Los Angeles Dodgers: Going for the series win after statement win

The Los Angeles Dodgers had a statement win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night and can now guarantee a series win on Saturday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers entered this weekend series with the San Diego Padres with more questions than answers. The questions were not necessarily about the team itself, but how close the San Diego Padres really were to the Dodgers level.

The Padres have been great thus far this season. And while everyone touted the team’s farm system and how good the team could be the next five years, the Padres starting winning games at a high rate much sooner than expected.

Granted, we are just one month into the season and the young team could eventually fall off. That is why this series was a good test for both the Dodgers and Padres.

The winner of this series is not necessarily the superior team, either. If the Dodgers were to blow the Padres out of the water the next two days that would be one thing. Winning two more one-run games would not be a definitive answer to the questions about the Padres.

However, Friday still served as a great morale-boosting win for the Dodgers. After falling behind 3-0 from two home runs, Clayton Kershaw locked in and still delivered a quality start. The offense slowly chipped away before Max Muncy gave Kirby Yates his first loss on the season in just his second run allowed in 17 innings.

Getting that kind of win — one where you overcome a slow start and get the game-winning hit off of the opposing team’s best pitcher, is one that could lead to a very successful series for the Dodgers.

A win on Saturday guarantees that the Dodgers will at least take two out of three in San Diego. Here is who we think will provide the offensive fireworks, as part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: 0): Cody Bellinger

When your streak is at zero there is no better pick to make than Cody Bellinger, who was the National League Player of the Month for April and has been the hottest hitter on the planet.

However, the last two games for Bellinger have been subpar as he has not started off May perhaps how he would have liked. Bellinger went 1-5 on Friday night with three strikeouts and 1-4 on Wednesday, although he did have an RBI.

Bellinger could still get a base hit in his first at-bat on Saturday and be hitting .300 over his last 10 at-bats, which is what every hitter is striving towards, but that just seems low for the guy that has been so high this year.

We all know that he won’t hit .400 and he eventually will look human. However, it is not absurd to think that he could win the MVP when it is all said and done.

If he is going to win the MVP then he is not going to have a hitless night after going two for his last nine. Bellinger won’t just get a base hit on Saturday, it will be a multi-hit, multi-RBI game.