It was an ugly game, with 5 total errors by the teams, the Cubs were ahead 2-0, but the Dodgers battled back and tied the game. The Cubs starting pitching was stellar – their relief pitching was good. The Dodger’s starting pitching was good, but the relief pitching was stellar… until a former Giant took the mound and allowed a runner to get to third base. The Dodger’s $84 million man came in and followed the lead of the former Giant, Sergio Romo. Romo got the loss, but there should be a stat for giving up the game winning hit! Maybe the Giants are still paying Romo…
It’s disappointing to lose a game like that. Kenley Jansen will break your heart in several high leverage situations this year. He was nails in the playoffs, but blew 6 games last year. Almost all of them were critical games. Kenley Jansen is very good, but it’s because of games like this that I did not believe the Dodgers would re-sign him. Let’s hope this is an aberration and he makes me eat these words.
Of even greater concern are the hamstring injury to Gutierrez and quad stain to Turner. Cold, rainy games tend to precipitate (pun intended) these types of injuries. Move on… next man up!
Takeaways
- I thought it was really dumb that Joc Pederson had a big lead and assumed the runner’s stance against Lester, but never forced the issue. Why not?
- When Forsythe was on third and failed to tag up, I was shocked. You have to press the issue in a game like that. This is not for the faint of heart!
- Forsythe and Grandal each had 2 hits and the rest of the team had two hits!
- I think Alex Wood can be stretched out, but I think he is perfect along with Spripling in the bullpen role. They each are very effective for more than one inning. He pitched well last night – he’s just not stretched out enough.
- Allegedly Rich Hill’s finger had not yet formed a blister – it was just heating up. Maybe he will only miss two starts.
Minor League Report
- OKC BOX – Won 5-2 – Bellinger was 3-4 (Again- notice a trend?) Urias pitched 3.2 meeeehhhhh innings and Morrow got a 2 inning save.
- TULSA BOX – Lost 6-3 Farmer was 2-4 and is hitting .467
- RC BOX – Won 3-1 – Buehler makes his season debut with 3 innings of 1 hit ball, 0 walks, 4 K’s. Spitzbarth with a 2 inning save , no hits, 3 K’s, 2 BB
- GL BOX – Won 6-2 Davis homered and Rincon homered twice. Alexy with 3 no hit innings and 4 K’s
Today’s Music
Discussion (33)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Hey, how about a little silver lining with the clouds? Yes, there were alot of things to second guess about the game last night. (By the way, could have sworn that was the Cubs own announcers on ESPN. Got hard to listen to the first half of the game.) On the other side of the coin, we were down 2-0 against a dominant lefty, on a rainy and cold night in Chicago. The Dodgers I knew not too long ago would have folded up the tents, got a cup of warm cocoa, and headed for the locker room. This team is different. They kept coming back , or trying to. Ok, they shot themselves in the foot a couple of innings, but heck, guys, at least this team has a PULSE, a heartbeat. In the postgame, Seager, Roberts and a few others were very ticked they let this one get away. I love that!! About time we have a team of gamers, like the Cards and the Giants have been all of these years. We will be fine, Roberts and Co. will learn from what didn’t go right and make the necessary adjustments. Hey man, I ‘m just glad we are getting nit pickey over a team of grinders, instead of making excuses for our Divas that we have had back in the past. I love this team, just wait until they start to fire on all cylinders, and mark my words, ESPN will be all over that like they knew all along how good the Dodgers were.. (By the way, you just gotta love Forsyth, what a pick up)
THE GOOD
Turner 10/28, .357
Gonzalez 7/23, .304
Seager 9/30, .300
THE BAD
Forsythe 8/29, .276
Puig 7/27, .259
Pederson 5/20, .250
THE UGLY
Utley 1/13, .077
Kike, 1/7, .143
Grandal 4/20, .200
Van Slyke 2/10, .200
Toles 4/18, .222
Barnes, 2/9, .222
Gutierrez 3/13, .231
We can all find fault but the game seemed like a playoff game not an early April rain delayed contest. The old and infirm will sort themselves out and so will the young players who continue to light it up in the minors. I can question some of the moves but that cold and wet would signal caution, especially this early. The Dodgers will go on a winning streak in the near future but it’s nice to be tested a bit right now.
The Joc things was just stupid. Go on first movement and make him throw over. If you’re going to run someone like Gutierrez then run Joc. Hindsight is 20/20 on Forsythe tagging or not tagging. Heyward has one of the best arms in baseball so I understand why he didn’t go, but I would have sent him and forced the issue in that weather.
I didn’t care for how the 9th was managed. Romo is a Roogy and should almost never go over 1 inning. I would have walked Rizzo and made Zobrist beat me.
I don’t feel like it is so much second guessing as it is a dissatisfaction with too conservative of play. For me it started with Joc not trying to steal second and I blame that on pre-game strategy comments from Roberts.
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The Cub pitchers were wild in the inning where Joc took a 3 – 0 count strike. Was he told to take that 3 – 0 pitch? If it is justified to hold Forsythe at third, it has to be justified to take a 3 – 0 pitch. Can’t have it both ways. But if Joc gets a fastball in the small box he wants the pitch to be in for him to swing, I want him to swing.
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Saying Joc was wrong not to swing disregards what the third base coach told him to do and there can’t be a doubt that Joc got a signal to either take or swing with conditions.
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Are the Dodgers going to be an exciting team? Are they going to play conservatively? That is my question.
1. I think they brought in Romo because they want to protect Hatcher for a while to build his confidence, so he will not pitch in high leverage situations right now.
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2. I don’t think fear of injury should enter into the equation. When you are afraid of injury, that is precisely when you get injured. I think Woodward would send him if it happened again.
… “it is more important to understand the reason for the decisions than the result.” – well said AC. If more followed this approach there would be less second-guessing and it implies exactly to your first paragraph.
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I didn’t see the play but have read many accounts. My reaction from reading even those accounts that were critical of not sending Foresyth was (again without seeing it) sending the runner on a cold night with a short flyball to a good outfielder has a lot more makings for a bad outcome than not sending him. Either way could have worked out. This time this way didn’t work out, but, we don’t know what didn’t happen because he didn’t get sent home. I like the odds, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted this time.
Yes, in hindsight Forsythe should have tagged on the fly ball to Heyward. And yes, Heyward’s throw was not on line. However, the weather was very damp and cold, with one player already pulled with a hamstring issue, and you are asking a runner start from a standstill, and burst on a medium fly ball, with a GG RF ,with an excellent arm. If Forsythe had been tagged out, or if he pulled a muscle, many would be all over the coaching for sending him. While he did not come through, SVS is capable of driving the runner in. I am not a ML 3B coach, but I might have tried to send him. I do not remember Chris Woodward afraid of running into outs before, so I do not think that was the issue. If anyone heard an explanation as to why he was not sent, I would like to hear.
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As I mentioned in the last thread, while not worried about Jansen, his velocity seems to be down. I did not see him pitch last night, but on Sunday his cutter was 91-92, while that same pitch was mid to upper 90’s last year. Maybe it is the cold in Denver and Chicago. Again, not worried, but it is something to watch.
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I am not sure why Romo was asked to go more than 1 inning. I think it is telling that Chris Hatcher was not brought in. Maybe he was going to be the multiple extra inning guy. But why couldn’t he be that pitcher starting in the 9th? Was it lack of confidence in Hatcher in high leverage situations? If it was (and I am not assuming that it was), then the Dodgers need to make a change. Liberatore can pitch in high leverage situations. Again, if someone heard a reason for sending Romo out to start the 9th, I would like to hear.
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I mentioned it before, but I believe that if the starting pitchers are not properly lengthened in spring training, you cannot expect them to throw 100+ quality pitches early during the regular season. Wood pitched very well for three, and then probably tired out. IMO, too many pitchers in ST. I also understand why Doc would bring in relievers in the middle of the inning in ST to see how they would respond in those high leverage situations, but sometimes I think you need to let the starters work through it. Pitchers need to grind just as much as position players. They need to stretch out the innings in spring if you expect them to do so during the regular season.
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I understand second guessing, we all do it. But I try to remember that IMO it is more important to understand the reason for the decisions than the result.
I read somewhere that Urias appeared “frustrated” yesterday. That’s what I saw in spring training. Bad body language for a pitcher. On the other side, Cotton was nails against KC yesterday. BTW: so was Iwakuma in a late inning loss. I sure hope all of your are right about Urias. A lot of time, energy, thought is going into this guy. Maybe more than his arm, they should worry about his psyche. Starting to smell Puigish. Wood threw a lot of pitchers yesterday for such a short outing. A bunch of walks. I still thing he has the stuff to stick as a starter. He needs a spot in a rotation. Somewhere.
Mark
Wouldn’t the hold stat, be the stat that they would look at, along, with losing the game?
Only 7 at bats against lefties so far but Joc’s line against them is:
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AVE .429 OBP .429 SLG .429 OPS .858
This is a message for Mike Rodriguez (MJ Rod)
If you read this Mike, please post on here & I’ll give you my cell number if you want to hook up when you are in London.
Same if any of you guys makes it over here – great time to come as $ very strong against the £.
Mark
I totally agree that Logan should have tried to tag up , and score, with Scott coming up.
You got to make them make a perfect throw there, and Heyward didn’t do that.
I think the cold weather and those pregame ceremonies, affected the team quite a bit, because they had to sit around and wait, in that cold weather.
Because they are usually better, on defense.
The first two runs the Cubs scored, were from defensive misplays.
The first run scored, after Puig took his eyes off the ball, and missed a tough pop up, by the wall.
Before that happened, Wood was pitching really well.
But after that happened, Wood had to throw a lot more pitches, and the Cubs scored a run.
I thought Wood pitched really well, because he hadn’t really been stretched out, yet.
You just can’t give a good team, extra pitches, and extra, at bats.
The second run scored, after sure handed Turner slipped down, and couldn’t make the double play.
And until the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs hadn’t got a hit, when runners were in scoring position.
But Dodgers did
had one hit, with runners in scoring position, and that was from Corey.
I hope Turner isn’t that bad, and that Roberts took him out, just to be safe.
Because he is our most important hitter.
And about Kenley, those two strike hits, are always a killer, especially with how much a hitter’s odds, go down, with two strikes.
It was just a terrible night, having to watch those ceremonies, and have those announcers, favor the Cubs, all night long, not to mention the two interviews, they had, during the game, with two different, Cubs players.
Whether the Cubs were on defense or offense, the broadcasters last night, took the Cub’s side, and talked about either one of the Cubs hitters, or what pitch the Cub’s pitcher, was throwing.
I am just glad, that the next game, isn’t a National Broadcast game!
Either way, it’s. Its not a good sign that Hill is exhibiting “Blister Symptoms” this early into the season. It means that his preparation (throwing between starts) must be minimal & as a “feel” pitcher, this cannot be good.
Joc had a bad night all round.
I didn’t understand the decision not to start the 9th innings with Jansen, and then not to bring him in immediately the runner made 1st.
That was one that got away for sure.
I complete agreement with Mark’s first two takeaways. Joc looked like an idiot and was an embarrassment. And Forsythe should have been green-lighted from third…major coaching blunder.
Well who we bringing up if Gutierrez goes on the DL?
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Dickson? I’d like to see Eibner with his .636 BA and 3 HRS. He also batted .306 this spring with 1.044 OPS. His batting line makes Bellinger’s .476 BA look pedestrian.
Re: Romo…peaks and valleys. The guy should be fine. He’s happy to be a Dodger and I’m happy he’s no longer a Giant.
Lester is a good pitcher and all of that, but against another lefty the Dodgers managed 1 run on 4 hits. I will be really interested in whether the Dodgers manage to do anything against Brett Anderson on Thursday.
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The Dodgers are 1-3 in games started by lefties and 3-1 against righties. Teams are starting to rearrange their rotations to load up on lefties against the Dodgers and until the team does something to change the narrative, the southpaw tsunami will continue.