Dodgers take over San Diego and put the Padres in their place, third place

Dodger fans travel well.

The Dodgers started a three-game series in San Diego on Tuesday night. It was the start of a sweep at Petco Park. On a whim, I made the road trip with the Dodgers, at least for the first game of the series.

It was my first time visiting Petco Park. I was at Jack Murphy Stadium the night the Dodgers clinched the National League West title in 1988. A friend of mine caught a home run ball off of Carmelo Martinez in that game. It was the last time I saw a Dodger game in San Diego.

Petco is much nicer than the Murph. But like that game in 1988, Dodger fans take over the Padres home stadium for big games.

The series probably meant more for the Padres than the Dodgers. The Padres are fighting for their playoff lives after falling behind the Cincinnati Reds for the second wild-card spot. After losing three games in a row to the Dodgers, the Padres might have seen what little playoff hopes they had left disappear.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, are still chasing those surprising San Francisco Giants. By sweeping the Padres, the Dodgers stayed within striking distance of the first-place Giants. But winning the division becomes more challenging each day. The Dodgers are playing their best baseball in August, but so are the Giants and that is making it almost impossible to catch them.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Padres thought they had a chance to challenge the Dodgers for the NL West title. The Dodger fans at Petco made sure the Padre fans felt the full force of their fandom.

Chants of “Let’s go Padres” were quickly drowned out by “Let’s go Dodgers.” When Padre fans tried to cheer on Fernando Tatis Jr. with calls of “MVP,” Dodger fans responded with “overrated.” As the game wore on, the Let’s go Dodgers chants turned into F the Padres chants. Only Dodger fans didn't just say the F part of that word.  

Dodgers fans were sitting in the row in front of me, in Section 308 of Petco Park. Dodgers fans took up the row behind me. They were from Monterey Park, East L.A., Sylmar, San Gabriel. The stadium was about half full of Dodger fans and they were not disappointed.

It was the night AJ Pollock shined. He robbed Manny Machado of a two-run home run with an over the fence catch surrounded by three Padre fans in the fourth inning and drove in two runs with a clutch two-run single to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead in the seventh inning.

It was the night Julio Urias made his return from the injured list, pitched five shutout innings and won his 14th game of the season. 

It was the night Will Smith hit a home run to jump start the Dodgers offense.

It was the night Kenley Jansen saved his 28th game, even though he made it interesting in the ninth inning again. The Dodgers won the game, 5-2, and it came in the middle of a 12-1 stretch. 

It all worked out for the Dodgers on Tuesday night. It was the start of a miserable week for the Padres.

The Dodgers won the second game of the series, 5-3, in a 16-inning marathon (glad I decided to go to the game on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday) and the third game of the series, 4-0. 

As good as the Dodgers were against the Padres, they were equally as bad against the lowly Colorado Rockies, the team with the worst road record in baseball.

The Dodgers dropped two of three games against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium over the weekend.

The Dodgers blew another opportunity to close the gap on the Giants, who lost two of three games to the surging Atlanta Braves, making the losses against the Rockies even more painful. 

The Dodgers are running out of time and running out of pitchers. In Sunday’s 5-0 loss to the Rockies, Justin Turner pitched the ninth inning, the first pitching performance of his career. He didn’t give up a run, and his fastest pitch was at 76 mph, but he kept the Rockies in check and was only called to pitch because there were no other available arms left in the bullpen.

There are 31 games left in the season and the Dodgers are down to three reliable starters for the foreseeable future. Those same Braves start a three-game series against the Dodgers on Monday at Dodger Stadium. It looks like it could be the start of another long, disappointing week for the Dodgers.

Dodger starting pitching power rankings:

1. Max Scherzer
2. Walker Buehler
3. Julio Urias
4. Corey Knebel
5. Mitch White

The Dodgers (82-49) are 2.5 games behind the Giants for first place in the NL West standings. The Dodgers head to San Francisco for a weekend series against the Giants that starts on Friday. The NL West could be decided by Sunday night. The Dodgers could either be in first place or they could be as far away from first place as L.A. is from San Francisco. To make things worse, it looks like at least two of those games against the Giants will be bullpen games. Those did not work out so well for the Dodgers against the Rockies. 

The Dodgers can’t afford to lose many more games if they want to catch the Giants. Every day the Giants lose a game becomes a must-win game for the Dodgers. 

The Dodgers have little room left for error in the last month of the season. 

What if the Padres traded for Scherzer instead of the Dodgers?

“What If?” is a new Marvel Universe TV series on Disney+. It is about what would happen if different people were the superheroes in some of the Marvel stories.

What if Peggy Carter became Captain America instead of Steve Rogers?

What if T’Challa from Black Panther became Star Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy instead of Peter Quill?

The outcomes of some of those stories turn out much differently than what’s expected.

The timeline of the Marvel Universe is altered, and sometimes not for the better.

In keeping with that theme, what if the pesky San Diego Padres had traded for Max Scherzer instead of the Dodgers? How would the season have changed?

First of all, Trevor Bauer would never have been suspended and would still be pitching for the Dodgers. The Dodgers probably wouldn’t be in a desperate position for starting pitching if Bauer was still in the rotation. In a way, it’s probably a good thing that Bauer was benched. The Dodgers are a better team with Scherzer in the rotation instead of Bauer.

But how good would the Padres be with Scherzer? 

The Padres probably wouldn’t be in a fight for a wild-card spot, like they are now. They probably wouldn’t be going through a 2-9 stretch, like they were over the past two weeks. They might even be back in the hunt for the National League West title instead of 12.5 games out of first place.

Not only did the Scherzer trade make the Dodgers better, it made the Padres more pathetic than a third-place team in the National League West.

With Scherzer, the Dodgers rattled off nine wins in a row. The Dodgers trimmed the surprising San Francisco Giants’ lead in the NL West standing to 1.5 games. The Dodgers have a good shot at catching the Giants, winning the NL West pennant for the ninth time in a row and avoiding the wild-card round of the playoffs.

The Dodgers with Scherzer are 15-3 in August.

The Padres without Scherzer are 8-11 in August. 

The Scherzer trade hasn't turned the Dodgers into invincible superheroes. The Dodgers lost to the spiraling New York Mets on Sunday and snapped their nine-game winning streak. It also dropped the Dodgers to 2.5 games behind the first-place Giants. But the Dodgers have shown they can take the best shots from any team in the league.

Maybe a more important element of the Scherzer trade was the Dodgers acquiring Trea Turner in the deal.

What if the Giants traded for Turner? Or what if the Atlanta Braves traded for Turner? Or perhaps the worst-case scenario, what if the cheating, stinking Houston Astros traded for Turner? 

If Bauer is in the rotation for the Dodgers, there is no need to make a deal with the Washington Nationals. There is no need to ask: What is it going to take for the Nationals to deal Turner? 

While the Dodgers were desperate for a starting pitcher, they might have been more desperate for an offensive spark plug.

The Dodgers have three weaknesses: poor defense, a shaky, overworked bullpen and lack of timely hitting.

Turner seems to have solved the third problem for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are winning one-run games. They are winning extra-inning games. They are manufacturing runs instead of waiting for three-run home runs.

The offense is much better with Turner in the lineup.

The last thing the Dodgers and their fans wanted to see was an ignited and energized Astros offense or Giants offense.

In the What If universe of the Dodgers, the best scenario was what if Bauer was suspended for a good chunk of the season and the Dodgers needed to find a pitcher to replace him.

Now the Dodgers need to live in a What If world where Clayton Kershaw and Mookie Betts make miraculous recoveries from injuries in time for the playoffs to start.

That is the best way for Dodger fans to realize what if the Dodgers win back-to-back World Series championships.

Dodger starting pitchers power rankings:

1. Walker Buehler
2. Max Scherzer
3. Corey Knebel
4. Mitch White (He technically came in relief and pitched 7 ⅓ brilliant innings in a 9-0 win over the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates) 
5. David Price

The Dodgers (78-47) start a three-game series against the Padres in San Diego on Tuesday, then come home for a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

Dodgers break extra-inning curse against the Mets

In a reversal of course, the Dodgers won not one, but two extra-inning games, snapping an embarrassing trend.

The Dodgers won 6-5 on Friday night in a 10-inning game against the suddenly spiraling New York Mets. The Dodgers won 2-1 in 10 innings against the Mets on Saturday night. Coming into the series against the Mets, the Dodgers were 1-12 in extra-inning games in 2021.

It is part of the reason the Dodgers are trailing the surprising San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West and the best record in baseball. 

Extra-inning games are where Dodger victories go to die.

At least that was the pattern before this past weekend.

While the Dodgers pulled out a couple of close games, it didn’t do much to calm the nerves of Dodger fans who are still waiting for the team to make a move in the NL West standings.

After Sunday’s win over the Mets, the Dodgers are four games out of first place in the NL West standings. The Dodgers have 44 games to make up those four games, or take their chances in the wild-card rounds of the playoffs.

Julio Urias gave the Dodgers a strong start on Friday night. He went five innings and left with a 3-0 lead. The Dodgers increased their lead to 4-0 before the bullpen collapsed.

The Mets scored four runs in the seventh inning to tie the score. Reliever Justin Bruihl gave up three runs, two of them earned, and walked two batters without recording an out. 

Thankfully, Will Smith delivered with a two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to break the tie and give the Dodgers the lead.

However, Kenley Jansen made it more exciting than it needed to be by allowing the Mets to score a run in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Dodgers held on, but it was far from reassuring.

Dodgers starter Walker Buehler and Mets starter Taijuan Walker were in a pitchers duel in the game on Saturday. The game was tied 1-1 after nine innings. Buehler pitched seven innings and struck out 10. Walker pitched into the seventh inning and struck out eight.

The suddenly surging Cody Bellinger broke the tie with a run-scoring double in the 10th inning. Corey Knebel came in to record the last out of the game in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Dodgers their second extra-inning win in a row.

The Dodgers look like they have broken the curse of extra innings. But their cursed bullpen continues to pose problems.

Dodgers starting pitchers power rankings:

1. Walker Buehler
2. Max Scherzer
3. Julio Urias
4. David Price
5. Mitch White

The Dodgers (72-46) head back home for a three-game series against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. They welcome the Mets for a four-game weekend series starting on Thursday. It’s a full week against a couple of really bad teams.

Dodgers have a new look, but can’t shake bad habits

Say hello to the new Dodgers.

Same as the old Dodgers.

The Dodgers revealed their new look team and while there were signs of improvement, a lot of the troubles that have plagued this team surfaced against the cheating, stinking Houston Astros and the Not L.A. Angels. 

The Dodgers went 3-2 last week and actually lost ground to the surprising first-place San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers are four games out of first place and still chasing the Giants for the best record in baseball.

The Dodgers upgraded their roster at the trade deadline, adding pitcher Max Scherzer and infielder Trea Turner in particular. It took a few days to see what Scherzer and Turner will add to the mix, and if their first few games are any indication, it will be an exciting finish to the 2021 season. The Dodgers have 50 games left to catch the Giants, and if Scherzer and Turner play like they did last week, it will be more than enough to close the gap on the Giants.

However, the Dodgers have three glaring holes that didn’t seem to go away with the addition of new players.

First, the Dodgers have a nasty habit of struggling at the plate in clutch situations. That was embarrassingly clear in the first game against the Astros on Tuesday night. The Dodgers were shut out and wasted another brilliant start from Walker Buehler. They lost 3-0 to the visiting Astros, who were booed mercilessly and deservedly for all nine innings.

Scherzer made his first start for the Dodgers on Wednesday night and was gifted a 7-0 lead after three innings. He struck out 10, gave up two runs on five hits and won his ninth game of the season. More starts like that and the Giants lead will shrink quickly. 

However, Kenley Jansen did his best to try and ruin Scherzer’s debut.

Jansen, who has struggled to close out games in recent weeks, a recurring problem that arises during the most crucial games it seems, gave up a two-run home run in the ninth inning and turned a comfortable four-run lead into a stress-filled two-run victory, 7-5.

The Dodgers started the weekend series against the Angels with an extra-inning game on Friday night. And in predictable Dodgers style, they lost, 4-3 in 10 innings. The Dodgers dropped to 1-11 in extra-innings games in 2021. 

All of the Dodgers weaknesses were revealed in the five games they played last week. They are not a clutch-hitting team. They have an unreliable closer. And they consistently lose extra-inning games. If the Dodgers can avoid those situations in the playoffs, they will be fine.

But coming up clutch hits, having a shutdown bullpen and winning close games are what take teams to World Series championships. The Dodgers are lacking in all three of these areas.

However, Turner made his first start for the Dodgers in the game on Saturday against the Angels. He went 1-for-3, drew a walk and scored a run in a 5-3 win.

More importantly, the Dodgers bullpen pitched four nearly perfect innings to secure the win. They pitched four shutout innings, gave up only two hits and Jansen earned the save with a nine-pitch ninth inning.

Turner continued to produce for his new team in the game against the Angels on Sunday. He went 1-for-4, drew another walk and scored two runs in a convincing 8-2 win to close out the week.

The Dodgers seem headed in the right direction. But the view from second place is really old, especially in August. It would be nice to be out front for the last two months of the season.

Dodgers starting pitching power rankings:

1. Walker Buehler
2. Max Scherzer
3. Julio Urias
4. David Price

The Dodgers (67-45) head out on the road this week. They play the suddenly surging Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday and end the road trip with a Sunday night game against the struggling New York Mets.

Dodgers win trade deadline, ready to reveal Dodgers 2.0 for 2021

The Dodgers finally gave their fans something to cheer about in 2021.

By landing Max Scherzer and Trea Turner in a trade with the suddenly rebuilding Washington Nationals, the Dodgers bolstered an already talented lineup. More importantly, the Dodgers snatched Scherzer away from the pesky San Diego Padres, who looked like they were going to seal the deal for the three-time Cy Young Award winner at the trade deadline.

Instead, the Dodgers add Scherzer to a pitching staff that already has three Cy Young Award winners (two active ones) on it. The Dodgers added to a rotation that has been decimated by injuries and suspensions. The Dodgers now have four starters no team wants to face in the playoffs, not in a one-game playoff or in a Game 7 of any playoffs. The Dodgers, with Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw and Scherzer, have the most dangerous rotation in baseball, perhaps the most dangerous rotation in the history of baseball.

The Dodgers played their 107th game of the season on Sunday, a 13-0 blowout against the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks. They have 55 more games left in the regular season. That’s 55 games to catch the surprising first-place Giants who have a three-game lead in the National League West standings after Sunday’s games. That’s 55 games for the Dodgers at 64-43 to stop having the second-best record in baseball and take over the top spot in the majors.

The next stage of the season starts on Wednesday for the Dodgers. That is when Scherzer is expected to make his first start for the Dodgers against the cheating, stinking Houston Astros. It will give Dodger fans its first look at the new version of the Dodgers. 

The Dodgers added a couple other players, but it will be a while to see what kind of impact they will have on the team. Turner, an All Star infielder for the Nationals, tested positive for COVID-19 and is on the 10-day injured list. When he makes his debut for the Dodgers is anybody’s guess. 

The Dodgers also traded for pitcher Danny Duffy from the Kansas City Royals. He is a left-handed reliever, which should help an overworked and underperforming Dodgers bullpen.

But Duffy is also on the injured list with a flexor strain.

While the Dodgers certainly improved after the trade deadline, the Giants and Padres made some moves, too. 

The Giants added Kris Bryant from the Cubs. Bryant brings tons of playoff experience, a clutch, powerful bat and a veteran presence to a team that already has the best record in baseball. The Giants didn’t need to add much to be better. They were already really good. But Bryant makes them better. 

The Padres, on the other hand, completely Padre’d the trade deadline.

It looked like they were going to be the team to trade for Scherzer. Reports on social media rolled in that the Padres were inches away from completing the deal for Scherzer. But nothing ever developed. The Dodgers kept clawing away at a deal and it finally tipped in their favor. It cost the Dodgers two of its top prospects, catcher Keibert Ruiz and pitcher Josiah Gray. The Dodgers not only added the best pitcher in the trade market, they kept him away from the Padres and the Giants.

As for the Padres, after swinging and missing on Scherzer, they completely struck out at the trade deadline. They whiffed on Jose Berrios from the Minnesota Twins and Kyle Gibson from the Texas Rangers. By the end of the trade deadline, the Padres managed to only add reliever Daniel Hudson from the Nationals and infielder Adam Frazier from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now the Padres are fighting for a wild-card playoff spot and are probably out of the race for the National League West championship.

To make matters worse for the Padres, they put Fernando Tatis Jr. on the 10-day injured list with a sore shoulder and starter Chris Paddock on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique. Even if the Padres make the playoffs, they probably won’t be much of a factor, certainly not much of a threat to the Dodgers.

While the Padres lick their wounds and wait to see who heals the quickest, the Dodgers welcomed back some familiar faces to the lineup.

Corey Seager came off the 60-day IL on Friday.

Mookie Betts started at second base for the Dodgers on Sunday.

Kershaw, who has been on the IL with an injured forearm, was scheduled to pitch a simulated game on Sunday. 

Reinforcements are well on their way.

Dodger starting pitchers power rankings:

1. Walker Buehler
2. Julio Urias
3. David Price
4. Mitch White
5. Tony Gonsolin

The Dodgers start a five-game homestand on Tuesday against the Astros, who are in town for two games. Then the Dodgers start a weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday.