One day after the Yankees put 16 hits and 10 runs on the board against the Dodgers, righty starter Tony Gonsolin will take the mound for Los Angeles, posed with the task of shutting down one of the most productive offenses in baseball.
Many folks have hyped up this particular inter-league series—one that surrounds a rival which stretches back many, many years, at least in terms of the past World Series showdowns.
While many things will certainly change between now and a potential matchup at the end of October, prospective changes can occur, if indeed both teams fight their way through their respective league playoffs.
Still, this weekend’s series gives the Dodgers some idea what they need to address as far as strengths and weaknesses go. After all, most of the clubs the Dodgers have been annihilating over the past few weeks are sitting in the cellars of their divisions.
At the same time, a series like this gives Los Angeles opportunities to see what they have in terms of prospect talent. Fireballer Dustin May will get another opportunity to showcase his skills against the Padres on Monday; but, Gonsolin will take the stage on Saturday afternoon, hoping to limit a Yankees club who has tallied a monstrous 766 runs this year—more than any other team in the bigs.
The belief that Yankee Stadium is considered by everyone to be one of the friendliest hitter’s parks in baseball certainly helps pad their offensive stats. However, the fact that New York unleashed an impressive offensive attack at Chavez Ravine on Friday showed just how good they can really be.
Gonsolin doesn’t have much of an MLB track record, much less matchups criteria against specific players or even interleague games. The 25-year-old Vacaville native has only made four big league appearances—three of which were starts. But, his numbers aren’t bad in the least, aside from his MLB debut in Arizona on June 26 when he surrendered six runs—four earned—on six hits. Four of those runs came in in a first inning highlighted by an Eduardo Escobar three-run bomb.
Pulling that game out of the equation, Gonsolin has tallied a 1.29 ERA with 12 strikeous over an even 14 innings of work this year. His best performance came against the Cardinals on August 5 when he threw six innings of shutout ball, surrendering just two hits and one walk alonside seven punchouts.
For those not aware of his arsenal, Gonsolin’s four-seam has touched triple digits multiple times, but those cases occurred when he was throwing in relief. In a starting role, his heater usually settles into the 93-95 MPH range.
According to MLB Pipeline‘s scouting report, “Gonsolin’s upper-80s splitter devastates hitters with the way it dives at the plate, and his low-80s curveball has become a consistent plus offering with nice shape. He also uses a mid-80s slider to give hitters a different look.”
Maybe the most impressive stat of all is that he has walked just one batter over all of his 18.0 innings of work this year.
Saturday’s start will undoubtedly be the most important for Gonsolin to date. In theory, this appearance could be key in his audition for a spot on the postseason roster.
Needless to say, a strong outing versus the Yankees could go a long, long way in his favor.
First pitch is set for 1:05 PM Los Angeles time.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
No use crying about last nights game. You just move on to the next one. They were out pitched and out hit, and it started with another error. Yeah, Ryu gave up a couple of solo dingers. But Kike’s error definitely opened the door for the big inning. It’s over, on to the next one. Sabathia is no where near the pitcher he once was, so the Dodger offense should be able to inflict some damage. I think a key is jumping on these guys early. Paxton had them flummoxed pretty much all night. Gonsolin on the bump brings a lot different look than Ryu, so we will see how the kid does. Looks like LA is going to employ a 6 man rotation for a while. May will be back in the rotation as much to give it length as to give starters a little more rest. Hill will throw off of a mound tomorrow and is expecting to be back in the next couple of weeks. Garcia is toast. I say it is time to just waive him. He is a HR machine.
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All 10 runs were earned. I didn’t see the game but the box score suggests the error didn’t factor. Whatever, it was a thumping.
Garcia the day before faced 3 and struck them all out. Don’t use him back to back. In fact, don’t use anybody back to back.
6 man rotation. I’ve been calling for that for a couple years now.
I’m concerned, but that’s not new for me. I think the AL has better teams, maybe because they don’t make the pitcher hit. I usta not like the DH, but after years of watching pitchers butcher at bats…. enough already. Most of them look like they don’t give a damm about working on it. They don’t want to hit? Don’t let them. It’s time to have the same rules in all of baseball. The DH is here to stay, so, bring it over.
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The error would have been the first out of the inning. Then there was a bloop single that they could not catch. They walked Sanchez and boom. Grand slam. Yeah, they got thumped, but the error opened the door. It was 2-1 when all that happened.
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If he got on by an error, you’re right, that run is unearned. Only matters in computing stats. Our defense hasn’t been very good this year, ranked 22nd. Apparently defense is just not that important anymore. None of the teams at the top of power rankings are at the top of DRS rankings.
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Yes bear but he only gives up one solo hr per inning. So he and Janson can be called on to close out games with three run leads!
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He gave up 2 homers in one inning. Judge and Sanchez. He did not have a clean inning. It happens. Move on to today’s game. I saw Koufax give up 8 earned runs in 3 innings once back at the coliseum against the Braves. Aaron, Mathews and Adcock took him deep. Even the great ones have a bad day.
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Saturday’s lineup vs. lefty Sabathia, Yankees:
Pollock CF
Turner 3B
Smith C
Bellinger RF
Taylor SS
Muncy 2B
Hernandez LF
Gyorko 1B
Gonsolin P
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Does anyone else think the all white uniforms MLB is forcing the Dodgers to wear are the absolute worst looking pieces of shit you’ve ever seen? They are terrible. How can they actually pay for someone to design something like that? I know they were denied the right to wear their traditional home unis but they should do Luke the Cubs did and just do it anyway. Screw the fine this is Yankees/Dodgers I want to see Dodger blue and Yankee grey.
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Probably just a marketing thing. No biggie to me, but then, I’m not looking at them.
https://bc.marfeelcache.com/statics/i/ps/s22927.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/cody-bellinger-2019-players-weekend.png?mrf-size=l
$119 at MLB
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The White uni’s are atrocious. Makes them look like a Good Humor ice cream man. Martin on bereavement list. Barnes recalled. Gonsolin looks pretty good so far. Lakers sign Dwight Howard.
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You got a problem with the Good Humor man? I liked that guy. Couldn’t wait for him to get my street. Root beer popsicles and 50/50 bars on a hot muggy day in Raytown Missouri. Great memories.
I kinda like the whites. Any uniform with Dodger script across the front is ok by me. I wonder how many they will sell.
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In an entirely unrelated bit of good news…..College football kicks off tonight! This is the year for LSU!
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LS WHO???? Fat chance my friend, they are not even the best team in their conference.
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Who has a good feeling about Janson in the 9th!
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Piece of cake! Kenley throwing 95! He was fired up! Gotta love Big G and Kelly and Baez! This is how AF drew it up in off season! Somebody wake up the bats tomorrow!
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Yankees top winner faces off with ours. Kershaw and German. Wasn’t pretty but Kenley got the job done….did nothing for my elevated heart rate though. Yankee power over rated…..ummmmmmmmmmmmm nope. But JT with the big blow. Middle of the line up needs to wake up!
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Offensive stinker. 6 for 30 with 12 Ks 0 for 3 WRISP. Yankees starters look ok to me.
Jansen made it interesting.
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Their pitching staff is rated 16th in the majors. Paxton throws his best game as a Yankee, and Sabathia is battling knee problems. German is so far their best pitcher. They did what they had to do. Dodgers did the same. I don’t see this as a post season preview at all. I see this as what it is, an in season inter-league game and nothing more. There are no guarantees that either of these teams make it to the World Series. Yanks have as tough if not a tougher road to get there than the Dodgers do. Who knows what happens once the playoffs start, so I am not sweating this series at all.
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Yankees starting pitching looks ok to me. They will look a lot better if Severino makes it back. Yes, there are no guarantees, It could be the Braves and the Indians in the World Series. But would you be surprised if the best team in the American League and the best team in the National League actually met in the World Series? I wouldn’t. Neither wold the oddsmakers, though this morning it would appear the Astros, currently tied with Yankees, just passed them , 5/2 over 4/1. So, this could be a preview. Or not. I find it more compelling when the Dodgers play the better teams in the league. Paying fans like it to. Well over 53,000 each game.
So, how do we look against them? The last 2? Meh.
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I keep saying it’s the Nationals we should be worried about! They have pulled off a Dodgers of 18 this year and if Scherzer is healthy we could be in trouble in a short series! We have not shown we can hit elite pitching. I only see Turner and Freese as big game and playoff consistent threats. Seager, Belli and Muncy have a lot to prove come this October!
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Never worry about things you cannot control. Scherzer as of right now is not himself. And I think you had better look back over the season’s records. They have beaten some very good pitchers. Even ones they might face in the playoffs or World Series. Greinke, Lester, Strasburg, Kendrick, Bumgarner, They have beaten all of them. The teams they might face in the playoffs, they have winning records against all of them except the Cardinals, who are 4-3 against the Dodgers. DC, Cubs, Mets, Mil all have losing records against the Dodgers. Atl and Philly have losing records against LA also. I think the other teams are more worried about LA than the Dodgers are them. To answer Scoop’s question, well not really a question, but an observation, since 2000, the team with the best record have met in the World Series exactly 3 times. 04, 13, and 2017. All the other years that did not happen, and wild card teams won in 02, Angels, 03, Miami, 10, the Giants, and the Cardinals did it once…so best record is not really a lock to win.
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The question I meant to ask was would you be surprised if the best teams in each league met in the World Series. I would not. Sounds like maybe you would.
The second point is simply this – I keep hearing about how mediocre the Yankee starting pitching is and to this point it hasn’t mattered. And it hasn’t mattered with their best starter out.
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Since it has not happened all that often lately, I would be surprised. Yankee pitching has stepped up this weekend, but in their last starts before this none of them were close to what they were this weekend.
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You said it – Yankee pitching stepped up. The rest of that team looks like the Denver Broncos in baseball uniforms. It’s a scary bunch. That said….. I still think it will be Houston.
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