Yamamoto vs Fried: Yamamoto is making his second start since returning from his extended stay on the IL. He was very good in his first game back last week against the Cubs. He went 4 innings allowing 3 hits and a run, and he struck out 8 while walking none. Fried will be making his 27th start of the year in his free agent season. He is 9-9 with a 3.46 ERA. He has allowed 13 home runs this year, and he has struck out 144 in 153.2 innings. Shohei Ohtani is 3-3 in his career against Freid with a homer and 2 driven in. Teo and Muncy have also tagged Fried for homers.
Last night the Dodgers got to Iglesias for 5 runs. Those were the first runs he had given up in 3 months. He had made 30 straight appearances without giving up a run. His ERA jumped from 1.13 to 1.87. They also hit 2 homers off of Brebbia. Those were the first two homers he had given up since joining the Braves.
Austin Barnes was hit in the same toe he broke last month, and was removed from the game for Will Smith, who hit a clutch triple in the 9th inning starting the rally against Iglesias. Barnes was later confirmed to have broken his toe and was placed on the 15-day IL, Hunter Feduccia was recalled from AAA.
Dodger fans were hoping for the same kind of performance from Yoshi that he showed against the Cubs. Fried struck out Ohtani to start the game, Betts lined out and Teo, batting third again, struck out to end the inning. Yamamoto was not sharp from the first hitter. He walked Harris, who stole second and went to third on Smith’s throwing error. Soler struck out and with the infield in, Ozuna grounded out to Muncy. Olson walked and then Laureano grounded out to Muncy who threw to second for the third out.
Freeman walked to open the second, and Smith hit into a double play. Edman grounded out to third. Murphy leading off the second doubled off of the center field wall. Arcia grounded out and Murphy went to third. Urshela struck out and Merrifield grounded out to end the inning.
Rojas walked to lead off the third. Muncy hit a grounder to first, Olson stepped on the bag to get Muncy, but Rojas beat the throw at second. He then stole third base. Kike struck out and Rojas scored on a wild pitch from Fried. Ohtani walked and Betts struck out.
Harris leading off the third, singled to left. Soler then doubled on a line drive over Edman’s head, but Edman feigned a catch and Harris slowed down just a bit. Edman then fired to Kike who relayed the ball home to Smith and Harris was tagged out. Ozuna and Olson grounded out and the Braves did not score.
The Dodgers went 1-2-3 in the top of the 4th. Laureano hit a ball off of the wall that caromed away from Mookie and Laureano ended up with the triple. Murphy struck out and Arcia grounded out to Rojas with a drawn in infield, and Urshela lined out to Rojas. It was an impressive performance by Yamamoto, who despite not having pinpoint control was able to pitch 4 scoreless innings on 72 pitches.
Edman led off the 5th with a double. Rojas then hit a flare single down the RF line and Edman scored. Muncy got hit by a pitch. Kike flied out to right, and Rojas took third. Ohtani then hit a grounder to Merrifield, he threw Muncy out at second and Rojas scored the 3rd run. With the bases loaded, Betts struck out. Dodgers up 3-0.
Phillips replaced Yamamoto and had a 1-2-3 clean inning. The Dodgers went 1-2-3 in the top of the 6th. Treinen took over for the 6th and had another clean 1-2-3 inning. In the top of the 7th, Hernandez took over for Fried. Edman flied out and Rojas walked. Muncy walked and Lux, hitting for Kike also walked to load the bases. As in the 5th, Ohtani hit a ground ball, this time to Merrifield. He came home with the throw, but Rojas had a great secondary lead and scored the 4th Dodger run. Ohtani was safe and the bases remained loaded.
Betts hit a sac-fly to center to score Muncy and it was 5-0 Dodgers. Teo singled scoring Lux. 6-0. Freeman then hit a 3-run homer to left field off of Bummer and it was 9-0 Dodgers. That would end the scoring for the Dodgers. Hudson pitched the bottom of the 7th and allowed only a leadoff walk. Lux replaced Kike at second.
The Dodgers made some wholesale substitutions, Pages replaced Betts, Kiermaier went to CF, Taylor took over in LF, Edman moved to SS. Honeywell came in to pitch the 8th. He would pitch the 8th and 9th and allow only a walk. The Dodgers won the game 9-0 and will retain their lead over the Padres and the D-Backs. They also remain in front of the Brewers in the race for the second-best record in the NL. Evan Phillips got his 4th win. LA is now 89-61 with 12 games to play.
Dodgers scored 5 of their 9 runs with 2 outs. That is 14 runs in the two wins scored with 2 outs. They also scored 9 runs on just 4 hits and 7 walks. They did strike out 9 times and the big 4 went 3-14 with 7 runs batted in. Ohtani drove in 2 without getting a hit. The bullpen combined for 5 shutout innings, combined with yesterday for 8 straight shutout innings.
Dodgers head to Miami where they will arrive late this evening for a game at 3:40 PST tomorrow. Bobby Miller gets the start against Darren McCaughan. Knack will start Wednesday’s game and Flaherty will pitch on Thursday before the Dodgers head home for their last homestand against the Rockies and the Padres.
The Padres won their game with the Astros, 3-1. The D-Backs lost to the Rockies 3-2 on a throwing error in the 9th inning. The Dodgers are now 6 games ahead of Arizona and remain 3.5 ahead of the Padres. The Brewers won and remained 2 games behind the Dodgers for the second-best record in the NL. Philadelphia lost to the Nats, so they are 1 game in front of the Dodgers for the best record.
Every game now seems to be a must win for the Dodgers. The Padres have one less game remaining than the Dodgers. But the Padres also hold the tiebreaker. If they finished with the same record, the Padres would win the division. The wild card race has really heated up. MLB is loving this. The Cubs have the least chance to make the playoffs of the five teams locked in the race. They are 5 games back of the Mets who have moved ahead of the Braves for the third and final wild card slot. Braves are 1 game back of the Mets. San Diego now is 2.5 games in front of the D-Backs for the #1 slot. But the Mets are only 1 game back of the D-Backs. Arizona, Chicago the Mets and the Braves all have 12 games left.
Arizona has 7 games left against +.500 teams. The Mets have 10 games against +.500 teams. 4 with the Phillies, 3 with the Braves and they finish with the Brewers. The Braves have 6, Brewers have 9, Phillies have 9, Padres have 8 of their last 11 against .500 teams, including 3 with LA. The Dodgers play only 3 games against +.500 teams. The next week will be a critical stretch for the Dodgers.
Born June 14th, 1948, in Los Angeles California. AKA The Bear
On to Miami, a sweep would be ideal. 2 of 3 is a must.
9 runs on just 4 hits. Amazing. They pointed out how rare that feat is in Dodgers history.
Beside the win best news is that Yamamoto got 4 more scoreless innings, building up to 70 plus pitches now. Yes, he had some traffic and stress but he worked around it. Signs of a tough as nails front line starter to keep his game together without his best stuff.
Would have liked Rushing to be called up but Dodgers decided otherwise.
Banda not ruled out to return this season.
After the first two games this is a great split on the road vs a good opponent who is fighting for his playoff life.
Lets hope for a good Bobby Miller outing in Miami.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ram, I understand why you would like to see him get a shot. But the reasons why he won’t are simple. A. He is not really considered a catcher anymore. He has caught exactly 3 games since he was called up to AAA. B. He is not on the 40-man roster. Easy to fix, but maybe the team does not want to start his MLB clock just yet. He will be given a long runway come spring training to show his wares. And most likely, it will be as an outfielder.
If you were a woman I think you would marry Dalton Rushing.
Some men might object to your statement.
Dodgers Nation video says Doc has exchanged text messages with Glasnow and now knows where he is at. His exit from the team was not related to getting a further examination on his elbow and that he’ll rejoin the team in LA.
The video further mentioned that Doc is loved by his players especially the way he protects the players when they slump and when they’re injured etc. That’s why Doc’s initial statement that he didn’t know where Glasnow was seemed odd and out of character.
Probably a non-issue, but to abruptly exit the team just seemed a bit odd but in the end it will not be an issue.
Bluto told us yesterday it would be a non issue, we should listen to him more often
Do so at your own peril m.
True
No way!!!!!!!
It makes sense that he’s upset but not at the Dodgers. He’s probably disappointed he can’t help the club. Can’t say I blame him.
I might owe Bluto 15. There is a story there and we will hear it eventually but looks like it’s not much of one. I would be somewhat surprised he doesn’t seek a second opinion. I wonder if surgery has been suggested.
Yamamoto looked good but I recommend extreme caution, as in 6 days off and no more than 75 pitches next time out. If he’s on he can get 5 innings on 75 pitches.
The Dodgers can still get the #1 seed and in my opinion that should always be the goal.
If the season ended today, they would play the winner of the Brewers=Atlanta-NY. If they were the #1 seed, they would have to play the winner of Az-SD. They match up better with the Braves and Mets and even the Brewers. Philly, and SD have owned them this year. Az, they have barely played better than in their meetings.
I’m thinking home field.
Yamamoto likes to nibble which didn’t play well, initially, with Jordan Baker’s tight strike zone. Baker, the tallest umpire in MLB at 6’7”, is very good and very consistent but his zone is like throwing a pitch in the dryer from 60 feet. That may have something to do with the 11 total walks in the game.
This is the strike zone that might be expected from ABS. The ball needs to get a piece of the zone and pitchers aren’t going to get a strike on a ball width off the plate.
Yamamoto didn’t have his best day but he adjusted nicely and wiggled out of traffic. But it’s not how, it’s how many.
The key will be how he feels today.
This Phil-Mil series is also huge for us. After Mil’a win last night, we’re now 1 behind Phil for #1 overall seed and 2 ahead of Mil for 2 seed.
Bobby Miller pitching well today would be gigantic!
Strange situation with Glasnow and Roberts. Here is a good video about situation from Dodger Blue.
What I do not understand: Why did they not sent Glasnow to LA so Dr.ElAttrache would take a look at him in person before saying his season is done ? ElAttrache is THE best expert for those kind of injuries and he is the Dodgers consultant who does almost all of the surgeries on their players.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
Who are these guys? They suck. Most of the people here know more then these guys
It’s a conspiracy!
“His scans were promising”.
Really? What scans? CT? MRI?
Not a lot of information being shared on this. And maybe Glasnow and the Dodgers are taking the position of “it’s private and nobody’s business”.
Whatever. Glasnow is gone.
Another video about the Glasnow situation:
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
I like Alanna Rizzo.
Yama got rocked honestly. How he got out of there without a run was amazing.
A split in Atlanta was good enough. Showed some grit after the first two.
Now it’s time to play down to the level of our competition
We’re very good at that.
There is an abundance of talent on this team. If they all do what it is they are paid to do, they can beat anybody. And by anybody I’m including any team that will be seeded below them.
Badger— I agree with you re: the offense. In terms of pitching, their abundance of talent is on the IL or under the knife. As someone on this blog often says, “ They better score 8”.
The pitching is so bad, even if they score 8 they can still lose. Looks like they have punted another game.
And they can explode at any time during any game.
Flaherty and Yamamoto could be a solid 1-2.
Why does Ohtani jump back on nearly every pitch he doesn’t swing at?
I don’t think Bobby Miller warms up properly. He needs to pitch the first inning in the bullpen.
Our defense still sucks.
I see Ohtani jumping around a lot. Too much pre game sushi?
None of that shit please.
Seems to be the formula doesn’t it? The offense tends to disappear and that just doesn’t work in October.
It amazes me when I listen to Orel and Davis how easy this series will be. With Bobby miller pitching nothing is easy. Sho ohtani striking out as the lead off hitter n Betts n Freddie 1st pitch out against a terrible pitcher sets the tone. Lux looks like he has never played a game. An error counted as a hit n then throwing away a double play ball. Miller 35 pitches here we go again. We better get back in this game quickly before miller lets it get away. Nothing will be easy here.
Grove is about as bad as miller. He is Jekyll n hide. No business in a game we need to win. Slider is the only pitch he has.
Not sure why they started him and are punting this game away. if they lose and SD wins at home tonight against Houston, they’re lead is down to 2.5 games.
We seem to come out flat after a travel day.
It’s painful to watch Bobby Miller pitch. He has no idea where his pitches will land and he has no swing and miss pitch in his arsenal.
I suspect he will be sent out tomorrow and someone (not sure who) will
be brought up. Dude just is not pitching major league caliber ball this year and we should be done with this experiment ASAP.
Yeah, his mechanics are just a mess.
Its pretty well-chronicled.
Important off-season for him.
Ohtani is amazing.
Miller is in need of repair.
And Ohtani IS amazing. How good would he be if he didn’t chase so often?
Who cares? That change could debilitate him?
if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
I care. It’s a terrible habit.
That change could debilitate him? Seriously?
Maybe not very serious. At all.
Just hard to knitpick with a near 50-50 season. For me.
Never hard for me. he chases those pitches way to often and he can never hit them. Reminds me a lot of Bellinger when he was chasing that outside pitch all of the time. If it is in the zone, he crushes it. But he swings for the fences too often and tonight, with 2 on he just whiffed again. It gets maddening. 156 K’s this year, 10 more than he had last year,, and his numbers BA, Slg, OBP< all lower than last year. I would rather see more hitting with RISP than the homers.
How many of those Ks were from chasing pitches way off the plate. Just take the walk man.
If he only swung at strikes, he’d likely have his 50 already.
yeah, nitpicking maybe, but it still bothers me.
What also bothers me – score 9 against the worst team in the league and lose. Gotta score…. 12?
They keep throwing him out because it’s his turn and apparently there is nobody else. And the bullpen just gets more exhausted. Still a winnable game though.
Come on Lux. Figure it out.
I think if they really wanted to they could replace him, but they are playing the long game with him.
i guess
So the Dodgers pitching overall just keeps drawing nearer to collapsing.
Too often, the starting pitcher can’t go but a few innings, and the exhausted RP’s are simply too gassed to hold down the fort, which negates any realistic hope for the offense to mount a come-from-behind win. And all the pitching injuries have left the Dodgers brain-trust out-of-options.
The opener in Miami showed just how bad our pitching situation really is. Their starters are not getting the job done and the BP isn’t, either. Scoring 9 runs is meaningless when your pitching can’t stop the opposing team. And, this loss is from Miami, the worst hitting team.
Personally, I’ve given up the hope they will contend for a WS. Sure, we have talent, but we also have holes in our overall game that never get addressed. Sure, we’ll probably win the division, but going deep into the playoffs is a crap shoot. The team just can’t play consistently well on both ends, hitting and pitching. I will root for Shohei’s 50/50, but I don’t expect him to be our best hitter ever. Too many SO’s, too many chases. He doesn’t see the edges of the zone very well. Simple ball to bat skills elude him. Leadoff is the wrong place for him on our team.
Bottom Line: The Dodgers late-season pitching collapse for the last 3 years is UNACCEPTABLE!
If they can clinch with a few days left the entire staff can reboot. I guess forget the #1 seed. Win the Division with a few days to spare then let anyone pitch. But, beating the Marlins and the Rockies just has to happen. You can’t give those away.