Dodgers News: Bellinger Sits, Taylor Starts in Game 3 Against Lefty Snell
Chris Taylor hasn’t played a big-league game since September 30, missing the last week of the regular season with a neck issue. After a cortisone injection, the neck healed up well enough for him to take part in baseball activities during the five-day break after the season, and he was deemed healthy enough for the NLDS roster.
He’ll get his first test on Friday, as L.A. manager Dave Roberts announced that he’ll be starting Game 3 with Padres lefty Blake Snell on the mound.
Dave Roberts said Chris Taylor will start in LF and Trayce Thompson will start in CF vs LHP #SnellZilla #NLDS #Dodgers #Padres
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) October 13, 2022
Cody Bellinger will sit against Snell, with Trayce Thompson in center field. Bellinger was definitely worse against lefties than righties this year (.583 OPS vs. lefties, .684 against righties), but his main characteristic on offense this season was being bad against pretty much everyone. Thompson was also much better against righties, but that was new this year, so it’s hard to know how real it is.
For their careers, Thompson is 1-for-5 with a double and a walk and two strikeouts against Snell, Bellinger is 1-for-9 with a walk and four strikeouts, and Taylor is 5-for-19 with a double and two homers but 10 strikeouts.
It seems like we might also see Miguel Vargas in the lineup for Game 3, possibly in place of Gavin Lux, who has never faced Snell. Whoever is in the lineup, the Dodgers will probably need contributions from the top of the order to get the job done.
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At least Hellinger will be benched.
Roberts is going to coach this team to the sidelines. He blew it in game 2 and he will blow it in game 3. And what’s with barnes,and others lack of discipline at the plate? Swinging at the 1st pitch, bailing Darvish out with 1st ball swinging. How many outs did they give the Padres by poor plate discipline. This team is done and it’s Roberts fault. All those wins this season and it will end in san Diego Saturday
Thank God. Now if they could only bench Roberts
Dave Roberts makes some questionable decisions sometimes. Like starring Trayce Thompson instead of Chris Taylor. Yeah, Taylor had the neck issue & wasnt hitting real well, but Thomoson has zero playoff experience and CT always manages to show up big in the post season. Anyone remember last season’s Wild Card g a me agsinst the Cards? I could go on & on.
How many times did Thompson strike out in games 1 & 2? At least as many as Betts did.
I understand the logic against letting Bellinger hit against lefties, but again its an experience thing. Cody manages to show up in the post season. Plus, benching him means you lose that gold glove in Center. I like Trayce. But I’ll take CT & Belli’s experience any day of the week. They’re going tobneed it tomorrow night in traditionally Dodger-Hating Petco.
Roberts haz made one smart decision this series…leaving Kimbrelsa off the NLDS roster. I wouldn’t trust Kimbrel as far as I can throw him.
Why is he using all these pitchers that aren’t experienced!!!! Why not leave the best pitchers on longer!!! He is causing them to lose, what is he doing!!!
He’s been doing this all season. Roberts is going to blow it, AGAIN.
I agree ,,,,been a Dodger fan longer then most of you are old ,, our loss record would have been less if it wasn’t for the decisions he made,,,,and continue to make,,,,the players won’t lose it ,,,, Roberts will ,if we lose,,,he should be gone,,,,like. I said the last 3 years ,,,, he’s out coached always
Playoffs is more than match ups, yes make sure you strategize to put the best line up on the field, however it’s also up the the managers to mentally prepare the team to stay focused and bring intensity. Nobody is saying anything about Trey Turner’s lack of focus at SS. The Dodgers are not going to be able to walk through the Padres. They are super talented and play with a chip on their shoulder. Dodgers should be passed that they dropped a game at home. We just need Betts to get on base, yeah would love his power, but we need him to use his base running to put stress on the defense. They need traffic tomorrow night and to execute. How bout some small ball too? They left 10 runners on base in game 2 and no hits with runners in scoring position.