Los Angeles Dodgers: 6 Advantages They Have over Giants Heading into the Series

One month into the season and the National League is seeing its best rivalry this week: Dodgers vs. Giants.

The series always brings out the best of both teams, as both teams leave it all on the field with an all-or-nothing mentality that results in some very exciting games.

Let’s remember that although the rivalry can get intense for both sides, it’s merely a fun aspect of sports and shouldn’t exceed its proper parameters.

With that in mind, let’s preview the upcoming first meeting of the season between these longtime rivals and take a look at the advantages that the Dodgers have coming into the series. 

Follow @Robert_Pace

Meat of the Lineup

While the Giants normally have a good meat of the lineup with Buster Posey (.329 BA 4 HR 11 RBI) and Pablo Sandoval (.316 BA 5 HR 15), theirs fails in comparison to that of the Dodgers even with a healthy Sandoval, who was recently put on the 15-day disabled list for a hand injury.

Matt Kemp (.392 BA 12 HR 27 RBI) and Andre Ethier (.283 6 HR 28 RBI) are run-producing machines for the Blue Crew and have driven in over 50 percent of the team’s runs with a combined 55 runs batted in.

The Giants, like every Dodger opponent this year, won’t want to walk Kemp with Ethier in the on-deck circle, and Kemp will subsequently see good pitches like he has been all season.

Pitching Rotation

Because the Dodgers were running a four-man rotation earlier in the season due to a Ted Lilly injury and the Giants having to postpone a game against the Mets, the Dodgers are a pitcher ahead of the Giants in their rotation.

5/7—SF: Barry Zito (4); LA: Ted Lilly (5)

5/8—SF: Ryan Vogelsong (5); Clayton Kershaw (1)

5/9—SF: Tim Lincecum (1); Chad Billingsley (2)

The Giants have a slight edge with Zito (.232 BA vs. Dodgers) taking on Lilly (.276 BA vs. Giants) in the first game, but it’s worth noting that Kemp has historically hit very well against Zito (47 AB .426 BA 2 HR 7 RBI).

Ryan Vogelsong (3.42 ERA 25 K) isn’t too be underestimated, but Kershaw should prove to be the better pitcher in that matchup.

In previous years, Lincecum against Billingsley would have been chalked up as a win for the Giants, but The Freak is off to a rough start in 2012 (5.68 ERA, 2-2) and Billingsley has had a few solid outings this season.

Home-Field Advantage

All three games of the series will be played at Dodger Stadium, which will give the Blue Crew the upper hand.

Oddly enough, at this stage of the season both teams are significantly more productive on the offensive end. But even more significantly, there is a major discrepancy between the two team’s pitching performances at home and away.

The Giants’ ERA jumps from 2.25 to 4.43 when they are on the road, which is particularly bad news for Vogelsong and Lincecum, whose ERA more than doubles on the road (Zito’s decreases to 1.35).

To add to that, the Dodgers are 10-2 at home this year and would have been undefeated at their home venue to this point had Javy Guerra not blown two saves against the Braves.

Fielding

Although at the major-league level fielding tends to play less of a role in the game, the Dodgers are a much better fielding team than the Giants, and that may come into play in a key situation.

The Giants have made 28 errors this season (out of 27 games), four of which have been made by Buster Posey, who has been a good defensive catcher in his short MLB career.

The Dodgers, who have three 2011 Gold Glove winners (Kemp, Ethier, Kershaw), have been solid defensively this season as well and have only made 13 errors. In addition, three Dodgers starters have yet to make an error, whereas every Giant starter has committed at least one error.

Health

Although it’s early in the season, the Giants have had bad fortune with keeping their players healthy and currently have three players on the 15-day disabled list.

Dangerous cleanup hitter Pablo Sandoval is out with a hand injury, solid contact hitter Freddy Sanchez is having shoulder problems, and the clutch-hitting veteran Aubrey Huff is currently on the DL with an anxiety disorder but may be cleared to play on Monday (via The Washington Post).

While Huff and Sanchez haven’t been integral parts to the Giants’ offense this season, Sandoval has been SF’s biggest run-producer and leads the team in both home runs (five) and runs batted in (15).

In the other clubhouse, the Dodgers have all their key players healthy and ready to play. Juan Uribe is day-to-day with a wrist injury and Ted Lilly has an oblique injury that has been bothering him, but the Blue Crew will fine without those two if they can’t play this series against the Giants. 

Dodgers Love the Night Life

Perhaps they see the ball better or merely thrive under fluorescent light, but the Dodgers play much better when the games are at night, and all three games of the series are slotted for a 7:10 p.m. start.

Day (9 games):

Offense: .244 BA 7 HR 31 RBI .319 OBP

Pitching: 5-4 .259 BAA 4.42 ERA

Night (17 games):

Offense: .277 BA 17 HR 73 RBI .347 OBP

Pitching: 12-5 .205 BAA 3.08 ERA

For the unaveraged stats we have to take into account that they have played nearly twice as many night games, but there is a noticeable difference in the Dodgers’ performance after the sun sets.

Follow @Robert_Pace