To say that 32-year-old Dodgers (now) everyday third baseman Max Muncy has gotten off to a slow start to the 2023 season would be an understatement. It would also be very kind.

The painful truth is that heading into Monday night’s contest against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park (formerly Pacific Bell Park, formerly SBC Park, formerly AT&T Park), Muncy was 4-for-33, which equates to an un-Max-Muncy-like (and unacceptable) .121 batting average in the (now) 11-day-old season.

Was.

However, (and you had to know a ‘however’ was coming), Mad Max, as he is affectionally known, absolutely positively owns the San Francisco Giants – at least ever since his famous ‘Go get it out of the ocean’ home run off of former Giants (and now Arizona Diamondbacks) right-hander Madison Bumgarner in 2014 after MadBum yelled at him “Don’t watch the ball, you run,” as the ball splashed down in McCovey Cove.

In Monday night’s game against ‘The Hated Ones’, Muncy hit not one, but two home runs, the first a three-run shot off of Giants right-handed starter Logan Webb to straightaway centerfield in the top of the third inning to give the Dodgers a (then) 4-0 lead, and the second a grand slam off of Giants right-hander Sean Hjelle to left-centerfield in the top of the seventh to make it a 9-1 game and final score.

“I do hit good here, I don’t understand why, but I’m not going to complain about it,” Muncy told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson after his seven-RBI night. “I was just focused on getting myself in a good position today. We made some mechanical changes and kinda went back to what I was doing last year towards the end of the year.

“And so the whole thing for me today was just focusing on getting my body into a good position to hit and kinda letting the talent take over, and I got a couple good pitches and didn’t miss ’em,” he added.

They may not have ended up “…in the ocean,” but Muncy, the Dodgers, and Dodgers fans will gladly take them.

And then there’s that Julio Urías guy.

All the 26-year-old Culiacan, Mexico native did was toss six outstanding innings, allowing just that one Giants run on a solo home run by Giants first baseman Wilmer Flores in the bottom of the fourth inning, to pick up his team-leading second win of the season.

Urías limited the Giants to just four hits, while striking out eight and walking four.

“It was really important, really important to come out and have a good start,” Urías told reporters postgame through an interpreter, “Obviously, I fell a little short, (in his last start against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field), wasn’t really as effective as I wanted to be, a lot of pitches, a lot of long counts.

“Wanted to kind of help out the bullpen, alleviate some of that pressure. But obviously getting through six was important, but also, the bullpen picked me up and that was really important, as well,” added Urías.

“He was great, Julio set the tone for tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame. “I thought you could see it with his emotion, his energy, and the stuff really played tonight … To get through the sixth, reset out bullpen, was huge.”

Play Ball!

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