After nearly two years since his last outing (05-17-2023), Dustin May Returns to Dodger Stadium and did so brilliant fashion. 5.0 IP, 1 run (unearned), 1 hit, 3 BB, 6K. He threw 81 pitches (46 strikes).
We all know the story…Dustin May was out for dinner and a piece of salad that did not go down quite right. He took a drink of water, and the piece of salad apparently lodged in his esophagus. While at home, his wife, Missy, convinced him he needed to go to the emergency room. As it turns out, that visit saved his life. Dustin gives Missy all the credit for convincing his stubborn self. Missy made a very sobering comment that she could have been a 27 year old widow.
Okay now for the good stuff…Dodgers win again and move to 7-0. Unfortunately, they are not running away in the standings. San Diego is also undefeated at 6-0 (0.5 GB), the Giants are 4-1 (2.0 GB), and Arizona is 3-2 (3.0 GB).
May’s unearned run came on the Dodgers first error of the season. A throwing error by Mookie allowed Marcell Ozuna to score from second. The ball slipped out of his hands while he was trying to hold on to it???
Defense also had some good plays behind Dustin May and the others. Teoscar Hernández fell into the stands making a catch. Tommy Edman made another nice pick at 2B, this time on a throw from Will Smith. And a couple of good plays by Kiké Hernández to close out the 9th.
The Dodgers put their all RH bat lineup, save Shohei Ohtani. Kiké Hernández played 1B for Freddie, and Miggy Ro played 3B for Max Muncy to face 2024 NL CY winner, Chris Sale. Sale was dealing through the first 5.0 innings, allowing 1 hit, no BB, 2 HBP, and 5 K. But the wheels came off the bus for Chris in the 6th. Shohei led off and reached for a pitch to punch it into RF for a single. Then Mookie more than made up for his error with a 2-run 369 foot HR off Sale to give the Dodgers the lead. Tommy Edman followed with a hard hit single, and Chris Sale was done for the night.
Later in the inning, Edman stole 2B, moved to 3B on a catcher throwing error, and scored an insurance run on a Will Smith single.
Smith is off to a very hot start to the season. .471/.625/.706/1.331. In 24 plate appearances, Will has reached 1st 16 times.
May was not the only solid pitcher on the evening. Anthony Banda, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and Tanner Scott each pitched a scoreless inning. Combined they allowed 2 singles, one walk, and 4 Ks. Scott was still not the dominating presence he was in 2024, but he is getting closer. Anthony Banda allowed his 1st baserunner on the season, but is still unscored on. Same with Blake Treinen. Dodgers pitchers had another double digit K total (10) for the game. For the season, Dodger pitchers lead MLB in strikeouts with 83 in 7 games (11.8 per game). Next closest? San Diego with 60.
The Dodgers are now 4-0 against LHSP. They have now beat both 2024 CY winners in their first 7 games. They have 5 come comeback victories. At 7-0, they have tied for best start of season following WS win. The 2025 LAD team now has the best season opening win streak for LAD. 10-0 is the franchise record.
Blake Snell will start the final game of the series, and the Dodgers will be looking for their 3rd straight series sweep.
OKC Comets 4 – El Paso Chihuahuas (San Diego) 1
Justin Wrobleski started for the Comets and got to 5.2 shoutout IP before he reached the automatic removal pitch count…75 but finishing that batter. Wrobleski pitched 76 pitches. He struck out the two batters he faced in the sixth, and left with a 1-0 lead. Ryan Sublette gave up the game tying HR to Luis Campusano in the 6th, before he got the final out.
OKC got their first run in the 5th on back to back singles by Hunter Feduccia and Ryan Ward putting runners on 1st and 3rd. With one out, Alex Freeland hit a sac fly.
A two-run home run by Michael Chavis in the sixth inning put the Oklahoma City Comets in the lead for good. With the score tied, 1-1, Kody Hoese reached base on a walk after challenging a strike call, which was subsequently overturned for ball four. Two batters later, Chavis hit a two-run home run out to left field for a 3-1 OKC lead. Hunter Feduccia connected on a RBI single to boost OKC’s lead to three runs later in the inning.
Oklahoma City pitchers then retired 10 of the final 12 El Paso batters of the game, including the last five in a row and four via strikeout by Sam Carlson who earned his first save of the season.
Dalton Rushing left the game in the third via a pinch hitter, and I do not know the reason. I was not watching the game at the time, so I do not know if something was said.
- Michael Chavis – 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (2)
- Hunter Feduccia – 2-3, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Hyeseong Kim – 1-4, 1 run, double (2)
Rushing left the game as a result of a foul ball off his mask. He took about a minute to “clear” the cobwebs and stayed in the game but was removed from the line-up the next inning. He suffered a concussion last year on a bat strike to the head.
I think he might make his big league debut this year and hope he is ok with no lingering concussion problems.
Great win last night. Would like to see Snell pitch a gem tonight and give FF one more day to get his ankle right. Will Smith off to a great start to the 2025 season. As I recall he was “red hot” at the start of last year as well but “cooled off” in the second half of the season. Need to keep him fresh.
Congratulations to Dustin May. I’ve always enjoyed watching May pitch. But, with recent injury history I thought that his career as a starter was over. At best, he would be a BP piece. And, most likely, his career as a MLB pitcher was over. With his lanky body and physical pitching delivery I believed he was going to be injury prone. So far, so good on his return in 2025. Let’s hope he can stay healthy and have a productive career. He is truly so much fun to watch pitch. He’s all in all the time.
I’m happy I was so wrong about May’s return to the Dodger rotation.
Carry on.
I have to admit (look away Jorge (rhyme)) that the Padres have made two GREAT moves.
the Gavin Sheets acquisition and the Merrill extension.
Preller may be a jerk, but he’s good and aggressive.
Let’s talk about bats; not the ones hanging in a cave but the ones creating all the uproar lately in MLB.
Badger shared some good information on Point of Percussion and the old trick to find the sweet spot on a wooden bat.
And Bear, I remember those wooden fast-pitch bats from my youth as a batboy for my Dad’s team.
Most of us old-timers grew up with wood bats. And we broke em. I only remember 2 companies, Adirondack and Louisville Sluggers. They were $3.95 when I’d get 6 for the season. But you saved your “gamers”. We always played “over-the-line” with repaired bats; some Elmers glue, some small nails and tape and you were all set. For a while the Little Leagues tried to cut costs and put fiberglass sleeves on the handles. I hated those things.
When I first picked up a metal bat well after my career, I couldn’t belief it. It was a 2-pice deal with a skinny handle with the massive barrel attached like a war club. All the weight was loaded up in the barrel. The ball just exploded off the barrel of those electric bats.
We used wooden bats that were too big. I used a 35/35 and choked up an inch. The thinking was I those days, if you got a bat with more than a 2 differential, the wood was no good; like balsa wood. And after all, Richie Allen used a 40 to 42 ounce bat.
Pro bats are ordered by the model #. The same models were offered to the public as autographed models. Along with shoes and gloves, Big Leaguers had bat contracts that were marketed to the public as their autographed model. The JR3 – was sold to the public as Jackie Robinson autographed. It was a thicker bat, as I recall, with a thick handle and not much taper. NF5 was the Nellie Fox bat with a very thick handle and barrel looking more like the Torpedo Bat, without as much taper to the bat’s end. Many will recall Nellie choking up on that log with the Punch and Judy contact style. The style of hitting was reflected in the style of the bat. Mantle’s famous M110 and K-55 were very popular pro models. And the skinny handled A-10 were Al Kaline models to the consumers. It had a pencil thin handle and a big barrel, more like today’s metal bats. Get jammed and they were broken. Also, our old bats did not have a concaved, cupped end to take some weight out, as I recall.
Metal bats changed everything including the style of hitting. There is no such thing as a fat handled metal bat. Kids now all grow up with skinny handles and big barrels. The balance is totally different from wood. There are no more slap hitters and Punch and Judy guys choking up on fat handled bat. Kids are at the end of those weapons and taught basically one style of hitting.
It took forever to finally deaden the college and high school bats with the BBCOR and max differentials of -3, between length and weight. No more electric 34/29’s.
The metal bat companies held out as long as they could as they knew the restrictions would hurt sales if not universal. “Come and get it kids, the latest double-walled, $500.00 bat, that’s dead as a doornail.” Not good for marketing.
MLB has offered to provide college baseball with all the wood bats they could use but the NCAA balked at that years ago fearing ginormous lawsuits from Easton and Worth, the popular metal bat manufactures back in the day.
In the pros, today’s bats are lighter. They have larger barrels and thinner handles. Just like the shape of the metal bats they grew up with.
Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron used similar bat models, but whereas the Babe’s bat weighed 42 ounces, Aaron’s was just 33 ounces. Bonds down to 32 ounces. I think that old Edd Rouch of the 1913 White Sox may have discovered that his 48 oz bat would be tough to get around on today’s 99mph heater.
Through the years, the type of wood has also changed. Once, white ash used to be the most popular wood used for professional baseball bats. Now, most bats are made using maple wood, as well as some birch and ash.
I too am surprised somebody didn’t come up with “new” idea of the Torpedo-Bat, before. To me, they look similar to the old fat barrels of some of the old bats, like the JR3 and NF5’s, the big difference being the narrowing taper toward the end of the Torpedo bat to keep the weight down. And through technology, the bat is customized to put the sweet-spot in the player sweet-spot. That’s what makes them new ,different and the current rage.
I think it’s a very cool idea and I wish I’d thought of that.
It’s fun and we all needed a new topic since we’ve gone through scuffing and cutting of the ball, spit, vaseline, KY Jelly, corked bats, SpiderTack, and other topics du jour.
I’m waiting on a Torpedo-fungo.
Some thoughts on last night’s game.
The Dodgers pick up Estuery Ruiz for Carlos Duran
I like the trade because honestly Duran had no chance with us. I could the number of guys he’s behind but my fingers would get tired.
Not to nitpick, but May’s wife name is Millie, not Missy.
No idea who this dude we picked up from Oakland is, but would anyone be surprised if he’s the fulltime CF by August and bats 9th to have a guy on base in front of Ohtani?
Tonight’s 5pm game is an Ohtani bobblehead. Word from 710 ESPN LA is that people are already lining up to get inside. I am not one of those people.
I am sorry but I see no upside in Esteury Ruiz over Carlos Duran. No, Duran was never going to be a LAD starting pitcher, but he might have been a great reliever. Ruiz is primarily a CF who could not stick with SD or Oakland. His career OPS is .641, and career OPS+ is 82. I see no chance of Ruiz duplicating his 67 SB he had with Oakland in 2023. Outside of Ohtani, Dodgers just are not aggressive with SB.
OKC will now have 3 outfielders who are primarily CF: James Outman, Justin Dean, Esteury Ruiz, and one who is getting a lot of play in CF: Hyeseong Kim. Ryan Ward is the primary RF. This necessarily will limit Outman’s PA to give Ruiz and Dean CF time. He will be moved to LF at time, but now with 5 OF, 2 have to sit. Feduccia and Rushing will get the primary DH time.
Carlos Duran was not on the 40 man. They did not need to move him to make a spot for a MLB player with options, like Ruiz. There is too much upside with Duran, where I do not see any upside in Ruiz. Then again, I am not being paid $MMM to make those decisions.
Hot in CF: Kim, Ruiz
Not in CF: Pages, Outman
Another “kid extension”. Red Sox signed Kristian Campbell (current 2B for Boston) to a guaranteed $60MM deal over 8 years with 2 club options, worth $40MM. Plus incentives.
Campbell’s stock has been shooting up for quite a while now. Boston selected him with the 132nd overall pick in 2023, signing him to a bonus of $492.7 K. The Dodgers had 4 picks before the Red Sox tabbed Campbell:
· Kendall George (OF) – 36th overall – Signed for $1.85MM
· Jake Gelof (3B) – 60th overall – Signed for $1.33MM
· Brady Smith (RHP) – 95th overall – Signed for $703K
· Wyatt Crowell (LHP) – 127th overall – Signed for $647.5K
Campbell is primarily a 2B, but also plays SS, 3B, CF, and some corner OF. Sounds like the perfect Dodger prospect. And he is in MLB less than 2 years from being drafted. In retrospect this was a miss by LAD, but I have no idea if the Dodgers considered Campbell or not.
Right-handed pitchers Tony Gonsolin and Evan Phillips are expected to start rehab assignments by the end of this week. That gives somewhat of a time table for Roki Sasaki to turn it around. Once Gonsolin ramps up (3 starts), he will be in the rotation over Sasaki (at this point). Can you imagine what Sasaki could do in AAA. Perfect spot for him to get his confidence, if he does not get it before then.
There are a few options for AF/BG when Phillips is back. They could DFA Luis Garcia or option either Jack Dreyer or Ben Casparius. They may want to keep Casparius building up as a starter. With Scott, Banda, and Vesia, the Dodgers have enough LHRP making Dreyer optionable, even though he deserves to stick. You have to make room for Phillips, and somebody has to go.
This was scary.
If this indeed turns into a concussion protocol, it would be his 2nd concussion in less than 2 years. Not good. Before there were concussion protocols, my son played with at least 2 concussions (probably more), and there are some neurologists he saw who have said that could have been the cause of his stroke. In one game after he was pulled for a concussion, the team ran out of position players and sent my son to 1B to finish a game. They specifically told him to just catch the ball at 1B…no dives. However, they forgot who my son was. On a foul ball, Andy raced over and dove into the stands to make the catch. The team was not happy with him, but telling him not to do everything he could do to win a game was a non-starter for him.
Just watched Jackson Merrill, he of the new nice contract, hit another HR.
He’s also proof that superstars can be found outside the top 10; he was the 27th pick in round 1 in 2021. (we picked 29 and took Maddux Bruns).
Per Alex Freedman:
Good news: Dalton Rushing is good to go after having to leave last night’s game when he took a foul ball off the catcher’s mask. He’ll sit today but will be back in the lineup tomorrow.
The great Eno Sarris on a new pitch,
the kick-change:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6201935/2025/04/02/new-baseball-pitch-kick-change-origins/
102 pitches in 2nd start of year. I know Skenes is a horse, but do you take that kind of a chance on the face of your franchise, knowing their 2nd starter, Jared Jones, is already out? Sandy Alcantara was also a horse for a poor team that was overpitched. How did that work out? I am a Paul Skenes fan, and I want to see him pitch well, except against LAD.
Someone tell me again how improved Pages is as a CF. How can that ball be called a double. Muncy has 2 errors this game, and he was saved by Edman twice on piss poor throws. If they do not start hitting, they should not be in the lineup. I would rather have guys who can make routine plays (and that ball hit to Pages is routine to 29 other MLB starting CF) but are challenged offensively.
Sloppy start for these guys. Too many mistakes. Pages just keeps proving he does not belong in CF. Max with 2 errors on plays that he had plenty of time to make.
Max is hitting .083, Kike .118 and Pages .130. Both of Kike’s hits have been homers. Both of Muncy’s hits have been singles. All three of Pages hits have been singles.
Okay, Muncy got a 2-run game tying double. Now it is Pages turn to win it in the bottom of the 9th.
And that’s why we love Baseball!!!
Great for Max to get that hit. Team picked itself up and got the W
As Orel often says, the game is just too long for LAD opponents.
Wow!! Way to go boys. Flight to Philly just got a lot more fun.
Yes, Pages’s play in CF gas a lot to be desired. But, his arm strength was why Atlanta didn’t try to score when they had the bases loaded. So, at least give him that.
Food for thought: Concussions are dangerous. Repeated concussions are extremely dangerous. Perhaps give Rushing a look at 3rd base. I’ve stated several times that I wish the Dodgers would work out Will Smith at 3rd but as far as I know that have used Rushing at LF, first base , Catcher and of course DH. Rushing bat belongs. Hopefully this all becomes irrelevant because Muncy goes on a streak and gets up to .250,.Feduccia has been a hitting machine this past season through spring training and continued this season. If Barnes or Smith gets dinged up Feduccia. Is worth giving a long look at in Dodger blue.
Quite a nice comeback today to reach 8-0, a record start for a defending World Series champ.
Definitely not “Liberation Day” for the Braves. (Zero and seven. And this one must have really hurt.)
Quick takeways:
–More than ever I wish AF had dealt for Crochet instead of signing Snell, who was defectively wild today. (Crochet threw 8 shutout innings for the Red Sox).
–Grateful that my man much-maligned Max managed to find redemption for his two throwing errors. (Maybe Freddie could have saved him on that first throw, but maybe not.) But the two-out, two-run double to tie the score in the 8th was glorious.
–Will Edman hit 50 HRs when he gets a torpedo bat? Will he need one? (Volpe hit another for the Yanks. Certainly seems to help him.) How many might Conforto hit? (Various scribes predicted the Dodgers would have 7 guys hit at least 20 HRs. But I don’t think any thought Edman would be one of them.)
–Pages again proves that he’s a defensive liability in centerfield.
–Casparius and Dreyer again prove that they belong in the majors… even though they may get shuttled to OKC when Phillips and Kopech and Gonsolin are ready.
–And of course it’s the storybook walk-off on Shohei’s bobblehead night. Because of course it is.
So now that the Dodgers are 8-0–a record for a defending WS championship team– let’s not forget that Freddie has only played in three of these games and Mookie in only five.
The team went six games without committing a single error. The defense today was a mess, but the Dodgers climbed out of the 5-0 deficit…. to keep pace with the juggernaut Padres.
Six Dodger regulars are producing an OPS of .980 or better: Smith, Conforto, Shohei, Mookie, Freddie, Edman.
The team ERA is 1.97, second to the Padres’ 1.57.
So when do the Dodgers tire of Pages’ act? Maybe they should consider bringing Bote up to play 2B and move Edman to CF.
I was thinking about a package for Robert Jr.
Pages, Knack, Wrobleski & Feduccia
Thoughts?