Dodgers Opens Season With High Note
Everyone loves opening day. This year’s season starter was the most anticipated for the Los Angeles and their fans in a years. One major reason is the team spent a record 1.2 billion dollars by grabbing two biggest international stars in baseball history, also a hometown talent of a pitcher. And a few others to go in the pot.
By Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer
Everyone loves opening day. This year’s season starter was the most anticipated for the Los Angeles and their fans in a years. One major reason is the team spent a record 1.2 billion dollars by grabbing two biggest international stars in baseball history, also a hometown talent of a pitcher. And a few others to go in the pot.
At Dodger Stadium came the celebrities, millionaires, billionaires, blue collar workers, social workers, and many ten to fifteen year-olds were given a pass on truancy from school.
After all that the Men in Blue came out on top 7-1 as the big three of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman got things going early.
The three MVP’s each reached base at least twice, combining to go 5-for-8 with two homers and four RBIs. They combined to reach base safely in nine of their 12 plate appearances.
“I think in any discussion, you can argue that they’re the best hitters in baseball,” said skipper Dave Roberts. “I think when you talk about those three guys and you lump up another handful or 10 players in baseball, they’re in that conversation. We’re fortunate to have three at the top of the order. The first word that comes to mind is ‘daunting,’ for me, when you look at those guys.”
Betts opened the third going to “ RIP CITY” with his second homer in three games this season. Ohtani, who joked he was “the only one who couldn’t hit a homer,” then followed with a walk, setting it up for Freeman to hit his first four-bagger of the 2024 season.
Newcomer Tyler Glasnow of Santa Clarita native and Hart High graduate struck out five and allowed just one run over six strong innings of work. Offensively, Will Smith, Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernández and James Outman also chipped in with key hits.
Los Angeles, California – March 31: Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers bats in the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium during the series finale (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
In the Series finale Max Muncy hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning Sunday and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied from a four-run deficit over the final four innings to earn a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Muncy has collected a hit in all six Dodger games this season, and in game four his blast was not only his first of the season, but against a left-hander — an area in which Muncy struggled a season ago.
“I feel relaxed, and that to me that’s the most important thing,” Muncy said. “When I’m relaxed, I’m not pressing. I’m able to just see the ball and try to get a good swing on it. It is baseball, it’s hard. There’s not always going to be good results, especially in certain situations. But as long as I’m relaxed at the plate and I’m not pressing, not trying to do too much, I feel pretty good about myself.”
Teoscar Hernandez also hit a home run in the eighth inning and had two RBIs as the Dodgers’ offense finally came to life late against the Cardinals’ bullpen.
Cardinal pitchers stymied bats a bit as the top three of the Dodgers’ order in Betts, Ohtani and Freeman went just 1-for-11, but the lone hit proved key when Ohtani doubled and scored a run in the sixth inning.
Betts saw his four-game streak with a home run come to an end falling short of tying the Dodgers’ record of five. L.A. starter Gavin Stone gave up three runs on seven hits over five-plus innings in his first start of the season.
Nabil Crismatt (1-0) picked up the victory with two scoreless innings in his Dodgers debut and Daniel Hudson pitched the ninth for his first save.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, struck-out the side in the first inning and limiting the Cardinals to two hits, however, Yamamoto relieved the Dodgers of the fears that emerged in the wake of a dismal performance early on. In the season-opening series in South Korea against the Padres, Yamamoto lasted just one inning and was charged with five runs.
This week the lone series loss vs the Red Birds showing a big positive as the 5-foot-10 frame will hold up over a 162-game season. The Dodgers fans may not have to worry anymore about whether Yamamoto can pitch at this level. They also don’t have to worry about how he’ll respond when cornered.
“As you’re around players more, you start to learn more about them,” Roberts said. “I think with Yoshinobu, there’s a lot of confidence and there’s a lot of pride and fire. Appreciating the contract and his part of the deal, I think he took it personal.”
The Dodgers took three of four from St. Louis and dominated in a win over San Francisco Giants 8-1 at DODGER stadium. They are 8-2 at Press time.
ADD DODGERS: Also In the Finale Ohtani’s ripped a double that was second-hardest hit ball in Dodgers history since the inception of StatCast. The hardest was Yasiel Puig’s 116 mile-per-hour groundout on April 4th, 2017, via Sarah Langs of MLB.com. That wasn’t the hardest of his career-On April 10th, 2022, “Shotime” cracked a 119.1 mile-per-hour ground rule double as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Now the Japanese super lefty holds the exit velocity record for two different ball clubs… The team also signed catcher Will Smith to a 10 year 140 million contract that will keep him in Los Angeles for the next decade.
