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Dodgers, Giants clash again Sunday night
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 7/25/2014  at  5:59:00 AM
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LOS ANGELES DODGERS (56-47)

at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (57-45)

First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: TBD

The Dodgers and Giants continue their battle for the NL West on Sunday night.

Los Angeles is in the midst of a nine-game road trip in which it is playing three teams with winnings records. Over the first two series, the club was a poor 2-4, as they dropped to 1.5 games behind the Giants in the division. In the Dodgers' most recent set against the Pirates, they won the first contest, but were dominated over the final two games, as they were outscored 18-8. 1B Adrian Gonzalez has not been the problem during this recent poor stretch though, going 8-for-22 (.364) with two doubles, a home run and 5 RBI. San Francisco has not wanted to relinquish its hold on first place in the division and has been victorious in five of seven games coming into this series. The Giants nearly finished up a four-game sweep in Philadelphia earlier in this week, but were unable to get any offense going on Thursday night as they lost 2-1 while going just 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position. C Buster Posey (.284 BA) has been on fire since the All-Star Game, going 11-for-28 (.393) with three doubles, a home run and 7 RBI. The pitching matchup for this contest will pit LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (11-5, 3.39 ERA) of the Dodgers against Giants RHP Yusmeiro Petit (3-3, 4.24). Before Friday, Los Angeles had been one of the best road teams in the league, putting together a record of 31-23 while San Francisco is 28-25 in its games by the bay. Coming into this series, the Giants held a solid 28-19 edge over the Dodgers in this matchup over the past three seasons, going 13-8 in home games and 7-3 this year.

Hyun-Jin Ryu has been a tremendous addition to the Dodgers staff since entering the majors last season and has compiled a 25-13 record with a 3.14 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in his first 49 starts. While his ERA has improved this year by nearly a half a run, some of his other numbers have declined, as he has walked 2.3 batters this year compared to just 1.8 last season. He has also had a lot of trouble against lefties on the year, allowing them to hit .280 against him over 111 batters faced. With that said, Ryu has been an extremely reliable starter and has pitched at least six innings while allowing three or fewer runs in 15 of his 19 starts. If you take away his start earlier in the month against the Tigers (2.1 IP, 10 H, 7 ER), Ryu is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and a 23:1 K/BB ratio in his three other July outings. He’s already faced the Giants seven times in his young MLB career, putting together a 3-3 record with a 3.24 ERA (1.44 WHIP) and has struck out just 5.0 batters per nine innings with one home run allowed in 41.2 frames. OF Hunter Pence (8-for-18, 2 doubles, 5 RBI) and 2B Marco Scutaro (5-for-12) have had no issues seeing the ball out of Ryu’s hand while SS Brandon Crawford is hitless with two strikeouts in 10 at-bats against the lefty. Coming into this series, the Dodgers’ bullpen has gone 8-17 with a 3.80 ERA and 1.34 WHIP while successfully saving 32-of-38 (84%) games. Kenley Jansen (3.32 ERA, 29 saves) has been absolutely amazing in his past 11 games, allowing a meager five hits with no runs while striking out 14 batters in 11 inning. For the season, the closer has struck out 13.9 batters per nine innings.

Yusmerio Petit has jumped between the bullpen and the rotation plenty this year with this being his 28th appearance (six starts). He has been much better out of the bullpen though, pitching to a 2.45 ERA in the relief role and a bloated 6.32 ERA over his games that he has started. Also, despite actually pitching 5.1 innings more out of the ‘pen, he has given up just one homer compared to six in 31.1 innings of work when starting. In his last outing, Petit was roughed up by the Phillies as he gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings while earning a no-decision. He has thrown 11 times (4 starts) against the Dodgers over his career, going 1-3 with a 5.16 ERA and 1.21 WHIP while giving up eight home runs in only 29.2 frames. Amazingly, the players that are currently on the Dodgers’ roster have gone a woeful 9-for-49 (.184) with 10 strikeouts as a group against Petit, but four of those nine hits have left the yard. Entering Friday, the Giants’ relievers had combined to go 20-9 with a solid 2.72 ERA and 1.06 WHIP, while converting 32-of-45 (71%) save opportunities. Closer Santiago Casilla (1.16 ERA, 7 saves) has already blown three saves this year while getting lucky with batters hitting .208 BABIP.


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