The 2017 National League Champions, Los Angeles Dodgers are in the midst of a scoring drought against the Giants. In their first two games, the Dodgers were shutout and combined for a bleak seven hits. This occurred despite strong pitching performances from both Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood. Combined, they allowed two runs and struck out 12, keeping their respective games in striking range.
Finally, last night, the bats woke up from their coma and paved the way for the team’s first win. Their 5-0 win over the Giants snapped their 18-inning scoreless streak, the second longest in franchise history.
Their win was led by the top half of their lineup, who combined for three RBI’s, while the other two were off defensive errors. Outfielder Yasiel Puig immediately got the crowd cheering with his first-inning sacrifice fly. In the third inning, outfielder Enrique Hernandez hit another sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers are now looking to even up the series tonight and are sending left-hander pitcher Rich Hill to the bump.
Preview and Prediction: San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers know that it’s imperative to get baserunners on to have any chance of evening up this series. Especially when your playing NL West teams, every run matters. It all starts with practice and repetition alongside Dodger’s hitting coach Turner Ward, who will be fine-tuning the team’s hitting fundamentals. For the Dodger’s to have any shot at making it back to the postseason, the offense has to step up, as it has been a vital part of the franchise’s success.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will employ the same lineup as he did Saturday and send out pitcher Rich Hill for game four.
Hill had a solid 2017 campaign for the Dodgers, going 12-8 with a 3.32 ERA in 25 starts. He’s had incredible success throughout his career against the Giants as he looks to further polish up his 2.43 ERA in 11 career starts. In his three outings against the Giants last year, Hill went 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA, allowing a dreary .224 batting average.
To counter Hill, the Giants are sending out right-handed pitcher Chris Stratton, who has struggled mightily against the Dodgers. He is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in three career games against the Dodgers. He’s struggled finding command of his pitches, which has made himself predictable against opposing batters. This will mean the Giants will need to look towards providing run support, in case the outing heads south.
The Giants badly need production out of their two large offseason acquisitions in third-baseman Evan Longoria and center-fielder Andrew McCutchen. They have seen diminutive results in three days, as they have combined for 1-for-23. They are both due to get out of this slump and I expect a combined two to three hits out of them tonight. The Giants know the importance of winning series and how much momentum that carries into another series.
Prediction:
The Dodgers are going to be aggressive at the plate and feed off last night’s momentum. They know they have the pitching matchup they want, and want to take full advantage of it. The Dodgers will prevail.
5-2 Dodgers
1. Chris Taylor (R) CF
2. Corey Seager (L) SS
3. Yasiel Puig (R) RF
4. Yasmani Grandal (S) C
5. Cody Bellinger (L) 1B
6. Enrique Hernandez (R) 2B
7. Joc Pederson (L) LF
8. Kyle Farmer (R) 3B
9. Rich Hill (L) P
Take a seat Forshyte.
6-3 Dodgers. We see a home run tonight.
Ohtani had a good debut today. As Michael said on the other thread, the DBacks dumped Yasmany Tomas, who was given a 6 year $68 million contract out of Cuba. I don’t know what the hell happened with Cuban scouting in the last 5 years. The dead weight numbers piling up and, frankly, are staggeringly awful. Meanwhile our proven vets, Cuban born or not, are getting smaller and smaller contracts. Something is very wrong with the system and someone should be able to take advantage of it, and let’s see which team does.
I just love watching Hill pitch.
Well, there goes Roberts. He has taken Kemp out already. Him and his stupid,stupid lineups. I wish they would fire that jerk.
Agreed. I mean what has Roberts done for this team?
Bluto
I know people love him but I think he is a butt kisser. Stop with the crazy lineups already!
Nothing
Johnny Grassi
Apparently you didn’t watch Saturdays game. Kemp played left field as usual, Seager did not play as Kiki filled in and Barnes was the catcher, not Grandal. Well, you got two thirds of it right. This is not the same lineup as Saturday Night, Also, the Dodgers only got 4 hits witch is not bats coming alive as you suggest. I hope they win but there is no indication of a repeat of Saturday nights win.
What do you think of Maddon’s lineups?
Or AJ Hinch’s
Bluto
I think Maddon is the brains behind Freidman. I wish Maddon had gotton the Dodger job even though I think Friedman would have claimed credit for the Dodger success. Hinch is also a good manager but I don’t see either coming to LA.
No offense, but I’m only asking about their constantly changing line-ups.
They change it just as much as Roberts.
Statements like Maddon being the brains behind Friedman is impossible to evaluate, so I have no desire to discuss.
Bluto
The difference is that Robert’s changes make no sense. No you cannot evaluate but if you have any common sense you get it.
I’m sure they make sense to some people, package.
The Dodgers traded Minor League outfielder Johan Mieses to the St. Louis Cardinals for switch-hitting second baseman Breyvic Valera, who will be optioned to the Minor Leagues.
Someone much more informed than I called it a swap of upper-level depth for a raw power lotto ticket. Valera is a competent, versatile INF, insurance during Turner injury. Mieses has big raw power (& butt), his cut has natural lift, but that swing takes a while to get wound up & he’s very K prone
Is it the same people that hype every minor league prospect…..until said prospect is traded and then the ‘questionable qualities’ of the aforementioned ‘highly touted Dodger prospect’ is brought forth and of course the newly acquired prospect is now better than that ‘bum’ that got traded.
Let me guess the thought process by the Fazomaniacs, Dodger depth has been improved by this smart trade made by the great FAZ.
I don’t even know what that means, nor how it applies to what I reported.
But good to see you here, Chili.
I only wish I could be as incompetent in my job and have people tell me how smart I am. Hmmm. And to think that I’m not stealing, I mean making $7M a year.
FAZ inherited Justin Turner as the Dodgers 3rd baseman. They have had 4 free agent signing periods, 3 drafts, signed the most international players than any other organization and have made multiple trades and still have no true back up to Turner and have yet to come up with a quality 2nd baseman.
Unfortunately Colleti didn’t have a stud 2nd baseman in the minors nor a back up 3rd baseman. He did provide all other positions. One would think after 3 drafts and 4 off seasons that the great FAZ could at least fill one position. Was that asking too much?
Personally Chili…..I think Colletti did a damn good job with what he was handed. His teams had the highest winning percentage in the NL during his tenure. He had the handicap of McCourt and still made some good trades. His free agent signings did not turn out all that great, but his teams were entertaining and fun to watch.
I like Valera a whole lot more than Mieses. This was a great trade in my opinion. And Chili you know I’ve been fairly critical of the FBZ too over the years.
Well tonight the bats came alive. Cody with the first Dodger homer of the year, Puig had 3 hits. Grandal actually drove in a run. Hill did his usual tip toe job and managed to keep the Giants off the scoreboard and the bullpen was nails again. Evan Longoria is ofer 2018 and probably wishes he was back in Tampa. Before the game tonight, I watched an old Dean Martin Roast and they were roasting Joe Garagiola. It was damn funny and pretty nostalgic since on the dais were Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Maury Wills. Mantle was wearing a burgundy tux. Oh yeah, Charlie Finley and Luis Tiant were on too. One of the funniest lines was Tiant who was sitting next to Finley was signing something for Charlie, and Dean said he had better watch it because Charlie would slip a 3 year contract for no money there and Luis would not know it. It was a nice change of pace to this damn cold I have been fighting for over a week. Worst is over now…I feel much better……Orson Welles read a version of Casey at the Bat with Joe as the batter…..it was pretty cool….
Dodgers and the FBZ made a nice pick up today, trading the SABRtastic, three true outcomes, and totally blocked 5th-11th OF prospect Johan Mieses for old schools contact hitting, slick o fielding prospect Valera from Venezuela. This is the type of deals I can get behind. More please!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.minorleagueball.com/platform/amp/2017/9/25/16352470/mlb-rookie-profile-breyvic-valera-st-louis-cardinals
He looks a’ight. No speed, little power, good hands, contact hitter who can play anywhere. A nice piece to have if someone else goes to the DL.
Let’s hope so, but best case is we never need to find out.
Or is it that he comes through when needed?
An interesting conundrum.
How good Valera is remains to be seen. He is 26 so his prime is slipping by. What we do know is that the Cardinals have been looking for middle infielders for the past couple of years as they have not been pleased with Kolton Wong’s overall performance. In fact they picked up the ‘lightning quick’ Jedd Gyorko who has received MUCH more playing time than they were hoping. Just a couple of years ago they brought up a released player (that no other teams picked up) Diaz to play SS. He worked for a season but had issues. My point is that IF Valera is all that wouldn’t the Cardinals have hung onto him? Are we saying that the Cardinals ‘depth’ must be deeper than the Dodgers? How can that be. Friedman was the highest paid FO Baseball executive (until 3 time WS champ, Epstein signed his new contract). We already know that the Cardinals moved a player (Grichuk) whom had better numbers than Pederson because they have seen who he is and didn’t need him to be a 4th OF.
The narrative regarding FAZ when listening to the FAZ-o-maniacs is that the Dodgers have all of this quality ‘depth.’ As if no other teams have a 40 man rosters or minor league teams filled with prospects.
My additional point is that AFTER 1 INJURY (Justin Turner), it turns out the ‘depth’ talk has some serious holes as after 4 off seasons, 3 drafts and numerous International signings the first injury has triggered the FO to make a move because they have no confidence in the players that THEY HAVE SIGNED, DRAFTED or TRADED for. Heaven help us if we have more injuries because Colletti’s draftees are slowly vanishing from our system and the great and powerful FAZ will be living with their picks and that is NOTHING to be excited about.
I’ll give FAZ the benefit of the doubt on this one. They did find Taylor, and he’s similar. Faster, but similar.
Oh, Chili, I’m to give you a pat on the back from Jonah. Good posts this morning amigo.
My comments are twofold.
1.) The FAZ-omaniacs continue to hype every prospect in the Dodgers organization (Johan Mieses was one of them) when the reality is that only a handful (5%) will ever contribute to the Major League squad or stick in the majors. Just do the math.
2.) The FAZ-omaniacs continue to prop up Friedman & Zaidi with the only card they can by claiming how they have been building a juggernaut organization of ‘quality depth.’ Then as soon as there is an injury they are having to go out and find someone. Kind of contradicts the depth analysis. I’m not as deplorable towards Friedman & Zaidi as it might appear but some of the comments that I hear supporting them are baffling and in many cases complete double talk. This is a prime example of that.
So we can agree that the depth really wasn’t there. Everyone can go on about how Valera has played all of these different positions but playing them and playing them well are 2 different issues. My gut says he is a 2nd baseman first and foremost. Go play him at 3rd base for awhile and we’ll see if he performs any better than any other 2nd baseman that gets moved to 3rd base. My argument would be No.
Friedman & Zaidi drafted Calhoun in the 4th round 2015 (turns out he couldn’t play 2nd base) and has since been traded.
With the first pick in the 2016 draft chose a SS, Gavin Lux. Lux is still in Class A. 2 years later and still in class A is not necessarily a good thing. From a recent report regarding Lux…….’Unfortunately, many expected more out of a first-round pick than what he has given. To date, in 167 Minor League games, Lux has slashed a very average .262/.346/.374.’
Their 6th round pick from 2016 Errol Robinson is still in ‘A’ ball. Their 10th round pick Lachance was in the rookie league last year.
Neither year did they draft a 3B before the 20th round……not very smart. (No wonder they have no true backup 3B in the waiting.)
Hello Jonah! Do feel free to post. It is Dodger baseball. All opinions and thoughts are appreciated……
Totally agree. When you take over a good team there are not many places for a farm system to slot in.
And also agree that only a handful of prospects will make the impact that Seager, Bellinger and (if applicable) Taylor did.
Let’s just hope the front office can keep keeping (?!) the good ones.
If hyping prospects elevated their value and facilitates trades like this one, the Hill one, the Wood one or the Darvish one. I say keep hyping!
You know I understand that take.
The most impressive move so far to me was for Taylor. Atta boys FAZ. Wood also looks good. The other 700 transactions left me mostly nonplussed.
I never bought the depth argument. Frankly with Turner out our bench looks iffy to me. Utley has experience, Farmer doesn’t, Barnes is a gamer and left field is stacked. I hope.
Draft picks are a crap shoot. Buehler, Smith and Kendall look like good picks. Lux is still a maybe for me. I’ll be patient with their draft picks. It’s their bargain shopping, the free agents, the International signings (its been reported they spent in the neighborhood of $250mm on Cubans) and the deadline deals that have caused me to raise my voice.
The way they do business is the way all teams are doing it. It’s won championships several times already. It’s here to stay so we all better get on board, at least by adjusting our tolerance levels. I still roll my eyes but I don’t raise my voice as often.
Are these guys FAZ guys as good as those guys that actually got it done? Not yet.