The WordPress platform that www.ladodgertalk.com is on is aging, unlike our writers! 😉 It is time for an upgrade… not a facelift, but rather, a “Full Body Transplant.” I have to tell you a story about my old developer. His name was Shawn, and when I hired him almost 22 years ago, he was living in his mother-in-law’s attic… living on unemployment. He was a tech nerd in every way, including his appearance. I had personally built UsWaterSystems.com’s first website (which was absolutely awful), and when I talked to him, I could tell that he was smarter than the average bear… even though he spoke in grunts and monosyllables. I asked him if he could figure out how to upload PDFs to the website, and he said he would.
Less than two hours later, the PDFs were live. I asked him what he made in a week on unemployment, and he said $200! I told him that I would pay him $250 a week, and he was one of our first five employees. He supervised all our IT, Software, and website architecture… and was my guy for LaDodgerTalk. He has handled it up until now, even though he moved to Lakeland, Florida, a couple of years ago. He always told us that if he got a job there, he was gone… and he did and was! He was with us for nearly 20 years and is still a friend. My wife and I stopped to have dinner with him in Florida when we were there in February. As a side note, his adult son works in our warehouse and has for nearly three years… since he got out of prison. He was deserving of a second chance! BTW, Shawn was making over $100,000 when he moved to Lakeland.
I have another story: Our first sales manager was married to my wife’s niece, and Travis was one of the best. He had two ears and one mouth and understood how to best use them. His downfall was alcohol. After several attempts at sobriety, his wife divorced him. He lived with us for a while, and when it became clear they were not getting back together, he moved to California after I fired him for repeated alcohol abuse on the job. He died last July of alcohol and fentanyl poisoning in Riverside, California. They found him dead in his motorhome… 48 years old! His oldest daughter now works for us in customer service and is in training for sales. She graduated from Ball State with the plan to go into teaching, but decided that making people’s lives better with water, and even saving people’s lives with water, was her calling. She will be great!
Why am I telling you all this? Well, this is the journey that brought us our new LaDodgerTalk developer. On my phone, he is “Ashton – Teagan’s boyfriend”. He is the boyfriend of my wife’s great-niece. He does not work for US Water Systems – He is my LADT Guy. He will start the design process shortly. I am also telling you this because even though he assures me that it will be seamless, I don’t believe him. I believe in Murphy’s Law… Furthermore, I think Murphy was an Optimist! Stay tuned; if we are down for a while, we will be back. Thank you in advance for your support.
Sacramento River Cats 10 – OKC Comets 1
To further show how OKC does not hold the answer for bullpen options (not on rehab assignment), RHRP José Rodríguez was the bullpen game opener. He was followed by LHRP Ronan Kopp and RHRP Nick Frasso.
Here are their lines:
- José Rodríguez – 1.0 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 BB, 1 K
- Ronan Kopp – 1.2 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs (all earned), 2 BB, 1 K
- Nick Frasso – 1.0 IP, 2 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 1 balk
Sacramento scored a pair in the 1st inning. OKC got one back when LF Zach Ehrhard and 1B James Tibbs III both drew inning opening walks. With 2 out, CF Alek Thomas had a RBI single.
Sacramento scored 5 in the 3rd off Kopp and Frasso.
RHRP Keynan Middleton (1.1 IP), LHRP Jake Eder (1.0 IP), and RHRP Evan Phillips pitched scoreless baseball with Middleton the only reliever to pitch without a baserunner.
With RHRP Griff McGarry on the bump in the 9th, he hit the first batter and the next batter doubled him to 3rd. With one out, McGarry hit his 2nd batter to load the bases. After he walked the next batter for a run, RHRP Jerming Rosario came in to relieve McGarry. He got the first out, then allowed a 2 run single before getting out of the inning.
There were no XBH, and CF Alek Thomas was the only multi-hit batter for OKC. OKC had 4 singles in total.
Tulsa Drillers 6 – Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC) 5 – 10 innings
RHSP Payton Martin continues to improve his starter status. This was his third consecutive game to go at least 6.0 IP. He allowed an unearned run in the 1st.
After managing 1 single in the first 4 innings, in the 5th, 3B Kyle Nevin doubled (9) and scored on C Frank Rodriguez’s 2-run HR (4).
The 2-1 lead was short lived as NWA scored 2 in the bottom of the 5th. With 2 outs, Martin allowed 3 straight singles scoring 1 and putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Martin picked off the runner at 1st but before the out was recorded, the runner on 3rd scored.
In the 7th, 2B Jake Gelof hit a game tying solo HR (13).
Gelof extended his own streak with his seventh-inning home run. He has now reached base in 27 straight games. It is the longest on-base streak this season for a Tulsa batter and is just one game short of matching the longest on-base streak in the Texas League this season.
With RHRP Lucas Wepf and RHRP Nick Robertson complete 2.2 scoreless innings to send the game into extra innings.
Tulsa struck fast in the 10th. 1B Chris Newell was the placed runner. After a ground out, CF Kole Myers hit an RBI single. SS Sean McLain singled. With runners on 1st and 2nd, RF Josue De Paula flew out. It took extra innings, but DH Mike Sirota hit a 2 run double (8) to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 54 games (24 with Tulsa).
Robertson went back out in the 10th, and after 1 out, he surrendered a 2-run HR before striking out the last two batters to end the game.
- Kyle Nevin – 3-4, 1 run, double (9)
- Frank Rodriguez – 1-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (4)
- Jake Gelof – 1-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, HR (13)
Tulsa has the best record in all of the Texas League, and is 3.5 games ahead of Arkansas (Seattle) with the first half ending on Sunday. Their magic number is 2 over Arkansas.
Great Lakes Loons vs Lake County Captains (Cleveland) – Game Postponed – Scheduled DH on Wednesday
Great Lakes and Lake County have identical 35-26 records and good for a tie of 1st place in the Midwest League East with Dayton Dragons (Reds) (36-27). The Loons and Lake County play three meaningful games to perhaps decide the first half champion. Dayton will have something to say as well. The first half ends on Thursday.
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 13 – Ontario Tower Buzzers 5
Four Ontario pitchers struggled mightily all night with RHSP Mason Estrada was ravaged for 8 runs (7 earned) on 7 hits and 1 BB. Three of those hits were HR accounting for 6 runs.
RHRP Will Gagnon was the only effective Ontario pitcher. He completed 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 1 BB, and 5 K.
Ontario batters limped through the first 7 scoreless innings with 2 hits and 2 BB. In the 8th, C Conner O’Neal had a leadoff walk. After an out, RF Mairo Martinus tripled (5) for the 1st Ontario run. Martinus scored on a RBI single by DH Ching-Hsien Ko. 3B Chase Harlan followed with a 2-run HR (9).
The Ontario bats continued in the 9th. SS Joendry Vargas, O’Neal, and 2B Oswaldo Osorio each singled to get one more run. But they had a 13-0 hole they could not climb out of.
- Ching-Hsien Ko – 2-3, 1 HBP, 1 RBI, double (11) – Only Ontario batter with a multi-hit game
- Chase Harlan -1-4, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (9)
- Mairo Martinus – 1-5, 1 run, 1 RBI, triple (5)
ACL Padres 12 – ACL Dodgers 3 – 7 innings
In the 1st inning, 2 Dodgers pitchers combined to allow 2 hits with 5 BB for 6 runs.
The Padres score 4 more in the 3rd and 4th (1 earned). They scored 2 more in the 7th.
The Dodgers got 6 hits. With no batter more than 1. DH Logan Wagner on his rehab assignment had a double for the only XBH for the Dodgers.
DSL LAD Bautista 10 – DSL Braves 4
LAD Bautista scored 10 runs on 8 hits and 11 BB.
- 3B Adrian Del Cid – 2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI
- RF Fran-Jean Haseth – 2-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (3)
- C Oliver Chapman – 1-1, 3 BB, 2 runs, 3 BB, double (2)
- DH Aaron Guzman – 1-4, 1 run, 2 RBI, triple (1)
RHRP Randy Maria entered with 1 out in the first relieving RHSP Shai Romero after Romero walked 4 and struck out 1 of the 5 batters he faced. After striking out the first batter he faced, Maria issued the 5th BB of the inning for 2 runs.
The downside for Maria is that he turns 22 on July 1 in the DSL.
DSL LAD Mega 5 – DSL Tampa Bay 2
With 1 out in the 1st inning, singles by CF Helvin Mendoza and 3B Luis Tovar, and a HBP loaded the bases. SS Hendry Arvelo doubled (2) to score 2. C Jose Rivas hit a SF and LF Jesus Villaflor singled to score the final 2 in the 4 run 1st inning.
20 year RHSP Yadier Zamora pitched 4 scoreless innings. Zamora allowed 2 hits; a single and double, but no runs. 19 year old RHP Logan Tinkam pitched 2.0 scoreless innings, no hits, 1 BB, and 5 K. 17 year old RHP Micheal Morfe continued with 2.0 scoreless innings, and 19 year old Derik Aquino pitched the final inning without a run and 3 K.
DSL LAD Mega had 5 hits, with no batter having more than 1. Arvelo’s double in the 1st was the only XBH.
Discussion (69)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Hopefully just an off day. Root had a bad day too.
River Ryan got PUMMELLED today by Sacramento 4.1 innings, 10 hits, 1 walk, 3 Ks, 8 earned runs. I guess that ends he has nothing to prove at AAA theory.
We now have the best record in baseball!
A win is a win even if it is as ugly as Phyllis Diller. Nice clutch 2-run shot by Freddie. Mookie hit a couple of balls really hard, but right at the SS. Freeland has +7 defensive runs saved? wow.
What a clutch 3-2 slider by Vesia on a day he just didn’t have it! What a bizarre 5th inning for Shohei
was it Neil postman or Susan Sontag who said a meme is worth 1000 words:
https://x.com/tomfornelli/status/2067260715006599229?s=46
This is just a really good team
That was an embarrassing bottom of the 5th by our bottom of the lineup. Utterly weak at bats.
On the other side, great at bat by Tucker to walk.
Call sure has been good this year.
SWEEP!
3:10 PM ET EARLY GAME
Rays (41-29)
Dodgers (47-27)
SP Shane McClanahan L
6-4 3.23 ERA
SP Shohei Ohtani R
6-2 1.06 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
3B Tommy Edman S
CF Andy Pages R
1B F. Freeman L
SS Mookie Betts R
DH Miguel Rojas R
RF Kyle Tucker L
LF Alex Call R
C D. Rushing L
2B A. Freeland S
77° Wind 7 mph Out
Forget about Ryan, Ohtani is starting tonight’s game. He will, however, not be the DH. Tommy Edman makes his season debut, not at 2nd, but at 3rd per Doc.
My kind of baseball game last night. 1:52. Rasmussen and Wrobleski went about their business like they were late for dinner.
And the Varsity back end with Klein, Hurt and Scott threw a no-hitter.
The best part for me – 1 walk all night. I hate walks.
Worbs is such a treat to watch when he’s right like last night. He just pounds the zone. 67 pitches through 6 is as good as it gets. He would be the most comfortable 0-fer a hitter can have. He just surgically carves through a lineup with minimal mistakes.
Was it me or did Dan Bellino almost sound irritated with every pitch challenge, especially when he was overruled? Kind of a pissie tone to his voice.
Mookie showed a burst of quickness I don’t see much on the nice play on the grounder to the 2nd base side of the bag. Nice play.
What was so perplexing for Karros and Davis on the 1-6-2 play at home? Maybe I missed something but didn’t Karros say something to the effect that he’d never seen anything like that? Maybe he hasn’t – we don’t use that play very much.
Pretty simple; it was a horseshit bunt by Freeland on a safety squeeze. Tucker needed to read the bunt and stay put; hence the “safety” part of the safety squeeze.
He needed to stay put at 3rd after reading the poor bunt, but got ambitious on the pitcher’s throw to 2nd. Bad bunt and bad read and decision by Tucker.
A good bunt makes that play indefensible.
Fun game.
Wednesday Dodger Affiliates’ Schedule
2:35 p.m. PT (doubleheader): Great Lakes (TBA) vs. Lake County (TBA)
4:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (River Ryan) vs. Sacramento (Matt Wilkinson)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Patrick Copen) at NW Arkansas (Felix Arronde)
Game 2: Great Lakes (TBA) “at” Lake County (TBA)
6:35 p.m.: Ontario (TBA) vs. Rancho Cucamonga (Ubaldo Soto)
All star OF’s are not picked by position.
Wood, Soto and Carroll are all hitting 100 OPS points ahead of Pages. No way he should be a starter.
And there’s several other players with higher OPS’s.
If he goes on a hot streak next couple of weeks, he could make the team
Edwin Díaz (elbow surgery, bone chip removal) also threw five pitches off a mound Monday and is scheduled to throw his first bullpen since his mid-April operation later this week. The Dodgers do not have a timeline for Díaz’s return, though the club has vaguely identified sometime in the second half.
“He has come along really well, quickly,” Roberts said of Díaz. “Don’t know time of return, but it’s coming out pretty hot, so he feels pretty good.”
Díaz will need at least three to four bullpen sessions before he faces live hitters, and he’ll likely need to repeat that step multiple times before the Dodgers think about sending him on a rehab assignment. It remains unlikely he returns before the All-Star break, but the Dodgers are encouraged by the early returns so far.
Two key right-handed relievers are also making progress. Evan Phillips (Tommy John) has made four rehab starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City, while Brock Stewart is scheduled to make his third for Class-A Ontario. Both pitchers could join the Dodgers by the end of the month.
WRT the discussion about River Ryan yesterday it’s reported that if Ohtani doesn’t start today River Ryan is on schedule in Triple A and could be available for a spot start.
Right now we only have 2 deserving all star positional starters. Muncy and Ohtani. Boy is it a down year for 3rd basemen.
Pitching is super competitive in NL. Wrobo might have a tough time making it and Shohei is on the outside looking in for the Cy Young, even tho being brilliant.
It’s going to be a great day today
The teams in the NL West REALLY stink as predicted before the season. It is just a matter of how many games the Dodgers will win the Division by.Each of the teams in the West is flawed with either NO offense,NO starting pitching,NO bullpen and NO depth when injuries arise. The same can be said about most of the teams in MLB except a very few. The Dodgers have the money and are the best run organization in ALL sports.Money and Brain Power are very dangerous to ALL teams competing against the Champs!
Wow what a quick game 1:52 minutes. Pitchers worked fast and threw strikes. Joe Davis said Wrobo never even had a 3 ball count on a hitter. Nice to see Kyle Hurt comeback with a nice outing. Another thing that gets overlooked is how good the defense has been this year.
Let’s get the sweep with an afternoon game and then an off day and 3 with the Orioles.
Looking forward to the new format and as we all know very well with new technology, nothing goes seamless and there is always a hiccup or two but they will get worked out.
Thank you, Jeff, for the most amazing MiLB Report on the planet, er’ Milky Way!
1. JW is 2nd on the team in IP with 79.1. Yama leads with 85.2. They are accumulating innings at a rate that will impact their post-season effectiveness. Both will need to take a blow at some point!
2. It’s easy to see Kim’s problems:
1. No power
2. Too many strikeouts
3. Too few walks
At bat, he is much less than Luis Arreaz
3. Payton Martin stock up.
4. Jackson Ferris stock down.
5. I am waiting for Chase Harlan to go to Tulsa: 1. DePaula 2. Sirota 3. Harlan 4. Hope 5. Gelof Wow!
Two 1-0 wins this month. Nice. Pads and Dirtbags lost so LA increased it’s lead.