If the Dodgers are going to win the west, and indeed, just make the playoffs, it is time for the entire team to man up and get r done! They have been mediocre for the last few months and still are in first place. That is more a reflection on the play of their pursuers than great play on their part. So many things have gone wrong. For one, it seemed like the entire starting lineup went cold at the same time.
Teo and Edman with nagging injuries. Freeman hitting like a shadow of himself. Ohtani’s sudden urge to strikeout more than he has any year in the past. Injuries to the pitching staff, and a lack of production from players expected to produce. To quote an old horse racing term, it is time to go to the whip. They have 49 games left. 6 of them with the second place Padres. There are 11 series left in the season after they finish with the Cardinals.
The only teams they face with winning records over that time are the Jays, Padres, and the Reds. The Giants are just 1 game under .500 right now. The Rockies, D-Backs, Angels, Pirates and Orioles are all under. 12 of their remaining 49 games are against winning teams. That could change if the Giants and D-Backs play better the next few weeks. LA can get back on track. But they need to play a much better brand of baseball than they are now doing.
Can they do it? Based on their track record, they can. August has historically been the team’s best month for several years. They are 2-2 four games in. Five games left on the homestand. Sheehan is pitching tonight, and Ohtani gets the start on Sunday, with Wrobo probably pitching after he is done. There is really no help at AAA. They are going to have to win this with the players currently on the 40-man roster. It is a shame though that Ryan Ward has never gotten a shot. He definitely can hit.
They really need a win tonight. San Diego usually has some trouble with the D-Backs, but anything can happen. Teams get hot and sometimes they go frigid. One thing they have not done lately is take advantage when the Padres do lose. The game ended a little while ago. The Dodger bats woke up and they pounded out 17 hits. Max and Teo each hit 2 home runs. They had six extra base hits, 4 doubles and 2 homers.
Mookie got off of the schneid with a 3-hit game, Teo had 3 hits, all for extra bases, and Max had 4. First five hitters in the lineup had 12 of the teams 17 hits. Freeman did not have a hit but drove in 2 with a pair of sac-flies. Pages had a pair of doubles and Freeland had 2 hits and an RBI. Conforto was 1-5 with a ribbie. Sheehan went 5 and got the win. He allowed just 2 runs. Diaz was touched up for 3.
Ohtani gets the start in tomorrow’s final game of the series. They get a day off on Thursday then the Jays come in for 3 before the Dodgers go down the 5 freeway to play the Angels for 3 and then get the Padres at home for three. The offense looked good tonight. The pitching was adequate. The bullpen was touched up for 4 runs. That needs to be a lot cleaner. In Arizona, the Padres rallied in the 11th inning to take a lead on Arizona. So, the Dodger win looms even larger. Padres scored 5 in the 11th for a 10-5 win over Arizona. They get back in the win column with a much-needed big performance by the offense. If the offense gets cranked up again, the Dodgers will be a force to recon with in the playoffs. 48 games left. The time to kick it into gear is now. As the Hulkster would say, ” It’s go time brother!”
Affiliate Scores
El Paso 8 OKC 7: Comets snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as after taking a 6-2 lead by the second inning, El Paso chipped away and won the game in the bottom of the 9th against reliever, Jose Rodriguez. He gave up a leadoff double, then walked the next batter. An error on a sac bunt by Hoese allowed the tying run to score. The next hitter hit a sac fly to score the winning run. Comets had 11 hits, 3 doubles and a homer by Dean, his 6th. Sauer went 4 and gave up 4. Kopp gave up 2 in his third of an inning of work. Bobby Miller pitched a clean 8th.
Corpus Christie 7 Tulsa 5. The Hooks took a 7-1 lead by the 6th inning. Tulsa scored 2 in the 7th and 2 in the 9th, but their comeback fell short. Ferris gave up 4 runs, just 2 of them earned in his 5-inning stint. He struck out 7 and walked just 1. Cabrera gave up 3 runs in his one inning. The Drillers out hit the Hooks, 12-10. Myers, Ehrhard, Newell and McLain had multi-hit games. They had 3 doubles and Myers hit his 5th homer.
Lansing 6 Great Lakes 3: This game was tied after 9 innings, 1-1. Lansing scored 5 runs in the 10th to win it. Errors set the table for the Lugnuts and only 1 of their 5 runs scored was earned. The victim of this bad play was Myles Caba who only gave up 2 hits. Gelof was the only Loon with multiple hits. Wagner slugged his 12th homer.
Rancho 6 Lake Elsinore 1: Rancho jumped out to a 5-1 lead by the third and won the opener of the series. The Quakes had just 5 hits, 2 of them homers, Meza, Harlan. The also drew 7 walks. They struck out 11 times, but their 5 pitchers struck out 15 Lake Elsinore batters.
Nice win, much needed. Still some things to get better at like batting with RISP. Ohtani has not been great at that. He is hitting just .232 this season with RISP.
Thats more like it. Great win.Freeland looking good so far.
The kid looks legit. He could easily slide over to SS next year and let Mookie move to second.
I really like how he plays. He looks like a keeper to me, whether at 3b, SS, or even 2b
Exactly, but if he can play SS at the MLB level, it makes LA better and they do not have to go after someone like Bichette. Switch-hitter, that is a plus too.
Kenley Jansen, now 37 years old, revealed that his plan is to pitch 4 more years in the majors. Will he get that chance? Maybe.
Hulk Hogan was garbage
Many humans are. But the guy was great with kids. He was an entertainer, and he embraced the part. I watched wrestling a lot when I was a kid in LA. Dick Lane, who was an actor by trade, was the announcer for the Wednesday night matches from the Olympic Auditorium in downtown LA. Guys like Freddie Blassie, Mr. Moto, Lou Thesz, Don Leo Jonathan, who was huge, and Gorgeous George, the original, not that clown who came along later, all were the stars then. There was even a guy who had been a ballet dancer, Ricky Starr. Did not start watching it again until the WWF started. My kids loved the Ultimate Warrior. I liked Hulk. He was entertaining and interacted with his audience. My brother Steve is a die-hard fan, never misses a broadcast. I have attempted to tell him it is all choreographed to no avail. I don’t know how he was in private. I really did not care.
As a kid I watched a wrestling match involving some guy known as Chief Strongbow. After he lost his match you heard him say “that g-d damn SOB”. The announcer then said “he’s talking Cherokee”.
I, as a huge WWE fan (yes, I’ve actually been to two Wrestlemanias) think Hulk Hogan was by far the biggest star in the history of WWE; he was a global icon and helped grow the industry.
Hulk Hogan the person was a racist POS. Huge respect for the entertainer and no respect for the human being .
“Hulk Hogan the person was…”
A roided up confused man.
People make mistakes.Most of us have have.He found the Lord and became a Christian,which is is the only reason we are on this.I am writing of Hulk Hogan.
The offense was more like we expect from this group. Fun to watch.
So happy to see Mookie have some success with his hitting. And, also, agree that his working the count for a change seemed to help him.
I like Sheehan and can see him as a solid rotation piece next season. He could be a effective BP pitcher for the postseason. Sheehan has been a favorite.
Max was amazing with two bombs and productive ABs. He seemed to have helped Teoscar FINALLY wake up at the plate.
Freeland has been impressive so far. He seems to be comfortable at 2B and could find a permanent home there the remainder of the season and surely next season if his offense remains positive.
Bear, I totally agree with your take on Ohtani. He hasn’t had very productive at bats and a complete non factor with RISP. Is he slumping or is the added pitching workload affecting his offense? If the Dodger starters can stay healthy maybe Ohtani can forego pitching in the postseason and concentrate on his hitting. They will be facing very good pitching and will need all the help they can get from their hitters.
Carry on.
I’m not a hitting instructor, but it seems like Shohei makes up his mind to swing ahead of the pitch on many occasions. When he guesses correctly, damage is done. On the flip side, we see swings missing pitches that were never a strike out of the pitcher’s hand.
Does anyone else think that Shohei does this to deter inside pitches to avoid getting hit? Early in the season pitchers pounded him inside to set-up pitches away, It appears these inside pitches make him uncomfortable—unlike Freddie who barely flinches.
I think you have made a good assessment
4 Gens. It’s hard to be too critical of Ohtani being he is super talented. But, because of that he could much more productive and reduce his K rate.
Shohei moves back on everything inside. He does not stay in like Freeman does. Even Muncy does not flinch like that.
In my opinion he just needs to be more selective.
I never guessed as a hitter, but then I never had to face 96 mph. These guys all have great eyesight, superior hand eye and quick bats. From my chair it’s easy for me to say once you recognize spin, lay off, or fight off, anything that isn’t what you guessed. Especially on strikes 1 and 2. After that, shorten up and protect. And again, Shohei, take the walk.
Last night is what it can look like when this lineup makes contact. Can’t expect that every night, but give it to us 60% of the time the rest of the way and all will be well.
That has always been my point. Sometimes it seems like he has no clue where the strike zone is.
Photo of ballet dancer-wrestler, Ricky Starr
I thought that was a young Mark Timmons!
Now that is frippen funny! 😂
James Outman gave a very nice shoutout to Dodger fans and the Dodger organization. Very classy young man. Wish him the best and look forward to following his career.
I just read May’s statement, he said he was pushed out of LA. I think his performance is what got him traded.
Same here. May said something to the press yesterday, but I missed it. Pitcher the Dodgers got in the Feduccia trade from the Reds, Serwinowski, pitched 6.1 innings the other night. Gave up 1 hit, walked 4 and struck out 9. He is just 21 years old.
Is he the 6’10” guy?
No, he is 6’5″. 191 LBS. The 6’10” guy is Gervase, who has some time in the majors, 5 games with the Rays.
With his pair of homers last night, Max passed Matt Kemp for #7 on the Dodgers all-time home run leader list. He is just 6 behind Steve Garvey who had 211. Cey is fifth with 228.
Working on some new posts that were suggested by Bluto. They will take some time to research though. So, tomorrows post will simply be a summary of tonight’s game and the minor league scores.
with this recent discussion about Man, another topic could be best Best free agent acquisitions.
Definitely will work on that for you.
No!
Obvs these are just suggestions. please don’t ever write anything for me. I’m not that important.
I do not write for you. If the suggestions are legit, I research and see if they would make interesting topics.
Red Sox and Roman Anthony are finalizing a 8-year-130-million-dollar deal.
Today’s lineup: Game time 1.10 PM PST. Ohtani RHP V Liberatore LHP Ohtani DH, Betts SS, Smith C, Freeman 1B, Hernandez RF, Pages CF, Rojas 2B, Call LF, Freeland 3B.
Last night’s stats show the lineup should hit every game, yet they don’t isn’t it weird how they can look so good one game then so bad another. Guess it all matters who is pitching for the other team. Then Sonny Gray must be Cy young because he has pitched well against the dodgers both times.
That is called baseball Bradley. It is perhaps the hardest game to excel at. Players who fail 70% of the time are considered great. There are exactly 3 players above .300 in the National League right now. Smith, Freeman and Machado, that is it. In the American League there are just 7. 10 players out of the more than 780 who play the game professionally in the majors. That is a very small percentage who can do that. Gray is not even close to being the Cy Young. He has just owned the Dodgers this year. His prior three games before the game on Monday, he gave up 19 runs. His season ERA is over 4. Any pitcher can suddenly dominate even a great hitting team on any given night. That is both the beauty of the game, and the most frustrating part of it. Larry Jaster, a LH starting pitcher for the Cardinals in 1966, shut out the Dodgers all five times he faced them. He was an average pitcher, not Steve Carlton by any means, 35-33 in his career. But in 1966, against the Dodgers, he may as well be Walter Johnson. They just could not beat the guy. Yu Darvish, who LA beat in the deciding game of the NLDS last year, gives the Dodgers fits, even though he is just 5-5 against LA in his career. They are hitting just .166 against him.
The Pirates claimed Jack Little off of waivers. He has been sent to their AAA affiliate.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
FINALLY! YA-HOOOOOOOOOO!
Marvelous Max does mean a lot to this team….don’t kid yourselves by thinking otherwise. With his new improved eyes he can finally see the ball properly…I’m not surprised by this renewed hitting prowess.
Welcome back Mookie and Teoscar. I know the latter has been recovering from injuries so I certainly can cut him slack, but as for the former…you are too good to be what you have been most of this season. Of course we think the extra burden of carrying around the wear and tear of playing SS is a large part of the cause. Thus, yeah…we want you playing somewhere less taxing…RF or 2B.
As for Ohtani, I also can’t believe how many at bats you have had this year that makes you look silly. Again, how can we not think the adding pitching responsibilities perhaps is the cause of this. Can you blame us for thinking that? It’s better than thinking you are losing it. As for me…I couldnt care less if you pitch to another batter…all I care about is your bat. By the way, can you play LF?
Anyhow, it’s now August so let’s “come together right now, over your fans.”
TM
Bumblin stumblin fumblin.
Watching this Dodgers defense can be maddening.
this is not incorrect.
Just the other day you were applauding the Dodger defense. Which is it?
This team hasn’t been good at winning low scoring games. Today? Offense scores 2 earned. Defense? Mookie could have gotten an out at second, but instead goes to first, runner at second scores a few pitches later. No error given, but a defensive mistake. Pages throws to the wrong base, Freeland then throws it away at second, Teo doesn’t back up, go ahead run walks home.
This has gone on all year and just another reason why I keep saying gotta score 8. Between pitching and defense this team just hasn’t been good at winning low scoring games.
Gonna take some 9th-inning heroics. Was a winnable game if we played a clean game.
Rats!! Bullpen blows another one. Offense was lame again.
I am going to remain relatively quiet over the next couple of weeks, because I want to let the suck speak for itself.
But the relief pitching and defense are atrocious. And acquiring Brock Stewart was the most unimaginative trade deadline acquisition I have seen in years. Stewart sucked during his first stint with the Dodgers and he still sucks now. But most of the relievers suck this year. I hope I don’t read anyone loading the excuse cannon. But go ahead.
Just another pathetic loss, and pathetic series loss. The Dodgers are lucky to still be in first place.
I feel better about October now.
for how long you envision being quiet?
I don’t know, maybe as long as the suck lasts
Are you saying it’s possible we will never hear from you the rest of the year? I hope not.
lol, ok I promise I can’t stay quiet for that long
That was quicker than a Mark Timmons return!
😅
If they don’t wake the f*ck up, they won’t be in 1st place much longer.
Tough game to lose. Shabby defense, offense goes quiet again, and Vesia picks a bad time to get scored on after a long scoreless streak.
The Cards did what the Dodgers do by working the count and fouling off lots of pitches. Losing the series to St Louis at home isn’t encouraging. They need to get back to being consistently good.
Too many mental errors. Games like this you need to play a clean game. Orel mentioned the heat. That had to have some effect. Vesia seemed to have trouble gripping the ball. Wrobleski was not on his game either. Toronto coming in and they are the best team in the AL right now. They scored 20 on the Rockies today with 24 hits.
Vesia obviously didn’t have it and with Walker coming up why didn’t Roberts go to a right hander. Vesia set it on a tee. Where was treinen? Usually 20 pitches n Vesia is out. The Dodgers have been unwatchable for 2 months but Roberts has contributed with some of his dumb moves. I don’t blame Vesia.
The bullpen has been having issues the past few games. This to shall pass (i hope).
Bullpen is overworked. But the offense cannot continue to be sporadic. A little consistency would be nice.
The bullpen sucks.
Your opinion. What they have down there now is a helluva lot better than it was 2 months ago. No Davis or Sauer. There are only two inexperienced arms down there Casparius and Dreyer. Treinen is rusty. Up until today, Vesia has been one of the most reliable arms in the league. The offense could have bailed them out but failed miserably. Freddie is the only one taking decent at bats right now.
Bottom of the 7th in Arizona. D-Backs up on the Padres 2-1. Cavan Biggio signed a minor league deal with the Angels. Martin Maldonado DFAd by the Padres, Tyler Wade outrighted to AAA.
SD took the lead in the 9th.
I’m calling it a night.
They won 3-2, lead down to 2 games now.