The Dodgers got a rare gift last night with Tracye Thompson’s exciting walk-off bomb that lifted the Dodgers to a 3-2 win over the Mets to even the series. Not only did that blast give the Dodgers a rare home win, but it also spared us all the agony of watching Chris Hatcher pitch another inning. He was looming in the bullpen at the time of the Thompson home run. So on behalf of all Dodger fans all over the world, thank you Trayce! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!!!!
Now that the Dodgers have a little momentum under their belt, perhaps they can pull off another win? That maybe too much to ask for, but I am going to dammit. I am always reaching for the sky. I think it’s time to cut bait with Carl Crawford. Thompson is a pretty decent hitter.
Anyways, the Dodgers and the Mets will do battle again in the third game of the series tonight. The pitching match-up will feature long haired Thor flamethrower Noah Syndergaard against Japanese right hander Kenta Maeda. This is is sure to be one heck of a pitching duel.
Dodgers Lineup vs. New York-TBA
Noah Syndergaard-2-2 vs. Kenta Maeda-3-1
Game Time – 7:10 PM – TV -SNLA
We last saw Syndergaard throwing 100 mph heaters in game 2 of the 2015 NLDS. The Dodgers were able to get to him later in the game when he started to tire. As a matter of fact his ERA gets higher as the game goes on. During the first three innings he has a career 2.90 ERA. Through innings 4-6 he has a 3.26 ERA and through innings 7-9 he has a 3.44 ERA. The sixth frame gives him the most trouble, as he has posted a 6.26 ERA during that inning.
This year has been very good. Syndergaard has posted a 2-2 record with a 2.58 ERA. He has struck out 49 and walked just 8 in 38.1 innings pitched. That comes out to an 11.5 K/9 rate. He has a 1.55 FIP and has allowed just one home run this year. This is one tough pitcher.
Syndergaard has made one regular season start against the Dodgers in which he tossed six innings of one run ball. In that start he earned a no-decision. The Dodgers simply don’t hit Syndergaard at all and I don’t really expect them too. The boys in blue are batting just .140 (6 for 43) with a .485 OPS against. Adrian Gonzalez has a home run, so there is that.
Syndergaard vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .167 | .286 | .667 | .952 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Howie Kendrick | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .143 | .143 | .143 | .286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .333 | .429 | .667 | 1.095 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .200 | .000 | .200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carl Crawford | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasiel Puig | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 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 |
| Total | 48 | 43 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 14 | .140 | .229 | .256 | .485 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
That means Kenta Maeda better throw a shutout if the Dodgers want to have any chance of winning. Maybe he will. After all, Maeda has been pitching quite well. Maeda is 3-1 with a 1.66 ERA in six starts. Over 38 frames he’s allowed seven earned runs, and three home runs. He’s struck out 35 and walked 10. He’s been excellent. He pitched well in his last start against Toronto, but got a no-decision. A mark of a good pitcher has always been the ability to limit base runners. Maeda has allowed just 6.2 hits per nine innings. He is 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA at Dodger Stadium, but also has a 0.98 ERA on the road. He’s good in any park.
Here are some interesting tidbits. Adrian Sabin Gonzalez is hitting .311 (61 for 196) in his career against the Mets. Chase Utley has blasted 35 home runs off of Mets’ pitching. Food for thought, those guys are good.
Here’s hoping for another win and another Hatcher free night! Enjoy the game. Go Blue!
Yeah, huge game. I think it’d say a lot if Maeda can beat this dude
Bobby I hope they get a lot of runs for Maeda tonight, and Turner’s bat, breaks out tonight!
“a rare home win”
🙂
Doubt if they will cut CC tonight. I believe he is in the lineup tonight. Maybe it’s an audition.
Howie is playing third. Turner isn’t playing, and he has the best average I believe against this Met’s pitcher. And Crawford is also playing. I wonder why Turner isn’t playing. I don’t like Howie at third. I wonder if Crawford, can catch up with this pitchers fastball. He couldn’t last year. And he was swinging at high fastballs.
Damn, just watched Max Scherzer strike out 20 Tigers today.
I just voted for the All-Star team on MLB. I used the stats and went for the best producers. Thus, I did not vote for even 1 Dodger. No one deserved it at this point when looking at other players in the league.
So I voted with stats as the deal, not my heart. The best deserve to play.
Roger no pitchers?
Better look now, but even the Padres are getting close. They beat the Cubs in game 1 of a double hitter today, and are winning in the 9th as well.
As Badger would say, the N.L. West is a real crap shoot.
Roger the Padres only lost by one run, in the other game, against the Cubbies!
Well this is a new way for us to be losing a game
Maybe he didn’t have his good stuff, because he went to that same pitch, to much. I thought maybe a butcher boy, but not another HR! Even position players, get overly excited, and can’t hit a 3 0 pitch!
MJ’s question of pitching deserves addressing. I’m sure nobody doubts we have at least one starter and one closer that are hard to overlook.
Quas welcome back! At least Kenley.
And of course Kershaw!
A lot of pitchers starting well. Kershaw on the list but not at the top of it. Every team has a player. We would have 2.
Watching Hatcher is sure fun.
Hatcher did good, coming in, with runners on base. Give credit when credit is due.
Ok. Credit. Still fun to watch. He could strike ’em all out, or walk ’em all.
Syndergaard is pretty good. Better than ours tonight.
Norse god 4, Dodgers 3. Tough loss, but they hung in there. Would have rather seen Turner as the tying run at the plate in the eighth.
I think this result sums up where we are at.
Nearly, but not quite good enough.
We will win some and lose some as we have ammunition, but no heavy artillery to finish off a decent team, either batting or pitching.
Also, as someone mentioned a week or so back – what has happened to Joc’s speed?
This team is starting to look more and more like a .500 team…
What happened to Mark’s comment from last night:
“Tonight is the night we will look at as when the Dodgers turned it all around.”
I don’t understand why everyone is down on this team, after this game. They hit better, then the Met’s players. If the pitcher, doesn’t hit those HRs, the Mets would have never scored even one run!
Maeda obviously didn’t have his good stuff, but our position players, did much more then the Mets position players. Thor has the best, or has almost the best stuff in baseball! In fact, the Mets believe that he will be better then Degrom. Our team did much better last night, then last year!
And our pen didn’t give up a run. Basically Maeda didn’t have good stuff, and he put runners on base, and threw Thor, to high of a pitch, in his first at bat.
And in his second at bat, the Mets set up Maeda, and the Dodgers. I thought he was going to butcher boy, when he didn’t bunt that good pitch, and I worried that he might get a hold of one, but I didn’t really think he would hit it out. You just have to give credit to Thor, for not getting to excited, and swinging to hard. And give him credit for pitching well. And I am only calling him Thor, because it is easier to write.