Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Despite what Chad believed, the Dodgers were off yesterday after taking two of three from the Giants to end their quick homestand. Both of the series’ in the homestand went the same, with the Dodgers dropping the first game of the series and winning the next two.
Tonight, they open up a new series against the same team they opened the homestand with, the Padres. At 94-42, the Dodgers sit 19 games up with 26 games remaining and have a magic number of six, meaning they could clinch with a sweep in San Diego. If they don’t clinch down south, their next series is in Arizona (Pool Party: The Sequel?) The Padres are essentially playing for a Wild Card spot now and are a half game ahead of Philly for the second Wild Card (and three games ahead of the fading Brewers for the third and final Wild Card). The Padres took two of three from Arizona after leaving LA on Sunday.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 6:40 PM | San Diego | ||
| RF | Betts | LF | Profar (S) |
| SS | T. Turner | RF | Soto (L) |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | 3B | Machado |
| C | Smith | DH | Bell (S) |
| 3B | J. Turner | 2B | Cronenworth (L) |
| DH | Gallo (L) | SS | Kim |
| LF | Thompson | 1B | Myers |
| 2B | Taylor | CF | Grisham (L) |
| CF | Bellinger (L) | C | Alfaro |
| P | May (R) | P | Clevenger (R) |
Have I written every Dustin May thread since he returned? May turned in one of the worst performances of his young career last time out against the Padres. He made it through five innings, but allowed six runs on four hits (two of which were homers), five walks and two hit batsmen. It was a far cry from his first two starts (against a much worse offense in Miami), so today will be a nice test for May. It’s a fun little quirk that May’s first four starts back will all be against two different teams. May might have been a bit amped to face the Padres, as his average velocity on his four seamer was up from each of his previous two starts this season.
Opposing May is Mike Clevinger, who saw the Dodgers on Sunday. He kept the Dodgers off the board through three innings, but things really fell apart in the fourth. Will Smith led off the inning with a homer, and after a strikeout Clevinger allowed a walk, single, hit by pitch and bases-loaded walk. He was then pulled, and Luis Garcia allowed a sac fly and two-run double to put five earned runs on Clevinger’s line. It was the second time Clevinger has allowed five runs in a game this season, with the other also coming against the Dodgers in early August.
Savant has tracked six different pitches being thrown by Clevinger this season. He throws a four seamer most often (37.3 percent), slider (21.7), cutter (15.6), sinker (12.1), changeup (10.7) and curve (2.6).
Max Muncy sits tonight, with Joey Gallo serving as the DH and Trayce Thompson manning left field.
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Not directly Dodger-related, but baseball agreed on some rule changes beginning next season.
There will be a pitch clock, and defensive shifts will be no more (or at least there will be rules on how you can shift). Two other notable rule changes are wider bases (the best rule they’ve implemented, IMO) and limiting pitchers to two pickoff throws per plate appearance. The players voted against the pitch clock and shift ban.
In a big positive step, the MLB will recognize the minor league players efforts to unionize. This could be the first step in professional baseball players not having to take gig jobs to make ends meet when their team owners are worth billions (all but six are, according to this if I can count right).
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The reason Muncy is out of the lineup.
He got the injection after carrying the Dodgers with three dongs in the final two games against the Giants. He’s down today and will be out of the lineup again tomorrow, but could be available off the bench tomorrow.
Other #Dodgers updates per Roberts:
— Jack Harris (@Jack_A_Harris) September 9, 2022
— Gavin Lux probably won’t play until at least the Dbacks series next week
— Yency Almonte, Brusdar Graterol and Tony Gonsolin could all throw bullpens on Sunday
— Tommy Kahnle and Victor González still have to do up/downs before returning
Gavin Lux is likely down for the weekend series and could return when the Dodgers play in Arizona or San Francisco next week. Tony Gonsolin, Yency Almonte and Brusdar Graterol are scheduled to throw bullpens tomorrow, and Tommy Kahnle and Victor Gonzalez are both close to being activated. They each have thrown back-to-backs and will now have to do up/downs (I assume not the football up/down, but that visual is making me laugh,
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First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PT (unless there’s a hurricane or some shit) and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.
