April 9, 2017 LA DODGER GAME TALK

Looks like Jansen was trying to turn it into a save situation. Good to get that one out of the way.

We can debate Kike being in the lineup until we’re Dodger blue in the face, but all in all I liked the batting order today. We need to accept that bench guys have to play to be sharp and for the Dodgers they’re going to primarily play against lefties. If Kike can’t cut it then I want Joc to get more AB’s or Thompson when he’s ready to go.

I will say against Lester, the Dodgers should play Toles somewhere. I said the same thing during the playoffs. I don’t want to see Kike hoping off the bases like a 10 year old. I want to see someone put pressure on him. Go on first movement. I would rather see SVS in the lineup too either at 1st or instead of FG. SVS isn’t a speed demon but he’s capable of running on Lester. He did it two years ago.

I think the best thing about today’s game, was that inning, that it looked like we were not going to pick up those runners on second and third, with no outs.

Because they did turn that around and scored even more runs, I believe.

It would be nice to hand Lester a loss, on the Cub’s opening day tomorrow.

We did hit him hard in that first game we faced them, in the post season, but there defense made some good plays, to take hits away from us.

That would make a good case, that we can hit lefties this year, and maybe not every team, will throw a leftie any chance they can, at us.

I think that is a National

Broadcast game tomorrow too.

Good win – needed that.

Hard watching The Masters and The Dodgers at the same time.

Couple observations on the game:

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That flyball triple by Barnes was a classic Coors field special. I’m happy for Barnes though as he really needs to catch a break so he can get his bat going.

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Puig is starting to press a bit. Orel feels that he started doing that when didn’t run out that double in yesterday’s game. Yesterday, Puig hit a bomb to dead center. He didn’t flip the bat, but he was walking out of the box like he thought he hit it out. His hit bounced high off the CF wall and Puig must have been a bit embarrassed. He doubles down and tries to make up for it by getting caught stealing 3b for the THIRD out – another mistake. Ever since then, he has not had a good AB. Coach Ward needs to give another wax-on/wax-off lecture so Puig can get back on the rails.

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Hersheiser is doing color on the broadcast and his best comment was about the wind blowing debris onto the field. He said it reminded him a lot of Candlestick, the old home of the Giants. “All sorts of trash would be flying around that field.” Every Dodger fan picked up on that double-entender. Good one, Orel!

If SVS and Gutierrez are not able to get the job done, there is a kid at OKC who has had an absolute monster series. 10-14 (.714), 1 dbl, 3 HR, 5 RBI, OPS 2.143, with a big 4 hit day for O’Koyea Dickson. This kid deserves a chance. Eibner also had a 4 hit day. Not much pitching, but some offensive stars in the Cubs series. Dickson .714, Calhoun .417, Bellinger .412/ Eibner .600. Jair Jurrjens had a well pitched game today. 6 IP, 3H, 1R, 0 BB, 3K, 80 Pitches. Good relief from both Rhame and Liberatore. 12 runs on 19 hits for the OKC Dodgers first win of the year.

Alright I have a question for a few of you guys out there that seem to keep alot of stats. Do the other elite teams(Cubs, Mets, Nationals, Ants,) in the league platoon as much as we do, and what is their success rate? Just curious.

The Dodgers are hitting the lefty today.

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Forsythe has awakened!

I have favorite players too, everyone does. And of course, we are happy when they do well. However, “team wins” is more important to the overall team success and fan happiness. Even a good team in MLB is gong to loose about 40% of the time. 40%!!! That is almost half the time. So while every game counts, there is still going to be a bunch of lost games, no matter what.

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I’m pretty sure there are some guys you wouldn’t need to platoon for. Not so many of them are Dodgers though. If you have players that don’t hit same-handedness very well, go with the edge. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Just because they had a platoon isn’t the reason they lost. There is a bigger picture at play. And your favorite player got an extra day of rest. You may think they are big boys and they need that rest but lack thereof has a cumulative effect that can be detrimental to their play at a later date.

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They won’t win every game and there is a 25 man roster for a reason. Some even want to increase it. Guys have to play and guys have to rest. The manager has the best feel for the mix that he has and what needs to be done and who should be on the field any given game. Enjoy it and cheer the boys on. They are still going to lose a whole bunch of times, no matter who plays any given day.

I like Austin Barnes and maybe he will be a good hitter, but Grandal is one of the TOP 5 catchers in baseball.

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If you offered Austin Barnes to any MLB GM for Yasmani Grandal, they would die laughing.

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Grandal will be extended.

I wish Para would go back, to the American League!

Dodgers hitting a lefty?

For those that are watching the game you might notice how quiet Barnes is behind the plate and how quickly he frames the ball.

By keeping Hernandez over Taylor plus the platooning in CF, the Dodgers are weaker in both the outfield and the infield.

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Yesterday SVS pinch hits for Joc and strikes out and follows with another strike out in his next at bat. Today, with runners on first and second, Hernandez grounded back to the pitcher. Joc was perfectly capable of doing all three of those things 😉

I think if it was just one position platooned and one player being rested it wouldn’t bother me as much.

With two platoons plus rested players, it just seems like a different team. Now, if they had been winning these games …..

Totally agree. Today would have been a great day to see Toles and Joc back in there. Also defensively, they can cover way more ground that Guitierrez and Kike. Big outfield at Coors.

Regarding the platoons:

Just because I understand it, and even though it has logic behind it, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.