Game of the Week: July 16: SF @ LAD

[Commissioner Erick]

San Francisco Giants (54-41) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (52-44)


SF: Shane Baz (7-6, 4.61)
LAD: Steven Matz (3-7, 3.83)


The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are expectedly battling each other for the National League West crown. What they didn’t expect is for neither to be in first place in one of the strongest National Leagues on record.

The two teams will look to race out of the All Star break and do damage to a bitter rival when they begin the second half facing each other for the Game of the Week.

Despite a similar roster to last season, the Dodgers offense has not performed nearly as well as last year’s NL-leading offense. An injury to Alex Verdugo hasn’t helped. The slugger blasted 40 home runs, 40 doubles, and hit .310 last year. However, a separated shoulder has limited Verdugo to 67 games so far and limited his production. He has a .270 average, 17 doubles, and nine home runs, numbers that are good, but aren’t All-Star worthy. That drop off has had a huge impact on the Dodgers offense.

He’s also been a distraction off the field thanks to his wife who dissed the city of Los Angeles as a place without good shops. Sports radio has expectedly jumped on Mrs. Verdugo, while members of the broader media landscape have criticized her for having absurd shopping standards. To his credit, Alex hasn’t let her distract him from performing on the field. He’s hitting .320 with four homers and five doubles in July—with most of the damage coming in LA. Verdugo has been extremely popular locally, and his nice play will prevent his wife from undoing much of that.

The Giants are 4-5 against the Dodgers this year, and will be on the road for this contest. San Francisco had lost three consecutive series, plus a split against Oakland, before a 7-0 Sunday win against the Padres gave them a series win for the first time this month.

They’ll throw Shane Baz against the Dodgers, which would have given them confidence in 2024. However, Baz has not been the same Shane Baz as last year. He started against Los Angeles once this year and got rocked for seven runs in 2.1 innings back in early April. Baz has only pitched two road games against teams with winning records, allowing 14 runs in 3.1 innings in Coors Field this year. Despite an easy road schedule, he has a 6.18 ERA mark away from AT&T Park. The Giants need Baz to return to a Cy Young level to achieve their goals of a championship and that will require him coming up big against a good team on the road.


Questions for the GMs:


For Dave Twibell, why has Baz struggled so much this year compared to last?

Will we see Jonathan Arrauz today?

You’ve recently pushed from Wenceel Perez to Yomar Valentin at Shortstop. How has that move worked for you?

For Ben Vincent, how confident are you going into today’s contest facing Shane Baz?

Luis Urias continues to struggle defensively, and this year, he’s not hitting enough to make up for it. Will you look to make an upgrade in the second half?

How has Sponge Bob looked to you in his first 26 games? Spong has a 2.60 ERA thus far.


TRIVIA: Among pitchers with at least 30 career WBC innings, who has the best ERA among Venezuelan pitchers.

[Ben_Dodgers]

We’ve fared pretty well against Baz this year, and in the playoffs last year. He’s a great pitcher, but I think we have a pretty good shot against him.

I’ve been disappointed with Urias for sure. Last year he won the platinum stick, so the bar was pretty high, but he’s scuffled this year. I’m definitely looking to make a move, but I recognize his contract is more than many teams can afford.

Sponge Bob, on the other hand, has really impressed this year. Prior to a meltdown last week his ERA was under 2.00. Our bullpen hasn’t been as solid as last year so his steady performance has really helped. I expect quite a bit of turnover in the bullpen this offseason, so I’m glad we’ll have his service for years to come.

[sfdave]

why has Baz struggled so much this year compared to last?  Through the lens of voodoo advanced stats, he's roughly the same guy as last year.  He's got a 2.65 FIP (vs. 2.36 last year), 60 FIP- (vs. 55), and a better K/BB rate, 4.7 vs. 4.4.  None of that changes the fact he keeps getting shelled, but it makes me feel better and gives his agent some ammo to beat me up with during the offseason.  The biggest difference is BABIP, he gave up a silly-low .232 last year, and this year its a silly-high .347.  Assuming that goes back to a more reasonable level - maybe starting this week against the Dodgers <shrug> - Baz should be solid the rest of the way.


Will we see Jonathan Arrauz today?  At 2B, finally.  I debated sending him on a rehab assignment - and may regret not doing it - but we really need his bat in the lineup and I'm getting tired of constantly losing games.  Hopefully he'll be ready to go.


You’ve recently pushed from Wenceel Perez to Yomar Valentin at Shortstop. How has that move worked for you?  Not all that well.  Neither can hit, so it's more just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but Valentin has better range and although they're both switch hitters, Valentin does much better (in theory) against RH pitchers, which is what everyone in our division has at the tops of their rotations, except of course the Dodgers who can't just follow the rules and insist on starting LH guys instead for some reason.  The good news with Valentin is that in just 32 games he's put up a ZR of 2.5.  Over the course of a full season, that would be around 13, which is really solid and better than what Lindor put up last season when he won the NL Gold Glove at SS.  So even if he can't hit, at least he's saving us some runs.  

[Commissioner Erick]

Giants 6 - Dodgers 3


WP: S. Baz (8-6)
LP: S. Matz (3-8)
SV: C. Gemma (4)


Behind a solid performance from first baseman Kelyn Klattenburger, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3. Klattenburger was 2-3 with 2 home runs and a walk. He drove in 3 runs and scored twice for the Giants. San Francisco raised its record to 55-41 with the win.

Bryan Martelo, the 28-year old right fielder , had a direct impact on the outcome. Martelo contributed a 2-run home run in the top of the first inning to put San Francisco up, 2-0.

"I felt good up there," said Martelo. "I saw the ball well."


Questions for the GMs:


For Dave Twibell, Bryan Martelo had been really struggling this year, but he had a huge game with two home runs, doubling his season total. Why did you bat him cleanup despite such a poor output coming into yesterday?

How do you feel Baz looked in his start?

Defensively, there were five balls hit to Shortstop that Yomar Valentin had a chance to make a play on. He converted four into outs, only letting a 110-mph grounder through for a hit. Were you satisfied with his defense?

For Ben Vincent, Steven Matz fell to 3-8 after a rough performance. Is he a guy who inspires confidence in you right now?

You batted Amin Valdez first and dropped Alex Verdugo to seventh. How did that move work out in your eyes?

Keibert Ruiz went 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts. Are you getting enough out of your Catcher spot?


TRIVIA: Which First Baseman has the most single-season Home Runs in the PBA?

[sfdave]

Bryan Martelo had been really struggling this year, but he had a huge game with two home runs, doubling his season total. Why did you bat him cleanup despite such a poor output coming into yesterday?  Primarily because I'm stubborn.  We just don't line up well vs. LH pitchers and Martelo should be one of our better bats vs. lefties.  I can't figure him out and don't know what to do to get him to hit, but I'm just going keep trotting him out there at cleanup - the role he's getting paid to play for us - and hope we see some mean reversion the rest of the way.  


How do you feel Baz looked in his start? Overall I thought he was pretty solid.  I'd like to see him be more pitch efficient and get deeper into games, but I can't really complain about his start.  His ERA is kinda cringey, but he's been solid in most other respects all year and I think he continued along that path in his last start.


Defensively, there were five balls hit to Shortstop that Yomar Valentin had a chance to make a play on. He converted four into outs, only letting a 110-mph grounder through for a hit. Were you satisfied with his defense?  I'm a Yomar fan.  I think his glove's really solid and I was happy with his performance vs. the Dodgers.  I've sort of come to the conclusion I'd rather have a good glove, lousy bat at SS than a mediocre bat/glove there.  Easy to say since I don't have any SS's with a mediocre bat, but I'm warming to guys who just play good defense and not much else.  

[Ben_Dodgers]

Matz has performed better than his record shows - he's gone 7 scoreless twice this year only for the team to lose 0-1. But he's also had several big meltdowns. The lack of consistency is definitely frustrating. He has the talent, though, and I expect him to improve.

I decided to put Valdez in the leadoff spot when I brought him back from the IL because he has the best OBP vs RHP, and he was raking in his rehab assignment. Verdugo has been struggling a bit. It may have backfired a bit today - Verdugo came up a couple times with the bases loaded and struck out. Maybe Valdez would have come through with a hit in one of those opportunities. But for the next few weeks at least, I hope having Valdez hitting leadoff will put a little more spark into the lineup.

Last year Austin Hedges had a phenomenal year. I was expecting some regression this year but he has really scuffled, enough that I've been giving Ruiz the majority of the starts. He was hitting well earlier in the season, but not so much lately. I'd love more production from the catcher spot, but that's not as big a priority as some of the other issues we need to address.

[Commissioner Erick]

Matt successfully guessed DeJesus

[Commissioner Erick]

Luke correctly guessed Anderson Espinoza