Dodgers Dugout: A guide to booing the Astros*

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Los Angeles Mitchell (I always change my name when the Astros* come to town). Let’s take a look at the two-game series.

Unless you were born in the last three years, you probably know all about the 2017 World Series. The Astros* cheated, using a trash can to relay signals to hitters as to what pitch was coming. (This is the part where Astros* fans write me to tell me to stop crying). After being caught, the players got away with it and now many of them are proudly defiant of playing a season not having faith in their own abilities.

Anyway, starting tonight, the Astros* are in town for a two-game series. We are sending extra reporters to cover the series and will have a videographer or two there to capture all the booing, I mean, fun. Dodger fans on social media have been pointing to this series for a while now, but here’s a little tip: The Dodgers are not going to allow you to bring a trash can into the game. Of course, there are trash cans spread throughout Dodger Stadium, but I certainly don’t encourage that kind of behavior.

It’s funny to me to watch pitchers get threatened with suspension if a little pine tar is found on their glove, but the Astros* can cheat to win and nothing really happens to the players.

Anyway, for a handy booing guide, here are the players from the 2017 squad still with the Astros:

Jose Altuve

Alex Bregman

Carlos Correa

Yuli Gurriel

Lance McCullers Jr.

Yep, that’s it. The rest are either out of baseball or spread across other teams, like a bad cold.

The Dodgers send Walker Buehler to the mound tonight, and some new guy named Max Scherzer to the mound Wednesday. I’m not familiar with him, must be a minor-league call up.

The two teams are evenly matched on offense. The Dodgers are 64-43, the Astros* 64-42. The Astros* lead the AL in runs scored (5.47), the Dodgers lead the NL in runs scored (5.23). The Astros* have hit 140 homers, the Dodgers 147. The Dodgers have had better pitching, with a 3.18 ERA (best in baseball) to the Astros’* 3.73 (10th). The Dodgers have shut out opponents 10 times, the Astros* three times. Of course, some of that is because of the DH.

So, go out there and make some noise. Don’t throw things, don’t get carried away, but let the Astros* know you remember, especially the five players above.

“I haven’t been to a game since the COVID-19 lockdown, but this is the series to be at, and I’ll be attending both games,� Desiree Angel Garcia, a 37-year-old Dodgers fan from Los Angeles, wrote to Mike DiGiovanna in a text-message. “I think you’ll have a mix of people just wanting to see the Dodgers shut them out and those who are going to boo and give them hell the whole game.�

July numbers

How Dodger hitters and pitchers did in July:

AJ Pollock, .371/.424/.697, 8 doubles, 7 homers, 13 RBIs

Mookie Betts, .370/.417/.685, 5 doubles, 4 homers, 11 RBIs

Chris Taylor, .333/.369/.619, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 20 RBIs

Corey Seager, .333/.333/.333 (two games)

Justin Turner, .326/.402/.584, 2 doubles, 7 homers, 21 RBIs

Max Muncy, .315/.402/.562, 7 doubles, 5 homers, 24 RBIs

Albert Pujols, .300/.308/.420, 2 homers, 10 RBIs

Matt Beaty, .268/.400/.341, 1 homer, 3 RBIs

Will Smith, .265/.366/.500, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 20 RBIs

Austin Barnes, .242/324/.394, 2 doubles, 1 homer, 2 RBIs

Gavin Lux, .214/.298/.310, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 5 RBIs

Steven Souza Jr., .200/.200/.200 (1 for 5)

Billy McKinney, .194/.306/.226, 1 doubles, 2 RBIs

Sheldon Neuse, .143/.143/.143 (1 for 7)

Cody Bellinger, .118/.186/.215, 1 double, 1 triple, 2 homers, 7 RBIs

Zach McKinstry, .111/.149/.289, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 3 RBIs

Luke Raley, .111/.111/.111 (1 for 9)

Zach Reks, .000/.000/.000 (0 for 8)

Pitchers

Blake Treinen, 13 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 12 K’s, 0.00 ERA

Jimmy Nelson, 5 IP, 2 hits, 0 walks, 5 K’s, 0.00 ERA

Alex Vesia, 10 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 8 K’s, 0.90 ERA

Walker Buehler, 32.1 IP, 20 hits, 9 walks, 38 K’s, 1.67 ERA

Joe Kelly, 10 IP, 7 hits, 3 walks, 14 K’s, 1 save, 1.80 ERA

Julio Urias, 31.1 IP, 25 hits, 7 walks, 25 K’s, 2.30 ERA

Garrett Cleavinger, 6.2 IP, 8 hits, 4 walks, 8 K’s, 2.70 ERA

Tony Gonsolin, 22.2 IP, 16 hits, 16 walks, 24 K’s, 2.78 ERA

David Price, 19 IP, 16 hits, 7 walks, 16 K’s, 3.32 ERA

Jake Reed, 5.1 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 5 K’s, 3.38 ERA

Brusdar Graterol, 7.2 IP, 6 hits, 1 walk, 5 K’s, 3.52 ERA

Mitch White, 9.2 IP, 7 hits, 2 walks, 11 K’s, 3.72 ERA

Phil Bickford, 12 IP, 10 hits, 6 walks, 10 K’s, 3.75 ERA

Jimmie Sherfy, 4.1 IP, 3 hits, 0 walks, 3 K’s, 4.15 ERA

Scott Alexander, 3.2 IP, 8 hits, 3 walks, 3 K’s, 4.91 ERA

Darien Nunez, 7.1 IP, 7 hits, 2 walks, 8 K’s, 6.14 ERA

Josiah Gray, 8 IP, 7 hits, 5 walks, 13 K’s, 6.75 ERA

Clayton Kershaw, 4 IP, 3 hits, 1 walks, 3 K’s, 6.75 ERA

Victor Gonzalez, 6.1 IP, 12 hits, 4 walks, 7 K’s, 8.53 ERA

Kenley Jansen, 7.2 IP, 15 hits, 8 walks, 11 K’s, 9.39 ERA

Edwin Uceta, 3.1 IP, 4 hits, 5 walks, 4 K’s, 13.50 ERA

Up next

Tonight: Houston (Lance McCullers Jr., 8-2, 3.23 ERA) at Dodgers (Walker Buehler, 11-1, 2.19 ERA), 7 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570

Wednesday: Houston (Jake Odorizzi, 4-5, 4.30 ERA) at Dodgers (Max Scherzer, 8-4, 2.76 ERA), 6:30 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570

And finally

Vin Scully addresses Pepperdine graduates. Watch and listen here.