Dodgers making all the right moves

The Dodgers climbed into a first-place tie with those annoying Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West standings after going 4-3 last week and taking three of four games against the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.

The Dodgers are moving in the right direction. Two Dodgers are making particularly impressive moves.

James Outman has emerged as the early favorite for rookie of the year.

Max Muncy is in the early season discussion for MVP.

Outman leads National League rookies in almost every offensive category. He is batting .311, the highest batting average on the Dodgers, and has seven home runs. His 19 RBIs not only lead all National League rookies, it is fifth in the National League.

He put on a show against the Cubs in Chicago with four home runs and nine RBIs in four games. He hit .320 in the series and is batting .392 in his last seven games.

Muncy leads the National League in home runs with 11 and is third in the league in RBIs with 21. He is also coming off an impressive weekend in Chicago, with four home runs and six RBIs.

Over the past seven games, Muncy is batting .389 with five home runs with five home runs and seven RBIs.

No team is running away in the National League West. The Dodgers are only one game over .500 at 12-11 and 5-5 in the last 10 games. The most telling stat for the Dodgers after the first 23 games is they have a plus-19 run differential. The other four teams in the National League West all have negative run differentials.

Outman and Muncy are two of the big reasons for the early offensive surge.

Clayton Kershaw has quietly emerged as one of the top pitchers in the National League. It’s hard for a three-time Cy Young Award winner to fly under the radar, but Kershaw is doing just that.

He has four wins, the most in the National League and 32 strikeouts, the fifth most in the league. He also leads the National League in quality starts, meaning the Dodgers are never out of a game when he starts.

In another move in the right direction, the Dodgers might have found their next starting shortstop in right field.

Mookie Betts made his first start at shortstop on Sunday against the Cubs. He hit a home run and drove in four runs in a 7-3 win. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Betts will start at shortstop against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, maybe the whole series.

"I've been doing the multiple position thing my whole life,” Betts told the Associated Press. "It doesn't really matter to me. I just go out and play and want to win.”

One more dose of good news for the Dodgers, Tony Gonsolin is expected to make his first start of the season on the mound against the Pirates on Wednesday. 

It took a little while but it looks like it’s starting to come together for the Dodgers.

Dodger starting pitching power rankings:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Dustin May
3. Noah Syndergaard
4. Julio Urias
5. Michael Grove

The Dodgers start a three-game series against the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday. The Pirates are in first place in the National League Central standings and have won seven games in a row. The Pirates also give the Dodgers fits, especially in recent years. The Dodgers end the week against the Cardinals in St. Louis. 

Bellinger drops a truth bomb in Dodger Stadium

Cody Bellinger has gone from Dodgers fan favorite to Dodger killer.

He hit a solo home run that proved to be the difference in the Chicago Cubs 3-2 win over the Dodgers on Sunday. He stole a home run from Jason Heyward in the Dodgers 2-1 win over the Cubs on Saturday.

The former Dodgers MVP returned to Dodger Stadium with his new team and received a roaring ovation in his first at-bat of the series on Friday. It lasted so long, it cost him a strike for violating the new pitch clock rule.

It didn’t take long for Dodger fans to change their tune in regard to Bellinger.

He hit a home run in the sixth inning, his third of the season, that gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead on Sunday, and gave Dodger fans a dreaded feeling of seller’s remorse. 

Bellinger put on an impressive display over the weekend. But it was Patrick Wisdom who turned out to be the real Dodger killer.

He hit three home runs in the series and became one of only three Cubs, joining Dave Kingman and Gary Matthews, to hit three home runs in a series against the Dodgers.

The Dodgers dropped two of three games against the Cubs over the weekend, ended the week going 3-3 and moved into second place in the National League West standings, a game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Our guys are grinding. They’re fighting,” manager Dave Roberts told the Associated Press after the Dodgers scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday to beat the Cubs. “That’s kind of how we thought about this roster putting it together, so for it to manifest itself tonight, there’s a lot of happy people in there.”

The week started promising for the Dodgers after they won two of three games against the Giants in San Francisco. But the Cubs kept the Dodgers bats in check, holding them to six runs over three games 

It’s becoming evidently clear where the Dodgers biggest weakness is: the bullpen.

Dodger relievers are giving up runs at an alarming rate.

Andre Jackson is one of the worst culprits. He has an 8.64 ERA in four appearances out of the bullpen. He gave up five earned runs in two innings in Friday’s 8-2 loss to the Cubs.

Usually reliable Alex Vesia has been anything but, with a 7.71 ERA in six appearances.

Yency Almonte has done no better with a 6.00 ERA in seven appearances.

Even Phillips was tagged for three earned runs in the eighth inning of a 5-0 loss to the Giants on Tuesday.

The Dodgers bullpen has been anything but relieving.

To make matters worse, the Dodgers will be without catcher Will Smith for a few games. He was put on the seven-day injured list after Sunday’s game as he recovers from a concussion. He missed two games against the Cubs and will not be available for the series against the New York Mets that starts on Monday.

The Dodgers acquired Austin Wynns from the Giants to take Smith’s spot on the roster. Wynns played one game for the Giants and went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts against the Kansas City Royals on April 9. The 31-year-old catcher and career minor leaguer played 115 games for the Baltimore Orioles and hit .216 with nine home runs.

He is supposed to start against the Mets on Monday.

Dodger starting pitching power rankings:

1. Julio Urias
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Michael Grove
4. Dustin May
5. Noah Syndergaard

The Dodgers (8-8) open a three-game series against the Mets on Monday and travel to Chicago for a four-game weekend series against the Cubs.

Dodgers hit a dry spell against Diamondbacks

What started as a promising week turned into a troubling weekend for the Dodgers in Arizona.

The Dodgers swept the visiting Colorado Rockies in a two-game series on Monday and Tuesday.

The Dodgers extended the winning streak to three games in their first game of a four-game series against the Diamondbacks on Thursday. But it went downhill quickly from there.

The Dodgers lost three games in a row to the Diamondbacks over the weekend and went from leading the National League West standings with a 5-2 record, to third place with a 5-5 record.

Usually reliable Clayton Kershaw took the loss on Friday night, 6-3. Noah Syndergaard followed by taking the loss on Saturday, 12-8. Michael Grove took a beating on Sunday in an 11-6 loss.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the recent woes. The starting pitching was far from effective. Kershaw gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings. It wasn’t horrible, but certainly not good enough to win.

Syndergaard gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings. He didn’t give the Dodgers much of a chance to win that game.

Grove had the worst starting performance of the weekend, giving up nine runs on 12 hits in 3 ⅓ innings. 

The Diamondbacks scored 31 runs in the four games against the Dodgers. 

“We got beat in every facet,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Associated Press after the loss on Sunday. 

The Dodgers are all of a sudden struggling for sure. As bad as the starters were over the weekend, some of the hitters are making matters worse.

Since hitting three home runs and driving in eight runs in one game, Trayce Thompson is 1-for-9.

Max Muncy went 1-for-10 in the three losses to the Diamondbacks and drove in only one run. He is batting .121 (4-for-33) after the first two weeks of the season.

Dave Peralta went 1-for-7 with one RBI in the three losses to the Diamondbacks. He is batting .174 (4-for-23).

Chris Taylor hasn’t been much help in the batter’s box so far either. He is hitting .125 and is 3-for-24.

But it’s not like the Dodgers aren’t scoring runs. They scored 22 in the four games against the Diamondbacks, 5.5 per game, and scored 14 in the final two games of the series.

Freddie Freeman is keeping the offense churning, batting .421 (16-for-38) in 10 games. Will Smith is batting .357 (10-for-28) with three home runs and 11 RBIs in eight games. And James Outman continues to impress with three home runs and nine RBIs in 10 games.

No team is pulling away in the NL West standings. Those pesky San Diego Padres and the Diamondbacks are in first place with 6-4 records. The Dodgers are a game behind, followed by the San Francisco Giants at 4-5.

The Dodgers have plenty of time to turn things around. But it’s not a good sign the Diamondbacks gave them so much trouble over the weekend.

Dodgers starting pitcher power rankings:

1. Dustin May
2. Julio Urias
3. Clayton Kershaw
4. Noah Syndergaard
5. Michael Grove

The Dodgers start a three-game series against the Giants on Monday and finish with a three-game weekend series against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium.

Dodgers offense has a Trayce of success

The Dodgers outscored the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 20-7 in the first four games of the season. But the Dodgers only have a 2-2 record to show for it.

The Dodger won the season opener 8-1 over the Diamondbacks. Then stumbled, losing 2-1 in the second game of the season.

The third game of the season was Trayce Thompson’s time to shine. He hit three home runs, drove in a career-high eight runs, and led manager Dave Thomas to create a new rule.

“I developed a new three-homer rule,” Roberts told the Associated Press. “If you hit three homers, you’ll play the next day.”

Seems fair enough. Thompson hit a grand slam in his first at-bat of the season. He didn’t play in the first two games for the Dodgers. But made the most of his start on Saturday.

He hit a three-run home run and a solo home run before the game was over.

He joined Mookie Betts, Adrian Gonzalez, Shawn Green and Duke Snider as the only other Dodgers to hit three home runs in a regular season game.

Chris Taylor hit three home runs in Game 4 of the 2021 National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves. 

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw made his first start of the season, struck out nine in six innings, and gave up four hits and one run. 

Roberts was true to his word and started Thompson in right field on Sunday. But he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a 2-1 loss. Thompson saw his batting average drop from .750 to .375.

Still, Saturday’s game was one of the most impressive performances by a Dodgers hitter in recent memory. 

Betts had a three home-run game in 2020 against the San Diego Padres and became the third player in MLB history to hit three homers in a game six times. No player has hit three homers in a game seven times. 

Johnny Mize and Sammy Sosa are the other two players who have hit three home runs in a game six times.

Former Dodger Albert Pujols hit three home runs in a game four times. He did it a fifth time for the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series in 2011 against the Texas Rangers.

Another Dodger is off to a hot start. Catcher Will Smith is batting .435 in three games and has five RBIs. He hit his first home run of the season in Sunday’s game against the Diamondbacks. It accounted for the only run the Dodgers scored in that game.

There is a four-way tie for first place in the National League West standings after the first four games of the season. The Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Rockies and Padres all have 2-2 records. The Giants are in last place with a 1-2 record.

Dodgers starting pitcher power rankings:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Julio Urias
3. Dustin May
4. Noah Syndergaard

The Dodgers (2-2) start a little two-game series against the Colorado Rockies (2-2) at Dodger Stadium on Monday. Rookie Michael Grove will start for the Dodgers. They finish with a four-game weekend series against the Diamondbacks in Arizona.