The last time the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres met was on June 23, when the Padres had just finished a three-game sweep of the Dodgers at home. The following day, the Dodgers would get no-hit in a combined no-hitter by the Chicago Cubs.
Since that night in June, a lot has changed. The teams almost had identical records, the Dodgers were 44-30 while the Padres were 45=32. It was the first time the Padres swept the Dodgers since 2013.
Since that last meeting, the Dodgers are 34-17, while the Padres are 23-26. The Dodgers hold the second-best record in all of the Majors at 78-47 and are 2 ½ games back of the Giants in the NL West. While the Padres are 68-58 and have fallen out of a playoff spot, they trail the Cincinnati Reds by one game for the second wild card.
Between the Dodgers and Padres, there is a difference of 10 ½ games. Starting tonight, the teams will play nine games, six in San Diego and three at Chavez Ravine.
The Padres hope to turn on a different type of switch when they play the Dodgers. The fans get amped up as well as the whole team, in a type of playoff atmosphere. They’ve enjoyed success against the Blue Crew this year as San Diego is 7-3 against them this year.
Every time they’ve matched up it appeared to be sell-out crowds, in which the meetings felt like a playoff-type atmosphere. However, that was throughout the first half of the year. Now with a little over a month left in the season, the stakes are much higher.
The Dodgers are an N.L. West division race with the Giants, while the Padres are in a race to just secure a wild card spot.
In their last ten games, the Dodgers are 9-1. They just had their nine-game winning streak broken against the Mets on Sunday. The Padres in their last ten games are 2-8 and just dismissed their pitching coach Larry Rothschild yesterday.
It is important that the Dodgers take at least two out of three from San Diego in this series. If Los Angeles lingers around two games back from the Giants, they will be in a good position once they play their three-game series in early September in San Francisco.
Both the Dodgers and Padres have not announced a starter for Tuesday’s opener. For Wednesday’s game, the probable starter is Walker Buehler, who has the league’s lowest ERA at 2.11, against Blake Snell who’s struggled this year with a 4.82 ERA, but has had success against the Dodgers in the past.
Closing out the series for the Dodgers will be Max Scherzer, who will probably receive some sort of warm welcome in San Diego after the whole debacle at the trade deadline, in which all of the baseball world thought he was headed to San Diego to only be dealt to Los Angeles hours later.
The first pitch for Tuesday’s opener is scheduled at 7:10 p.m. Pacific.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Isn’t Urias available today?
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That’s the apparent plan but who knows at this point with the Dodgers injury luck
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True….A Line-up of Urias, Buehler, and Scherzer has a very good chance to at minimum take 2 out of 3 I would think. But ?
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Urias pitched 5. The offense did just enough to win, Pollock made an outstanding catch and drove in 2 big runs. Knebel finally gave up a couple of runs, and Treinen got out of a tough jam. And as usual, Kenley made the 9th inning way to stressful for fans. But they got the win and kept pace with the Giants who clobbered the hapless Mets. Reds now lead the Padres for the second wild card spot. Padres are 11.5 back of the Dodgers and 14 back of the Giants…Rivals? I do not think so.
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Treinen struggled through his outing. Watching his pitches have so much break to them they were dipping and sliding outside the strike zone. His pitches at 85-98 MPH looked like whiffle balls they had so much break. The only way you could hit one is to get lucky. I have seen a couple of other appearances by Treinen where he had the same struggles with so much movement he had trouble spotting them.
Incredible catch and game by Pollock. Very nice situational hitting by Pollock, Seager, and Turner. Smith has been heating up since the AS game. Bellinger looks helpless at the plate and I think it has affected his outlook. How could it not? Bellinger is not able to situational hit where he needs a ground ball or strategic fly ball he simply swings from the heels and hopes he hits it. Watching Pollock and Turner guide balls through the infield to score RISP is exactly what every professional team-oriented hitter should be attempting to do.
When Betts is back they will hopefully set Bellinger down and get him to understand that swinging from the heels every at-bat is not a good thing. I think he has incredible talent but he needs to change his approach. Nomar talked about that the other night how Pollock after going 0 for started just trying to make contact and began to hit again.
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T, the guy is getting coaching from 3 different hitting coaches. Don’t you think they talk to him about his approach at the plate every day? Yeah he looks helpless. But he is striking out less than he was. He had one really bad at bat last night, when he did strike out, but he just missed on two other occasions when he popped out. People seem to think the guy is not trying. But the fact is, his shoulder is still not at full strength. He broke his leg…and he had some hammy issues. But in all of his interviews he has been open and honest about what he is going through. And he still has only played in 67 games. He knows he is having problems getting back on track. But he has not lost confidence in his abilities. He gets frustrated when he does not do well. But he has not quit trying to get better. And the big thing here, His teammates and his manager believe in him. The only people who do not are the fans, who have no clue what is going on.
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I understand he has all sorts of coaching. But he doesn’t change his approach. Swinging from the heels with RISP and the game on the line does not help the team. I am sorry if he is injured right now but he is a liability when he comes up with RISP> The pennant is on the line. The Dodgers need to go with the guys that are not an easy out and will play TEAM BALL. Not simply swing and hope for the best. Watch Pollock guide a ground ball through to score a vital run. That is what a team in the hunt needs. And what it needs for a playoff run. Bellinger is a great defender but is now a liability at-bat.
Bellinger has just missed for the last couple of months. It is either pop-ups or strikeouts.
So once Betts is back who do you sit? Taylor? Pollock? Muncy? One of the Turners? At the very least they need to platoon him but I think they need to sit him down. He is or should be the odd man out…
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Won’t happen The outfield will be Betts, Pollock and Bellinger. Taylor will go back to doing what he has always done, given players a blow when Roberts wants to rest somebody. Taylor leads the team in strikeouts by a large margin,. And Cody is swinging exactly the same way he always has. Because of the injuries he just is not making as much contact. It is more about his timing than his swing. They value his defense, and that is what is keeping him in the lineup.
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Well we get to disagree. If they have any sense at all they platoon him at the least and bench him and give him spot starts against mediocre right-handed pitching as he can’t get around on fastballs inside and is still lunging at outside breaking balls. he looks hopeless. Whatever is broken does not look to be fixable this year.
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