Homer party continues at Chavez Ravine in sweep of Friars

LOS ANGELES — You gotta hand it to the Dodgers. Even though the chances of winning the division are growing increasingly remote, they haven’t taken their foot off the gas pedal at all. On Thursday night, they got out their boomsticks and their broomsticks, mashing another five long flies against the Padres. It added up to a fairly stress-free 8-3 victory and a third straight series sweep against San Diego.

Mookie & Corey Show is back in business

Once again, the Dodgers got on the board quickly in this one. In the bottom of the first, the Dodgers had a downright unpleasant welcome for Padres starter Vince Velasquez. Leadoff man Mookie Betts and two-hole hitter Corey Seager both put the hurt on a Velasquez offering and deposited it amongst the paying customers in the pavilions. Seven pitches into the inning, and it was already 2-0 Dodgers.

Two more solo shots in the fourth

In the top of the second, Ha-seong Kim put a charge into one off starter Tony Gonsolin to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 2-1, but the Dodgers came right back in the their half of the fourth inning. I guess solo homers are “in” this fall, because it seems like everyone wants one. In the fourth, it was Justin Turner and AJ Pollock who did the honors. After his clutch pinch-hit double on Wednesday, it was good to see JT remain hot going into the last weekend of the season. He took a first-pitch fastball from Velasquez to left for his 26th home run of the year. Turner is now one home run shy of matching his career high with the Dodgers, a plateau which he reached both in 2016 and 2019.

Then, two pitches later, AJ Pollock decided to keep the party rolling with a solo shot of his own. After his two-homer night on Wednesday, Pollock’s homer tonight gets him to twenty on the year. The power numbers are down a smidge from last year, when he hit 17 in 60 games, but literally everything else about Pollock’s game has been fantastic in 2021, and his 1-for-2 night tonight raised his average to .302. With all the big names on the Dodgers’ roster, Pollock doesn’t nearly get the amount of love that should be coming his way, but I can’t imagine where the team would be without his clutch play this year.

Tatis clears the pavilions, chases Gonsolin

Tony Gonsolin was on the verge of qualifying for the win on Thursday. That is, until Fernando Tatis Jr. pulverized a pitch to left center for a two-run bomb. The ball cleared the roof of the pavilion and landed on the concrete below, some 467 feet away from home plate. The 116-mph bomb put Tatis in some rarefied air, as he now joins names like Willie Stargell and Mark McGwire as the only guys who managed to hit one out of the stadium at that spot.

The majestic home run spelled the end of Tony Gonsolin’s night, just an out before he might have qualified for a win. Still, it was a pretty decent performance from the Dodgers’ young right-hander. His line for the night 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 K.

Dodgers add on through the middle innings

The good news about this game was the Dodgers’ ability to put up runs throughout the game, an aspect that is sometimes missing in the team’s attack when they score early. However, in this one they got three add-on runs in the bottom of the sixth. And for once this series, they played some small ball to do it. With one out, Will Smith doinked an RBI single into right to score Trea Turner. Smith then advanced to third on a Justin Turner opposite field hit. Smith came home on an AJ Pollock sac fly and Justin Turner wisely advanced to second on the throw. Then, Cody Bellinger squirted a grounder through the infield to score Turner, and just like that it was 7-3 Dodgers.

One last bomb from Seags

Though the game looked like it was in the refrigerator, Corey Seager put a cherry on top of the win in the bottom of the eighth. He led off with yet another home run, his second of the night and third in the last twenty-four hours. We might not make it all the way to the top of the division this year, but do you want to face this lineup in October? I don’t think so. In the last 30 games, Corey has been a monster, slashing at .359/.455/.699 with 9 homers and 22 RBI. World Series MVP Corey is the best kind of Corey.

Bullpen shuts down Padres for 4.1 innings

The bullpen was uniformly good in this one. Brusdar Graterol had a nice bounce-back appearance when he got a one-pitch out from Wil Myers to retire the side in the fifth. Corey Knebel gave up a hit and a walk, but kept the Padres off the scoreboard in the sixth and seventh. Joe Kelly finished up the seventh and Evan Phillips pitched two scoreless innings to secure the win and rest the high-leverage guys for the weekend.

Damn Giants!

About a half hour after the Dodgers’ game went final, Lamonte Wade Jr. hit another late-inning RBI, driving in the winning run from third off Joe Mantiply of the D’backs. That means there will be no change to the standings through this first series of the final homestand. Which is not good for the Dodgers. Now still trailing by two games, there are but three left to play.

What the Dodgers need borders on the miraculous. They would have to sweep the playoff-bound Brewers and then hope that the Padres take two of three from the Giants in Oracle Park. Is it possible? I guess. In the same way that Scarlett Johansen might dump her goofball husband and run away with me is possible. In other words, you might as well make your Wild Card viewing plans for next Wednesday now. The Diamondbacks hung in there in two out of the three games, but in the end, they just couldn’t do it. So. We win the Wild Card game and we’re more or less right back where we started. Let’s do this.