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After a great start to the road trip with a sweep in Colorado the red hot Guardians roll into LA for three games against the 39-23 Dodgers, who are 19-10 at home. The Dodgers are one of baseball’s elite teams, ranking second in the last Power Poll I saw. But they have stumbled a bit lately, having lost 9 of their last 15.
Offensively the Dodgers are the majors’ highest scoring team at 5.1 runs per game (5.2 at home). However, they have scored only 10 runs in their last 5 games. Also, the Rockies were averaging 5.8 runs per game at home but the Guardians held them to 3.3 runs per game in their series despite some defensive lapses.
It's a Guardians' team that has been pitching very well lately against a Dodgers offense that has hit a speed bump. We could see some close, low scoring games.
The Dodgers rank 2nd in team ERA at 2.98, but their home ERA is a little higher at 3.39. Clearly the Dodgers are a much better team than the Guardians, who rank 10th in scoring and 7th in ERA, but the Dodgers have fallen off a bit lately, especially offensively, so this could be an interesting and competitive series if the Guardians pitching holds up.
Since May 1 the Dodgers are 5th and the Guardians 6th in team ERA.
Mookie Betts is the Dodgers' most productive hitter at .273/.884, followed by Trea Turner (.298/.823) and Freddie Freeman (.286/.816). Nothing stands out in the Dodgers’ offensive splits; they’re solid both home and away and against pitching from both sides.
Hopefully the Guardians are catching them at a time when they are not playing as well as earlier in the season.
Clayton Kershaw takes the ball tonight against Zach Plesac on Apple TV. Kershaw is 4-1, 2.12, and has 189 wins at age 34. He missed five weeks this season with a hip problem. He’s only made six starts and pitched 34 innings. This will be his second start after returning from the IL.
Kershaw threw 71 pitches in his last start so I assume they will limit him to 85 or so tonight. The Dodgers are a playoff team and they don’t need to be pushing him in June. If the G’s can run up the pitch count he may be done after five innings. He has 36 K’s in 34 innings with only 5 walks, so you have to hit your way on.
Kershaw is extremely tough out of the windup; opposing batters are hitting .148 with nobody on base and .273 with runners on. Clearly the key is to get on base and put him in the stretch. He’s still very good, but more hittable with runners on.
Current Guardians players are 4-for-37 lifetime against Kershaw, but most of that is Austin Hedges who is 1-for-20. He’s probably hoping Maile starts tonight.
Zach Plesac has been solid lately, allowing six runs total in his last three starts. However, the opponents were KC, Oakland, and Baltimore. Plesac has been very good against the weak teams and gotten hammered by the strong teams (Houston 7 runs, Angels 7 runs, White Sox and Padres 5 runs).
Obviously a Plesac v. Kershaw matchup is not to the Guardians advantage; they probably win 2 games out of 10 if that. So I’m not optimistic about tonight. I figure if we can steal one win (probably Sunday with Bieber) it will be a successful series.
The Twins are 0-2 and the White Sox 1-2 against LA so even if we go 1-2 or 0-3 we won’t lose a lot of ground, if any. Much more important than this series will be the 8 games against the Twins in the next 14 days.
Offensively the Dodgers are the majors’ highest scoring team at 5.1 runs per game (5.2 at home). However, they have scored only 10 runs in their last 5 games. Also, the Rockies were averaging 5.8 runs per game at home but the Guardians held them to 3.3 runs per game in their series despite some defensive lapses.
It's a Guardians' team that has been pitching very well lately against a Dodgers offense that has hit a speed bump. We could see some close, low scoring games.
The Dodgers rank 2nd in team ERA at 2.98, but their home ERA is a little higher at 3.39. Clearly the Dodgers are a much better team than the Guardians, who rank 10th in scoring and 7th in ERA, but the Dodgers have fallen off a bit lately, especially offensively, so this could be an interesting and competitive series if the Guardians pitching holds up.
Since May 1 the Dodgers are 5th and the Guardians 6th in team ERA.
Mookie Betts is the Dodgers' most productive hitter at .273/.884, followed by Trea Turner (.298/.823) and Freddie Freeman (.286/.816). Nothing stands out in the Dodgers’ offensive splits; they’re solid both home and away and against pitching from both sides.
Hopefully the Guardians are catching them at a time when they are not playing as well as earlier in the season.
Clayton Kershaw takes the ball tonight against Zach Plesac on Apple TV. Kershaw is 4-1, 2.12, and has 189 wins at age 34. He missed five weeks this season with a hip problem. He’s only made six starts and pitched 34 innings. This will be his second start after returning from the IL.
Kershaw threw 71 pitches in his last start so I assume they will limit him to 85 or so tonight. The Dodgers are a playoff team and they don’t need to be pushing him in June. If the G’s can run up the pitch count he may be done after five innings. He has 36 K’s in 34 innings with only 5 walks, so you have to hit your way on.
Kershaw is extremely tough out of the windup; opposing batters are hitting .148 with nobody on base and .273 with runners on. Clearly the key is to get on base and put him in the stretch. He’s still very good, but more hittable with runners on.
Current Guardians players are 4-for-37 lifetime against Kershaw, but most of that is Austin Hedges who is 1-for-20. He’s probably hoping Maile starts tonight.
Zach Plesac has been solid lately, allowing six runs total in his last three starts. However, the opponents were KC, Oakland, and Baltimore. Plesac has been very good against the weak teams and gotten hammered by the strong teams (Houston 7 runs, Angels 7 runs, White Sox and Padres 5 runs).
Obviously a Plesac v. Kershaw matchup is not to the Guardians advantage; they probably win 2 games out of 10 if that. So I’m not optimistic about tonight. I figure if we can steal one win (probably Sunday with Bieber) it will be a successful series.
The Twins are 0-2 and the White Sox 1-2 against LA so even if we go 1-2 or 0-3 we won’t lose a lot of ground, if any. Much more important than this series will be the 8 games against the Twins in the next 14 days.
