The Dodger offense finally woke up (at least a little bit), after taking six games off. Now, all the Dodgers have to do is win today and they still will still not have lost a series this season. That may be easier said than done however because Joe Musgrove has been the Padres best pitcher this season. He is 2-2 because of poor run support but in his 26 IP, he has struck out 37 batters and has a 1.04 ERA to go with a microscopic 0.54 WHIP. The league is hitting .124 against him and of course, he has thrown a no-hitter. Dustin May needs to be on his game and the Dodger hitters need to bring their bats.
Joe Musgrove is a classic example of how long it sometimes takes for a player to develop. He was drafted in the first round in 2011 by Toronto and then traded the next year to the Houston Astros. That was before they became the Asstericks! Then is 2018, he was traded to the Pirates in the deal that got them Gerrit Cole. Then in January of this year, he was traded to the Padres. He has shown flashes of greatness, but could never consistently harness it. So far this year he looks like an Ace. Can he keep it up? We shall find out tonight!
Will Smith, Corey Seager, and Sheldon Neuse look to be getting their collective Mojo’s back. Hopefully, the rest of the team will follow their lead! Noisy could be a very effective player. A bench of CT3 and Noisy could be very potent. That’s the good news – the bad news is that Corey Knebel will likely miss “months” with a severe lat strain. That’s hurts, as he was just starting to get some of his “magic” back. It’s now possible he will not be a factor this year. Not to worry… there’s plenty more pitchers in the system. They just have to find the right combination.
It appears that Kenley Jansen can pitch about every other or every third day and be extremely effective. He looked solid last night. The bullpen will be fine… even with Garrett Cleavinger! There are a bunch more arms at the Alternate Site and if that doesn’t work, the Dodgers can always make a trade. There’s no reason to even considering panic right about now. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and yet many of you are panicking because they are now on trade to win just 115 games? SILLY!
We are barely through 10% of the season. This is a small sample. Some of you are moaning about the defense, but Tatis leads baseball in errors with 8. The Dodger bats have not heated up … yet. They will! When Bellinger is back patrolling center and Betts is in right the outfield defense will be outstanding. The infield defense will be solid, if not spectacular. Fielding statistics are incredibly subjective. Last year, the Padres were ranked #2 by Fangraphs in defense at + 16.2. The Rays were #1 with 16.8. The Dodgers were #23 at -7.4 … and yet we all know how that turned out. This year, the Padres are #24 and the Dodgers are #25 with identical -3.4 DR, while the Rays are last with a -6.1. Patience Grasshoppers!
The bullpen is creeping up in the rankings. It was #16 a few days ago with an ERA of 4.10. The ERA is down to 3.77 and the Dodgers bullpen cracked the Top 10. They will be in the TOP five by June 1… maybe TOP3! I have zero worries about the pitching or the bullpen. Ditto for the hitting. Don’t panic – the Dodgers are still the best damn team in baseball… even after a horrific 6-game slump… and they still have not lost a series. Also, there might be a flood from all the tears from crying about Dave Robert’s bad moves. I find it comical… but that just me.
Guys, no team in baseball has a team batting OPS .800 or higher.
Red Sox are #1 at .798
Reds #2 at .787
Dodgers #3 at .761
Either the pitchers are dominating the hitters or the ball is un-juiced this year.
On the flip side, the Dodgers are #1 in team pitching OPS at .599. Next is the Padres at .616.
Those stats should explain a lot. Specifically why the Dodgers and Padres don’t score a lot of runs against each other.
I think the un-juiced ball is having an effect. League wide ERA is down half a run from last year and 2019 to the lowest level since 2015. HR/9 is down, too, but not as dramatically.
Pitching is generally getting better each year. Average velocity is the highest it’s ever been, and the K/9 is dramatically higher this year after a pretty historic trend upwards the last few years. Pitchers throw harder and with more movement than ever, and I would guess they throw more pitches per inning. Pitchers don’t pitch to contact anymore, but try to strike batters out.
Fun fact. When the ball was juiced in 2019, 5 teams OPS’d >800. In 1999, a whopping 8 teams OPS’d 800 or better.
Having the strike zone expanded by poor umpiring doesn’t help either. It’s been ridiculous! The strikeout calls on Smith and Machado were a foot off the plate last night! Ps if the catcher moves his glove it’s a ball!
Amen, but it sure feels like the Dodgers have had a worse strike zone than their opponents during the last two series.
Is David Price injured? He last pitched on Monday and since he’s officially a reliever now, I’m not sure why Doc would think he needs a week between appearances, especially since his last two outings were excellent. Even though we’re only paying half his very high salary, wouldn’t it make sense to try to get our money’s worth? What’s up with that?
Although I suppose I lean toward being one of those Woke Snowflakes that you referred to yesterday dodgerpatch, I don’t believe that this is the place to argue politics so I’m going to 100% agree with you that Bauer is absolutely terrific when it comes to baseball-related things. He realizes that first and foremost he’s an entertainer and he does everything he can to entertain. He pokes the Padres (Manny in particular) and when they get the best of him he takes it like a man and he salutes them for it. Bravo Trevor! He interacts with the opposition and that adds immeasurably to the fans’ experience. And he thinks enough of himself that he doesn’t feel threatened when a guy celebrates a homer off of him by showboating a little. He doesn’t feel that deserves a beanball next time up. Watching him strategize on the mound is fascinating. That run of 12 sliders in a row to Machado last night was a thing of beauty. I bet that when it comes down to it if you would ask the Padres without having a mic in their face, most of them they would say they enjoy competing against Bauer and would love to have him as a teammate.
I’ve wondered the same thing about Price. Could Roberts have been holding him back to piggy back with May tonight?
Who gets sent down when Lux comes back? Will it be Neuse or Rios?
I’m going to guess Peters or Raley since CT3 is back and capable of playing the outfield. Although Rios hasn’t exactly been spectacular so far, I think they consider him next in the depth chart at third (after JT) although I suppose Neuse can play there also. Anyway, my official guess is Peters.
Eric, they changed the baseball to reduce HR’s and it seems to have had some effect in that direction. Price is not injured. I think Roberts considers him a long man, so if they have a lead of 3 or more in the 6th or so, he would bring in Price. If this team has a weakness it is the fact that they are thin on MLB caliber outfielders right now without Belli on the team. Raley, Beaty, and Peters need to hit better before that deficiency is corrected, I do not consider Taylor an outfielder even though he is listed as one.
Of Price’s last 5 appearances, Bear, 3 were 1 inning and the other 2 were 2 innings so I’m not sure where you think Doc figures him as a long man, although he is certainly capable of going more than 1 inning.
Are you not considering Taylor as an outfielder only because he can also play the infield? I think if you check you’ll find that he has played more games in the outfield than in the infield during his Dodger career.
Good example of perspective. CT3 came up as a SS, so it’s hard to consider him an outfielder even though he’s made a lot of great plays out there. One that comes to mind was his game saving catch a couple of years ago with Julio on the mound. He’s also had more than his fair share of gunning runners down.
Wrong, He has played 312 games in the infield and 263 as an outfielder. Yes, he plays there a lot but I will always consider him an infielder. He is way more comfortable there. As for Price, 2 innings out of a reliever on this team is long.
Actually Bear, you’re wrong. The key is as a Dodger. Taylor has 609 total games played, but 10 he DH’d. So, he has 599 in the field, 81 as a Mariner so he has 518 games as a Dodger, all 266 games that he played in the outfield has been as a Dodger. So, total games as a Dodger (518) – Games as an outfielder (266) = Games as a Dodger infielder (252). 266 > 252 so he’s played in more games as an outfielder while on this team.
Haha
Not a lot of facts on this site.
Since my predication about the Dodgers coming out of their slump was spot on yesterday, I’ll go out on a limb again today. Musgrove will regress and May will outpitch him. Dodgers will split today and win by at least 3 runs. 😉
Good to get back in the win column. Maybe this is the end of the team hitting slump.
* KJ got it done but almost always makes it interesting. I would prefer no 4 or 5 out saves in addition to no back-to-back days but last night after Alexander was pulled, I don’t know who Doc goes to to finish the 8th? Where’s Price? He’s thrown 1 inning since April 16th and is on 6 days rest. If he’s healthy, he needs more work.
* Is it my imagination or is Will Smith getting an inordinate amount of poor strike calls? His excellent eye and patience is negated by strike calls well out of the zone. Between that and atom balls he’s had hard luck lately.
* Joe Davis drove me crazy last night. He was just chuck full of useless examples of how bad our recent offense has been. I know how bad it’s been. I’ve watched every game. “Smith hasn’t had an RBI since April 6th”. Move on like the team has to do. I don’t care that Tatis homered off CY Young winners.
* There are some fundamental things that need to be cleaned up:
After Peters struck out again with runners at 1st and 3rd, why can’t we execute a simple bunt play with Bauer in the 4th? It’s not hard. A decent sac bunt can serve as a safety squeeze with any decent bunt. An indefensible play and run. Instead of a bunt, Neuse gets picked off first. Bad baseball.
* KJ and Alexander especially make no attempt to hold runners. A walk turns into a double as they run into scoring position. Poor Smith has no chance what so ever.
* In the meantime the Dodgers have a green light special in the bottom of the 8th with Mookie on first with 1 out in a 1 run game. Doc didn’t send him. Maybe it was to save his back? But it was 5 to 0 in steals last night. Doc sits on his ass like Earl Weaver waiting for a 3 run homer instead fo trying to help a slumping team manufacture runs.
* Blake Snell’s inability to get past the 6th inning is not new. I watched him pitch for Shorewood High School in 2010 in a state semi-final game. Snell was sailing along in the 7 inning game giving up 1 hit the first 5 innings. He started the bottom on the 6th with ball 4, ball 8 and ball 12. Absolutely lost the zone. He was pulled. The relief pitcher proceeded to hit the next batter with the bases juiced. That ended up being the only run given up in a 1-0 loss. Totally went in the tank in an instant.
No Kidding PhilJones. As much as I hate Doc, I just think he does what he’s told. No original thoughts coming from that guy, he just sticks to the game plan. How else can you rationalize what he does? The only thing he did well as a player was steal bases, you would think he would know a thing or two, but his team is horrible at preventing stolen bases and seldom steals bases.
I’m with you on Blake Snell. He’s completely overrated and puts a lot of stress on the pen and makes Ryu and Maeda look like workhorses. I was chastised for pointing that out during the offseason and being against the Dodgers making a run at him pointing out the fact that he’s a five inning pitcher. Plus I hate his stupid face.
Yesterday, I watched Doc’s pregame interview for maybe the 3rd time this season. Mostly to get the Knebel update. I was shocked at how little he knew about his injury. He even said he spoke to Knebel about his injury but couldn’t remember for certain that he injured his lat. That basically tells me that he makes the rounds and talks to the players, but doesn’t really listen to them.
You’ve got to know by now that Doc and all other MLB managers are purposefully vague about injuries. When Doc says he hopes to get Knebel back at some point this season I think that’s cryptic for this is a significant injury, and although not surgical right now, it will be necessary at some point.
Doesn’t mean he’s not listening, but instead protecting the player until all medical evaluations are completed and every possible avenue for recovery is discussed.
That’s not what I saw. Did you happen to watch the pregame interview?
100% Agree with Philjones. No sacrifice bunts, no steals, no hit and runs, equal no runs when your struggling to score runs. Manufacture
Ing runs is not a bad thing DR
BP. You hate Doc. Really. Maybe you can enlighten me on the condition of Betts back and arm. What have the trainers shared with you about his health. And I’m sure you’d be the first in line to criticize him if Betts got injured stealing last night. You criticize Roberts and have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes with players health and availability
Back off Cassidy. I wasn’t directly agreeing that he should have sent Betts in that situation. I just said that you would think the team would run more or prevent baserunners more coming from a manager who specialized in stealing bases as a ballplayer. Direct your anger at PhillJones if you want to argue about Mookie stealing in that situation. Or did I anger you when I said I hate Doc?
Not angry at all. Just pointing out that you don’t have all the facts when making your critiques. And that I would trust AF’s evaluation of Roberts over yours. And that the decision making that you hate did win a WS last year.
Yeah well, he inherited a first place team and has 1 WS in 6 trys. So, there’s that. Way to point out the obvious about trusting AF’s evaluation over mine. Are you in the Mensa organization?
For those who enjoy this kind of stuff, I’m posting a link here to a new YouTube video by Bauer in which he analyzes Tatis’ various celebratory activities after homering off of him.
The video is THIRTEEN minutes long, just commenting on the hand over the eye, the bat flip, the strut, his looking down at Smith just before the second homer, etc. He runs the video forwards and backwards, draws arrows, etc.
He understands that he’s getting paid huge money to be an entertainer. Also makes a comment at the end about the game having been over 4 hours long and that nobody objected to that because it was entertaining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcoZTm5u2xc&t=626s
I love how he’s giving him pointers and grading him. The arrows are a nice touch. I like how he called him out about about looking back for the signs and explains that he earned a HBP for it. All you Joe Kelly haters, that’s why he needs to be with us.
I sure hope May saw this video.
He could definitely teach the MLB marketing people a thing or two. This stuff is genius in terms of building his brand and MLB in general.
As far as retaliating for the look back, I think he more or less said once was OK, but now that he’s warned him he doesn’t want him doing it again. Things could get very interesting next time around but frankly I’d rather they keep it to this kind of stuff. Baseballs to the head are dangerous and if you notice, he said he was really glad that Jr’s injury wasn’t serious and that he was back on the field again.
Are you sure that Kelly’s control is good enough to hit someone on purpose? 🙂
Not head, ribs. Good point about Kelly. He got suspended for not hitting someone.
What an interesting idea about Kelly’s role with the Dodgers. After all the showboating Kelly could be the Designated Hitter.
Badaboom!
He’d have to wait until next year Phil. No DH this year.
Instead of DH, this year he could hold the position of Enforcer.
One of the reasons we have hit an offensive slump is we are going into each game with 4 outs mb 5. When u have raley, Barnes, Beaty, pitcher, and even Taylor u have no chance vs. good pitching. In one of the biggest series of the year u have smith, pollock on the bench. Mb they both go hit less but I would rather c Rios get a shot. This is not a Mlb offense. Bases loaded time after time we get 1 run on a bloop. We just don’t have that guy like tatis . At least u could have a guy who can put the ball in play.
Btw another Sb. The pads are running at will against us.
MVP of the game. Ramirez! Single handedly got us out of our slump!
seriously. finally!
Great call! Catcher didn’t need to bring his glove. U have to wonder why tingler left him in. Thanks though
Horrible hitting RISP until Taylor’s HR.
Another reliever who can’t throw a clean inning. (Price)
Now Graterol.
Someone ought to look at game logs to see how many clean innings that the ‘pen has pitched vs. innings with baserunners.
I hear you dodgerrick.
My big complaint is the three batter minimum rule because we’ve got a lot of relievers that are good against one side of the plate and bad against the other side. During the off-season I was advocating for the Dodgers to sign guys that are good against both sides of the plate.
Graterol hasn’t pitched well at all. Price hasn’t been in for a week. Now Gonzalez can’t throw strikes. Thank our lucky stars they left Ramirez in. Umpire squeezing now.
Gotta love the fight in these Padres. It won’t come easy this year
I finally saw the hole in Peters’ swing.
It’s bigger than a hole!
I guess a 6 run lead isn’t enough
I hate how Doc handles the bullpen. Friggin Jimmy Nelson for the save. Unbelievable.
That’s weak…
Second-guessers are never wrong!
Yeah, he should have brought in Eric Gagne!
Oh really – you couldn’t come up with a better way to work this awful ‘pen? Nelson may eventually learn to be a relief pitcher but he isn’t one right now. In 7.3 innings coming into tonight’s game he had allowed 6 BB and 4 H. He had clean games in 2 out of 8 appearances. Not the guy to close a game.
One Game! Stay sane.
Best BP in baseball? Hardly ……….. KJ can’t go on back-to-back nights, Treinen can’t get people out, Graterol looks horrible, Gonzales doesn’t know where the strike zone is, Price looks done and Nelson should get his DFA tomorrow.
Can they bring Ramirez back in?
The Dodgers may wind up with a great bullpen, but losing a 7-1 lead in the 7th inning isn’t very reassuring!
Lest we forget, the Padres are very good.
Many say they are the second-best team in baseball.
Damn, I cant believe how fast you guys can go from 100% all in Dodger diehards to worst bullpen, lineup, and manager in baseball history in one series. Just friggin amazing. Its baseball, the other side gets paid too, and the Padres aint going anywhere. way too early in the season for some of the shade you guys are throwing on the Dodgers, of course when they reach their stride in a few months I’m sure you will be crowing how you knew all along how awesome this team is. I trust the process, and Friedman is one of the most patient GM,s in baseball. He will stick with a guy until its time not too. We are in the weeding out process, have to see what’s in the box of chocolates. I would rather be going through this right now than late September. Gonna throw out another “patience grasshopper” Mark phrase, but right now we do need some patience.
Yep. Dodgers biggest weakness is some of their fans. They were able to talk DR outta having Jansen in the ready. This one wouldn’t of gotten this far outta hand. But it still might just work out.
No gripe from me regarding Doc, I think he’s great. The BP and the bench….well that’s another story. Rios, Raley, Peters….yuk!
I agree. Raley, Peters are career minor leaguers. Rios just hasn’t found his groove.
I am shocked they pitched to tatis. I feel for Dustin May who pitched a great game!!
Poor kid can’t even take a walk! We can blame the bullpen tonight but the fact is if Pads didn’t bring in the softball pitcher we only scored 2 ugly runs tonight.
Peters is a kid playing a mans game. Way overmatched and swung at ball four
He swung at two balls. He’s completely overmatched against anything remotely up in the zone. He’s a guy I don’t believe in as a big league hitter. I hope I’m wrong but so far what we’ve seen matches the scouting report.
I 100% agree!
D J Peters is the worst hitter I think I have ever seen to wear a Dodger uniform. He’s been around for years, can hit home runs in batting practice, strikes out 50% of the time, and how nervous and f—-d up can you be to swing at a ball around your eyes to escape a walk off walk. What a complete waste of a baseball player. I would trade or DFA him tomorrow and bring up damn near anyone.
How do you really feel, Ed?
Obviously really PISSED, but my takes are more than emotional. I am gobsmacked at an Andrew Friedman organization seeing him as anything resembling a fit for this team.
Eugenio Velez says hello
Peters does not fit at all with Dodger philosophy of hitting, taking pitches, making contact and playing smart baseball. Swinging at that last pitch at eye level just disqualifies him. That was a walk off walk! Amazing. He will never live that down.
You can hang this one on Doc. He just over manages. He loves every left and right or right and left situations Now we have nothing left for tomorrow except Urias and Jansen. I thought Doc learned some lessons last year. He is now back to his old ways.
DJ Peters has not been around for years. He wasn’t drafted until 2016. And the years that he has been playing, were spent in the miners, including the low minor leagues, and one lost year in 2020, when there was no minor league baseball. He looks very questionable as a hitter, and probably doesn’t belong at the big league level at this stage of his career, and it’s possible he will never belong, unless he can make some major adjustments.
I was thinking during the game that he should have been instructed to lay off the high fastball, although that may have been difficult to do.
Not happy with what I’ve seen from the Dodgers lately. But I also understand that it’s a very long season that will have some peaks and valleys, and that right now the Dodgers are in one of their valleys. And yes, they are also playing against other major league players, some of whom who are very talented.
I’ve been fan of Andrew Friedman since the day the Dodgers brought him on board (Mark, you weren’t the only one ). I am fully confident that he will address any deficiencies that they have as the season progresses. In the meantime it’s on to the next series. And I believe that the Dodgers have 12 more games against the Padres.
And it’s at times like this that I always remember that you’re never as good as you are when you’re at your best,,and never as bad as you are when you’re at your worst.
That Series was great!
Machado and Tatis were better than Betts and Seager in this series. When has April baseball ever been this exciting? Gonna be a tough series with Cincy coming up after this
Stealing bases is important
Dave Roberts should be fired. The bat boy could manage this team better. He thinks he’s so mart with the shift that works out 5% of the time and he is a piss poor manager of that bullpen. He was a Padre at one time, probably wanted them to win.
Why just 6 innings if a pitcher is not in
Trouble. I’ve never understood Robert’s. If you have a lights out BP. Yes, I can see it. If you are a starter for the Dodgers, you will never pitch a complete game.
In this case, Dustin May had already thrown 93 pitches and was leading off the bottom of the sixth inning. It was logical to pinch hit for May, and Neuse did hit HR as PH which started a 5 run inning. I think Roberts made numerous tactical errors in this game, but removing May at that point was not one of them to me.
The bullpen has to hold a 6 run lead with only 3 innings left, but unfortunately four straight relievers had poor outings and blew the lead. Right now the Dodgers have a 26 man roster with several players who should not be in the MLB. And Roberts consistently put inexperienced players in situations they did not belong.
Padres beat us now–let’s see what happens in October when it really counts. If Raley and Peters are any indication, we may not have much in the way of position players in the minor league that can help us out.
“Everything you hear is an opinion…”
Well, no, I’d say that’s not true at all. I’m confident that the philosophers Aristotle and Joe Friday would back me up on this. (Joe never said, “Just your opinions, ma’am.”)
But back to baseball. As surely as 2+2=4, the Dodgers just lost the Padres in extra innings.
I trust nobody here denies this reality, though we all have opinions about how this fact came into existence and what the Dodgers should do about it.
From what I can tell, we might be lucky to hold on to Eric in here – he could be heading for a role in the Dodger’s analytical department.
He’s been telling us all along about the various foibles of our BP, and he’s pretty much nailed it.
Big Up Eric
(Ps – thought the Bench looked a bit light before the season began. More so now).