Here’s an interesting question: How many different pitchers will have saves for the Dodgers this season? The Dodgers already have three different pitchers with saves after Dave Roberts elected to use David Price in a save situation last night. It looked like a bad choice for a minute as Daza and Trejo both singled to start the inning. Then Trevor Story pinch hit and Price fell behind 2-0 only to strike Story out on the next three pitches! Next, he struck out Garrett Hampson on four pitches and induced Raimel Tapia to ground out to the second baseman, Max Muncy. Yes, Max Muncy played 2B last night. Justin Turner and Will Smith were the only position players to start in their normal positions, and I have no problem with that. I keeps you on your toes and makes the game fun. 162 games is a grind and if you can play musical chairs and win with bench players, then by all means, do it.
But, I digress, this is about closers. So far, Kenley Jansen, Corey Knebel, and David Price have saves, but I think there are more! I think Victor Gonzalez, Jimmy Nelson (who has been pitching very well), Brusdar Graterol, Tony Gonsolin, and maybe even Dustin May, might all have saves. I did a quick search and could not find out what the highest number of pitchers on a team to have saves might be. Maybe someone smarter than me can figure that one out. What we do know is that Kenley Jansen is now “a closer” not “the closer!”
The Dodgers are not the best in any single category right about now, except for two things: Wins and Run Differential… and I guess I will take those stats any day over BA, OPS, Runs Scored. Well, they are tied with the Reds for most runs scored, but you get my drift! The Dodgers are actually on pace to win 137 games, but I will take the under. It’s a long season and after a short season last year, Doc is wise to rest his players a lot. The boys in blue have won the majority of their games without Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger, which speaks volumes as to how deep they are.
Speaking of Cody Bellinger, I know he has had two Superstar Years and two “so-so” years, but I do not worry about a guy who has a career .909 OPS. He will be fine and in the running for MVP by the season’s end. Mookie Betts has a career OPS of .896. Over .900 is considered to be a superstar. So, if you use that metric, Cody Bellinger and Will Smith (career OPS .944) are superstars, and Mookie (.896 OPS), Max Muncy (.854 OPS), Justin Turner (.844 OPS), and Corey Seager (.866 OPS) are near superstars. Mookie could creep back over .900 this season. Zach McKinstry is OPS’ing .974 and CT3 is at .987. This really is The Big Blue Wrecking Crew!
Jackie Robinson Day
To understand what a moron Rob Manfred is, you only have to look at yesterday’s games. Yesterday, MLB honored Jackie Robinson, but not every team was scheduled to play. Six teams did not have games scheduled. When MLB honors the man who broke the color barrier, every team in every MLB ballpark should have played in his honor, but Manfred is dumber than a bag of hammers!
Photo Credit: LA DODGERS
Sorry, I was brain-dead. I let the other comments on and turned this one off. What a moron!
Good morning, chat is already open!
Scheduling has always been the issue when it came to teams honoring Jackie Robinson. It started in 2004 and has ZERO to do with Manfred. Please read all about it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson_Day and enlighten yourself.
April 15th this year just happened to fall on a Thursday which many times during the season is a travel day.
That’s lame!
Like they said on MLB Radio yesterday, Manfred should have MANDATED it. If he can unilaterally cancel a city, he can tell the schedulers to schedule every MLB team on Jackie Robinson Day. I know that it has happened in the past, but the point is: IT SHOULDN’T!
I am already enlightened and logical!
I guess if you go “looking” for things to be offended about you will find them. I look at this as a complete 100% NON-ISSUE. I dont see the Robinson family making it as an issue. The point is Jackie was honored by the teams and players who played yesterday.
There are plenty of other things that the league is talking about doing which affects the game far greater that Manfred does have some level of control over that you can take offense at.
I am offended that Manfred draws air!
To Roger that I say:
Roger that
I will take the ugly wins along with the good ones. It was ugly last night until it wasn’t. Turner is locked in right now. He looks like a different player. How about the play at first Rios made diving for the ball and then making the play to Santana covering. That was about as good a play as you will see over there. I just knew Muncy was going to do something special. He had that look in his eye. Off to SD for a 3 game series with the Pads. Buehler, Kersh and Bauer scheduled for the series. Tatis expected to be activated.
This should be fun!
Actually the Dodgers are tops in a few categories:
wRC+ – the Dodgers have a number of 138. HOU is 2nd at 127. It is adjusted to a league average of 100
1rst in BB% – The Dodgers are the best at drawing walks
3rd in K% – the Dodgers have the 3rd lowest strikeout rate
1rst in O-Swing% – the Dodgers are the best in baseball at not swinging at pitches outside the strike zone
2nd in Swing% – the Dodgers are the second least likely team to swing at any pitch
3rd in Z-Contact% – the Dodgers are 3rd best in making contact with pitches in the zone
3rd in Contact% – the Dodgers are 3rd best at making contact with all pitches
3rd in ISO – the Dodger are third best in a measure of power and hitting for extra bases
What does this tell us? The Dodgers are grinders. Not only are they a great hitting team, but they are a great hitting and DISCIPLINED hitting team. They don’t swing at pitches outside the strike zone, will draw a walk, will wait for the right pitch and punish the pitches that are in the strike zone – and they do this better than any other team.
Dodgers are also 1ST in all of MLB for batting average at .285 1st in hits, tied for first in runs and rbi’s, 1st in total bases and obp and slg and ops. But all that matters to me is WINS. To fantasy players they mean more but WINS are all that really matter in the grand scheme.
I don’t play fantasy baseball, nor have I ever.
Understanding how underlying data relate to one another helps us understand the why and the how. To understand how the team’s hitting philosophy contributes to its overall offensive excellence makes us appreciate the achievement even more.
After 19 months, I returned to Dodger Stadium last night. Other than the parking, it was a good experience, lots of new things to see. Nice job on the improvements. As a former special events person, the parking was a bit of a mess. Needed better signage and they wouldn’t let cars line-up so we drove around the neighborhood for thirty minutes or so, circled back and got in line.
The new entry into the stadium is pretty cool. Although food selection was limited, they’ve added some new food areas that I plan to try.
As to the game, no Mookie, no Seager was a bit annoying. One star sitting is one thing, but two? Fortunately, Justin Turner had a big night, then Max Muncy and the bullpen finished it.
I always attend Jackie Robinson night, very nice ceremony. Although they weren’t our usual seats, we had excellent seats on the field level, near first base. Edwin Rios became a big fan favorite, tossing a ball into the section every inning.
The Dodgers kept social distancing in place in the seating areas. But the food lines and walkways were a different story. But once you’ve been fully vaccinated it didn’t bother me to walk among people again or if somebody got too close in a line, no big deal. Nice to return to some semblance of normal.
As seems to be the case, Julio Urias seemed to fatigue as he went later in the game. You can almost see it coming.
It was definitely an ugly win. For awhile, I thought it might become an ugly loss.
Once again I totally agree with Mark, Rob Manfred is bad for the game, he needs to go. If most of us can see that, shouldn’t owners notice it too? I can’t imagine that not being the case.
Good for you! Although I have to say, doesn’t McCourt still technically “own” the parking lot part of the Dodgers. Blame that mess on that bathtub ring that won’t go away.
Five innings seems to be the Urias sweet spot. He does tire. Right now I notice more willingness by Roberts to let some of the young pitchers pitch through the rough spots, I guess to give them experience working through it and stretching them out.
Sort of an ugly win, but I think what you saw was the difference in the outfield defense without Bellinger and Betts. I think that home run would have been caught by either one, and that bloop single to right was misplayed, which cost another run.
Manfred is a former labor lawyer, he was given the job to screw the players association in the upcoming negotiations. The owners will do nothing to him before the next collective bargaining is done. If they aren’t happy with the final deal he will be fired. Most owners care very little about the majority of things we fans do. Everyone knows he is the village idiot but he has security if the owners think they get what they want in negotiations.
Bullpen update, just for Eric. On the homestand, 1 run in 19 innings good for a 0.47 ERA. You might even say they were the biggest strength on the team during a perfect 6-0 the homestand.
It was great to see JT and Muncy step up big last night. We can’t expect McKinstry to carry the team every night.
I’ll second that shout out to my man Edwin Rios for some spectacular glove work at 1B. The coaching staff deserves a ton of credit to work with players on their weaknesses to make them well rounding ball players on both sides of the ball.
David Price will learn to be ready sooner for a bullpen roll. After a couple of hits, he really bore down and got out of the jam. Do the Dodgers keep three lefties in the pen when Gonzo is activated? Alexander or Santana, who gets sent down?
Pollock with a couple of hits yesterday and was fine in CF. Raley came this close to his first homer on an opposite field shot to left. Any other month and it travels out of the yard.
The Padres are stressed, trying to hide their pitching choices for game 2 and 3.
Manfred sucks, I’ll leave it right there.
I know you’re just messing with me, that’s OK.
Dodgers #1 in team batting OPS .876
Dodgers #5 in team starting pitching E.R.A 2.71
Dodgers #8 in team bullpen E.R.A 3.44
The bullpen has been good though recently, I’ll give you that.
Wow, up to 8th overall already? That’s quite a climb. I still think you kicked them when they were down right after the Colorado series. This is a great bullpen, you’ll have to admit that soon enough.
I just said that I think the bullpen will be the weakest part of the team but not a weakness. It will be decent to good depending on injuries and how Doc handles it. I just think the offense and starting pitching will be better than the bullpen and as of right now that is the case.
Manfred is exactly the tool ownership wanted. On the other side is Tony Clark who is about as weak a union leader as the MLBPA has ever had. Add the two together and you get antimosity. They cannot agree on anything. The DH should have stayed, but the owners, seeking more revenue wanted expanded playoffs. What they offered the players was obviously not enough, so we have to suffer through watching pitchers hit again. Occasionally one of them will come through. Urias got a gift last night. But nothing came of it. Last big hit by a pitcher for the Dodgers was when Ryu hit his only HR against the Rockies in 2019.
2019? Considering that no pitchers have hit in 2020, that’s not too bad. If you look at attendance numbers, National League teams consistently sell more tickets than American League teams. So, I’m assuming the lack of DH is no big deal. Personally, I hate the DH. It was a scam for the American League to sell more tickets, which didn’t work. If you’re on the field, you should hit. Otherwise, why not just have all your best defenders in the field and all your best hitters in the lineup?
With as much money as they pay star pitchers now it makes zero sense to have them do something once a week or twice a week at best. The risk of injury running or swinging a foreign object, I.E. a bat, is just too high. I did not miss them not hitting at all.
What are you talking about with that nonsense? DeGrom is mashing, hitting .600. Even Kershaw is hitting .500.
On the other hand, all pitchers collectively are hitting .123 this year and striking our nearly 50% of the time, so there’s that.
I don’t think Julio tired. He was throwing some 96 in the sixth inning. He got hosed by the ump on strike three to Cron and would have been out of the inning with the next strike out but the inning gets extended and a blooper to right turns into a fiasco. Julio just threw too many center cut fastballs last night. He’ll be fine. The umps are certainly making the case for ABS this year. Worst ball strike zone I’ve ever seen!
Julio needs to be a little less predictable with his pitches.
Cassidy, the umps certainly are making a strong case for the ABS. I sound like a broken record complaining about home plate umpires daily. But it has been awful. Bud Black gets tossed by Phil Cuzzi for bitching 2 nights ago and last night Cory Blaser was just amazingly inconsistent. A full baseball at the top of the zone was sometimes a strike and sometimes a ball. Urias clearly should have been out of the inning. Each pitch matters. I have never been an umpire baiter. They are part of the game and make mistakes. But this year it seems worse. Blazer missed ALOT of pitches according to K-Zone.
Maybe they should eliminate the K-Zone technology and the strike zone superimposed on the screens until the ABS comes into play. Soon I hope. That way it will be like before the technology where we didn’t know if it was a strike or a ball and the ump got the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure some of the shitty umpires I’ve seen lately would appreciate it.
With Price firmly entrenched in the bullpen and with Gonsolin on the shelf.
Who is the 6th starter?
Can’t be Jo Gray as the team doesn’t want to start his clock for a spot start or two.
Mitch White or Nelson?
Nelson would need to be “stretched” out, right?
If we needed a sixth starter tomorrow, I would say it’s by committee.
National media is praying for Padres to sweep or win 2 this weekend so they can talk endlessly about them as supplanting the Dodgers as the best team in baseball. No matter the results this weekend I feel the Padres still have a lot of ground to make up. I am anxious to see what happens.
It’s just another serie, against a third-place team, but it’s time to show those clowns who is the king and the only best team in MLB !!
I read somewhere that those assholes won’t sell tickets to Dodgers fans, they just want SD fans in the stands. That made me laugh!
Doc revealed today that Cody Bellinger has a hairline fracture in his left fibula. He is definately not day to day and will be out for a while. Average time to heal is usually between 6-8 weeks. Yikes
Wow, really bummed to hear that. I wonder if Peters would be a better replacement since he’s plays center field.
I agree with you on Peters, but then again CT3 looks fantastic out there!
Fibula is the non weight bearing bone in the lower leg so time course may be on the shorter side. We have the luxury of not rushing him back though. Probably Memorial Day or so.
They’re really hyping this game / series on the pre game show. Kirsten is growing on me.
So does moss…
😉
It’s damp where I live.
One thing is for sure, Doc is under using Gonzalez. Doc is actually using him as a LOOGY. I would’ve used him for at least the 7th and 8th. I guess I will never be satisfied with how Doc uses the bullpen.
I agree with you there!
Bullpen
Well, I doubt Doc cares. They got the win, enjoy and move on.
Both bullpens got dinged up Eric. Jansen’s stuff was great tho. Stolen base was the key. Just two very good teams!
Walking Machado was the key. Jansen has always been terrible at holding runners. Machado was hurting from his swing and instead of attacking the zone, Jansen nibbled and walked him.
This insane!
Price!!!!!!!!! Looking like a closer to me!!!!!!! Is anybody else out there watching this?!!!!! Now SEAGER!!!!!!!! R u kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!
PRICE!!!
I remember baseball pundits suggesting that Friedman “had to” take him in the Betts deal, as if it was a pure salary dump by Boston of an unwanted, overpriced veteran on his last legs. I never understood that. Price may not be the Cy Young-calibre ace he once was, but he was, at worst, a solid mid-rotation guy who knew how to win…. and Boston is covering half of his salary.
His career stats show a 151-80 won-loss record, and about a 3.3 ERA .
No need to name one closer. But Kenley and Price could be a strong R/L duo.
I love this offense.
Yup, pretty exciting game, especially the 12th. Love watching David Price work.
Getting out of control now.
That had to be the most tense and exciting April Dodger game I’ve ever seen!!!!’ Sloppy but beyond intense!And we’ve got 18 more to go! Turner was right. 19 WS games! Last 2 games we’ve found something special in bullpen David Price!!!!!!! Even you have to be impressed Eric!
We held back, we kept our cool, we gave them a chance, and then we spanked them like the little bitch”s they are
What a game! I don’t ever remember such an exciting game so early in the season. REPEAT!!!
Darn happy for David also… I always include health and believe in the long run to another ring the Blue has the depth to overcome health issues… Bellinger hurts but I think 6-8 is a stretch..
Just fun to be a Blue fan!!!
McKinstry, has served notice, he’s after everybody’s job on the field, other than pitcher and catcher
Corey Seager is clutch. Sign him.
Thoroughly enjoyed that.
These games although early are very important as no one wants to be in the Wild Card Game.
A word on Manny Machado. I’m probably one of the only people on here who enjoyed his time with the Blue, but the Leadership you saw tonight, while playing hard, stealing bases, and manufacturing a run for his team, while obviously in a lot of discomfort, tells you what sort of team mate he is. Gotta admire his grit.
However, I fear it might come at a cost – sore hips don’t heal easily. Not sure we’ll be seeing him again this series.
Now for two more of those games please…
Watford my Man…. Count me in on Manny!!!