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LOS ANGELES – Their hats were a lighter color. Their cleats and socks included hints of pink. Other than the uniforms, Sunday’s performance on Mother’s Day looked typical for the first place Dodgers The team that kept pressing on Padres while tightening their grip on the division.
The shutout victory provided the Dagger in a sweep of the weekend as the Dodgers captured their 11th straight regular season win against the Padres dating back to August 2021. They haven’t lost a season series to San Diego since 2010.
“We have a really good team,” Mookie Pets he said after coming back in the 4-0 win on Sunday. “We just show it.”
While nothing the Dodgers did in the month of May would erase what happened last October, their regular season dominance over the Padres has continued in a way that doesn’t look like it will.
After San Diego won the National League Series last year, the Dodgers took a step back in spending as the Padres kept adding, acquiring a free agent. Xander Bogaerts and stretch Manny Machado And Yo Darwish This is an offseason. The Padres’ payroll jumped to the third highest in the sport.
“We’ve got people in the hall who can take it to the next level and win a World Series,” Padres president Peter Seidler declared this spring.
Starting the 2023 season going 19-22 wasn’t part of the plan.
Padres coach Bob Melvin said after Sunday’s sweep, and struck a more positive tone than the one he had on Thursday when he expressed his frustration after the NFL’s losing streak. twins.
The Padres now find themselves in a much different place than they were a week ago, when it seemed like a comeback Fernando Tatis Jr. It may have provided the starting point needed to kick them into gear.
They were 9-11 with the 22nd-ranked OPS team in baseball when Tatís was activated from his April 20 suspension. With Tatís back, the Padres won nine of their next 13 games, culminating in a 5–2 win over the Dodgers in which Tatís eclipsed twice. Clayton Kershaw. But the joy was short-lived, and the attack’s troubles continued.
The revamped Padres lineup scored just three runs over the last two games of this past weekend’s series against Los Angeles. The Twins then took two of three from Minnesota’s San Diego, prompting Melvin to solicit the best baseball game.
Mookie Betts mashes a two-run homer, giving the Dodgers the lead against the Padres
Instead, the anemic Padres offense has been turning up a total of four home runs over three games this weekend at Dodger Stadium, making it quieter every day. After recording eight hits and going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on Friday, the Padres mustered a combined eight hits over the next two days while being 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position on Saturday and Sunday.
The Tatís comeback hasn’t fully ignited the Padres offense who are currently playing the same OPS as Kansas City Royals (697).
“Five days ago, we were talking about getting out of this thing, and then we just couldn’t keep it,” Melvin said. “Until we keep it, we are not the team we would expect.”
The struggles are even more surprising in mind Juan Soto He’s back to his hard ways, and now holds a team best .886 OPS of the year. Bogaerts ran out the Padres offense early in the season, but he’s had a 0.12 runs batting average over his past 18 games. Machado, meanwhile, has yet to start the year with 654 OPS.
Juan Soto hits a solo home run to give the Padres a 1-0 lead over the Dodgers
“Keep playing,” Machado said. “That’s all we can do. I think we do everything we can, and don’t get in our way. We’re through this stretch. It’s all right. Just keep our head up and come in tomorrow. We might lose tomorrow. We might not lose. Who knows ?But go out there and perform, keep playing our game, that’s all we can do.”
Machado kept faith that the tough stretch is no more—that the talent put together will win in the end.
“Everyone here knows what we have,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers put what they have on display. They have won 13 of their 15 matches and lead three games into second place diamondbacks. Their lead over the third-place Padres swelled to seven games, with the teams not meeting again until August.
They survived a concussion will Smith that sidelined the Dodgers catcher for 13 games, with a back injury JD Martinez that kept the designated hitter in 15 games and five players who were on the paternity list throughout the early season.
And they continued to control their most dangerous enemies. After being swept this weekend, the Dodgers are now 19-6 against the Padres in the regular season since the start of last year.
JD Martinez goes yard, Dodgers grab early lead on Padres
“I think we play good baseball,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I know that. We know we’ve got a good ball club. Like I said before, it’s nice to play good baseball against a team like that, and put some distance between us and them.”
During the winter, Roberts lamented that the Dodgers seemed to lack the same intensity as the Padres during the NLDS. However, that same level may also help explain how the Dodgers won a record 111 games last season and captured Division 10 for the past eleven seasons.
Instead of hype for this weekend’s game with the Padres, they’ve instead focused on the inside.
“There are a lot of keys to success,” said Roberts. “I think one is more focused on your ballclub and not distracted by other variables, other factors, other teams. I think, for me, it’s been a defining feature of all our ballclubs, and this year it’s no difference.”
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman battle it out as the Dodgers lead 4-2 over the Padres
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman are running backs as the Los Angeles Dodgers take a 4-2 lead over the San Diego Padres.
This year is different, however, given the roster build. The Dodgers no longer have it Tria Turner or Cody Bellinger or Justin Turner. They did not enter this season expecting to break a new record for wins. Roberts didn’t secure a world championship, the way he did a year ago. He acknowledged the possibility of further volatility.
But he, along with his players, also expressed his belief.
“We know we have a good football club,” Roberts repeated. “I think the defining characteristic of our ball club is that we have a lot of selfless players but also guys who are doing a really good job of staying put at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the new-look Padres can’t wait for this moment to pass.
“I think at the end of the year, things will be a little different,” Machado said. “We just have to keep fighting through it.”
Rowan Kavner Covers the Dodgers and the NL West for FOX Sports. He was previously the Dodgers’ editor for digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tweet.
Major League Baseball
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
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