When the Dodgers started out 12-14, I was not worried. I felt they were a 92-98 win team. Then they won about 80 games in a row and had 91 wins earlier than almost any other team in the history of baseball. I felt Cody Bellinger was ready this year, but really did not expect to see him as soon as he was called up. He was a huge part of their success. Now, they have lost like 15 out of 16 games and are struggling to maintain their home field advantage.
While I do not really know, I was being serious yesterday. I think Roberts thinks a losing streak right now is fine (I really do), and has done nothing to stop it (and maybe enables it), but at what point do you have to say “ENOUGH” and start breaking things? I am talking about trashing the clubhouse, smashing water coolers and going bat-shit crazy! I think we are close… if not already there.
The Mother of All Winnings Streaks could never have been predicted and neither could this devil pf all losing streaks. Any bad team wins occasionally. This team can’t win to save their lives. It simply has to be pure, blind, dumb luck! No other explanation works. They won as a team and now are losing as a team! What happens next? I have no clue… and neither does anyone else. Remember this: Past performance is no indicator of future prospects… to the good or too the bad. The past means nothing!
They could go down the toilet… or they could win it all. When you win as much as they did and then lose as much as they are now – it tells me that they aren’t as good as we thought… nor are they as bad as we think. They are somewhere between heaven and hell. We are in hell right now, but we could be knocking on heaven’s door! Maybe were somewhere between heaven and here:
I am certain of nothing, but I remain hopeful. It’s easy to fix other people’s problems, but lineups are just a small part of this. When the hitters were hitting and the pitchers were pitching, Doc was a genius. I don;t think he has suddenly turned into a moron. This too shall pass… I just wish it would hurry up!
P.S. Things could be worse! You could be Colts fans! Colts = Count On Losing This Sunday!
Discussion (60)
Disagree, not disagreeable
*we have scored enough runs to have won at least a couple of games recently
Ultimately a disappointing night again, but well done to you guys to sticking with it.
Starting Pitching is killing us now.
Who do you trust?
We
Have scored enough runs to have won at leading a couple of years recently.
Credit to Puig, who I doubted, for continuing his mature approach at the plate.
Kershaw v Cueto later on…
I don’t know when Ryu did his last bullpen session but it sure seems like they could have set him up to piggyback with a 3+ hour rain delay going on.
Nice looking swing by Turner.
The Dodgers have 4 guys with 19 HR’s. Some guys are due for 20.
Not a big fan of going to Ravin. Hopefully it works out.
Dodgers get off the deck and strike for 4! Blach out of the game (and thankfully so is Maeda.) Let’s go!!
Make it 4-0 as Puig forgot where the wall was and the ball goes off his glove for a charitable triple. The run scores on a GB to second. We need some runs!
Great time for the game to get going.
They should start at this time every night.
Anyway, normal service has been resumed.
Maeda gives up a 1st innings dinger to Denard Span (no really).
Doc then Pinch Hits The Forsythe Saga for Chase in the 2nd, who doesn’t get a single AB?
Could be a long night
Make it 3-0 as Parker goes deep but Maeda strikes out the side. Let’s go Dodger bats!! Happy Birthday Hawkeye if you’re still up. Indians make it 19 in a row by a score of 11 to 0 and the Rockies knock off Az in Phx.
The rain delay went long and Bochy pulls Stratton and puts in the leftie Blach to mess up Robert’s lineup. 1st casualty is Utley as Forsythe hits for him. Maeda burned by Span who hits one in the water and is now 5 for 10 against him and the team starts in a familiar early first inning hole 2-0.
Thank God it’s started, Nurse Wratched was heading down the hall…
Hawkeye
Happy Birthday!
I would chance Ethier for ganderson. Bearns for grandal ando Taylor for utley
Well Doc didn’t listen to any of us (naturally):
Granderson
Seager
JT
Cody (CF)
Puig
Agone
Grandal
Utley
Maeda
Dodgers need personal coaching, or psychological coaching. They need to see things from a different perspective. Not as the looser, but as the winners. Actually, Dodgers are still 9 games above Arizona. Thats more than a respectable difference. Emphasize the difference. Emphasize how we got there. Let’s play calmly, remembering how good we have been this year. Just focus in playing one game at a time. One swing at a time. One pitch at a time.
Go Dodgers.
Let’s get a serious lineup out there tonight, Dave. Spring Training is over – it’s time to win some games:
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1. Ethier LF
2. Seager SS
3. Turner 3B
4. Bellinger 1B
5. Taylor CF
6. Grandal C
7. Barnes 2B
8. Puig RF
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Quit all the dumb stuff. Do this for me just this one this!
Just in case anyone missed it, Mel Didier, longtime Scout, passed away. Below is an Eric Stephen article on Mel’s passing and why he should be remembered by every Dodger fan.
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https://www.truebluela.com/2017/9/11/16289158/mel-didier-dies-dodgers-scout
Here’s an interesting post from Think Blue LA:
http://www.thinkbluela.com/2017/09/the-dilemma-that-is-the-dodgers/
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The point of the article? If this group can’t pull it together, maybe it’s time to keep the key players and gut the rest of the team and start over.
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“Like with everything in life, when there is an ultimatum in place there must be a result for not meeting that goal and, in this case, I believe there really is only one option – to start over for the seasons to come. Don’t get me wrong, by starting over I don’t mean a full on rebuild. What I mean is to sell some of the current major league talent to make room for our top prospects to come up and get playing time. Guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Logan Forsythe, and even Yasmani Grandal can go. By getting rid of them the team would be making room for the players of the future, thus giving them the opportunity to learn and perfect their craft without having to worry about playing time. For a team that is stacked with highly touted prospects, it might not hurt to bring them up as everyday players.
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“This purging of veterans would also accomplish another thing, it would essentially restart the process for a Dodgers team that is in desperate need of a restart. If this team doesn’t reach the end goal of making it to the World Series, then I’m left wondering if any team could get there. This is a team that had 90 wins faster than all but three teams in the history of the game. This team is not only historically excellent but at times has looked as if no other team could challenge them in the playoffs because, in reality, they are just that good.
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“Please allow me to clarify exactly what I mean by sell. First of all, I want to start that by saying guys like Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and maybe even Chris Taylor are all untouchables. Along with these guys, all of our top prospects should be safeguarded as well, and moved into major league roles.”
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The interesting thing is that here is a fan who feels like this had to be the year that they could at least make a run in the postseason, but like all thinking fans, now doubts that this group of Dodgers is ready for prime time. If not, to what extent does the Braintrust have to start thinking about another rebuild?
The Dodgers definitely played bottom, now what you have to do is play as if you were to play post season do not put to play Granderson, Grandal, Forshyle, Peterson, and take a tarp staff of 5 pikers kersaw, Hill, Ryu, Wood and other.
lets go dodgers
All I can say is I hope it all ends up better than it’s looking right now. For the players, DR, the coaches , FAZ and most of all the fans. This losing streak would be hard to swallow at any time but coming right after all the winning it’s just bewildering and inedible.
Per Houston Mitchell of the LA Times today:
“Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and I finally realized the problem: I haven’t been wearing my lucky Dodgers socks.
Random thoughts
Dave Roberts (Jae C. Hong / AP / AP)
The Dodgers have lost 15 of their last 16 games, and some will tell you that it doesn’t matter, because a lot of teams have stumbled into the postseason and won the World Series. I was even saying that when they lost five of six, or seven of eight. But 15 of 16? That’s a different kettle of fish. How bad is this 1-15 skid? Let’s look at the worst 16-game stretches by Dodgers teams since 1901:
0-16, 1944 Dodgers (-66 run differential)
1-15, 2017 Dodgers (-55)
1-15, 1937 Dodgers (-46)
1-15, 1909 Dodgers (-53)
1-15, 1908 Dodgers (-32)
See? It’s the second-worst stretch of 16 games in modern Dodgers history.
The worst part is you can’t pin it on any one thing. The starting pitching is bad one night, the bullpen is bad the next. Then errors sink the team, then lack of timely hitting. It’s really amazing to watch. The Dodgers seem to give up three runs in the first inning every game.
Meanwhile, no one on the team gives the appearance of caring, other than Clayton Kershaw after his bad outing on Thursday. Everyone gives the appearance of “Hey, we’re still going to win the division, why is everyone so worried?”
Justin Turner after Sunday’s loss: “Just sitting back and saying ‘We’re still the best team in baseball’ isn’t the answer. Because regardless of what the record says, right now we’re the worst team in baseball. What we did three months ago doesn’t mean a whole lot right now. No one in this league is going to feel sorry for us. No one in this league is going to show up and be like, ‘Oh, poor Dodgers.’ There are a bunch of sharks in the water. We’re bleeding a little bit right now. I think teams are smelling the blood.”
I think you’re bleeding more than just a little bit. The Dodgers’ could get a mascot out of all this though. License Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine. “What, me worry?”
Then you have Dave Roberts, who appears to have been suddenly possessed by the ghost of Don Mattingly, sitting there dispassionately while the losses keep piling up. His latest gem? “Just got to shake your head and laugh. We’re doing some unprecedented things right now.”
Actually, I’m not sure if shaking your head and laughing is really the best reaction.
And when he finally does get mad about something, who is the target of his anger? The fans. He got mad at Dodgers fans for booing Pedro Baez.
Here’s the thing that Roberts is missing. Dodgers fans have been down this road many times with Baez. We’ve seen him put up impressive numbers. Then, when the pressure is on, we’ve seen him fall apart faster than a Jenga tower in a room full of pre-schoolers. So we aren’t booing him just for this season, we are booing him for seasons past where he has given up key home runs to cost the team important games. And we see it happening again, and see no one seeming to care that the team has lost 10 in a row, so booing rains down on the field.
Instead of getting mad at fans about it, how about using the boos as a motivational tool? Because the days of “I guarantee we will win another game” are over.
I could go on, but I would just be repeating what I have written for a week now. I don’t want to be Mr. Negative, but I don’t want to stick my head in the sand either.
This is not a normal dry spell. It’s not worth losing sleep over it if you are a fan. Let’s hope today’s game begins the turnaround we are waiting for.
Wait, they’re playing the Giants next, a team they can’t seem to beat even when they are playing well? Let’s hope the turnaround begins Friday then.
The sacrifice
A lot of fans are wondering why the Dodgers never sacrifice a runner into scoring positions, especially in games where one run can mean all the difference. There are a couple of reasons.
1. Most major leaguers can’t bunt. They never are asked to, and those skills atrophy after a while. Sure, you can bunt during batting practice, but that is totally different from trying to bunt a 92-mph slider.
2. Most if not all sabermetricians will tell you a bunt is a waste of an out. You have only 27 outs in a game, and giving up one just to move up a runner is not the best use of an out. Metrics tell them that a runner moving up a base is not worth the loss of an out, particularly if you are using a position player to bunt.
In case you missed it
Curtis Granderson is now 8 for 70 with the Dodgers, a sterling .114 batting average.
Since Aug. 16, Alex Wood is 0-2 with an ERA of 6.35.
Note to the rest of the NL
If you have a pitcher that is struggling, pencil him in to start against the Dodgers if you can. That will cure him.”
Today’s the day!! What better place to win than up there
Well said AC – very uplifting post.
I have to say that as I watched last night, I began to feel the first real pangs of doubt.
However, after a good nights sleep, I agree with many of your thoughts.
I hope Doc has learned from this fortnight, and has some clarity for the post season.
I have seen this feast or famine problem with our offense before, but not in such an exaggerated fashion.
I’m hopeful that once we get going again, things will start to ignite, and the exhilaration of post season play will kick in.
If we can kickstart ourselves in the next couple of weeks, we will have enough time to peak for the playoffs.
I’m still optimistic.
Excellent commentary from AC, as usual.
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But Mark – You have to be delusional (nothing personal :0)) to think that Roberts or any other manager would think a losing streak is fine and would do nothing to stop it, let alone enable it. Any such manager would and should immediately be fired and hung from the rafters so us fans could take turns smacking him with a bat.
Thanks for hanging in there Mark, it’s hard to be positive when it snowballs like this. There was no logical reason for Chatwood to become Sherzer yesterday but the Dodger bats did nothing and made a struggling pitcher look like an All Star. Today Maeda goes against someone named Stratton and the match up favors the Blue. This has been a consistent pattern: the match up favors the Dodgers in every way and they still lose. A month ago it was the opposite, they were winning games they were supposed to lose. Both winning and losing are contagious and Lady Momentum can be very fickle. I think Roberts has learned his lesson and then I see a grand slam like yesterday when Buehler needed a hook. And Darvish too before the go ahead runs were allowed Fri. Roberts is still not managing to win in every situation, from lineups to pinch hitting to bunting and small ball to bullpen usage and starting rotation.
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This crap needs to stop TODAY, and if the team can’t get up mentally to knock off the hated and despised Giants against someone named Stratton then every veteran in the clubhouse needs to man up and accept responsibility for a record setting slump on the heels of a record setting streak. This goes for the hitters who are leaving RISP and to the starters who seem to begin every game putting the team in a hole. I give the bullpen a pass, they have done their job for the most part during this losing streak.
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The lone bright spot the last two days has been Ethier and Verdugo. Please stop the Grandy/Joc nonsense and gives these 2 a shot, lord knows the team needs a spark.
Fresh off proudly watching my Trojans trounce the Stanford Cardinal the night before, I thought that I would take a chance, throw caution to the wind and go to a Dodger game while I was still in LA. Things just did not go as well as they did for me at the Coliseum. Saturday night was electric. The fans were into the game from the tailgate parties thru the final whistle. There was booing, but it was at the referees, not any of the players, and certainly none of the Trojans. But Sunday in Chavez was devoid of energy. It was listless. Not just from the dugout, but also from the stands. Just like Pac 12 football is not the SEC from a crazed fan standpoint, LA baseball is not NY, or Boston, or Philly, or Chicago. But there has to be some emotion, doesn’t there?
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I got to see Walker Buehler, and while I think he is going to be special, he is just not ready. It was like he was afraid to throw a strike, and then he had to. In a 2-0 game, you do not let a kid stay out on the mound facing a ML power hitter with the bases loaded…it’s just not going to end well. My buddy, who is a Giants fan, even questioned before pitching to Reynolds, “is your team just giving up? If that kid is so good, why would they let him pitch to Reynolds in that situation?” If they are losing 8-0, fine, but 2-0?” I could not answer. Contrary to some, Buehler was not auditioning for a reliever spot. He has pitched less than 100 professional innings. He is there for the experience, and this experience was not needed. All rookies go thru this, so Buehler will bounce back. I got to see O’Koyea Dickson play LF, and that was special for me. Dickson reminds me of someone who grew up in our home. Plus I picked a good day to wear my #16 jersey. I picked that jersey because it will be the last time I will ever get to see Andre Ethier play as a Dodger. I was proud and sad at the same time.
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On our flight home, I was talking with my friend about the true genesis of this slide, and it seems that Rich Hill’s no hitter that wasn’t started the offensive pressing; not being able to drive a meaningful run home in a critical situation. But for me the real genesis was September 2 and that DH in SD. That is when Watford’s adrenaline went bye-bye for the team. All the words and rhetoric in the world will not fool people who saw those lineups and knew that Doc was treating those games as ST. Rest the players? Sure, but one at a time. You want Maeda to pitch every 6 days? Okay, but leave Kershaw, Darvish, and Hill on “normal” rest. These are veteran pitchers that have between game routines that are now thrown off. Why are you experimenting in the middle of a season when you have not won anything yet?
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All that being said, I still believe in this team, and do believe they will win the WS this year. I think it is okay to question management. I have been called a “Homer”, “Pollyanna”, “Sunshine Pumper”, and every other comparable name (and that is from my Trojan family). But I have never been called a fair weather fan or someone jumping on and off the bandwagon (except when it comes to the Lakers, but that’s another story). I live and die by “My Dodgers” and “My Trojans”. Of course you set yourself up for ridicule from others, but I proudly wear that. I think it is okay to question management. Employees do it on their job, so why can’t fans of sports teams? Employees question me all the time, and I encourage it. If you have to justify an action, reasons become more clear. Some just like to be negative, and I accept that, and I do not question their sincerity for loving their team. But then there are the “I told you so” fans. You should not be allowed to have it both ways. Those that are questioning the makeup of the team (not decisions or strategy) are setting themselves up for just that. When the Dodgers win, they will be the first to say, “I knew this was the year”. But if by some chance the Dodgers do not win, those same fans will be quick to say, “I told you they could not do it with the players they have.” I have been fortunate to see 5 WS champions in 9 WS as a LA Dodger fan in their first 31 years in LA. I have been fortunate to attend a WS game in each of those WS years. And I got to watch with absolute pride my son’s first ML team win the WS championship in 2004 at Game 4 in St. Louis, Boston’s first since 1918. And I have suffered through the last 29 years with no WS appearances for the Dodgers. And I look forward to seeing at least one game in the LA Dodgers 10th WS, and 6th WS Championship in 2017.
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So bring on the Giants, and let’s end this miserable last two weeks.
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Now for some good news, Dennis Santana and Erick Mejia led the Tulsa Drillers to their Divisional playoff victory in Game 5 by beating the NW Arkansas Travelers (KC) 6-1. Santana pitched seven scoreless innings allowing 3 hits, 2 walks and 11 K’s, while Mejia went 2-3 with a double, HR, and 3 RBI’s. The Drillers will now face the Midland Rock Hounds (Oakland) for the Texas League Championship, and will undoubtedly get to face old friend Grant Holmes.
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The Ogden Raptors won Game 1 of their best 2 of 3 series against the Orem Owlz (Angels), 9-4. Osiris Ramirez started and went 5, allowing 0 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 3K’s. Donovan Casey led the 14 hit attack going 3-5. Romer Cuadrado, Luiz Paz, Brayan Morales, Gersel Pitre, and Kevin Lachance each had 2 hits. Paz and Mitch Hansen both hit HR’s for the Raptors. The Raptors play game 2 tonight and game 3 (if necessary ) tomorrow.