Two homer games for jake gelof and kole myers

Jeff--What do you think of Gelof? He's not ranked in the MLB Pipeline Top 30. Andy LaRoche 2.0?

Great piece in The Athletic on the Disaster that is Arte Moreno:

Since July 1. That is the team going into the final few weeks and playoffs. So when others post year-to-date numbers---Thats, just meaningless for the team that is on the field today. As for Skubal . He hung in there because almost all the hits were singles. As for Teo- So now a few good games in a row--that's a good sign. Tucker--the opposite-- maybe 1 good game every 6 games so nothing encouraging from him. Although he has been the most 'consistant' hitter all season

Here is the Atlanta Braves' Remaining Game Schedule 9/4@PHI79-61 9/5@PHI79-61 9/6@PHI79-61 9/7@PHI79-61 9/8TB83-57 9/9TB83-57 9/10TB83-57 9/11PHI79-61 9/12PHI79-61 9/13PHI79-61 9/14@CHC79-62 9/15@CHC79-62 9/16@CHC79-62 9/18@HOU72-69 9/19@HOU72-69 9/20@HOU72-69 9/22CIN67-73 9/23CIN67-73 9/24CIN67-73 9/25@MIA71-70 9/26@MIA71-70 9/27@MIA71-70

NOT an easy Schedule for Atlanta.FANGRAPHS has the Dodgers winning one of the two byes as of today at 78.6% and the Braves chances at 27.6%. Many on the this site DON'T think it's important but less games in an additional round is huge based on this older roster and how we can set up our pitching staff with less games going forward.

Heart of a CHampion last night!!

Dont ever underestimate THAT!!

Was in Trinidad picking up my sis from the train station, so I missed most of the game. I did get to see the 9th, and what a relief. A win is a win no matter how ugly. So far, the players added have done squat. Rushing 0-3 with 3 Ks. Freeland has hit a couple of long outs. Team has hit into 113 double plays, by far the most in the major leagues.

From Houston Mitchell:

"Most and least valuable? Who have been the most valuable Dodgers this season? Well, if you go by WAR, which considers pitching, hitting, fielding and base running, the most valuable have been:

Shohei Ohtani, 6.5 Andy Pages, 5.4 Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4.8 Max Muncy, 3.9 Freddie Freeman, 3.9 Mookie Betts, 2.6 Tommy Edman, 1.8 Justin Wrobleski, 1.8 Tanner Scott, 1.7 Tyler Glasnow, 1.6 Dalton Rushing, 1.4 Jack Dreyer, 1.2

The least valuable Edwin Díaz, -1.3 Cole Irvin, -0.4 Chuckie Robinson, -0.4 Kyle Tucker, -0.3 Emmet Sheehan, -0.3 Eliezer Alfonzo, -0.2 Ben Casparius, -0.2 Jonathan Hernández, -0.2 Will Klein, -0.2 Ben Rortvedt, -0.1 Teoscar Hernández, -0.1 Kiké Hernández, -0.1 Alek Thomas, -0.1 Charlie Barnes, -0.1 Kyle Hurt, -0.1

I think we can safely call last offseason the worst free-agent signing group of the Andrew Friedman era. Two guys are getting a combined $80 million this season and have a combined -1.6 WAR. Do I have to say their names?

Then you factor in Teoscar, and the outfield is a mess, especially with Pages out.

And if your last name is Hernández, this is not a good year for you to play for the Dodgers.

Some might be surprised to see Betts so high, considering he is having a poor year offensively. But Betts gets a strong boost from his defense. He is in the top three in most defensive metrics.

Which brings us to his hitting. He has had some injuries the last two seasons, so we could blame his decline on that. We could blame it on moving to shortstop. Or it could be both those things. Or neither. Some things just don’t have a provable cause.

But let’s look at how Betts has hit in his career at different defensive positions:

DH (55 plate appearances), .319/.400/.574 Second base (446), .309/.406./.550 Right field (4,458), .293/.372/.528 Center field (968), .287/.349/.492 Shortstop (1,421), .265/.337/.436 PH (17), .267/.353/.267

To be clear, the Dodgers are not moving Betts back to right unless something unexpected happens. It’s also true that Betts has hit much better as the leadoff hitter in his career than anywhere else. These are just things to make you think.

Back to WAR for a moment. Is it a perfect stat? No. There is no perfect stat. It’s just one tool in a drawer of tools. A mechanic never uses one tool for all jobs. A chef doesn’t use one kitchen utensil. And when looking at stats, you shouldn’t make a determination based on just one stat. But it can give an indication of how things are going.

Here’s how WAR basically grades out:

Replacement player 1 or fewer WAR Role Player 1-2 Solid Starter 2-3 Good Player 3-4 All-Star 4-5 Superstar 5-6 MVP 6+"

Turning point! Winning streak has started! Book it Dano!

Maybe Teo should bunk with Tucker! What the hell happened to Teo? Hard hit balls left and right. Boy did they need that last night. Skubal giving up 10 hits? Hard to imagine. But he did keep it close enough for the Dodgers to pull it out in the ninth. Speaking of Tucker. I read somewhere that he’s being castrated for not hustling after the dropped 3rd strike. Maybe he deserves a little bit, but I believe total frustration took him over. I don’t believe he was intentionally not hustling or gave up. He’s in a bad space right now. There may be no. Cure in the “cards” Is it just me or does anyone else remember a series like this one where the other team continuously kept hitting line drive after line line drive against the Dodgers? Even Joe Davis questioned how the cardinals were doing what they were doing? Tipping pitches? Skubal sure seemed frustrated. Better build off last night with the nationals coming in. They can score. Who’s up? Glasnow, Snell, and who? Will we see Stone or Sheehan? Hopefully not another site like we saw Tuesday against the cardinals!! I sure hope Ohtani is ok. They need him offensively so much. But it was a relief not seeing him strike out over and over again last night. Shout out to Tommy Edman ! Best lead off hitter in baseball! ( at least yesterday!) Alex Call is one lucky guy. Kinda reminds me of Don Strickland the long time dolphin backup quarterback. Very seldom played and got paid for it. Just don’t see him being in LA next season though.

Just watched Teo's game winning hit last night. His swing has been so much better this last week! Huge sign for us. Now God willing Tucker shows signs of life.

And Joe Davis call was fantastic: "How fast can Mookie run!!"

Well we got one back.

Tonight, home to a bad team with a huge pitching mismatch. If we can't win a game like this, we're not as good as our record.

A shoutout to Teo for a walk off hit! And to Edman for keeping the team in the game with his four hits.

I have not been that impressed with Skubal so far as a Dodger. He's good, but for a two time Cy Young award winner I expected more dominance. To get knocked around by a young Cards team is a bit concerning. And, he's been hittable in his other starts. It might be adjusting to a new team and environment. Whether AF decides to resign him will be interesting. The possible lockout by the owners could further complicate the situation. I would definitely try to resign him. He appears to be more reliable and available than Snell and Glasnow.

The list of the teams hit totals since 7/1 are kind of eye opening. For what we saw in the first two months of the season to what we are witnessing now is somewhat unbelievable to me. And, it's not just the usual suspects, but the whole lineup that has had extended slumps at one time or another since July 1.

Carry on.

Rortvedt outrighted to OKC. He will most likely accept it rather than declare free agency and lose what is left of his contract pay.

Last season, the turning point for a Dodger team going through the motions was the Baltimore loss when Yamamoto lost the no-no and shutout on the same pitch. Could last night’s game be the spark? Stay tuned…

Timmons said something in one of these recent posts about teams figuring out the Dodgers hitting philosophy— slug, slug, and slug some more- and opponents employing a new pitching strategy to combat it.

Sometimes, opponents of the Dodger offensive juggernaut might just deserve some credit. I also tend to want to give credit to advanced scouting; these baseball professionals follow opponents and look for recent trends of LAD hitters and plan accordingly. Yes, the Dodgers are slumping; but those are pros in the other dugout too. In addition to “getting up” for the two-time defending champs and bringing extra motivation, advanced scouting is important in the modern game. Right now, the Dodgers just may be experiencing the successful implementation of a new strategy on how to pitch and neutralize the potential potency of this LAD lineup.

To me, the effort is still there for the Dodgers; guys are having bad years but I really don’t think it’s due to lack of effort or disinterest in the regular season (though the latter can seem possible at times). If anything, I’ll concede that some members of the team look “tired.”

Maybe I’m off, or just as ridiculous as my moniker suggests, but an aging lineup with several guys having down years and good advanced scouting might be a factor in this two-month Dodger malaise.

Friday’s Dodger Affiliates' Schedule 2:00 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Cam Leiter) at Lake County (Nelson Keijo) Game 2: Great Lakes (TBD) vs. Lake County (TBD) 5:00 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Christian Zazueta) vs. Wichita (Prestan Johnson) 5:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Landon Knack) at Round Rock (Anthony Veneziano) 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) vs. Rancho Cucamonga (Ubaldo Soto)

I mean the Tucker situation is very wild.

He looks like a shell of a typical MLB player, much less an all-star, Gold glove winner, Silver Slugger, etc.

Obviously, we hope he pulls it together for and including the playoffs, but his fielding and not even running to first are possibly emblematic of more than just mechanical issues.

It's not a terribly long contract, and he probably does regress to his excellent standard, but it doesn't look great right now to the say the least.

Really curious.

I love a good pitcher’s duel in a 2 to 1 game for 8 innings! NOT Skubal walked the tight wire for his 5.2 stint limiting 10 hits to 2 runs. Meanwhile through 8, the Dodgers had 7 walks and 4 hits to score 1. Weird game. Great rally in the 9th led by Edman with his knock, stolen base and of course Teo’s double.

Tommy Edman, have a day dude. We finally got some production from a leadoff hitter. I love how Tommy plays but I though he cost the Dodgers a run in the 3rd when it appeared he failed to hustle out of the box on his fly ball that dumped into the Bermuda Triangle in short right. I thought he should have been on 2nd, had he hustled all the way. The ball was in the air a while and was muffed around by the fielders. I was surprised to see him only on first when the dust settled. He would have scored on Kike’s single to tie the game at 2. As it was he was stranded at 3rd and the Dodger’s failed to score with the bases juiced, leaving it 2 to 1, Cardinals. That run was the difference for the rest of the game until our rally in the 9th. Tommy is a hustler and this was unusual and maybe was some incentive for the rest of his night.

I have been listening to the radio broadcast for a while now, as I watch the TV broadcasted muted. It sort of takes me back to being a kid listening on my transistor radio as the announcers painted a picture of the game in my head. I’m enjoying Tim Neverett, Charlie Steiner and even Steven Nelson with Rick Monday. It’s funny how the radio guys can take so many liberties with the truth. Neverett - “Pitch is a strike at the knees” when the pitch was actually up and in. Nobody knows. Or cares. It’s great.

I have to admit that I am still puzzled about all this DFA Alex Call commentary. He has had 166 PA all year. Since the All Star Break he has had 32 PA and is hitting .259/.375/.333/.708. He has a 93 OPS+ for the year. He knows his role, and he relishes it. How happy does anyone think that JDP or JTIII would be in that role. Alex also plays more than adequate defense at all three OF positions. JDP and JTIII cannot. He is not blocking JDP or JTIII. They were being considered for platooning with Teo. Maybe that triggered something in Teo for him to make the adjustments. But I like the Teo of the St. Louis series. I know, how do we know he will maintain it? And yet how do we know if JDP or JTIII can hit MLB pitching? Everybody wanted Alek Thomas gone from the roster because he couldn’t hit MLB pitching. And look at what he is doing now in OKC. Sometimes it is best to have a 26th man for the 26th man.

The more that’s revealed about Walter, the sleazier he looks.

10:10 PM ET

Nationals (67-75) Dodgers (83-57)

SP Jackson Kent L 1-2 5.59 ERA SP Blake Snell L 2-1 2.42 ERA

Confirmed Lineup CF Tommy Edman S SS Mookie Betts R LF T. Hernandez R C Will Smith R 3B Max Muncy L 2B Miguel Rojas R DH Alex Call R RF Kyle Tucker L 1B E. Hernandez R

72° Wind 7 mph Out LINE LAD -280

I have read that the Dodgers stuck with these (old) veteran players to go get three in a row World Championships. One would have to agree that the front office thinks this group gives them the best chance to achieve that milestone. I tend to think that next season the Dodgers front office will put together a roster that gives them the best chance to win the World Series and the year after and the year after that year the same goal. These baseball experts know how to put a World Series roster together that has been proven this decade. With the best and the deepest minor league system in baseball and the financial wherewithal to go out and get free agents they will continue to dominant the NL West. They may not be favored going into the playoffs year after year but when you get to the dance you have the opportunity to dance.

I see people going off on Betts. He isn’t the same player he was several years ago but he’s still good.Compare he’s stats with Seager’s. Seager has been injured but that’s baseball. If you compare last years stats with Seager’s remember Betts was dangerously sick at the beginning of the season. I read where Betts gets saved by Freeman’s glove, that’’s what Freddy does that’s the type of player he is. It allows the Dodgers the ability to put Betts at shortstop. Freddy makes up with his strength to bring Betts talent to a higher level.

The Dodgers besides having the best farm system in MLB (10 outfielders) will give them the ability to make trades to shore up other positions. The Dodgers pitching especially starting pitching looks promising in the future. As Mark says” buy them cheap and stack them deep” applies to bullpens. With a few exceptions bullpen pitchers are tough to predict.

He is on the taxi squad

Watching Zazueta rn. Changeup looks excellent and he just hit 98 on radar gun. Control seems above average and he looks loose and comfortable on the mound. He's got some swagger.

Quintero BA up to .310 with a monster GS today