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Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda is expected to face fellow countryman Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels for the first time in their major league careers Friday night in the series opener at Angel Stadium.
The Dodgers (47-39) have won four in a row to climb eight games over .500 for the first time this season. They moved two percentage points ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks (48-40) for first place in the National League West after Arizona lost its series opener at the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Thursday night.
The Angels (44-44) completed a 10-game road trip with a 4-1 loss against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night Brandin Cooks Jersey , dropping 12 games behind the Mariners for the second wild card from the American League. They’ll try to avoid falling below .500 for the first time since losing their season opener.
Ohtani, who turned 24 on Thursday, is in his first major league season after playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters the previous five years. He began this season as a right-handed pitcher and designated hitter and was having success as a two-way player until he was placed on the disabled list June 8 with a grade 2 sprain of his right ulnar collateral ligament.
He received stem-cell therapy and a platelet-rich-plasma injection to help heal the ligament without surgery, and was activated Tuesday before the Angels opened the three-game series against the Mariners.
Maeda, 30, pitched in Japan for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 2008-15 and faced Ohtani a few times, but told the Southern California News Group earlier this week that he considers this a new challenge.
“The image I had about him as a hitter has changed, so my approach to the way I pitch to him will change,” Maeda said through an interpreter. “I’m just going to approach it as if I’m facing a new hitter.”
Maeda (5-5, 3.36) has pitched well since mid-May, when he didn’t allow a run in back-to-back starts against the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies.
His past two outings have been nearly as good.
Maeda blanked the Chicago Cubs for seven innings in a 2-1 victory June 25, and then allowed three runs (two earned) and five hits over seven innings in a 3-1 loss to the Rockies on Saturday.
Maeda has made two career starts against the Angels and is 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA. He threw seven shutout innings in his last appearance against Los Angeles on June 27 Emmanuel Sanders Jersey , 2017 and the Dodgers won 4-0 at Dodger Stadium.
The starting lineup the Angels used against Seattle right-hander Mike Leake on Wednesday is a combined 3-for-25 off Maeda. Angels catcher Martin Maldonado is hitless in eight at-bats against Maeda, which may open the door for rookie Jose Briceno to get his first start since Sunday.
Angels rookie right-hander Jaime Barria was originally scheduled to start the series opener against the Dodgers, but was moved up to Thursday after left-hander Tyler Skaggs went on the 10-day disabled list with a right adductor strain, becoming the 10th starter for the Angels to go on the DL this season.
Felix Pena (1-0, 3.71 ERA) will make the start for the Angels and try to continue his transition from relief pitcher to starter.
He has made two career appearances against the Dodgers, both out of the bullpen covering three scoreless innings overall.
Patrick Mahomes II could have spent his offseason just about anywhere, back home in Texas perhaps, or maybe even some exotic locale befitting a 20-something starting quarterback in the NFL.Instead, Mahomes spent it in Kansas City.
Deeply immersed in Kansas City.
He showed up wearing his Chiefs jersey to read ”Oh the Places You Will Go” to a group of children at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. He hung out with fans at a Jason Aldean concert at the downtown Sprint Center.
He wore a cutoff jersey from the T-Bones, a local independent minor league baseball team, and a pair of jorts while attending the NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway. And he threw out the first pitch when the Royals played the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium.
Throw in the dozens of times fans have bumped into Mahomes at restaurants or on the street, usually documented on social media accounts Tyler Boyd Jersey , and it would be safe to call him a man about town.
”I mean, the fans come out every single week and show passion and love for us and our team and what we’re doing here,” Mahomes said, ”so for me, I want to be back in the community, giving back. And just be a part of it, to show the same love and passion to them.”
That earnestness is refreshing in the modern NFL, where large chasms have come to separate players from fans. Rarely do the biggest stars stick around town in the offseason, and even more rarely do players willingly embrace being part of the community.
Just this week, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown bemoaned the constant attention he receives, and the fact that he can’t even work out without people showing up and bothering him.
Mahomes would prefer people show up to work out with him.
The way he’s embraced living in Kansas City is not unlike the way Eric Hosmer and the rest of the Royals embraced the city during their back-to-back World Series runs. They would frequently pop up at local bars and buy a round for the entire place, even celebrating among the fans during playoff triumphs.
Maybe it’s something unique about Kansas City.
More likely Aaron Donald Jersey , it’s something unique about those individuals.
The way Mahomes has engrossed himself in the city hasn’t been lost on the fanbase, either. He’s only started one game, a Week 17 win over Denver with nothing on the line, and has yet to really prove himself as a legitimate NFL starting quarterback. But he’s become one of the most popular players on the team, and his No. 15 jersey is one of the hottest sellers at local sporting goods stores.
Nor has it been lost on his teammates, who rave about the way the 22-year-old Mahomes has taken on the leadership role that Alex Smith once held, even though he’s one of the youngest guys in the locker room.
”He’s always been confident. From the time I’ve known him, he’s been confident,” said safety Eric Berry, one of the Chiefs’ elder statesmen. ”He’s been sure of himself and he’s came out and made plays, so nothing’s really changed. Just now he’s with the ones (starters).”
Well, that’s a big change. The Chiefs have playoff aspirations this season Terrell Owens Jersey , and whether they extend their streak of back-to-back AFC West titles will largely fall on Mahomes’ shoulders.
”He’s just going in there with confidence, talking with everybody, making the calls and staying on top of things,” running back Kareem Hunt said. ”He really wants to win and be a good quarterback.”
That’s the next crucial step for Mahomes: Showing he can win games.
It’s one thing for Mahomes to be a man among the people, popping up all over town and snapping photos and signing autographs until every fan is content.
It’s quite another to keep them happy by performing well on the field, where even the most popular players get lambasted after bad games.
Smith went 50-26 as the starter in Kansas City and many fans couldn’t wait for him to leave.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid doesn’t seem concerned about the pressure getting to the Chiefs’ first-round pick from last year’s draft. He points out that Mahomes had an entire year to learn the ropes, and that he has not only absorbed the Chiefs’ vast playbook but broken down every nuance of it.
”He’s phenomenal,” Reid said. ”He’s got great leadership. He loves playing. He’s absorbing everything and now he’s just got to do it. He’s got to just go practice and work through it and massage each play and see how it works against these different coverages and he’s so willing. That’s the part you appreciate.”
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The Wall