Roger Arrieta
LOS ANGELES—On Saturday, the Dodgers outplayed the Asterisks in eight of the nine innings and lost. On Sunday, they finished off the team who isn’t cheating anymore by outplaying them in all nine innings and rolling to an 8-1 win.
The Dodgers used eight relievers in a “bullpen” game to completely outplay the Asterisks who are fighting to hold on to a playoff spot in the American League. The best bullpen in the NL only gave up four hits and didn’t allow a runner to get past second base until the Asterisks scored their only run of the game in the sixth. The Blue Pen then retired 12 of the final 14 hitters to record the victory.
The victory pushes Los Angeles’ season record to 33-14 which gives them a 2.5 game lead over San Diego heading into the 3-game series with the Padres starting on Monday. The Asterisks fall under .500 with a 23-24 record.
GAME RECAP: A.J. Pollock set the tone for the offense against former Dodger Zack Greinke when he deposited a 74-mph breaking ball into the Dodgers’ bullpen area beyond the left-field fence in the first inning.
The game would remain stalled at 1-0 until LA put up a pair of big-run innings in the fifth and eighth that were fueled by the long ball. Mookie Betts launched a 2-run yard shot in the fifth that scored Kiké Hernández. Hernández had posted his own 2-RBI base knock when he singled through the left side of a drawn-in infield after Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor had reached base. Bett’s blast came on an 0-2 pitch and continued his success over Greinke (see below). The opposite field HR barely cleared the wall as it hit on the top of the fence. It was a ball that Betts, the 4-time Gold Glove award winner, would have surely made the catch.
Taylor completed his 3-for-4 night when he turned on a belt-high fastball and sent it into the concourse in left center in the bottom of the eighth. The 420-foot blast was Taylor’s second in as many nights and scored Max Muncy and Will Smith after Muncy singled and Smith pushed an opposite field ground-rule double that hit the right-field foul pole.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
DIETER DOMINATES THE ASTERISKS: With no Dodger fans in the stands, it was left up to award-winning organist Dieter Ruehle to troll the Asterisks and Ruehle didn’t disappoint. During the course of the weekend he played “Lyin Eyes” by the Eagles, “The Sign” by Ace of Base, “Bangin’ on a Trash Can” by Doug, “Bad Guy” by Billie Eillish, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles and the classic “Bang on the Drum” by Todd Rundgren. And that’s why he is the best organist in MLB.
3 OUT OF 4 AIN’T BAD: The win in the series finale was the third in four games for the Dodgers over the Asterisks on the year. LA took both games in Houston and then split the series in Los Angeles. The games are seen as two series so the split over the weekend means that the Dodgers have still only lost one series in 2020. LA is now 11-1-4 in series this season.
HE SAID IT: “It was a very well-played series. You play 18 innings and I think we beat them in 17. Unfortunately, we came away with a split.”—Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts on how the team played in the two games against the Asterisks.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE NIGHT: The Dodgers are now 3-0 when Joc Pederson bats eighth in the order and 8-2 when he is the DH.
STARTERS, WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ STARTERS: The Dodgers applied a band-aid to their suddenly thin starting rotation by using reliever Brusdar “Bazooka” Graterol as the “starter”. Manager Dave Roberts then paraded out seven more members of the bullpen. Graterol pitched a scoreless first and struck out three. Josh Sborz put up a bagel in the second and Victor González and Jake McGee followed with 3.0 more innings without conceding a run. González pitched the third and fourth frames, allowed a single hit and struck out two to earn his third win of the year. Dylan Floro came on in the sixth and allowed the only run of the game on a fluke solo shot. Alex Wood, Caleb Ferguson and Kenley Jansen sealed the win by blanking the Asterisks over the final three innings. Wood gave up the only hit of the final three relievers and Jansen, with a different look in his eyes than Saturday, posted a 1-2-3 ninth inning with a strikeout against All-Overrated Josh Reddick.
BIG BLUE PEN: The nine innings with only one run allowed added to the outstanding resumé being fashioned by the Dodgers’ bullpen in 2020. LA’s relievers lead the NL with a 2.71 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting just .207 against the LA “Pen” which also tops the NL and they have put together a WHIP of 1.06. And yes, their WHIP mark is also the best in the NL.
HE SAID IT 2: “This is the deepest, most talented pen – by a full grade – we have ever had.”—Roberts when asked to rank where this bullpen stands with the others from his previous years at LA.
PACKED UP HIS SUITCASE AND SENT HIM ON HIS WAY or MAKE IT 3 OVER .300: Smith’s world got flipped-turned upside down as he was moved into the No.5 spot in the order for only the second time this year and responded by going 2-for-4 with a double. The two hits ups his average to .303 which gives the Dodgers three players hitting above the .300 mark (Seager – .317, Betts – .301). Smith has now put up five multiple-hit games in the last six he has played. He is hitting .500 (13-for-26) over the past seven games and owns a .370 mark over his past 15 games.
HE SAID IT 3: “The simplified approach, the mechanics, he hits well to both fields. He’s earned it. He’s earned this opportunity to hit in the middle of the order.”—Roberts on why he put Smith into the No.5 spot in the lineup.
MR. 99: Pollock’s second-inning long ball was his 10th of the season and the 99th HR of his career. He is putting together one of his better seasons and the best of his 2-year career in Dodger Blue. Pollock is hitting .282 (he is a career .279 hitter) and has an OPS of .849. He has hit safely in nine of the 11 games in September and has a .333 average over his last seven games.
MOOKIE LIVING INSIDE OF ZACK’S HEAD: It may be a small sample size but if you want one batter in the box to face Greinke, you better bet on Betts. Betts has now faced Greinke six times and has taken him deep on three of those occasions. Betts’ fifth-inning blast was his team-leading 15th of the year. His average of 0.319 homers per game would put him on a pace for 51 in a regular 162-game season – and yes, that would be a career high. His career high for long balls is 31 which came in 2016.
ASTERISKS OWNER: The move to acquire Betts in the offseason by the LA front office was a tremendous deal on so many levels but the highest for the Dodgers’ fans is that Betts owns the Asterisks. He went 1-for-4 on Sunday and is now hitting .360 in his 133 career at-bats against that baseball team from Houston. His average is the best among any player in baseball with at least 100 at-bats against the Asterisks.
GIMME A HIGH 5: Pollock’s home run also gave the Dodgers five players with double-digit home run totals for the year. Pollock is now tied with Bellinger and Muncy at the 10-HR mark. Seager has 12 and Betts 15.
RECORD-BREAKING PACE: The Dodgers continue to lead MLB in dingers. They have pounded 90 long balls and their average of 1.91 HR/Game would give them 309 in a 162-game schedule. That mark of 309 would break the MLB record for blasts in a season which was set last year by the Twins with 307.
CT7: Taylor was batting in the No.7 spot in the order for the 12th time in 2020 which is the most of any LA player. He went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI on Sunday from the 7-hole. He is now hitting .333 with a .938 OPS and three of his five long balls on the year have come when he hits seventh.
HE SAID IT 4: “I’m happy when I’m in the lineup. We’ve got a lot of good hitters. Where I hit doesn’t change my approach. If I’m in there, I’m happy.”—Taylor when asked about where he hits in the lineup.
ON DECK: Playoff baseball comes early for the Dodgers as they travel to second-place San Diego for a 3-game series starting on Monday at 6:10 p.m. LA owns a 2.5 game lead over the Padres with 13 games left in the regular season so the trio of games will go a long way in determining the NL West champ. The Dodgers are 4-3 against San Diego this season and have beaten the Padres in the season series for nine straight seasons which is tied for the most in MLB history for a team over a division opponent.
The Dodgers are scheduled to go with Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and TBA for the three games. The TBA will most likely turn into Dustin May who threw a bullpen session on Sunday and felt fine after getting drilled in the ankle with a line drive on Thursday.
HE SAID IT 5: “He looked good. He threw a 20-pitch pen and used all his pitches and looked good. I don’t know when we will see him but it could be Wednesday.”—Roberts on the status of Dustin May
San Diego, who has won seven straight and 11 of its last 13, is tentatively scheduled to counter with righty Dinelson Lamet, righty Zach Davies and TBA.
