After they finish tonight’s game, there should be one thing on the Dodgers minds. Beat Arizona. Don’t try to do it all in one game. Beat Gallen, then beat Kelly, then Pfaadt then Rodriguez. And Doc should put his best offense on the field every game. The reason? Gallen is 10-6 with a 3.65 ERA. His career record against the Dodgers is 1-4. Even though they have a low BA against this guy, they still manage to win games against him. Put your best hitters on the field against him so he has no easy innings.
Merrill Kelly is 4-0. But his ERA is almost 4. He can be scored upon. Kelly also allows a lot of homers. The key to beating the D-Backs is shut down their potent offense. Pfaadt has an ERA above 4 and he is just over .500 for the season. Pfaadt also allows a lot of homers. He has given up 19 so far this year. Eduardo Rodriguez, the same guy who turned down a trade to LA last year, is 2-0. But his ERA is over 5. The Diamondbacks are basically bludgeoning the opposition. The Dodgers offense needs to match them blow for blow. LA is 4-5 against Arizona this year. They are 2-1 against them in their own ballpark.
A split would be ok, but winning three would be a very good series. They are a hard team to sweep. They have gone 51-25 since the end of May. That is a hard pace to keep. They have 18 wins this month. The Dodgers have 16. Most of the lost ground came in July. They have some tough teams coming up. They play the Giants in SF where they are always tougher, and then they get Houston in Houston. Texas and Milwaukee at home after that. While they are playing the Giants, the Dodgers get the Angels for two in Anaheim. Then they play six at home against Cleveland and the Cubs.
Right now, the Dodgers have 29 games left. 6 against the Rockies, 3 against Miami, 3 against the Cubs, and 2 against the Angels. All of those teams are non-contenders. The Dodgers need to win all of those series. Also of note is the fact that the rosters can expand to 28 this weekend. Andy Pages is expected to be recalled, those of you hoping to see Dalton Rushing, I believe you are going to have to wait until spring training. With Teo in left and Barnes back as Will Smith’s caddy, there is just nowhere for the kid to play. Dropping him into the heat of a pennant race with as little experience as he has, just is not wise.
Well, the game is over now. Dodgers win 6-3. Miller was good until he wasn’t. He had one of his patented bad innings. He still ended up with the win, but his ERA is now 7.25. He only allowed two hits, but he hit a batter, got an out, walked a batter, got another out, and then grooved one the Cowser hit over the left center field fence. You would think the score would have been higher; the Dodgers had 14 hits and stranded 11 runners. Six players had 2 hits, Betts, Edman, Rojas, Taylor, Lux and Barnes. Ohtani was the only player without a hit.
On to Phoenix. The matchups are set for the first three games. Kershaw-Gallen, Stone-Kelly, Flaherty-Pfaadt. Rodriguez will pitch for Az on Monday. The lead is 4 over Arizona, and 5 over San Diego.
Minor League Scores
OKC dropped a game to Round Rock, 3-1. Choi took the loss; he pitched 5.1 innings giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, and 3 walks. He struck out 2 and one of the hits was a homer. Andy Pages knocked in the only run with his 8th homer in the 6th inning. Rushing was 1-3 with 2 walks.
Corpus Christi crushed Tulsa, 12-3 in a sloppy game that featured 7 errors. Tulsa managed just 6 hits. Ortiz-Mayr took the loss allowing 6 of the runs in 4.1 innings, allowing 5 hits and walking 5.
Great Lakes rallied to beat Iowa 6-4 in 12 innings. A Nevin single and a homer by McLain, his first, brought the 2 runs in the top of the 12th for the win. Biddison and Thompson also homered. Martinez got the win, and the save went to Ruebeck.
Rancho broke open a 1-1 tie in the top of the 6th inning with 7 runs and cruised to a 9-1 win at San Jose. The Quakes pounded out 14 hits. Decker hit the only homer driving in 2 in the 6th inning. Hope was 1-4 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. Munoz was 3-5, Rojas 2-4, Guererro 2-5, and Hainline 2-4. All of the Quakes had at least 1 hit. Day got the win going 6 innings in relief of Jang. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 4.
Outman is on the temporary inactive list, not the restricted list. Jordan Lyles is also on that list. The only player at OKC on the restricted list is Sam McWilliams, an outfielder. He has been on the list all season.
Good win. 4 games up heading to the desert.
With a series win or a sweep we can all but distance the D-Backs for good.
I will take a split too, cuts 4 games of the schedule while remaining the lead.
Bobby Miller pitched very, very well vs an excellent lineup except that one pitch that lead to the 3 run HR. Wasn´t a bad pitch too, just a good hitter making a good swing on it.
I have more issues with hitting the leadoff guy and walking one after that.
But the ilmprovement by Miller is visible.
Hudson scares me. If he continues like that he and Kelly are the two candidates to be left off the postseason roster.
Graterol and Henriquez ?
Emil Morales has been votet MVP of the DSL.
https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/milb-announces-rookie-level-all-stars-and-award-winners-for-2024?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Dodgers, with a curious lineup, did what they needed to do in 3.1 against a 1-7 starter with an ERA pushing 7. They did little the rest of the way but did get it done.
How will that overused bullpen fair over a long weekend against the high scoring dbacks? That team has a higher OPS and has scored more runs than LA. And you know how much they like to BEAT LA. Should be a fun series. Sure hope Freddie and Will show up.
Hudson has lost it a bit, so use him in the 5th/6th inning for now. Phillips has found it again, so he, Vesia, and Kopech should handle innings 8 and 9.
Blake Treinen saved the day yesterday. Striking out Henderson with the bases loaded was an October type moment, and he stepped up.
To me, Bobby Miller’s stuff was very good yesterday, but his command was nowhere near as good as his last start, when he sort of found it in the last 3 innings. Hopefully he and Buehler have figured something out.
It’s playoff time, so who steps up this weekend with some clutch 2 out RBI’s? Shohei? Teo? Gavin Lux make a name for himself this weekend?
Rushing was catching last night for OKC. First time since his promotion to AAA.
I still think it would be worth a try to call him up and if he continues to hit like he has all year at AA and AAA make him the backup catcher in the playoffs. Smith will very likely catch every game in the postseason so the value of Barnes would be only as the emergency catcher/pinch hitter. Rushing might just be the better option for that role.
The other decision I would make; Pages over CT3 on the postseason roster. You dont need both CT3 and Kike in the playoffs. Both fill the same role.
My bench would be: Rushing. Kike.Pages.KK.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dodgers catch a break against the Arizona offense with Christian Walker, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno all on the IL and highly unlikely to play this weeekend. A split puts the Dodgers up 4 with 25 left and an easier Sept schedule than the DBacks.
Positive signs for Miller and Buehler in the last week. At a minimum, pitching like they are can keep the rotation afloat until Yamamoto and Glasnow (hopefully) return. Whether they are part of the playoff picture depends in large part on the health of those two injured starters. More confident in Buehler helping in the playoffs than Miller simply because of his experience and confidence in himself. Seems a better bet in that environment.
After being placed on waivers yesterday, today the Cardinals DFAd Tommy Pham. QO for this year looks to be 21.2 million.
Padres have played 2 more games than both the D-Backs and the Dodgers. Dodgers will have 24 games left to play when this series is over. Dodger players have hit 5 homers off of Gallen. D-Backs 4 off of Kersh. If he can control Corbin Carroll, who hits over .500 off of him with 2 bombs, he should be ok. Surprise, one of the Dodgers who has touched Gallen for a homer……..Kiermaier.
Last night’s win felt big. Let’s carry it forward into tonight. 10 runs incoming.
The team is going to need as much offense as possible in the playoffs, even with Yamamoto and Glasnow. The pitching isn’t that great, especially the bullpen.
I don’t care how many pitches Kelly has pitched today. He needs to be left off the playoff roster. He’s a blown game waiting to happen. I’m looking at more than one game, not just this game.
We may need to call up 3 pitchers for tomorrow. Bullpen will be spent
Not a good start for the staff. Can we out slug them? This one may be hard to watch.
Gotta say, given Kershaw’s last outing, i would have thought Roberts would be savvy enough to have a better plan for covering a big chunk of the game. Making Kelly go waaayyyyyy beyond what he is capable of seemed suboptimal. Roberts was punishing both Kelly and the team — almost like a flashback to playoff games 5 or 6 years ago where he would seem to be unprepared for the situation at hand. I am really scratching my head on how long he left Kelly in.
Should Muncy be doing that stupid dance that the Dodgers players do after getting hits considering he was out with back problems?
Smith says I’m tired of this slump.
Woo-Hoo!! We Win!! Banda makes it a squeaker.