![\"\"](\"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Dodgers.jpeg\")
By Those Deferred BenchWarmers<\/p>\nBy Those Deferred BenchWarmers<\/p>\n
Who would have thought that the Chicago White Sox visiting LA would be one of the most intriguing series of the season? Kershaw\u2019s 30000 K, Muncy\u2019s injury, dominant performances from Yamamoto and May…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Week in Review<\/span><\/strong> Results:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0The Dodgers Swept the White Sox at Dodger stadium, outsourcing the Sox 17-7.<\/p>\n Pitching Analysis:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>We could rehash Kershaw 3000th K, but if you\u2019re like us, you\u2019ve probably read a lot about it and watched a lot about it, so we\u2019ll point out the damper the events surrounding the K was: Kershaw gave up 9 hits (although he was overthrowing a bit), Muncy got injured a couple pitches before, and the highlights of the K will always show the Dodgers losing to the hapless White Sox 4-2 when it happened. Yet, even still, it was an amazing moment. If you haven\u2019t seen the White Sox Broadcast of the strikeout, do yourself a favor and go check it out; it\u2019s a great call by their booth!<\/p>\n Yoshinobu Yamamoto was his usual self in game one, pitching seven innings of one-run baseball, striking out 8 and only allowing 3 hits (he also had run support). Dustin May got into the act, also going seven strong innings and striking out 9. May was perfect through 5 and third innings.<\/p>\n The Dodger bullpen was superb this series: 7 no hit innings, with 12 strikeouts and only three walks.<\/p>\n Hitting Analysis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0The Narrative was ruined right away in the first inning of game 1. The Dodgers worked back-to-back two out walks, then the Dodger Outfield did the damage: Tesocar Hernandez singled in one, Andy Pages doubled in two, and Michael Conforto singled in a fourth run to give the Dodgers, and Yamamoto, a four run lead. It was only the third time the Dodgers had scored four runs with Yamamoto on the mound (A\u2019s and Guardians) and only the second time that Yamamoto had a four run lead in any start this season (6-1 and 6-2 against the Guardians on May 26th).<\/p>\n We thought it was possible that Freddie Freeman was back on track in game 2. The Dodgers had moved him around the line up a bit and, hitting cleanup in game 2, Freeman went 2 for 5, including the walkoff single. The thoughts were confirmed on Thursday with Freeman back in his usual number 3 slot. Freeman was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. Mookie Betts homered for the first time since June 8, hopefully a sign of more good things to come.<\/p>\n Takeaway for the Week \/ Burning Question (And Attempted Answer):\u00a0Right before Kershaw\u2019s 3000th, Will Smith threw out potential base steal Michael Taylor at third base. Muncy made a great catch and tag, but unfortunately Taylor slid into Muncy\u2019s leg, forcing Muncy\u2019s knee to bend awkwardly. The optimism after the game from the Dodgers, was seemingly confirmed by the fact that a six-week timetable was given out for a potential Muncy return. But the team notoriously downplays injuries.<\/p>\n Our hot take\/conspiracy theory? Muncy is out for the season and the Dodgers are playing it close to the vest so they do not come off as desperate for a 3B at the deadline.<\/p>\n Admittedly, our theory would hold more weight if there were better candidates at the hot corner: Here are the potential candidate , ranked by likelihood of being a Dodger (based purely on our gut on July 3):<\/p>\n 1–Nolan Arenado, St. Louis The list is not enticing. Dodger fans have wanted Arenado for a long time, so he is the most intriguing (with Bregman right behind him). The issue becomes: are these players better than the Dodger Platoon of Kik\u00e9\/Rojas\/Whoever else\/Freeland(?)\/Kim(?)\/Edman(?). We\u2019d say no.<\/p>\n The other issue is 3 of the teams are relative rivals with the Dodgers (Two NL West partners and a regional partner), so the likelihood of them trading is low. Would the Red Sox take part in another blockbuster with the Dodgers after the Dodgers fleeced them the last two times? That leaves Arenado and Urias (who isn\u2019t that enticing).<\/p>\n So, it must mean there\u2019s a mystery candidate the Dodgers are going after\u2026 or Muncy will be back in mid-August.<\/p>\n Next Series\u2019 Preview<\/span><\/strong> Analysis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Since May 21, the Astros have won 10 of 12 series, with the other 2 series being 4 games splits. They currently have a stranglehold on the AL West and are within striking distance of the best record in the majors.<\/p>\n What to Look For:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Many of the players are gone, but the Trashtros will always be the Trashtros and it\u2019ll be hard to separate the new players with the old sins of the franchise. To speed up the process, we recommend the Trashtros either go back to their old mid 90s-early 2000s color scheme and logo, or even their 60s-early 90s look (although the colors might be too close to their current ones). Really, we\u2019d love a return of the Colt 45s, but that might be a pipe dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Those Deferred BenchWarmers Who would have thought that the Chicago White Sox visiting LA would be one of the most intriguing series of the season? Kershaw\u2019s 30000 K, Muncy\u2019s injury, dominant performances from Yamamoto and May…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11059],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90687,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90682\/revisions\/90687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHeadline for the Week:\u00a0Dodgers Dominate White Sox<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n2–Yoan Moncada, Anaheim\u2028Ramon Urias, Baltimore
\n3–Ryan McMahon, Colorado
\n4–Alex Bregman, Boston
\n5–Eugenio Suarez, Arizona<\/p>\n
\nMatchups:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>The Trashtros come to LA.<\/p>\n