Just Another Manic Monday for Dodgers Against Red Hot Cardinals
The Dodgers host the Cardinals on Monday night on the MLB Network in a game with possible playoff implications. The Cardinals are finding their groove in the right time of year while the Dodgers are struggling to look like a playoff team.
St. Louis at Los Angeles Dodgers
MLB Pick: Cardinals
Rookie Austin Gomber (3-0, 2.89 ERA) has played an integral role in St. Louis’ recent success. He’s won his last two starts, conceding zero runs in 11 innings. He’s bounced back and forth between the bullpen and starting rotation, but the latter seems to suit him more because his numbers are stronger as a starter.
The southpaw Gomber throws his fastball half the time but also mixes in a slider and curveball with combined 38 percent frequency. He relies on his fastball in all scenarios, but also features his curveball with two strikes. Even though the fastball is his favorite pitch, he’s generally been struggling to prevent opponents from hitting it well, although it wasn’t too bad in his last outing. Given his recent success, his struggles with his fastball are a testament to the effectivity of his other pitches. When runners enter scoring position, he cuts down on his fastball usage, although opponents still have to respect the possibility that he’ll utilize it. Instead, he focuses on his curveball—especially to same-handed batters—and his slider. Opponents hit an astoundingly low .104 against the former and .214 against the latter. Opponents’ wOBA (weighted on base average; measures overall offensive production) is .155 against his curveball, whereas league average is .330. Gomber’s curveball carries the usual traits of a curveball—it creates a change of velocity that throws hitters off balance by averaging 15 mph fewer than his fastball and it changes the batter’s eye level after a high fastball by landing low. What makes it so unique is its negative horizontal movement and negative vertical movement. In other words, it doesn’t move towards an opposite-handed batter, which makes it effective against righties, while it still fools a same-handed batter who struggles to time his swing against the awkward movement and also struggles to perceive this pitch well because it comes from a same-handed pitcher and because it carries nice spin.
The Doyers rank below average in slugging against Gomber’s three pitches and none of them have faced Gomber’s unique curveball. The Dodgers are 0-3 in home series openers after the All-Star Break and are generally struggling for form, having lost six of their last eight. All Star Matt Kemp is struggling for form, only showing occasional glimpses of his former self. He’s batting .175 in August.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AReallyGoodBat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#AReallyGoodBat</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RealPaulDeJong?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@RealPaulDeJong</a> has reached base safely in 16 straight games, extending his career-best. DeJong collected 3+ RBI for the 5th time this season. <a href="https://t.co/CFzrxf4dWV">pic.twitter.com/CFzrxf4dWV</a></p>— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) <a href=" ">19. August 2018</a></blockquote>
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LA’s Alex Wood (7-6, 3.51 ERA) will try to stop his hot opponent. Wood dominated the Giants in his last outing as he usually does and was fortunate to pitch well despite a high FIP (like ERA, but factors out luck) against an injury-ridden Houston lineup. Nonetheless, he is 0-1 in his last two outings because his lineup isn’t giving him sufficient run support. So even if he pitches as well on Monday, which I doubt, there’s still little reason to hope for LA.
The southpaw Wood relies on a sinker-slider-change combo. He relies on the sinker most and in all scenarios, except he features the slider with two strikes against righties and the change with two strikes against lefties. Opponents fare fairly well against his sinker, but bat under .230 against both his slider and change-up. His slider in unique with its negative vertical and horizontal movement and his change-up boasts strong arm-side movement. Both pitches are his favorites to induce ground balls with.
The Cardinals match up well with Wood, ranking seventh in slugging against his three pitches from lefties. In August, the Cards have gone from being one game above .500 to 12 games. Dating to July, they’ve won series against the Cubs, Rockies, Nats, and Brewers—all playoff contenders. Their scoring has been consistent, producing five runs in eight of their last 10 games. One loss was due to atrocious fielding, but the Cards have been better there, too. The bullpen has also improved since its new manager cleaned house, boasting the best ERA in August. Jordan Hicks has allowed three runs in his last 14 innings. They’ve won seven of their last eight games against southpaws. Wood yields an FIP over 4.00 against right-handed batters and the Cards boast plenty of those. Watch for Jose Martinez, who’s batting .462 in his past seven days. Harrison Bader is also rising onto the scene with a .357 August BA.
The Dodgers host the Cardinals on Monday night on the MLB Network in a game with possible playoff implications. The Cardinals are finding their groove in the right time of year while the Dodgers are struggling to look like a playoff team.
St. Louis at Los Angeles Dodgers
MLB Pick: Cardinals
Rookie Austin Gomber (3-0, 2.89 ERA) has played an integral role in St. Louis’ recent success. He’s won his last two starts, conceding zero runs in 11 innings. He’s bounced back and forth between the bullpen and starting rotation, but the latter seems to suit him more because his numbers are stronger as a starter.
The southpaw Gomber throws his fastball half the time but also mixes in a slider and curveball with combined 38 percent frequency. He relies on his fastball in all scenarios, but also features his curveball with two strikes. Even though the fastball is his favorite pitch, he’s generally been struggling to prevent opponents from hitting it well, although it wasn’t too bad in his last outing. Given his recent success, his struggles with his fastball are a testament to the effectivity of his other pitches. When runners enter scoring position, he cuts down on his fastball usage, although opponents still have to respect the possibility that he’ll utilize it. Instead, he focuses on his curveball—especially to same-handed batters—and his slider. Opponents hit an astoundingly low .104 against the former and .214 against the latter. Opponents’ wOBA (weighted on base average; measures overall offensive production) is .155 against his curveball, whereas league average is .330. Gomber’s curveball carries the usual traits of a curveball—it creates a change of velocity that throws hitters off balance by averaging 15 mph fewer than his fastball and it changes the batter’s eye level after a high fastball by landing low. What makes it so unique is its negative horizontal movement and negative vertical movement. In other words, it doesn’t move towards an opposite-handed batter, which makes it effective against righties, while it still fools a same-handed batter who struggles to time his swing against the awkward movement and also struggles to perceive this pitch well because it comes from a same-handed pitcher and because it carries nice spin.
The Doyers rank below average in slugging against Gomber’s three pitches and none of them have faced Gomber’s unique curveball. The Dodgers are 0-3 in home series openers after the All-Star Break and are generally struggling for form, having lost six of their last eight. All Star Matt Kemp is struggling for form, only showing occasional glimpses of his former self. He’s batting .175 in August.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AReallyGoodBat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#AReallyGoodBat</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RealPaulDeJong?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@RealPaulDeJong</a> has reached base safely in 16 straight games, extending his career-best. DeJong collected 3+ RBI for the 5th time this season. <a href="https://t.co/CFzrxf4dWV">pic.twitter.com/CFzrxf4dWV</a></p>— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) <a href=" ">19. August 2018</a></blockquote>
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LA’s Alex Wood (7-6, 3.51 ERA) will try to stop his hot opponent. Wood dominated the Giants in his last outing as he usually does and was fortunate to pitch well despite a high FIP (like ERA, but factors out luck) against an injury-ridden Houston lineup. Nonetheless, he is 0-1 in his last two outings because his lineup isn’t giving him sufficient run support. So even if he pitches as well on Monday, which I doubt, there’s still little reason to hope for LA.
The southpaw Wood relies on a sinker-slider-change combo. He relies on the sinker most and in all scenarios, except he features the slider with two strikes against righties and the change with two strikes against lefties. Opponents fare fairly well against his sinker, but bat under .230 against both his slider and change-up. His slider in unique with its negative vertical and horizontal movement and his change-up boasts strong arm-side movement. Both pitches are his favorites to induce ground balls with.
The Cardinals match up well with Wood, ranking seventh in slugging against his three pitches from lefties. In August, the Cards have gone from being one game above .500 to 12 games. Dating to July, they’ve won series against the Cubs, Rockies, Nats, and Brewers—all playoff contenders. Their scoring has been consistent, producing five runs in eight of their last 10 games. One loss was due to atrocious fielding, but the Cards have been better there, too. The bullpen has also improved since its new manager cleaned house, boasting the best ERA in August. Jordan Hicks has allowed three runs in his last 14 innings. They’ve won seven of their last eight games against southpaws. Wood yields an FIP over 4.00 against right-handed batters and the Cards boast plenty of those. Watch for Jose Martinez, who’s batting .462 in his past seven days. Harrison Bader is also rising onto the scene with a .357 August BA.
