Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (92-50) host the Giants (67-73) the final time this season at Dodger Stadium for a three-game series kicking off Friday night. If everything goes right, the Giants will have to watch the Dodgers clinch and celebrate their 7th consecutive NL West title from the dugout this weekend.
The Dodgers’ magic number is 4.
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Giants
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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2B
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Solano |
RF
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Pederson | |
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RF
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Slater |
SS
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Seager | |
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CF
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Pillar |
3B
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Turner | |
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3B
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Longoria |
RF
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Bellinger | |
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C
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Posey |
1B
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Beaty | |
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LF
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Rickard |
LF
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Pollock | |
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1B
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Garcia | 2B | Lux | |
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SS
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Dubon |
C
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Smith | |
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P
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Samardzija (R) |
P
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Kershaw (L) |
The Giants are already eliminated after another losing season, but Bruce Bochy likely has some tricks left up his sleeve as he wraps up his long managerial career. Bochy won’t get to the playoffs in his last year at the helm for San Francisco, but his team can help get him to 2,000 wins.
Overall, Bochy’s 1,993-2,016 in 25 seasons as skipper for the Padres and Giants. There’s 22 games left to play, and Bochy needs seven more wins to reach 2,000. Six of those final games are matched up against the Dodgers.
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The Dodgers come into Friday’s series opener ahead 8-5 in the season series vs. the Giants. San Francisco has lost 12 of their last 16 and were destroyed by the Cardinals in their last series. The Dodgers have won six of their last nine games, and they’ve scored four or more runs in their last nine.
The last time the rivals faced each other at Dodger Stadium was in June, and the Dodgers swept the series. Since then, the Dodgers haven’t stopped hitting a copious amount of dongs. They’ve collected 250 home runs so far this season, topping the NL and setting a new league record. They’ve already crushed 16 dingers this month, most in the majors by far. The Giants have hit 154 homers this year. Only the Marlins have hit less this season in the NL (123).
Clayton Kershaw (13-4, 2.96 ERA, 3.69 FIP) had a rough start his last time out at Chase Field. He allowed five runs on five hits including two home runs in five innings for the loss vs. the Diamondbacks. Kersh has struggled in the first inning (5.62 ERA) with 15 runs allowed including seven home runs.
Kershaw’s historically dominated the Giants in his career. He’s 23-11 against ‘Frisco with a 1.68 ERA and 343 strikeouts in 47 games (337.1 IP). This year, against the Giants, he’s 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA and 0.857 WHIP in two starts (14 IP). The veteran left-hander hasn’t allowed a home run to a Giants batter this season. Buster Posey has three career home runs off Kershaw, but he’s only hitting .225 in 111 at-bats vs. the supreme southpaw.
Jeff Samardzija (9-11, 3.61 ERA, 4.51 FIP), now in his fourth year of his five-year $90 million contract, has found some consistency after losing 15 games in 2017 and making just 10 starts in 2018 due to a shoulder injury. He has a better ERA (3.61) and WHIP (1.11) than his rotation mate Madison Bumgarner (1.12 WHIP, 3.81 ERA). Shark has allowed 24 home runs this year, one more than Kersh.
Samardzija is 0-1 with a 2.61 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers this season. Overall, in his career, he’s 1-5 with a 3.75 ERA in 10 games (eight starts) and 48 IP vs. L.A. He’s 0-3 with a 4.21 in five career games (four starts) at Dodger Stadium.
Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson have both homered against Samardzija. Justin Turner is 6-for-15 (.400) with three doubles vs. the veteran right-hander. Pederson has a 2.226 OPS with five home runs in his last 15 plate appearances.
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The Dodgers made one roster move today, recalling catcher Austin Barnes from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
The Dodgers have recalled catcher Austin Barnes from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 6, 2019
There’s now 32 players on the Dodgers’ active roster.
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Here’s the starting pitchers for the weekend.
Dodgers rotation change:
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 6, 2019
Friday — LHP Clayton Kershaw
Saturday — RHP Tony Gonsolin
Sunday — LHP Julio Urías
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Here’s some updates on Max Muncy and Rich Hill.
Max Muncy started swinging the bat. Soft toss today. He feels he’s progressing. No pain just normal stiffness. Range of motion is professing well.
— Alanna Rizzo (@alannarizzo) September 6, 2019
Rich Hill came out of his sim game feeling strong. He said the plan is to start a game next week in Baltimore.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) September 6, 2019
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Finally, the bold statement of the day comes from Casey Sadler.
Will we be kicked out of California if we love Del Taco, but are not fans of In-N-out? 😬
— Casey Sadler (@sadler_squared) September 5, 2019
I can’t eat In-N-Out anymore, because they don’t have any gluten-free options. I’ve always been a Del Taco fan, so this polarizing opinion wasn’t that big of a deal to me. Let’s be honest, In-N-Out’s fries are terrible.
