To lose a game without learning something is a sad state of affairs. Yes, the Dodgers lost last night game, but they learned a few things in the process:
- If you can’t jump out of a boat and hit water, you probably won’t win (OK, OK, we already knew that);
- Hyun-jin Ryu has gone from being left off the playoff roster (in some of your minds) back to Cy Young Candidate (in case you have never watched, baseball is a game of streaks);
- Ryu is not comfortable pitching to Will Smith. Last night he pitched to Russ Martin and in the previous two games before his three-game “meltdown” he also pitched to Martin. In his three bad games, Will Smith was the catcher. You won’t see him pitch to Smith again… this year. If Ryu is back next year, he will have all of Spring Training to get on the same page with Will. This is not meant as an indictment of Smith… it’s just familiarity;
- Julio Urias has proven (for the 3rd or 4th time) that he is not a guy to bring in mid-inning. Roberts brought him in again last night with a runner on just to see how he performed. He is a starter and while he can be a weapon out of the pen for 2 or 3 innings, he needs to start with a clean slate – no mid-inning pitching. The same is true with Dustin May. By the way, if you are evaluating the Dodger’s bullpen on what happened last night, you are missing the entire point;
- If there is a silver lining to Cody Bellinger’s recent slump, it’s that he is not striking out like last year. I do think he is too anxious and just needs to relax and let the game come to him. As the rest of the team heats up (and they will), he will relax and snap out of it. He’s too good at making adjustments. This winter, he will work on going the other way more and I expect another level of play from him, even though he’s dang good now.
- Max Muncy will need a few games to get his stroke back. Hopefully, the wrist doesn’t bother him. I would play Muncy 100% at 1B with Lux and Kike or CT3 platooning at 2B and Joc and Kike or CT3 in RF. Kike is superior to CT3 defensively at both positions but obviously can only play one. Those are my two platoons;
- Gavin Lux looked like a rookie with 3 K’s in 3 AB’s last night. Hopefully, he adjusts quickly;
- Rich Hill has probably been told by the training staff, coaches and Doc that he risks hurting his arm with wearing a knee brace and changing his delivery, but I’m sure he said “This is probably my last shot at a World Series and helping this team. If I destroy my arm, it will be worth it. I’m probably done anyway!” That’s why we love Dick Mountain. Never count him out – it’s unlikely, but if anyone can do it, it’s Rich;
- Matt Beaty can play 3B! We just didn’t learn that last night, but his body of work indicates that he could take over for JT in 2021; and
- AJ Pollock is still learning LF. He has two weeks to master it. I am betting he does.
Parting Shot
A rising star in the Dodger’s organization is Raul Ibanez. I think the Dodgers will either promote him to GM or lose him to some other team, like the Giants. There will be several jobs like that available and he has to be high on the list.
DC’s 10th Inning
Saturday’s Scores:
Both the Drillers and Raptors came up short yesterday forcing a winner take all game today in both leagues.
Ogden Raptors 2 – Idaho Falls Chukars (KC) 6
Both the arms and the bats were missing in this game. Pitchers Alfredo Tavarez, Jeronimo Castro, and Antonio Hernandez all gave up 2 runs in alternating innings from the 4th inning on.
Catcher Marco Hernandez hit a second-inning home run for a good start but the thundering bats fell pretty much silent after that. Andrew Shaps drove in a run in the 4th inning with a double and Jeremy Orocho finished the hitting with 2 singles.
The Raptors starting pitcher for today’s game has not been announced. Elio Serrano has not been used for several days so it could be his turn. He was the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Week for the last week of the regular schedule.
Tulsa Drillers 0 – Amarillo Sod Poodles (SD) 3
The pitching wasn’t all that bad as starter Parker Curry gave up 2 runs over 4 innings and Jordan Sheffield one unearned run in the 6th as the defense fell apart with 2 ground ball errors.
The Drillers did have 7 hits, one more than the Sod Poodles, but couldn’t push any runs across. They had several opportunities, putting the leadoff man on base in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but could not score. In the fourth, they loaded the bases with just one out, but pinch-hitter Jared Walker struck out and Jeter Downs flied out.
Connor Wong and Donovan Casey both extended their postseason hitting streaks with one hit each. The two have now both hit safely in all nine of Tulsa’s playoff games, the only players to do so.
Right-hander Edwin Uceta gets the call for this afternoon’s game.
Bellinger’s swing is really out of whack. He is swinging flatfooted. There appears to be no loading to generate rhythm and/or power. I am shocked by how someone with such success early in the year can look so unbalanced. I get it — hitting is hard! The hitting coach crew need to fix Belli fast — either that, or make him our leadoff hitter, as he is still great at getting on base and he is our fastest baserunner. If he continues to produce like he has the past month, he is NOT a #4 hitter. Anyone else see what I am seeing?
It’s not a bad idea. I thought that Lux would be that leadoff hitter we needed, but he is still struggling. Belli is much faster that I thought. I’m surprised he hasn’t stolen more bases than he has. I wonder if the team has held him back for some reason.
To be clear, I am talking about how best to use Belli in THIS postseason based on who he appears to be right now. I am confident he is going to be a slugger for many years to come; I just want the Dodger braintrust to consider all options on how to get the most out of who the Dodgers are as a team in the moment 🙂
Are any of the Dodgers relievers good when coming in with runners on.? It seems seems the other day must have been the 100th time Kershaw left the game with runners on and 99 times they scored. Also please stop saying a reliever is now doing great, because the next game the screw up.
Anyone who thinks the Dodger bullpen is in good shape is in denial.
#5 in Bullpen ERA
#2 in BAA
#3 in Fewest Runs Allowed
#2 in Fewest OPS Allowed
#1 in WHIP
#7 in Fewest HR (take away Garcia and they are #1)
#8 in Most Blown Saves
#16 in Saves %
Of course, you are going to only look at the last two stats because you are not delusional? Try and improve your argument… like Jim Rome says.
Well if you believe the job of the team is to win games, not put up gaudy stats, so if they are blowing saves and not getting saves they are not getting THAT job done. We’ll see how that figures in going forward.
Mark, you never talk about the Dodger relief pitchers entering a game with runners on base and then letting them score, they rank next to last in the majors at 39% only Washington at 41% is worst. Not negative, just pointing out a problem that needs to be fixed and so far this season it has not.
How much of that was before the All-Star Break?
https://ladodgertalk.com/2019/02/06/what-does-the-future-hold-for-raul-ibanez/
That was an excellent article.
Shocking hit to Culberson in the face!!
https://sports.yahoo.com/braves-charlie-culberson-carted-off-after-taking-91-mph-pitch-to-the-face-223528874.html
I would worry about the vision in his right eye.
11th thing we learned is that good pitching will almost always beat good hitting. DeGrom and Ryu were both very good yesterday. Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, things to do in sports. When you have masters on the mound it becomes increasingly more difficult!
Raul Ibanez has already been interviewed by several other organizations. He will be promoted, or hired away this off-season. Like with the Astros, the Dodgers are so far ahead of other teams in their player development and scouting, etc., that other teams will look to hire their people if they can. We saw a taste of that last off-season. Expect more of the same this year.
Not sure Will Smith was the issue. Ryu was throwing a lot of flat pitches down the middle and getting hit hard. Maybe Ryu is more comfortable pitching to Russell Martin and next year will have more confidence with Smith. If there is a next year … seems like Bellinger is hitting something hard at least once or twice a game. But they’re attacking him with off speed pitches and he’s sometimes going outside the zone, chasing after balls down and away. There is usually a pitch earlier in the count, a fastball that he lets go by and it ends up being the best pitch he’ll see. The Dodgers really need a good hitter behind Bellinger to prevent teams from pitching around him. Day before Lux hits a three run homerun to put the Dodgers in Control, now he’s not ready. Tough crowd. Not paying attention to the stats, advanced or otherwise, still my sense that the bullpen is inconsistent, which may end up being a problem.
It looks as if the Dodgers have a number of question marks going into the playoffs, and that is not a good thing. No team is perfect,, but there are others with less question marks. Right now, we’ve got Bellinger in what is almost a three-month slump. Muncy trying to get back to form, and he’s hitting about .250 for the year, which is where most of the lineup is. Pederson, who gets plaudits when he has a good game, is hitting .246. Pollock is around .260, and so is Seager. It’s hard to score runs on a consistent basis when only one person in the lineup is hitting .300, and that is only because of a great first two months. Degrom is a very good pitcher, but the Braves now have a couple of starters who are comparable, and their lineup may be better than ours, and their bullpen as well. Certainly they have been playing better than we have for the last month.
What we’re all hoping for is that when the bell rings for the playoffs, we will start looking like the Dodgers of May and June. But I don’t know why that should happen. What was unnerving about yesterday’s game is that it is 0-0 in the 8th, and we finally go to our bullpen, and they give up three runs. This kind of thing happens much too often. There is not one pitcher in the bullpen whom we can feel confident about. I did not get to see the game; apparently Kelly came in, hit a batter, then Urias came in, hit a batter, walked another, and then gave up a double. If the Dodgers are counting on Urias to be a major factor late in games, they are taking a big risk. He is not consistent, and he is not a proven late-game pitcher. Other teams have those, we really do not.
And Roberts will always keep taking relievers out, apparently based on metrics, except that we rarely if ever get a clean inning out of any of them in a tight game. They do their best when we are either behind, or have a three- or four-run lead. Since the playoffs usually involve a series of games which are tied or one run apart in the last three innings, I am not optimistic about our chances of winning many of those. Wouldn’t Kelly at this point be able to just pitch a clean inning in a tie game? Is he not considered good enough to pitch through one runner on base? Is anybody in this bullpen? And does Roberts always seem to be just guessing when he decides which reliever to use in a given spot? If indeed Urias as is not good with men on base, then why is he in there, two weeks from the end of the season? When is the managerial learning curve completed, with regard to lining up the bullpen for the pressure games coming up? It just seems to me that i the playoffs, these same things are going to happen. Close games going into the seventh, and their bullpen outperforms ours.
Of course, Roberts is guessing. When you have a group of inconsistent relievers, there is a wide margin of error to deal with. Roberts is already challenged deciding in-game, who he will match his relievers up with. It’s probably the most questionable area of his expertise. I have never been comfortable with his seemingly quirky decisions of who to bring in and when to do it. But I can’t put all the blame on him. We have a very inconsistent relief corps. Many arms, but few are reliable. I remember Mike Marshall coming in whenever they called on him in the early 70’s. An iron man. That guy pitched over 200 innings one season! I just go with what my eyes are telling me. I don’t need to look at stats to see whether someone knows how to pitch.
Do I really need to explain what was happening last night?
Do you really not know?
Mark, I noted that I did not see this game. So if there was something unusual going on which the box score and game recaps did not provide, I would want to know. Bad umpiring or weather? All I know about the game was that Ryu pitched great for seven innings, and then the bullpen came in and gave up three runs, almost all due to Urias’ ineffectiveness. My comments were my perspective on the team as it stands right now, not just the one loss.
OK, that is a reasonable reply.
Roberts has said he was going to try different players in certain situations.
When Kelly put a runner on, Roberts immediately went to Urias so that he could see how Julio handles coming in with a runner on (he didn’t), which to me is valuable information. As bad as it sounds, Doc was playing it like it is Spring Training. .. and he told us he would. So, I put no stock in the moves he made except for finding out what certain players will do.
2 hit batters a walk and a double is what I saw. Flushed a good comeback from Ryu. Ryu could of used some runs but De Grom and the Mets BP were badass.
Ibanez might be bright, but let’s remember he’s a steriod guy. I’d rather not have integrity challenged guys in my front office.
Ibanez might be bright, but he’s a steroid guy. I’d rather not have integrity-challenged people in my front office. Just my opinion.
From 2010:
Raul Ibanez of the Philadelphia Phillies is bristling at the suggestion in a blog that his offensive numbers could be the result of performance-enhancing drugs. And he’s perfectly willing to be drug tested to prove it, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“I’ll come after people who defame or slander me,” he said Tuesday night before the Phillies played the New York Mets, according to the report. “It’s pathetic and disgusting. There should be some accountability for people who put that out there.”
“You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool — anything you can test,” Ibanez said, according to the report. “I’ll give you back every dime I’ve ever made” if the test is positive, he added.
“I’ll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff,” he said, according to the Inquirer. “Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother’s basement. It demeans everything you’ve done with one stroke of the pen.
“Nobody is above the testing policy. We’ve seen that.”
Ibanez, the leading vote-getter among outfielders on the National League All-Star ballot, was responding to a post on the Midwest Sports Fans site. In that post, the site’s managing editor, Jerod Morris, using the pen name “JRod,” tried to make the case that Ibanez’s numbers were a result of several factors — but added that given recent baseball history, speculation about performance-enhancing drugs could not be ignored.
Ibanez, 37, is off to a career-best start in his 15th major league season, his first season calling hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park home.
Entering Wednesday’s games, Ibanez is first in the National League in four offensive categories, with 55 runs batted in, 47 runs scored, a .682 slugging percentage and 152 total bases. He’s second in home runs with 20 — just three behind his career average. He’s hitting .327, a full 39 points higher than his .288 career batting average. His career slugging percentage is .491 and he’s averaged 96 RBIs a season.
But Ibanez is playing in the wake of the steroid era, where big statistical leaps raise eyebrows and elicit whispers. He’s also playing in the Internet era, where those whispers can take on a life of their own.
“Unfortunately, I understand the environment we’re in and the events that have led us to this era of speculation,” Ibanez said, according to the Inquirer. “At the same time, you can’t just walk down the street and accuse somebody of being a thief because they didn’t have a nice car yesterday and they do today. You can’t say that guy is a thief.”
In the original post, Morris, who says he’s 27, detailed a number of factors that could explain Ibanez’s hot start, including the hitter-friendly parks where he’s homered and some of the poor pitching the Phillies have faced.
But Morris also acknowledged that in the current baseball climate, “It’s time for me to begrudgingly acknowledge the elephant in the room: Any aging hitter who puts up numbers this much better than his career averages is going to immediately generate suspicion that the numbers are not natural, that perhaps he is under the influence of some sort of performance enhancer.”
While Morris said he wanted to give Ibanez the benefit of the doubt, he also said the suspicion could not be dismissed outright.
“Maybe the 37-year old Ibanez trained differently this offseason with the pressure of joining the Phillies’ great lineup and is in the best shape he’s ever been in,” he wrote. “And maybe that training included … Well, you know where that one was going, but I’d prefer to leave it as unstated speculation. However, if Ibanez ends up hitting 45-50 homers this year, you can bet that I won’t be the only one raising the question.”
On Wednesday, Morris posted another entry and offered a partial apology. He said he felt more secure about Ibanez’s numbers, noting Ibanez’s improvement with men in scoring position, and said he had no ax to grind with the outfielder.
“I’ll accept some level of accountability and offer a sincere apology to Raul Ibanez for advancing a public debate that, in his specific case, is very likely unfair and perhaps even unnecessary,” Morris wrote.
“However, I’m not accepting complete blame and accountability for being the person who started this. I just tried to do my homework and write a cogent response to speculation I had heard from other sources,” Morris continued.
“If Raul Ibanez, or any other player who is speculated about for putting up great numbers, is upset at the speculation, the majority of their anger and venom in my opinion should be directed towards their past and present peers who used steroids and PEDs,” Morris added.
So, it’s guilty until proven innocent because some stupid blogger who had ZERO knowledge of the situation wrote a blog questioning if Ibanez’s increased production was because of steroids?
Is that what you are saying?
Raul was never accused – it was just a question by a blogger.
This is America, not Nazi Germany!
I’m a huge Ibanez fan, both when he was playing and as a front office guy. He’s extremely intelligent and very well spoken. I can fully understand his fury at someone’s questioning the reason for his late career success since he almost definitely did not use steroids and it was a potential negative to his career-long excellent reputation.
That said, the blogger advanced the question as one of a number of possibilities for his improvement and he was questioning, not accusing. In view of the large number of players who were users during that period, most all of whom denied their use vociferously, I think he had a right to ask the question while at the same time stating he had absolutely no proof of it.
I also agree with Morris who said the majority of Ibanez’s anger should be directed at his fellow players who were users and pretty much made players such as Raul suspects just for having a good year when people weren’t expecting it.
Ryu didn’t give up any runs his first two starts with Smith. Martin catches about every third day. Smith is trying to avoid the rookie wall too. Catchers ERA is often due to sample size. It’s something to believe when it comes from the pitcher. Smith is Most likely the playoff catcher so it wouldn’t be like DoC and Friedman to use a personal catcher now. They need to get Ryu and Smith on the same page if it is truly an issue. This group had no problem shipping Kershaw’s buddy AJ our of town. I would bet we do see Smith catch Ryu again before the season is over.
~
I don’t think Kike is superior to CT3 on defense either. No way Kike makes the play CT3 did in LF against the Brewers in the playoffs last year. Kike has a better arm in RF that the CT3 but that’s about it.
I agree with much that Mark has to say today. but the bullpen is still a problem! They allow inherited runners to score way too much. Period. Relievers don’t always get a “clean inning” to start with. There’s only so many guys that you can say have to start with a clean inning before you have a problem. I agree that thus far, May hasn’t proven that he can pitch out of the ‘pen and that Urias still thinks that he’s a starter and can’t come in with men on base. But who can?
The only Dodger reliever who allows less than 1/3 of inherited runners to score is Adam Kolarek. (13%)
Here’s the rest:
Baez – 33%
Ferguson – 50%
Floro – 42%
Garcia – 35%
Jansen m- 33%
Kelly – 35%
Sadler – 100%
Urias – 67%
And HR allowed
Baez – 5
Ferguson – 7
Floro – 3
Garcia – 15
Jansen – 9
Kelly – 6
Sadler – 3
Kolarek – 1
The blown saves have much to do with the inability to keep inherited runners from scoring. And giving up HR
Blown saves – Jansen 7/36
Baez – 5/6
Kelly – 5/6
Floro – 2/2
Garcia – 2/2
Sadler – 1/2
Urias – 1/5
I will just say this – every time that a reliever comes into a close game, I get nervous. I don’t have faith in any of them right now.
Rick, having listed all this, where is your cutoff point/% of inherited runners scoring that would eliminate those pitchers from being brought in to those situations? 35%? 50%? If it is 35%, that would mean Yimi makes the cut. No one trusts Yimi. If it is lower, that would eliminate most of the pitchers in the BP. The FO either thinks this can change or thinks it’s not important.
Garcia should not step on to the playoff field with his HR Allowed stat.
No one except Urias has shown any proclivity for closing out a game except Maeda, who is 2/2.
They need to do some serious weeding in the garden of the BP in the offseason. It’s too late for them this season.
Compare the two leagues Top MVP Candidates:
Since the All-Star Break, Cody Bellinger is hitting .267 while Mike Trout is hitting .274.
Bellinger is hitting .273 in September while Mike Trout is hitting .267.
Perspective!
I hope that Bellinger wins the MVP – he should based on his body of work. He is popping up a lot right now – uppercutting too much. He looks off balance out there. I hope that it improves by the post-season.
It should be interesting. Yelich had probably past him prior to his injury. Rendon is garnering a lot of support now
I disagree. Bellinger had a chance and played miraculously the first half of the season, but the MVP should go to the player who has produced ALL season and not to a hot bat. Plenty of other players are more deserving. This is not a put down of Cody. He is very valuable to us.
Mike Trout will have season ending surgery
Wow! I never knew how similar Mike Trout and I were. I had a neuroma on my right foot 35 years ago as well.
In case you don’t know, a neuroma (nerve tumor) will either keep growing or die. Mine died. But, I am just like Mike Trout… well except for the lack of talent… but so what? 😉
MVP will probably be decided in the next couple of weeks. Could well be decided on whether or not Cody stays cold or suddenly turns hot.
And Bellinger is popping up a lot. But it’s not only popups to the infield, but also includes a lot of high fly balls to the outfield. Would love to see him just trying to make contact, and hit the ball to all fields. Sooner or later Cody will make the necessary adjustments to correct the problem. The question is whether those adjustments will occur in time for the post-season, or will occur during the off-season.
Mark, you have no less talent than Mike Trout. It’s just different talent. 🙂
Hopefully, someone finds out what it is soon…
Hernandez and Taylor are starting today against a right hander. I’d like to see Beaty and Rios instead, stats say so too.
Urias has been probably the 2nd best reliever on the team behind Baez. But he didn’t get the job done yesterday. Another example of why the Dodgers need to improve the pitching in the off-season.
The offense hasn’t been great lately but Turner and Verdugo have been out, Roberts is being careful with Freese it seems which is good, we need him in the playoffs. Muncy from what I have read is still dealing with a little pain. Plus Dave Roberts questionable starting lineups. Plus Lux hasn’t really turned it on. All of that tells me the offense will be fine as long as everyone gets healthy and Roberts starts to play the right guys in the right situations.
So I’m worried about the pitching if anything and worried about Roberts decisions. And this has been a common theme all year for me.
Go back and re-read what Roberts said a couple of days ago about the lineups.
It’s a small sample size, but as of right now, Lux has the 2nd highest batting average in today’s lineup. What are your expectations for Lux?
Actually, I have no opinion (THIS YEAR). It’s wait and see for me.
I was not a believer until late last year, so it’s like Will Smith:
“I’m from Missouri – You have to show me!”
What an absolutely pathetic job by the middle of the Dodger order. Guy on 2nd and nobody out, and we strike out 3 straight times??
Garbage
It is what it is:
GARBAGE!
Taylor should be benched for not running out dropped strike 3 with a runner in second and a bad defensive catcher. If Joc is going to get benched for not running out s ball already in the first baseman’s glove then CT3 deserves the same treatment
If Max Muncy was completely healthy that may well have been a different inning. It’s probably critical to the Dodgers that his wrist comes around by playoff time.
Several observations:
Plate umpire stinks
Taylor, Kike, Smith and Bellinger totally overmatched by Wheeler
Belli was 4 for 8 with 4 HR against Wheeler before tonight
Seager is swinging well
Muncy’s hustle scored the only run
Allegedly, Roberts told reporters that Buehler was going to have a short outing tonight. He was throwing very hard but was having trouble putting people away with 2 strikes
How many hitters is it that that Dustin May has hit this. Seems like more than a couple. I like him a lot, but he’s not quite ready yet. From what I’ve seen, he’s certainly not playoff ready.
Electronic strike zone please.
that pitch wasn’t even close to being close! It was 100% in the strike zone!!
May closed it out rather impressively!
Time for Gyorko’s first Dodger HR.
That’s another example of Muncy being affected by the fractured wrist.
Compliments of Christ aylor
Mark was that just a typo, or are you attributing divine traits to CT3? Freudian slip?
Deliberate!
Kike and Gyroko!
This blogs two favorite players.
Book ’em!
HA! Ha! SHAAAADUUUUUPPPP!
Ok well, Kenley, if you really have figured things out, here’s a great chance to prove it!
Here’s Kenta’s opportunity!
Our big three starters and Kenley back on track. Gotta get Turner back healthy and Seager and Belli hot and ready to do playoff da,age!
This is why Kolarek may have a hard time finding a job next year, when pitchers will have to face a minimum of 3 hitters. The loogy may become extinct.
They have been working him out at 1B so he can go there for a hitter and come back to pitch. I have heard he is pretty good. I thought Doc was going to do that tonight.
We may have another closer….
Cool idea.
we all mocked the Kolarek trade, but he’s been a nice pickup. And it seems as if he’s gotten even better as the year has gone along.
He could be huge vs Freddie Freeman types late in October games.
BANG!
Ok, now THAT was a nice playoff type win.
I’ll take 2 of 3 in NY anytime. Now the magic number vs Atl is down to 7.
Gyorko didn’t hit the HR I predicted, but he made up for it with the game winning hit.
I got anxious when Panik came to the plate. Remember he hit a few HRs against the Dodgers while with the Giants..
I would have run Negron for him earlier. Good to see him come through.
I keep telling everyone the bullpen will be fine.
If anything, most, if not all teams have a bullpen weakness. I don’t read the blogs of other teams, but I suspect that a lot of the complaints I read here are the same as those voiced by fans of other teams, with respect to the pitching, hitting, defense, etc.
A heartening win, best in a while. Jansen looked good. The ninth inning was handled well, using Kolarek and Maeda. May looked pretty good. As for Gyorko, I am glad for him, he was gratified by contributing, as he should well be, but I hope we have better options for the playoff roster. Anyway, it was nice to see us come back in the late innings, and then hold on. It was the kind of win we were having early in the season, and it was in semi-playoff conditions, with the Mets desperately needing the win.