The Dodgers (101-57) had an all-around great game on Tuesday night as they defeated the Padres 9-2 and secured home field advantage through the NLCS. The Dodgers also broke the record for most franchise wins at home in a season. They now have 56 wins at Dodger Stadium with one game left.
The Dodgers used three long balls and a hot start from Alex Wood to down the Padres. Yasmani Grandal’s three-run shot in the sixth inning with the Padres leading 2-1 was the real decider. The Dodgers added on with two more home runs later in the game. One was a solo shot from Adrian Gonzalez, (just his third of the year) and the other was a three-run shot from Corey Seager in the bottom of the seventh.
The game started as a pitching duel between youngster Dinelson Lamet and Wood. If you remember Lamet’s last outing against the Dodgers he struck out ten but lost 1-0 to Clayton Kershaw. Boy let me tell you Lamet has great stuff and I can see him being San Diego’s ace next season if he can get it together. But the Dodgers got to him in the fifth inning.
Padres 2 9 0
Dodgers 9 11 2
WP-Wood-16-3
LP-Lamet-
HR-Renfroe-25-Villanueva-4-Grandal-22-Gonzalez-3-Seager-21
Before that inning the Padres hit two home runs in the top of the fifth to go up 2-1. Hunter Renfroe hit a solo jack to tie the game and then Christian Villanueva hit one deep towards the low wall in the right field corner. A Dodger fan appeared to reach over the wall into play appearing to deflect the ball as it hit the top of the wall and bounced back to Yasiel Puig. The Padres challenged the play and won as the New York office ruled that the ball left the yard indicating the fan interfered. The fourth home run of the year for Villanueva put the Padres up 2-1. The fan also was ejected from the game for good measure.
The Dodgers would immediately come back to score three in the fifth inning. Lamet lost it after holding the Dodgers to three hits and striking out five up until then. In the fifth frame Lamet issued two-out walks to Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger before Grandal blasted his 22nd home run of the season. The Dodgers plated another run in the bottom of the sixth after Enrique Hernandez’s pinch-hit double and Seager’s RBI bloop single. That gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead.
Strong defense prevented a run from scoring in the top of the seventh inning. Bellinger threw out Wil Myers at the plate to end the inning. That kept the score at 5-2. Gonzalez’s home run in the seventh made the score 6-2. The Dodgers would score four more runs in the bottom of the eighth highlighted by Seager’s three-run blast. Good to see Seager perking up again.
Lamet still struck out 7 in five innings but walked six and allowed four earned runs on four hits. Wood allowed two earned runs over six innings and struck out one. There is some concern that Wood only struck out one, but he pitched well enough to earn his sixteenth win of the season.
The Dodger bullpen took things the rest of the way with Josh Fields, Tony Watson, and Brock Stewart pitching the final three innings of the game. The bats collected nine hits on the night and were 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position. They stranded nine runners on base.
The Dodgers close out the home portion of their 2017 schedule on Wednesday’s series finale against the Padres. Left hander Clayton Richard will counter Rich Hill at 7:10 PM PST. Bust out those brooms! The broom depot will remain open late.
Note-Puig and Turner both returned to the lineup. Puig was 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. Turner was 1 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.
Great to see Seager getting a HR. AGon may do just enough to get on the postseason roster. Seems like Roberts and Puig are ok, but we have insurance in RF with Bellinger. That was a great throw and apparently he threw it at 98mph!
Bellinger was in CF on that throw. But he could probably play right pretty easily. That 1st homer that they said the fan deflected was not going to clear the wall unless it would have hit on top of the fence. It was clearly below the top as that was where his hands were. Should have only been a double. Nice to see Corey get ahold of one and A-Gone show that he still has power. That was an impressive swing. Grandal is an enigma. The guy swings at balls at his ankles, then strikes out from the right side looking with the bases loaded at a letter high fastball. He has no sense of the strike zone. But a win is a win. One more and they tie the LA Dodger record. Two more and they seal up home field through out the playoffs as the Indians lost to the Twinkies. In case any one wishes to know, my gravitar is of Audie Murphy’s medals. That is all the awards he earned during his service in WWII. Since Medals of Honor are not displayed in shadow boxes, the ribbon signifying the award is at the top of his ribbons. It is just under the combat infantryman’s badge.
I think Corey is going to be ok and he just needs to take a pitch here and there. That RBI single was a high strike, and he somehow muscled a low pitch out of the park for his homer. That suggests to me that he’s starting to get how the pitchers are going to pitch him.
Grandal is purely hit and miss. I’ll gladly eat crow if he goes on a hot streak from now on and wins every postseason award. He’s capable but we’ll see ….
YF
I am ok with Corey now too, now that I know his elbow is not the reason he has slumped a little, although I know his elbow has to come into play.
I think Corey is going to have to let his first pitches go for a while, because pitchers have his numbers, when it comes to first pitches.
We don’t need Corey to hit HRs, as along as he hits, he is one of our top guys, that makes the top of our order, more productive.
Uh oh, Michael. that “gravitar” is really going to piss off MJ. How dare you display such a divisive, hateful and tasteless display of all things evil about America. You are obviously unaware of the evil things that the US did to defeat the Axis powers during that war. Shame on you for honoring the military service of Audie Murphy to his racist, slave master, hate filled country. On behalf of MJ, I will be taking a knee for the next three hours as a sign of protest. I bet you actually think that All Lives Matter too, you racist!
True
You know that I get unhinged and react to just any little thing, so you better take two knees for me!
Although I am younger then some here, my father did fight in World War 2!
I am on the end of being a baby boomer, and very close to being a generation X too.
But my father just like me brother who served in Nam, never wanted to talk about war.
Actually, the Swiftboat people taught us that we cannot trust that medals are always earned. They did that to win an election. Medals don’t mean what they used to mean, and that is not the ‘doings’ of liberals. Neither was the idea that POWs are not heros.
Actually Mr. Wolfe, Murphy earned his. His medal of honor was awarded for his holding off a advancing German attack single handedly. He was standing on a burning tank firing a 50 caliber machine gun. He was also wounded at the time. Although small in stature, he was a fighter. You do not get that many awards for valor by not earning them.
I have never doubted that he earned and my remarks were not about him or personal in respect to you.
I get it, but in this case, bad analogy.
Well mine is a lot smaller. I have a National Defense Service ribbon, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and a Good Conduct Medal with 2 loops. Sharpshooter with the M-16, Expert with the M-14 and a missile man’s badge. It that stuff is evil, well I earned it. My dad earned his in WWII. He had 7 campaign ribbons.
dont care, but that’s an impressive number.
Wood seems unhappy with prospect of a bullpen role. Can’t say I blame him, but argument could be made its the best scenario for the team.
Bluto
It is about winning it all, so every player, will do what is best to get there!
I think you underestimate the role of ego in sports.
Since way back when, it’s been a driving force in performance and motivation.
Wood himself was quoted LAST NIGHT as saying he should be a starter.
“What do you think?” he said after the game when asked if he expects to start in the postseason rather than pitch out of the bullpen.
Told that his manager had not killed the speculation about his role, Wood made it clear he thinks he has earned a spot in the Dodgers’ playoff rotation.
“It’s out of my control but I expect to start,” he said. “I’ve been pretty good all year. I think everybody in this clubhouse trusts me with the ball in my hand. We’ll see what happens.”
He has been good all year – really good in the first half, less so in recent months.
Michael
I know who he is wasn’t he the most decorated soldier, in World War 2?
Bluto
Your right!
You do want your players to be confident and to do their best!
But I still think Wood will do what he is asked, and if he is asked to go into the bullpen, he will do his best to be the best reliever, he can be!
I know in the last two months, Ryu has much better numbers, but they are both over 4 on FIP, so what are your thoughts, on their numbers, when it comes to FIP?
Yes MJ. Audie received the most decorations for valor during WWII. He probably could have been awarded a second Medal of Honor. He did many things most would not. His biggest thing was that he almost never sent his guys to do the job without being right there with them. He was about 5’4″ tall and he was from Texas. He went into movies after he was out of the service making mostly low budget stuff like westerns. But he was in 2 movies that were pretty good. One was his life’s story, To Hell and Back, and the other was a Stephen Crane Civil War novel called The Red Badge of Courage. It is about a young Union soldier who is basically scared to death and running away from battle and becomes a hero.
I’m not going to get all giddy because we teeed off on SD pitching. But we won which is what counts.
Cody looked pretty smooth out there in CF. Great throw.
Artieboy
That is why I have said that Cody’s athleticism and wheels, are wasted at playing first base!
I don’t know what his growing spurt was, but I would have never tagged him to be a first baseman, with the athletic qualities he has.
Hell I am giddy they teed off on anybody considering the way they have played most of September, and Lemet is one of the better arms the SD staff has. That being said, they all hang one in the zone once in a while and that he did.
There was a lot of good things in that game last night.
I couldn’t believe that one guy on the Padres tagged Wood with that HR, because Wood made a very good pitch, that that guy hit out.
Not to many right handers, hit that low of a pitch in general, let alone, hit one out!
Wood has now pitched two games in a row, but I didn’t check his velocity, but I knew he pitched his prior game, without the velocity he had at the beginning of the year, and he still pitched well.
Of course it was good to see Corey break out a little, and it was surprising to see Agone hit that ball out, and hit another ball, off the wall.
I just wish Agone was a little more healthy, because he could have been a very good bat, at the back of our line up, if he was at least as healthy as he was, last year.
It was to bad Ethier didn’t get a hit too, but it isn’t surprising that Ethier didn’t get a hit, with the way they have not played him!
And it was good to see Roberts confidence in Grandal paid off last night, when Grandal worked his count, and hit that ball out!
And I give credit to Grandal for doing that.
I know this was only the Padres, but remember these same Padres, took three out of four games, in that last series we played them in, when the team started slumping!
And the Padres seem to always have good pitchers, but I don’t think that gimmickly pitcher with the weird delivery, fooled any of the Dodgers!
And what happens, if we lose tonight, after winning three in a row, and Granderson is in the line up tonight?
It was very surprising to see Granderson sit three games out, in a row, although he pinched hit last night!
I’m not sold on The Grandmal Seizure, he does this, he is a hit or miss player on the offensive side. He is a liability on the defensive side. I don’t like those guys in the playoffs, too much riding on each play.
Belllinger can play any position on the field, hell he would probably be an upgrade if he was put in our bullpen. He’s fast, smart, tough and has a great attitude to go along with great skills.
Puig has to play, no more platoon bullshit, he needs to be in the lineup every game. Let the Wild Horse run!
Remove the temptation from Roberts, No Baez on the playoff roster!
You and me both. I have never really cared for the guy. I think he is very limited defensively, he leads the league in passed balls, again, and he is way to streaky as a hitter and his bad streaks out number his good ones. Dimes to do-nuts, Baez makes it. Along with Fields, Morrow and Jansen as the RH out of the pen. If they carry 2 lefty’s it will most likely be Watson, and Avilan, although I would rather see Cingrani out of the pen especially against Az.
Roberts made sure that Baez doesn’t make it, and Baez won’t make it, because he has not earned it!
And Cingrani took care of most of the Dbacks hitters, so he will make it too.
Wanna bet? Baez will be on the roster almost guaranteed…….Roberts loves the guy.
Michael
Roberts loves all of his players!
And the only way Baez makes this post season roster, is if another pitcher, gets hurt.
Roberts said so much, after that last bad game Baez had.
I get it MJ, but he followed that up with a decent outing last time out. If he pitches well while they are in Colorado, what do you want to bet Davey puts him on the roster?
Lets put it this way. I trust Alex Wood a lot more than I do Rich over the Hill. He has earned a spot in the rotation. He went to the BP out of the gate this year but always insisted he was a starter and he has proved it. Ryu has pitched well too. So it is a nice problem to have. Personally I think it will come down to who matches up better against who ever they play in the first round. If it is Az, do not expect Maeda out there. They have lit him up. Listening to the broadcast last night, I was just amused as Joe and Orel Surgery tried to pick a staff for the playoffs. They were saying 7 relievers and 4 starters and trying to access who was a lock and who was not. Pretty funny stuff once they got down to 1 or 2 slots left because they were forgetting a lot of guys. They also both think Farmer might make the roster.
I am upset that they are making Ryu pitch in Colorado again this year!
He has had to take one for the team, a couple of times earlier in the season in Colorado, and that was when he was first coming back!
Hill has never had to pitched even once in Colorado, and I know his curves don’t play there, but the same is true for Ryu, and he has already pitched there, at least three times!
Cigaretti has to make this club, I’d take him all day long over Whatson. Whatson’s appearances have me saying “WTF Roberts!”nearly every time.
They either need Farmer or they need Segigin (?) I like both of their bats. This team definitely needs some consistent help with the bat off the bench.
Segedin there Blue….I doubt he makes it. But Farmer has shown the big stage does not bother him and it cannot hurt that the guy is hitting close to .400 in limited at bats.
Tonight’s line up…Taylor CF Seager SS Turner 3B Bellinger 1B Hernandez LF Forsythe 2B Barnes C Puig RF Hill P……….Judging from the way the ball was flying around Coor’s Field today, I do not think scoring is going to be a huge problem….Here is an interesting tidbit. The Rockies have 3 games left, all with the Dodgers. The Brewers have 5. Now the Rocks need to win at least 2 to pretty much tie up the wild card bid. But the Dodgers manage to sweep the Rocks, depending on how Milwaukee does the next 3, the Brewers could conceivably have to play those two extra games if they have meaning as to the seasons outcome. If Rocks win all 3, they would finish with 89 wins. They lose 3 they are at 86 and at risk since the Brewers are sitting on 83. With those 5 games, they could catch and pass the Rockies.
What about the Cards?
I heard the Cards are playing the Brewers, in there next series, and the Cards are close too.
3.5 games out right now with 3 to play. Not a chance.
The Dodgers surpassed 3.7 million fans in attendance for the ninth time in franchise history and for the fifth consecutive season. LA will lead the Majors in both total and average attendance.
I love, love, love watching Rich Hill pitch.
It’s just awesome.
Curtis Granderson’s hit breakdown as a Dodger:
Total — 16
HR — 7
1B — 7
2B- — 2