Steve Webb
Sure, the Dodgers are 11-2. Best record in Baseball. Six-game winning streak. Blah, blah, blah. But let’s face it, the competition hasn’t been up to the challenge. That is about to change tonight. About two hours south of here, the Boys in Blue are getting ready for the most anticipated series of the young season. The San Diego Padres. Things are about to get real.
Playoff Rematch
You well remember the last episode of this little drama happened in the National League Division series last October. After the Dodgers had made short work of the Brew Crew, they faced the Pads in their next step on the road to the World Series title. To be honest, it wasn’t really a fair fight, as some key injuries put the Padres pitching staff in a hole that they were never to get out of. The Dodgers swept the series, but it could have just as easily dragged out over five games.
The key moment came late in Game 2, when Fernando Tatis, Jr. faced Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol in the 7th inning. With the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead and the tying run on second, Tatis mashed a pitch to straightaway center field. Cody Bellinger, who had been playing a little shallow to cut off a possible run on, raced toward the fence, twisting and turning as he went, trying to get a beat on the ball. Then, timing his leap perfectly, he jumped at the wall and extended his glove over the fence. Time seemed to stand still.
For a split second there was confusion. Had he robbed Tatis? Or were the Padres now in the lead? Even announcer Joe Davis wasn’t sure at first. Finally, Bellinger’s celebration let everyone know that the ball was indeed safely ensconced in Belli’s glove, and tragedy had been averted. But even better was the goofy Graterol hat-throwing celebration and the ensuing shouting match between the Dodgers bench and on-deck hitter Manny Machado. It was glorious to behold.
So six months and a boatload of offseason moves later, here we are. The rematch begins. In all the Dodgers will play San Diego 19 times this year, but seven of those games will happen in the next ten days. It’s going to get intense.
Injuries could affect series
First, injury reports. The big question is the Padres’ young star Fernando Tatis, Jr. He cringed and fell to the ground after one of his signature whipsaw swings a couple of weeks ago. Shoulder injury. They avoided the worst, and the Pads front office is even hinting the Tatis might be activated for the series. At best, he will be diminished as it will probably take a few games to get his time back after a couple of weeks on the IL.
As for the Dodgers, Cody Bellinger is probably going to be out for the entire weekend, as he still nurses an injury he sustained when his left calf got stepped on back in Oakland toward the end of game that was well in hand for the Dodgers. You like the hustle going down the line. Not so crazy about the results. Dave Roberts all but dismissed any possibility of Belli seeing action down in San Diego.
In addition, pitchers Brusdar Graterol, Joe Kelly, and Tony Gonsolin remain on the IL and also will not be playing this weekend. So, I guess we’ll have to wait for Round 2 of the Machado/Graterol feud.
Pitching Matchups
Dave Roberts has his pitching set up for a dominant weekend. Buehler on Friday, Kershaw Saturday, and Bauer Sunday. Tough to argue with that. Going to the mound for the San Diegans on Friday will be Ryan Weathers, who had a strong first start this year. After that things get a little murky. Manager Jayce Tingler has yet to announce starters for Saturday or Sunday, but one would think that Yu Darvish or Blake Snell will be thrown into the mix at some point.
Darvish threw a gem on the 12th of this month against the Pirates, so he should be up for a start this weekend. Blake Snell didn’t make it out of the first inning on Tuesday in Pittsburgh as the Bucs rocked him for three runs in the opening frame. Jayce Tingler may have been a little hasty with the hook on that one, but as far as I’m concerned, the sooner we get Snellzilla out of the game the better.
Both teams hot with the bats
On the offensive side, the Padres have been bashing pretty well early in the season. Trent Grisham, Jake Cronenworth and Eric Hosmer are all off to hot starts with OPS hovering near 1.000. And Wil Myers, once the face of the franchise in San Diego, is off to the best April of his career. He has 3 HR, 11 RBI, and an OPS of a team-leading 1.071. However, he tweaked his knee on Tuesday, so may not be at full strength this weekend, either.
Still, the LA offense has been an early season juggernaut. At this writing, they are the MLB leaders in team batting average (.285), OBP (.380), SLG (.495) and OPS (.876). Not too shabby, I’d say. However, there are lingering problems. The Dodgers’ failure to cash in on scoring opportunities along the way has led to a maddeningly high number of runners left on base. This has made several games that should have been blow-outs into nail-biters. This really needs to be cleaned up going forward.
The starting pitching has been spectacular, but middle and late relief has been more of a mixed bag. Hopefully, during this homestand, the Dodger pitchers started to settle into a rhythm and Dave Roberts will be able to get the crucial outs when he needs them down in San Diego. And he will need them.
Justin Turner said that the Dodgers/Padres match-up this year was going to be like “19 World Series games”. I don’t disagree with that assessment. Let’s get it on…
Game time for game one is Friday at 7:10 pm. Game two gets underway at 5:40 on Saturday, and the finale of the series is an afternoon affair, with a 1:10 PDT start.
Until then, we have our memories…
