Los Angeles: The 2021 top two teams in all of baseball faced off today with a crowd of 43,370 in attendance to see the first of 19 meetings they will have this year. People talk about the Yankee-Boston rivalry as being the best in all of sports. I say hold up there cowboy, this Dodger-Giants thing has been going on for a lot longer.
Lets go back a few years. Like maybe 1899 when they both resided in New York. Then in 1957 both teams relocated to California where the rivalry has continued to this day. Last year the Giants won 107 games and the Dodgers won 106.
Going into tonights game the Dodgers are in first place in the NL West at 14-7 and the Giants are in 3rd at 14-8. Both teams come into this series batting .237. Which is indicative of the state of hitting in the big leagues today as players try to hit home runs all the time in many situations. I guess batting averages and strikeouts are nothing to be concerned about anymore.
Tonight the Dodgers sent out another one of their aces in Latino Sports 2021 starting pitcher MVP award winner Julio Urías to get things started this year with their annual adversaries. It was a good choice by Dodger’s Manager Dave Roberts. Last year Urías, from Culiacan, Mexico, was 20-3 with a 2.96 era and 195 strikeouts. Batters had a dismal .218 BA against him and in 185.2 innings he only walked 38 batters. He did not record a loss from July through the end of the regular season, posting a perfect 11-0 record with a 1.95 ERA.
How in Gods name he only got 3 total votes for the Cy young award and not one first place vote, should be investigated. It’s insane! This is one of the reasons that the Latino Sports MVP awards are so important. Not just for Latino players to be recognized but to make a wrong a right in baseball awards.
Giants starter lefty Carlos Rodón couldn’t keep this 97-98 fastballs down in the 2nd inning and after walks to Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger he threw a wild pitch to advance both runners. Then with 2 outs and 1-2 count on Chris Taylor he served up a middle of the plate 98 mph fastball that Taylor lined sharply to right for a single that plated both Muncy and Bellinger.
That’s all Urías needed as he was cruising in sunny California. He completed 6 innings giving up 4 hits, in four different innings. He gave up 0 runs, 0 walks and had 4 strikeouts. Throwing 65 pitches, 52 for strikes. He dominated the Giants with a steady mix of 90-93 Fastballs, 84 change-ups and 78-81mph curveballs. His command and control was outstanding and he showed that you can be a very good pitcher at this level without having to throw 98-100 mph blistering fastballs. This is why he was a Latino Sports MVP.
The Dodgers eventually held on to win 3-1. These two will meet for one more tomorrow in what is an unusual two game series between these two powerhouses .
Side note: A number of long hard hit fly balls looked like they were going out tonight but fell short. It has been happening all season so far. Is it the ball? Time for MLB to call the factory in Turrialba, Costa Rica and have them send up the the balls with Hi Octane juice in them again.
