Padres Play the Red-Hot Los Angeles Dodgers Next
Credit: Sports Logo
Recently the Padres have started the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers or played the team early on.
But this year, the calendar turned to May before San Diego finally faces the challenge. And a challenge it is with the Dodgers in first place in the National League West and tied with the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays for the most wins in baseball at 20. Although the Padres reached first place in the division early in the season, the team now sits in third place behind the Arizona Diamondbacks although only 1.5 games out at 18-14.
The Dodgers have Thursday off before traveling to San Diego, while the Padres will fly from Atlanta after their decisive 11-2 victory over the Braves. The foe from up the freeway will arrive with the National League Player of the Month Cody Bellinger toting his stratospheric offensive numbers.
Bellinger leads all of baseball in several categories including batting average, runs, hits, and on-base percentage. In fact, his 41 home runs and .431 batting average in the first 31 games of a season rank third behind only Hank Aaron and Jimmie Fox. Last season, the outfielder had a bit of a sophomore slump with “only” 25 home runs, a batting average of .260 and 151 strikeouts. To say that Bellinger has shown an ability to adjust would be a gross understatement.
So far this year, the Dodgers have performed much better against right-handers than lefties. We will see if that trend continues, as three left-handers (Eric Lauer, Joey Lucchesi, and Nick Margevicius) will face the visitors. In the offseason, L.A. signed A.J. Pollock to a four-year, $55 million contract to play center and improve the team’s batting against left-handed pitchers However an elbow infection has pushed him to the IL with Alex Verdugo getting more playing time
Shortstop Cory Seager has returned to the lineup following a difficult 2018 season which included two surgeries (Tommy John and arthroscopic hip). Understandably he’s off to a bit of a slow start.
Game 1: Friday, May 3, 7:10 PDT — Eric Lauer (2-3, 4.41 ERA, 1.312 WHIP) vs. Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 2.25 ERA, 0.75 WHIP)
Lauer’s two wins in 32.2 innings so far this season have come against the bottom-dwelling San Francisco Giants. In his last outing, he pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two hits and two runs in an 8-3 extra-inning win over the Washington Nationals. Against Lauer, the otherworldly Bellinger has batted .500/.500/667/1.167. Max Muncy (.667/.750/1.667/2.417) and Austin Barnes (.333/.333/.333/.667) have also hit well against Lauer.
Kershaw, the usual first-game starter for the Dodgers, has pitched only 20 innings so far this season. Kershaw began the year on the injured list with a shoulder issue. As one would expect few Padres have hit well against Kershaw. Eric Hosmer (.333/.333/.533/.867) and Manuel Margot (.267/.313/.333/.646) can claim that honor.
Game 2: Saturday, May 4, 5:40 PDT — Joey Lucchesi( 3-2 4.94 ERA 1.45 WHIP) vs. Rich Hill (0-0, 1.50 ERA 0.83 WHIP)
In his last outing, Lucchesi pitched only four innings against the Washington Nationals on April 28. He gave up nine hits and five runs, only four of which were earned. The Padres ended up losing the game 7-6. In only two at-bats, Bellinger has batted (.500/.500/1.000/1.500) against Lucchesi. Enrique Hernandez, who has the most at-bats (eight) against Lucchesi, has a batting line of (.375/.375/.875/1.250).
Like Kershaw, Hill also began the season on the IL. Thanks to a strained knee, he has pitched only six innings. The Dodgers won his only start 7-6 on April 28 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 18 ABs Hunter Renfroe has hit .333/.368/.722/1.091 against Hill. Manny Machado has faced him only seven times with a batting line of .286/.286/.429/.714.
Game 3: Sunday, May 5, 1:10 PM Nick Margevicius (2-3, 3.23 ERA 1.11 WHIP) vs. Kenta Maeda (3-2, 4.41 ERA, 1.50 WHIP)
Margevicius has been one of the most surprising additions to the team this year. One of 29 non-roster invitees to spring training, the Padres brought him up from High-A and threw him into the deep end. A crafty lefty in the mold of Randy Jones, Margevicius definitely doesn’t fit the profile of the fireballing starter but instead relies on his control. Obviously, none of L.A.’s batters have faced Margevicius.
Unlike the other Dodger starters for the series, Maeda has taken his turn six times so far and pitched 32.2 innings six games. His wins have come against the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Austin Hedges (.375/.500/.500/1.000) and Manuel Margot (.364/.333/.727/1.061) have hit well against Maeda.
By the time the Dodgers pack up to leave San Diego on Sunday, the Padres will have faced their most difficult challenge of the young season. The team’s performance so far has been surprisingly positive. Against the odds, will San Diego continue the trend?
Baseball has been a part of Diane’s life since her father played professionally (mostly at the minor league level). She has written for a number of publications and concentrated on companion animal welfare. She welcomes the opportunity to write about the sport she loves. Diane shares her home with her husband and a house full of rescued animals.
Diane, how about Hunter Renfroe now! I think you like him as much as I do. What I meant in my last comment was this; considering that Preller and the Padres continue to play musical chairs in the outfield – where no one seems secure, Preller needs to trade someone, including one or two of our young outfielders for a hard hitting, left handed, good fielding, veteran outfielder. Maybe he plays CF? That’s OK! Of course, I have said all along that Renfroe should be the one to stay and patrol RF all the time. As for “who” we should trade for, I don’t have any names for you, we just know there are many teams that have players who would be available for the right package. And what do the Padres have an abundance of? Plenty of young talent to trade! Obviously Preller disagrees but I simply think the Padres would be so much better served with a more set lineup and defined roles for everyone. The same with our catching. Preller should decide who his #1 catcher is, trade the other and get a solid, older veteran #2 (like Drew Butera) to be the backup and play once a week. As a bonus, you don’t think our pitchers would like that too? Right now we have too many cooks in the kitchen or catchers to throw to! Ideally, Austin Hedges stays and Mejia goes. We’ll see what happens.
Seeing how badly we need hitting and Green/Preller are juggling too many players at one time in the outfield, is it time to make a trade for ONE bonafide starter out there? Name any player who does well under those circumstances? If you want performance, a player needs to be confident and play almost every day. What else would a trade it do? It would help clear up the logjam we have out there. No matter who we like; Renfroe or Reyes, we don’t need both of them.
The same is true with our two catchers. While I have to admit that Mejia is better defensively than I thought, I still feel Austin Hedges is the better of the two and deserves to play on a regular basis. As for Mejia, he needs to go back down to AAA and play every day. How else is he ever going to develop?
Hello Gary,
Thanks to injuries to Jankowski and Cordero, it’s too early to trade any outfielders. Reyes has shown a remarkable ability to adjust at the plate, but the big guy just can’t cover right. I agree about Mejia getting more reps in the minors.
Last night’s loss to the Dodgers was so discouraging.
Diane
This should be an interesting series. So many question marks on the SD staff. If the team continues to fare well, but Lauer and Lucchesi stay negative WAR pitchers, we might see the team start to consider trading for a starter as we move towards summer.
Hi Tom, You are so right about the starting pitchers. I was worried about this before the season started and am even more concerned now. Although most of the young starters are doing really well, the bullpen is being taxed already–and it shows.
There are a handful of others, but this would be the only one that causes issues with the understanding of the article. Just trying to help (Without being too annoying if possible), i do it to all EVT 🙂
We do typically skew in our opinions as well though. I take a much more positive stance than your articles typically communicate. We also fact find very differently on stats. Anyone who will root and write for the Padres is a good one in my book, keep up the good work.
Perhaps I should have you proofread before I post…. Thanks for reading EVT and rooting for the Padres.
14 homeruns not 41 3rd paragraph.
Stupid mistake on my part. I guess I should thank you for pointing it out… Just wondering if you read my articles just to point out my errors? I really do try to catch mistakes…