I like contrarians. They keep us thinking. Sometimes we end up supporting a player more vociferously than may be called for. Think Bums and Joc, Mark and Grandal, MJ and Toles, and of course me and Wood. Most of us have been frustrated with how this season has unfolded and have made some disparaging comments regarding FAZ or Doc, or players such as Joc, Wood, Puig, Dozier, CT3, and lately…
The Determined Dodgers fell down several times this season, but they got back up and kept themselves in the running. This Band of Brothers understand that as long as you are within striking distance, it’s how you finish, and they are now finishing what they started… and stumbled… and got back up – they never stopped running! In 2008 Heather Dorniden-Kampf, the favorite, was competing in the 600 meter race in…
Evidently, there are worse things than not being able to hit LH pitching. Many of us on this blog were growing weary of Joc’s two steps back after his one step forward. Well, last night, Joc hit his 22nd and 23rd HR, as the Dodgers leadoff hitter and is currently OPS’ing .843. So that we don’t forget, here is how most baseball people rank OPS: Rating OPS Excellent 1.000 Great…
That phrase was popularized in the United States by Mark Twain (among others), who attributed it to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. It seems that there is a stat for everything and we all have our own opinions. I voiced my displeasure with Dave Roberts not playing Yasmani Grandal last night after his breakout game against the Reds on Wednesday. Many other Dodger fans voiced the same displeasure over…
OK, you all likely know what happened last night: Joc Pederson drove in the first run against Zack Greinke. Hyun-Jin Ryu had pitched 7 strong innings when Roberts pinch-hit for him with Kike Hernandez. On a 2-2 pitch from Greinke, Kike jacked the ball out of the stadium to tie the game at 2-2. Next, Dylan Floro played the role of set-up man and shut down the D-Bags in the…
Right-hander Gerardo Carrillo was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent on July 5, 2016. The native of Guadalajara, Mexico received a signing bonus of $75,000. He has already climbed into the Dodgers MLB Pipeline prospect list ranking No. 27. He played in the Dominican Summer League during the 2017 season recording a 2.79 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 14 appearances, 10 of them starts. He struck…
Only July 14, 2018, the Cardinals had lost two games in a row to the Cincinnati Reds and looked lifeless. The St. Louis Cardinals have always thrived on continuity. Bill DeWitt Jr. has owned the team since March 1996, and he has had two managers in that span: Tony La Russa, and then Mike Matheny replaced him in 2012. Under DeWitt, the Cardinals have won 10 division titles and made the postseason 13…
Most of you probably don’t believe it, because the Dodger bullpen has been awful many times during this season, but it went from awful to deplorable when Daniel Hudson, Ross Stripling and Kenley Jansen went down. Of course, Kenley was the biggest loss and there’s no way to replace him. That will likely come to an end tonight as if Kenley is approved by his Doctors to play again. In…
I know I sound like a broken record. There is NOT ONE late inning high leverage reliever on the 40 man outside of KJ. The closest two are in Tulsa; Marshall Kasowski and Andre Scrubb, neither of whom is ready. I am not sure how Kenta Maeda and Chicken Strip are going to change this. There are no relievers better than what FAZ has already accumulated that will pass through…
That the Dodgers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory is obvious. However, the implosion of the bullpen (Chaggy in particular) is a symptom, not the disease. The symptom manifests itself when the disease is active. The disease is “FailureToScoreRunsItis.” Last night, Dodger hitters left 12 runners stranded (combined). At the trade deadline, FAZ acquired two of the biggest bats on the market in Machado and Dozier. Add in a…