Giants looking for edge at home
Dodgers return to Oracle, site of their May sweep
Here we go, GiantsDodgers ... again!
What have we learned from the 2021 installment of one of sports’ greatest rivalries? On the surface, these two teams aren’t doing very well at defending their home turf, and San Francisco very much would like to turn that around in the threegame series that opens Tuesday — and, maybe more to the point, again in the first week in September, when the Dodgers will be back again with three games in the thick of an NL West race that both teams should be in.
The firstplace Giants are coming off a terrific, dramatic series at Dodger Stadium in
which they took three of four, something that could provide some momentum coming into this week’s games — or it could spur secondplace Los Angeles, the defending World Series champ, to exact a little payback, as if a twogame gap in the division isn’t enough incentive.
“We know it’s going to be a nineinning battle. We know we’ve got to come in and play pretty good baseball on both sides of the ball,” Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. said. “As far as what we take from the series in L.A.: just add on to that, continue to keep that good formula. It all starts with our preparation and our work that we put in.”
The Giants are 64 at Dodger Stadium this season but they’ve lost all three games between the teams at Oracle Park, and this time they face two lefties, Julio Uriás and David Price. That’s important because San Francisco hasn’t demonstrated quite the output against lefties that the team produces against righthanders. The team OPS in games started by opponents’ righties is .793. Against lefties, it’s nearly 100 points lower, a mere .695. The Giants are averaging 5.10 runs per game against righthanded starters, 4.4 versus lefthanders.
The Dodgers outscored the Giants 179 in the threegame set at Oracle Park in May, but San Francisco built up a 5240 edge in runs scored at Los Angeles. Small sample sizes, certainly, but not the norm for the Giants, who are 3112 at home, that one Dodgers series aside.
“We definitely have some work to do to prepare for the Dodgers series, but I think we would work and prepare the same way whether we were playing in Los Angeles or we were playing here at Oracle Park,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “And frankly, our preparation would be the same as it would be for any other club, except for the personnel.”
The Giants appeared a little flat in dropping the first two games of the weekend series against a poor Pittsburgh team, but came back with a 61 win in the finale Sunday, and Kapler said, “I think we have an even better brand in us.”
“For us to sneak out of (Los Angeles) last week taking three or four, I think it takes an emotional toll. It takes a physical toll,” starter Alex Wood said. “But, obviously, it’s nice to be back home this week and get geared up for another series against them.”
San Francisco could be getting AllStar shortstop Brandon Crawford (oblique) back for the final game Thursday, and the Dodgers just put leadoff man Mookie Betts (hip) on the injured list; the clubs have run neckandneck much of the year when it comes to IL stays.
Los Angeles remains without injured starters Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May — and Trevor Bauer, who set the tone for the Dodgers in their sweep in San Francisco, is on administrative leave pending MLB’s investigations of sexual assault accusations against him. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that the majority of Dodgers players do not want Bauer to return to the club under any circumstances.
The MLB trade deadline is Friday, which could factor. Both teams are looking to add players for the stretch run, so the complexion of one or both could change in the middle of the series.
“They’re the favorites to win our division. They’re talented up and down the roster everywhere you look,” Wood said. “But, for us, it’s just staying the course. We’ve done such a good job all year of just coming in, whoever we’re playing, and just doing our jobs individually and collectively and hopefully, that turns into a win that night.
“And, obviously, we love playing at home, so it’ll be a great series. It’ll be another good test for us. We’ve just got keep the pace.”