Twenty Six come from behind game victories for the Dodgers so far in 2022, but none sweeter than the 7-6 win against St. Louis. They did not beat Waino and his Uncle Charley, but they did not lose to him either.
The Dodgers have now won 6 out of their last 7 wins (8 games) in come from behind fashion. They rebounded when down by 5 twice on Sunday and came back for the win. They nearly duplicated that on Tuesday. Wednesday was special.
On Wednesday the Dodgers were down by 6 after 6. The Cardinals scored 5 runs with 2 outs. But the Dodgers did them one better and scored 6 runs with 2 outs. The game winner came from Hanser Alberto with 2 outs in the 9th to drive in Cody Bellinger.
Count the heroes in the game. Freddie Freeman 3-3 with a BB and an HBP. Will Smith crushes a 2 run HR to get the Dodgers on the board in the 7th. Max Muncy walks 4 times and gets the game tying sac fly. Mookie Betts kept the line moving with a double to score Belli and put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Trea Turner singles to drive home both runs. The Dodgers were within 1 and this time they were not to be denied.
Next hero up…Justin Turner who doubles to open the 9th. Austin Barnes was sent in to pinch run for JT. Then the comedy. With a Cody Bellinger single, Barnsey was rounding 3rd to score, but slipped on the bag, fell down, and scrambled back to 3B, and caught a bunch of s*** from the dugout. After the game, Belli said (with tongue firmly in cheek and with a smile) that it was a great base running strategy because it allowed him to get to 2nd.
Max just missed a 3-run HR then came through with a sac fly, deep enough to move Belli to 3rd with 1 out. I think Trayce Thompson struck out so that Hanser could become the hero with a run scoring single. 😂 😂
Pitching heroes include three members of the bullpen. Caleb Ferguson, Craig Kimbrel, and Evan Phillips retired the final 9 Cardinals batters in order. Phillips got his first save.
As we witnessed the inevitable regression of Tony Gonsolin for one game, it is easy to lament the poor starting pitching over the last three games. Gonsolin has 93.2 IP which is more innings than Tony has pitched in the last two seasons combined (92.1). Is he hitting the proverbial mid-season wall, or did the Cardinals just find something? I saw a lot of middle middle pitches last night. Even the splitter was hanging.
I expect Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to give pitchers fits. But Andrew Knitzer, Lars Nootbaar, Corey Dickerson? Regardless, he has had a remarkable start to the season. Now we have to continue to be supportive even with these stinkers of games. It will happen again, and maybe next time, the offense will not come all the way back. Clayton Kershaw has won the CY three times, and not one year did he go undefeated.
Another scenario could be that Tony was trying to be too perfect going into the AS Break, and it all unraveled against Goldschmidt and Arenado. Now he just needs to go out and pitch.
How many fans and pundits have asked the question as to where would the Dodgers be without Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson (and to a lesser degree, Mitch White and Ryan Pepiot). But last night it was the offense that picked up Tony. It is clear that Gonsolin was not about to pitch at the level he was pitching for the season. And there is no reason to believe that Gonsolin will fall off a cliff. But what will the drop-off be?
First Urias, then White, and now Gonsolin. The strength of this LAD team is their starting pitching. And the last three games have shown them to be mortal. And yet this never say die late inning offense kept the team in the game, winning two of the three.
I said it before, but this team reminds me so much of the 2017 team that also never believed they would be beat. It usually had a different hero just like this team. Last year the bench was horrid. This year, Trayce Thompson, Jake Lamb, and now Hanser Alberto have all come through in the clutch. It is not the bench that has been a problem for LAD, but a couple of regular position players. If those players play like they did tonight, this team will be back in the World Series as Doc promised.
Tony Gonsolin will enter next Tuesday’s All Star game at some point with an 11-0 record and a 2.02 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. His next game for the Dodgers will come against the Giants in a 4-game series at home following the All Star Game.
But first, the Dodgers need to win the series with the Cardinals and then beat the Orange County Angels twice. Tyler Anderson faces off against Dakota Hudson in the series finale.
Nice win and it was fun to watch, from the 7th inning on. Before that, another unwatchable game. Maybe now, the naysayers will lighten up on Alberto. He has the toughest job on the team. Be a cheerleader, but be ready when called upon, and then contribute. His track record shows that he has had success against lefty’s, but that has not been the case this season. He has always struggled against RHP, but last night, at least for one game, he got even. Nice to see Belli just make contact.
Alberto has actually had two good games in a row. His biggest problem is that he doesn’t want to walk and seems to swing at anything (for example, his first at bat where he swung at two pitches way outside the strike zone). If I was pitching to him, I’d never throw him a strike.
By the time I got home from dinner it was 6-0. Decided not to turn on the TV but instead went upstairs periodically to see what was happening on the computer. Watched the post game show to see all that I had missed
I left at 6-0 for dinner. My grandson just got home from 2 hours of soccer practice and my other grandson was at hockey practice with his parents, so my wife and I took the one we had control over to his favorite restaurant. Luckily I had my phone and the At Bat app to watch without sound. My grandson and I watched as Hanser got the go ahead RBI. I walked into the house just as Phillips struck out Carlson, plopped in my chair to listen to the post game show and finish the post.
Could be a special year for a special team.
Other than the times they have failed to “make” something happen with the bases loaded and no outs, this team is a winning-time team.
With all the career walks Muncy has it seems like the best use of his walks in a year when he struggles to hit would be to be in the 9 spot. Get on base for the RBI guys and not be in a RBI spot in the lineup.
Trea is a RBI machine. He is not hitting the home runs like he did last year. Hopefully he will not disappear in the playoffs again.
What a game. I had pretty much accepted a loss. Kudos to the boys for not mailing it in when they were down. Keep batting Muncy lower in the order. 7th, 8th, or 9th. Gotta feel good for Hanser. And start using Kimbrel in lower leverage situations. Phillips can close and Treinen will hopefully be back right after the AS break or early August.
Need to get to the Cards bullpen as soon as possible tonight. They are gassed.
A number of us follow Justin Lorber’s Future Dodgers posts and he just posted an article on potential slightly under-the-radar relievers that AF might be interested in going after.
He understands that if we get back some or most of our IL guys we might not even need to get anyone, but he throws a bunch of names out there anyway.
For those of you interested in that kind of thing, here’s the link:
Some Deadline Reliever Options I Like – Future Dodgers (wordpress.com)
The Dodgers have 6 pitchers on injured list returning in August and another in September, maybe two if Buehler is included. Friedman might not want to trade for a reliever but he has numbers that are working against him.
Phillips and Fergusson are keepers. The other relievers IMHO are vulnerable to trade.
I did in fact read his list. I dismissed Matt Bush in any of my projections, exactly for the reason Justin said AF said about Bush never playing for the team again (Tampa Bay). I know he has changed and has been sober, and is a fantastic reliever, but I do not believe that AF will trade for him because of the history.
For those that have read my takes on relievers before know that I have been a huge José Leclerc fan for quite awhile. Even though he had a horrible night last night trying to close out the 9th against Oakland, I still think he is worthy of a discussion. He could very well be a change in scenery type of player. He is also a rental.
I would think AF would go in the Matt Moore route with Texas before Bush or Leclerc.
I do not believe that any of the Orioles relievers AF will spend the requisite prospect capital to acquire. Baltimore will trade one of those mentioned and it will be to the team willing to give the best deal for any of their relievers.
My one issue with Justin’s list is that he had a lot of relievers with multiple years of control, and I just do not think AF will go that route. They cost more than the rental, and you have no idea what they will be like the next year.
Looking into the AF pattern for relievers – 4 of the 8 current LAD relievers were pulled from waiver wires (Bickford and Phillips), elected FA rather than to return to Colorado MiLB (Almonte), and signed a MiLB contract (Moronta). AF/BG just picked up Jake Reed off waivers for the 2nd time. They are going to want to see what Jake Reed can do.
With Graterol now on the IL, the Dodgers are running out of arms. I think Bruihl, Cleavinger, and Reed are at AAA on the 40 man. Pepiot and Grove (once he returns from IL) will continue to start.
Jake McGee was put on release waivers today.
Maybe Andrew would like to start a Jake collection: Lamb, Reed, McGee
On the other hand, his success as a front office guy might not be the result of signing guys because of their first name.
A lovely string of letters and numbers, Fred. I especially enjoyed the Q and the M in the second line and the D in the last line.
Frankly speaking, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Jake McGee was actually released today. He was DFA’d on July 9. When Jake Reed was DFA’d by NYM I said at the time that I thought that AF would try and pick up both Jakes. I would not be surprised to see Jake McGee sign a MiLB contract.
It worked in 2020.
Corey Seager was added to the AL All Star roster replacing George Springer. He will be returning to Dodger Stadium as an AL All Star. I wonder how he will be received. I hope LAD fans will remember all the good he was for LAD.