Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak selections — May 3
By Jason Reed
A long hitting streak is one of the best things in baseball. In the latest edition of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak, we try to grow our small streaks.
After a hot start in our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series we have not been too hot. With a mixed offense that sees a different lineup each night and has featured several different guys, it can be hard to pick the right person to get a base hit on any given night.
It does not help that the offense has been rather slow at times. The offense is obviously still talented, as it scored 15 runs against the Giants, but it still struggles. For the most part, it is safe to say that the team simply has not found its groove.
We are trying to find our groove as well. Let’s get into it, starting with a recap of Yesterday’s picks.
Wednesday’s picks:
On Wednesday, I went with my favorite Dodger right now in Matt Kemp. While Kemp did come up with two double plays that hurt the groove of the offense, he also singled into left field in the fourth inning with two outs. It almost didn’t happen, but Kemp did get his hit and my streak extended.
As for Sarah, she went with Yasmani Grandal, who has been the best bat on the Dodgers alongside Cody Bellinger and Matt Kemp. Grandal had a very similar night to the night prior, only registering two at-bats with a walk and sacrifice fly.
The walk and sacrifice fly eventually led to Alex Verdugo runs (the sac fly driving in Verdugo) but did not count as a hit on the stat sheet. Thus, Sarah remains at zero.
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Sarah’s pick (Current streak: Zero): Austin Barnes
My pick for today is Austin Barnes. Barnes has been solid all season but hasn’t really gotten hot because, well, the Dodgers haven’t really gotten hot. Barnes is such a clutch hitter, something that comes in handy against a team like the D-Backs.
Statistically, Barnes hasn’t played great against the Diamondbacks, he hit .227 against them last year, but that’s still better than his average against the Giants (in which he hit .083 in 5 more plate appearances). Barnes is going to get a lot more playing time now that Seager is out for the year and the season is still young, so anything can happen.
Jason’s pick (Current streak: One): Yasmani Grandal
Let’s go with a bit of double-barreled action with the catchers. While it seems strange to pick two different catchers, as they both can’t play, we all know how versatile the Dodgers are.
Grandal has earned the starting catcher job and Barnes could play at second with a left-handed pitcher on the mound; Max Muncy and Chase Utley are both left-handed.
Anyways, Grandal has been putting together good at-bats for the Dodgers, he just hasn’t yielded the results in terms of hits the last two games. On Thursday, that patience and good approach at the plate will pay off in a big way.
The southpaw on the mound does concern me considering Grandal’s career trends. However, Grandal is actually hitting left-handers very well thus far.
Next: Remembering each starter's first start
Grandal is hitting .345 against left-handed pitcher opposed to .290 against right-handed pitching. While he does have twice as many at-bats against right-handers, 10 hits in 29 tries is pretty good against southpaws.