I do not consider myself an apologist for Alex Wood, but ever since he put on his #57 jersey I have found myself in that position. It seems that most Dodgers fans want the team to have five Aces. Alex Wood is not an Ace, or anywhere near a top of the rotation pitcher. He is what he has always been a good #5. Like all #5 SP, not every game is going to be solid. Not even for Aces. When Alex was traded in December 2018 to Cincinnati, I was forlorn, but also excited to see him go to a team where the expectations were not nearly as high. Unfortunately, he got hurt and did not get that opportunity.
That being said, his performance yesterday was not very good. Okay, it was bad. When Wood is good, he can spot his fastball. Yesterday, from his first pitch, that fastball never exceeded 90 and he nowhere near had command of it. It made his change less effective. The one pitch he did throw well was that back door slider to the RH batter. But you cannot succeed as a pitcher in a MLB game with one pitch (as he found out against Darin Ruf in the 1st).
It is a 60 game season, and the Dodgers are the clear favorite to make the WS. Alex will get another start, and he is going to need to improve. In his post-game presser, he did not make excuses. He did acknowledge that he was not aggressive, did not attack, fell behind too many batters, and threw too many soft pitches. He prides himself in having a solid game plan and he went away from it. He said he figured it out after the HR to Wilmer Flores in the third inning, on his worst change of the day (his assessment).
When asked about the Darin Ruf AB in the 1st, he said he threw four straight sliders to him and left the last one over the plate. He acknowledged it was a bad approach and a bad pitch. That is what he means when saying he was not aggressive enough. Did he know that his fastball was not going to be effective on that day? It was a 1-2 count, he could have shown the pitch or a change. But that is me second guessing.
Chalk this one up to just a bad execution of a game plan. Nobody feels worse about what happened on the mound more than Alex. He will get over it, but will the fans? They need to because Doc did say he will get his next start.
So even Alex Wood and I can agree that Alex was “off” yesterday. But that is not why the Dodgers lost. They lost because they left 18 runners on base, not counting the four that got out because of bad baserunning. Mookie left 5 runners on base and Kike’ 6. Both left the bases loaded when one swing changes the game. Belli did not hit the ball hard once. Neither did Mookie. Seager crushed the ball four times and got one hit out of it.
Three runners getting doubled up on fly/line outs? From little league on you preach…”Freeze on a line drive”. Don’t get too far off the bag that you cannot get back. It is better to potentially give up the force than to get doubled up. “Make sure the ball is caught before you take off”. These are LL drills. Did George Lombard have a bad game as well? And what was CT3 doing running into an out at 3B with nobody out? Never make the first out at 3rd. Another LL drill. I will give Doc credit. When asked if the bad baserunning was because of the short runup to the season, and he flatly and quickly responded…NO!!!
They also lost because Austin Slater made two outstanding catches on Corey Seager line drives with runners on base.
I never like to lose, but hate losing to SFG in a game that the Dodgers clearly should have won. Today, Urias goes to the bump against…???. Is Jeff Samardzija going to make an appearance today? Kapler has not announced his starter yet. Doc will be somewhat polite and call it “gamesmanship”, but he is not impressed with withholding the name of the SP. As John Wayne (and Christopher George) uttered in El Dorado…”Call it professional courtesy”.
Julio should learn from Alex’s miscues and be aggressive from batter one. Attack the strike zone. Go after them. There is no Mike Trout on the Giants. Urias is better than the Giants hitters. Go out and show it. Take the series, and then move on to Houston.
I do not fish, but will be out at a lake watching my grandsons fish today. Hopefully will be back in time to see the game. If not, I will hold all of you responsible if the team comes up short.😊
Today is the beginning of the Julio Urias Dodger era! Our game one playoff starter! Mark my words
There’s no reason that it couldn’t happen, Cassidy. Urias has to be motivated this season, his biggest chance yet in the majors. He can throw as hard as he can with no fear of burn out. Looking forward to the game!
Consider me worried about Wood’s performance. With the typical off season hype about being in the best shape of his life and driveline pushing his fastball to 93-95 MPH, we saw a rather uninspiring 89-90 MPH from Wood yesterday with horrible control.
Hoping it was a one game aberration, but the one piece on this team that causes me the greatest concern and many of the talking pundits as well (Plesac, Reynolds and others on MLB TV) is the quality of SP. Hoping for a shutdown performance by Urias, some better RISP offense.
Treinen, Kelly and Floro looked great…Santana….meh
I just don’t think that Alex Wood is one of the 5 best starters that the Dodgers have available. I think that Stripling is better. Dustin May is young and has things to learn but his stuff is certainly better. When Kershaw returns, who do you propose be demoted from the rotation if not Alex Wood?
Wood nibbled yesterday. He had no confidence in his fastball and has to pitch off of his fastball to be effective. He can’t just throw changeups and sliders and win.
Like norcal said, we heard the Driveline hype that Wood had recaptured 3 lost MPH on his fastball. That was not in evidence yesterday.
Baseball is great. Being out with the grandsons is even better. Thanks for the write up. Have a wonderful day!
The Dodgers lost because they played stupid baseball on the bases, and as you stated did not hit when they had the chance to put the game away, Santana didn’t help in his 2 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. I am not high on Wood, never was, but lets see what he does next time out.
Wood with a fastball at 92-93 is in the rotation. Wood at 89 and his Dodger career is over. Too much talent waiting their chance in a 60 game season. No time to worry about hurt feelings. Same is true with Pollock against right handed pitching. Produce or sit.
Well 3 games in, and already the dissing comes. All players have bad games. Wood had one yesterday. Neither Cody nor Mookie have done much yet. The team is loaded. They have a deep roster, and we as fans sit back and watch, and then judge. The person who felt the worst about yesterday’s game was Wood. He said so in his interviews. Mookie looks very frustrated. How frustrated is Seager after yesterday’s game. He was robbed of hits twice on long drives to left, and then the impossible catch of his little flare to right made by Flores. They were not sharp on the bases. And they almost came back and pulled it out. They have the tools, and they know this is a sprint, not a marathon. As for the rotation, it is good, but not the best in the league. It is not even a elite rotation. DC’s is better. The depth has taken a hit with Price opting out, and Kersh’s early back problems, and Buehler’s being behind. Gonsolin reported late also. Nelson is done for the year. So the depth that was there at the beginning of spring training is not an option anymore. Gray, White, Gonsolin, are what they have in reserve right now on the 60 man. Only the Cat man has any experience at all. So, among the pitchers they do have, someone is going to have to step up. Urias goes today. In his career he has pitched into the 7th inning once. But as many have said, the shackles should be off. It is time for him to show what he really can do. Then it will be Buehler and May in Houston. The bigger tests are coming. Then into AZ, and then the Padres, who have beaten Az twice so far. Lets see where they are by the end of next week. The competition will be tougher, and they had better play flawless baseball.
I don’t claim to be an expert on pitching mechanics but I would not be at all surprised if Wood is injured. To what degree, I have no idea. Another performance like yesterday’s and I feel certain that he won’t get a third chance before he goes to the IL. I hope I’m wrong and he comes out like the best version of Alex Wood on his second start. We’ll know for sure before too long.
With regard to this business about divulging lineups way ahead of time so the other team can prepare. I say, hogwash! Another of baseball’s unwritten rules that should be written out on a piece of paper and then crumpled and shredded. This is one more example of a manager using strategy. If you can get the other team to burn a player they might not have started, go for it. Really it’s not all that dissimilar from using an opener. If I’m not mistaken, the manager does not have to let anyone know his lineup until he presents it to the umpires immediately before the game. Every manager should do it.
Well said Bear, and I agree. Let us learn from this and go forward. I just have this feeling we will be successful today and Urías will pitch well. AC, have fun being a fish watcher with those special grandchildren. Moments like those do not come sometimes often enough.
Even as badly as they played yesterday, the game was winnable and wasn’t won. That’s going to happen. Hopefully not often. The team looked drugged.
Wood was off, no doubt about it. Yeah, I too was under the impression Driveline training had his fastball up to 94. Why it wasn’t there yesterday? I blame it on Covid. Why? Just because. Cancel culture thinking I guess. He’ll be back. Or not and we will replace him with Gonsolin, Stripling, May or White. We got options.
Ok, Barnes may currently be 2 for 6 with a walk, but all that tells me is he has nowhere to go but down. His fangraphs slash projections posted yesterday is where he will end up. If that’s ok with with management, and apparently it is, he’s gonna be in there 4 out of 10 innings this year. He is the #9 hitter in this lineup. Somebody has to slot there.
I agree with those who say put Betts at leadoff and leave him there.
Thanks for the Ruiz feedback Mark. I’m still high on him too. His bat to ball skills are impressive. I don’t know what they tried to do to his swing but my guess is it had something to do with launch. As it did with Smith, who hit .216 for Rancho when was Ruiz’ age, it will come for Ruiz.
I agree Jeff we should be 3-0 but no team wins every game and this is one as bad as played most of the game was lost by one run at the end with your three best batters up Muncy, Betts and Bellinger.
Coulda, Wooda, Shoulda…
Wood having a off day with control issues.
Santana not much better.
Bad baserunning played us out of the game.
Kelly looked ok but please throw a fast ball occasionally.
McGee looks to be settling in.
Floro as well.
Glad to see Smith easy home run stroke!
Corey Seager got robbed twice, could have won the game all by himself.
Julio pitching today should be fun, a future all star.
Angels coming up will be more of a test and give us an idea how our pitchers do against the likes of Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon.
Dave Roberts is a players manager and if Mookie was adamant about hitting 1st, I am sure Doc would oblige him.
Mookie is a great player wherever he hits, but here are his career stats:
Batting 1st: .302 BA – .373 OB%
Batting 2nd: .308 BA – .392 OB%
Max Muncy has not had a lot of experience at leadoff, but his career OB% leading off is .419, and while not as fast as B & B, he ain’t slow.
Max is hitting .364 with a .533 OB% this year, so I am not sure anyone can make an argument that he shouldn’t hit where he is.
It’s all a matter of opinion. If I were making out the lineup, I would have my two fastest guys there (B & B) followed by JT and Max, but that is just me. I do think Seager is the perfect #5 hitter and again, that is my opinion. I can’t condem or commend Doc based upon an opinion.
Those are interesting stats Mark.
Mookie has 380 plate appearances from the 2 hole, 2656 leading off. He’s my leadoff hitter every day. Muncy hits second, followed by JT, Bellinger, Seager then everybody else.
Who cares where they hit. Just hit!
With all the bad plays the Dodgers made, lack of some clutch hitting and other reasons, I guess they didn’t deserve to win yesterday. Had Slater not made that nice catch on Corey’s deep, slicing drive to left in the 1st inning it may have changed the mentality of the game. The Dodgers would have had at least a 1 run lead. The Giants could have thought “Here we go again” and Alex may have felt a lot more comfortable pitching with a lead. But that was not to be.
I’m really looking forward to watching Urias pitching well and the Dodgers running up the score (I hope that happens)
I put on Fox network yesterday and the earlier game hadn’t ended so they sent me to FS1 until the other game was over. That was fine. Later, I’m watching the game on Fox network in the bottom of the 8th. Dodgers down 5-3, a runner on 1st and 2 outs. Suddenly the Yankees announcers are on. I thought that they might have been a pitching change and they were filling in time. after a while I switched to FS1 and found that they were showing the Yankees too. I went to MLB Gameday on my my computer. There I saw that the Dodgers had loaded the bases but didn’t score. In the 9th, I saw (read)that Smith had homered then the Dodgers went down 1-2-3. What frustration! Fox, Please do not do that again!!!
I don’t think you can take the stats and decide where to hit a guy. So many variables such as how many at bats leadoff, who were the ab against, was the player slumping or not slumping at the time. I know I read the article quoting mookie that he wanted to bat leadoff. In his prime days the cards kept trying to change carpenter from leadoff and he kept saying it didn’t matter but for whatever reason he was better at leadoff. I will let it go but there is value in where a guy is comfortable. Day in day out mookie is arguably the best leadoff hitter in the game.
I said before the season started that our sp is our biggest question at this point. Losing ryu and price are huge losses. If kershaw does not rebound we will have to really score. Buehler is a true number 1, urias may be but unproven, kershaw 2-3, stripling and wood are 4-5. So, how do we improve our sp? May with his stuff is someone who could fit in the top of the rotation but unproven. Gonsolin should give us a good 3-5. We need all of them probably so wood will probably continue to start. But, if we start falling in the standings we can’t wait around.
I wouldn’t be afraid to give Gray a shot at the 5 if necessary. We think so but kershaw may not be back for awhile. We can’t afford another injury at the top of the rotation. I really like our bullpen arms. They could be our savior.
Too many LOB yesterday. We also left 13 on Friday while scoring 9. Seager came through to make it a 1 run game but boy we could have used a bases juiced knock by Kike in the bottom of the 8th. We had a chance to win despite the poor play.
Wood stunk but so did Santana who I haven’t liked since Oye Como Va. Really the only 2 bad outtings in 3 games. Kyle Hendricks proves that a MLB pitcher can be successful throwing 88 but you better have way better command and change speeds. Getting ahead in a count might be nice.
The 4 base running errors were not the same, but 4 in a games is remarkable.
Jeff, you mentioned about all the no-no’s on the bases but I’m going to argue that the age old advice from parents, coaches and almost everybody “Freeze on the line drive” is INCORRECT. Especially with pro arms, if a player takes a correct initial and secondary lead, where he has movement and some momentum to the next base, on a liner he has to see liner and be moving back to the base with some momentum and hopefully a step or two. Freezing isn’t enough. You are still hung out to dry just like Barnes was. That was a bad play. A player should never get doubled-up on a liner. The one exception, that can’t be helped, is a liner to the first baseman holding the runner at 1st.
An example of a correct lead was Mookie Friday night. On third with the contact play on, he had a short initial lead but on the pitch he had a nice secondary lead moving toward the plate under control. On the ground ball, he was off instantly and 3.3 seconds later stole a run. Too many players get a big lead only to be leaning back to the bag on contact.
Joc just made a terrible read on the looper to center. It became an easier catch than he anticipated but he can’t be off that far.
I can give a pass to CT3 for his mistake because while it was the wrong time to take that chance, it was a hustle mistake. He made the decision in an instant. Had he had time to think it over would have stayed at second. He certainly knows you don’t make the 1st out at third especially 4 runs down but he was hustling trying to get in scoring position. Had he made it the announcers would have applauded his heads up baserunning. As it was he made a bad choice. As a coach I would have had a teaching moment later but wouldn’t criticize a hustle mistake.
So I start watching the game when it was 2 to 1 and instantly noticed the fans in the outfield. I thought for an instant they maybe they changed the protocols and were letting fans in. Then it dawned on me that they were virtual fans superimposed by FOX. That in combination with the sound effects in the background that fit with the in game situation, I found it very enjoyable. With the sound and fan movement on big plays, I actually forgot for a second there were no fans. I think this, and even the corny cutouts are a big improvement over watching a game in an empty stadium with no noise. (other than the F bombs) Hey, they’re trying and I’m watching baseball.
A healthy Wood is a solid MLB pitcher but like someone said he’s not in the top 5 for the Dodgers. Especially if he’s sub 90 mph and afraid to throw his fastball.
~
If Wood expected a guaranteed spot in the rotation and from his words during spring training, he did, then you better show up and beat crappy teams like the Giants.
~
Taylor’s gaff on the bases was inexcusable. By far the worst of the four. This is coming from someone who thinks he should be starting at 2nd base until Lux is ready.
~
Please stop with the over managing. The Dodgers picked up the best leadoff hitter in the game. Let him be that. Mookie prefers leadoff. Muncy does not. This is why Roberts has detractors.
~
Totally agree. It’s as if Roberts has to do something to get attention.
Does anyone know if Jon Soohoo is still the Dodger’s photographer? Have not seen photos from him yet this year and he is superb.
This is not good (except for the fact that the Marlins seem to be overcoming it), but it speaks to what we’ve discussed previously about how easily things could spread in the confines of a clubhouse. Hope it’s an isolated instance, but not likely.
“The Marlins have six key players, including four guys who would have started today, out with COVID-related issues and they’re still taking it to the Phillies. It’s 11-6, Miami, in the seventh.
‘
100% agree. It takes 1 sick person to, intentionally or not, totally shut down the entire league for a few weeks.
When Kersh is back, May should take Wood’s place in the rotation. May is too good to languish at USC. And the season is too short to take chances.
Guess it is a good thing AF did not take many fans advice and go get Kluber. He left today with shoulder problems after 1 inning. It is too early for me to worry about a rotation that has yet not seen any of the supposed top 3 pitch. One opted out, one is on the IL< and the other is behind because he chose not to work during the 4 month layoff. Kersh will be back, you can pretty much bank on that and he will probably not hit the weight room as vigorously. To tell the truth, after what he did in one of those exhibition games, I would like to see what White can do with a spot start. I expect Strip to be Strip. Stretch's of good, with some hiccup now and then. Wood can be dominating, or he can be the guy he was yesterday. I want to see what the lineup looks like when Cody and Mookie are hitting on all cylinders. They are in second place, 1/2 game back of the Padres. Yep, the Pads are a greatly improved team. If they get any kind of pitching, they are not going to be the pushover everyone thinks. Az stumbled coming out so far, their big free agent, some stiff named Bumgarner, did not look unhittable in his debut. Rockies are the Rockies, good one day, horrible the next. Giant's going with the lefty, Smyly and not the Shark today. Pollock will most likely be back in the lineup, and Mookie will be leading off. Most of the Dodgers have never seen Smyly except the other day. But Mookie is a .353 hitter against him in 17 at bats while in the AL. 1 homer and 1 ribbie
Mookie is leading off tonight. Doc must read LADT.
Yes, and he also has 6 RH hitters in the lineup, although I don’t know how many innings Smyly will be allowed to go.
First Kluber and now word that Verlander will miss the season with an elbow injury.
Update – now saying forearm strain and are shutting him down. May not be entire season.
Sucks about Kluber.
Don’t give a rat’s ass about the Trashtros
I might not care about Houston, but with Verlander out it means the Dodgers are not facing Verlander or Greinke who pitched today. They get Valdez and TBA against Buehler and May. Much better than seeing their aces. But their lineup is still pretty potent and that is a hitters park.
This may be a silly question but do the Dodgers at USC ever play intrasquad games or is it just working out and batting practice? Just curious.
Per Doc, they do not have enough to play intrasquad games, so a lot aim games and batting practice.
They could play a live game with over-the-line like rules. 7 man squads with opposite field fly balls being outs, line drives and ground balls are singles. We did something similar when I was a kid.
Batting practice and infield are good exercise to do but… gotta be some live pitching under game situations.
Thanks Jeff.
#Dodgers Lineup:
Mookie Betts RF
Max Muncy 1B
Justin Turner 3B
Cody Bellinger CF
Chris Taylor LF
Corey Seager SS
Kike’ Hernandez 2B
AJ Pollock DH
Will Smith C
Julio Urias P
Good question hodges. I’ve wondered the same thing. It has to be live baseball or … what’s the point?
7 o’clock game on Sunday night. Guess they don’t much care about an audience east of the Mississippi.
The Dodgers played a horrible game yesterday. All of them. But why are they all mentally not in the game? That is what I have a hard time understanding. Especially this early in the season. The Dodgers may be the best team in baseball, but you still need to play the game the right way.
I am willing to bet in an extra inning game, the Dodgers will make no effort to bunt the runner over to third. I also think if a left handed is the lead off batter in an inning, and they shift, he should bunt for a base hit. Will the Dodgers play small ball when necessary.
Road teams are allowed a 3-man taxi squad this season. Not on the roster but available in case of injury.
Dodgers will include McKinstry, either Gale or Kaybear, and a reliever according to Doc.
That makes sense.
This is a rather big game. You do not want to split a four-game “home” series against SF, which looks like one of the worst teams in baseball, though it is early. Actually, in a 60-game season, each game is 1.7% of the season, and four games is almost 7%. Other teams will pound the Giants, and we will be giving them an advantage if all we can do is split. Right now, our starting rotation is not impressive, though of course it should get better when Kershaw comes back, and Buehler is ready. Urias becomes very important; we have been waiting seven years or so for him to live up to the potential we heard about when he was 16. He has has had injuries and setbacks, but it is time for him to show something special; if he does not, our rotation is not good enough to win it all.
As to Wood, I don’t even know why we got him again, except that after we could not obtain Cole, we were casting about in the bargain bin, and came up with him and Nelson. We did manage to obtain Price, which was very important, except of course he has understandably decided not to play, thus leaving us short three pitchers who started for us last year, plus Kershaw, who has had sporadic back problems for three years. You can’t just pick up someone like Wood who was ineffective for three seasons, put him back in the starting rotation, and expect that this will be just fine. It was only one game, so maybe Wood will surprise me and do well, but I do not expect it. Bargain bin shopping for pitchers is rarely the way to go, and it has rarely worked out for us, except for Morrow, and one year of Brett Anderson. Nelson is out for the year, of course. I wanted us to take a chance and sign Treinen for at least two years, as he had been very good until last year, which he has insisted was an aberration. If he has a good year this year, we are unlikely to sign him, because we would not take that risk, and instead wasted the money on injured players, hoping for a renovation.
Each game counts as 2.7 games. A pitcher’s loss is like 2.7loses and vice versa. Wins in division are big. I disagree that the starting rotation is not impressive. We’ve seen 3. The pitching so far has been great with the exception of Wood and Santana. Urias will be fine. Let’s stop worrying about who’s not available and start hitting better with runners on. It’s 3 games, for crying out loud.
We all would’ve taken a 3-1 start to the season. Now we have a shot at 3-1. Let’s go get it!
Urias looks hittable tonight. Lots of loud contact. Fastball getting a lot of the plate and not much movement.
Urias is not impressing at all. Too much nibbling and not attacking the strike zone. Too many leadoff hitters allowed on base, and 3 walks so far. Hitters not doing all that well either.
I think he looks ok. Contact, yes, but 5 innings on 78 pitches and 1 earned is getting it done. 3 BB isn’t good, and granted if he was pitching against the Astros there would be more runs on the board. Tonight I’m more concerned about the bats.
Urias success as a starter this season will depend on his command. He can’t walk 4 guys every 9 innings.
Urias does not have his best stuff tonight and his control is off, but to me, a sign of a really good pitcher is when they don’t have their A-Game and still find ways to win. He hasn’t been sharp, but after 5 innings, he has allowed just 1 run… and the Dodgers are still in the game.
It looks like the bats are going to have to win this game tonight because the pitching is just not doing it. Graterol, 2 hits, 1 out is pulled for Kolarek. That is a vast contrast in pitching styles.
Giants Yastrzemski looks like a star in the making. As bad as the Giants looked in the first two games, their pitching has held up since. As I’ve said in recent years passed, the bats are going to have to carry our team. Pitching is a rebuild that has been short circuited by CK injury, Price opting out, Buehler negligence, the Wood signing, and the ongoing development of Urias and May as starters. Doc also needs to get to know the bullpen with all the newcomers this season. Without the bats, we are not as good as everyone says we are.
As a wise water guru once told me, patience grasshopper. It’s only 4 games. The cream will rise
Yes, it’s early, but I’m having flashbacks to 2018. Maybe they need a socially-distanced brawl for some kind of spark.
… or Joc facing a RH pitcher who can’t be removed for a lefty.
Bat Joc lead off to get the early 1-0 lead .
Been a snooze fest so far. The Dodgers are clearly the superior team. Maybe their knowing that is their weakness.
Seems as if there is no sense of urgency, no extra base hits and some odd RP choices by Doc. Using Kolarek to get a RH hitter out instead of Caleb was an odd choice. The three hitter rule for RP’s is going to be interesting.
The term superior doesn’t always transfer from paper to field, unfortunately.
It’s easy to say “it’s early’, but in a 60 game season, every game matters. They have to beat the bad teams and the Giants are really really bad. They will look back at this series at the end of the year and they might regret the lost opportunity.
The pitching has been so-so – the hitters don’t look ready for the season yet.
I was hoping they would rule Seager’s HBP a foul ball. He’s had the best swings so far. I had zero faith in Kike hitting a RH submarine pitcher.
Beaty, Joc, and Rios on the bench but Kiké hits?
Lost almost all my hope for 2020 WS in two games.
Offensive Dodger juggernaut just plain offensive!
All these expectations have messed with their heads.
SO much for the offensive juggernaut. Only extra base hit came in the 9th from Pollock and Smith, Betts and Muncy failed to get him in. Why did Roberts not use any of his LH hitters when he had the opportunity. This is one of the reason’s I do not care for Roberts managerial style. He leaves Taylor in to hit with 2 on and one out, Taylor moved them over with a weak dribbler, but then after Seager is plunked he leaves Kike in with the bases loaded, and the best chance to get back in the game goes down the tubes. Beaty, who last season was a hitting machine has yet to get an at bat. Bad managing, Urias was not impressive at all. Too much traffic on the bases. They walked 5 Giants, and Kenley was the only reliever to record a K. Now they go to Houston and face a much better hitting team, with a better bullpen than the Giants have. There is a good chance they come out of the gate 2-4. Betts under the Mendoza line so far, Belli hitting .235. Muncy after a good 3 games has not been the same hitter and all of a sudden has 4 K’s, including 3 tonight tying him for the team lead with Kike. Belli has yet to strike out this season, Missed opportunities and mediocre pitching can undermine this team. Losing 2 of 4 to the Giants is not what the fans expect from this team. 9 games on the road. They need at least a 6-3 road trip.
Maybe these Giants are not as bad as we thought. Our initial reaction is that it is the batters that are not coming through, but it is also possible that the Giant pitchers match up well to them. It’s not magic. Blaming Doc, which is something that I also do, doesn’t address the batters who are not making adjustments. Why aren’t they making adjustments? Could be laziness, incomplete scouting, or not having faced many of these pitchers before.
I do agree that Urias did not make any statement in a game that he could have. I don’t know what goes through his mind. He’s had so many setbacks that perhaps he hasn’t worked through those mental barriers that kept him back for the last few years. What it does do to my perception of the staff as a whole, may need re-assessment. Maybe our pitching is not that strong. Baez also looked poor out there. It’s almost like they are out of sync. I mentioned what happened in the Bundesliga to home field advantage. It flew out the window with no one in the stands. The teams lost more games than they won at home. We’ll see what happens on the road soon.
It’s early, of course, but the long ball ain’t there so far. The team still looks the same to me, minus the trusted handful of HRs we’re accustomed to seeing and depend on for late inning rallies. Wonder if the de-juicing is having a particularly adverse effect on the Dodgers? Dodgers have been pretty dependent on it. Starting to worry we’ll be taxing the bullpen before too long, if we can’t get starters thru 6-7 innings we’re accustomed to. Should change when Kershaw and Buehler are back, but probably not immediately since they’ll need some ramping up. This might be a grind after all.
Well, it is only 4 games, no matter the length of the season. After 4 games, the pitchers have a 2.50 ERA and the hitters are hitting .291. I’ll take that all day long.
In a few cases, the Dodger hitters were unlucky and SF got some “seeing eye” hits. Some of it is bad luck and some of it is that some players are just not untracked as yet.
Muncy, Bellinger, Betts, and Smith are all hitting .250 or below.
They came out of the gate averaging 8 runs a game and then 2.50 runs a game the last two. It’s time to suck it up!
Let’s hope that the past 2 game malaise is because their heads were somewhere else, like in Houston… ready for revenge.
Have to wholeheartedly agree with MT except for the Houston revenge thang… Play the game and get the heck out of there… Were better than the Asterisks…
4 games in and we got ourselves some heavy analysis going down…