The Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants is one of the best rivalries in baseball, perhaps in all of sports. These two teams hate each other and making it better is the fact that it has been primarily these two teams representing the NL West come playoff time. Both teams meet as each are under-.500 and feeling the pressure to start showing better results.
This series will be contested from Monday, April 24, 2017 through Thursday, April 27, 2017 at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Monday's and Wednesday’s games can each be seen on the MLB Network.
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Pitching Matchups
We were all set up for another epic matchup between Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner in Tuesday’s Game 2 of this series, but much of the anticipation has been flushed out with the injury to Bumgarner. And with that, there went out premiere pitching matchup.
Hyun-Jin Ryu and Matt Cain kick off this four game series on Monday. Ryu is winless in his first three starts, going 0-3 with a 5.87 ERA. He’s allowed 19 hits including a staggering six home runs in his 15.1 innings.
Matt Cain isn’t the pitcher he used to be, but he’s at least done a better job keeping his team in the game than Ryu. Cain is 1-0 in three starts with a 3.31 ERA, but his 5.27 FIP indicate he’s been more than a bit fortunate. His WHIP is inflated and he’s got a 1.5 strikeout to walk ratio.
For Tuesday, with Bumgarner out, it’ll be Kershaw against Ty Blach.
Kershaw, of course, is the best pitcher in the game with few that can even come close. Bumgarner was one of the few. Blach, needless to say, is not.
Blach had a couple very impressive starts last year and in four games—two starts—he pitched 17 innings, giving up just two runs and eight hits. In seven relief appearances, this year, he’s allowed three runs in 5.2 innings. Having not started yet this year could impact Blach’s durability and he shouldn’t be expected to go more than four or five innings.
Meanwhile, Kershaw could easily go nine. He’s leading the NL with his 28.1 innings pitched. He’s also leading with his 32 strikeouts. After a sub-2 ERA in three of his last four years, his 2.54 ERA looks a bit inflated, but it’s still a great number. With a 0.741 WHIP, Kershaw is still Kershaw and he’s well positioned to be the first NL pitcher to four wins.
It’s pretty clear who’s favored on the mound on Tuesday and while the Dodgers hold the edge in that game, the Giants have it in the other three.
On Wednesday, Johnny Cueto is starting against Alex Wood and on Thursday, it’ll be Kenta Maeda for the Dodgers against Matt Moore.
While Cueto is 3-1 this year, his ERA is up at 5.25 and his WHIP is high, too. Still, Cueto is an ace like pitcher. Moore’s ERA is high, too, at 5.87 as the entire San Francisco rotation hasn’t really shaken all of the rust off.
The Dodgers’ rotation, aside from Kershaw, has been rather poor, too. Kenta Maeda, for instance, was the team’s most reliable arm last year. He’s got an 8.05 ERA as the league seems to have figured him out. He likewise struggled in the postseason. Maeda will need to make an adjustment and quickly to have an impact on this series.
Interesting, while Alex Wood was the odd-man out in the rotation. He’s starting in place of Rich Hill who is on the DL. He’s got a good 3.29 ERA, but all five of his earned runs have come in his two starts. He’s given up on those five runs in 8.1 innings as a starter.
Who's Hot?
The Dodgers are known to struggle against lefties. That was a huge flaw in this team last year and the trend continued to this season. The opposing managers are going to lefties as much as possible and Los Angeles has seen 48 more at bats against a lefty than any other team.
Given the plethora of chances, it’s no coincidence that this team has scored a lot of runs off southpaws. They ranks second in the sport at 29. Their .670 OPS isn’t that great either, but it’s rising.
Even with Franklin Gutierrez and Logan Forsythe out, a few right-handed bats have stepped up with good starts for the Dodgers, including Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig.
Puig’s the bigger story. The right-fielder has all the talent in the world. It’s hard to tell if he’s turned the corner or just having a hot spell. Either way, ride it while you can.
Flipping over the Giants, Brandon Belt and Joe Panik have gotten off to hot starts on the left-side of the infield. Panik is hitting .333 and getting on base 40-percent of the time. Belt is belting blasts. He’s not four home runs and 10 extra base hits.
Who's Not?
While the Dodgers have shown some progress against left-handers, they still give Dave Roberts a challenge in constructing a lineup. Now with Forsythe out, that gets even harder. Roberts can go with Chase Utley or Chris Taylor. The first is a gritty veteran, but he’s been very bad at the dish. The latter is a 26-year old with a few tastes of the big leagues, but not near enough to stick.
In any case, while there’ve been some down stories in the Dodgers’ lineup, the biggest “Who’s Not?” is Sergio Romo in the bullpen.
Romo is a former Giant who traded sides in this battle in the offseason. With Joe Blanton gone, Romo was a guy to slide in and help bridge the gap to Kenley Jansen. Instead, he’s been terrible with seven runs in 5.1 innings. Ross Stripling, former starter, is getting the most innings out of the pen, but he’s been just okay with a 4.22 ERA though his 14 Ks in 10.2 innings look nice.
The pen is also an issue for the Giants. It was a large part of what ultimately brought them from the best record in baseball at the break to just barely making the Wild Card by season’s end. Offensive disappearance played a role, too, but nothing can be as demoralizing to a team as late losses.
Mark Melancon has recovered from his bad debut, but a single pitcher does not make a good pen. Surprisingly, the Giants’ pen has a 3.04 ERA to rank sixth in MLB, but they’re pulling Blach out of the pen and will be exposing this pen to more innings. A rotation capable of going deep in a game has helped protect this pen which could get overexposed this weekend.
As of now, the Giants’ pen has thrown less total innings than anyone. That could change in an instant with Blach and Cain both starting in the first two games of this four game set.
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