Dodgers Steamroll the Padres, Sweep first series of Season

You get a hit! You get a hit! You get a hit! And you get a hit! This was the overwhelming reality for the Dodgers on Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers. After winning the series on Tuesday, the boys in blue were hoping to sweep the Padres for their first sweep of the season and first series win of the season. My dad and I attended the game Wednesday night and it was nothing short of awesome!

Wednesday night’s series finale featured right hander Kenta Maeda for the Dodgers and right hander Luis Perdomo for the Padres. Perdomo was making his first start since being suspended five games last week after his involvement in the benches clearing brawl with Colorado. Perdomo struggled and he could not recover no matter how hard he tried. The Dodgers offense, which had been struggling prior to this series, was too much for Luis Perdomo. He was charged with nine runs but only seven earned runs. Regardless, this is nothing to be proud of whatsoever.

Now lets talk about the team that scored THIRTY runs in this series. The Los Angeles Dodgers scored ten runs the first night of the series, seven runs in the second game and then capped off the scoring with thirteen runs Wednesday night. Matt Kemp and Yasmani Grandal who are former players on the Padres and who were traded for each other in 2014 were able to take down the Padres all by themselves. Grandal and Kemp combined for three Home Runs and fifteen runs batted in. The middle of the lineup is starting to form and be more consistent, as is the whole lineup in general. Grandal, Kemp and Bellinger are all hitting above .300 in the middle of the order. Bellinger is showing great patience at the plate and is being selective with his pitches. He may not be hitting a Home Run every few at bats like last year but I’ll trade that for raising his average.

Wednesday night, every hitter in the starting line up managed to get a hit or make it on base. Seager had four hits and three RBI’s, recently called up Max Muncy hit his first Home Run with the Dodgers and Chase Utley recorded an RBI double. Of course these aren’t the only things that happened Wednesday Night but they are some highlights. In addition, the struggling Yasiel Puig came into the game late to replace Matt Kemp and managed to connect for a 2-run RBI single. All around, the Dodgers flashed the bats and flashed the leather as well. Third baseman, Max Muncy, made an amazing play in foul territory to nab the runner at first base.

The starter for the Dodgers on Wednesday night was Kenta Maeda. Maeda was looking to bounce back from his start against the Diamondbacks last Friday night. He didn’t have the best command early on in the game but he did manage to pitch into the sixth inning and struck out ten batters. Like I’ve said, I believe that Maeda belongs in the bullpen because that is where he truly flourishes. However, he does come out and compete whenever Dave Roberts needs him too.

After mentioning the bullpen, there has been a new addition since yesterday. The Dodgers recalled Adam Liberatore from Triple-A Oklahoma City. They did this after placing left handed starter Rich Hill on the ten day disabled list. Hill is on the disabled list for the first time this season because of inflammation in the middle finger on his pitching hand. Rich Hill never suffers any injuries except to his fingers, it is amazing that he makes it through the season without any other injuries considering his age.

As I said on Monday night, it was only a matter of time before the offense got started and the Dodgers started to score a ridiculous amount of runs. Unfortunately the offense may go back to being stagnant this weekend when the Dodgers face the Washington Nationals.

Friday night’s game is certainly not a game you’d want to miss, Clayton Kershaw is taking on Max Scherzer. This is a pitching matchup for the ages. You have Scherzer who has won three Cy Young awards, two with the Nationals and one with the Tigers. Then you have Clayton Kershaw who has also won three Cy Young awards, all with the Dodgers. Both of these pitchers finished in first and second place last season in Cy Young voting but due to Kershaw missing over a month, the award was given to Scherzer. Needless to say, this won’t be a very high scoring game. This may not be a very high scoring series for that matter.

Regardless of what happens, this will be a preview of a potential playoff meeting between these two teams. Of course, we know how the playoffs always end when the Nationals are involved. We also know what happens when the Nationals meet Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs. Remember in 2016 when Kershaw came out of the bullpen in Game 5 to secure the win? I hope that the matchup Friday night is actually good and not a one sided affair, I don’t think it will be but baseball is a strange game. Anything can happen.