF
Gonzalez 1B
Van Slyke LF
Pederson CF
Hernandez 3B
Barnes C
Wood P
Alex Wood-0-0 vs. Jake Peavy-0-0
Game time- 1:35 PM- TV-SNLA
You almost feel bad for the Padres….Nope, still don’t. The Padres are ugly and wear many ugly uniforms. The Dodgers will now face their first test of the new season, a four game bash with the evil Giants at the lion’s den.
The Dodgers will have the backend of the rotation start the series. A true test for them. Alex Wood will get the ball on Thursday, and Ross Stripling will make his MLB debut on Friday evening.
Wood had a horrendous spring, but here’s praying that he turns it around on a dime. Wood has faced the Giants three times in his career, and is 0-1 with a 7.27 ERA. He’s only appeared in one career game at At&t Park.
The Giants have hit .350 (14 for 40) against Wood in limited appearances. Denard Span has 4 hits in 17 at-bats with three doubles.
Giants vs. Wood
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Denard Span | 17 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .235 | .235 | .412 | .647 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandon Crawford | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .600 | 1.500 | 2.100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter Pence | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .750 | .800 | 1.000 | 1.800 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Buster Posey | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .600 | .750 | 1.350 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandon Belt | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Angel Pagan | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gregor Blanco | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Madison Bumgarner | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 43 | 40 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 | .350 | .395 | .575 | .970 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Giants will counter old nemesis Jake Peavy. It seems like we can never escape this guy. Peavy has been one of the biggest Dodger killers over the last ten years. Peavy is 14-3 with a 2.38 ERA in 29 career starts against the Dodgers. He pitches well at phony book park too. He is 17-9 with a 3.15 ERA in San Francisco. The Dodgers are only hitting .177 (17 for 96) against him. However Adrian Gonzalez has hit 3 home runs off him.
Dodgers vs. Peavy
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Carl Crawford | 27 | 27 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | .333 | .333 | .519 | .852 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 23 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | .217 | .217 | .609 | .826 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 16 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .000 | .125 | .000 | .125 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A.J. Ellis | 9 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .143 | .333 | .143 | .476 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Yasiel Puig | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .222 | .000 | .222 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Justin Turner | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .333 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .250 | .000 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Culberson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 103 | 96 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 17 | .177 | .233 | .333 | .566 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
The Dodgers are in for a battle. I think this year’s Dodgers are much more prepared, then in seasons past. With a day game after a night game you can expect a couple of Dodgers to get rest. For example guys like Carl Crawford, and Justin Turner might not be playing so expect the lineup to look a little different this afternoon.
This season has started out on a high note. We are about to see what this club is truly made of. Will they sink? Or will they swim? Tune in at 1:05 PM to find out. Then tune in over here after the game for a recap. Go Blue!
We will see today whether Wood’s spring was the real Woods or whether he was really just “practicing”. I saw him last year against the A’s in a real game and he was not very good. Guys on base all the time, although not many scored. Today might be a bullpen game. If he goes 5, that may be enough. It was fun reading t he posts on yesterday’s story. Always fun to win, even for us Negatives. I agree with one of the posts yesterday that if Puig had produced the last 2 years, we would be champs. He is that important to this team. If he is good, no one cares about his knuckleheadness. If he isn’t, no one can stand him. As John Madden is known to say: Winning is the great deodorant . It smells like Spring right now.
SF swept the Dodgers twice at AT&T last year, including three consecutive shutouts in May. So I will not get too down if LAD is not successful this weekend. Just like I will not claim them to be headed to the WS if they sweep. It’s simply games 4-7. I have never been comfortable when the Dodgers were facing Peavy. I was glad when the Padres traded him to the ChiSox and out of the NL. He is not the same Peavy, so hopefully the Dodger hitters get to him this year (just like Ross and Cashner).
I remain an Alex Wood fan, and while the odds are against him (Away Day game), I just hope to see a solid performance. Go Blue!
I have been non-confident about Wood but I can become a believer, hopefully today.
7.5 O/U. I got the Dodgers and the over. Anyone else?
I can see this team doing just what last year’s did. Similar makeup. Can they stay in the field? 10 on the DL already. Or is it 11 with De Leon? Whatever. The key will again be games played. It would be great fun to see these guys all play 150 games.
Scott I love your enthusiasm: we win three in a row and we’re on fire!
And as Always just pointed out we were on the receiving end of a three game sweep in SF where we tallied 0 runs. I didn’t think SF was on fire.
In any case the big audition is Wood and his whirly derby delivery. Fingers crossed!
I second that Artie boy!
Just watched again for the I don’t know how many times now Meada’s HR and it keeps getting better! I’m speculating it may strongly influence further incentive driven contracts with Japanese stars. Gotta be glad most Japanese players favorite US team is the Dodgers! It looks like I’ll be missing about the 1st 3 innings of today’s game. GO DODGERS!!!!! Hey, don’t we have Vin today?
Cool article and audio about our favorite Knucklehead.
http://espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=12596
Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer hasn’t yet adjusted to his new role as a member of the Cleveland bullpen, writes Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com. Bauer says he’s not yet certain how long it’ll take him to get warmed up or if he’ll need to trim his pitch arsenal. The former No. 3 pick and career-long starter admits to Meisel that he was surprised by the decision to place him in the bullpen. “I think I had the best spring that I’ve had in pro ball,” said Bauer, who indeed logged a 2.14 ERA with a 20-to-5 K/BB ratio in 21 innings this spring. Manager Terry Francona tells Meisel that the club didn’t feel it could take Josh Tomlin (who signed a two-year deal this winter) or Cody Anderson out of the rotation, specifically noting that Anderson had a strong debut in 2015 and increased his velocity this winter.
I saw that. A lot of Cleveland fans don’t understand the “demotion” to the pen.
Lee and Guerrero for Bauer. Maybe add a minor league reliever to Cleveland. Do it FAZ!!
Cleveland might do something like that. As talented as Bauer is, he’s been a pain in the ass everywhere he’s been and has, as Paul Boyd put it, a “handle with care” tag on him. I have no problem with giving him a starting job.
Why didn’t they send Joc home, with the pitcher coming up?
i think the ball was hit too hard, and got to the LF too fast
Because they didn’t have to with all the magic going on with the Dodgers.
I’m very happy LA kicked SD’s arse, but isn’t that what the team is supposed to do against weak teams? What impressed me the most is the business like attitude and chemistry that was seen. Winning creates chemistry and the Dodges got off on the right foot. I’m very interested in how they do this next series with a team of that is very good too.
Shame about the Wood DP
Still great start
I wish Utley could have got a hit there, it would have broke it open.
Utley lost his MVP standing.
The Dodgers like what they are seeing from Peavy. And I really like the aggressive approach.
It sure looks like Badger’s P90X training is going to pay off for ,slim trim, Puig!
Ok now I want this scoreless inning record.
Come on Wood!!
I just want to W!
Bases on balls!
Bullpen please!
My opinion on Alex Wood has not changed. He’s not very good
Everything was going great — then I took the dog out back and watered a few bushes — came back in and the Giants had scored 3 runs. Terrible.
Lesson learned Roger, don’t take the dog out back anymore lolz JK
Your dog sounds like it waters the plants.
The story book season is over. Finished. Ended. The weak link has raised it head.
Now, can the guys dig in and come back?
Get Garcia out of there and down to AAA. He needs some work.
Boy this is ugly!
Well…. they went from the verge of setting a record to a blown lead just like that!!!!
Hope they dig deep and find a way to come back!
OK, mark this as Blow-up #1 in 2016 for the Dodgers. So far giving up 7 runs in the 5 & 6 innings to the Giants.
Note to the GMs — better pitching would have made a difference.
It’s called depth, I think
No comment.
Not over yet.
I’m the only one on record – Dodgers and the over. I already got the over.
Remind me again what your over under is. I saw it above and didn’t understand.
It’s still early…but weakness in the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation and inconsistent bullpen so far (very small sample size)
Add Wood to the bullpen and that might be addition by subtraction, sort of.
See what it would cost to get Bauer assuming he isn’t a knucklehead.
Bzzz, Bzzz. Hey, Kasten! The bullpen still sucks.
Any other team..any!!!
Why did all of the good stuff have to come to an end against SF??
Bum – # of total runs.
I broke even.
T.O. Dave just texted me and said “Wood – a long man”. I think that might be a good idea. I know he had a good year in Atlanta, but I don’t see this changing.
Bauer isn’t a knucklehead, which actually means stupid. Bauer is a UCLA guy. Bauer has an ego the size of Montana. And he is notoriously unresponsive to coaching. I don’t think he would fit in here, but, maybe it would work. It’s LA, and he’s familiar with it. Worth a try.
First game against a real Major League club? Not so good.
Badger, you and I know that Knucklehead means stupid but not everybody does or some prefer to make up their own definitions. Knucklehead does sound like it should mean stubborn though.
Bauer would be an inning eater and maybe not much more. He would be helpful if he were obtainable for maybe Avilan and Cotton.
Maybe he will respond to Roberts, another UCLA guy.
Good point MJ.
Lose one game and here comes the negative post.
I am not seeing too much negativity.
Why would we be negative…just because the pen gave up 7 runs?
Who cares, let them celebrate their come from behind win – we have the best farm system in baseball!!!!!!!!!!
Rick Monday said there were two throws home where there was no cutoff man. Both throws allowed the batter to get into scoring position and took away a force out at 2B. So what happened to those fundamentals?
I hope Puig starts hitting to the opposite field again. He would get more then a single, in SF. He pulled the ball, and hit a HR in SD. And today, he pulled the ball, in everyone of his at bats. I know he got two hits, but they were only singles, and he hits much better, going up the middle, or to right. It just seems since he hit that HR, he has got away from using the whole field.
Wood+bullpen=loss every time. At least against good teams. He got a big lead. I guess he was still practicing. In his post game interview he probably said he feels great and everything is fine. Or maybe he says this was his fault and he takes full responsibility. Or maybe it was just the case of a few close pitches. The same 2015 bs. BTW the bullpen still sucks. Howell has been on the way out for at least half a year. With those # of runs early in the game, this should have been a win. Manager Roberts will have to do what Mattingly did: try to find a hot hand in the bullpen. Good luck. Contenders don’t have to guess.
I’m not upset at Roberts. JP came in, and didn’t get anyone out, and he is a veteran pitcher. And he started with no one on, and that doesn’t help, especially after Joc got us closer, with his HR.
And that is why JP needed to have a clean inning. This was a good game for the Dodgers, as long as they learn from this.
We all knew, the bullpen wasn’t really tested in SD, and hopefully, this won’t continue.
Bum, in my opinion Bauer would be worth it to the right club. I was at a game he pitched when he was 21 and he had great stuff. #3 overall, only 25. I’m sure Cleveland wouldn’t hesitate parting with him. LA and Honeycutt/Roberts make the most sense. A starter and a third base prospect might do it. Cotton/Anderson and Guerrero? Heck, send them Wood. Change of scenery would do them both good.
I’m saving Guerero for the Mets. Wright needs to get rests. I like Wood for the bullpen. Cotton/ Anderson maybe Culbertson.
Ok by me.
Since I have been one of Alex’s biggest supporters, it seems logical that I chime in. Because I live in NorCal, my MLBtv was blocked so I didn’t get to see it, but I heard most of the damage. It seems that Wood is doing his best to become the LH version of Joe Blanton. He goes a solid 4 and then can’t get out of the 5th. The same scenario as he did with the Angels. He apparently just loses his command in the 5th inning. It wasn’t arm fatigue, since he only threw 49 pitches through 4. He seems a logical choice for the 2nd LHRP, and Garcia or Baez back to AAA.
I am just not sure that Howell has anything left. He certainly cannot go back to back games. You had Garcia and Howell going back to back. I also do not understand why Wood was allowed to come back to start the 6th. He had obviously lost whatever he did have in the 5th. Blanton is the long reliever, and both Hatcher and Coleman had Wednesday off. It is always easier for a reliever to start an inning. It’s easy to second guess, and I respect Doc Roberts too much to start with this game.
There were some positives. The Dodgers did get 13 hits in the game, and scored 4 runs off Peavy. I know in one of Joc’s K at bats, he fouled off a bunch of pitches. Unfortunately I did not get to see his swing. I did see that he got a couple of hits. Maybe some progress.
Maybe the best thing for both Cleveland and LA is to move Bauer to the Dodgers (who need a SP), and Wood to Cleveland (who needs a long reliever), throw in Guerrero and a lower level prospect. They are not going to want Lee. A change of scenery might do both of them some good. I like to follow Cleveland because of Francona, so I will still be able to follow the perils of Alex Wood.
I do not presume to know what goes on in any front office decisions, but the Dodgers have needed quality relievers for what…3 years now? I wanted Jake McGee, but that would have required a trade. There were two other free agent LHRP that I advocated; Tony Sipp who signed with Houston for 3 years $18 million, and Antonio Bastardo who signed with the Mets for 2 years $12 million. Both under the Howie Kendrick contract. Now FAZ is scouring the waiver wires and signing to minor league contracts Dale Thayer and Sam Leclure, two unheralded RIGHT handed relievers. Dale Thayer dropped to AA because there was no room for him at AAA. One of those two is going to get some innings in, and then find themselves in a LAD uniform before too long. Like it or not, the contracts for both Sipp and Bastardo are what it takes to sign veteran relievers. I believe I heard Andrew on one of his ST interviews indicate that he is leary of multi year contracts for relievers, as they do not always duplicate quality years, except for the exceptional. Maybe that is his thinking. Try to get magic in a bottle with one year wonders. I am a FAZ supporter, but if I did have Andrew’s ear I would certainly question his approach to relievers.
All in all a very forgettable afternoon, but certainly predictable. Pitching (starting and relief), game management, defensive fundamentals were all game victims. I very much looking forward to Stripling’s debut tomorrow.