4th place Dodgers take on 1st place Diamondbacks

Phil Gurnee ♦ April 30, 2018 ♦ 1 Comment

As April turns to May the Dodgers head to Arizona where they take on the 1st place Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks aren’t just in first place, they have won every series so far this year and take a sparkling 19-8 record into the four-game match. The Dodgers could sweep the Diamondbacks and still be three games back of 1st place.

Much has been made of the Dodgers slow start last year and how they still managed to win 104 games in 2017. This does not feel like last year. None of the pieces seem to fit right now no matter how much Dave Roberts juggles the lineup. Three catchers have now started three games as he tries to plug holes at 2nd and 3rd base. Farmer is not an everyday 3rd baseman, nor is Max Muncey.

Even with the offensive explosion in game one of the doubleheader on Saturday, the Dodgers had a poor week. They dropped three of four games against the Giants,  They lost two of three games against a very poor Miami team. This was a week in which the Dodgers needed to make some hay, instead, they laid down in it.

Now they face the best team in the National League who would like nothing more than to rub the Dodger faces further into the quagmire they have created.  The Dodgers will try to counter this with Ross Stripling starting the first game of the series because Rich Hill cannot go. Why Ross Stripling? He has pitched all of fourteen innings in ten games this season. Brock Stewart was brought up yesterday, he has started every game in AAA with good results. Expect the Dodgers to be down by five runs come the fifth inning.

The Diamondbacks have not been without their own injuries. They lost a key member of their rotation for the year a few weeks ago. They haven’t had their own all-star 3rd baseman since April 2nd. They have actually batted Delcaso at clean up and won games. Right now everything is going right for the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers have to hope that stops this week.  Good luck with that.

One thing that won’t happen today is someone cracking this leaderboard. A plethora of pitchers have had great games in Arizona but it is a strange list. Clayton Kershaw has done it three times, but no one else has done it more than once. They were all brilliant just that one time. Kevin Brown, Kaz Ishii, Hideo Nomo, Ramon Martinez, Chad Billingsley, Jose Lima, Chan Ho Park, Zack Greinke, Brad Penney, Darren Dreifort, Odalis Perez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Derek Lowe. Kuroda is notable for his absence.

Player                   Date Opp   Rslt  IP H ER BB SO GSc
Kevin Brown        2000-06-15 ARI  W 4-0 9.0 4  0  0 10  89
Kazuhisa Ishii     2004-07-07 ARI W 11-0 9.0 1  0  1  5  89
Hideo Nomo         2003-03-31 ARI  W 8-0 9.0 4  0  1  7  85
Ramon Martinez     1998-05-23 ARI  W 7-1 9.0 2  1  0  6  85
Chad Billingsley   2011-05-14 ARI  L 0-1 8.0 1  0  2  8  84
Jose Lima          2004-05-29 ARI W 10-0 8.0 2  0  1  7  84
Chan Ho Park       1998-07-24 ARI  W 3-1 8.0 2  1  2 11  83
Clayton Kershaw    2017-07-04 ARI  W 4-3 7.0 2  0  2 11  82
Zack Greinke       2015-09-13 ARI  W 4-3 8.0 3  0  2  8  82
Brad Penny         2005-07-01 ARI  W 7-0 8.0 3  0  1  7  82
Clayton Kershaw    2018-04-15 ARI  W 7-2 7.0 2  1  0 12  81
Darren Dreifort    1998-05-22 ARI  W 5-0 9.0 6  0  0  6  81
Odalis Perez       2003-07-05 ARI  W 2-0 8.0 3  0  0  5  81
Clayton Kershaw    2011-05-13 ARI  W 4-3 7.0 3  0  2 11  80
Hyun-Jin Ryu       2014-04-11 ARI  W 6-0 7.0 2  0  1  8  80
Derek Lowe         2008-09-05 ARI  W 7-0 8.0 2  0  2  4  80

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2018.