The Dodgers came off laying an egg last night and rebounded against the bottom feeder Padres. So Jacob Nix took on Rich Hill in a game that the Dodgers needed to correct themselves. The Rockies, Cardinals, and the Braves all won so the Dodgers winning was Paramount. Today was Viva Los Dodgers and Manny Machado bobble-head night. The Dodgers also owed the fans some fireworks since fireworks got cancelled last night. Joc Pederson hit a homerun on the 2nd pitch of the game.
.@yungjoc650 only needed two pitches. pic.twitter.com/XMAlS0SCYi
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 23, 2018
In the bottom of the third, Chris Taylor opened up with a single. Big Joc then hit a ground rule double. The red dream Justin Turner then doubled in two runs and the Dodgers led 3-0. Monster Munce Max Muncy was then hit by pitch. The Smirk Manny Machado then hit a three run shot and the Dodgers led 6-0. Jacob Nix got nixed out of the game at that point. Rich Hill usually averages six runs of support and Rich Hill became the first ten game winner for the Blue Crew.
Manny’s celebrating his bobblehead day the only way he knows how. 💪 pic.twitter.com/KjDwS7SCKD
— MLB (@MLB) September 23, 2018
In the top of the 6th, Hunter Renfroe hit a solo shot off Rich Hill and the Padres got on the board. In the bottom frame, Yasmani Grandal hit a solo shot and the score was 7-1. The Dodgers set a franchise record with 222 home runs on the season. Rich Hill pitched 7 innings. Alex Wood came in and pitched the 8th inning and recorded three outs. Yimi Garcia came in to pitch the 9th and gave up a double to Austin Hedges.
Tony Cingrani then came in and hit Eric Hosmer. Will Myers then hit a deep single. Manuel Margot then singled to score a run and the score was 7-2 and Cingrani was out. So the bases were loaded with one out. Kenley Jansen came in to strike out two to end the game. Tomorrow is the Dodgers last regular season home game with Ryu on the mound.
James Moya
Hi I’m James Moya. I am an avid Dodgers fan. I graduated Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelors in Communications. I used to freelance at the San Bernardino Sun. I’m excited about this opportunity to write for LA Dodger Report to gain experience. I’m a straight shooter on my opinions and I hope to get some good conversations going. My dream has always been to report on the Dodgers because Baseball is the National Past-time. I hope you enjoy the ride with me.
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According to Dodger Blue and Farhan Zaidi, the Dodgers are going to rely less on a platoon the last 7 games of the season, instead running the 8 players who give you the best chance to win. What a novel idea, play your best guys…….I should have thought of that, oh yeah, I did, in MARCH!
LOL. You are right Michael. What a great idea, glad WE thought of it. Took him all season to figure that out? And he makes how much? WE could split his salary, and be happy. If he had rhought of this earliier, they would not be looking in the rear view mirror and have home field advantage in playoffs.
Pederson, another L/O HR! Well, Machado put his money where his “Smirk” is…. finally. Dodgers still manage to whiff 10 times.
Hill goes a strong 7…. but it was only the last place Padres. Cingrani almost blows it.
Will we see the notorious ,”Lefty Lineup”, today versus anothr “Rookie”, or will Farhan implement his new (OUR) winning philosophy.
AZ a game away from elimination. Dodgers will possibly play their last games against two eliminated rivals, who would like nothing more then to put the final nail in the Dodgers’ coffin. Dodgers better not drop their guard.
As much pressure is on Machado, I still think Turner is the key. When he’s healthy and hitting, the rest of the offense follows. Maybe not every game but we take series when Turner is just doing his job, working pitches and putting up multi-hit games like your average 20 min drive to the shopping center for groceries. Then occasionally he’ll put in a 3-4 RBI game, or be on base when the game winning RBIs are cashed in, or get that tying run home to enable that GW RBI later. I hope we keep him around as a hitting coach after he hangs it up.
He’s not build like an Adonis like Stanton, and physically he’s either average or below. Maybe he just had a hard time keeping up with all the workouts – some people just aren’t cut out for that. But he’s got an extra gear when he’s healthy and maybe, just for once, we can see a fully healthy RedTurn for the entirety of the playoffs this year.
Turner is a grinder and it is no coincidence that they have been good this month because he is leading the NL in hitting this month. Turner is the straw, except in California where they are now illegal, that stirs the Dodgers drink. Nice to see him make a great play to start off the game and erase the 2 error stigma of the prior game. According to most of what I have read, Turner is a workout horse, he is just not that big of a guy. Turner is 5’11” 205 pounds. So he is pretty compact. His biggest plus is his demeanor and his consistent mechanics at the plate. Just look at Joc and Cody and just about every other hitter on the team except Kemp and you see guys constantly tinkering. I do not think there is a lot of pressure on Machado. He is going to get his huge contract whether the Dodgers win or not. 35 dingers, 100 ribbies and close to a .300 BA. Guy is going to get massive money and he is only 26. Jansen looked like Jansen last night. Coming in with the bags juiced and totally dominating.
Well they did what they were suppose to do to that young starter, but they only scored one run, after that starter was taken out, so there is not much more to say, about that game.
YF you are exactly right, this will be heavily on Turner’s shoulders!
There is only a couple other guys on this team that are able to hit in runners when they are in scoring position occasionally, other then Turner.
But they bench these other players a lot, so they are not always sharp enough, to hit in these situations, in games.
And because of all of that, this offense is inconsistent, but they look great against sub par pitching.
And like this team is going to get sharp in seven games, when they still continue to have big issues in high leverage situations in games.
An entire season has not made a difference, 7 days are sure not going to make that difference either, and they are not going to see a lot of subpar pitching, in the post season.
And so much about exit velocity, Turner has the least average exit velocity of most of this line up, yet he is the best hitter on this team, and it isn’t even close.
And that just shows the different approaches Turner may use, in different situations in games.
And most of the rest of this team, are light years away from understanding this, even though Turner is right in front of their eyes, doing this game after game!
But with that fact, most teams are not going to pitch to Turner, when they can pitch to everyone else in this line up, especially in these high leverage situations, how much damage can Turner really do?
And that is this team’s biggest weakness, because they can hit a solo HR easier then get a hit in these situations, but they won’t be facing as much subpar pitching in the post season, so there one dimensional approaches, are not going to work.
We might have the most players to hit 20 HRs, but this offense is not better then last years line up, or even the line ups the Dodgers put out there, in the 70s
And one of those teams in the 70s, had four or five players hit 30 HRs, but those hitters were more complete hitters, not a bunch of squirrels that get lucky occasionally, with their big swings.
MJ
How about Kemp! A HR, 3hits, 3 rbi s . I Know that made Dummy mad but he doesn’t care. He will sit Kemp some more this week. Kemp may not make the post season roster if the Dodgers make it. You just have to be a good ole boy to play for Dummy.
How about Ryu…. 3-3. And only given up 3 hits.?
Fourth starter!
Kershaw, Buehler, Hill, Ryu. These should be the 4 starters going in to the playoffs. Stripling has been inconsistent the latter half of the season. I haven’t had any confidence in him out of the pen, lately. Axford and Madson should be dropped from the playoffs. We’ve got many arms who will contribute and it looks like Urias will be one of them. Wood has looked pretty shaky for a while, now. I am really undecided about playing him at all.
2B remains a problem for us. We have no one who is solid on both ends, offensively/defensively. Both Dozier and Utley are not hitting. Kike seems to be thriving along with Taylor. Freese and Muncy at 1B. Bellinger, Puig, Kemp=OF. We’re ready.
Looks that way, Bluto. Caught me by surprise. I thought once he injured his groin, it was over. I hope he stays healthy. If they make it to WS, I would let him
DH. Angels can keep Shohei Otani.
Well they layed the lumber to the Pads today and finished 14-5 against them. They have won 10 or more games against the Padres since 2010. That was the last time the Padres had a winning record against the Dodgers. Time is ripe for them to punch on Arizona who is fading faster than an old photo. They were officially eliminated after todays loss to Colorado. I am surprised that other than the Greinke game on Friday, they were not competitive in the series at all. Well, just let em keep that up the next 3 days……Ray, Koch and Greinke, against Kersh, Buehler and Stripling.