Dodgers: Heat Wave Brings on Another 'Fun' Dodger Stadium Home Run Derby

A barrage of home runs accompanied the hot Los Angeles weather this week, with the Dodgers and Giants combining for 16 dingers in their three-game series.

The Dodgers and Giants combined for 16 homers in a three-game series this week, with 28 of the 30 runs in the series coming on the longball. After hosting the real Home Run Derby less than two months ago, Dodger Stadium was the site of another HR barrage as Los Angeles took two of three from San Francisco.

Southern California is mired in a wicked heat wave, and when the weather stays hot into the evening, the ball will fly at Dodger Stadium. Game-time temperatures on Monday and Tuesday were 89 and 83 degrees, respectively, warm enough that the cool marine layer never moved in to hold the balls down.

Wednesday's series finale was even hotter, a 1 p.m. game with a 99-degree game-time temperature, although it actually ended up with the fewest homers of the three games — only four.

Dodgers slugger Max Muncy was responsible for three of the 16 homers this week, and as Bill Plunkett writes in the Orange County Register, Muncy and other power hitters salivate at the idea of a hot Dodger Stadium.

“Anyone that’s played here knows – night time when the weather cools off, it becomes a pretty difficult place to hit at,” Muncy said. “When the weather stays warm like this, it’s fun to hit here. With it being in triple digits the last few days, the ball was definitely flying.”

Muncy's recent mechanical tweaks coincided nicely with the Los Angeles weather heating up. A blistering hot day at the ballpark isn't the best for fans or pitchers, but for Muncy (and Giants rookie David Villar, who came into the series with one career homer and left with four), the impromptu Home Run Derby was a lot of fun.