Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, and you might be just as close to the truth as anyone. I don’t believe Doc when he tells us about Tony Gonsolin. Some of you prefer to think it’s because he’s stupid because that fits your worldview. I think Andrew Friedman and the Front Office have carefully constructed a narrative, and Doc gets to deliver the “punch line.” It’s not because he is stupid – it’s because he is very smart. Give your enemies very little to go on.
- So, I am of the opinion that Tony Gonsolin may not be back this season, and if he is, it might be in a limited role. I’m OK with Tony for an inning or two at a time. Of course, I have no inside information… it’s just a feeling!
- What could hurt more is Gavin Lux’s neck/back injury, and again, I have no inside information, but his neck has bothered him on and off this season. I worry more about losing Lux moreso than Gonsolin.
- I expected Dustin May to have some cobwebs. Last night was not a surprise. He has a few weeks to get it worked out, but even if he doesn’t, he could give you one or two high-quality innings out of the bullpen. We just have to let it play out.
- Blake Treinen’s velocity is down, so it will likely take him a few weeks to return to his normal speed. In the meantime, we wait!
- We are not hearing the full truth about Yency Almonte – now they are saying “a few weeks” … maybe or maybe not.
- Tommy Kahnle, Victor Gonzalez, and Danny Duffy are all on the mend. Duffy seems to be doing the best, barring setbacks.
- What I do know is that Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Andrew Heaney, and Tyler Anderson all have something to bring, but they are all LH. I am not sure that is a great idea in the playoffs. The Dodgers may be forced to activate Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller, if Gonsolin or May can’t start. I keep thinking there is some rule that prevents them from being transferred to the Active Roster if they are not on the 40-Man roster, but I can’t find it. Tell me I am wrong or find it!
On the hitting side, has Joey Gallo shown enough to warrant a roster spot? No! But he will be given some more time. Trayce Thompson is showing he might be the real McCoy, but it appears he does his best work when he has to “earn it.” … and he has! Miguel Vargas is about to be given his opportunity. It might be at DH. In fact, I think that would be a great move right about now.
Losing Gonsolin and/or May would be the biggest obstacles. I don’t expect to lose May, but his progress may not be linear. Gonsolin is the most worrisome. That said, if the Dodgers put up their normal hitting lineup, and players hit like they have in the past and are capable… Don’t worry about it! Look at this group without Lux:
- Betts RF
- Turner SS
- Freeman 1B
- Turner 3B
- Smith C
- Muncy 2B
- Vargas DH
- Bellinger CF
- Thompson LF
That’s fearsome!
This lineup is everything but fearsome. Certainly not for playoff caliber pitching.
From 6-9 it is a below average MLB lineup IMHO. Two guys just over or under the Mendoza line, an unproven rookie plus a veteran who we have to wait if he can continue his upward trend.
A potential loss of Lux would be huge on offense and on defense. Despite his two bad plays the other day he has been excellent all season.
Even more to worry is the pitching staff. We already lost our best postseason pitcher, the ace of our staff who played a huge role in our 2020 WS march. Then we might look at the loss of TG , our best starter so far.
CK is everything but a sure thing and twice in the postseason.
Treinen is a question mark, as is the health of Graterol. Both big parts for high leverage situations.
Combine all that with the unsettled closer role (Kimbrel is so shaky he makes me reach for the heart pills as soon as the bullpen doors swing open) and the Dodgers despite the best regular season record are not the favorits to win the WS.
They can do it, certainly. But there are serious doubts about this roster.
And if some of you feel offended by saying this is negativism , that is okay with me. I call it realism.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DodgerRam, how about this for realism…
Best pitching in baseball.
Best hitting in baseball.
Best run differential by almost 100 points
Thirty something days remaining on the calendar to get everyone healthy
Largest division lead
Largest league lead
In the regular season. So far.
And how often have we seen this before only to be terribly disappointed in the postseason ?
Can not discard the mounting injuries to the pitching staff and the prolonged hitting funks of too many bats.
Gallo, Muncy, Belli, Hanser,CT3, Barnes. Do you honestly think those bats , or at least 2-3 of them magically will awake in the postseason when they face top pitching ?
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now those are some impressive facts B&P! Myself, I’ll wait until the season ends and see who is going to be available and their health status for the postseason. A lot can and will happen between now and then. The Mets and Atlanta seem to be our main competition for a spot in the WS. I think we’re a better team as B&P pointed out above. But it should provide some close and exciting games. It’s all about the pitching.
MT states that Roberts is very smart. Very smart about baseball? Or, generally, very smart? Either way, you would have a hard time believing that with his absurd and nonsensical comments to the press and the public. It’s usually a word salad that is overly dressed on wilted greens. He may be smart (not very), but his communication skills are awful. Or he is not a very good at conveying the truth (a liar). It’s embarrassing to listen to.
Carry on.
BP –
I always like reading your articles and posts because they are well-researched, informative, humorous and “optimistic”. Having dealt with “naysayers” throughout my professional career, I commend you for the ability to “rise above” the naysayers and present your point of view clearly. That is why I am always interested in what you have to say. Thank you!
I feel like I’m the only voice of reason sometimes.
If the postseason is a crapshoot like many believe, then want’s to worry about? It’s random after all, or in the fate of the gods.
If it isn’t a crapshoot, then having the best team and home-field advantage certainly helps, does it not? Again, nothing to worry about.
If you’re dealing with a liar, you judge him by his actions. I don’t care what Doc says about Tony, because their action says is that they’re having him throw immediately after getting the MRI back.
Postseason Roster Rules & Eligibility
Definition
In a typical season, any player who is on the 40-man roster or 60-day injured list as of 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 is eligible for the postseason.
Those on the restricted list at that point are also eligible if they haven’t been suspended for performance-enhancing drugs during that season. (All players who have served a suspension for PEDs in a given season are ineligible for postseason play that year.)
A player who doesn’t meet said criteria for postseason eligibility can still be added to a team’s roster in the postseason via petition to the Commissioner’s Office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation. (For example, a player on the 10-day injured list who has been on it for at least 10 days, or a player who has been on the 60-day injured list for at least 60 days.) Players who are acquired in September or after are ineligible.
Postseason roster rules
Teams submit a 26-man roster (it was 25, prior to 2020) prior to each round of the postseason comprised of postseason-eligible players. A club may request permission from the Commissioner’s Office to replace a player who is injured during the course of a series, but that player is then ineligible for the rest of that round and the subsequent round, if there is one. A pitcher may be replaced only by another pitcher, and a position player only by another position player.
Teams carry extra players throughout the postseason in the event of injuries, and those players, as well as players on the injured list, can be in the dugout during games, within reason.
Thanks. That’s what I thought. So Miller or Stone could make the roster if they were replacing an injured player and the commissioner approved it.
Yes, it reads that way.
DFA May
And Bellinger and Muncy.
Muncy after a short hot streak has reverted to his first 4 month of the season
So yeah, could make case
Could Busch do worse?
Go Dodgers!
Yeah sure, Mark. I watch almost every Doc interview. He’s never straight forward answering any question. Why would he say Gonso is going to throw the very next day if the MRI didn’t come back clean? You give him way too much credit. It’s sounds to me like he’s trying to sound smart, but is failing miserably. But, that’s from my worldview, one where clear answers to questions are expected. In my “worldview” I translate computer speak into layman’s terms when I communicate with non-technical managers and directors.
Did Dustin May exceed your expectations his first couple of starts? “I wouldn’t say exceeded, he was right on par with what we had hoped for.”
After his first two starts, Dustin had a 1.64 ERA, 16 K’s against 3 walks. Right before he came back he said he wasn’t expecting him to be a savior. Seems contradictory to me.
With Blake coming back, how are you going to utilize him down the stretch? “It’s good to have him back, first and foremost, as far as usage he’s gonna be in leverage, whatever that means. But, I think as far as clarity what I told him is that he’s gonna come in in a clean inning, so right now I don’t see him coming into an inning or doing an up down.”
“he’s gonna be in leverage, whatever that means” Really? That’s not a stupid thing to say? Everybody knows what leverage means. He could have easily said, “We’re going to use Blake like we always have, but for now, I’m not going to have him come in with traffic on the bases, and not for multiple innings.
You talk about clarity, how much clarity are you going to get to see how your bullpen is constructed for October predicated on how he looks? “Um, he’s a big part of it, the expectation is that, if he’s healthy he’s gonna be productive, be good, be able to get big outs for us, but right now, having Graterol on the IL changes kinda the dynamic a little bit, but having Phillips, and Chris Martin, and Fergie and Vesia throw the baseball they way that they have certainly adds to the options, but yeah, just kinda the next few weeks, seeing how Blake’s throwing the baseball, it’s gonna help that dynamic.”
Huh? How does that even answer the question?
Do you see him in the 9th inning at some point to see how that looks? “Yeah, I think that’s a possibility to see him finish some games, I trust him, but it’s not a debate right now about who’s the closer”.
So, you think an answer like this is fooling the competition? Because Doc is so brilliant and all the other managers are so stupid? Give me a break!
This is from you yesterday…
What does it mean when Doc said that Gonsolin’s MRI was “as good as we could have hoped?”
That could mean just about anything.
My response was, “It means that Doc is always saying stupid shit. “It came back clean” is all he had to say. He starts throwing tomorrow.”
I didn’t say he was stupid, I said he’s always saying stupid shit. Now you can debate what “it came back clean” means when a pitcher gets an MRI. No pitcher is going to have an elbow that looks like a regular Joe’s, but the fact that he’s gonna start throwing the day after the MRI means it’s clean enough, to start pitching again. Duh!
Let me clarify it all for you;
If I knew the answer to your question, I couldn’t tell you the answer.
If I don’t know the answer to your question, I couldn’t tell you the answer.
So, I can’t tell you the answer.
Rata hit it on the head yesterday. The team looks flat and tired. It didn’t help resting Trea, but he probably needed one. It certainly didn’t help that Lux also had to sit. And it certainly didn’t help that the top of the order went 0 fer.
Darvish is very good when he’s good. May looked rusty, pun intended. Maybe it was the six days of rest. He still has a lot of ramp up time before the playoffs start. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Doc said in the pregame that Kimbrel was going to pitch because he hasn’t pitched in three games. Instead, he used Bickford for two. Doc, must have been using some redirection in order to get an advantage somehow. At least, according to Mark’s worldview.
So Stone and Miller could be activated if May and Gonso can’t start? May threw 5 innings on 87 pitches yesterday and was uncharacteristically wild compared to his first two starts. It was step backward for sure, but it was a step forward in building him up. Do you really think Miller is going to be less wild?
As for Gonso, I just watched a video yesterday about teams making players fake injury to go on the IL. Ross Stripling was one of the pitchers covered. He said he had to fake a lower back injury with the Dodgers and it was 100% not true. This year Ferguson had a problem when he was sent to the IL, saying he was healthy and just had normal soreness. But, Gonsolin might not come back and Stone and Miller are going to have to take May and Gonsolin’s place? I have some killer beachfront property in Nebraska that I can sell you cheap. Just send me a copy of your Drivers license, SS card and your mother’s maiden name to get started.
Enough nonsense for today. Urias is the stopper, Let’s start a new winning streak tonight.
September and the playoffs are where legends are made.
Last year Edie Rosario got hot and carried the Braves. This year, he hit .186.
I am being realistic. Maybe it is better to catch lightning in a bottle than to the best!
Hopefully, the Dodgers can do both…. have the best record and go into the postseason on fire. Make it Roberts proof.
So, I’m an optimist. He’s good to go, resume starting. They need Tony Gonsolin to step up in the playoffs. Anybody disagree?
They may reduce innings moving forward. But I expect him to start. They rested Trea Turner even though he feels good and didn’t ask for a day off. So look for the Dodgers to prioritize health and rest heading into the playoffs.
Graterol is a different story. There is concern.
May’s ball was jumping at high velo, he was just having some command issues. That’s natural when coming back after a long layoff. He could be a difference maker. Next year, he may be lights out for an entire season.
Maybe Miller and Stone get the call or maybe not. Expect both to have a big impact in 2023. Miller certainly made a statement in his last outing.
Expected the Dodgers to drop off at some point, just like 2017.
Apparently MLB isn’t concerned about travel related injuries, which may be problematic with long air flights, creating the tour of America season next year. They should have kept it more regional. Do I really care if I see every team in baseball? Actually, no. Then again, the less games played in Colorado, the better.
Just a question. How many coaches, college or pro, want to tell the media every little detail? I get it, fans want to know. But that doesn’t mean that Dave Roberts will roll out the medical reports on every MRI etc. He may offer comments that some believe are misleading or not truthful.
Sometimes MRIs miss something. Seen that happen a time of two. Know one college pitcher who has been shut down for the past couple of years. All kinds of tests, scans etc. can’t find the source for the pain. They just know it hurts. Something is there they just can’t figure it out.
Hopefully the Dodgers bats come alive tonight.
Concerning Graterol I would shut him down for the season. We have enough depth right now where the team can be successful without him. We have a huge lead in our division and a six game lead with the Mets in the NL race. The Dodgers can take advantage of those leads by easing Gonsolin back into action and resting Urias and Anderson a turn or so. They have a few BP pitchers that need some work to get back into top shape. A few bullpen games might be in order to accomplish that. That would give some starters a turn or so off in order to reenergize.
Looking at the box score from last night’s game the bottom of the lineup continues to have trouble hitting a baseball. Between Gallo, Taylor and Bellinger they had 11 ABs. Only Gallo had a hit and contact in another AB. Taylor did walk three times. And, Bellinger made contact once with three Ks. So, three ABs resulted in contact out of 11 tries. I know they got on base four times so the OBP is good, but I’m concerned about actual contact regardless if it’s a hit or out. And, collectively, they left 8 men on base. The black hole is filling up again at an alarming pace. It looks like Max is about to make the leap as well hitting .179 in his last 15 games. As mentioned in earlier posts as long as all position players are healthy for the postseason the team can afford only to have one of the black hole gang in the lineup at a time. There are too many empty ABs otherwise. I would select Bellinger to be that player.
Mannea sitting on fat ERA and a pounding last time we saw him. What could go wrong at home?
Wicked hot weather out here. Sunday should be blazing.
Watched a 14 game lead on July 5 get fumbled by ‘78 Red Sox. That season remains ready for reference whenever a skid becomes a slump becomes a tailspin and…..your best assumptions get kicked to the gutter.
Dodgers need more bats. 6-9 spots a mess – that’s going to hurt later.
“Heaney won’t start Sunday’s game against the Padres, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Heaney was initially listed as the projected starter for Sunday’s matchup, but it’s not yet clear who will take the mound for the series finale against San Diego. It’s not known whether Heaney is dealing with an injury or when he’ll make his next start.”
Jeff Sanders
@sdutSanders
LHP Andrew Heaney will not start for #Dodgers on Sunday.
Now a TBA
I would call up Stone and give him a look
Go Dodgers!
As has been the case in recent years, if the Dodgers play at their capacity in October, there is no team in MLB that can beat them, but if they don’t, any team could eliminate them, that’s the way it is.
Looking at actual rosters right now it is highly debatable what you are saying
IMHO Atlanta and Mets look superior to me in the NL
Houston in the AL
Dodgers are deeper than those teams but at the top I like the talent on named teams better
And other than the 162 game regular season in the playoffs talent at the top trumps depth
Go Dodges!
Go Dodgers!
Looks like the Yankees bullpen has imploded recently. Their bullpen ERA was between 2.90 and 2.95, now it’s 3.08, 1 point better than the Dodgers bullpen ERA at 3.09 for 2nd and 3rd overall behind number 1 Astros at 2.90.
I took a look at the Dodgers record in 1 run games and extra innings, looking forward to the playoffs when games are usually tight. The Dodgers are 12-12 in 1 run games and 4-6 in extra innings.
Looking at stats, assuming Bellinger is the best fit for CF, Thompson is the best for LF against RHP (1.108 OPS) and Taylor the best for LF against LHP (.708 OPS). Nobody that plays the outfield positions besides Betts can hit LHP worth a sh!t.
I think Doc and whoever is involved with decision making are trying to rest pitchers and is why we have seen Grove, Hembree, Reed, and even Bickford.
Reading the comments above, I’m even more confused about my favorite pitcher Tony Gonsolin. Are the decision makers resting Gonsolin or is there something to his injury?
The answer to your last question is, who knows?
We can only hope they are resting him
After losing WB it would be logical they do exactly that
Go Rams!
I think it is pretty safe to say that we all knew that the roster that opened the season would not look the same come playoff time. This team has had more than its fair share of injuries. And not to just fringe guys, but players they were counting on come post season. Most of the starting everyday players have avoided serious IL time. Probably the most affected by an IL layoff is Chris Taylor. He has been nowhere near the player he was prior to his IL stint. The pitching staff has suffered the most with the injuries to Beuhler and Hudson being the worst-case scenario. Treinen is back, but rusty. May is back, but also a little rusty. The signs that there was something wrong with Buehler were evident early in the year. He did not look like the pitcher he was prior to his sudden fall off just before the playoffs last year. Even then, most of us here at least thought he was probably not at 100%. So now, we have to wait and see who is going to step up and be that guy. The offense has rolled most of the year. But the last 8 games has not been as potent. Simply because they have faced much better pitching. So they had better step up now, because it is not going to get any easier the next couple of weeks. They pretty much have the division locked up with a 17.5 game lead with 31 to play. But they can still lose out for the best record in the league unless they come out of this little funk, they are in. There are four really weak bats in the lineup some days. If you have Betts, Turner, Freeman, Smith, and Turner as the top 5 every day, you will score as long as those guys are producing. Anything you might get from 6-9 would be a plus. Trouble is when you have Bellinger, Muncy, Taylor and Gallo in those spots, you have two guys below the Mendoza line, one guy barely over, and another who strikes out over 35% of the time. That is a lot of wasted AB’s. Gallo got a run scoring hit late last night, the first real productive at bat he has had in over a week. Bellinger, after showing signs of coming out of his season long slumber, simply went back to sleep again. Muncy has not been able to have an extended period of production either. If Lux’s neck allows, and Thompson keeps up the good work, my lineup would look like this, Betts, RF, Turner, SS, Freeman, 1B, Smith, C, JT, 3B, Thompson, LF, Lux, 2B, Vargas, DH, and Bellinger, CF. We could have the one black hole in the 9 spot. I expect Vargas to have some problems, but I also expect him to catch lightning in a bottle now and then too. Except for JT, this lineup has a lot of speed. And I would expect them to get more aggressive on the bases.
Just some word on Roberts answering questions. So OK I don’t watch these things from other teams, but my feeling is that it is the same everywhere. And if they had their choice, the Managers would NEVER give an interview. Why would anyone think that he is going to give real answers. Like when a player struggles all year and after season ends and we find out he gets some surgery. So ok criticize Roberts for certain things but PLEASE but not for not divulging secret information
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!
“All players who have served a suspension for PEDs in a given season are ineligible for postseason play that year.”
Does this mean that Tatis is not only banned from this year’s playoffs, but also next year’s?
Somehow I don’t think the players’ association would go for that.
If you are banned for 80 games starting June 1st you miss one post season but if banned for 80 games on August 1st you miss two?
I do not know the answer, but it was Tony Clark, Head of the MLBPA, who spearheaded that, so I guess we will find out. I have seen Buster Olney tweet that he misses this year. I guess the rest is open to interpretation.
Trolling all Dodger fans. Professor Scherzer still grabbin’ at excuses. Lame.
https://apple.news/AhGc5kFjQTem5l0KXb2bGuA
dodgerram: Sorry but I don’t know what you are talking about when you say we don’t have the “top talent”. I just did an analysis of all position players on the 4 teams (LA, NY, ATL, & HOUS) using OPS as the measure. We have the best players at catcher, 1st, ss, and RF. Houston has the best players at 2B and DH. The Mets have the best players in LF and CF and Atlanta has the best at 3B. That only measures offense and says that we have 40% of the best offensive players of the 4 teams. Certainly a definition of “top talent”
Measuring starting pitching is more difficult due to the stats only showing qualified (innings pitched = to or greater than games played). However of the players qualified on the 4 teams, Verlander is #1, Urias is #2, Fried is #3 and Tyler Anderson is #4. Granted this does not include deGrom, Scherzer, Gonsolin, and Kershaw, who are all not qualified. deGrom is on another level, but I believe Julio, Kershaw, and Gonsolin (if healthy) stack up against both Scherzer and Fried. I also believe our depth (assuming all are healthy) will actually do us very well based on fewer number of off days in the post season.
The bullpens are difficult to measure and we certainly don’t know the impact of the very good guys coming off the IL or the impact of any starting pitchers used in relief. However, with all the injuries and having to use many less than top relief arms this year, we still have very good bullpen numbers. So evaluating the bullpens is a wait and see prospect.
I have said many times (disagreed to by B&P) that the post season is greatly dependent on what team is hot at the time. I have watched too many times over the years great teams losing in the post season and not so great teams winning the whole thing. I have loved watching our team this year and am confident in our chances to win it all. However, you never know.
As of right now:
If you believe in OPS for batters and considering the Dodgers have 3 LHP starters for the playoffs (Kershaw, Urias, Anderson, all have excellent or good similar splits against both sides of the plate) and Heaney (I’m not high on him though) on the team. Here are the possible playoff teams in the NL against LHP ranked:
1 Cardinals .812
2 Braves .800
3 Phillies .783
4 Padres .702
5 Mets .701
6 Brewers .661
Considering the best 9 position players on the Dodgers team are 5 RHB and 4 LHB and that 2 LHB (Muncy and Bellinger) are below average hitters this year overall. The possible playoff teams pitching OPS (I couldn’t find ERA splits) against RHB ranked:
1 Mets .638
2 Braves .653
3 Brewers .695
4 Phillies .706
5 Padres .709
6 Cardinals .716
Here is how I would rank the Dodgers opponents from toughest to weakest teams:
1 Braves
2 Mets
3 Cardinals
4 Phillies
5 Padres
6 Brewers
9:10 PM ET
Padres (74-59)
Dodgers (90-41)
SP Sean Manaea L
7-7 4.90 ERA 134IP 45BB 136K
SP Julio Urias L
14-7 2.32 ERA 139.2IP 31BB 137K
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
DH Will Smith R
3B J. Turner R
CF Chris Taylor R
RF T. Thompson R
LF M. Vargas R
C A. Barnes R
Clear-day
0% Rain
90° Wind 7 mph Out
Saturday Dodger Minor League Schedule
4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Ronan Kopp) vs. Lake County (Aaron Davenport)
4:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Jon Duplantier) at Round Rock (Kolby Allard)
5:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Lael Lockhart) vs. Northwest Arkansas (Jonathan Bowlan)
7:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Maddux Bruns) at Inland Empire (Jose Soriano)
Speculating about Dodger injuries (based on what the team says) is like asking a women where she wants to eat. You’ll get something that is technically a response. But you will be no closer to getting an answer.
And, as usual, unless the Dodgers win 9 games in every 10 game stretch; we start to hear how we are in trouble and how many teams are better and bla bla bla. It’s like complaining about a scratch on your Lamborghini, oblivious to the fact that everybody around you is driving a Toyota with primer painted door.
We will be fine.
The Dodgers ARE fine. No one is disputing that fact. How could one looking at the standings and stats ?
But that is missing the point.
Point is the Dodgers have to play like that in the postseason first to reach their goal , winning another title.
And there are some problems that are small problems in the regular season but as history tells us could become big problems in the postseason. We have watched that script before. Dodgers dominating the regular season at will only to lose out in the postseason to supposedly weaker competition.
And some of those problems are visible yet again: No dominant closer. Lack of a true ace at the top ( hope Julio can be that guy WB was in 2020), too many weak bats ( Gallo, CT3, Barnes, Muncy, Bellinger, Alberto) . Add Doc to that list who is known to not be a very good in game manager.
Side note: Kenley now leads MLB in saves with 31. Has been unhittable for several weeks now.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pre-game notes.
Blake Treinen – It’s a miracle that he’s back this year from a partially torn shoulder capsule that has healed on it’s own during his rehab. Isn’t concerned about his velo as he was hitting 98 throwing to batters before his rehab assignment.
Yency Almonte feels fine after his bullpen, another bullpen then live batters.
Tony Gonsolin feels fine after throwing from 90 feet. Relieved with the MRI results.
I missed most of Gavin Lux’s interview, I think he says he’ll be back against the Padres, but it sounds like he was talking about the next weekend against the Padres in San Diego.
Scherzer comes out after five innings and only 67 pitches in a 1-1 tie
Mookie !!!
Never seen this before. Cool.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRPVgsrp/
What a difference a day makes …24 little hours
In the overall picture this win makes zero difference. Team still has the same problem spots heading into postseason play as the night before.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kimbrel is gonna give Alberto a run for his money in closing out 10 run games!
I hope Alberto pitches more often. Great for the Dodgers to reassert themselves against the Pads.
FWIW, the Gameday feature on MLB.com had Treinen throwing sinkers at 98 and 97. No idea if that’s accurate but a healthy Treinen can make a big difference.
Great offense today.
And great work by Julio too, of course. If he keeps it up he could wind up with the Cy.
He’s emerged as the ace of the best team in baseball, leading the league in ERA. Alcantara has thrown more innings, but Julio bests him in terms of WHIP, BAA and W-L record.
Just got to hope Gonsolin recovers for the playoffs. But Dodgers should absolutely use their big lead. Stone, Miller and Outman–as well as Vargas–could have playoff roles in case of injuries or horrendous slumps.
In terms of individual honors, I’d argue that Mookie, Will Smith and Trea have solidified the pole position for Silver Slugger. (How many fans predicted that Mookie would be outslugging Soto?) With all respect to Freddie and Trea, Mookie looks like the Dodgers’ MVP to me.
With Lux hurt, it was interesting to see Mookie at 2B. I assume Lux will be fine, but this versatility could come in handy.
Sept. 3: LHP David Price to go on IL
Following the Dodgers’ 12-1 win over the Padres, manager Dave Roberts said Price will go on the injured list with left wrist inflammation that has been bothering him for a few days. Price hasn’t pitched since Aug. 29. Placing Price on the IL opens a roster spot for Ryan Pepiot, who is expected to pitch the bulk innings in the series finale on Sunday after Caleb Ferguson starts.