The Dodgers embark on their final road trip of the season after completing one of the most emotional home stands of recent memory. The home stand included the clinching of their fourth consecutive NL West division title and a heartfelt tribute and farewell to Vin Scully. Everyone paid tribute to the legendary announcer including long time Spanish radio announcer Jaime Jarrin. The Dodgers won 5 out of the six games on the home stand and are currently positioned as the third seeded club in the National League playoff standings.
The Dodgers will start the trip with one last series in San Diego against the Padres. The Dodgers are 90-66 and finished with a 53-28 record at home. On the road they are 37-38. The Padres have a 66-90 record and are currently fourth place in the NL West 16 games behind the Dodgers. The Dodgers are 10-6 against the Padres this season.
You may think these games are meaningless but the Dodgers can use them to evaluate certain players for the postseason roster and get some regulars rest. They are also just one game behind Washington for the second seed in the National League and getting home field advantage would be very important for them this season. If that happens it could seriously improve their odds to win the World Series which stand at 6-1 right now.
Dodgers Lineup @ San Diego-TBA
Jose De Leon-2-0 vs. Paul Clemens-2-5
Game Time – 7:10 PM – TV-SNLA
In the opening game the Dodgers will give the ball to rookie Jose De Leon. He faced the Padres in his debut back on September 4 at Dodger Stadium. In that game he allowed 4 runs (three earned) on six hits over 6 frames and struck out 9 to earn his first major league win. Since then he has had two starts with a win against the Yankees in New York and a loss to the Dbacks on September 18. Overall he is 2-0 with a 5.52 ERA and has struck out 14 and walked 4 in 14.2 innings pitched. Here’s how he has fared against the Padres.
De Leon vs. Padres
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Alex Dickerson | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Travis Jankowski | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wil Myers | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hector Sanchez | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Schimpf | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yangervis Solarte | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | .667 | 2.500 | 3.167 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alexi Amarista | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oswaldo Arcia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christian Friedrich | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 24 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 9 | .238 | .261 | .381 | .642 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The Padres will give the ball to 28-year old right hander Paul Clemens. The South Carolina native was originally drafted by the Braves in the seventh round of the 2008 draft. The Padres selected him off of waivers back in June from the Marlins. Clemens has spent limited time in the majors since 2013 with the Astros, Marlins, and now Padres. This year he has made 10 starts and 14 appearances with a 2-5 record and a 4.11 ERA.
Clemens has struck out 38 and walked 21 over 50.1 innings pitched while allowing 9.7 hits per nine innings of work. His lack of swing and miss stuff has been a problem, but overall he has been decent. Clemens has a fastball, changeup and slider. His fastball can be clocked around 93-96 mph. Clemens has faced the Dodgers twice this year in two short relief appearances.
Clemens vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Howie Kendrick | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Yasiel Puig | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Reddick | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 3.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 17 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .357 | .412 | .429 | .840 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
The Dodgers confidence is sky high right now after winning the division and they should defeat the Padres easily because they are a horrendous baseball club. The pressure is off now and the Dodgers can play free and easy until the postseason starts.
Go Blue!
… ummmmm, Maeda is pitching! You must be in foreign country, comrade!
Only drink tequila!
Interesting that Urias is going on Thursday and not Anderson. I think Julio is definitely in the running for the 4th man and is definitely going to be on the playoff roster.
Strasburg will not pitch in the division series. He has been placed on the 15 day disabled list. Also Ramos their all star catcher will not play.
huge losses for them
Maeda is starting in these two next series so he gets his bonus.
Front office want to reward him for a good work.
No, these guys shop at Dollar General. They won’t spend the money. That can’t be true. (sarcasm)
That means he starts this Sunday at SF; can’t see him pitching too long in that game.
Also means he gets 8 days off, as he’ll be starting game 3 on Monday, Oct 10. He should be good to go for that!
The lay over is another reason, and he doesn’t need to pitch far in second game.
Can’t say I love playing this game like a spring training game.