There is no Dumbass Vaccine!

Posted By on August 13, 2024

The Dodgers are now tied with the Orioles and Indians for the best record in baseball, despite the following four obstacles:

  1. Their President of Baseball Operations is a buffoon;
  2. Their Hitting Coach is horrible;
  3. Their Pitching Coach doesn’t know what he is doing; and
  4. Their Manager is incompetent!

Not bad for a team that has such horrible leadership or so some of you think. You are Ignatius J. Reilly, and you know who you are. Actually, the opposite is true, but some of you just have a narrative that is determined to believe those four things and anytime anything bad happens, you play one of those cards. To me, it is sickening and it must be a disease for which there is no treatment. But I digress.

Here the Dodgers sit, just 3.5 games ahead of the D-Backs, and Padres who are surging. I think both teams have had their best run of the season while the Dodgers best run may be ahead of them. I am surprised that some of the Ignatius J. Reilly’s did not complain that the Dodgers should have sent Mookie Betts down on a rehab assignment.

Max Muncy and Tommy Edman will be back soon (allegedly), as will Walker Buehler, and the naysayers about Kershaw were again wrong! Joe Kelly looks like a trainwreck right about now. This happens every year with him… until it doesn’t. Kopech is being groomed to be a closer, and Ryan Brasier is also due back soon. The Bazooka will also likely be back. Oh, Blake Treinen is also due back in a week or so. It’s also looking like CT3 will be back this month…. and don’t count on Bobby Miller… but don’t write him off either!

Lest we forget, Yoshi Yamamoto also looks very good, according to the people who have watched him. So, what many of you have described as a trainwreck is tantamount to comparing a hangnail to cancer. Speaking of cancer, when the Yankees traded for Jazz Chisolm, Glyber Torres said the following: “I’m a second baseman. I play second.” Torres played third in the minor leagues, but still expressed displeasure at the potential of moving over. “I don’t like it,” he said. Contrast that with Mookie Betts, who said: “I just want to win. I’m confident in my abilities to go play wherever. And wherever they think is best for the team, I’ll do it.”

Torres is a weak-hitting, self-absorbed second baseman whom the Yankees should have DFA’ed. It would have been addition by subtraction. Maybe something similar happened with Amed Rosario. I thought he was a lock to make the playoff roster, but now he is off the team, and you are either naive or off your rocker if you don’t think there is more to this than you see. Publically, no one will talk about this and everyone will say the right things, but if you have a modicum of intellectual ability, you might get it… or not!

BA vs. OPS

The San Diego Padres are first in batting average in all of baseball but are 9th in runs scored. They are also 8th in OPS. Batting Average is soooo overrated. OPS is a much better metric. Houston is 2nd in BA, but 13th in runs scored. Why? They are 8th in OPS. The Dodgers are 11th in BA, but 4th in runs scored, and I would not be surprised if the Dodgers have the #1 Run Scoring Offense by the end of the year with Edman and Muncy returning.

BTW, the Dodgers are 6th in Team ERA, not far behind the NL leader (the Brewers). The Dodgers are at 3.76, while the Brewers are at 3.29 despite using 17 different starting pitchers. The Indians are first in all of baseball at 2.76! WOW! The stars are aligning, and this team is starting to get healthy. It is starting to look like this will be an epic stretch run… but then again… this is baseball! You never know.

We brought Shadrack home yesterday, just shy of 8 weeks old and he weighs nearly 20 pounds.

This article has 24 Comments

  1. Good morning Mark! Rosario didn’t give the impression he was a malcontent. BUT, i did notice when he wasn’t playing he sat “away “ from the other players , except Pages. Team chemistry matters! Clayton looked very good last night! Poor Doc, i know his intentions were to take care of Kershaw, but Kelly didn’t cooperate! Joe may be pitching himself off the roster. …. Kopech is making believers out of everyone!! .. .. Vesia was extremely sharp as well. … Was a relief to see Hudson have a clean ninth. ….. Will Nick Ahmed survive when the others come? …. Kevin K. is still a force in centerfield!! But will he also survive the roster crunch?? … Chris Taylor? what to do with him! He’s so good defensively anywhere he plays. Has more power than KK, but a ton of swing and miss. …. Gavin Stone today, boy they could sure use a good quality start out of him!! … Walker supposedly pumped for his start !! What a shot in the arm that could be! (no pun intended). Yamamoto coming! Glasnow looking great! Clayton sharp last night! And i almost forgot Jack F! Bullpen getting healthy! Max and Edman coming! so friars and dbacks buckle up! It’s not going to be a cakewalk to overtake the boys in blue!! Remember, with johnny hustle and ped tatis , they may implode at any moment!!

    1. Okay, let us look at the moment Kersh was removed for Kelly. Contreras owns Kersh. He was something like 4-7 against him, Nelson and Hershiser even mentioned that when Doc came out to get the ball. With 1 out, Kersh gave up a single to Chourio, he then struck out Mitchell. With 2 outs and a guy who hit two rockets off of Kersh in the game, one of them being a double, it was the prudent move. Kelly had two strikes on Contreras and then he threw a slider that should have been called strike three. And according to the tracker, it was strike three. The next pitch was also a slider on the outside of the plate that stayed a little up, and Contreras hit it over the wall. So, just like the checked swing call on Teo allowed him to see another pitch, the missed strike call caused Kelly to have to throw another. If the strike had been called, no one would even be talking about it today. Not Kelly’s fault the umpire BLEW the call. To make matters worse, the same pitch thrown by a Brewers pitcher, were called strikes twice on Dodger batters. That is baseball my friend. And Joe Kelly got out of the inning without any more damage even though he gave up two hits.

  2. It’s great to see a superstar bend his desire for the betterment of the team. When Betts makes that sacrifice, anyone who doesn’t would look foolish. If there is a malcontent on the team it doesn’t show and that has to be attributed to the front office and the manager plus of course the players buying in. When the Dodgers are handing out huge and long contracts one would imagine that this winning and team first attitude plays a huge part. Things are looking bright for the rest of the season but sometimes the baseball gods have a way of derailing the best laid plans. Regardless the job of the whole Dodgers organization to withstand the injury bug and the very unfortunate Freddy’s situation is a credit to the organization. They could have gutted their farm system for temporary help in July and August but the Dodgers already have a numbers crunch it would have been even more of a problem if they went and got more positional players.

    Mark thanks for the article.

  3. Concur about Rosario! Nothing else makes sense. Thanks for the memories! Thanks Matt about the info on, “front row Amy” . She sure seems like a true Brew Crew fan! Mary Hart never keeps score and leaves by the 5th inning. Should be exciting 6 weeks of baseball on the horizon. Let’s do it to the NL West before they do it to us!

    Thanks for posting again, MT!!

    VIVA AZUL!!!!

  4. It seems fitting that Mookie’s triumphant return would coincide with Kershaw’s best start of the season. Add Shohei’s opposite-field bomb and it felt like the Dodgers were hitting on all cylinders.
    The new lineup functioned with perfection. Shohei gets on base, steals second and then Mookie knocks him in with a single. And then Mookie stole second, but Freddie failed to cash him in.
    Given the Dodgers’ power, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by all the running Shohei is doing. I wanted the $700-million man batting behind Mookie and Freddie, but lead-off seems to be working just fine.Loo
    And soon we’ll see what Max and Edman can do…

    1. What a great Mookie return, lifted my hopes enormously along with the CK performance. Joe Kelly a quandary.

  5. The Dodgers announced Tuesday that Ryan (elbow) will require Tommy John surgery, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.
    “The 25-year-old suffered a torn UCL in his forearm during Saturday’s start against the Pirates and will miss the rest of the season, and likely all of 2025. Ryan received his first taste of the majors this summer and posted a 1.33 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 18:9 K:BB across 20.1 innings. It’s unclear when exactly he’ll undergo the procedure, but he likely won’t be back to full strength until spring training in 2026”.

  6. Pitchers due back in 2025:
    Ohtani
    Gonsolin
    May
    Frasso

    Pitchers due back in 2026:
    Hurt
    Sheehan
    Ryan

    1. Sheehan won’t be back until 2026? I hadn’t heard that. I assumed sometime next season.

        1. It’s possible, but I think it’s best to wait 16-18 months and that is not my idea – it’s what many experts are now saying:

          “So then why do some people throw harder after surgery? Well a number of factors are at play, but it’s important to remember that rehab can last anywhere from 12-18 months before you are pitching in a game after surgery.”

          If they wait a little longer, the chance of needing a second one diminishes.

          Buehler had his in August 2022.

          Here’s an interesting article:

          https://www.eclipsewellnessnova.com/post/why-do-pitchers-throw-harder-after-tommy-john-surgery

          1. Sheehan could be back sooner as he had the internal brace and not full blown TJ… but I would rather err on the side of caution. These are young guys with their whole careers ahead of them.

  8. Dodgers dodged a huge bullet. Paxton was diagnosed with a torn calf yesterday. Trade happened at exactly the right time. The only options the Dodgers have with Rosario are to release him outright or put him on waivers. They cannot trade him since he has been active all year. Rea, who is pitching tonight, is the Brewers best so far this season. 10-3 with a ERA just a little over 3. Stone is going to have to pitch much better than he has his last 7 games. His ERA over that span is over 5. Rea is 1-0 in his career against LA in 6 appearances. His ERA against them though is 5.32. He has allowed 21 hits, 14 earned runs and 3 homers to the Dodgers. He has walked 10 and struck out 17 in 23.2 innings. They should be patient against this guy and wait for their pitch. They are 3-1 against Milwaukee this season. The have scored 20 runs against them and given up 19.

  9. 8:10 PM ET

    Dodgers (70-49)
    Brewers (67-51)

    SP Gavin Stone R
    9-5 3.71 ERA
    SP Colin Rea R
    10-3 3.38 ERA

    Confirmed Lineup
    DH S. Ohtani L
    RF Mookie Betts R
    1B F. Freeman L
    LF T. Hernandez R
    2B Gavin Lux L
    C Will Smith R
    SS Miguel Rojas R
    3B E. Hernandez R
    CF Andy Pages R

    In Domed Stadium

    1. It’s actually a Doomed Stadium.

      😉

      I should have been there this week, but I got Shadrack, and we have our Annual Dealer Meeting this week.

      My wife was sick, so I couldn’t ask her to take care of the puppy on his first day.

      Milwaukee is a great place to go, watch a few games, and enjoy the downtown area. The stadium is however located a long way from DT.

  10. If Cleveland gets the opportunity, they will take Amed Rosario back to be their SS.

    The Dodgers could face them in the World Series.

  12. River Ryan probably out until ’26. Ugh.
    Not that the front office needs more reasons to sign Sasaki…

  13. River Ryan probably out until ’26. Ugh.
    Not that the front office needs more reasons to sign Sasaki…
    No doubt there will be more injuries to come this season.
    Would changing the pitch clock help?

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