Dodgers Beat the Streak: A red-hot bat straight from the minors
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers responded from a rather lackluster series in Anaheim by scoring eight runs on 14 hits against the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
The Los Angeles Dodgers responded in the best way possible after getting practically shut down offensively in Anaheim; score a lot of runs and rack up the base hits.
Los Angeles matched its run total from the entire three-game set against the Angels in one game against the Padres. With Clayton Kershaw on the bump, all the Dodgers needed was a run or two. Kershaw threw six shutout innings and the Dodgers walked away with an 8-2 victory.
It is promising to see the bats respond after such a bad series in Anaheim. However, even though the team collectively registered 14 hits, one of our Dodgers Beat the Streak selections were incorrect.
Of course, that incorrect pick would come from me. I naturally went with Matt Kemp, who has absolutely scorched the San Diego Padres this season. Kemp went 0-2 with a walk, sacrifice fly and RBI.
Sarah was more fortunate, however, as she went with Chris Taylor. Taylor was one of the five Dodger starters to get a base hit and went 2-5 on the night.
Sarah’s pick — Current streak 1: Andrew Toles
Tonight, I am going with Andrew Toles. Toles made his season debut last night and absolutely dominated. Though his arrival means that Yasiel Puig will be out for at least a couple weeks, he’s been so good in Triple-A OKC this year, that Dodger fans are happy to have him.
His speed not only helps on the base path but in the outfield as well, which brings an extra advantage to this squad. Monday night he looked like he never missed a beat in the majors, even though he missed about 14 months.
I think that tonight, as the Dodgers face Padres southpaw Eric Lauer, Andrew Toles could be one of the guys in that lineup giving Rich Hill some run support and hopefully his third W of the season.
Jason’s pick — Current streak 0: Matt Kemp
I have been so bad at selecting successful hitter here recently that I feel like such a rookie. I started this series at the beginning of the year with an eight-game hitting streak right off the bat. Since then, I seemingly cannot get past three.
Thus, I am going back to my old habit of selecting a player that went hitless the night before. If you select a player that went hitless the night before then, statistically speaking, said player is due for at least one hit.
That one player is going to be Matt Kemp, who really let me down on Monday night. Kemp hits above .300, which means he gets at least three hits in every 10 at-bats. With no hits in his last two at-bats, and being guaranteed three to four at-bats, chances are that he delivers at least one base hit
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If he doesn’t then I may never pick Kemp again and never pick the same player twice in a row. However, if Kemp does get a hit, well, I told you so.