The Dodgers were supposed to play a three game series in San Francisco starting on Friday night. Mother Nature had different ideas with the opening game being rained out yesterday evening. The Dodgers will make up the game as part of a double-header on April 28 because they come back into town to play another series at the end of the month. That seems to work for both clubs since the Giants have a game on Monday and playing a double-header this weekend is not something anybody wanted to do.
What that does is shuffle the pitching match-ups for the weekend. Since this will be a two-game set instead of a three game series the Dodgers will skip Kenta Maeda’s turn in the rotation (he was originally scheduled for Friday) and Rich Hill will start this afternoon. The Giants will counter with Chris Stratton. Clayton Kershaw is slated for Sunday. The Dodgers are trying to snap a three-game losing skid after getting swept in Arizona. The Dodgers have sucked at every facet of the game during the opening week of the season. They are now 2-5 and in fourth place in the National League West.
The Dodgers split the opening series against the Giants at Dodger Stadium despite only allowing two runs thanks to a pair of 1-0 losses. They faced Stratton back on April 1 during a game where they beat him and the Giants 9-0. In that game Stratton pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits and struck out four. Hill started against Stratton in that same game and tossed six scoreless frames allowing just five hits and striking out five.
Dodgers lineup:
Taylor CF
Seager SS
Puig RF
Bellinger 1B
Forsythe 3B
Pederson LF
Barnes C
Utley 2B
Hill P— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) April 7, 2018
Fortunately Rich Hill has always pitched well against the Giants Hill has a 6-2 record and 2.23 ERA in 12 career starts against San Francisco. He’s made 4 career starts in San Francisco with a 3.91 ERA and 24 whiffs against 5 walks. Stratton is 1-2 with a 5.91 career ERA versus the Dodgers. The Dodgers have Joc Pederson in left field today as Matt Kemp gets a day off. Austin Barnes is behind the plate and Chase Utley is at second. Check out the lineups and match-ups below.
Hill vs. Giants
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | OPS |
| Hunter Pence | 25 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | .217 | .280 | .671 |
| Buster Posey | 18 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .444 | .444 | .944 |
| Brandon Crawford | 15 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .500 | .600 | 1.100 |
| Gorkys Hernandez | 13 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .308 | .308 | .769 |
| Brandon Belt | 12 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .500 | .583 | 1.583 |
| Evan Longoria | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .111 | .200 | .422 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 9 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .111 | .111 | .222 |
| Austin Jackson | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .000 | .125 | .125 |
| Joe Panik | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .500 | .714 | 1.214 |
| Mac Williamson | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .167 | .167 | .333 |
| Ty Blach | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Johnny Cueto | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Kelby Tomlinson | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .250 | .250 |
| Miguel Gomez | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Nick Hundley | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Madison Bumgarner | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Jeff Samardzija | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Pablo Sandoval | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Chris Stratton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 149 | 134 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 36 | .254 | .320 | .670 |
Stratton vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | OPS |
| Chris Taylor | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .500 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .200 | 1.200 |
| Joc Pederson | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .400 | .400 |
| Corey Seager | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .200 | .200 | .400 |
| Cody Bellinger | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .750 |
| Yasiel Puig | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .667 | .667 | 1.667 |
| Kyle Farmer | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .500 | .500 |
| Logan Forsythe | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.500 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 |
| Rich Hill | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Chase Utley | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 |
| Total | 40 | 35 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | .257 | .308 | .765 |
Today’s game is on KTLA as well as sportsnetla and first pitch is scheduled for 3:05 PM PST.
Whoever said Kemp needed to improve his defense must have not seen Joc play. The ball McCutheon just hit was an error by Joc, no question about it. Another great idea to play Joc by dummy Roberts.
Well, another great ab by Joc. A smooth Double play. He is stinking it up!!
He’s making me regret defending him
Hey Scott
Its OK, I make plenty of mistakes. HA!
Alert the Media….the Dodgers scored after a 17 inning drought in which they had exactly 3 hits. Watched Greinke pitch against the Cards today. His velocity was way down. Way to go Joc, turn a double into an RBI hit. Forshyte stinking up the joint again.
HR bug bites OVER THE HILL again……..
Pack – nope. Didn’t do Woodstock. Was working in LA saving money for college in Nebraska. I think I left around that time to drive back there.
Our bench players, including Forsythe if you ask me, haven’t impressed.
Bellinger still swings and misses a lot.
Into the bullpen early. Here we go again.
Badger
Longoria and Forsythe are hitting 091, and 073, I believe.
What Forsythe is doing, isn’t that shocking.
I wouldn’t have taken Kemp out, because he was one of the few Dodgers, that has hit it out, in SF.
Utley at 38, sure puts Forsythe to shame!
Stripling looked good.
Dodgers hitting a lot of liners right at the Giants.
Good placement? Bad luck? Regression from last year?
Forsythe totally infuriating.
Looks to me like the Dodger hitters would rather be somewhere else. Bullpen has been good. But at this rate they won’t last.
Crap.
Why did Dave take Alexander out, to let Kershaw hit there?