If that’s true, then they must dig Yasmani Grandal and Cody Bellinger, who supplied all the offense the Dodgers needed to win. I had the game on my i-phone as we were driving home from a graduation dinner with the family. My youngest son graduated last night and then the celebration dinner. I was following Clayton’s progress on Gameday but could not get the game in the restaurant. So, when I finally got it in the car, Yasmani was just stepping into the box. I told my wife: “He’s going to jack one Right Here!” BANG! That’s what happened!
Then Cody ended it in the 12th inning with his own blast. Chicks dig it! Almost lost in the action is that Clayton Kershaw’s 4th strikeout of the night brought his career total to 2,000. He did it in 1,836 innings, becoming the third fastest ever to reach the mark by innings, behind Pedro Martinez (1,715 1/3) and Randy Johnson (1,734). Nolan Ryan is fourth (1,874). He ended up with 14 strikeouts and the Dodgers ended with 26 for the night. Nice job by the bullpen!
Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com wrote this:
The Dodgers not only are rewriting the book on starting rotation manipulation. Their bullpen is a throwback to days of multiple-inning relievers. In this one, Pedro Baez followed Kershaw with five strikeouts in two innings, Grant Dayton struck out the side in his inning and Jansen fanned four in his two frames.
These are not your father’s Dodgers and by the way, they are back in first place. Only the Nationals have a better record, but their bullpen will be their undoing. That’s my opinion. They are currently 27th in MLB in bullpen ERA (4.89). Also, the Cubs are one game under .500.
The Dodgers are far and away, the best pitching team in baseball. When you have about 20 arms to shuffle back and forth from AAA to LA, what difference does it make who pitches what inning? I think today’s game is important for Rich Hill. I’d like to see him go 6 or 7. I think he’s ready.
The Dodgers acquired left-handed pitcher Jason Wheeler from the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations. Wheeler was optioned to Oklahoma City. Another project… assumably! That’s fine!
Discussion (41)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Well I guess the chicks are loving Chris Taylor right about now. That was a fantastic game. I have no idea why, but I felt more comfortable that the Dodgers were going to come back today than against Knebel last night. Puig looks like he might be coming to life with a couple of hits, and robbed of another. Austin Barnes another clutch PH hit. He is becoming a very valuable member of this team, and not just as a backup catcher. Chris Taylor is playing like an All-Star. Some beginning of the year starter is going to the bench in favor of Taylor. How can you possibly take him out.
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I started to make a comment earlier this AM that right or wrong, this offense is built on the long ball. They are not built to run aggressively and manufacture runs. And then they go ahead and steal 7 bases. I don’t know whether it was Lombard, or Woody, or Doc, but someone needs to be congratulated for recognizing a golden running opportunity and actually exploiting it. If they can consistently run aggressively, and continue with the clutch long ball, this could be an exciting offense that could be tough to slow down.
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Not all was pretty. The pitching was not top notch today. Hill still does not have his command, but hopefully the blister is behind him. Chris Hatcher is not a multi-inning reliever. IMO, one game management mistake made today was pinch hitting for Stripling. After Puig’s 2 RBI single putting the Dodgers up 4-3, knowing that Stripling is a multi-inning reliever, and because he struck out the side the inning he did pitch, to me dictated that he should stay in the game. Stripling could have pitched the 6th, leaving the 7th, 8th, and 9th for Hatcher/Fields/Morrow/Jansen. But it worked out for the good guys.
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I believed from ST that Brandon Morrow could be a very effective reliever for the Dodgers. He had a couple of rough ST outings, and had one very bad AAA game, but overall he has pitched well. At the major league level, he has pitched in 4 games with 4 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts. He pitched very well in relief for SD last year. He has a very good arm in the high 90’s. His career may be taking a very positive turn from a not so special starter to a quality reliever. Could this be another special FAZ find? Let’s see where he is at the trade deadline.
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Overall, great game for the Dodgers, and they stay in 1st for at least another day, with the third best record in MLB. It looks like the Monday – Wednesday games next week against the Nats are going to be fun. It’s working out to be Gonzalez vs. Ryu, Scherzer vs McCarthy, and Strasburg vs. Kershaw. But before that, let’s get the sweep against the Brewers. Let’s hope Maeda can get past a troublesome 1st inning and keep his pitch count down, and the bats can keep it up against a very hittable RHSP Zach Davies… 5.18 ERA/1.64 WHIP/.309 BAA.
I love the seven stolen bases but, being an ex-catcher, I feel a little bad for their backstop. But only2 a little.
Was a deal done with the devil? Souls traversing a lost highway from an out-of- the-way intersection titled crossroads? Simply stunning!
F##k me
That was unbelievable!!!
I really don’t need many words for that grand slam……wow!!! amazing!!! Talk about ‘clutch’ 101
Hill – 4 IP, 4 BB, 3 H , 97 pitches. another 4 inning outing for Hill.
Our #2 starter already with 71 pitches thru 3.
Hopefully Stripling is ready to throw 2-3ip today.
A couple of random questions:
1. How is it that a star pitcher in high school, who is usually the most athletic, morphs into the least athletic player once in the bigs? There are exceptions, but so many pitchers appear A. out of shape B. uncoordinated C. both.
2. Will MLB ever allow the trading of draft choices? I think it would add some much needed excitement to the event.
Great win last night, and the K totals were 19 combined for 9 IP and 22 for 10 IP, unreal! Garza was bad his last 2 starts, could be a nice win today. Hill needs to step it up and stretch it out.
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All the current starters are under contract for next year too, Wood arbitration eligible I believe. McCarthy, Ryu and Kazmir will be in their final year, McCarthy has a team option for 2019. Beuhler, White and Alvaraz will probably not be ready next year but Urias already is. Hill is signed through 2019, Kershaw has the opt out after 2018. Maeda has a much longer team friendly deal, could appeal to a team like the Mariners. If there is such a shortage of deadline pitching this year they might sell high on one of their excess. They could also wait until the off season and see how some of the kids do with Sept call ups, especially if they have a decent lead in the standings. I just feel a RH impact bat and a solid LH relief pitcher are more realistic than what Faz would have to pay for an Archer or whoever. The health issues of Avilan, Liberatore and Dayton have made the BP a LHP short and none of the LH starters want to fill that role. The lineup is too prone to slumps and with JT out and Puig not great against LHP they are exposed against good LH starters and every team knows it.
Urias and Beuhler tonight.
A lot of teams have relievers who go more than 1 inning. But usually it is only 1 guy, not multiple. I think that is where a substantial difference is. Caused by 5 inning starting pitching. It is more of a tandem approach, like the lines in hockey and basketball. That might become a trend. I hope not.
Congrats Mark!
Your sons all got your height, and they are lucky that they did!
It is harder to be a short guy.
Your wife appears short next to you and your son, but I bet she is a little taller then she looks, in that picture.
It was good to see Grandal hit that ball out!
That ball went out so fast that Charlie couldn’t make a bad call, on that HR.
I hope Bellinger feels a little better after he hit that one out, but he has to keep in mind, to adjust his swing at times, to just to make better contact, to get a hit, when a hit is needed.
And notice Kershaw gave up the HR, right after the seventh inning.
That seems to be what has been happening this year with Kershaw, when he stays in game, a little to long.
He did pitch well last night, but he was pitching to players, that were not very experienced, major league players.
And not many of the players, if any, had ever faced Kershaw before, and that usually gives the pitcher the advantage.
Congratulations Mark on your son’s graduation. Glad to see Dayton have a good inning. It looks like Wood will miss one more start. Then McCarthy can go on the DL for a blister. Dam those Dodgers can come up with small medical problems. I bet all the starters except Kershaw will have a blister before the year is over.
Perhaps a couple of you might remember my wishes for ‘the fireman’ to be brought back in style. It’s appearing to be so now. The days when Dodgers bullpen was seemingly a wise bet to throw a seven or eight inning lead should never be revisited now that we have a working model. Brandon League made me feel like bedtime 5 minutes past. Someone is doing something right giving these guys the fireman mentality but I think it’s also catchy by example. I think the pen looks at Jansen. I think Kershaw inspired Wood. Where ever the credit belongs I sure as hell hope it sticks around. It wasn’t so long back it was easy to feel poison in the clubhouse that played on the field.
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Geez, I feel my mind going and it’s becoming difficult putting anything to words. Sorry.
Congrats from me too on your sons graduation Mark. Proud Dad. I have one more left, my 16 year old son. Damn they grow up way too fast!! Good point on the pitching. While I am still calling on Yu Darvish for the major trade at the deadline, if not, I could see us doing the same mixing and matching in the play-offs. Let’s face it, most aces only last 6 innings or so during the play-offs, some alot less. That’s where I think FAZ has us set up with that bad ass bullpen, kind of like the Royals a few years ago. Make it to the 6th inning and it’s good night Irene. Once again, not real sexy, but deadly effective.
Congrats on your sons graduation. Thanks or this great Dodger site…
Last night’s game was fast paced that took a long time to complete.
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Bellinger reduced his uppercut and slowed his swing for his home run. He needs to do that more often.