The Dodgers Head North Looking to Find Their Groove Offensively

Game One: Kenta Maeda (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Vs. Derek Holland (0-1, 5.40 ERA)

Game one of the series may not get played until Saturday if mother nature has anything to do with it.  Whatever day it is played, Kenta Maeda will get the ball facing the Giants for the second straight start.  Maeda was very sharp in his first start as he struck out 10 hitters in only five innings.  While more innings would be nice, the Dodgers have to be happy with the way Maeda attacked the Giant’s hitters in his first start.  Pitching out of the bullpen seems to have made Kenta a much more aggressive pitcher in attacking batters

Derek Holland wasn’t horrible for the Giants in his first start as he allowed three runs in five innings.  With the lefty Holland on the mound, the Dodgers will most likely start Kiké Hernandez at second base again with Logan Forsythe at third base.  Forsythe is currently hitting below .100 so a left-hander on the mound may be just what he needs since he hit much better off southpaws last season.  Kiké has yet to homer but Holland seems like the perfect matchup for him to get his first home run of the season.

Rich Hill (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Vs. Chris Stratton (0-1, 5.06 ERA)

Rich Hill had his best curveball working in his first start against the Giants as he struck out five hitters in six innings last Sunday.  Despite being a left-handed pitcher, the Giants lefties Brandon Crawford (.455) and Brandon Belt (.500) have had success hitting against Rich Hill.  He will look to minimize their impact and once again roll to another win.  Hill had a 4.06 ERA on the road last season compared to a 2.77 ERA at home so he will look to have more success on the road this season.

Chris Stratton will make his second start of the season with another start coming against the Dodgers.  In his first start, Stratton allowed three earned runs and a home run to Yasmani Grandal.  Stratton has not made many starts against the Dodgers so hopefully facing him for the second time in a week will lead to some success for the slumping Dodger offense.  Stratton is the kind of pitcher that Cody Bellinger will do damage against so look for Bellinger to have a big game Saturday afternoon.

Clayton Kershaw (0-2, 2.25 ERA) Vs. Ty Blach (1-1, 5.79 ERA)

It’s been a bizarre first week for the Dodgers and making it even weirder is the fact that Clayton Kershaw is 0-2.  It’s not like Clayton is pitching bad, he has only given up three runs in two starts.  The offense has let Kershaw down in both of his starts.  There is really nothing Kershaw can except continuing to put up quality starts and hope the offense picks him up.  Buster Posey is the Giant who has had the most success against Kershaw as he has hit three home runs against him.

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Ty Blach did his best Madison Bumgarner impersonation as he shut the Dodgers down on opening day.  He did not allow a single run and allowed just three hits in five innings.  His changeup kept the Dodgers off balance so they will need to sit back and hammer anything left over the plate.  The Mariners did just that on Tuesday as they clobbered Blach for ten hits and six runs in just over four innings.  Chris Taylor is the only Dodger hitter who has homered off Blach before so he will look to do damage from the leadoff spot.

Cody Bellinger is another Dodger who has had success against Blach hitting .300 against him in limited plate appearances.  This is yet another game where Logan Forsythe will have a chance to get back on track and back to his lefty-mashing ways.  Blach is a very good offspeed pitcher, but he doesn’t throw hard so the Dodgers should be able to scratch some runs across the plate in their second matchup.  Kiké, Forsythe, and Kemp will look to carry the offense against multiple southpaws this weekend with Justin Turner still on the mend.

Next: Three Dodgers prospects to keep an eye on

Although win-loss records are not very important when it comes to judging a starting pitcher, it would still be very odd if Kershaw started the season 0-3.  Kershaw has owned the Giants in his career holding them to a .195 average and 314 strikeouts in 42 games.  This would make it a bizarre season if the Giants beat him twice in a week.  Early on this season, Kershaw has made it a focal point to attack the outside part of the strike zone.  While it seems to be working, Kershaw allowed two home runs last start.  He will look to fix his home run problem and get in the win column for the first time in 2018.