This series saw lots of ups and downs for both teams. The Milwaukee Brewers came to town and took two of the four games against Los Angeles. Of course, the one game I went to this week, the Dodgers lost. That game was on Monday night and that night was full of surprises.
Not only was the game excruciatingly hot and muggy, the game seemed to drag on for forever. One main cause of this was the massive power outage that occurred right before the start of the second inning. As the fans are sitting there in the sweltering Summer heat, boom, the whole stadium goes dark. The game would resume nearly twenty minutes later. Unfortunately, we left the game early because the heat was unbearable and not fun.
Since we left the game early, we did not get a chance to see Manny Machado hit his first Home Run as a Dodger in Los Angeles, which is what happened in the bottom of the ninth inning. The game ended with the Dodgers losing 5-2. Three of those five runs came off a 3-Run Home Run from Eric Thames in the top of the third inning. Kenta Maeda was the starting pitcher of the night and did not have his best stuff. Whether it be the heat or the power outage, Maeda was not his usual self on Monday night.
Tuesday night’s game was taken away from the Dodgers by a single catch. Lorenzo Cain robbed Cody Bellinger of a Home Run to tie the game and quickly changed the momentum for the Dodgers. The only run of the game came off of a RBI double from Lorenzo Cain in the top of the third inning. Since the bats were cold, the Dodgers didn’t have a chance of winning this game.
Walker Buehler made the start and pitched very well. His final line was: 7.0 IP, one earned run, no walks and seven strikeouts. Sadly that one run was the deciding factor in this game and Walker Buehler took the loss. The only Dodgers to get hits on Tuesday night were Puig and Austin Barnes.
Finally something positive to write about! Wednesday night, the Dodgers won the game in dramatic fashion with a Walk-Off Home Run from Yasmani Grandal in the 10th inning. The scoring started in the first inning when Lorenzo Cain got himself a Little League Home Run. After that, in the top of the third inning, Lorenzo Cain scored again but this time on a wild pitch. Thank god the Dodgers don’t have to see Lorenzo Cain anytime soon.
Heading into the fifth inning, the Dodgers were being No Hit by Chase Anderson. That would’ve been the second time in five days that the Dodgers could’ve been No Hit! Luckily, Yasmani Grandal said no to that and crushed a Solo Home Run to break up the No Hitter and the shutout. Immediately following him, newly acquired second baseman, Brian Dozier, smacked his first Home Run as a Dodger. Quickly the game was tied up. Also, more on the trade deadline after this recap.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Dodgers extended their lead with a RBI single from Puig and a Sacrifice Fly from Kiké Hernandez. Then in the top of the eighth inning, the Brewers would storm back and tie the game. The score would remain tied until Yasmani Grandal’s huge Walk-Off Home Run!
And now we get to the game last night…I don’t know where to begin and the Dodgers scored so many runs it looked like a NFL game. Although it didn’t start off that way, Cody Bellinger’s Grand Slam started the rout. I’ll just list the notable performances from the Dodgers:
- Joc Pederson, 2 HR’s, 4 RBI’s, 3 Runs
- Cody Bellinger, Grand Slam, 5 RBI’s, 2 Runs
- Brian Dozier, HR, 4 RBI’s, 2 Runs
- Yasiel Puig, 2 HR’s, 4 RBI’s, 3 Runs
- Justin Turner, HR, 2 RBI’s, 3 Runs
I mean, the Dodgers outfield practically won this game all by themselves. The Dodgers set a new record at Dodger Stadium for most runs scored in a game. Los Angeles would go on to win this nail biter, 21-5. In total there were seven Home Run’s and eighteen hits all together for the Dodgers.
Now the Dodgers welcome back the Houston Astros for a World Series rematch. Dodger fans remember the heartbreak from last year and we still have that cloud following us every day. Winning this series would be a huge sigh of relief for the Dodgers and will give them a major confidence boost. I think they can win the series but it will be a tough challenge, the Astros send Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Lance McCullers Jr. to the mound this weekend.
Trade deadline time. Remember when I said the Dodgers would have a new look to them after Tuesday? Well now they do and I’m surprised that I didn’t see this one coming. On Tuesday just before the deadline hit, the Dodgers traded Logan Forsythe and two prospects to the Minnesota Twins for Brian Dozier. This move caught me off guard but I’m glad that it happened. Forsythe was an offensive liability when he came up to the plate and his time in Los Angeles never reached his potential. In 70 games this year Forsythe had only hit two Home Run’s. In 2 games this year with the Dodgers, Brian Dozier has hit 2 Home Run’s.
Picking up Brian Dozier pretty much solidifies the Dodgers infield. Justin Turner playing third, Manny Machado playing short, Dozier at second and Cody Bellinger/Max Muncy at first base. Now the problem that the Dodgers face is who will be on the bench and who will start in the outfield. With Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor, who do you start and who do you bench? This is a problem but it is a good problem to have for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
As I said in my last post, Jacob Degrom and Bryce Harper didn’t get traded but some other big name players did. The Pittsburgh Pirates went all in and traded for Rays pitcher, Chris Archer. Archer was a pitcher that Dodger fans lamented that they had to have in order to make the World Series but they were just saying that because someone else said it. The Dodgers didn’t need Chris Archer whatsoever. Los Angeles did the right thing by picking up Dozier for next to nothing.
Last season the Dodgers tried to trade for Brian Dozier but the Twins reportedly wanted Cody Bellinger or Walker Buehler. Yeah, not going to happen. Luckily, the Dodgers fleeced this trade and picked up Dozier for next to nothing…sorry Forsythe.
Anyways, the deadline is done. All is well in the baseball world. The Dodgers are currently in first place and they’ll need to beat the Astros this weekend if they plan on staying in first for a long time.
Leadoff Dodgers 