Dodgers Return Home To Gain Ground Against Hated Rivals

Dodgers Lineup vs. Giants

Madison Bumgarner-7-4 vs. Hyun-jin Ryu-6-2

The Dodgers return home after a very tiring road-trip. The Dodgers only won four of the nine games, and come home with a 32-42 record, to begin a seven game home stand with San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

So the Dodgers will be trying to do something tonight that they have only done once this season, and that’s win three in a row. The Dodgers have been unable to string together wins this year, and now have the perfect opportunity to gain some ground.

The evil injury plagued Giants come into town for a three game series, but they are ailing. The Giants have injuries to Pablo Sandoval, Angel Pagan, and Marco Scutaro. See, all teams have injuries. Sandoval, and Pagan are on the disabled list, so we won’t have to deal with them. Although, Sandoval is dude back any day now. The Giants come into tonight with a 38-37 record, and tied for second place, three games behind Arizona in the NL West. The Dodgers are 8.5 games back.

Ryu looks for his seventh win tonight-Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight, the Dodgers will have to face left hander Madison Bumgarner. The Giants have had tons of problems with their starting rotation because of injuries, but Bumgarner has been one of the more consistent members of the San Francisco staff. Bumgarner comes in with a 7-4 record, and a 3.25 ERA. He has 97 whiffs and 29 walks in 97 innings pitched. The Dodgers last faced Bumgarner back on April 2, which was the second game of the season. He beat the Dodgers at the time with eight shut-out frames allowing just two hits and whiffing six. The Dodgers have been unable to figure Bumgarner out. He is 6-2 with a 2.53 ERA against the Dodgers in eight starts. Even worse news for the Dodgers is that Bumgarner is 4-1 with a 1.53 ERA against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. As you can see from the table below, the Dodgers have done nothing against Bumgarner, posting just a .194 average against.

The Dodgers will counter with Hyun-jin Ryu. Ironically that game back on April 2, when Bumgarner shut-out the Dodgers, was the game that Ryu was pitching against Bumgarner. That was Ryu’s first game, and he lost. Ryu also faced the Giants in San Francisco back on May 5, and lost that game too. Ryu allowed four earned runs on eight hits in six frames in that start. How have the Giants fared collectively against Ryu? Check out the table below. The numbers are not pretty.

PA

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

OPS

SH

SF

IBB

HBP

GDP

missG

Brandon Crawford

6

6

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

.000

.000

.000

.000

0

0

0

0

0

Hunter Pence

6

6

4

2

0

0

4

0

1

.667

.667

1.000

1.667

0

0

0

0

0

Buster Posey

6

5

2

0

0

0

0

1

1

.400

.500

.400

.900

0

0

0

0

1

Pablo Sandoval

6

5

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

.200

.333

.200

.533

0

0

0

0

0

Marco Scutaro

6

6

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

.500

.500

.500

1.000

0

0

0

0

1

Andres Torres

6

6

3

0

0

0

0

0

1

.500

.500

.500

1.000

0

0

0

0

1

Joaquin Arias

3

3

2

0

0

0

1

0

0

.667

.667

.667

1.333

0

0

0

0

0

Matt Cain

3

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

.000

.000

.000

.000

0

0

0

0

0

Guillermo Quiroz

3

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

.000

.000

.000

.000

0

0

0

0

0

Madison Bumgarner

2

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

.500

.500

.500

1.000

0

0

0

0

0

Total

47

45

16

2

0

0

5

2

7

.356

.383

.400

.783

0

0

0

0

3

So have the Giants figured out Ryu? I don’t know, but they have beaten him twice this season already. Ryu has been having a great season otherwise. The Korean southpaw has posted a 6-3 record, with a 2.96 ERA, and 79 whiffs in 91 innings. Ryu’s last start produced him a loss in the first game of the double-header at Yankee Stadium. In that start he allowed three runs in six innings. The Dodgers eventually lost that game 6-3.

The Giants have only hit 50 home runs this season, which ranks them below the Dodgers, and only ahead of the Royals and Marlins for punchlessness. The Dodgers have hit 58 home runs. San Francisco is batting .273 as a team which ranks them third in all of Baseball. The Giants rank 18 in pitching staff ERA (4.08), and have committed 50 errors, placing them at the bottom of the league in team defense. This is a beatable San Francisco team this season. A big difference is how the two teams hit with runners in scoring position. The Giants are batting .266 with 12 home runs and 240 runs driven in. The Dodgers are hitting .234 with 8 home runs, and only 184 runs driven in. That’s nearly a 60 run differential with RISP. Big difference. The Giants also have a solid bullpen, and well you know about the Dodger bullpen.

Bumganer-Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Anyways, Matt Kemp, and Scott Van Slyke are both on rehab assignments, and both should be coming back soon, possibly within the week. The Dodgers are finally starting to get healthy. The time is now to make a run. It won’t be easy for the Boys in Blue who sport an 11-23 record against the NL West.

Tonight’s game is at the usual 7:10 PM start time, and is televised on KCAL 9. Join us over here after the game for our postgame recap of the entire game. Stacie will have the call. The Dodgers play 20 of their next 24 games within the division, which will lead them up to the all-star break. If the Dodgers are going to make a run, the time is now. Go Blue.