It was only a month ago that many fans and national pundits said the Dodgers were the biggest choke artists in the game The Diamondbacks and the Indians were the hottest teams in baseball and were everyone’s darlings, while the Nationals had the best 1-2 starting punch in baseball which should play well in a short series. The Dodgers dropped to 4th or 5th in the power polls, even though…
This was a great series. Sure some can point out the RISP issues, but I contend that Zack Godley, Robbie Ray, and Zack Greinke had something to do with that. They are all good pitchers who have battled through problems all year. The DBacks had the 3rd best ERA and 7th best WHIP in all of MLB. They have an outstanding pitching staff. The DBacks won 93 games, tied with…
Rant & Rave Sunday Saturday morning I was listening to MLB Radio and the announcers were saying that the Dodgers 1-4 hitters had to have a good series, because their 5-8 hitters were “almost irrelevant.” Yeah right! Conventional wisdom is often wrong and never were they so wrong as last night when the Dodgers 5-8 hitters scored 7 of their 8 runs. It appears that Roberts and the front office…
I am not sure if Al Davis coined that phrase, but he sure used it a lot! Clayton didn’t have his best stuff last night as he struggled with his command. But, he continues to ignore my advice. I tried to tell him. These guys are jumping on his first pitch. All he has to do is change that up a little. Don’t make every first pitch a strike. But,…
The Dodgers just completed the best season in the LA Dodgers history and some fans are still unhappy! I am convinced that if the Dodgers win the World Series and don’t sweep everyone, everygame, some fans will say “Yeah, but they did it the hard way – they should have won 11 games in a row. FAZ should be fired!” The Dodgers just took two out of three from the…
Home Field advantage goes to the Dodgers throughout the playoffs! That is a big deal! The Dodgers have won the NL West every year since Andrew Friedman took control of baseball operations, and they have advanced further every year. Yet, there are “the Unbelievers” – they somehow doubt that his methods work. Latest case in point: Bill Shaikin of THE LA TIMES writes that How Dodgers fare in postseason will show…
Lert me start all this by saying that I was TOTALLY in favor of the Dee Gordon trade. I thought Austin Barnes and Kike Hernandez would be very good players. FAZ parlayed Andrew Heaney into Howie Kendrick who played a nice role for the Dodgers a couple of years ago and even though Chris Hatcher was a bust as a Dodger, I would still do that trade in a New…
Once a Knucklehead… Always a Knucklehead We all saw Puig get thrown out trying to steal 2B at the end of Saturday Night’s game and Dave Roberts was unusually vocal in his displeasure. It turns out that the blown steal just may have been “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” I am not privy to what is going on, but I have heard whispers that the Dodgers locker room…
The real is answer is “We don’t know.” It’s likely that the Dodgers will win 100 games this year and the NL West (they will have to go 4-6 to do that). That’s an improvement of 8 games in a Division that is dramatically better, as at least one, and maybe two other teams will be NL Wild Cards. This version of the 2017 Dodgers has been both the hottest…
With just 10 games left until October 1st, when the season ends, the playoff roster remains a mystery. I think we all have a pretty good idea that certain players will be on the roster. Position Players Grandal Barnes Bellinger Forsythe Utley Seager Turner Hernandez Granderson Taylor Puig Ethier I left off Adrian Gonzalez because he is not anywhere near healthy. The Dodgers would love to have him on the…