LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matt Kemp is used to being an everyday player. With so much talent on the Dodgers Gleyber Torres Jersey , though, he’s had to adjust to not seeing his name in the lineup as often.“Does he like it?” manager Dave Roberts said. “Probably not, but he understands.”Kemp is just happy to be playing baseball that matters in September, after being on teams in San Diego and Atlanta that missed the playoffs in recent years.“This doesn’t get old,” he said after NL West-leading Los Angeles pounded out 16 hits in a 14-0 rout of the San Diego Padres on Sunday. “I’m excited about what’s to come.”The Dodgers’ division lead remained at 1½ games over Colorado, which won 2-0 at Arizona.The Dodgers finished their home slate at 44-37. They are 87-69 overall with six games remaining and would need to surpass the NL East champion Atlanta Braves (88-68) to earn home-field advantage in the NL Division Series.“We do some scoreboard watching,” Kemp said.Kemp went 3-for-4 — falling a triple shy of the cycle — drove in three runs and scored two on his 34th birthday. Fans in right field serenaded him by singing “Happy Birthday.”“I haven’t had a triple all year,” he said. “That would have been cool.”Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) pitched six scoreless innings and tied a career high with three hits. The South Korean left-hander allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked none to help the Dodgers take two out of three from the last-place Padres.“Because the hitters gave me a lead, it was very comfortable pitching,” Ryu said through a translator.Brian Dozier was the only Dodgers starter without at least one hit. Max Muncy entered as a pinch-hitter and drove in a team-high four runs.Los Angeles had three homers to extend its NL-leading and club-record total to 225.Manny Machado and Kemp slugged solo shots in the first, giving Ryu a 2-0 lead. Kemp’s homer was his 1,000th career RBI, making him the 11th active player to reach that mark.“It’s tough for all of us,” Kemp said Tyler Austin Jersey , referring to those who don’t play every day, “but we all got one common goal. Sacrifices have to be made at this moment. The main thing is to get back to the playoffs and back to the World Series.” Machado’s homer was his 37th this season, matching a career high, and his 13th since the Dodgers acquired him from Baltimore.Austin Barnes‘ two-run homer highlighted a six-run fourth when the Dodgers batted around. David Freese’s two-out RBI single chased Joey Lucchesi (8-9). Machado followed with an RBI single off Trey Wingenter, who then walked Enrique Hernandez to load the bases.Left fielder Hunter Renfroe had trouble picking up Kemp’s RBI single that added two more runs to make it 8-0.Muncy had two-run singles in the fifth and seventh.Ryu’s three singles tied a career high set on April 13, 2013, at Arizona. His two runs scored also equaled a career high set on June 17, 2017, at Cincinnati.“He’s a big-game pitcher and it showed today,” Roberts said. “A certain moment doesn’t get too big for him.”Lucchesi, the third straight rookie to start against the Dodgers, gave up a career-high seven runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked two.“We can beat them on one given night if we get everything in the lineup correctly,” Padres manager Andy Green said, “but to be able to beat them consistently we’ve got some work to do.”UTLEY’S LAST STANDChase Utley played his last regular-season game at Dodger Stadium. The 39-year-old veteran plans to retire after the season. He took a curtain call before the game and received a standing ovation during an at-bat in the sixth, when fans chanted his last name. He grounded out to second that time and lined out to left in the eighth.HOME RECORDThe Dodgers’ home record was their worst since going 42-39 in 2011. They won eight of their last 11 this month at Chavez Ravine.HOME CROWDThe Dodgers had total home attendance of 3 Clint Frazier Jersey ,809,684, second-most in franchise history and eighth-largest in National League history. They averaged nearly 47,000 fans a game, the best in the majors by about 4,000 over the New York Yankees.CAN’T BEAT LAThe Padres went 5-14 against the Dodgers this season, including losing seven of nine on the road.UP NEXTPadres: RHP Bryan Mitchell (1-4, 6.16 ERA) takes the mound in the opener of a three-game set at San Francisco. He came off the DL on Sept. 1 and earned his first win as a Padre two days later.Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (8-5, 2.45) starts the opener of a three-game series at third-place Arizona. In 11 second-half starts, he is 5-1 with a 2.17 ERA, with 67 strikeouts and 11 walks. The Minnesota Twins have already traded Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, Lance Lynn, Zach Duke, Ryan Pressly and Fernando Rodney http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-mark-mcgwire-jersey , seemingly with little difficulty.It won't be so easy to move their resident All-Star, batting champion and American League MVP.That would be Joe Mauer. According to Mike Berardino ofPioneer Press, the 35-year-old first baseman cleared revocable waivers last week. That means none of Major League Baseball's 29 other teams put in a claim on him.Mind you, this doesn't mean Mauercan't be traded.If anything, it's easier for the Twins to deal him. Had a team claimed him while he was on waivers, the Twins only could have worked out an agreement with that club. They're now free to trade him anywhere ahead of the August 31 deadline to acquire postseason-eligible players.This will take three to tango, however. And the Twins may be the only ones willing to show up for this particular dance.There's a question of whether Mauer would accept a move or exercise his no-trade clause. He's a native of nearby St. Paul, Minnesota, and he indicated in July he would prefer to stay where he is."These types of decisions, I think most people think of just the baseball and not the big picture," Mauer told Berardino. "I have a lot more than just the baseball part. I think I've made it pretty clear over the years where I want to be and what I want to be doing and that really hasn't changed."The Colorado Rockies, Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees are three contenders who could use an upgrade at first base. But none of the three trulyneeds one, and they may be unwilling to reach for one with a salary as big as Mauer's.He's in the final season of the eight-year, $184 million contract extension he signed in 2010, when he was fresh off winning the AL MVP award as baseball's foremost two-way catcher. He's still owed roughly $7 million of the $23 million he's making Stephen Piscotty Jersey , per Berardino.That's a lot of money for a guy who doesn't bring much to the table anymore.Hannah Foslien/Getty ImagesMauer has become a decentfirst baseman in the years since he moved out from behind the plate in 2014. But he's not the same hitter who posted a .323 average and .873 OPS between 2004 and 2013. In fact, the .705 OPS he has this year is on track to be the worst of his career.Mauer isn't fundamentally broken as a hitter. He still draws plenty of walks (10.5 BB%), and he's still bucking baseball's ever-worsening strikeout trend (14.0 K%). He's also racking up hard contact at a rate that he hasn't since 2010.Mauer is thus proving he's still good for batting average (.269) and on-base percentage (.349). The problem, however, is these things aren't good for much without power.Indeed, the veteran'spoweris virtually nonexistent:Mauer's .086 ISO ranks seventh from the bottom among all batting-title qualifiers and dead last among primary first basemen.He's tallied just 21 extra-base hits all season, and just three of those have been home runs. That puts him on track to repeat his 2014 feat of qualifying for the batting title yet finishing with fewer than five homers. Before him, the last primary first baseman to do that was Jose Offerman in 1996.Of course, Mauer has rarely been a big-time power hitter. He peaked with 28 home runs in 2009, and he's never come close to repeating that. And at this point, he sure looks like an old dog who's uninterested in learning a new trick.While many hitters have found extra power by giving in to the launch angle craze, Mauer has barely changed his own:2015:3.8 degrees2016:3.8 degrees2017:5.6 degrees2018:4.5 degreesBy doing so, he's kept the bulk of his batted balls on the ground. That's not a recommended way to hit for power.Jim Mone/Associated PressAs for the fly balls and line drives Mauerdoes hit, he still prefers to send them to the opposite field. That's the toughest direction in which a hitter can try to clear the fence, and Mauer isn't getting better at doing so with age. The one opposite-field homer he has this year accounts for just 2.5 percent of the fly balls he's hit to left field.To boot http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-andrew-triggs-jersey , outfield shifts appear to be taking away other extra-base hits. According to Baseball Savant, he's slugging just .667 on fly balls and line drives against "strategic" outfield alignments. That's his lowest mark in the four-year Statcast era."Right now, it's probably tougher to be a hitter than any time at any point in my career," Mauer conceded to Chris Hine of the Star Tribune.If a team is going to take a chance on a hitter like this, it won't be as a $7 million experiment. The Rockies, Mariners, Yankees or whoever would have to convince the Twins to eat some money.But that might not get it done. Even if Mauer is willing to waive his no-trade clause, the Twins may not agree to eat any of his remaining salary unless they get a real prospect or two back. A Mauer experiment isn't necessarily worth that price.Ultimately, Mauer is probably stuck where he is, and maybe that suits him just fine. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
