The Cavalry is Coming

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1. Funny version of the old Coasters song.

   Agree about Joe Kelly. The guy has incredible stuff. He just needs to package it now that he’s healthy.

   Also agree on DJ Peters. Seems like he’s always up there in scoring opportunities and ends up striking out. No point in continuing to run him out there at this stage. At bats are critical in these games. At least need somebody who is putting the ball in play. I think I would give Bellinger some more AAA at bats, let him get his feet back on the ground, especially after coming off the shoulder injury with a limited spring. But I get the urge to call him up.

   Just got to like Trevor Bauer. Adds something to the game, love the way he baited the San Fran fans. Looks like David Price will remain in the bullpen with the Dodgers planning to put Tony Gonsolin back in the starting rotation. He was really good in that role last year.

   This site has never been exactly normal and that’s okay.

2. TBD must be really bad. I always see him as a scheduled starter, but he never appears in the box score. What’s up with that guy.

   I was thinking the same thing about CT3, if it weren’t for JT carrying the team for a couple of weeks. That line drive homer last night was a thing of beauty.

   The bullpen is doing its job. We dodged a bullet after the bullpen game the day before. Treinen was the only reliever needed that pitched the night before. He’s pitched in 3 of the last 4, so hopefully he won’t be needed tonight.

   Trevor’s post game interview was great. The reporter asked him about emptying the tank last night, assuming he did after 125 pitches. Who says I emptied the tank? His confidence is refreshing! 96 MPH on his last pitch tells me his tank wasn’t quite empty.

   It’s great to see Belli finally begin his rehab assignment. It’s too bad we have to play this series with one hand tied behind our backs with Seags, Belli, Pollock and Z-Mack still down.

   Bueller likes to step up for big games. I hope the bats can make the game less interesting so we can get Uceta and Santana some work.

   1. I think TBD hangs out with that player who currently has no name at all. That “player to be named later”

      1. They might be the same person. I’ve never seen them in the same room together.

3. Great little story of the games best pitcher on a Low-A rehab assignment:

   https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/jacob-degrom-new-york-mets-palm-beach-cardinals-low-a-rehab

5. In the famous words of a general who was not my favorite, ” I Shall Return”…. This ain’t the Philippines but it will have to do. Loved watching Bauer work. Note….Dodger fans are getting fat on all of the free Jumbo Jacks. 5 of the last 6 games they have struck out 10 so J in the B has to give you a free Jumbo Jack with the purchase of a drink. Grizz dropped the Warriors last night knocking them out of the playoffs. I am heading home this coming Thursday. Taking my brother with me for a short visit.

   1. Bear: He wasn’t and still isn’t one of my favorite generals. Matter of fact I think he was an asshole. 8 hours after he was told about the attack on Pearl Harbor his planes in the Philippines were still neatly parked side by side at the airfield. Because of his inaction the men under him suffered terribly on Bataan while he slipped away to Corregidor.
      He was awarded the Nations highest honor, the Medal of Honor which , as you know, awarded for bravery under fire.
      It came as no surprise when Harry Truman fired him when he was in Korea. When Truman was asked why he answered “I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the office of the President. That’s the answer to that. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail. “Give them hell Harry” is one of my favorite Presidents.

      1. Exactamundo. Mac was a huge prima donna. And outside of the Inchon landing during the Korean War, not nearly the military genius some made him out to be. Patton was a much better strategist and led his men from the front, not the rear like Bradley, Montgomery and Eisenhower. You had to love Truman, I loved the sign he had on his desk which read ” The Buck Stops Here” ,

         1. Yea. How times have changed. Agreed as far as Patton was concerned. There is still talk as to whether his death was an accident or not. Guess we’ll never really know.

6. Dodgers 3 Seasons (so far):

   13-2
   5-15
   9-1

7. It will be great to have you back Bear. I miss your baseball strolls down Memory Lane.
   * I went from a huge Joe Kelly fan insisting he could help the Dodgers to finally giving up on him around the time of his 24 sliders in a row performance. I mean completely gave up. And I wasn’t alone. Now it comes to light that he was pitching for awhile with an sore (damaged) arm. But I’m making no apology for my previous feelings about him. A little honesty and transparency would go along way these days by the player and the club regarding injury and performance. Number one, why was Kelly trying to play through this pain and not getting it fixed much earlier. Number 2, why are these things so secret. It’s not like football where an injured body part will be targeted.
   As Mark likes to mention, we don’t know what the clubs know. I base my opinions on what I see with zero inside information. How were we to know that Kelly being shitty was due to injury. I’m not Carnac. I bet the Dodgers had no idea either. Kelly kept it from the club and could have addressed it early? I’m glad he’s back pitching well and he should help us going forward.
   * Help me understand why catchers are back down on one knee exposing their package and thigh? I’ve seen some shots that should have hit shin guards. Remember Manny Sanguillen and Tony Pena doing the splits to get lower and exposing themselves? Why is a version of that back in style? The target is not that low anymore. How do you catch high heat from that position?
   * Peters 2 Ks again. That’s 10 strikeouts in 15 AB’s. He just misses fastballs. He is so tardy. Dodger Horse mentioned before how scouts have mentioned his long swing. I watch closely last night and he was tardy on everything. I’m sure he’s worked on it but his front foot lands too late. We’ve all heard the advice to hitting velo is to get that foot down early. He doesn’t. When he swings long and is late getting the front foot down there is no way he hits a fastball.
   * Joe Davis said the rap on Solano is he hits “too many line drives.” It’s amazing that is now a criticism.
   * I guess Smith posted a picture of him and Albert saying only 3 more to 700 combined HRs. I didn’t see it but that’s funny.
   * Speaking of funny, look who won the tunnel “ conversation” between Doc and Bauer about staying in the game and going back out for the 7th at 113 pitches. I have a scene in my mind where Bauer goes back out and there’s a TV shot of the dugout with Doc on his perch on the rail, with a black eye.
   * Nate Jones could help. Saw him in 2015 in AA as a Montgomery Biscuit. As I mentioned when he signed, he has that different arm action but can run it up there. I’ve liked him with the White Sox and I think he can help us like he did last night.
   * Pitch counts. Some folks are so tied to that 100 pitch limit that they start having a panic attack as the number approaches. Joe Davis drinks that Kool-Aid. It’s like he couldn’t shut up about Bauer’s pitch count as he just blew by 100 and why not? One size does not fit all.

   1. Peters’ hands are lower than the baseball is why he can’t hit velocity. Naval on up he has no chance.

   2. Nate Jones was a very pleasant surprise to me last night.
      He was really pretty spectacular for the Chisox in 2015 and 2016 but hasn’t been very good since then. Strange thing is that even in his time with the Reds last year his strike outs per 9 innings was over 11 but he gave up a ridiculous amount of hits. If he can figure that part out, he’ll be a great addition.

      Between the two of you (Phil and Hawkeye) you’ve identified two major flaws in Peters’ batting approach, both of which it would seem to me would be fairly easy to fix. I can’t believe that our batting gurus haven’t detected those problems, so why he hasn’t fixed them is beyond me. I know he’s a hard worker so that isn’t it. He needs a plane ticket to OKC today so he can start working on those fixes. Hopefully he’ll be back up here again and be much more successful.

   3. Thanks Phil. I am thinking of different subjects to write about when I get back home.

8. Today’s starter for SF – Scott Kazmir

   He’s one guy that DJ might actually be able to catch up to, but I’m guessing Peters sits today since Muncy will almost certainly start at second, pushing CT3 to the outfield. The other option would be to sit Neuse and start Peters. I think Peters sits.

   1. Supposed lineup for tonight; Mookie sits

      CT3 CF
      JT 3b
      Max 2b
      Albert 1b
      Gavin ss
      Austin c
      Matt LF
      DJ RF
      Walker

      1. OK, one last chance for DJ. I guarantee an extra base hit for Peters today.

         If I’m wrong, Mark buys everyone a beer.

9. Mickleson lapping the field at PGA. Still hope for the old timers! Could be Albert’s turn tonight!

   1. I think Pujols is feeling rejuvenated. Just look how he interacts with his Dodger team mates. Smiling, giving support and advice. Gotta love his addition to the team.

10. Guess it is a real good thing AF passed on trading the farm for Vazquez. Convicted on 15 counts. Boy is going to serve some serious jail time. Kazmir??? WOW… But we saw him in spring training so it should not be a surprise he finally made it back. 4 ex Dodgers now on the Giants roster McGee, Wood, Solano and Kazmir.

11. I love how we have to rest key players during the series with the team that is directly in front of us in the standings. Muncy last night, Mookie tonight. I’m betting Turner tomorrow. Will Smith’s been hitting too much, better sit him in favor of Barnes.

    1. Well the way Peters is mashing we can afford to sit Mookie today. After all it’s only the Giants for first place.

       1. Would be a tie with them. And the Pads would need to lose.

    2. I absolutely agree with you B&P. Doc being Doc.

12. Ex-MLB catcher Erik Kratz claims Rockies were caught using Astros-esque sign-stealing scheme in 2018
    https://sports.yahoo.com/ex-mlb-catcher-erik-kratz-rockie-astros-sign-stealing-scheme-2018-mlb-234653785.html

    It’s been well established that the Houston Astros weren’t the only MLB team to use some form of illegal sign-stealing over the last few years, but no other team had been firmly reported to have used a system like their infamous trash can banging.

    Former MLB catcher Erik Kratz believes there were at least a couple other teams to use such a scheme, and he’s willing to name one of them.

    During an appearance on the YES Network’s “Curtain Call” podcast, Kratz responded to a question about the Astros’ cheating by claiming the Colorado Rockies used a system similar to Houston’s to steal signs. He also claimed another team who had been to the World Series had done the same thing.

    In the case of the Rockies, Kratz said the team used a massage therapy gun to hit a metal bench to relay signs from a television:
    https://twitter.com/YESNetwork/status/1395789026662260740

    Kratz’s answer:

    I can tell you that a team that has been to the World Series, often, recently, we caught them doing something almost similar.

    And I can also tell you, because I don’t really care, I don’t know anybody over there, the Colorado Rockies were doing the exact same thing in 2018, and we caught them, and we played them in the playoffs. You know how many runs they scored in a three-game playoff series in 2018? Not many people watched the NLDS. They scored two runs in the ninth inning of Game 2. They used to take a Theragun and bang it on their metal bench. And they were doing the exact same thing, from the TV.

    So, there you go. If you think no one else was doing it, you are wrong. The difference is, the Astros may have taken it a little too far. Maybe a little bit too far. Maybe continued to do it. Or maybe it’s just the fact that they won the World Series and everybody’s pissed about that.

    The 2018 Rockies came a game short of winning the National League West, but lost a Game 163 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kratz had been on the Milwaukee Brewers on that season, which included a sweep of the Rockies in the NLDS.

    Kratz also went on to say this:
    I’m not saying that it’s right what the Astros did, but I know two other teams that season, I was in the National League, and those two teams didn’t win the World Series, they were doing very, very similar things.

    With that extra nugget, it’s not hard to do figure out which other team Kratz is implying to have cheated. The Dodgers are only the NL team to reach the World Series multiple times over the last half-decade, including 2018, and Kratz’ Brewers team was reported to suspect the Dodgers of something shady during the 2018 NLCS, which Los Angeles won in seven games.

    While Kratz said the Astros weren’t alone in cheating, he also conceded that the team continued to cheat after being told to stop by MLB and agreed when a podcast host said the team should be stripped of its World Series title. He also said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred “dropped the ball” in only punishing former manager A.J. Hinch and former general manager Jeff Luhnow.

    It should be noted Kratz played for the Astros in 2016, but only for a month and a half. Kratz played for nine different teams over the course of his 11-year career, mostly as a backup catcher.

    The Astros were never alone in illegal sign-stealing, but …
    In the years since the Astros’ cheating came to light, many of their defenders have argued that while the team admittedly cheated on its way to a 2017 World Series championship, it was only doing what other teams were doing at the time.

    Cheating accusations of varying credibility and magnitude have come out over that span, including against Kratz’s own Brewers. The issue was pervasive enough that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred issued a warning to all 30 teams about illegal sign-stealing after finding that the Red Sox used an Apple Watch to do so in 2017.

    The difference with this Rockies allegation, though, is that Kratz is claiming the team used an Astros-esque banging scheme rather than something along the lines of what the 2017 Red Sox did (relay signals to the dugout via Apple Watch, then relay that to the hitter) or what the 2018 Red Sox did (use the video room to update pitcher-catcher sign sequences when they differed from pregame scouting). Manfred himself said the latter was ‘far more limited in scope and impact’ than what the Astros did, and that’s probably true for many systems used in video rooms.

    So while the Astros weren’t alone in cheating, it appeared that they were the lone team to use a system so effective, and still used it in the postseason (the 2018 Red Sox were found to have stopped cheating during the regular season).

    If the Rockies (or the Dodgers) used a banging scheme, well, that’s new information, but doesn’t come from a reliable source. Kratz isn’t the first player to accuse other teams of illegal sign-stealing, and he probably won’t be the last.

    1. Well, if he was so convinced that the “Mystery Team” also cheated, then why call out Houston and the Rockies by name, but imply the Dodgers without saying it. I call Shenanigans.

13. Happy to see the SF rivalry back. Tired of those Padres fuckos.

14. Leonel Valera just hit a grand slam for the Loons. he is on fire.

15. Well surprised Robert’s didn’t set Muncy again lefty on lefty. We don’t need mookie we have peters. Mb I can jinx peters into a hit. Somebody better hit a homer with this weak lineup. Walker better b on because he probably won’t get many runs.

16. Lol listening to Kapler I’d swear I was looking at and listening to Doc .Same voice, same manerisms.

17. Watching gameday. They said peters popped out sharply lol. Well we give kazmir 40-50 million (estimate) and he can’t even pitch. Now, well is he that good? Our offense ….s. Wood same thing. Although he helped us in the World Series.

18. DJ DJ!!!! Gotta love that hustle.Did he change his stance?

    1. DJ delivers his extra base hit, as per my guarantee at 5:02 pm,

       1. Boss!

       2. STB – Can you make some guarantees for the next time Kelly pitches? This seems to work.

          1. Absolutely John, I guarantee that the next time Kelly pitches I’ll probably be very nervous.

19. Peters yes!!!! U can only hope to contain him. I am so happy for him!! That has to be some relief. Jinx worked!

20. Good on Peters. Get some confidence.

21. If Pujols is going to keep hitting grounders to the left side he’s going to kill a lot of rallies. His bat is slow too.

    1. On the bright side at any time he can hit one out.

22. They’re talking on Fox about how to get more hitting in MLB. All you have to do is go back to the old American league strike zone. Top of the knees to the letters. But you’ll never hear them say that.

23. Watching Peters, he s choking up on a probably 34 inch bat. Big as he is he needs to use a bigger bat. He would drive the ball.

24. Good for Peters, 2 hits and no K’s. Guess who the team leader in BA is. Who would’ve thunk it?

    1. He had a good game. Happy for him.

25. It was great to see Peters when a hit single turned him into a double.
    There is hope, you can do it !!!

26. Valera might be a guy.

27. Happy for Peters. Hope Doc brings him back today and does Not sit Him.
    Walker fantastic again,

    Go Dodgers!

28. Albert is a class act.

    The touch with the Bat to the young fan – brilliant.

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