Since the San Francisco Giants have not been lately what they were in the early part of this decade, the Dodgers apparently have a new rival, or so fans of the San Diego Padres would tell you.
The Dodgers head into San Diego this weekend to play the Padres for the first time this season. Los Angeles is in first place in the NL West, 1.5 games ahead of the Padres in the standings, who currently hold an 18-14 record.
The biggest storyline, besides the new rivalry and fight for NL West supremacy, is the Dodgers facing former teammate Manny Machado. Even though he only spent four months in the Dodgers organization, Machado left a huge mark on the Dodgers’ 2018 season.
Manny signed a 10-year, $300 million deal with the Padres in February. So far in this young season, he’s batting .235/.335/.484/.818 with five home runs and 12 RBI. His defense, of course, remains stellar.
The Padres are lead in most offensive categories by their rookie phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. He leads the team in batting average (the only Padre at .300), slugging, OPS, and stolen bases. However, the Dodgers will not see him in this series as he is on the IL with a hamstring injury sustained stretching to make a play at second base last Sunday. Will Myers and Eric Hosmer still remain big offensive threats even if their stats are not indicative of that at the moment.
The Padres briefly overtook the Dodgers in the standings in April, then went on a five game losing streak where they were swept by the Colorado Rockies in a two game series and then lost the first three out of four against the Cincinnati Reds. They have rebounded, going 7-3 in their last 10 games.
As mentioned before, the Padres see themselves as a big threat to the Dodgers, and have lined up an all-lefty starting rotation for this series. Friday night’s game will see Clayton Kershaw take the mound for the Dodgers, taking on the young hurler Eric Lauer. The 23 year old has a 2-3 record, with a 4.41 ERA in six games. He has allowed only five home runs, and has a .262 batting average against with 29 strikeouts.
Saturday’s early evening game will see Rich Hill make his second start of the season going up against Joey Lucchesi, both pitchers who had rough innings in their last outings. In the third inning against the Washington Nationals, Lucchesi allowed four runs on five hits and a walk. The bases were loaded when he was able to end the inning on a strikeout. He is 3-2 on the season with a 4.94 ERA and 34 strikeouts.
Sunday’s matinee will see Kenta Maeda going for the Dodgers and Nick Margevicius for the Padres. The 22-year-old rookie for the Padres is 2-3 with a 3.23 ERA and 26 Ks. He threw 95 pitches over 5 and two-thirds innings in his last outing against the Atlanta Braves, gathering only three strikeouts and allowing three runs, one earned.
The Dodgers look to get their offense back on track against the Padres and put some distance between them in the standings. First pitch for the opener is slated for 7:10 PST.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Machado hitting under .240 with 5 dingers, so most Dodger fans should be happy he was not brought back. We will see if Roberts drops Corey down in the lineup since he is definitely not where he would like to be yet. I think he has way too much talents to not be able to work out the kinks.
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Make no mistake about it, San Diego is a deep and talented organization. Like many less than organizations they have to do it the way Oakland and Tampa do, and they have. Like those other organizations in lesser markets they are building from within. They draw a little over 2 million down there, middle of the pack in attendance and the tv contract pays about $50 million a year. They are obviously not the Dodgers, but when they’re playing well, they will draw. Fangraphs has them at 82 wins. That’s considerably better than the 66 of last year. The Padres have something going on. I don’t believe they are afraid of us anymore.
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If SD is a threat to LA we are in deep trouble up here. Their long term talent right now is only prospects and how they turn out is always problematic. Not even convinced of their future at this point. They have problems on their roster and will need more than that is. Hosmer and Myers are both questionable in the next 2/3 years
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Giants designated Gerardo Parra today and called Mike Gerber who is off to a hot start at AAA.
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Time to teach the Pads a lessen this series starting with Kersh tonight. I’m headed down to San Diego with my son on Sat with the Patone 294 group. Can’t wait!
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Just saw the line up for tonight. Hernandez, 2B, Bellinger, 1B, Turner, 3B, Seager, SS, Taylor, CF, Verdugo, RF. Barnes, C Pederson, LF. Kershaw P. He has a guy hitting .228 in the 4 hole and a .162 hitter batting 5th. What in the blue blazes is Roberts drinking?
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I’m more than happy to let Seager work out his problems while in the lineup but batting him cleanup is unbelievable. On the other hand, a number of us have been yelling that we thought he should be moved down in the order. Wish granted.
The only reason Taylor is batting fifth is that Rich Hill was unavailable tonight. He was Doc’s first choice.
(a big part of me is hoping that my snide remark above will result in CT3 going 4-4 with a couple of homers tonight, but even if he does, I still won’t understand batting him 5th.)
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Let’s face it tho, no one outside of Belly and Verdugo has much going right now.. No lineup looks imposing at this time
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That was closer than we like. 9 for 35, 13 Ks, 1 for 5 WRISP. It’s good to find a way when the sticks ain’t working all that well.
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The D’backs have just recalled ex-Dodger farmhand Tim Locastro. While playing all 3 outfield positions and going 4-11 at the beginning of the year, he was sent down. In the two weeks he was in AAA he hit .395 with an OBP of .458 while hitting 5 homers. Yes, hindsight is 20-20, but in view of our current Pollock situation, Locastro might have been more of a help than Beaty.
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