Dodgers: Three things to watch for in the Dodgers-Marlins series

The Dodgers and Will Smith are going to Miami to take on the Marlins for three games.  This is the start of a six-game road trip for LA.

Fresh off a series victory against the feisty Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers will head east to take on the Miami Marlins to kick off a six-game road trip.  This is a bit of a trap series for the Dodgers as they face off against the Atlanta Braves after the next three games.  The Braves are seen as the second-best team in the National League, so the Dodgers need to take care of the Marlins before they look ahead to the Braves.

The Dodgers and Marlins played not too long ago in Los Angeles from July 19th to the 21st.  Although the blue swept that series, it was not an easy sweep as they took the series opener 2-1 and the second game was 6-6 until the Dodgers broke it open in the eighth inning and scored four runs.  LA will send out their current 2-4 starters this series in Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Dustin May.

Here are three things to watch for against the Marlins.

Starlin Castro and Isan Diaz 

Starlin Castro has hit much better over the last few weeks.  Although his season slash line is .262/.288/.385, the former top prospect has been hot at the plate lately.  Over his last seven games, he has hit .500 with two home runs and a ridiculous .821 slugging percentage.  Even if you expand that out to the last 30 games, Starlin is slugging .534 with an average well above .300.  Castro is now playing third base and has begun to hit like a third baseman.

The reason Starlin Castro moved to third base is that the Marlins 5th ranked prospect was recently promoted and that is second baseman, Isan Diaz.  Like Castro, Diaz’s slash line doesn’t appear to be anything special and he is hitting .214 across 28 at-bats, but he has been hot the last three games going 5-13 at the plate.  Diaz is a slugging second baseman who hit 26 home runs for the Marlins triple-A affiliate this season.

These are the two sluggers the Dodgers’ pitching staff will need to watch out for.

Potential pitcher’s duel in the series finale

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If a pitching duel breaks out in any of the three games down in Miami, there is a good chance it will be the series finale.  The Dodgers will send Walker Buehler out against the Marlins and Miami will counter with southpaw Caleb Smith.  Smith was a big surprise in the first half as he pitched to a 3.50 ERA and held the opposition to a .201 average against.

Since the All-Star break, Caleb Smith has regressed a bit pitching to a 4.15 ERA in six starts although he has still held the opposition to a very respectable .233 average.  The big difference so far in the second half has been walks.  After Caleb walked just 21 batters in 13 starts in the first half, he already has 15 walks in just six starts in the second half.

Walker Buehler is trending in the opposite direction as he has been lights out since the All-Star break.  Buehler pitched seven shutout innings against the Marlins in July and in the second half, he has a 1.89 ERA in five starts.  This is great news after a subpar first half per his standards which included a rushed version of spring training.

Buehler’s best pitch this season has been his slider.  Walker Buehler’s slider has a wOBA of .218 and has clearly been his best pitch this season.  Last year the curveball was very effective but this season it has been the slider that is working well for the young Walker Buehler.  After throwing a couple of complete games this season, Buehler will look to notch another one in a very nice matchup.