Dodgers Look To Give Giants Taste Of Their Own Medicine

Dodgers Lineup vs. Giants

M.Ellis 4 Puig 9 Gonzalez 3 Hanley 6 Ethier 8 A.J. Ellis 2 Uribe 5 Schumaker 7 Kershaw 1

Tim Lincecum-4-7 vs. Clayton Kershaw-5-5

Open up and say ahhh San Francisco! Now take your medicine! Tastes good doesn’t it?

Have our very own Boys in Blue gotten dare I say it, en fuego? It’s hard to believe, but our very own last place Dodgers have won four games in a row, which is a season high for them. Tonight they look to complete a tasty sweep over their hated rival San Francisco Giants.

The Dodgers are looking to give the Giants a taste of their own medicine. Because a spoonful of revenge against our rivals helps us keep the medicine down. The Dodgers had lost five of the previous six games to the Giants before entering this series. The Dodgers can welcome the Giants into the under .500 club. We’ve been a not so proud member of that club for a long time now, and the Giants can now join that dubious club. With the loss last night San Francisco dipped below the .500 waters with a 38-39 record. The Giants sit in fourth place 3.5 games behind the Snakes. Meanwhile the Dodgers are now 34-42 with their little win streak. The club is now seven games behind, but still in last place.

Can we please get Kershaw a win here? yeesh!-Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Of course I won’t say much more about the latest Brandon league fiasco last night, that nearly flushed a reliable outing from Stephen Fife right down the toilet. We all know that Don Mattingly should know better at this point. I don’t know what’s wrong with League, and I don’t care. But he can never ever be allowed to pitch in the ninth inning or a high leverage situation, or any lead less than ten runs ever again.

Tonight’s game three match-up features a battle of aces. Tim Lincecum will draw Clayton Kershaw, in their seventh meeting. The two pitchers haven’t faced each other since 2011, if you can believe that.

For Lincecum his struggles over the last two seasons have been well documented, but apparently he has been starting to turn the corner and pitch more consistently of late. He has three quality starts in his last four. Including a seven inning outing last week against the Marlins in which he whiffed eight to earn a victory. Lincecum has faced the Dodgers once this season, and he beat them. That was way back in the first week of April, when he pitched five frames and allowing two runs in a San Francisco win. Lincecum is 8-5 with a 2.69 ERA against the Dodgers, and 4-4 with a 3.28 ERA in 11 games at Dodger Stadium.

Lincecum’s main issue has been his control. The walks have killed him. He has walked 40 in 89 innings, and recorded a 4.0 walk per nine rate. He has whiffed 89, and has a 4-7 record, and a 4.52 ERA this season. Lincecum still has trouble in the first innings. He has allowed an .838 OPS, and posted aan ERA of 6.00 in the first innings of his starts, so be on the lookout for that. Here’s how the Dodgers have fared against Lincecum in the past, and it’s not a good track record.

RBI

OBP

SLG

OPS

Andre Ethier

.261

.333

.457

.790

Matt Kemp

.205

.294

.227

.521

Adrian Gonzalez

.182

.250

.182

.432

Skip Schumaker

.280

.333

.440

.773

A.J. Ellis

.182

.500

.273

.773

Mark Ellis

.333

.444

.400

.844

Juan Uribe

.200

.333

.267

.600

Clayton Kershaw

.000

.100

.000

.100

Hanley Ramirez

.214

.500

.714

Luis Cruz

.000

Jerry Hairston

.500

.600

.500

1.100

Chris Capuano

.000

Zack Greinke

.000

Total

275

236

.216

.307

.305

.612

The Dodgers will counter with Clayton Kershaw. Poor Kersh. What is it going to take to get him a win? The poor guy hasn’t won since May 20. Kershaw’s last start was one of his worst of the season. He gave up four earned runs to the Padres in seven frames, losing 5-2. Of course Kershaw never gets any run support anymore. He’s turned into the new Hiroki Kuroda. Good thing Kershaw dominates the Giants.

Oh look, Lincecum cut his hair-Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Kershaw is 9-4 with a 1.28 ERA against the Giants in 19 games. He’s whiffed 139 and walked only 30 against the Giants. He has three shut-outs as well. Kershaw is 5-5 on the season and has a 2.06 ERA, with 111 whiffs. He’s held the Giants to a .158 (39 for 247) average against, with a .403 OPS against. Check it out below.

RBI

OBP

SLG

OPS

Buster Posey

.184

.225

.237

.462

Pablo Sandoval

.278

.308

.333

.641

Andres Torres

.074

.194

.074

.268

Brandon Belt

.111

.200

.148

.348

Hunter Pence

.069

.138

Marco Scutaro

.353

.471

.824

Joaquin Arias

.063

.118

.063

.180

Gregor Blanco

.200

.385

.200

.585

Brandon Crawford

.091

.182

Tim Lincecum

.000

Matt Cain

.111

.222

Tony Abreu

.333

.429

.500

.929

Barry Zito

.000

Madison Bumgarner

.200

.400

Hector Sanchez

1.000

2.000

3.000

I find it very funny how all of the Giant fans are starting to freak out now because the Giants are under .500. Pfffft, try being 12 games under and in last place Giant fans. Think you’re freaking out now Giant fans? Yeesh, those guys don’t know what losing is. Of course with Angel Pagan needing hamstring surgery,(sound familiar) the Giants are reeling and down in the dumps. So we need to strike now and finish the sweep. For us it’s just another under .500 day, business as usual. Join us San Francisco in the under .500 club! There is more than enough room for you.

Also keep in note, that Hanley Ramirez has an eight game hitting streak. During that streak he is batting .467 with four home runs and ten runs driven in.

The game will be at the usual time of 7:10 PM and televised on Prime Ticket. Join us over here as usual for our game recap, and typical heavy Dodger Blue bias. Now let’s sweep those bastards! Go Blue.

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