Game of the Week: July 17: SF @ LAD

[Commissioner Erick]

San Francisco (54-41) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (56-40)


SF: Mehki Lias (7-3, 3.96)
LAD: Joey Wentz (8-6, 3.60)


458: San Francisco’s runs scored: Despite having the pitching and budget to go far, San Francisco’s offense has really struggled this year. Their offense is only eighth in the NL. Playing in AT&T Park is responsible for some of the dampened offense, but the Giants rank just fifth in average, an area they usually excel in. They’re actually fourth in home runs, but aren’t getting on base, stealing bases, or taking the extra base. It leaves them vulnerable to missing the playoffs.

3: Giants on the IL all season: San Francisco has been remarkably healthy. They don’t have a single injured player right now, and have had just three players miss time on the injured list all year. Trainer Rick Jameyson continues his stellar career as San Francisco Trainer, a post he’s held since back in 2017. This means San Francisco doesn’t have to worry too much about players missing time going forward, but it also means that they’re mired in a tight playoff race with good injury fortune and without reinforcements coming off the IL. Unlike the nicked up Dodgers though, San Francisco will be a full strength for the contest.

31: Home Runs for Juan Campos: Campos is the latest in a long line of young San Francisco superstars. He’s batting .306 with 72 RBIs at 25 years old. Campos has earned an All-Star nod, as the best player on a team full of stars in their prime.

173: Plate Appearances for Nelle Willemsen: Zipper Willemsen was a Top 25 Prospect, a two-time Minor League Platinum Stick winner, and has a career .937 PBA OPS. He also has a 1.010 OPS this season. Despite that, he rarely sees the field, with just 43 Games Played this year. He mostly platoons against left-handed pitching. He’ll likely see play today with the Dodgers starting a left-hander.

.164: Left-handers’ Slugging Percentage against Shamar Polite: Cupcakes has been good against righties too, but lefties haven’t touched him, hitting .163 lifetime with a .515 OPS. Expect him to deal with Calhoun, Kendall, and Valdez today.


Dodgers 5 Key Stats:


27 Million: Los Angeles’ estimated salary for 2029 taken on in trades last week: Federico Pando is expected to command at least $9 million in arbitration next year, and Thomas Szapucki will likely pick up an $18 million option. The Dodgers have won two of the last three titles and have made it to three of the last four World Series. They’re showing their down to add salary midseason to add to get back to the World Series.

0: Runs allowed by Wentz to San Francisco this year in Dodgers Stadium: Wentz pitched a gem on April 1, going 7 shutout innings, allowing just three hits. Wentz has generally been better on the road, but his home WHIP is 1.15 as he’s walked fewer hitters and had his defense play well behind him. He’ll have to watch out for homers, but with Jeren Kendall back, the Dodgers should be excellent on fly balls in play.

.722: Los Angeles’ OPS against lefties: The Dodgers have been a better team against righties, with a .781 OPS against right-handers. Acquiring Federico Pando may help with that. Pando has a 1.155 OPS against lefties this year with a .364 average and 11 homers in 118 at bats. Pando had six RBIs in five games with the Dodgers, putting him at an amazing 101 this year.

1.5: Luis Robert’s Zone Rating: Robert has mainly been a DH with the Dodgers, but Pando’s presence either puts Willie Calhoun to the bench or Robert to the outfield. The Dodgers have elected to keep Calhoun’s bat in the lineup, putting Robert in the field. He’s held his own though, which with Jeren Kendall and Jorge Ramos the other two LA outfielders, is all the Dodgers need from Robert.

.311: Willie Calhoun’s average against left-handers. Calhoun has had a nice bounce back year after a disastrous 2027. His power and run-production is back, even if he’s not getting on base at the level before. He’s clearly in the decline phase of his career, and this may be his last season with the Dodgers, but it’s been good for LA fans to see their star rebounding to being one of the best run-producers in baseball.



Questions for the GMs:


For Dave Twibell, your offense is only eighth in a brutal NL West and with a tough Wild Card battle ahead of you. Will you make a move ahead of the deadline to improve your team?

You have a negative Zone Rating this year, and Tripod has a full run of ERA higher than his FIP this year. Are you happy with your team’s defense this year?

You’re juggling a lot of good Right Fielders. Who will get the bulk of the at bats moving forward and why?

For Ben Vincent, you recently acquired Thomas Szapucki, but now he has a nagging hamstring injury that will linger for a month. Will you put him on the IL?

Speaking of Szapucki, why did you make the deal with Toronto to acquire the talent you did?

Have you been happy with your Shortstop platoon this season?


TRIVIA: Who has the most single-season RBIs in PBA history?

[Commissioner Erick]

Trivia 1: Daniel correctly guessed: Darrick Hall for most RBIs

[sfdave]

For Dave Twibell, your offense is only eighth in a brutal NL West and with a tough Wild Card battle ahead of you. Will you make a move ahead of the deadline to improve your team? I might. My biggest need is to upgrade CF. I moved Nunez up this week to take over there. We'll see how it works out, but if I have the chance to add a top-tier CF I'd probably take it.  My top hitting prospect is a CF, though, so long-term I'm set there if he develops ok.

You have a negative Zone Rating this year, and Tripod has a full run of ERA higher than his FIP this year. Are you happy with your team’s defense this year? Not happy, but almost all of the problems are at LF, CF, and my utility IF. Campos is in LF and has put up 3.3 WAR so far, so I can live with bad defense there. My utility IF issue should be fixed shortly. And we've swapped out Maldonado for Nunez which should help (although Maldonado should have been fine in CF this year, he's always fielded the position fairly well until now).

You’re juggling a lot of good Right Fielders. Who will get the bulk of the at bats moving forward and why? I'm platooning McWhir and Willemsen in RF and will probably keep doing it. McWhir is left-handed and has a better vR bat. He's having an okay season so far, but put up a 121 OPS+ last year, and a 147 OPS+ in AAA so he can hit. Willemsen gets some starts against RHP, and I may bump that up a little, but the platoon is on pace to put up about 5 WAR so it's working.  

[Ben_Dodgers]

For Ben Vincent, you recently acquired Thomas Szapucki, but now he has a nagging hamstring injury that will linger for a month. Will you put him on the IL?

The hamstring injury doesn't seem to affect his pitching, so Szapucki is going to play through it. It's a risk but we need to take some risks with how tight this race is.

Speaking of Szapucki, why did you make the deal with Toronto to acquire the talent you did?

Two reasons.  First, we really needed starting pitching.  With Cleveland out for the year and Rodriguez missing time, the starting rotation has been struggling.  Neither Murdock or Oviedo have really been getting it done. And short outings put a big strain on the bullpen.  Szapucki's a proven competitor who's still pitching well, even if he might be a bit overpriced.  Ortiz also helps bolster the rotation.  The second reason, of course, is that taking on Szapucki let me get Pando.  Pando is a huge bat to add to the middle of the lineup, a real difference maker for a team that's 10th in extra base hits.

Have you been happy with your Shortstop platoon this season?

  Mostly, yes.  They're on pace for a combined 4 WAR or so, and give me options at second and third without having to carry a glove-only bench player.  While neither player is having their best year, I haven't had to worry about the position all season.  But it feels pretty expensive for what I'm getting.  Had Valdez not taken the qualifying offer, I think my roster would have looked quite different this year.

.722: Los Angeles’ OPS against lefties

This is true, and quite odd.  Both Roberts and DeCarlo, our big righty bats, have struggled against lefties this year.  Meanwhile Calhoun has been significantly better against LHP than RHP.  Overall though we are also 20-9 vs LHP, so I'm not too concerned.

[Commissioner Erick]

Thoughtful answers, both!

[Commissioner Erick]

Giants 10 - Dodgers 6


WP: C. Davis (10-6)
LP: J. Wentz (8-7)

The 10-6 San Francisco win over Los Angeles was due in large part to Joe Taylor. The Giants third baseman was 3 for 4 with a home run, 2 singles, and a walk. He scored 2 times and drove in 2. San Francisco has now won 4 in a row.

San Francisco relied on the hitting of Kelyn Klattenburger to pick up the win. The designated hitter clubbed a 3-run home run in the top of the fifth inning to put the Giants on top, 7-3. For the game, Klattenburger had 1 home run and 1 single in 4 at-bats.

"The vibe's good," said San Francisco manager Dave Twibell. "We've got to keep it going."


Questions for the GMs:


For Dave Twibell, Gilberto Flores batted seventh and went 0-5. Does he need to bat lower in the order?

Rafael A. Gomez has been a stalwart in your pen. He struck out three in an inning today. Why has he struggled so much this year heading into the game?

Chris Davis pitched out of the pen and got the win. Why did you move him to the bullpen?

For Ben Vincent, Amin Valdez committed two errors. Will this affect his playing time in the short term?

Wentz pitched very well in his first start in LA against the Giants this year. What went wrong today?

Noah Murdock was really rough out of the pen. How long is he for the major leagues?


TRIVIA: Who has Jeren Kendall homered against the most times in his career?

[Ben_Dodgers]

Amin Valdez committed two errors. Will this affect his playing time in the short term?

No, I don’t want to overreact to one game. Errors happen, overall he’s still doing fine.

Wentz pitched very well in his first start in LA against the Giants this year. What went wrong today?

I think he was fine until the 5th, then he ran into trouble. I’m not sure if he was tipping his pitches or what, but everyone was making contact that inning. But the real problem was the defense. A 70mph bases loaded infield single really shouldn’t happen. And then an error immediately after…. I think we could have got out of that inning with only 1 run.

Noah Murdock was really rough out of the pen. How long is he for the major leagues?

He’ll be heading back to the minors as soon as Eduardo Rodriguez is ready to return.

[sfdave]

Gilberto Flores batted seventh and went 0-5. Does he need to bat? Unfortunately, he does. We petitioned the league to allow us to just record an automatic out when he comes up to avoid double plays, but no luck.

Rafael A. Gomez has been a stalwart in your pen. He struck out three in an inning today. Why has he struggled so much this year heading into the game? No idea, other than being really unlucky giving up some homeruns (his xFIP is 1.3 points lower than his FIP). As far as I can tell, nothing has changed with him. We've had problems with bullpen guys all season, and I can't really figure it out since I haven't made any changes from last year. I'm hopeful it's just a bad run of luck and we get some mean reversion over the rest of the season.

Chris Davis pitched out of the pen and got the win. Why did you move him to the bullpen? Johnson and Davis went to the pen to make room for Estevez and Orcutt. Couldn't keep either of them in AAA any longer.

[Commissioner Erick]

Jul 9, 2022 20:01:14 GMT -5 sfdave said:

Gilberto Flores batted seventh and went 0-5. Does he need to bat? Unfortunately, he does. We petitioned the league to allow us to just record an automatic out when he comes up to avoid double plays, but no luck.

Oops! Meant, does he need to bat even lower in the order!

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 2: Ben correctly guessed Michael Wacha.