Monday night’s affair did not go as planned as the Dodgers dropped the first game of the series to the Snakes 6-3. Jake Lamb’s grand slam home run in the seventh inning was the death blow. Apparently Dave Roberts was “experimenting” using Tony Watson in the seventh inning as a postseason tryout. It did not go well.
The good thing is the Dodgers are so far ahead they can afford to do stupid stuff like that. In retrospect maybe Roberts shouldn’t have intentionally walked A.J. Pollack to pitch to Lamb. Then again Roberts insists he liked the match-up. Either way my opinion remains that if Kenta Maeda had pitched more than five innings then maybe Roberts doesn’t have to empty the bullpen and use five middle relievers. That’s one of the benefits of having a starter go more than five innings in a start. Just saying.
Anyways tonight’s pitching match-up will be quite a doozy as Alex Wood battles former Dodger turncoat Zack Greinke. Wood has been battling arm fatigue, but says he’s fine. Just a casualty of a long season of course. Wood is 13-1 with a 2.33 ERA in 19 starts. He’s struck out 112 and walked 29 and has allowed just 6.6 hits per nine.
Wood has faced Arizona twice this season and is 1-0 with a no-decision. He struck out 10 Snakes back on July 5 while tossing seven scoreless frames in the Dodger’s 1-0 win. Wood is 4-3 with a 3.06 ERA in 11 career games against Arizona. Unfortunately like Maeda he has not fared well at Chase Field, posting a 6.32 ERA in 3 career starts there.
Wood vs. Dbacks
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | OPS |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 21 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | .294 | .429 | 1.076 |
| Jeff Mathis | 15 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | .286 | .333 | .905 |
| A.J. Pollock | 13 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .462 | .462 | 1.462 |
| Brandon Drury | 11 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .182 | .182 | .364 |
| Jake Lamb | 10 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | .222 | .300 | .633 |
| David Peralta | 10 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .200 | .200 | .400 |
| Adam Rosales | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Gregor Blanco | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .400 | .400 | .800 |
| Zack Greinke | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .500 |
| Chris Herrmann | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Ketel Marte | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .333 | .333 |
| Jorge De La Rosa | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Zack Godley | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Taijuan Walker | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Archie Bradley | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Patrick Corbin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Daniel Descalso | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 112 | 103 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 29 | .233 | .282 | .690 |
As for Greinke, he’s having a good season. Overall he’s 13-4 with a 3.10 ERA and 157 strikeouts across 142.1 frames. He’s allowed 19 home runs this season, and struck out 9.9 batters per nine innings this season. His 151 ERA+ is certainly nothing to scoff at.
He lost to the Dodgers in his only start against the boys in blue this season back on April 14. In that game he allowed five earned runs on ten hits across five innings pitched. The Dodgers won that game by a 7-1 score. Greinke is 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA in 8 career starts against the Dodgers. JT is 6 for 14 (.429) against Greinke with 2 doubles, a triple, and a home run.
Greinke vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | OPS |
| Chase Utley | 23 | 22 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | .273 | .304 | .850 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 20 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .211 | .250 | .671 |
| Justin Turner | 14 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | .429 | .429 | 1.357 |
| Corey Seager | 13 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | .667 | .769 | 2.214 |
| Joc Pederson | 10 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .333 | .400 | 1.289 |
| Logan Forsythe | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .222 | .222 | .444 |
| Kenta Maeda | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .500 |
| Alex Wood | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Yasiel Puig | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .333 | .333 |
| Total | 100 | 91 | 28 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 8 | 24 | .308 | .360 | .986 |
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Chase Utley will take over at second base for tonight against Greinke. The silver fox will bat seventh. Here’s the Dodger lineup for game 2.
Tonight’s Dodger lineup at D-backs:
Taylor LF
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Bellinger 1B
Grandal C
Utley 2B
Pederson CF
Puig RF
Wood P pic.twitter.com/xcTIfepTxj— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 9, 2017
Go Blue
I like this line up!
And I like Greinke, but I like beating Greinke more, so I hope everyone will be ready, if he messes with the timing with his delivery like he has, before.
I hope Corey continues to hit him hard, as well as the rest of the team!
3 hard hit balls, all find gloves.
The luck returns?
Bellinger hits #33..2 away from Pizza Man’s rookie record..way to go Belli !!!
Bellinger got Greinke again!
Greinke was left in too long. He had one hit until that seventh inning.
The Dbacks manager was seduced by the fallacious belief that a pitcher has to pitch seven to be a real starting pitcher.
If the Dbacks manager was part of the FAZ New School of 5 inning starting pitchers and Zack was yanked like he should have been, then Greinke and the Dbacks would have won.
Obviously. 😉
Not really. Lovullo got Kershawed. You’re right Greinke was left in too long. Two batters too long. He didn’t want to come out so Lovullo left him in. It cost Greinke an L.
There are still a few starters in this league who can go 7. Some average 7. They are now rare. Several are averaging over 6. 2 Dodgers are, which frankly surprises me. As long as the pen holds up i suppose it will work. I can’t help but expect a couple of starting balloons to land. So far so good. Again, bless the 10 day.
It would appear these two teams matchup well. These two games have been exciting.
I am glad for Joc, and the team.
The kids at back of our order, come through once again!
Maybe that wakes Joc up!
4 sacrifice flies in 13 PA for Adrian Gonzalez.
The optimist: He’s a situational hitter who can get your RBIs.
The pessimist: He’s lost his power, and the ball stays in the park. Even in the minors.
I have always like the sacrifice fly, and actually AGon hitting sac flies during rehab is not a bad thing. He’s still got timing which is the most important, and he’s not trying to sacrifice power for contact, despite his loss of power. As a pinch hitter he will be coming with men on and he needs to avoid striking out (or grounding out). I’d watch his SO rate and ground ball rate.
Great low scoring game today and both Puig and Joc came through against an elite pitcher!
I’d rather him hit a single/double/triple/homer than a sac fly.
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But, a sac fly is better (if less than 2 outs) than any other out.
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I guess.
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I’d rather not make outs.