The Padres gutted their farm system in order to acquire veteran players and a superstar so as to be able to compete with the Dodgers. Even though they gutted the farm, they still cannot hang with the Dodgers!
A team does not become great because of one player. Otherwise, the Angels with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani would be bound for the World Series… again. It takes a team to win. Andrew Friedman knows that… AJ Preller Might (I said “might”) eventually learn it, but I doubt it. AJ is the Master of the Dope-Fiend Move. When he first came to San Diego, he tried to build a powerhouse with veteran players like Matt Kemp. When that didn’t work… actually, I should re-phrase that: When that failed miserably, he tried to build up the farm, but he never allowed that to come to fruition, so he gutted the farm and acquired Drury, Hader, Bell, and Soto. Here is a glimpse of the Padres Farm System:
Right about now, the Padres need a Priest to administer last rites. There are a multitude of reasons why you do not build a team this way, and AJ Preller has violated just about everyone. I guess Dodger fans should be thanking him.
Your LA Dodgers
The Dodgers rode all year with Max Muncy, and it appears that he might be stepping out of the quagmire he was stuck in. It’s not a sure thing, but he has been hitting better (in places) of late, and that 3-Run HR was a nice step. Cody Bellinger continues to have a low Batting Average, but he makes the most of it, and his play in CF and on the bases is stellar. The Dodgers will give Joey Gallo a few weeks, and if they can’t “fix” him, maybe they will turn him into a pitcher. Allegedly, he has a 100 MPH fastball… sort of a “Reverse Rick Ankiel.”
If not, Trayce Tompson and/or CT3 are fine in LF, but they could use a LH Platoon Partner, like, say… Mike Busch. If Joey Gallo can’t get it together, look for Busch at the end of this month, or it could be Edwin Rios, who should be ready in a week or so.
Also, do not forget that the team with the best record in all of baseball is also getting Dustin May back very soon, as well as Blake Treinen and the Bazooka. Danny Duffy is hitting 93 MPH and is facing live hitters, while Tommy Kahnle is also making progress. Walker Buehler will almost certainly be back, but not built up as a starter. He will be a weapon out of the bullpen. The Dodgers still maintain that Victor Gonzalez will also return, but even if only half of those pitchers return, it will be a huge shot in the arm.
Remember that the Dodgers have the best pitching in baseball (2.90 ERA). Their starters have a 2.73 ERA, which is #1, and they are up to #5 in Bullpen ERA. With the return of several of the above-mentioned bullpen arms, it is not out of the realm of probability that the Dodgers will be #2 in Bullpen ERA by the end of the season (I don’t think they can catch Houston… unless Houston’s bullpen blows up… and it could!).
I like Andrew Heaney as a swingman. He is not built up, and I would not push him hard this year after two bouts of shoulder soreness. Call up Gavin Stone and manage both of their workloads. Gavin is Stone-Cold Ready. Here are his strikeouts last night. It was a little foggy!
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
- OKC lost to Salt Lake 4-3
- The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th when Mark Washington gave up a 2-out HR.
- Mike Grove had a great start. He went five innings and allowed two hits (both HRs) and 2 ER. He did not walk anyone and struck out 7.
- Edwin Rios was 1-2 (a double) with an RBI.
- Tulsa beat NW Arkansas 9-2
- Gavin Stone started and went four innings, allowing four hits and no runs. He walked 2 while striking out 7. His ERA now sits at 1.32. He should be in LA. He needs to be on the playoff roster in the role Julio Urias had a couple of years ago.
- The Great Lakes Loons lost 6-3 to Lake County
- Diego Cartaya was 1-3 with 2 BB.
- Jose Ramos hit his 23rd HR to go with 81 RBI. He is very much a prospect.
- Rancho Cucamonga beat IE 9-4
- 2022 Draft Pick Chris Alleyne was 3-5 with 4 Runs scored. He hit leadoff and stole a base.
- Catcher Dalton Rushing was 3-4 with 2 RBI and a walk.
- Yunior Garcia was 3-5 with 2 RBI
- Kyle Nevin was 2-4.
I think Tyler Anderson and the Dodgers will be motivated to destroy the Friars’ season hopes today. Bring out the brooms and take it to that Mental Midget, You Dogfish!
I have the impression that the Dodgers have a harder time winning on Sunday, I wish I knew the record on Sunday, but today I think they will win!
Guardians Designate Franmil Reyes For Assignment, I like that player, he’s a real power hitter, and I think with 2 more years of control and he’s not very expensive.
Maybe thinking about the next season and not so much for this one, either for a bench or an opportunity to play LF
He’s Gallo without the glove.
Franmil Reyes will be a good pickup for somebody….
I hope it’s the Angels. He can’t be a worse fielder than Adell. The Giants could take a flyer on him.
Our Dodgers have been absolute beasts lately. It’s tempting to say that the Dodgers are hitting on all cylinders–and it’s almost true.
Right now Freddie, Mookie, Trea, Will and Lux –those five in that order–rank in the NL’s top 20 for OPS. The top 18, to be more precise. Max and Cody might be coming around, but it’s the top of the order that is carrying the offense. And in sharp contrast to last season, when we expected more from the likes of Neuse, DJ Peters and Luke Raley, the 2022 Dodgers have gotten a boost from the callups and acquisitions. Just compare Trayce Thompson to McKinney or Souza. Will Joey Gallo get fixed?
Remember when we thought last year’s team was pretty deep? Just an illusion. When Max and Justin went down in the playoffs, the ABs went to 4A guys like Andy Burns. AF said the Gallo acquisition was about addressing positional depth. And if Gallo doesn’t improve, there’s Outman ready to step up.
And as good as the offense has been, the pitching has been consistently better.
The playoffs should be interesting. While the Dodgers are beating up on the Padres now, that certainly doesn’t guarantee success in a short series. Dodgers are clearly the better team–but the Mariners won 116 games in 2001 and didn’t even make it to the World Series.
It’s amazing looking back at all the young talent gone from the top rated Pads prospect lists of 18 and 19! There’s no way you can balance payroll and sustain a winning organization with that strategy. Thank you AF and team for your brilliant understanding of the game.
Daulton Rushing is at Rancho already? Way to go Daulton!
The Dodgers can certainly afford to play Gallo for a while although I would hate for it to result in losing home-field advantage. 0-2 with 2 K’s last night. I’m just waiting for him to hit something hard.
Stone is dirty. It’s not unheard of to bring up a pitcher from AA, but there’s better options with all of the others you already mentioned. There’s only so many roster spots.
Chris Martin has given up a solo shot and nothing else in 4 games with the Dodgers. Nothing else as in no other baserunners at all, no walks, no hits. That was a great pickup so far. His OPS up until the point of the trade didn’t scare off AF. You have to dig a little deeper.
We should all be riding high on our favorite team right now. Back to back 4 game sweeps of the Giants and a three-game losing streak for the Padres after their huge deadline. They’ll get another shot in the arm when Tatis comes back, but can he pitch?
Of course, the Padres just have to get into the playoffs and they can get hot like the Braves last year, or the Nats a few years ago. At least Doc doesn’t have to manage by National League rules anymore, but he did use a pitcher as a pinch hitter. But then again, so did Melvin.
I’m really hoping Anderson brings his A game tonight for the Nationally Televised Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN so we can embarrass the Padres in front of the entire country. Unfortunately for us, Davish has some pretty extreme reverse splits this year, so no doubt, we’ll be stacking lefties against him.
If we can manage to stay healthy, the lineup at the end of the year will look a lot like the lineup at the beginning of the year. The main difference being where Lux hits and Mookie and Trea batting back to back at the top of the lineup.
RF Mookie R
SS Trea R
1B Freeman L
C Smith R
DH Muncy L
3B Turner R
2B JT L
LF CT3 R
CF Belli L
It was nice seeing a glimpse of Vargas and Outman, but I don’t see how they crack the lineup for a post-season run unless injuries happen.
I didn’t know JT was a switch hitter. Guess I’ll have to watch more closely.
A sweep today would pretty much close out the season for the Padres. So then we can concentrate on getting ready for October. we still have games left with them, but their chances are probably 3% to win the division
3% seems on the high side to me.
From the Mariners Julio Rodriguez: “The best pitcher I faced in the minor league is probably Ryan Pepiot. I really give props to that guy. Really good competitor. I got a few off of him, but I also got a few strikeouts too, so… he was a tough guy.” (hat tip Dodgers Nation)
Pepiot should take Claytons place in the rotation until he or May return.
Miller has been somewhat of a disappointment this season. He has had a few good outings where you could see the talent and stuff but overall not so good. Hope we will not regret not making him available in a big trade this trade deadline.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a doubt, in the playoffs the two teams with the best record (LA and NYM) will have rest in the first series, but how are the wild cards going to qualify? The first two places in each division? Or the 6 teams with the best record?
In other words, this year SD has practically secured the wild card as second place in the division, regardless of the fact that there are teams with a better record than them?
I would like SD not to qualify for the playoffs, so I will support the Brewers so they finish with a better record, they are only 2.5 games behind
ESPN is doing a daily updated wildcard standing. Yes, there is one and completely apart from division standings.
Right now
Braves +4.0
Padres +0.5
Phillies 0.0
‐———————-
Brewers 1.0 GB
You can see the same thing checking out the expanded settings on the Dodgers website.
3 Wild card teams with the best record . Best wild card team place 2nd best, 3rd best the division winner with the worst record.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I see the wildcards standing in the MLB application, but my question is if it is possible for SD to be out of the playoffs? The wildcards will be those with the best record, regardless of the division, or there will necessarily have to be the best two of each division (that is, 6 teams) and the other two will be those with the best record, no matter if they are from the same division ?
It could be that from the same division there were 4 teams… Not this year. but it’s a possibility, right?
I’m sorry, but after several changes and new rules (some very stupid, by the way) I don’t know how it is anymore!
Pardon me if I’ve asked this before – Can Juan Soto pitch?
Nope, Case closed…….Darvish is 0-1 against LA this season in two games. He has held the Dodgers to a .190 batting average, but he has allowed 5 runs and three homers.
Yes, he can. Just not very well.
Dodgers and Mets at this point get a bye. The Padres are at this point 3 games back of the Braves and are the #4 seed. Meaning they would play the Phillies at home all three games. The Braves meanwhile would play the Cardinals in Atlanta. Of the teams out of the wildcard at this point, it would seem that only Milwaukee, 1 game out, has a mathematical chance of getting in. All that can change. But, the Padres only have 50 games left. The Brewers have 53. The Brewers are also close to the division leaders, St. Louis being only one game back. Still possible, but unlikely, the Giants are 7 games out of the wildcard with 53 games left for them. Everyone else has zero shot at making the playoffs. But, remember, those teams can cause a problem for any other team. Dodgers play KC next weekend in KC. They are going nowhere, but beating better teams gives those kinds of teams a lift. SD, 14.5 games back of LA has no shot at winning the division.
Wrong. Braves at the moment are the best wild card team and would play the second best WC team, which at the moment is the Madres. All three games in ATL.
Phillies are the 3rd WC team and would play the Cards in St.Louis.
No reseeding after the WC round.
Padres are not sure thing for the WC yet.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s what I was asking, but I didn’t know how to ask the question correctly!
Just google 2022 playoff seedings.
Wrong, according to MLB.com, the seeding is, 6 vs 3 4 vs 5. Padres have the 4th best record in the league Braves have the 3rd.
A couple of observations. Padres are terrible against the Dodgers with runners in scoring position. Tatis is starting his rehab, but how many times has a player who has missed as much time as he has, all season so far, come off of the IL hitting on all cylinders? It is going to take him a little time to get back his timing against MLB pitchers. Is there a smugger jerk in major league baseball than Manny Machado? The Padres starters on paper are pretty good. They have one starter, Darvish, who has double digit wins. None of their starters has an ERA below 3.00 Two of them, Snell, Clevinger, have records below .500. The only bullpen arm with an ERA below 3 is Crismatt. In a short series, they can throw some arms at you that can be scary. But they can also be beaten. Their offense is a little stronger with Drury, Soto and Bell. The closer is now Hader, who has of yet, not made an appearance. Lets see if the Dodgers can keep that streak going with another laugher today.
Hader pitched an inning on August 2 and took the victory
I did not see that. Whoops!
The seeding only goes by record after the 3 Division winners. So if it were to end today the seeding is:
1. Dodgers, 2. Mets, 3. Cardinals, 4. Braves, 5. Padres, 6. Phillies
Dodgers and Mets get a bye. Dodgers play the winner of Braves/Padres and Mets play the winner of Cardinals/Phillies. The winners of those 2 5 game series play in the NLCS and the winner of that series goes to the World Series. Jorge, to answer your question, yes the Padres can fail to be in the playoffs. For that to happen, the 2nd place team in the Central (either the Cardinals or Brewers), the Braves, and the Phillies all have to finish the season with a better record than the Padres.
Right…. JayB
All that much better. Braves are tough in their home park.
FO will have to make some tough calls once the IL mafia starts returning especially in the bullpen. Kimbrel will not be the closer in October so September should be an audition for others to step up to the closer’s role. May, WB or BT depending on health? If CK is good to go in October along with the rest of the mafia, some pretty decent arms are going to be excluded from the active roster. Machado is a pos and should NEVER wear a Dodgers uni again !!! Let’s get this sweep taken care of today and enjoy a much needed day off on Monday. Joe Davis is better than most and yes, Normar is the best of the rest. Kristen Watson and Jess Mendoza have got to go !!! BTW, saw Corey, Yasmani and AJ play last night in Arlington. All good dudes and solid contributors especially Corey but damn if this team isn’t better off without them. TT gonna cost more than Corey’s 325 but it’s almond a must for AF to get it done.
Go Blue!!!!
2020BlueAZ, we have so many quality arms now in the pen that we can mix and match in any situation. I’ve continued to gain trust in even our low leverage guys. Like Price. Wash my earlier mouth out with soap. He’s been great. I know his role has been low stress but he’s pitching his butt off. I’m not a big fan at this point of counting on a starter to save us in the playoffs other then the unique must win situations where skippers can do the unexpected for a couple innings. I’m also not interested in Doc being too creative. This bullpen doesn’t need to rely on that help. To me, Phillips is the guy I like with the game on the line.
This bullpen has been extraordinary.
it sounded incredible, now it will sound stupid, but I had the idea that there would be 8 teams per league that would qualify for the playoffs, that’s why I was in doubt, I was confused, thanks JayB, now everything is very clear 4
You may like it, but it means that it is SO MUCH harder to win a World Series than it used to be because you have to beat three times as many teams in order to do so and any team can get hot!
That is why I Rate Our 2020 WS title Even higher than in regular years
That and because we did Not have the home Field advantage we had earned
Go Dodgers!
Yikes!! Us oldtimers grew up when there were 8 teams in EACH league. I think there were still dinosaurs back then
Yeah, and most of them were in congress!
dodgerram: I couldn’t agree more about 2020. I get a big kick out of all the people that say our 2020 World Series win was tainted because of the short season. A team has to win 11 post season games and 3 series in a normal season to be champs. In 2020 we had to win 4 series and 13 games. That is actually much harder and more than speaks to our accomplishment.
New tower working great so far.
I’m not sure if a win or loss today has much of a bearing on the Padres season. They’re not going to catch us in the standings this year for the division, period. The Dodgers need to focus on keeping home-field advantage and the Padres will certainly cruise into one of the Wild Card spots. They’ll get home field for the Wild Card series only if they finish in the top spot.
Right now, the Padres are 3.5 games behind the Braves for the top Wild-Card spot and it’s not like the Braves are making any kind of a statement losing the last two to the Mets who are 5.5 games ahead of them in the standings. Philadelphia, if you can believe it, are just a half-game behind Sham Diego and Milwaukee is one game behind them in the Wild Card Standings and one game behind St. Louis in the Division Standings.
There’s plenty of time and games to make up those leads, or choke further down. It’s all up in the air. If the season ended today, they would be visitors to the Braves and the Phillies would play the Cardinals in St. Louis in the Wild Card round with the Mets and Dodgers getting the buy. Upon advancing, the Mets would play the winner of Phillies v Cards and the Dodgers would get the winner of Braves v Padres. That doesn’t seem fair?
I’d much rather see the Padres fall to the 6th spot and beat the Cardinals so we can play them in the best of 7 Division Series. Or better yet, just go ahead and lose in one of the first two rounds because it would be funnier.
I remember a conversation where it was suggested that Trea should bat second ahead of Freddie.
Looks like we were right.
Hope life is good my friend.
I don’t know what took so long. Kinda seemed obvious.
7:08 PM ET
Padres (61-49)
Dodgers (74-33)
SP Tyler Anderson L
12-1 2.89 ERA 115.1 IP 94K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
2B Gavin Lux L
DH Joey Gallo L
LF Chris Taylor R
CF C. Bellinger L
Clear-day
0% Rain
93° Wind 9 mph Out
Almonte to 15-day IL, Jackson recalled. Almonte has elbow soreness
Oh no, the dreaded elbow soreness.
Often the precursor to the TJ surgery.
would be a devastating loss to our bullpen after Hudson being out too.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!
Jumping the gun a little?
Nice to see Andre Jackson get another shot. He got called up for a few games in 2021, but he had been struggling earlier this year–and seems to have turned it around.
Among all the SPs in the minors, Jackson and Grove seem a bit like forgotten men behind the younger, hotter prospects Miller, Pepiot and Stone, as well as still younger guys like Bruns. Those guys could all be in Chavez Ravine rotation within a few years.
Sometimes I think the Dodgers should put together a care package for the needy. (It still amazes me that the Nationals didn’t get more for Scherzer and Turner. While Ruiz and Gray were the headliners, the Nats also got minor leaguers Donovan Casey and Gerardo Carillo. If Grove or Jackson had been thrown in, would we have missed them? Kudos to AF, of course, but if I was Nats fan I’d be pissed.)
Seriously, guys like Tim Kurkjian are saying they’ve never seen a greater talent gap between the big-market haves and small-market have-nots. Perhaps the waiver rules should be adjusted to improve competitive balance.
When Kurkjian says that does he count San Diego and Milwaukee as haves or have-nots? Tampa? Washington? the White Sox? The Angels?
But perhaps there should be fines for small market franchises making it a profitable business to be a losing small market team intentionally. Some owners are in the business to lose.
Hey Bear,
I read this on Jon Weisman’s twitter stream:
“I’ll never not be fascinated by the fact that Dodger Stadium was 410 to center field for most of the 1960s”
Any interest in your end in doing a historical retrospective on the Stadium itself?
Those dimensions must have been a benefit to Sandy, no?
He probably benefited from that and from the fact that the foul area, especially behind home plate was much larger before they changed the dimensions of the stadium. For all of his time at Dodger Stadium, it was 410 to center, 390 in the right and left center power alleys, 360 by the bullpens and 330 down both lines. In 1969 they moved home plate towards CF and the distance to center was reduced to 401 to dead center and 395 to the left or right of dead center. It added about 10 feet of foul area behind the plate. In 2005 they added seats behind the plate that took all of that area away and the stadium dimensions have stayed pretty much the same since. Those dimensions benefited Koufax, and every other pitcher who pitched there. It was 410 for 7 years.
Almonte due for an MRI on his elbow. Those of you who have been clamoring for Bellinger’s demotion out of the lineup, might be speaking too soon. Double in his last at bat last night, homer and a single today.
In a big time, primetime game, Anderson steps up huge.
My confidence level in him for October just grew a bit.
Meanwhile, only God can help the other 29 teams if Muncy and Belly are waking up
I’ll call your Soto and raise you a Muncy and a Bellinger!
Man, that was a strikeout to Soto!!!
For me, that was FINALLY a clean 123 inning from Kimbrel!!
that was 2 strikes the ump called balls for Soto.
Kimbrel looked really good that inning.
How sweep it is! Bellinger 3-3 with 2 dingers. Love it.
Note to Preller. Call Arte. You’re gonna need more help!
This has always been fun, but the Dodgers have taken it to a completely different level. If Muncy and Bellinger put the ball in play like they did last night and tonight………look out! Phillips is a big time/high leverage relief pitcher who will see some high leverage innings in the post season, if there is no drop off the rest of the way.
It’s all about winning the post season, but I love that the MLB world is squarely centered in LA. The best record in baseball, above the hated Yankees, we buried the SF Giants, we took the wind out of the sails of the Padres while keeping the minor league fully stocked.
I’ll take our big four of Mookie, TT, Freddie and Will Smith over any other big four. Keep it going!
I still think Craig Kimbrel should go on the sixty day injured list with “head up his ass.” I’m sure that qualifies–right?
That is technically a clinical condition!
It may give him a $hitty outlook on life!
Good to hear from you, Marcia.
Hey Marcia, when you get close to getting 400 MLB saves let us know. Until then, I’ll take Kimbrel over your Monday morning lazy ass arm chairing any day!
FANSIDED
Is Joey Gallo the good luck charm the Yankees didn’t know they needed?
The New York Yankees haven’t won since trading Joey Gallo while the Los Angeles Dodgers have yet to suffer a loss since acquiring him!
You have found the Lucky Charm!
2020, I bit of a cold and caustic rebuttal don’t ya think. Even though tonight doesn’t seem like the game to whack on Kimbrel. Seriously, I’d like our closer to do what he did every night.
I think the language was equal in the post as it was in the rebuttal. Odd timing for sure. Almost like Marcia was disappointed that Kimbrel did well. Actually, I think “Head up his ass” gets extra crass points over “Monday morning lazy ass arm chairing” for the visual it creates.
If you sling shit for a living, you can’t help but get a little on you once in a while.
B&P buenas noches, quiero hacerle una pregunta a usted que es un conocedor profundo del juego, además de un gran observador de los jugadores como nuestro Belli, porqué se poncha tanto Joey Gallo? Persigue muchos lanzamientos fuera de la zona? Su postura en el plato está bien? O quizá mueva la cabeza como Bellinger A visto usted algo que el equipo de instructores de los Dodgers puedan arreglar?
Agreed. It was odd to rail on Kimbrel tonight.
Maybe Marcia doesn’t like him no matter what. I thought he looked pretty sharp.
As was mentioned the ump didn’t seem to like him much either.
It was sweet to sweep the Padres. They sure didn’t show much swagger.
The ESPN broadcast is really monumental trash. That in-play interview to Juan Soto was beyond stupid.
I agree.
Even after Dodgers last visit to Coors I still don’t look forward to Dodgers having to play there. As long as Dodgers don’t get taxed with any health issues in Colorado is the only worry. The Indians are now the Guardians and the Dodgers are now the Custodians. The sweeping Custodians. Keep America Beautiful.
Oops! Where did I come up with thinking our next stop was Denver? Well, it’s better it’s not! The Twins will be fun to destruct, though not so easily. Dodgers are playing the way I thought they would through the preseason lens I looked at them. No flat spots in the lineup and no equals in MLB…….ever!