Game of the Week: June 28: SF @ LAD

[Commissioner Erick]

San Francisco Giants (47-30) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (42-36)


SF: Shamar Polite (5-3, 4.21)
LAD: Boyd Vander Kooi (8-2, 2.69)


Another year, another season where the NL West will likely come down to the Giants or the Dodgers. The teams have played twice this season with the Giants taking two of three at home, though needing extra innings to claim the series win, while the Dodgers swept the four contests in Dodger Stadium in blowout fashion.

Los Angeles will send Boyd Vander Kooi to the mound, and the journeyman has been utterly sensational. Vander Kooi has matched a career high with eight wins, he’s allowed just three homers in 87 innings, and he’s working a dominant 2.69 ERA. Only Eric Pena and Adrian Morejon have better NL ERA’s than Vander Kooi.

Vander Kooi will square off against a lineup that leads the NL in batting. San Francisco is 10th in homers, but they’re getting runs home because their top two hitters are always banging out hits. While David Kouns isn’t on pace for quite as absurd a triples run as he had last year, he’s hitting .332, 10points higher than last year. Kouns has established himself as a an elite average hitter. He’s followed in the lineup by Andrew Benintend, who is having one of the best age 37 seasons in history. The outfielder only has four homers as shoulder woes have sapped his playing time, but he’s batting .321 with 10 doubles in 39 games, as the Hall of Famer is showing he’s still an elite hitter.

How Vander Kooi deals with the duo is a major key to who will win.


Questions for the GMs:


For Vic Black, Aaron Allen is due to come off rehab this week. Will he be activated?

Jorge Cotto is eligible to come off the IL and pitch for the first time this year. Will he be assigned a rehab stint first?

Your club is a little light on power compared to past versions, but big on average. Is that by design?

For Ben Vincent, Jeter Downs has been dreadful the past few months. How safe is his roster spot when Rattlesnake gets healthy, considering your abundant infield options?

Joe Williamson was just called up a couple of weeks ago, but hasn’t had great results his first few games as a pro. What do you see in the rookie?

Your late inning relievers are as strong as ever, but for the first time in awhile, the Dodgers have a soft underbelly in their pen. Will you aggressively look to upgrade your pen?


TRIVIA 1: The Dodgers and Giants have met for the Game of the Week 21 times in history before today. One of the games was rained out. Which three pitchers are tied for the most wins in Giants-Dodgers Games of the Week?

TRIVIA 2: Who has the most career hits among players who have exclusively played in the American League?

[Ben_Dodgers]

Weaver will actually be getting the start today.

Jeter Downs has been dreadful the past few months. How safe is his roster spot when Rattlesnake gets healthy, considering your abundant infield options?

I signed him to be a a bench player since he can play all the infield spots. He’s done all right as a fielder while Drouet has been out, but hasn’t hit at all. He’ll likely be back on the bench when Drouet returns, but a trade is possible. Ademan is also going to start platooning with Downs immediately.

Joe Williamson was just called up a couple of weeks ago, but hasn’t had great results his first few games as a pro. What do you see in the rookie?

He has a major league glove but his bat hasn’t caught up yet. There’s still time for that to develop. Now that we’ve picked up Ademan, Williamson is headed back to AAA.

Your late inning relievers are as strong as ever, but for the first time in awhile, the Dodgers have a soft underbelly in their pen. Will you aggressively look to upgrade your pen?

Yeah, I’m pretty disappointed in some of the guys this year. We recently picked up Cole Ragans and he’s shown good stuff in a couple appearances. I’ll continue to look to make improvements but so far haven’t seen many players available that would both be upgrades and have reasonable contracts.

[Commissioner Erick]

Giants 6 - Dodgers 2


WP: S. Polite (6-3)
LP: J. Weaver: (0-2)


San Francisco picked up a win at Dodger Stadium, bumping off the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2. Pitcher Shamar Polite was a major reason the Giants emerged victorious. The Giants lead the National League West Division by 6 games.

San Francisco relied on the hitting of Mario Vazquez to pick up the win. The designated hitter clubbed a 2-run home run in the top of the first inning to put the Giants on top, 2-0. For the game, Vazquez had 1 home run and 1 single in 4 at-bats.

"I thought we played a nice game," Vazquez told the San Francisco Today. "Good pitching, timely hitting, it was all there."


Questions for the GMs:


For Vic Black, this has been only Shamir Polite's second season as a starter, spending most of his career as a reliever so far. did you expect he'd be such a strong arm in the rotation?

Your defense has struggled this year. How did you limit the Dodgers to just five hits?

Mike McGinn had a double, a sacrifice fly, and scored a run. Not a big name, are you happy with what he's provided you this year?

For Ben Vincent, Josh Weaver got hit hard for you today. Do you feel he may have needed a longer rehab assignment to shake the rust off?

Four starters in your lineup were left handed against the lefty Polite. Do you feel your lineup needs more right-handed-hitters to get the platoon advantage more often?

Patrick Leonard has been such a stalwart for you, but he's having a tough year and is now 39. Is it looking like this will be his last year in LA?


TRIVIA 3: What player has hit 40 homers and 40 doubles in a season most often?

TRIVIA 4: Who is the most recent player to hit at least 40 doubles and 40 homers in a season?

[Ben_Dodgers]

Josh Weaver got hit hard for you today. Do you feel he may have needed a longer rehab assignment to shake the rust off?

Perhaps, but it's not like we had a better option anywhere in the organization. If we're going to salvage a playoff spot this season, it'll take a strong contribution from Weaver the rest of the way.

Four starters in your lineup were left handed against the lefty Polite. Do you feel your lineup needs more right-handed-hitters to get the platoon advantage more often?

No. Going into the game we were 18-9 vs LHP. Mazara is hitting .326 with a .953 OPS vs LHP. Choo is an all-star. Ademan was only in the lineup to give Allen a rest. We're playing fine against lefties.

Patrick Leonard has been such a stalwart for you, but he's having a tough year and is now 39. Is it looking like this will be his last year in LA?

It is certainly looking like that, yes.

[vicblack22]

For Vic Black, this has been only Shamir Polite's second season as a starter, spending most of his career as a reliever so far. did you expect he'd be such a strong arm in the rotation?

Yes, we expected Shamar to have a decent season as a starter.  He has all the tools to be a starting pitcher, but we have always had pretty good pitching in front of him.   He never really got the opportunity until now and he is taking advantage of it. 


Your defense has struggled this year. How did you limit the Dodgers to just five hits?
Pitching.  Pitching. Pitching.  We have gotten pretty good pitching from our guys this year.  May not be "big" names, but they are pitching great and giving the team a chance to win games.  


Mike McGinn had a double, a sacrifice fly, and scored a run. Not a big name, are you happy with what he's provided you this year?
I'm very happy with the year Mike's having.  He's holding his on playing for a contender and having the best year of his career.  He's playing decent defense and that always helps.

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 2: Daniel correctly guessed Francisco Mejia

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 3: Zigmo correctly guessed Nolan Arenado

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIa 4: Nobody guessed Allen Whitmore