Tony Gonsolin goes 7.2 (92 pitches) allowing only a Trent Grisham monster HR on a fastball he left out over the plate. But other than that, he allowed only a pair of doubles to Jurickson Profar and a single to Grisham. He is now an MLB best 10–0 record, a MLB lead in ERA (1.54), MLB lead in WHIP (0.82), and an MLB lead in BAA (.156). Other than that, he is just an average pitcher.
Gonsolin had to be special as his opponent, Blake Snell was also brilliant. He was able to go only 5.0 IP, but he struck out 12 in those 5.0 IP. He had 22 whiffs, with his slider producing 11. He threw 107 pitches. As much as we LAD fans have complained about the umpiring, Blake Snell has a whole lot of complaining with HP umpire, Scott Barry. There were multiple missed pitches, including more than a couple in the 3rd on walks to Freddie Freeman and Will Smith. But he got Justin Turner to strike out for the 3rd out.
Gonsolin had 18 whiffs of his own on the night. He did not walk a batter and had 8 Ks. But none better and more satisfying than Manny Machado PHing in the 8th with Trent Grisham on 1st. He struck out CJ Abrams for his final batter faced in the game. With a tenuous 3-1 lead, a runner on, and Jurickson Profar coming to bat, a decision was made to let Evan Phillips take care of Profar. I was very much in agreement with the call. Profar had already doubled twice against Tony on the night and was 5-7 in his career. Phillips got Profar to ground to Freddie Freeman for out number 3 in the 8th.
Craig Kimbrel has not pitched in B2B games much this year, and after retiring the side with 2 Ks on Thursday night, he came back out in a non-save situation and retired the side in order again on Friday.
Not all was pretty for the good guys. After Joe Musgrove struck out 10 on Thursday and 12 LAD batters went down in total, Blake Snell punched out 12 with 17 Dodger batters going down in total. That is 29 Ks in two nights. They were still 1-10 WRISP, and that was Freddie Freeman. Although they did score their final two on outs: a sac fly by Cody Bellinger, and a hard hit ground out by Austin Barnes on a great play by CH Abrams to score Trayce Thompson.
Besides the ground out RBI by Barnesy, Austin continued his mastery over Blake Snell with a double in the 3rd. He promptly stole 3rd, but was left stranded.
On Thursday it was JT who got hot for a night with 3-3 including 2 HRs. Last night, it was Max Muncy who slugged a line drive HR down the 1B line and a 1-0 lead.
Snell was lifted after five, and Craig Stammen came in to pitch. After Stammen struck out the first two batters he faced, Belli crushed a long HR and a LAD 2-1 lead.
After a Trea Turner single and SB, Freddie Freeman doubled to score Turner. Freddie reached and drove the pitch into left center. He did not try to do too much with it. That AB should be mandatory viewing by all LAD hitters as to how to approach a RISP scenario.
Over the last two nights, there were certainly things to build on:
- Trayce Thompson 2 doubles on balls that were absolutely smoked.
- Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger hit HRs on a night after JT hit a pair.
- This was Crain Kimbrel’s fifth B2B night, but only once in June.
- The team scored a pair of runs on outs.
- The bullpen overall was brilliant over the last two nights.
- They beat a good San Diego team for the 4th time this year out of 5 games.
- They are now 3.5 games ahead of SD and 7.5 ahead of SF Giants.
I refuse to get too excited over the Max and Cody HRs. After JT’s 2 HR night, he drew the collar. It sure would be great if only one of the three were to get hot and roll off 12-15 games with good offense. I am also not going to get too excited about the two runs scored on outs, as opposed to leaving runners stranded with Ks. They were still 1-10 on the night. 29 of their 54 outs in the last two games were strikeout. That is more than 50% of the outs are K’s. But a win is a win.
Saturday the Dodgers get to face off against Yu Darvish who has throttled the Dodgers in the past. Tyler Anderson will hopefully get back on track at home.
Made it home last night. I drove straight through and was home by 9 my time. 225 bucks for gas,,dispicable. Got home intime to watch the last 4 innings. This team strikes out way to much. Before everyone loses their minds over Bellinger, he is hitting 46 points higher and has more home runs than he did all last season in less at bats. Not the 2017 model, but an improvement. He is on track to hit 20 bombs.
Just a really good team. Fun and easy time to be a fan!
Who is this Evan Phillips fellow anyway? Such a great surprise, so far.
I’ve turned a 180 on my confidence when Tony G is pitching.
The strikeouts are so frustrating, especially when our beloved Bums freeze on a fastball third strike right down the middle.
WHEN Trace makes contact, it sounds powerful.
I was surprised to learn that Chris Taylor leads the majors in batting average on balls hit that are hit in play.
I see the K’s as a problem but I doubt the Dodgers do. 17 Ks and 1 for 10 WRISP sounds like a bad night, but as you say, a win. And a win against the Padres. This is a strange team. They can at times look like the little sisters and still win.
Gonsolin. 81.2 innings on July 1st. Gulp. He’s been amazing. Will he keep it up? There just has a point he’s given some time off… right?
Imanol Vargas. Who’s he? He’s 24 and tearing up A+. Playing 1b. Oh.
I know striking out is more a part of the game now than it has ever been. I guess we have to live with it. What I can’t accept however is striking out with a runner at 3rd base and less than 2 outs. Choke up, shorten your swing and put the damn ball in play. Good grief..
I have been very curious as to just how bad the Dodger replay challenges have gone. It seems like there have been way too many Dodger challenges that were clearly not going to be overturned, and I was wondering what the LAD record was on these challenges. As it turns out, really bad. From Jack Harris and the LA Times – “Entering Friday, Roberts had been successful on only seven out of 20 calls, a rate of 35% that ranked 28th out of 32 major league managers (including interims with the Philadelphia Phillies and Angels).”
For anyone interested here is the article:
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-07-01/dodgers-dave-roberts-faring-poorly-replay-challenges
Out of curiosity, any one else out there yelling at the TV telling Roberts to not challenge?