The Great Tim Byrnes and Those Deferred BenchWarmers are combined this week. Before to click on and see what is going on with the Los Angeles Dodgers and soon-to-be Las Vegas A’s.
Dodger Notes:
By Those Deferred BenchWarmers
Alright, the Dodgers are back (again)! The Dodgers dominated the Reds, and thanks to Seattle’s series win over the Padres, the Dodgers now lead the NL West by two games.
The Week in Review
Headline for the Week: Dodgers Sweep Reds, Increase NL West Lead
Results: The Dodgers swept the Reds, outsourcing them 18-4 in the three game series.
Pitching Analysis: The Dodger starters continued their strong roll, with Emmet Sheehan pitching 7 strong shutout innings. He struck out 10 in the process, allowing only two hits and a walk. Clayton Kershaw continued his strong August, striking out six in five innings of work. He only allowed two hits in dropping his ERA to 3.06. In August, Kershaw was 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA. Vintage Kershaw when the Dodgers needed him most. In game three, Ohtani had his longest start as a Dodger: five innings. He gave up a pair of hits and a pair of walks, but struck out nine.
The bullpen was dominant as well, with Ben Casparius the only member of the arm barn to give up runs. The bullpen pitched 10 innings this series and struck out 17 Reds, including dominant game three performances from Edgardo Henriquez and Blake Treinen, both of whom struck out the side in their appearances.
Hitting Analysis: The Dodgers had 26 hits and drew 12 walks. Andy Pages had a dominant series, going 5 for 11 with 2 home runs, 3 runs scored, and 4 RBI. Michael Conforto went 5 for 10 with a homerun, and Will Smith also hit a homerun. The Dodgers were 7 for 24 with runners in scoring position and had multiple 4 run innings this week.
Dodger Record Since We Said Not to Worry: 19-15
Next Series’ Preview
Matchups: The Diamondbacks come to Dodger Stadium for a three game set.
What to Look for/Analysis: The Diamondbacks are in a heated race – for third place in the NL West. This is the type of series the Dodgers should dominate: a floundering team with less than a 1% chance of making the playoffs (according to ESPN). So this is exactly the type of series the Dodgers will likely struggle with.
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Athletics Notes:
By Tim Byrnes
The A’s lost two starters in under a week and should have nosedived in the series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers sent All-Star Game AL starter Tarik Skubal to the mound in the opener, winners of nine of their previous eleven games, and the American League’s top team.
The Athletics swept the Tigers with fine pitching and an offense that batted .276 as a team for the series, and outscored Detroit 22-9.
With 27 games remaining for the Athletics, the team has a reasonable shot at .500 for the season.
In spite of going 1-5 out of the break, the A’s have the 3rd best record since then, at 22-15, and need to go 18-9 the rest of the way to hit the even mark for a season (81-81).
Athletics Batting:
In that opener, Skubal looked untouchable, with nine strikeouts in the first five innings.
The wheels fell off for him in the seventh, when the A’s CF Colby Thomas hit a solo home run.
Later in the inning, catcher Shea Langeliers followed that up with his 29th home run of the season, a grand slam.
With hits in each game, Langeliers hit .416 with three runs and four rbi’s as the A’s took the opener 8-3.
In game two, shortstop Jacob Wilson supplied the power with his 12th home run, a three-run shot, but it took a walkoff “walk” by Darell Hernaiz in the 10th to secure the 7-6 victory.
A fun moment occured after the home run when Wilson touched home plate, turned, and jogged back to the dugout.
Wilson unbuttoned his jersey, ala Superman-style, and exposed a t-shirt with teammate Nick Kurtz’s nickname on it, “Big Amish”.
He proudly displayed the shirt barrel-chested as the fans cheered the moment.
Wilson leads all Athletics with a .311 batting average on the year. As for Kurtz, the first baseman showcased his defensive prowess throughout the series, which is often overlooked because of his abilities at the plate.
He hit his 27th home run in the opener, batted .444 with hits in every game, and added four runs to his season total.
So many statistics show how dominant Kurtz has been, and since the break he is batting .394, leads MLB in runs scored (34), OBP%, SLG, and OPS!
Bleacher Report recently ranked him the 6th best leftie hitter in the game.
Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom continued his hot bat, hitting .461 versus Detroit, and has hit safely in 23 of his last 25 games.
Athletics Pitching:
Both starters Jack Perkins and Jacob Lopez played through discomfort that put them on the 15-day IL with rumblings of Kotsay leaving them in with long-relief options available.
In the third inning of game two, Osvaldo Bido was clearly imploding and Kotsay smartly pulled him and kept the game close in the eventual 7-6 win.
In the finale, rookie Luis Morales (2-0) threw the best game of his young career, going seven innings of two-hit ball in the 7-0 shutout win and lowered his era to 1.19.
The bullpen had another outstanding series where they gave up just one run in 12 2/3 innings.
Their sub-3.00 era since the ASG is the best in baseball.
Upcoming Series:
The Athletics (63-72) have a storied history of second half success and this season is no different.
The one giant blemish to the 2025 second half was being swept when the A’s visited Arlington so they are looking to settle the score.
The 68-67 Rangers come to West Sacramento having taken 2-of-3 from the LA Angels and put up 20 runs in their finale.
The A’s are hoping they got the “production” out of their system as Texas sends RHP Jack Leiter (8-7, 3.81) to take on the Athletics LHP Jeffrey Springs (10-8, 4.15).
Leiter is coming off a 10 strikeout win over Cleveland while Springs gave up just two hits in a no-decision in his last start, an eventual 2-1, 10 inning win over Seattle.
Gametime:
August 29, 2025 705pm
Sutter Health Park
West Sacramento, Ca
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