Dodgers Beat the Streak: Southpaw gets fried by Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Dodgers look to make it three wins in a row over the Atlanta Braves and standing in the team’s way is southpaw Max Fried.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are starting to pick up some momentum (if they were not already) and the new-look offense has been firing on all cylinders in Atlanta. 12 runs over two games is very promising, especially when the pitching staff only allows three.

On Saturday, the Dodgers get a break from a string of right-handed pitchers and finally see a southpaw in 24-year-old Max Fried. Fried has not gotten off to a great start this season.

The second-year pitcher has made three starts, lasting 20.2 innings with a 3.92 ERA. Fried is coming off of a disabled list stint due to a blister on his finger and is making his first start since July 5.

The Dodgers’ seasoned bats should be able to take advantage of a young starting pitcher that has struggled and has not seen game time situations in a little over three weeks. If so, it will certainly help our Dodgers Beat the Streak hitting streaks.

Sarah went with a wild pick yesterday and selected starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. I have done this before and it never works. When Sarah does it, Kershaw delivers a big two-run RBI single that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1.

My pick, like always, went a whopping 0-5. My pick was Joc Pederson, who has been red-hot and snapped a four-game hitting streak.

Sarah’s pick — Current streak 2:

My pick for today is Manny Machado. About 90% of the time I make my picks based off a current players’ stats against that night’s starter. Tonight, however, Max Fried is on the mound for ATL, and no current Dodger has faced him. So, due to that specific stat, tonight falls into that other 10%, also known as “me going with my gut.”

Manny Machado has been pretty good since making the change to Dodger Blue. He’s hit 1 home run and has 10 hits in 36 at-bats. Then again, the sample size is just too small. He hasn’t even played his first game in LA yet, but when he does it’s bound to be electric. I think he’s going to get the ball rolling for the Dodgers tonight and will hopefully lead them to another win in Atlanta.

Jason’s pick — Current streak 0:

At this point, it seems like a surefire guarantee that no matter who I pick they are going to go hitless in the contest. I have just had the absolute worst luck when it comes to the Beat the Streak recently and it has not been great since I started the year off with an eight-game streak.

Thus, I got to go with the southpaw killer himself, Enrique Hernandez. While his numbers against southpaws have taken a dip, he still sees the ball well and could get a nice pitch to hit that he hammers off the inexperienced Fried.

If so, it will hopefully start a nice streak that can get my mojo back. I will not believe it until I see it, though.