Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
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Padres
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m. PT
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Los Angeles
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CF
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Jay |
2B
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Utley | |
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1B
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Myers |
SS
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Seager | |
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RF
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Kemp |
3B
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Turner | |
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LF
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Upton |
1B
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Gonzalez | |
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C
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Norris |
RF
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Puig | |
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SS
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Ramirez |
C
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Grandal | |
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3B
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Rosales | LF | Crawford | |
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2B
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Weeks |
CF
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Pederson | |
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P
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Vargas (R)
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P
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Wood (L)
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In the wake of the sweep at the hands of the Marlins, the Dodgers are happy to see the Padres come to town. Recall that the last time the two teams came together, the Dodgers absolutely dominated the series by a margin of 25 runs to 0. Things haven’t gotten much better for the Padres, who are now 7-15 and are in last place.
It’s probably not a good sign that I’ve never heard of their starting pitcher, either. Cesar Vargas is making just his second major league start. In his debut, he pitched somewhat effectively, allowing one run in five innings, striking out and walking three Cardinals. Vargas was signed by the Padres this offseason as a minor league free agent, which Fangraphs noted because he had one of the best statistical projections of any prospect who was not on any top prospect list. That’s not exactly an impressive pedigree. Vargas throws a 90mph fastball, a slider, and a curve. He does not have a changeup.
Facing Vargas will be Alex Wood, who of course did not face San Diego in the first series. His performance this year has been pretty poor. So far, his new arm slot and velocity increase have not resulted in additional strikeouts or improved results. His walk rate has also spiked. It’s a little discouraging, but it’s still early. This deserves a deeper look than what we’ll do in a Friday evening game thread, but so far the issue seems to be repeating the adjusted mechanics, resulting in reduced command. There’s probably more to it than that, but that’s the easiest explanation to come up with.
Apparently it’s already “team meeting” time. Usually that waits until later in the season. Meanwhile, Alex Guerrero still exists, potentially getting nearer to his graduation from the likely-phanton DL. Oh, and Puig is making friends.
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