The Hitting Coach

Posted By on June 8, 2021

It might be hard for some to believe, but prior to 1977 the position of Hitting coach as such did not exist. The first hitting coach with that title was Jim Gilliam. There have been 18 since. Before that time, players did not have a specific person to go to. All of these guys had varying degrees of experience. Some, including Gilliam, Mattingly, McGwire. Wallack, Reggie Smith, Jack Clark, Mota, Murray, and Mueller, had pretty good careers. The current coach, Van Scoyoc, never played pro ball. He played some in college and described his career there as mediocre. His claim to fame was helping JD Martinez improve his swing, and then he got hired by the Dodgers as a hitting analyst and helped Chris Taylor revamp his swing.

The D Backs had him as a hitting strategist in 2018, then he returned to the Dodgers as their hitting coach in 2019. His partner is Brant Brown who had an undistinguished career with 3 teams, Cubs, Pirates, and Marlins from 1996 to 2000. He hit .247 over that span with 45 HR’s and 146 RBI’s. These are the guys mentoring your Dodgers. I would venture a guess that the one guy on the team who probably could teach them a hell of a lot about hitting would be Pujols. Some of the other prior hitting coach’s were Jim Lefebvre, Ben Hines, Rick Down, George Hendrick, Mike Easler, Jeff Pentland, Dave Hansen and Turner Ward. All had some success, others not so much.

Smith was universally liked by the players, and they were pretty POed when he got canned. Ward’s biggest success was getting Puig to buy into his ideas. It did not last long, but Yasiel really liked working with Ward. Other than that, he was pretty resistant to any kind of coaching. Some players buy-in and others do not. We who watched these guys day in and day out wonder sometimes if they listen at all. Look, we all wish we had these guy’s skills, but even a novice like me knows that no matter what anyone might think, Cody Bellinger would be a much better hitter if he cut down that monster swing. He has a huge hole on inside pitches. Makes you wonder though how guys like Duke Snider and Gil Hodges managed the careers they did without a specific hitting coach.

History tells us that not long after he was called up, Snider was trained in the nuances of the strike zone by being in the cage and not being allowed to swing. He also had to identify if the pitch was a ball or a strike. It obviously worked for Duke. I am pretty sure no one schooled Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, or Mantle on their approach at the plate. But those are exceptional players. Guys of that stature are few and far between. So you have to wonder, how much do these coaches really help?

With Chris Taylor, it was changing his launch angle. And in 2017, Taylor launched 21 HR’s. Turner changed his swing also after becoming a Dodger, and it has led to a nice career and a nicer paycheck. Think about it. These guys make more in a week than Snider made in a season. Sign of the times we live in.

Personally, I believe in today’s game, a hitting coach is needed. Maybe more than one like the Dodgers have. They see things the player cannot. Mechanics are more important than they were back in the day. Back then it was: see the ball, hit the ball. Too many different pitches and pitchers now. They have a plan and they try to execute that plan every pitch. In today’s game, a good hitting coach can make a difference. But then again, the hitters have to buy into the plan. It is still on the player to perform no matter who his coach is. It would be the same with the pitching coach. Pitchers’ mechanics are pretty complicated these days.

MT’s Minor League Report

OKC BOXSCORE – Game 1 Game 2

So, I won a Million bucks on game one and lost it on game 2. Happy?

OKC was the only Minor League Game last night and they played 2.In game one, which they won 4-2, they only had 3 hits, to go with 7 walks., but still managed to win. I really only cover the prospects here so 32-year-old journeymen are not in the picture, although Kevin Quackenbush walked the bases loaded in the 9th inning and proceeded to save the game. (4th save). He is unscored upon 10.1 IP.

In game 2, the Skeeters won it 3-2, as OKC got 3 more hits, but only 3 walks. Ravelo hit his 8th HR and Ruiz doubled. Uceta started and pitched 2.1 innings allowing 3 Runs and walking 3 while striking out 5. Cleavinger and Pazos both pitched scoreless innings.

This article has 59 Comments

  1. Cartaya looks like he’s going to be a fast riser. He’s already on Baseball America’s top 100 list.

    It looks like OKC got cooled off a little bit yesterday as they only had 3 hits in each game. Ravelo got 1 in each game including a homer. His batting average dropped to 407.

    Going into the season, the club has supposed to be the best Dodgers team ever assembled. People are losing their minds because we’re 3 games out of first place. Here’s some fun facts that might explain why we haven’t clinched after two months.

    Our Starting Pitching has been pretty damn good. We’re 4th in MLB in ERA, Second in IP, 1st in WHIP, 3rd in Ave Against, 4th in K/9 and 1st in BB/9. Not bad considering we’ve been bullpenning the last 4 times through the rotation.

    The hitters are Tops in the League in Runs Scored. Our best lineup has only been together for 1 game this year and scored 11 runs during that game.

    Betts RF
    Seager SS
    Turner 3B
    Bellinger CF
    Muncy 1B
    Smith C
    Pollock LF
    Lux 2B

    Maybe our super best lineup has CT3 at 2B instead of Lux. That lineup hasn’t played together yet.

    This brings us to our bullpen. I’m sure there will be a lot of opinions here. But, let’s just say our best bullpen looks like this.

    Jansen
    Knebel
    Treinen
    v-Gone
    Nelson
    Graterol
    Price
    Kelly

    This bullpen has only pitched 59% of the 191 innings so far. It would make sense that we’re around 12 in the league in bullpen ERA when your best guys have only pitched 59% of the total innings. 28% of the bullpen innings have been pitched by rookies and Dennis Santana. Overall the pitching staff as a whole is still 4th best in baseball.

    We’ve been especially horrible in one run games and extra innings games. It isn’t hard to see why when your starting lineup has only played one game together and your best bullpen has only pitch 58% of the total bullpen innings.

    On top of all this, we had to do it facing the toughest part of our schedule. Our schedule is one of the easiest for the rest of the year and SF and SD have two of the toughest schedules for the rest of the year.

    We’re going to run away with the division by season’s end. It’s actually really impressive that we’re just 3 games out of the best record in baseball considering all of this. Good times ahead.

    1. I think your “best bullpen” is pretty accurate.
      But just for grins, I looked up the BP stats so far this season.
      Some of my findings:
      –A lot of us, me included, were excited about Knebel. Still have high hopes. But when he went down with injury, he had thrown only 6.0 innings, compiling a 4.5 ERA. To my surprise, Bickford has already thrown 6.0 innings, with an ERA of 0.00–and is anyone really excited? (Not me–small sample, of course.) Cleavinger has also thrown 6.0 innings (to a 4.50 ERA) while the two HRs Jones just gave up inflated his ERA to 4.7 over 7.2 innings.
      –The next cluster of relievers goes from Kelly at 10.0 innings to Santana at 15.0, with Alexander, Vesia, White and Uceta sandwiched in between. Here, Scott Alexander looks pretty damn good with a WHIP of 0.69, 1 HR allowed and an ERA of 2.31. (WHIP is a great stat, IMHO.) Vesia has the ugliest line here, with 11 walks and 3 HRs allowed in only 10.2 innings. Santana has a .300 BA against but zero HRs. FWIW, Vesia’s ERA is 5.91 and Santana’s at 6.0. Uceta and White seem pretty solid with mid-3 ERAs, but Uceta has the superior WHIP. (Dylan Floro, whom AF traded for Vesia, has an ERA of 3.75 across 27 appearances, which is 3 more than the top Dodgers.)
      –Next we have Nelson and Price fittingly paired. Two veterans assigned to long relief, both of whom have dealt with injuries. The stats, I think, are pretty much what you might expect, though (ouch) Price as .319 BA against. So moving on…
      –Finally, the workhorses: VGon, Treinen and Jansen, each with 24 appearances. Kenley is 0-2 but he’s been terrific, converting 13 saves in 15 chances and a WHIP of 1.05 and a BA against of .095 (!). VGon has been very good with a WHIP of 1.12 and BA against of .183. Treinen’s numbers are roughly comparable to Uceta’s, albeit in double the innings.
      Again, small samples. Highly volatile.
      But I suspect Scott Alexander will remain a key piece of the pen. Could Bickford beat out Bazooka? ?

  2. Nice read again Michael. Swing coaches have become a huge part of a Golfer’s team – like you said – because they see things differently. I imagine they also play the role of sounding board as well.

    B&P enjoyed your post – and it gives me hope going forward. Hadn’t looked at the other schedules.
    “We’ve been especially horrible in one run and extra innings games” – this is where the difference lies this season – we are lacking the hunger and killer instinct that we had in the shortened 20 campaign, and unless we can regain it, we ultimately will fail.

    1. Yeah, I think that record in close and late situations will fix itself when the bullpen and lineup is full strength. The bench will eventually be CT3, Z-Mack, Pujols, Beaty and Barnes or Ruiz, perhaps Ravello.

    2. Thank you, and in all fairness I didn’t analyze the schedules on my own. I read an article breaking it down the schedule the other day.

      With all the negativity, I just wanted to show some deserved optimism towards our team.

    3. Thanks Watford. I do try to inform sometimes. It just seems so much different today. Had Gil Hodges had a hitting coach back in the day, maybe he would not have had that 0-21 World Series in 1952.

  3. A few years ago, I would have been willing to trade Ruiz for one of the top closers available at the deadline at the time. Later that year Kenley suffered from a heart condition and we had to use Maeda to close some games. Our pen consisted of guys like Stripling, Sadler, Chargois, Floro, Sborz etc.

    I’m not so sure I would waste one of the best trade chips in baseball for any reliever at this point. Especially an old expensive one like Kimbrel who was horrible the last two years. Speaking of old and expensive, could Ardolis be traded at the deadline if the Yankees keep failing? Speaking of old and expensive, Kenley Jansen make more this year than either of those guys.

    In 2019 we didn’t have Treinen or Knebel, former closers that have had excellent years closing in the past and Ruiz wasn’t the prospect that he is now.

  4. Interesting write-up, Bear.

    So why do teams have hitting coaches?

    Probably has more to do with the plan, the strategy and the approach. In the old days, it probably had more to do with “zone” hitting, understanding where you hit the ball well and where you don’t hit the ball well. The Ted Williams chart would be a good place to start. Understanding that not all hitters are the same, the hitting zone obviously varies, but not expanding the zone is still a key.

    So the question becomes can a non player become a hitting coach. The answer is yes. Sometimes players are not great coaches because everything boils down to their experiences and how they approached the game. Everybody is different. That holds true with hitters and pitchers.

    Many of the top youth baseball instructors today use data, video and computers to help teach. You can use a cell phone to break down a swing. Different world. Many of the players expect these kind of approaches today.

    Now a reasonable question would be are we too data driven? Do players have too much information? Do they over analyze. Sometimes a hitter breaks out of a slump, admits he has been overthinking and goes back to simply trying to hit balls in the strike zone and take it back up the middle. Swing at strikes, don’t expand the zone, put the ball in play.

    So much of today’s hitting issues center on the approach. Launch angles, hit the ball out of the park. Shifts can’t stop that. But that also means less balls in play, higher strikeout rates.

    Analytics have driven this approach. The ultimate outcome. Walk, hit it out or strike out.
    Hitting coaches today are driven by analytics. Look at little league players of today versus the good old days. They have hitting coaches, parents pay for lessons. That’s the system, the way they’ve been taught, the way they learn.

    It’s not just baseball, softball players go through a similar process.

    Again, good column, Bear.

    1. Thanks SB. Great players do not always make great coaches either. Magic Johnson was a terrible coach for the Lakers simply because he could not stand the fact that the players he had could not execute like he did. You look at the coaches Alston had when the Dodgers arrived from Brooklyn, none had extensive success as a player including Alston. His coaches were Charlie Dressen, Joe Becker, who was the pitching coach, Rube Walker and Greg Muleavey. Reese joined the staff in 59 and only stayed for a year. 4 coaches. That was it except for the minor league staff in spring. Of course for years the unofficial catching instructor was Campy. I also find it a little funny that the Dodgers once had a coach named Ben Tincup…I wonder if he instructed the catchers.

      1. Ben Tincup?
        Ron Shelton should option his life story. Maybe he coached Crash Davis at some point.

  5. At the start of the Atl. series the Dodgers were looking at 15 games with teams playing below .500 ball. After Atl. they are 1-2. They have 3 games each coming up with Pitts., Tex., Phil. and Az. This a 12 game stretch where they really have a chance to move up in the standings. After those games they play S.D., Chi. cubs and S.F. It sure would be great to be ahead of S.D. and S.F. when we play them. It’s certainly quite possible if they start hitting (and scoring).

    Go Dodgers!!!

    1. Time to make some hay Hodges. Longoria lost for 4-6 weeks. Big blow to SF’s offense.

  6. I know that everything is rainbows and unicorns for the Dodgers, but consider:
    1 – In the past 3 series (SF, StL, Atl) the Dodgers played teams in the hunt for a playoff spot, even though the Braves are sub .500 right now. They scored 14 runs against the Cards on 6/2 and were 8 for 15 RISP. The rest of the games they were:
    1 for 7
    3 for 9
    2 for 5
    0 for 4
    3 for 10
    1 for 5
    1 for 9
    2 for 14
    1 for 3
    total 14 for 66 (.212)

    They have 70 hits in the last 10 games (including the 14 run game against StL). That’s a .208 team BA.

    Yes the Dodgers have had injuries, but at this point they have everyone but Seager in the lineup and in any event, a team with this kind of “depth” is supposed to overcome an injury to a single player.

    The Dodgers are 7 – 13 in 1 run games and 1 – 6 in extra innings. What does that say about bullpen “depth”? Their ‘pen ERA is 3.72 (vs. starters 3.07) which is higher than SF or SD with 15 blown saves. The bullpen has walked 95 in 193.7 innings (4.4 BB/9 IP) vs 75 BB in 388 IP (1.7 BB/ 9 IP) for the starters. If you want to know why the Dodgers have been bad in close games, look no further – late relievers can’t afford to walk hitters,
    Jansen – 6.8 BB/9
    Treinen – 3.1 BB/9
    Nelson – 5.0 BB/9
    V. Gonzalez – 4.1BB/9
    Santana – 6.6BB/9
    Price – 3.4BB/9
    Uceta – 2.8BB/9
    White – 4.6BB/9
    Vesia – 9.3 BB/9 (!)
    Kelly – 2.0 BB/9 (!)
    Cleavinger – 6.0 BB/9

    The whole bullpen and not just the young guys are walking hitters at an alarming rate. You can’t put baserunners on in the late innings and expect to win close games.

    The Dodgers need to hit better than .200, especially with RISP. And the bullpen needs to stop giving up walks in the late innings.

    1. You’ve got some very interesting numbers there Rick. The two that I find most remarkable are the two that have the best BB/9 rate.

      Uceta, the kid with the least experience of any of them and Wild Man Kelly, who broke a window at his house while engaging in throwing practice.

    2. It’s an interesting hypothesis that you blame the bullpen woes on walks. When you have a hypothesis, the next step is to test it.

      The Cubs have the second best bullpen ERA in the league. Their walk rate and total walks are higher than ours.
      The Padres, Cubs, Indians, Red Sox, Blue Jays all have better ERA’s and more walks.

      Our BB/9 leaders are
      Graterol – who clearly wasn’t right and has only appeared in 3 games this season
      Vesia – Not our top 8
      Jansen – There’s only 6 closers with more saves in the league. 1 has an ERA almost a run higher than Jansen
      Santana – Not our top 8
      Cleavinger – No our top 8
      White – Not our top 8
      The rest of the relievers on the staff have less than a walk every 2 innings.

      You attribute our poor record in one run and extra innings games to walks. I attribute it to injuries forcing us to use guys that won’t be in our pen most of the year. As you can see, it isn’t the whole bullpen that’s walking at a high rate, it’s mostly young guys.

      Another thing to keep in mind. Kickham – Outrighted to AAA, Knebel, Price and Nelson are the next four guys on the walk rate list. The three remaining on the 40 man roster all did not pitch last year. All will have a better walk rate as the season progresses.

      1. If I recall correctly, we’re also expecting Kahnle to be ready toward the end of the season, right? Or will he miss it.
        A lot of depth. If Gonsolin and others stay healthy, perhaps we won’t have more BP games. And perhaps we’ll also see Gray and Pepiot and ???–maybe even Gibbens!–in the coming months. (Cue the g’day quips.)
        But by far and away the best BP news has to be Kenley. He really seems like his old dominating self sometimes. Here’s hoping it lasts.

        1. What’s the over/under on the number of relievers the Dodgers will use this year?
          So far it’s 16 or 17. (Can’t remember whether Kickham started or relieved. Did he start in a bullpen game?)
          Anyway, did anybody anticipate Jones or Bickford? I think we could easily reach or 23 or 24 before the season is over, just based on the talent in OKC and Tulsa. Maybe even Gibbens from Rancho in time. And AF will probably be looking for more Bickfords and go shopping.
          Does any other team draw on so many relievers? Does any team come close?

  7. Can’t believe this team will underperform like this for an entire year. Can’t believe the Giants will overperform for an entire year. And the Pads bullpen will explode if they continue the useage so far. I like our chances in the long run!

    1. Stranger things have happened. How about the Rockies a couple of years ago going neck and neck with the Dodgers to force a game 163 for the division. Had they been one game better than they were, that division title streak would not be at 8.

  8. For the past month it seemed to me that the Dodgers were missing something. Mark described them in a previous post as playing “flat”. I’m beginning to wonder now if the team is just pacing itself.

    The Dodgers have been to the playoffs for many years in a row. They now have a lot of data on what worked and what didn’t. Maybe they understand better that getting too hyped at the beginning of the season leaves the team drained when they need the energy in the playoffs. Lots of speculation here but it doesn’t take much to see the team isn’t playing anywhere near it’s potential (yet). It’s very frustrating to see games lost that with a just a little more production would be wins.

    Some great info on the hitting coach – Thanks Bear.

    I have followed Van Scoyoc for a while before he came to the Dodgers. A lot of baseball people consider him to be a modern day hitting guru. So the question for me is how much influence does he really have?

    It’s frustrating when players with obvious mechanical issues (like Cody) don’t seem to pay attention. Are the hitting coaches just giving suggestions and hoping someone will listen or do they have any power to force a player to make a change?

    1. I think you pretty well nailed it.

      Of course, the injuries have been a big factor. That has prevented some of the bullpen parts from getting acclimated. It also takes time to be back into the game you are capable of playing when you are out with an injury and sometimes you are not up to top condition when you come back. All of that comes into play, but I also believe that the World Series Hangover can be bigger when you have so much success for the past 8 years.

      Last year was a sprint and everyone knew it. They were 100% in every game and you can do that easier when it is 60 games versus when it is 162 games! You can’t “manufacture” urgency. You have to feel it. There is no urgency now. They are a 13-2 streak (which they have proven they can do) away from a 4 game lead in the NL West.

      By the Middle of July, I think they will be locked and loaded and ready to take some urgent action. These are humans, not machines. We have nothing to fear, but fear itself!

    1. yep, those were Roosevelt’s words, not Winston’s. Churchill would have said, I have nothing to offer except toil and sweat.

      1. Bear: You and Stevie are both right. I was reading about WW2 and somehow WC stuck in my mind. One of these days I will learn to proofread.

      2. Supposedly Winston once met a soldier who told him he had seven children at home.
        “Good God, man. Why?”
        “I love my wife, sir!”
        At which point Winston removed his cigar from his mouth.
        “Well, I love my cigar… but I take it out sometimes.”

  10. Great post Bear. As usual. It’s great to have you back. I can’t believe you know the names of all the hitting coaches but it certainly encompasses a wide variety of hitting philosophies and techniques. Down through generations we’ve seen it all; the big bat choke and poke guys, the stride and glide guys, the rotational guys and now the 3 outcome guys and many philosophies in between.
    I believe that, so far, advance technology has helped pitchers more than hitters. The ability to shape and improve already nasty pitches, makes hitting more difficult. Add 95+ to that mix with scouting reports and shifts, and it’s not hard to see why hitting stats are down. Now add a foreign substance and the high strike.
    I personally wouldn’t know how to coach hitting anymore with the new swing. It is absolutely opposite, in many ways, from how we were taught to hit back in the Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays days. I don’t know how to teach an uppercut, with a high leg kick and try to launch the ball after stepping in the bucket and swinging at 100%.
    I’m not convinced that the latest techniques will last as pitchers adjust. The 3 outcome guys are fun to watch blast away but is Joey Gallo the poster boy for how the new Major League hitter performs? Hit .200, with 200 K’s, 40 bombs and 150 walks. Is that the model? Joey is fun but I prefer Nick Madrigal who may one day lead the league in hitting as a contact guy. I’d like to see more of that. And maybe will.
    Don’t laugh but if you want to see kids that can flat-out hit, watch the Women’s Fastpitch World Series. Watch tonight’s game on ESPN. The top pitchers can dominate until they face the top hitting teams like Oklahoma. The quality of hacks by teams like Oklahoma are impressive. Kinzie Hansen, a 5’11” player and Jocelyn Alo, who will set the all-time homer record, just rake 70+ mph pitches. That is the reaction time equivalent of 100mph fastball. They just pick that front foot up, set it down and rotate with great balance and pitch recognition. And they make great adjustments at the plate to lay off pitches, like rise balls out of the zone. No doubt to me that the top women could hit a baseball after they learned to wait and slow things down. You won’t find any long, looping, step in the bucket hacks in that game. I grew up with a dad who pitched fast pitch at a high level and played shortstop in baseball so I’ve been around both games for ever.
    It will be fun to see the next techniques evolve in baseball. Maybe technology will evolve to help hitting more. Maybe they will tweak the game (I hope not) The players will still have their personal hitting coaches and some will actually listen to staff hitting coaches. Others won’t. It is important that an organization doesn’t have 5 different hitting coaches at 5 different levels all teaching different stuff. I hope I’m around to see the next adjustments.

    1. Thanks Phil, but I cannot take all the credit. Dodger Media guides are a great source of all sorts of information. Using that, I can name every single opening day lineup since 1958. There is also a way to find the coaches, just google Los Angeles Dodgers coaches and it will pull up the all time list.

  11. The idea that you can flip a switch at some specified point and suddenly “feel urgency” or get charged up or something is unproven. And even if it were possible, it is equally possible for some other team to do the same.

    Teams runs hot and cold – I get it. But this team has had the same problems thus far – a bullpen that allows too many baserunners and hasn’t shown itself to be reliable, streaky hitters and depth that hasn’t been. They can improve – but will they?

    If John Coctostan is right and they have gotten “ho hum” about the whole thing since they have won the division 8 years in a row and all of that, then maybe they have the wrong players. The likes of Mookie Betts, Justin Turner and Clayton Kershaw are supposed to insure that the team is accountable and they don’t just show up.

    A loss in May is the same as a loss in September. Winnable games that they lose now they could come back to regret later.

    At the beginning of the year, ESPN.com projected the Dodgers to win 118 games in an article 3/29/21. MLB.com noted that they were on a pace to win 126 games. CBS Sports bemoaned the fact that it would be tougher to set the all time win record in an article on 5/3. Dave Roberts said that this year’s team could be the best that the Dodgers ever fielded on 3/29. The question at the beginning of the year was whether the Dodgers could be record setting.

    They are on a pace to win 93 games this year and finish 3rd in their division.

    If the team hasn’t figured out that they need to play with urgency by now, then when?

    1. as noted, their schedule overall is “easier” going forward vs. our main competition.
      Though a win or a loss is the same no matter when, strength of schedule matters as well.
      Our upcoming SHOULD BE a lot easier. And too many have noted a plethora of examples of teams being way further down at this point an winning it all. How they are play currently is only an indicator of how they are playing currently. It is baseball, it can all change tomorrow and in either direction too. And I would note that though all games count the same you will not find one team that would rather kill it in the first 1/3 and decline in the last than the other way around because momentum at the end counts for a lot.

        1. Most recently the nats in ’19 for one as has been noted. Seems to happen all the time. Just that if I had to pick one or the other, I would rather be hot going into the playoffs, than to win my division because I kicked everyone’s ass from the get go and then floundered at the end & still win.

    2. Well….
      Mathematically, a loss in May is equal to a loss in September. But strategically, I don’t think AF or Dave Roberts would agree. The “big games” always come later in the season, when the titles are truly on the line.
      I think it’s obvious that the Dodgers braintrust is confident that there is no urgency in putting the best lineup on the field now. So they’ll rest Mookie or Max a bit longer, take their time on Belli and Seager coming back from injury. They can have more leeway to rest hurting players and provide more rehab.
      This also provides a chance to see what prospects can do–though unfortunately Peters, Neuse and Raley haven’t really made Dodger hearts beat faster. We certainly are getting a better idea about bullpen options.
      We’re already at the 60-game mark–which in covid 2020 was a full regular season. There is so much baseball left. The last 60 games will matter more than the first 60.

  12. Tonight’s winning lineup:
    Mookie RF
    Max 1b
    JT 3b
    Cody CF
    Will C
    CT3 2b
    Gavin ss
    AJ LF
    Walker P

  13. Well how did the Lakers do when they flipped their switch for this years playoffs?!!!!

      1. I can’t stand him and won’t be watching much. I can’t wait until he’s gone. Hopefully, they can find someone to pair with AD…If he stays.

        1. Yep, and not all that sure about AD either. He seems pretty fragile to me. I TRIED to get into him being here just to root for my team. But forget about it, I have baseball & have not missed a single game yet. 162 is about all the sports my wife will “allow” if you get my drift. I ski all winter so that is taken too.

          YIKES! rain delay & I just looked at the radar, hope what I see does not come true, as the worst stuff still looks an hour or so out. DAMMIT!

          1. lol – I do the same. I watch every baseball game and watch parts of the Lakers season. Very little NFL and even less NHL. I try to share the TV with wifey the best I can.

  14. Well at least by u pb! Lost all respect for nba over the Hong Kong issue. They all swallowed their tongues when it might have cost them their China market! No one more than LBJ

      1. You forgot to mention that LeBron’s was the best selling jersey in the NBA this year. I assume from the comments above here that most people were just buying them to burn them.

  15. WOW! Bad teams sure make bad mistakes! Thanks Pirates! Buehler, did you get your obligatory home run outta the way now? That ball kind of looked like it almost hit the top of the fence in the black & then hit the pole. Wish they would have frozen the slomo right at the point of impact to tell for sure.

  16. With each passing day Lux is looking more and more like a bust! And that’s a killer to our payroll down the line. And can we ever string two hits together in one inning! This is just totally frustrating!

  17. Less frustrated now! All I have to do is whine and they respond. I should replace Roberts!

  18. If I continue to bad mouth Lux, he could be an all star by the end of the year!

    1. Remember, for all intents and purposes he’s a rookie this year. He missed the cutoff by just 8 Abs.

  19. Is it just me or does Muncy need to incorporate a salad or two into his diet

      1. I too have noticed that Muncy looks a bit stouter these days. I’m fine with Maximum Max if he continues to deliver. Still the Dodgers MVP so far in my book, with Taylor running second. Who’s third? Hmm…. Might be Kenley…..
        Anyway, I think Muncy’s girth is one reason for the chronic Dangerfield treatment. I recall someone here strangely calling him a “one season wonder” after he put up two impressive seasons. A friend of mine wanted to trade him after his first, figuring he was at peak value. It was about a year ago that Billy “The Lesser” Ripken said the Dodgers really needed to deal Muncy to the AL so he could DH full-time.
        And yet Muncy keeps delivering at the plate and improving with the glove.

  21. I’ll whine about them tomorrow and straighten them out. Now you know why our bullpen walks so many guys. It’s better than giving up home runs!

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