Los Angeles Dodgers: Entering the most important series of the year

The Los Angeles Dodgers are heading into the most important series of the year: a four-game homestand against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It is has been a long time coming since the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks faced each other. After a roller coaster of a summer which included too many lead changes in the division to count, the two sides are set to face off in four games at Dodger Stadium.

The Arizona Diamondbacks enter the series with a one-game lead over the third-place Dodgers in the NL West and a half-game lead over the Colorado Rockies.

The Dodgers got hot right in time as the team cut Arizona’s lead from four and a half to one after winning five straight. It also helps that the San Francisco Giants took two of three against the Diamondbacks.

A week ago, Dodger fans may not have had a ton of confidence heading into this series. However, after five wins, which stemmed from blowouts to grinded out wins, the Dodgers have the momentum to hopefully swing the standings.

From there, the Dodgers hope to never look back. The team certainly has the talent to go above and beyond, it is just a matter of getting hot and staying hot.

Our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak hitting streaks are getting hot too as a result. However, yesterday’s contest against the Texas Rangers did end my streak before I could tie my season high of eight games.

Sarah’s pick — Current streak 0: Enrique Hernandez

Well, it’s that time of the season again, Dodger fans, another end of the year, high leverage series with the team that either holds first place or is fast approaching it.

Usually these series’ take place between the Dodgers and Giants, but with the resurgence of the Arizona Diamondbacks, we find ourselves here, hoping that our beloved Boys in Blue can beat the D-Backs and regain first. These series’ always make me anxious, but my oh my if the Dodgers can win, that will be a huge shift in the postseason prediction chart.

So, that said, my pick tonight is Kiké Hernandez. With the exception of Yasiel Puig, Hernadez has the most AB’s against tonight’s starter for Arizona, Robbie Ray.

He also has the most home runs (3) against him and is tied with Matt Kemp with 5 RBIs against the southpaw. Hernandez has been really good for this team this season and continues to excel in his position as the team’s most super of all super utility men, and he could be the one leading them tonight against the first place D-Backs.

Jason’s pick — Current streak 0: Chris Taylor

To be honest, I really do not like selecting Chris Taylor. Taylor has not followed up his great breakout year last year and has hurt me too many times when selecting him.

While I did not expect Taylor to post the same kind of numbers, as that is unfair, I did expect him to do better than he is doing. While averages a hit in just about every four at-bats, Taylor never seems to come up in high-leverage situations and instead swings out of his shoes more often than not.

However, in his career, Taylor is a respectable 7-16 off of southpaw Robbie Ray. Taylor has seen a ton of Ray over the past two years and can hopefully turn that experience into production.