With the 7-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers, The Dodgers have now started the season 5-0 for the first time since 1981, when they started 6-0. The last time a reigning WS champion started the following season 5-0 was the 1985 Detroit Tigers who went 6-0.
Not one player is dominating. I know it is only 5 games, but this start reminds me of my favorite season, 2017. That team was never out of a game, and they seemed to have a different star every game, until they got cheated.
Game 1 – Chicago Cubs – Yoshinobu Yamamoto and 4 relievers.
Game 2 – Chicago Cubs – Kiké Hernández – 3-run HR. 4 innings shutdown bullpen.
Game 1 – Detroit – Teoscar Hernández – 3-run HR. Blake Snell, 5.0 IP.
Game 2 – Detroit – Mookie Betts – 2 HRs including walk off 3-run HR in 10th. Tommy Edman three critical defensive web gems in the 9th inning to save the game. Yoshinobu Yamamoto 5.0 IP.
On the eighth pitch of the at bat, Betts golfed one that was well below the zone for his second homer of the night. The ball was hit 96.7-mph off the bat, barely qualifying as a hard-hit ball. The expected batting average on it was only .270. Betts’ bat speed on the swing was only 65.5 mph, down four mph from his 2024 average.
For the game, Yamamoto struck out 10. It’s the first time in his big league career he’s hit 10 strikeouts in a game. The stuff was clearly working, as he finished his game with 17 whiffs, tying a career best.
Not surprisingly, Yamamoto’s damage came via his splitter. Of his 17 whiffs, 10 came courtesy of that deadly pitch. The Tigers swung at that pitch 14 times and made contact only four times.
In addition to getting a lot of whiffs, Yamamoto was fooling the Tigers and painting the corners as well. He finished with 21 called strikes, including 15 on his 4-seam fastball. For the game, Yamamoto had a called strike/whiff percentage of 42, tied for the highest of his career. Did he throw too many pitches? Yes. I am not going to hold it against him.
Game 3 – Detroit – Teoscar Hernández – 2-run double. Freddie with a HR, double, and 2 RBI. Dominating bullpen
Roki Sasaki made his Dodger Stadium debut, and it will not be one that will end up in his scrapbook. 1.2 IP, 2 runs, 3 hits, 4 BB, and 2 K. He threw 61 pitches (32 K), and he had absolutely ZERO command, especially with his fastball. He walked a run in for the second consecutive game.
Jack “Maytag” Dreyer entered to bail out Sasaki and retired all four batters he faced. He changed the course of the game. The game could have gotten out of control, instead Dreyer started the bullpen dominance. 7.1 IP. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 BB, 11 K. Jack started a run of 13 consecutive outs from the bullpen.
The string was broken on a triple by Jake Rogers off Luis Garcia that bounced out of Teoscar’s glove as he hit the wall. This was the 2nd night in a row where Luis Garcia was just inches away from getting out of both games without surrendering a run. Michael Conforto laid out for a near catch that bounced behind him for a Dillon Dingler triple.
Ben Casparius had another nice inning. I was a bit surprised to see that Casparius did not get the 2nd inning instead of Luis Garcia.
Anthony Banda is becoming a must go to reliever. Back to back games, 1.0 inning, 10 pitches, and 2 Ks each game. Retired the 2-3-4 hitters in last night’s game, 2 on strikeouts: Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, and Kerry Carpenter. The best three Detroit hitters. Banda threw 10 pitches, 3 swings, 2 whiffs and 4 called strikes.
Kirby Yates is dominating again this year. He struck out the side in this one: Torkelson, Carpenter, and Colt Keith. All three swinging. 13 pitches, 6 swings, 5 whiffs. In his 3 games, he has pitched 3.0 scoreless innings. In those 3 games, he has given up one single and struck out 7.
Blake Treinen gave up one of the weak Margot singles, but retired the next three batters, 2 on strikeouts.
Detroit had three triples: two on the near misses identified above, and the other when Zach McKinstry’s ball got stuck momentarily under the lip of the CF fence.
Manuel Margot had 5 hits with weak exit velos: 73.2 MPH, 78.1 MPH, 90.2 MPH, 43.9 MPH, and 69.7 MPH. They still count as hits.
The Dodgers should never let Alex Vesia pitch to Spencer Torkelson again. BTW, Torkelson sure did look good this series.
Harold Uhlman’s favorite Dodger was Zach McKinstry. He would have been proud of him this series.
In the series, LAD pitchers 38 Ks and 15 BB. The hitters had 9 HRs. Two from Tommy Edman, Mookie, and Freddie. One from Shohei, Teoscar, and Will Smith. The Dodgers outscored the Tigers 20-12.
Tommy Edman leads the team with 3 HRs. Teoscar leads the team with 6
RBI. Shohei and Will Smith lead with 5 BB. For the year, the Dodgers have outscored their opponent 30-16.
Three on the outside looking in?
- Max Muncy – 1-18 (double), 20 PA, 9 K
- Andy Pages – 3-15 (1 double, 2 singles), 19 PA, 9 K
- Tanner Scott – 3 games, 3.0 IP, 2 runs (both earned), 1 blown save
MiLB SUMMARY
OKC Comets 8 – Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston) 2
Carlos Duran started and completed 4.1 before he hit 76 pitches. He allowed 1 run on 3 hits, 4 BB, and 8 K. For now, the pitch limit looks to be 75 pitches. Alec Gamboa finished the 5th inning allowing 1 run on 1 hit (double), 1 BB. Ryan Sublette (1.0 IP), Jose E. Hernandez (1.2 IP), and Sam Carlson (1.1 IP) combined for 4.0 shutout innings, 2 hits, 4 BB, and 7 K.
OKC was 6-14 hitting WRISP. The Comets had 4 doubles and 1 triple. The hitting star for the game was Hyeseong Kim. He was 2-3 with 2 BB. He had a double and a triple with 4 RBI. His was one was a 100.1 MPH line drive to LF.
- Eddie Rosario – 3-5, 2 runs, 1 RBI, 2 doubles
- Ryan Ward – 3-5, 2 runs
- Hunter Feduccia – 2-4, 1 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, double
- Alex Freeland – 2-4, 1BB, 1 run
Box Score
Bobby Miller faces Lance McCullers Jr. on a rehab assignment in the final game of the series on Sunday.
Sasaki not only did not have ANY command of his pitches today, his velo as also down from his first start hitting 95-96 only .
Guy is a work in progress. If he continues to go out early the Dodgers will have to make a decision or they will burn the bullpen early in the season .
Good to see Kim get it going at AAA.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Too soon observations after 5:
Dodgers need a CF & a 3B: Pages 3-15 9K; Muncy 1-18 9K (BTW: Arenado 4-8 1K). I know, it’s early, but just saying! Hard to watch Max at the plate right now.
Sasaki is pressing (duh)! I think the loss in velo was him trying to find the strike zone. He’ll figure it out.
Freddie looks to be in mid-season form! Monster year ahead for him.
Can’t help but love me some Tommy Edman!
Conforto looks solid so far.
What’s with all the softball uni’s around the league this year? The Rangers look almost comical.
Yankees set a team record with 9 homers yesterday. Judge hit 3 of them and Bellinger had one also. And they hit 4 in the first inning off of Cortes, who they traded to the Brewers last winter.
What a pleasure it is to watch the Dodgers go to work. Indeed, they beat a very good Detroit team and never gave up after falling behind, I think in every game? Mookie, Freddie, Shohei, Tommy, and Will, showed us this team is destined to win.
Sasaki fell apart, again. OK, it’s early and he needs to adjust, but will he? I’m sure they didn’t make a mistake picking him up but he may not be ready for MLB as he had no command or control today. He is very un-Dodger like. Luckily, our BP is all business.
Did anyone notice how Pages disregarded Ebel trying to stop him at 3rd and ran right past him to score a run? In one of the other games Ebel gave the go ahead to a runner and he was thrown out easily. I couldn’t believe he did that. It was very obvious that that runner did not have enough time to beat the throw.
How about Garcia forgetting to cover first for Freddie on a routine grounder that Freddie took away from 1B. Fielding 101. A 38 year old brain fart?
Zero command is right. Bobby Miller must be licking his chops today.
It’s no great surprise that the Dodgers are rolling at 5-0. Meanwhile, the Padres are undefeated too at 3-0, having swept a very, very good Braves team.
While I believe these Dodgers could threaten the Mariners’ 116-win season record, they could be eliminated in the playoffs, just like those Mariners.
I’m not sure if the Padres or the D’backs are the stiffer competition in the NL West. The Giants are improved too. Meanwhile, the Braves and Phillies look significantly better.
While Tanner Scott is having a rough start, old pal Kenley Jansen just got his first save for the Angels, combining with Soriano and Joyce for a 2-hit 1-0 shutout against the still woeful White Sox. I’m rooting for Kenley to keep racking up those saves and maybe next year sign a one-day contract to retire at a Dodgers (Odds of an October Freeway Series? 1,000 to 1 seems about right.)
Thanks for the OKC news. Really nice to see Kim have a big game. Probably does wonders for his confidence.
The top of the batting order was Kim, Rushing, Freeland, Outman–four guys I hope we see in LA later this season. Feduccia should get another chance too.
Max Scherzer placed on the 15-day IL by the Jays with an inflammation of his thumb.
Snell pitched game 1 of the series with Detroit, not Yamamoto.
OKC wins 3-2. They scored a run in the top of the 9th on a single by Gauthier, a bunt single by Okey, a sac bunt by Kim, Rushing was walked to load the bases then Freeland walked scoring Gauthier. Miller went 4.2 innings giving up 2 hits 2 walks and striking out 4. Davis got the win in relief and Little got the save. Ward drove in 2 runs with a double in the second, Okey had 2 hits.
Some random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon:
1) Great to start 5-0. So far no letdown.
2) I disagree with those who say Detroit is a “very good team”. They have one spectacular pitcher, one very good pitcher and a so-so lineup. I view them as a decent team but wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them miss the playoffs.
3) Really hope the Braves beat the Pads today. Don’t like the idea of facing a winless Atlanta team tomorrow.
4) I don’t necessarily think it’s fair to compare Sasaki’s first year over here with Yamamoto’s. Yoshi was a proven pitcher with an extensive history in Japan when he got here. Sasaki is much more raw and may take longer to get settled. By longer, I mean maybe most of the year.
5) Much as I’m rooting for Freeland to succeed and to do so quickly, he hasn’t proven all that much to me yet. He played at three levels last year and his numbers got worse each time he was promoted. At OKC, in what is supposed to be a hitter’s league, he had a .243 batting average and a .731 OPS. Unless he improves substantially on those numbers this year, I’m not at all ready to hand him an infield job in 2026.
Sad day for me. Our drummer, Butch Klipp passed away this evening. Been friends for over 40 years.