Game Preview: Dodgers at Giants, Take Two
After rain spoiled the chance to play up in the bay last night, the Dodgers and Giants are now set to square off this afternoon.
Dave Roberts made some tweeks for the rotation, bringing a new look to the series:
- Kenta Maeda will be bumped from his scheduled start on Friday night
- Rich Hill will start today
- Clayton Kershaw will start on regular rest on Sunday
- Alex Wood and Maeda are expected to start against Oakland at Dodger Stadium
Today’s match up
The Giants made changes of their own and will skip Friday’s scheduled starter Derek Holland in favor of Chris Stratton.
As mentioned above, Rich Hill (1-0, 0.00 ERA) goes up against Chris Stratton (0-1, 5.06 ERA) in a rematch of game 4 this season. In that game, Cody Bellinger hit his first homerun of the year, en route to a 9-0 Dodgers victory.
Who to watch
For the Giants, Brandon Belt has seen Hill well, going 5-10 with a HR against him in the past.
For the Dodgers, Rich Hill historically has dominated the Giants with a 6-2 record and 2.23 ERA in 12 career starts.
Roster Notes
After a one-game cup of coffee, Zach Neal was designated for assignment and Josh Fields is expected to return from paternity leave for Saturday’s contest.
Dodgers Struggle at the Plate, and It Shows Early
The Dodgers keep saying it’s early. Everyone knows it can kill a season to lose a bunch. Being positive is fine to a certain extent. The way they are swinging at so many bad pitches is not something In saw last year except for the bad stretch. It’s not clear why Fonts is even allowed to pitch as his spring was absolutely horrible. Double A players were pounding him. From Baez to Kiki, Forsyth, Pederson and even Utley I mean come on man! That is not a threatening bunch to any pitcher. Too many holes in the lineup. It’s so clear.
The Dodgers seem to be playing as if these last two weeks were Spring Training and the season just stsrting.
Maybe they should have taken ST seriously?.