it is … at least for a while! Remember what I have always said, “Relief Pitchers are fickle?” Well, it has never been more true than this year.
- Phil Bickford has been bad (and he was not good last year but was great the year before);
- Yency Almonte had a 1.02 ERA last year – this year, he absolutely sucks with a 9.28 ERA;
- Alex Vesia has a 9.30 ERA this year, as compared with a 2.15 ERA last year;
For the past ten years, the Dodgers have always been near the top in Pitching ERA and WHIP. They are currently 22nd in Team ERA at 4.64 and 18th in WHIP. They are #6 in Starter ERA at 4.21, while being #27 in bullpen ERA at 5.32. Michael Grove and his 8.44 ERA is gone, as is Andre Jackson and his 7.94 ERA. I won’t even mention Jake Reed and his 81.00 ERA. It’s time to step it up or go back to OKC. Grove and Jackson have bright futures, but it’s the little things that have killed them this season.
Jimmy Nelson will likely be ready to return next week, Bryan Hudson, 6′ 8″ Lefthander has a 2.53 ERa with a 1.22 WHIP has 21 strikeouts in 10 IP. He is a possibility later in the season – he needs to keep it up… and do better as he has walked 6 in those 10 IP. Gavin Stone, while not a reliever, needs to pitch well for a few more starts before he is considered a possibility.
Julio Uria has been working on a new pitch, and Noah Syndergaard is working on something… we just don’t know what. It sure hurts that Ryan Pepiot “obliqued out”! He’s still a long way away. The best news from last night’s debacle is that Tony Gnsolin threw 65 pitches and did not allow an Earned Run. He will be better next time out. Thor is woefully close to the scrap pile. If he doesn’t turn it around, this will be a black mark on Friedman and Prior, who have been very successful at resurrecting careers lately.
Giving up right about now would be premature… to say nothing of dumb. It is still early, but it’s getting late… early. On a positive note: Shelby Miller seems to be taking over a key role in the bullpen, if not the closer position.
Betts and Frereman are in slumps – that will change. JDM is hurt. Will Smith is in concussion protocol, and Peralta and Heyward are not hitting. Thompson has been riding the pine, while three rookies are playing. Brian Reynolds is not coming, and Dodger fans are restless. Of course, they are. Me? All I say is “This is the Way.” This ship will be righted, and we will live happily ever after, and all the vitriol you may speak means ZIP!
If the Dodgers can win today, they take the series from the Pirates and head home 5-2 from the road trip! Better days are ahead – I just wish they would hurry up and get here!
Well at least AF didn’t resign Anderson and Heaney. Starters can be fickle as well. Syndergaard was relatively cheap and only one year. Worth the gamble for me. It’s the failed lifetime contracts that kill a franchise.
10 million is not cheap IMHO. I want Stone or Miller in this spot as soon as possible.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wanting Miller is very premature. He is a long way from being ready to pitch in the majors on a regular basis.
Exactly!
Syndergaard won’t finish the year. The Dodgers are magicians at squeezing the last drops if greatness out of past their peak players, but Thor is all squeezed out .
Maybe Almonte thinks he is back at Coors with the Rockies. Lol.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
He did better than that at Coors most of the time!
BY THE WAY:
Tyler Anderson has a 7.20 ERA for the angels to go with a 1.70 WHIP
Andrew Heaney has a 4.34 ERA with a 1.34 WHIP.
So SHADDDDDUUUPPPP already!
“Right now, I don’t know what the answer is”. Dave Roberts
I do Dave. Just keep filling out the lineup card and hope it works.
When you field a team of old guys teamed with rookies, you’ll get this now and then. Even if we lose this series it will be a successful road trip.
Has anybody seen Mookie Betts? He’s been missing for a couple weeks. Whoever put on his uniform is hitting .205 and OPSn under .600. Freddie has been mostly missing for a week too.
Every team in the West but the Dodgers has a negative RDIFF. That should help while Dave tries to figure this out.
EARLY GAME!!!
12:35 PM ET
Dodgers (13-12)
Pirates (17-8)
SP Julio Urias L
3-2 3.33 ERA 27IP 30K
SP Mitch Keller R
2-0 3.64 ERA 29.2IP 30K
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
RF J. Heyward L
CF James Outman L
DH D. Peralta L
SS Chris Taylor R
3B M. Busch L
LF T. Thompson R
C A. Barnes R
Partly-cloudy-day
0% Rain
58° Wind 6 mph L-R
Outman clean-up.
What a world.
Some people here want him there. I guess will see how he responds.
Mark went nuts when I objected to Ct3 batting fourth. As well as 33 is doing, I wouldn’t bat him clean up, I don’t want to put more pressure on him than he already has.
Mark going nuts is often a sign that you are making a reasonable point. Again, best to think of it as part of his curious charm….DUMBASS!
He also got his knickers twisted when I suggested that maybe Doc cost the Dodgers a game when he sat Max, after his first two-homer game, in favor of ice-cold CT3, who proceeded to strike out three times. Criticizing anything AF or Roberts does, well… you may incur the wrath of the guy who insists that Outman would be a 4th or 5th outfielder.
Now we know another reason Max should have played: Roberts must have known that Max soon would be going on paternity leave.
Where’s Vargas? Did he aggravate his thumb injury?
I’m more concerned about Heyward batting 3rd than Outman at cleanup. Heyward’s on-base percentage is only .269.
Then again, that’s actually better than Taylor’s or Peralta’s. Perhaps Roberts could have gone with Thompson to take advantage of his reverse split. His OBP is .301–not good, but better than many in this lineup.
Just look at the splits. Small sample, but Trayce’s OBP against righthanded pitchers is .429 and his OPS is 1.253! Hell yes, he should be batting 3rd in the this lineup.
Only guys with higher OPS against northpaws are Smith and Muncy.
Here is the thing, Heyward and Peralta may be hitting below .200, but both are hitting the ball very hard. Mostly it has been bad luck. Peralta hit a couple of rockets and had nothing to show for it. Vargas’s thumb is still bothering him. He is not squaring up anything.
They may be unlucky–like Mookie was on the HR robbery– but I think OBP is critical for the top 3 hitters.
We do need Mookie and Freddie to hit like stars–or superstars!–especially with Max and Will out of the lineup. And JDM too. Just about everybody else needs to raise their game.
The only guy exceeding expectations in this lineup is Outman.
Totally agree with that and games like today where Mookie only had one decent at bat really frustrate me. The guy is barely hitting over .230. Unacceptable. At least Freddie got a hit today and so did Peralta and Heyward. Outman 4 K’s ouch.
Can’t win many games with a lineup like this.
Wednesday scores
Oklahoma City vs. Sacramento, postponed
Tulsa at Arkansas, postponed
Great Lakes 5, Fort Wayne 2
Rancho Cucamonga 5, Inland Empire 2
Thursday schedule
2:35 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Gavin Stone, William Cuevas) vs. Sacramento (TBD, Keaton Winn), doubleheader; second game starts 30 minutes after completion of first game
4:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Justin Wrobleski) at Fort Wayne (Victor Lizarraga)
4:35 p.m.: Tulsa (Nick Nastrini) at Arkansas (Emerson Hancock)
6:35 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Jerming Rosario) at Inland Empire (Mason Albright)
Our stars have to be stars.
Right now Mook and Freddie are not playing like stars.
CT3 has more HR’s and RBIs than both.
Once they get going, we get Muncy and Smith back, this team will take off….
Need Julio to shove today.
Joy Gallo ex Dodger now with the Twins has 7 HRs batting .262 with an OPS of 1.177. Are our hitting coaches a problem?
I was just wondering where and what he was doing. Thanks for the info.
No.
He was bad with the Yankees as well. Maybe the Twins know something?
Gallo had 40 homers the year before he played with us also.
Don’t throw rocks at me for saying this, but the Pirates really impress me. Just look at their 7-8-9 hitters…
Castro-SS
Bae-CF
Delay- C
The first two are kids and the last guy is an old 28 year old. I especially like Bae….he gets on first, you might as well make that second if there is no one in front of him.
I’m happy for the city of Pittsburgh…they look to finally have a winning team they can be proud of to go along with that great stadium.
I hope we win, but unless the real Julio shows up, we won’t have a chance.
The Pirates are doing better, but I will wait until the end of the season to see what they are.
Julio has been working on a new pitch… that has been his problem. He either needs to master it or dump it!
Don’t forget the Pirates are now without Oneil Cruz, the 6-7 shortstop that, alas, used to be in the Dodger organization. He broke his ankle on an awkward collision at the plate.
Tremendous athletic ability and power.
The fact that Pittsburgh signed Reynolds to a long-term contract is good for the Pirates and eliminates a potential trade target that many here liked.
Bringing back McCutcheon has been great for Pittsburgh too. Over the winter, I hoped the Dodgers might sign him to be a platoon partner with Thompson and his reverse splits. Still think he’d have made more sense than Peralta.
This is the way.
This is the way!
* Watching Jeff Nelson umpire behind home plate is like the uncertainty you have after passing a cop while spending down the highway. You’re a little above the speed limit. And you keep checking your mirror to see if he pulls out and those lights come on. That’s the insecure moment when out wait for the outcome.
Nelson creates that same uncertainty with his moving strike zone. The hitter takes the pitch and everybody waits; is it going to be called a strike or a ball? The location doesn’t really matter. Any previous pitch call is not a factor. Every call is an independent event.
He is a living advertisement for ABS.
Nelson is a crew chief and 26 year veteran, so please explain to me, with his resume, why he’s so shitty?
We need the Where’s the Beef Lady asking “Where’s the strike zone?”
This whole umpiring crew is weak. We’ll see CD Bucknor do his thing today behind the dish.
* As soon as Bickford and Almonte came into the game, the Pirates stole bases. 4 total for the game. Bickford was 1.52 to Wynn, with a pop time of 1.97. I could steal 2nd with those times.
A single, stolen base, a bunt and a walk were the end of Bickford. This is exactly how I loved to manufacture runs in high school.
Well done Phil.
I totally agree. One of the absolute worse called games I have seen this year.
It seems like the Dodgers are getting more than their share!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen more WORST EVER umped games. It’s so bad even Joe mocked it a few games ago. The ump called a strike on a pitch that was clearly outside the zone. Then the pitcher threw the next one a little further outside, and Joe says, “That one just missed”.
Great to see our Ace step up after being given a 2-0 lead.
Ha
The only thing missing is that Pirates steal Dodgers panties
Sometimes it seems as if the front office didn’t get the full packet of rule changes in the offseason. The Dodgers don’t run and they can’t stop the run. It’s actually embarrassing the way teams run on them.
Urias’ first inning ERA is now around 6. I believe he doesn’t warm up properly and my guess is he’s concerned about his stamina and ability to go 6. Five pitches in the second. He’s warmed up now.
MLB should be concerned about strike zone incompetence but I doubt they are. Every team gets equally hosed so why bother fixing it?
Pittsburgh will maybe improve, but they’re Pittsburgh. As for stealing against the Dodgers, it appears the staff doesn’t much care. Sometimes they don’t even look over. And what happened to the pitchout? Strikes are so hard to find for this staff they can’t afford to pitchout?
Urias is not the same pitcher this year. Trade him and get something in return.
LOL you Sir are HILARIOUS. Glad you aren’t running the team old timer.
I suggested trading Urias before the season started in an effort to get a shortstop. He’s gone anyway next year.
kpizzle–spoken like a whippersnapper.
And I thought the suggestion was ridiculous. … for a team with playoff aspirations.
If the Dodgers keep playing like this, it’s not so ridiculous.
It is called sarcasm smart ass.
I actually missed the sarcasm. I must be losing a step.
No problem Patch, when I say it and mean it, you will all know the difference. Watching OKC play right now. Stone is pitching. Hernandez just tripled home Yurchak for a 3-1 lead.
Same with Freddie and Mookie?
If he’s this bad until July, he won’t be worth much in trade. But it will give pause to re-signing him.
Way too early to know much, but some things we’re seeing are rather discouraging.
I still think when the varsity plays together this summer we should be pretty good.
I agree Badger. I sure hope he’s not going down the road of Walker Buehler.
Don’t want to think doom and gloom, but very concerning, especially with all the other troubles the Dodgers have
High heat and breaking stuff in. Outman returning to earth. Heat shields up James!
He got called out on a ball. I think strike three should be challengeable.
He’s gone Mookie.
25 games in and the Dodgers simply aren’t very good right now. Yeah, they have injuries – so does everyone else. The starting pitching, which was supposed to be the strength of the team, has been spotty – except for Kershaw. Before the start of today’s game (5 turns through the rotation), he is leading in IP, ERA, WHIP, Ks and Ws.
The bullpen has been a disaster. BP ERA is 27th out of 30 teams at 5.32 – BP WHIP is also 27th at 1.53. In late and close situations, the Dodgers have the worst WHIP in baseball at 2.00 and the worst BAA at .363.
Of 17 position players who have suited up this year, 10 have BA below .200. 3 more are .250 or below. 6 of today’s starting lineup are below .200.
The Dodgers are last in 35 SB allowed. They are 26th with 11 SB on the season.
They aren’t playing well right now. The question is whether they will right the ship. What’s it gonna’ take?
It seems that they already found that the high fastball is a weakness of Outman
Up and in, down and away. He’s going to see a lot of that until he fixes it.
5 for 32, 13 Ks, 1 for 5 WRISP. We stunk.
At least Gonzalez looked good.
We all knew this was coming. This is going to be the test for Outman. That said, when you’re batting fourth behind Heyward and in front of Paeralta and Taylor…. Pitchers aren’t afraid to go right after you. Not a single player hitting behind Outman has a batting average over .183. In 8 plate appearances Mookie and Freddie reached base once. Not a great day to bat cleanup on the Dodgers.
At least the high pitches he is missing are out of the strike zone so learning to lay off them would seem to be an easier fix than trying to hit them.
It’s been “ambiguous edges” all year. What’s a strike in this league?
I go back to my original at bat philosophy. You got strike one to swing for the downs. Strike two is also yours, but do not chase. Strike three you have to protect the at bat by expanding the zone… by 2” every direction. You have to find a way to get the barrel to pitches you may not be crazy about. The way we used to do it was to choke up. These days? Not gonna happen. K
Double AA lineup
And the good news is the 9-16 Cardinals come to town. A Sweep is in the Cards.
Who gets swept?
Ouch! I’m not exactly going out on a limb here… The Varsity Team can sweep the Cards at home.
Once again, I’m glad I wasn’t able to watch this one.
Not having Muncy, Smith and JD in the lineup is killing us. We have young talent but they are going to be picked apart when the guys batting around them are Heyward, Peralta, Taylor, Thomson and Barnes. This might be the worst lineup the Dodgers have fielded in many years. That’s said, even at full strength we aren’t going to win many games where we give up 6. Julio… ugh.
We get Smith this weekend. Hopefully JD as well. But you can’t trust what the Dodger say on injuries. I hope JD’s is as minor as they’re claiming. Muncy should be back tomorrow. Barring another extraordinary wave of child births, we should be close to full strength by the end of the weekend. But seriously! Did the team have a giant party where somebody spiked the punch with Spanish fly 9 months ago? Did all the wives go see Magic Mike one night and come home a little tipsy? Enough already.
JDM has missed a lot of time with a bad back his last few season with the Sox. It’s no surprise that it’s bad again.
It turns out that Alex Cora is on record that JDM’s back is the reason the Red Sox did not play him in LF. It’s not that he does not have the capacity to play it and play it very well. It’s just that it aggravates his back.
Somebody or somebodies need to go! But who replaces them.? If bush can play 1st, 2nd & 3rd and some left, Thompson needs to go. Nice young man , but the magic is gone. I know Heyward has hit into some hard luck, but 2 weeks from now, .177 average, mneeds to go. Taylor may be too valuable all around defensively to get rid of. Place Vargas on the il today! He’s going to be a good one, but he needs to heal. Will smith please come back, we need you!
If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that after the Pirate series one team was 28-8 and the other 13-13, I would have said that the Pirates are having a pretty good year at 13-13. We’re just not a very good club right now. Will it improve? Hope so. But at the end of May if we’re still here around .500 then get the band playing, we may not have enough lifeboats on the ship!
Just my opinion, but out of the trio of outfielders (Thompson, Heyward, Peralta) that ONLY hit RHP, the odd man out is Heyward. I’m basing that on recent (2021 and 2022) sample sizes against RHP.
Heyward
.208/.276/.353/.629
.202/.289/.290/.579
Peralta
.257/.327/.399/.726
.267/.329/.449/.778
Thompson
2021 Too small of a sample
2022 .308/.409/.602/1.010
The only other decent sample 2016
.227/.307/.442/.749
If you go by right now this season so far and it’s too small of a sample, Peralta would be the odd man out.
It’s Thompson for me. Outside of the 3 hr game, he’s been attrocious!
Thompson’s reverse splits mean all three guys are at their best against righthanded pitching. (This is why I thought McCutcheon, who swings right, had been a better FA target than Peralta. Oh well.) Taylor bats righty, but he’s been struggling too. Busch could get action in LF, but he’s another lefty swinger.
Speaking of atrocious, I don’t think Barnes has ever had such a bad run with the bat.
Anyway, this was just another ugly drubbing. Sure hope Will Smith, Max and JDM get back soon…
Meanwhile, in Anaheim, Ohtani got rocked for 5 runs in a single inning. His ERA ballooned….. all the way to 1.85. He tried to make up for it by nearly hitting for the cycle–his HR bid was caught at the wall. His offense helped the Angels move over .500 and get Ohtani another win.
Right now, after his worst game this season on the mound, he’s at 4-0 with than 1.85 ERA. He’s had 46 Ks in 34 innings, while hitters are batting .102 against him.
After his worst outing of the season.
And with the bat, Ohtani produced a .869 OPS with 6 HRs. Despite his top-shelf speed, he’s only stolen 3 bases. Still, not too shabby.
If the Angels keep winning–and I hope they do–perhaps Ohtani won’t be traded and he’ll help Trout and the guys make a nice run in the playoffs. But if Ohtani goes on the market, the Dodgers would be foolish not to pursue him. If you think otherwise, YOU’RE A DUMBASS!
By the way, I wonder whether AF tried to trade for Hunter Renfro from the Brewers in the offseason. The Angels’ Perry Minassian, I thought, were really smart to get him for a couple of middling arms. (Later he traded for Gio Urshela, another solid veteran., and signed Drury as an FA. All three are now playing well.)
Renfro would have made sense for the Dodgers. He’s been reliable power source for some years, and he has a great arm. The Angels wanted him for RF, but he could have played LF for the Dodgers–or RF if Mookie moved to 2B. Anyway, he’s hitting at a 925 OPS with 7 HRs. Not only does he look like Trout, but he’s hitting like Trout.
Oh well.
We got Peralta, Heyward and Thompson. We’ll be fine.
Everybody stays. Except Wynns. He goes. Bring up Feduccia. Vargas to the IL. His job is safe. JD to the IL.
Patience. This is going to take some time.
Yes, the Dodgers aren’t playing well, but it’s also true that they are only one game out of first place in their division. If it was mid-season and the Dodgers were in first place and then went through a period in which they were playing .500 baseball, chances are the critical remarks would be at a minimum.
David Peralta has always been a good hitter, with a career average about 100 points higher than what he is currently hitting, and with decent power. Maybe at 35 he is finally over the hill, or maybe not. But because no one here has ever seen him hit well for the Dodgers, in their minds he’s suddenly a bum.
Mookie and Freddie Freeman are not hitting up to par, so I guess they’ve also become bums. And it’s time to give up on Vargas because rookie’s that get off to slow starts can’t be any good, and the injury to his right thumb (his top hand) can’t have anything to do with it.
I’m sure there’s a lot more I could say, but it’s 2:05 am, and I’m tired. I know it’s just a cliche’, but there is a reason the expression “it’s a long season” exists. That’s because it is a long season during which teams will have their ups and downs. I prefer to wait for the season to play out. The Dodgers may turn out to be a complete bust, or perhaps, and I wouldn’t venture to say when, they might suddenly step it up. Only time will tell.