There were a lot of good things that happened during the Dodgers marathon doubleheader with the Giants on Saturday at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

There were the three doubles that Chase Utley hit in Game-1 to tie a Dodgers franchise record set last season by his double play mate Corey Seager on July 17, 2016. Utley finished the game with four hits and a walk, and it was the 12th time in his 16-year MLB career that he reached base at least five times. In doing so, the man affectionately known as ‘The Silver Fox’ raised his season slash-line to an impressive .327/.438/.500. Not bad for a guy pushing 40.

And then there’s Joc Pederson, who had a rare 4-for-4 day and came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. It was a day that the just-turned 26-year-old from nearby Palo Alto, California desperately needed after his painfully slow start to the 2018 season. With his four hits, Pederson also boosted his season numbers – albeit only slightly – and is now slashing .229 / .329 / .333.

And, of course, there’s Walker Buehler who, in only his second career major league start allowed only two runs on six hits while walking one and striking out six in his very impressive 5.0 innings of work, to collect his first win of the season. And even though it was only his second start and the sample size small with only 10 combined innings pitched thus far, he now boasts a team best 1.80  ERA among all Dodger starters.

In the end, the Dodgers amassed a season-high 15 runs on a season-high 20 hits for the dominating Game-1 win of the twin bill; this in spite of efforts by beleaguered reliever Pedro Baez to blow the game with his four runs (three earned) and three consecutive base hits allowed, with a walk and a strikeout in his (wait for it…) one-third of an inning pitched to raise his ERA to a less-than-stellar 4.50.

The Dodgers ended up losing the nightcap by a score of 8-3 which, quite frankly, should have been a Dodgers win – and sweep – of the doubleheader, and it really came down to two at-bats, both in the top of the seventh inning.

With the Dodgers trailing the Giants 4-2 heading into the top of the seventh, Pederson led off the inning with a walk off of Giants right-hander Reyes Montoya. This was followed by a single off the bat of Dodgers right fielder Alex Verdugo, who had been added to the Dodgers roster (and line-up) specifically for the doubleheader.

Montoya then walked Dodgers third baseman Kyle Farmer to load the bases with no outs, forcing Giants manager Bruce Bochy to bring in veteran right-hander Sam Dyson (on a 1-0 count, no less) to face Austin Barnes, who was pinch-hitting for starting pitcher Alex Wood. On an 0-1 count, Barnes promptly grounded into a routine 4-6-3 double play. And even though Pederson scored and Verdugo took third on the play to make it a 4-3 ballgame, it wiped what could have been the go-ahead runs off the board.

Barnes’ double play was followed by a called strikeout by Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor, who inexcusably looked at a third strike fastball that was right down Broadway.

With two strikes and the tying run on third base, Taylor taking this called third strike was simply inexcusable.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

Although we will never know if Taylor’s mental lapse would this have changed the outcome of the game, what we do know is that the extremely popular Dodger has deposited countless fastballs right down Broadway into the bleachers of ballparks across the country.

Not so at AT&T Park on this cool and breezy Saturday evening during Game-2 of a doubleheader against The Hated Ones, which painfully ended in an 8-3 loss.

But alas, Game-4 of the four-game series against the Giants will be played on Sunday afternoon, so hope springs eternal that the Dodgers can come away with a series split.

Play Ball!!