Game of the Week: June 6: LAD @ COL

[Commissioner Erick]

Los Angeles Dodgers (31-19) @ Colorado Rockies (24-26)


LAD: Victor Gonzalez (1-0, 2.19)
COL: Michael Fulmer (5-2, 3.46)


The Los Angeles Dodgers ended the Colorado Rockies NL West chances on the final day of the season in 2021, and in the final month of the season in 2022. With a good series here, they can end it in June. Colorado has gone 8-13 in their last 21 games, and can't make any ground on the Dodgers or for the Wild Card. With San Francisco playing frisky baseball to begin the year, the Dodgers would love to gain separation in the division as well as further diminishing their division rival.



Players to Watch:


Dodgers:


RF—Victor Reyes:

Reyes has made the rounds in his career, but aside from a promising 2018 season as a 23-year-old, and a strong 39 games with San Francisco last year, he's never put things together. The 39 games were enough for the Dodgers to claim Reyes off waivers and bat him fifth, but he has a .644 OPS on the year—and a .575 mark from the five-spot. The Dodgers don't really have a lot of flexibility in terms of internal outfield options, so Reyes keeps getting at bats for a team ranked 10th in runs despite having World Series plans. Reyes hits better against righties than lefties, so being the member of a platoon could serve him well. However, batting him fifth is a sign of the Dodgers' offensive vulnerability.


SP—Victor Gonzalez:

Gonzalez was pushed into the starting rotation when Clayton Kershaw was lost for the season, and Gonzalez has been great. He received 27 starts last year with 10 wins and a 3.26 ERA, plus a strong postseason start and a dominant outing for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. However, options combined with a number of starters coming off the IL left him the odd man out when the season started. Gonzalez was dominant for Oklahoma City, and has a 2.12 ERA in three starts with the big club. He didn't allow an earned run or a walk in a start against Colorado on May 20, and will look to shut them down again.


2B—Tetsuo Yamada:

Yamada has struggled in his stateside debut—except against the Rockies, of whom he's hit five of his eight home runs against. Despite being a star with the fans, he hasn't hit right-handed pitching, with just a .170 average against same-side pitchers. The defense has been terrific, and he has a modest six-game hitting streak going, so the hope is that he's merely adjusting to stateside arms. With Michael Fulmer on the mound, Yamada will find more tough sledding today.


Rockies:


SP—Michael Fulmer:

Colorado's ace will take the hill, looking to put the skids on a rough patch for the Rockies. Fulmer has been excellent again as one of the most consistent starters in baseball. He's produced at least 3.4 WAR every healthy season of his career, and has never fielded an ERA over 4. He's striking out the most batters of his career this year, already has 2.2 WAR, and his 3.46 ERA would be the best of his career, outside of an injury shortened 2018. Fulmer has faced the Dodgers three times this year, and is 1-2 with a 4.12 ERA. However, he hasn't allowed a home run and has three walks and 17 strikeouts in 19.2 innings. If those underlying metrics are real, the Dodgers won't put up the nine runs against Fulmer they have to far.


RP—Simon Castro:

Castro has been sub-replacement level every season of his career since 2017, except for a brief six-game stint with Milwaukee in 2020. He's been waived twice (once by Colorado), traded away, and needed a minor league contract to stay stateside this offseason. With Rony Garcia's ineffectiveness, Castro was called up to be a middle reliever and he had a good start to the year. He hasn't allowed a run in 2.1 innings, and has fanned two. However, he's walked three, a number which seems aberrational considering his past. If Castro can limit the home runs, he'll have a home with Colorado. Better against righties than lefties, Colorado would be wise to limit his appearances against the lefty-dominant Dodgers.


RF: Carlos Gonzalez:

Gonzalez, likely in his final year as a starting player, has shown that at age 36, he still has the power. He's carrying a career-best .295 isolated slugging mark, and has 10 home runs. He's been useless against lefties though, and his on-base percentage against righties is just .288. CarGo won't start against his name sake, but with the Dodgers fielding a very right-handed bench, expect Gonzalez to get a pinch hitting opportunity late in the game, where he can be called upon to hit a home runs.


TRIVIA: Which NL West opponent do the Dodgers have the best All-Time record against.

[Commissioner Erick]

Rockies 6 - Dodgers 4


WP: M. Fulmer (6-2)
LP: W. Harris (2-1)
SV: G. Holland (11)


After a great start by Victor Gonzalez, a rare display of patience by Colorado saved them. First in the seventh, Josh Ockimey drew a bases-loaded walk to cut a 4-1 deficit to 4-2. Then, after three straight hits to begin the eighth, Will Harris walked back-to-back batters to tie the game. A balk by David Robertson brought in the go-ahead run, followed by another walk and a hit-by-pitch to give Colorado an insurance run. Greg Holland got a key double play to secure his 11th save.


How They Performed:


Dodgers:


RF—Victor Reyes: 4-4, 2 R

It was said that Reyes was better against righties than lefties, but he proved to be better against Michael Fulmer than anybody else. Reyes cracked four hits in four at bats in an impressive display. He ground a single the other way in the second, later coming around to score the first run of the game. He lashed a single the other way in the fourth, helping to set up the Dodgers's second run. Later in the inning he stole third base and came home on a Keibert Ruiz sacrifice fly with the Dodgers' third run. He smashed a grounder up the middle in the sixth, helping fuel the Dodgers' fourth run. Finally in the eighth, he hit a grounder up the middle that Trevor Story made a nice play on, but couldn't throw Ruiz out at first. Considering the quality of the pitcher, it was an impressive display by Reyes. Defensively he had an uneventful day, with a couple of balls in his area he couldn't grab, plus an easy catch on a fly ball by Tom Murphy. He couldn't throw out Trevor Story at the plate, but Story has good speed.

Reyes had a big hit in the Dodgers' win on Wednesday coming up with a big two-out eighth inning single off Jonathan Holder, right before Willie Calhoun's game-tying home run. Reyes didn't have a wonderful series against the Cardinals, but he drove in three runs in a 4-0 victory on Saturday. He also struck out only four times, putting pressure on Colorado and St. Louis' defenses.


SP—Victor Gonzalez: 7 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Gonzalez had another sterling game, and would have been a winner if not for Will Harris' meltdown. He worked 7 innings, and though he gave up a run in the seventh, struck out Charlie Blackmon with the bases loaded to preserve a 4-2 lead and give the Dodgers confidence heading into the late innings with their dominant bullpen. The Rockies feature a number of lefties, and Gonzalez handled them with ease, forcing Colorado's left-handers into a collective 1-14 nightmare. The win highlighted Gonzalez' ability to dominate lefties and miss the fat part of bats.

Gonzalez' second start was even better. Though he allowed more base runners against the Cardinals, he struck out eight and didn't allow a run over 6 innings. Gonzalez now hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in a game, and now has a 1.80 ERA on the season. Even if he's pitching over his head, he's not going back to the minor leagues this season.


2B—Tetsuo Yamada: 0-4

Yamada continued to struggle on the offensive end, going 0-4, with a pair of fly outs, a ground out, and a pop out, all against Michael Fulmer. Yamada continued to struggle with right-handed arms, and his average dropped to .184. He snagged a soft liner, and made a nice turn to double up Raimel Tapia, but he couldn't make a play on a soft infield hit way to his left off the bat of Trevor Story. It was a rough day for a player needing some confidence.

Yamada only hit .179 on the week, but one of his few hits was a go-ahead 10th inning home run that won a game in Coors. Yamada now has nine home runs on the year, with six coming against Colorado. Troy Allenbagh may want to platoon Yamada against most teams—but he needs to be in the lineup when the Dodgers face the Rockies.


Rockies:

SP—Michael Fulmer: 8IP, 4 R, 9 H, 1 BB, 4 K

Fulmer had a weird game against the Dodgers, getting the top of the Dodgers lineup to go 0-12, while allowing four hits to Victor Reyes and four RBI's combined to Edwin Rios, Keibert Ruiz, and Willie Calhoun. Ultimately, Fulmer's ability to stay in after a rough start and give Colorado length helped rest a beleaguered bullpen. Handling Nomar Mazara was also key as it kept the Dodgers from putting up a big inning and gave the team time to come back.

Fulmer's next start was his third in four games where he gave up exactly four runs, this time in 7 innings. With Colorado's offense struggling, the decent game wasn't enough to secure a win. He walked only one and struck out eight, but two rare home runs were his undoing. Fulmer's worked better on the road this year, but the fear is that Colorado's offense will join him in producing away from Coors.


RP—Simon Castro: DNP

With Fulmer going 8 innings, Castro was given the night off after working back-to-back games.

Castro worked just a pair of games during the week, but was effective in each. He came in on Wednesday with a man on second and one out after Greg Holland allowed the Dodgers to take an extra inning lead. He prevented further damage by getting Victor Reyes to ground out, then struck out Willie Calhoun to end the inning. On Saturday, he came in with the Rockies down one and retired two Marlins righties on weak fly outs to end the eighth. He stayed on in the ninth and faced four batters, three lefties. Bruce Maxwell had a single, but Castro retired the other three batters without a hiccup to continue to gain Erick Blasco's trust.


RF: Carlos Gonzalez: DNP

With a lefty on the mound, Gonzalez didn't start. He had an opportunity to pinch hit in the eighth with the bases loaded, but Coach Blasco's manager bot kept Mitch Haniger in with the bases full and Haniger drew a walk off David Robertson.

Gonzalez struggled when he did play, only going 2-13 with four strikeouts and no extra base hits. Archie Bradley and Corey Kluber were two of the starters Gonzalez faced, and each has the kind of stuff and movement that can neutralize CarGo's free-swinging power. Gonzalez' inability to damage off them shows off how he's more of a bit player at this stage of his career.


TRIVIA: Michael Fulmer and Greg Holland are first and fourth in all-time Rockies strikeouts. Who are second and third?

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 1: At the time, the Dodgers had the best record against the Giants

TRIVIA 2: Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson