500.Īfter a slow a start, he had that monster three-homer, 10-RBI game on April and has been on fire ever since. These are all natural fluctuations, and even during this "slump," he's slugging over. 405 average on April 29, Harper has hit just. Harper snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a fifth-inning single to left-center. The Dodgers haven't struggled against lefties like they did last year - they entered the game with an OPS just a few points below their OPS against righties - but this lineup isn't going to scare many lefties in October, which is why Tim Kurkjian was talking during the game about the Dodgers possibly looking to trade for another right-handed power bat at the deadline.ģ. That's understandable, but it resulted in Kiki Hernandez making his first start at first base and Brett Eibner playing center field, with Adrian Gonzalez and Cody Bellinger on the bench. The Dodgers rolled out an odd lineup, stacking it with right-handed batters against Gio Gonzalez. He did reach on an infield single in his third at-bat - that speed - and made a nice play deep in the hole at shortstop, but I'd like to see some adjustments at the plate.Ģ. Those are good counts to look for a pitch in his zone, not to swing at borderline strikes. In his first two at-bats, he grounded out on a 1-0 changeup at the bottom of the zone and a 1-1 slider in on his hands. The key is for him to not attack the pitcher's pitch. Look, he's going to swing the bat walking isn't his game. His well-hit rate is actually higher than last year as well, so some of this is the hits just aren't falling as much. The good sign is Turner's chase rate has actually declined from last year, from 32 percent to 24 percent. 342 in his half season in 2016, his low walk rate and aggressive approach made it also clear that pitchers could learn to take advantage of that approach. Why not move up Rendon or Murphy - or both - in front of Harper and Zimmerman? Imagine the RBI opportunities.Īnyway, after playing so well last year, Turner has been a bit of a disappointment. That gives Baker a L-R-L-R order - overrated in my opinion, especially when you're talking about four good hitters - but in the process he may be giving an extra at-bat to worse hitters. Baker's mindset seems to be: OK, Bryce Harper hits third and I want Ryan Zimmerman to protect him. Without Adam Eaton, the Nationals don't have another obvious candidate, but it's also clear Baker isn't deploying his most optimal lineup as he bats Daniel Murphy fifth and Anthony Rendon sixth - with two lesser hitters batting in the top two spots (Ryan Raburn hit second on Monday). Dusty Baker continues to hit Trea Turner leadoff despite a sub-.300 OBP. Some observations in watching the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on a postcard night at Dodger Stadium:ġ. Real or not? Dodgers have problems against lefties, Astros' bottom of lineup cleans up You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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