This Week in Dodger Baseball 8-29-21

Author:  Published Date: August 29, 2021 Comments: Leave a Comment on This Week in Dodger Baseball 8-29-21 0 325

When the season began Dodgers fans surely understood that the NL West was going to present some challenges for LA. But, I think it’s safe to assume that most thought those challenges would come from San Diego not San Francisco.

San Francisco has been a model of consistency this year, and, after gaining a game in the standings this week, have been able to  hold off the Dodgers who have been hot on their trail.

Impact Players

At the trade deadline the Dodgers picked up one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, Max Scherzer, and one of the best position players in all of baseball, Trea Turner, and neither have dissapointed.

Since Trea Turner became activated on August 7th, the Dodgers are 17-3 and Max Scherzer is a perfect 4-0 as a Dodger.

Turner has slowed down a touch, but, on Tuesday, when I tweeted about his impact with the Dodgers, Turner was the Leagues leading hitter, had been hitting .464 in his last 7 games and had an on base percentage of .500.

He was hitting .352 since joining the Dodgers at that time but, like I said, has cooled down a touch and is hitting .329 as a Dodger currently.

The Fresh Prince, Will Smith, continues to be charmed, and, quite possibly, has been the most clutch hitter in the league.

Coming into last night Smith had homered in 3 consecutive games including a clutch homer in the 8th inning Wednesday to tie the game at 1-1 with the Padres. Then, last night, Smith gave the Dodgers the lead with a 2 RBI single in the 8th inning.

In the 8th inning of games this year Smith is 16-38 with 5 homeruns and 13 RBI’s.  Smith is hitting .299 since the All Star Break and is leading all catchers in OPS so far this season.

Austin Barnes had the game winning homerun in Thursdays game so that means that the catcher position has had either the game winning hit or a clutch hit to tie the game in 3 games this week.

On the Field

Just about the only thing that hasn’t gone right lately is the first and 3rd play the Dodgers ran this week.  The Dodgers have been looking to manufacture more runs lately, so as to be less feast or famine, but tbat play was a compete disaster.

When Shane Greene entered the game on Sunday, he made the 36th pitcher the Dodgers have had to use this year. The Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw injuries, combined with the Trevor Bauer situation, has had the Dodgers in scramble mode all year, and they’ve been able to hold it together with duct tape and bailing wire.

In fact, the Dodgers have given up the fewest amount of earned runs in the league.

The problem, though, is the defense.  While the Dodgers have given up the least amount of earned runs, they’ve given up the most amount of unearned runs.  Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite this team down the stretch.

Transactions

The Dodgers, once again, lead the universe in tranactions and this week was no different.

On Monday, after having designated Connor Greene for assignment last week, the Dodgers officially lost him to the Orioles as they claimed him off of waivers.

On Tuesday Julio Urias got activated from the 10 day IL and later that night the talented left hander tbrew 5 innings giving up just 1 hit and no runs in a 5-2 win for the Dodgers over the Padres.

On the same day, Tuesday,, former MLB All Star Neftali Feliz was designated for assignment, and on Friday was outrighted back to AAA OKC.

On Wednesday Victor Gonzalez was optioned to OKC and Joe Kelly was activated from Low A Rancho Cucamonga off the 10 day and later that night he threw 1/3 of an inning.

On Thursday Gavin Lux and Matt Beaty were optioned to OKC and Darrien Nunez was recalled to LA.

Nunez was recalled on Thursday, but then optioned back down on Friday and had thrown well for OKC.

On Thursday Mookie Betts got activated off the 10 day IL a.d on Friday Andre Jackson was recalled and pitched for LA.

Jackson was featured by Dodger Poke and, while making 2 starts in LA, has still yet to make a start in AAA OKC’s home Ballpark, the. Bricktown Ballpark.

Yesterday Edwin Uceta was recalled to LA after throwing very well with OKC.

On The Farm

Although OKC has had a rough week in the win/loss column, the AAA affiliate has seen some good individual performances.  As noted earlier, Edwin Uceta threw well and got promoted, and Zac McKinstry, while struggling some offensively, has played great defense.

Darrien Nunez was blazing left handed fastballs

And Omar Estevez showed that he can play the outfield too.  He’s usually the shortstop in OKC.

Top prospect and recently spotlighted, Ryan Pepiot, made his next start for OKC and gave up 4 earned runs and 4 hits in 6 innings of work.

Giving up homeruns continues to be an issue with Pepiot as he likes to work up in the zone with his fastball.  In his last outing he gave up a 3 run homer in the 6th, his last inning, with 2 outs.  He was 1 pitch away from a stellar performance, but, after the homerun, had to settle for less than that.

Nick Tropeano started last night and had the exact same outing as Pepiot giving up 4 earned runs on 4 hits in 6 innings.

Matt Davidson found his way back into the lineup after being placed on the 60 Day IL.

Davidson was placed on the 60 day IL earlier this month but came back much sooner than anticipated and homered last night in his return with AAA OKC.

AA TULSA

The Drillers started a huge 6 great series with Wichita this week, and have played well until last night.

Ryan Noda is the active leader in AA in homeruns and RBI’s and hit one completely out of Riverfrint Stadiun the other night.

Miguel Vargas continues to turn heads as he is battling for the Leagues leading hitter honors and is hitting .317 with 20 homerums and an OPS of .910.

But, the story this week for AA Tulsa centered around the young power arms this club showcased.

Landon Knack, Clayton Beeter, Gus Varland and Michael Grove give the Drillers a rotation of starting pitchers that throw gas, but also have very good off speed stuff.

Nick Robertson, Cameron Gibbens, Aaron Oschenbein and Mark Washimgton are also power arms, but out of the pen, and they too have crazy good off speed stuff.

Texas Tech product, Clayton Beeter was dominant as he struck out 8 of the 9 hitters he faced.

To see his other pitches in action go to @dodger_poke on Twitter.

Gus Varland showed he could command both sides of the plate and had good tail to his fastball.

Nick Robertson continued to throw well and has one of the smoothest motions in the game.

Aaron Oschenbein got action in 2 games and he was, ‘jump off the screen”, impressive.

His wind up has some “knees and Elbows” to it, so hitters can’t comfortable.

Next up

The Dodgers finish their series with Colorado today them have a 3 game series at home with Atlanta.

AA Tulsa finishes their 6 game series in Wichita then cone hone for their last home stand of the year starting Tuedsay before finishing their season with 12 straight road games.

AAA OKC is at home with Las Vegas through Tuesday before hitting rhe road to play @ Round Rock for 6 games.

 

 

 

Author: casey.porter

I have been a teacher and coach at Guthrie Public Schools for almost 30 years. I taught Special Education for the first 18 years of my teaching career and have taught US History and AP US for the last 10. I have been a coach at the High School level for 30 years and have been a Head Coach in multiple sports, most recently being Baseball at Guthrie High School. I love baseball and I love the Dodgers, and being located in Oklahoma, I have the chance to go to several Drillers and OKC games each year and love covering the Minor League teams.
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