“Andrew Friedman should have signed….” “What didn’t Dave Roberts pinch hit for…” “Something is wrong with Walker Buehler…” “May Muncy has lost all confidence…” “They should have traded for…” “Why did they not play Rios after his big night? Yes, we are fans and we second-guess just about everything, even things we know nothing about. We may have some information, but not all the information and we simply don’t know…
Notes From the Couch
Baseball is a funny game. It is also a very frustrating one and can leave you totally discombobulated. There are more ups and downs than an elevator in a high rise in the Big Apple. Take the previous series the Dodgers played against the Phillies last week. They had so many chances to win the first two games and fell short both times. That clutch hit eluded them for the…
I don’t drink Kool-Aid
When I read stuff like the Dodgers don’t have the pitching to win or that Tyler Anderson should not even be on the team, or that Muncy and Bellinger should go to OKC, and it is past time for the Dodgers to make changes, I just shake my head and call the perps out. At best, it is a nonsensical, knee-jerk reaction. At worst, whoever said it, might need to…
Calling All Drama Queens!
Most fan bases would be excited, even giddy, to have a pitching staff like the Dodgers… but not Dodger fans. They won’t settle for less than five #1 starters. Of course, they are not happy with Clayton Kershaw (1.80 ERA) and Andrew Heaney (0.00 ERA) since they are on the IL with what is generally realized as “minor injuries.” Both should be back soon, but Walker Buehler, the Ace, only…
Dodger Fans Melt Under Pressure More Than the Team Does
Dodger fans as a whole are an emotional lot. They do tend to go off of the rails when the team slumps. I am guilty of this myself sometimes. But let the team hit a cold streak and the boo birds and naysayers emerge from the depths of one’s psyche, and the bad vibes begin. No player or front office person is immune. The finger-pointing and name-calling begin. The blame…
The Dodgers Near Future & Recent Past
I watched at least three near-future Dodgers last night and one recent past Dodger Hero. I watched the near-future Dodgers, Mike Busch, Jacob Amaya, and Bobby Miller with great elation. Let me tell you about that before I tell you about an old friend whom I felt a great sadness in watching. The trio of Busch, Amaya, and Miller will likely move to Oklahoma City very soon, but I enjoyed…
Time to Panic?
In a word… NO! What we see over the past few games is how the Baseball Gods even things up in their own due time. Dodger pitching was so far ahead of all the other teams in ERA that it wasn’t even close. It wasn’t until yesterday that the Dodgers fell out of the Team ERA lead to the #2 position in all of baseball. You give up 21 runs…
Consternation in Dodgerland
Many of Dave Roberts’ decisions (or lack thereof) were questionable last night, but I am also of the opinion that players can make a manager look really smart or really dumb. Even Ray Charles could see that Tyler Anderson was not at the top of his game last night, but Doc evidently felt that pitching 6 innings was more important than giving up 7 runs! To me, that was bizarre!…
Call to the Pen
Bumsrap mentioned this last night, but in 1955 in the very first game Sandy Koufax started, he walked eight batters in 4.2 innings. He struck out four and allowed just one run. Walks plagued him for years… until they didn’t. We all know the story of how he fixed his wildness. It just involved taking a little bit off of each pitch. Instead of throwing 100, maybe he threw 98!…
Defensive Efficiency Ratio (DER)
BTW: I suggest reading that book! Defensive Efficiency Ratio is a statistic used to evaluate team defense by finding out the rate of times batters reach base, on balls put in play. Basically, for every ball hit into the field of play, how likely is the defense to convert that into an out? The formula for Defensive Efficiency Ratio is: 1 – ((H + ROE – HR) / (PA –…