Since last Friday, when the Dodgers beat the Padres 11-6, they have played five more games and scored one less run than they did in Friday’s game. When you average two runs a game, you are certain to have a sub .500 record and the Dodgers are 2-3 in those games. It’s a testament to their pitching that they have won any of those games. They won one game 2-0 and the other 1-0. The only games they have won in this streak were shutouts.
Striker Buehler (and it really is “Striker”, because he did not walk anyone) was very good, but he had to be perfect and he wasn’t. To top it off, older than dirt Mark Melancon struck out Raley, Barnes, and Betts to save the game. That was his 7th save and his ERA sits at 0.90, with a 0.31 WHIP. We all saw that coming! Yeah, right!
Right about now, the Dodgers can’t jump out of a boat and hit water. If they don’t wake up their bats in short order, they are in danger of losing their first series and emboldening the young Padres even more. Kershaw and Darvish battle tonight and both have been very good this year. The Padres are #1 in MLB with a 2.54 ERA and the Dodgers are second with a 2.68 ERA – both have identical 1.03 WHIPs.
Slumps happen in baseball all the time, but it’s most rare that nobody is hitting, although Noisy and Pollock both had big flys last night. Hitting is contagious and right about now someone really needs to get “sick” with the bat and infect the rest of the team. We got a “glimpse” of Max Muncy in Sheldon Neuse… but he’s just a role player. The Dodgers missed Bellinger, Taylor, and McKinstry last night – the later two had lower back soreness, but that is no excuse. This is the deepest team (on paper) in baseball and you simply have to execute. When asked about his team’s execution last night after the game, Dave Roberts said, “I’m all for it!” [that’s a joke, son]
Blake Treinen is who we thought he was: Pretty good at times and not so good at others. It’s too early to predict what he will do this season, but in 2.1 IP against LH, he has given up 6 hits with no runs while having a 3.86 WHIP. Against RH, he has given up 6 hits in 5.2 IP, but has a 1.24 WHIP. He needs to get it together. iIs stuff is too good to play down like that.
Baseball is sometimes maddening a when you least expect it… BANG! Something crazy happens. Stay Tuned
Discussion (54)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I agree with DNS. The defense is crap right now. Rios not catching that pop up. Turner and Seager are showing no range. Muncy has never been good on D. Thing is, I think it will improve as the season progresses.
When it rains, it pours. Why is everyone injured? Did they not get stretched out enough in Spring Training? Really bad news with Corey Knebel. Looks like another trip to the DL is coming. So, we got Belli down, Z-Mac down, Mookie and Taylor injured on the roster, Gonsolin, Kelly, Lux. This is a mess.
New game today. Hopefully the bats will get going.
This series, I think, reveals one aspect of the game in which Padres seem clearly superior: defense.
This especially true in the infield, where Machado>Turner, Tatis>Seager, Hosmer>Muncy, Cronenworth>Lux/Taylor/McKinstry. On D, I’d say that only Betts is clearly superior in RF–and probably Bellinger, but he’s not playing. (Behind the plate, well, I don’t know. Call it even?)
Cliche but true: Defense wins games. Cronenworth and Machado have made game-saving plays for the Pads, and it was Betts who previously made a game-saving play for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers are collectively slumping with the bats now, but the track record suggests this will pass. But there is little reason to think the Dodgers defense will improve. It’s not that it’s bad, just that in the end, a “good enough” defense may not be really be good enough.
The Sweep is on
Santana makes me yearn for Joe Kelly. Sheeeessh!
Rios makes me yearn for Steven Sousa.
Should we pump the brakes a bit on just how good this roster is. Rios, Raley, Beaty, Pollock can’t hit, we don’t have a pinch hit yet from anyone and our vaunted BP has Santana who looks like shit.
I was worried last week and was castigated for being too pessimistic but the team slump looks real.
Shake it up RVS- get em going
If hits were runs we’d still suck!
Make sure Rios gets an Uber XL so Santana can join him
I wonder if Scoop has any points to make about the series so far?
Padres playing playoff type defense
The team just looks flat. Rios just misses a catchable ball. No one is hitting except Kershaw – a BB and a H. Even Kershaw making mistake pitches.
You know it’s a bad stretch when your best hitters are your pitchers
Rios needs to join Beaty
When DJ Peters makes his debut, he’ll be the 12th player selected in the Dodger 2016 draft to do so, a really remarkable accomplishment.
The 1968 draft class had 16, but the 2016 class also included a future model and a future rapper. That should count for extra points.
https://www.dailynews.com/2021/04/12/dodgers-2016-draft-class-continues-to-produce-major-league-talent/
Jacob deGrom now has more RBI than earned runs allowed on the season
Dodgers Place Zach McKinstry On 10-Day IL
By Connor Byrne | April 23, 2021 at 7:14pm CDT
The Dodgers have placed outfielder/infielder Zach McKinstry on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports. The team recalled outfielder DJ Peters to take McKinstry’s roster spot.
I remain supremely confident.
This is baseball. The Oakland A’s have won 11 in a row.
Fear them!
NOT!
I think there’s a post in moderation. Either that or it didn’t post for some reason.
I wonder if there’s a way to officially log in as an official member so this moderation limbo doesn’t keep happening. I know Mark’s got better things to do than release posts that are held up, and I think it’s a pretty safe bet that I’m not a spam bot trying to sell cryptocurrency.
The Dodgers aren’t hitting. Period.
Yesterday, lose 3-2 – 2 R on 6 H
4/21 – win 1 – 0 – 1 R on 2 H
4/20 – lose 4 – 3 – 3 R on 5 H
4/19 – lose 5 – 2 – 2 R on 3 H
4/18 – win 4 – 2 – 2 R on 3 H
They scored 11 on 4/17 on 12 H – so in 5 games they have scored 10 R on 19 H. That won’t get it done. And it’s not like they are facing fantastic pitchers. In the 2 games against Seattle, Sheffield had come into the game with a 4.91 ERA and Gonzales with an 8.22 ERA.
In the last 5 games, Barnes is 0 for 5, Betts is 3 for 15, McKinstry is 2 for 11, Muncy is 0 for 14, Neuse is 1 for 8, Pollock is 2 for 13, Raley is 2 for 9, Rios is 0 for 8, Seager is 2 for 20, Smith is 2 for 14, Taylor is 1 for 16 and Turner is 3 for 16 – essentially NO ONE IS HITTING.
And as I posted the other day, there is no one in the bullpen that gives me confidence that they will give the team a clean inning – and Blake Treinen never does. What happened yesterday should be no surprise. Check his game log – he has been in 8 games and has given up at least 1 hit in each appearance – He has given up 12 hits and 4 walks in 8 innings – a neat WHIP of 2.0.
Many comments on the Dodger hitters being in a slump. I think that that might be partially true. Look at the pitching the team faced to open the season and compare to what the Padres and Seattle have used. It’s probably the main reason reason the hitting has gone dormant. Combine that with the Dodgers hitting below expectations and injuries and we get the results we see today. Fortunately, most of the NL and especially the NL West the pitching is average at best. So, with facing less quality pitching, injuries, and better hitting results things should turn around soon. Neuse couldn’t hit a ball much harder last night, but went to a fielder who made a nice play. So, luck has something to do with results as well. No panic, but some frustrations for sure. Too much talent and depth to have the results we’ve seen recently.
The starting pitching has been fantastic so far this year. The BP has had many good moments as well. But, consistency has been lacking. I think once Gonsolin returns and Price, Nelson, Graterol get more work things will get sort itself out and should be a real asset by midseason. Injuries may change things. We’ll see.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but has the plate umpiring been god awful so far this year? It seems to be the older, veteran umps that have been the most guilty. A pitch at the same spot is first a strike, then a ball, and then a strike. WTF??? I think this has added to the Dodgers hitting woes because of their mastery of the strike zone and grinding pitchers in each AB. It’s hard to do that when the strike zone constantly changes. I know it affects both teams, but still…
I’ve seen a lot of of laser shots lately that have turned into web gems. Also lots of total missed opportunities when we do have runners on. Team slumps are hard to explain even with key players injured. Thankfully the pitching is still keeping us in games. That’s baseball.
Even the crowd last night was asleep. At least the crowd I could see on TV. The fans behind home sat like zombies. Even Dennis Gilbert and his group left after the 8th after they had to mask up. There was more energy out of the cardboard cut-outs last year, than last night.
I hate losing. Always have. As an old man I’ve just learned to move on better. Tomorrow is another day. I’ve been on teams with losing streaks that felt endless and on teams that felt we’d never lose. All in the same season. You learn to move on, control what you can, like your effort and attitude, and keep grinding. Everybody is going to lose 50 games. You hate the slumps but players don’t get to the Bigs by not learning resiliency.
That’s my rational mind speaking. It takes over the day after I want to throw shit through my TV.
So far in the Dodger Padre battle Machado has been the best player on the field. No Betts, no Seager, no offense for us. Shame to waste such a good effort by Buehler. I guess Kersh will just have to pitch a shutout tonight.
Mookie and Seager have both been in a slump. Normally both or at least one are consistently getting on base. Bad time to play the Padres. S.D. Has outstanding starting pitching and incredible infield range. We have to hit to beat them.
Really like the Padres.
Well constructed roster.
I’d love to solicit people’s grey matter on something.
I know stealing is a bad statistical play, but how could I find out about changes in the success rate since Stealing has become out of favor? My thesis would be that since runners don’t run, pitchers don’t spend as much time varying deliveries, throwing over, checking on runners and thus the success rate is higher that it naturally “should be”.
Miss stealing, do I. But understand its absence.
Way too early to panic. These things happen,
All five Dodger SPs have an ERA under 3.00
League wide ERA is down to 4.05, about a full half run lower than 2019 or 2020. Apparently the dead ball is having an effect. I’m generally in favor of better pitching, less home runs, less strikeouts and more action on the field, and if the deader ball is basically a reversion to a standardized ball presumably before MLB juiced it, then good. If it’s just to manipulate equipment to achieve a desired outcome on the field, then I’m not in favor of it. That means no silly moving the pitching rubber or making the bags bigger. What makes baseball special is its constancy. The baseball rubber being 60 ft, inches from the mound is enshrined as a type of living history, and we can appreciate the Cy Youngs of the past because they played under the same rules.
I once showed the Baseball documentary by Ken Burns to a History class I taught. How the documentary was presented, intentionally but also inevitably, was a mirror to the larger changes happening in American society. Baseball was not really a rural game as assumed, but really grew with the rapid urbanization of America in the late 19th Century. Babe Ruth was a product of the gritty working class neighborhoods of New York, the Dodgers moving West reflected the larger human migration Westward … and on and on.
What we’ve witnessed the last year and before is a desire to reject our History, our culture, to tear down or deface monuments and statues (and not Confederate generals, either), to rewrite class curriculums to reflect a new religious movement. Baseball is just a reflection of this revolutionary impulse. If the game can be tweaked, changed or manipulated to achieve any desired outcome, it will be done without any consideration to tradition or baseball’s past. Manfred perfectly summed up this attitude when he called the WS trophy just a “hunk of metal.” …as if you needed any more reason to despise Manfraud.
Johnny Cueto is actually pitching really well for a resurgent Giants team. After 6 years, he’s finally pitching up to that 130 million contract he signed.
The Brewers are starting to surge a little. You figured Cincinnati’s offense would eventually come back to Earth. Meanwhile the best 1-2 starting pitching punch in baseball is Brandon Woodruf and Corbin Burnes. If Yelich finally starts hitting the Dodgers could be facing them again in the playoffs.
Mookie has hit lefties for average in his career – about .295 – but he has less power against lefties. If Pollock continues to be mediocre, then that leaves JT as sole lefty bopper, although Muncy has good splits against lefties. I think it’s a little early to be worrying too much about it.
The bottom line with runners on second and third, nobody out, late in the game, you’ve got to score.
Nuese hit the ball hard, a few feet left or right and it’s a different story. But Muncy has to produce, at least hit a fly ball. Earlier with two runners on, he strikes out. Hey, you absolutely have to put the ball in play. Other Dodgers lately have followed a similar pattern with runners on. Some of the hitters look a little lost.
The Dodgers need to have a couple of hitters get hot. Hard to waste an excellent pitching performance. Had the Padres on the ropes, but failed to deliver. At some point, everybody hits and this slump ends. Hopefully soon. Hard to watch.
The Dodgers need Bellinger back. For Lux and McKinstry, What is the deal with tight backs anyway? Not stretching properly?
The difference in the game was when they had a man on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and Muncy grounded weekly to second, then Nuese scorched a rocket that was turned into a double play. Guy’s are slumping and when they do something good, it doesn’t work out. Bad luck is a thing in baseball. Betts and Seager were both 0fer. They aren’t going to win many games when that happens.
Dodgers have a real problem against Left handed pitching and it starts with Betts’ head scratching struggles against lefties. It’s more than just an anomaly that will work out over time. This is one spot where the Dodgers might really miss Kiki. He seemed to be the one guy along with Turner who could get things going against LHP.