The Dodgers limped into the All-Star break going 1-5 against Philadelphia and Detroit, including two blown leads late on 2 walk off losses against Detroit. Boston was 4-2 against Oakland and KC.
Teoscar Hernández won the longshot HR Derby winner, and Shohei Ohtani slugged a 3-run HR in the ASG. Were things starting to turn?
In Game 1, the Dodgers were down 1-0 and after an ill-advised IBB to Will Smith to load the bases for Freddie Freeman, Freddie slugs a GS for the 4-1 lead and win.
In Game 2, Gavin Lux hit a solo HR in the 2nd for the initial lead. Down 2-1 in the 6th, LAD scored a pair to take a lead for their first come from behind inning.
Down 4-3 in the 9th, one of the biggest disappointments, Kiké Hernández slugged a game tying solo HR of Kenley Jansen for the second come from behind moment.
Down 6-4 in the 10th, with Freddie on 2nd, Andy Pages doubled him home, and then scored on Kiké Hernández’s game tying single, for the third come from behind moment.
In the 11th needing a single run to complete the come from behind victory, Kiké started at second. Cavan Biggio hit a sac bunt to move Kiké to 3rd. CT3 drew a BB putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Because it worked so well in Game, Alex Cora decided to issue a IBB, this time to Shohei to face Will Smith. On a 2-0 pitch, Will lined a game winning single to score Kiké. LAD came from behind 3 times including in the 9th and 10th.
The Dodgers came from behind again in the 3rd game, but just from the 1st inning. After 3 James Paxton pitches, Boston had a 2-0 lead. LAD tied it up in the bottom of the 1st with a Freddie HR and back-to-back doubles Andy Pages and Gavin Lux.
Four HRs over the next three innings gave the Dodgers a 6-2 lead. Teoscar Hernández, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes, and Shohei Ohtani each hit solo HRs. With a 6-3 lead in the 8th, the bottom of the order put across three. With two outs, Gavin Lux hit his 3rd hit of the day. He stole 2B and scored on a Cavan Biggio single. Jason Heyward followed with a 2-run HR.
Staked to a 9-3 lead, Doc went to Evan Phillips in a non-leverage situation to try and right his ship. Unfortunately, Phillips continued to show why he is suddenly the most vulnerable reliever on the staff. A leadoff single, back-to-back doubles, scored two. Back-to-back 1 out walks loaded the bases and Doc needed to bring in Daniel Hudson. Hudson got the ground ball he was looking for, but it looked like Lux took forever to get rid of the ball on a soft toss to Hernández at SS who could not turn the DP and a run scored. Hudson did get Wilyer Abreu to fly out to end the game and give LAD a sweep.
- LAD was 8-22 WRISP, scored 20 runs, allowed 13 runs, and hit 9 HRs in the series.
- Seven Dodgers hit HRs with Lux and Ohtani each hitting a pair.
- Gavin Lux was 5-9 with 2 doubles and 2 HRs.
- Gavin Lux is hitting .244/.311/.512/.823 in July.
- Austin Barnes one of the most criticized LAD players, has hit in 9 straight games. In those 9 games, he has 11 hits in 27 AB (.407). For the month of July, in 16 AB, Austin is batting .500/.529/.688/1.217. Not bad for a seldom used back up catcher.
- Anthony Banda pitched in each of the three Boston games.
- Daniel Hudson had two saves. Yarbs, Joe Kelly, and Evan Phillips also pitched in two games.
These were three excellent wins against a very good team and three very good starting pitchers.
- Miguel Rojas exited the game with forearm tightness, but it is not considered serious and is expected back in the lineup after a few games rest.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto is playing catch and is cautiously optimistic he will be pitching competitively again this year. Dodgers are “hoping” their star rookie will be back on the mound for them in late August or early September.
- In other rehab news, for OKC, Michael Grove pitched a scoreless 1.0 inning with a BB and K. Brusdar Graterol also pitched 1.0 inning in his first game in 2024. He allowed a single, a SB, committed a run scoring throwing error, a WP, and a strikeout. With Brent Honeywell pitching well for LAD, there is no urgency to bring Grove back to LAD too quick. Graterol needs more outings before he is ready to be activated.
Kershaw and Graterol are going to require spots on the 40.
Buehler to the 60 feels icky.
Nick Ramirez? Varland?
All three games were nail biters. It was great to see the team win all three. I loved the look on the faces of the players in the dugout when Ohtani hit his bomb. I was at Dodger Stadium both times Willie Stargell cleared the RF pavilion roof. First one was off of Alan Foster.
It is now safe to say the Dodgers will seriously be looking at another big bullpen arm with Phillpps struggling mightily. As it unfolded that 9th inning had a very similar look as did that game in Detroit a week ago.
Tanner Scott or even Mason Miller are the two guys on top of everybodys wish list. Miller will cost a kings rasnom in prospects so I would go after Scott.
Great to see how Lux has turned it on. 3 oppo hits yesterday . Keep it up, kid.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another gutsy performance by the team last night. Paxton was shaky in the first but settled in nicely to give them a good start.
Phillips’ recent struggles are cause for some concern.
I believe that AF should concentrate on beefing up the bullpen at the deadline. One or two high leverage relievers. I would make that a priority over a top of the rotation starting pitcher. Won’t cost as much in prospects either.
A middle of the rotation inning eating starter would be a good acquisition. Flaherty??
I would still look for an upgrade for the outfield. Pham would not cost a lot.
Enjoyed the bullpen this weekend. Yarbs, Banda, Honeywell, even Kelly had his moments.
Braves signed Whit Merrifield. Totally did not realize that the Olympics start this week in Paris.
Dodgers still have not signed any of their draft picks. I wonder if they are waiting until after the deadline.
Welcome back Jeff.
*Paxton settled in nicely after a rough start with the first 2 hitters. He seems to make big pitches when there’s traffic. He ended up going 5 innings which seemed unlikely in the first. He also found a little extra cheese which makes his soft stuff more effective.
*Doc sandwiched Kelly between the lefties but I kind of like the ideal putting Paxton, Yarbrough and Banda, back-to-back-to-back. The speed differences, all from the left side, make sense to me, if Banda can throw enough strikes with his higher velocity.
*It’s rare to see players react like they did, watching Ohtani’s home run. Their disbelief and amazement was fun to see.
*Again I took issue again with official scorer. I didn’t see Dever’s roundball in the 3rd as an error on Kike. But no harm, no foul.
*My concern for Phillips continues. I hope he isn’t injured.
*What’s the deal with Fox broadcasts? Saturday’s game had the background noise turned up to a deafening level. Joe Davis and Wainwright were drowned out and I could hear a word they said. And Dieter’s stuff was so loud it totally dominated the air. “let’s Go Dodgers” shook my windows. Yesterday on ESPN, it was way more normal. I could hear the announcers, despite Dieter still being too loud but in the background. I’m not a Dieter Ruehle fan anyway. Too loud and too repetitive with every clever selection ending in a head-banging “Let’s Go Dodgers”.
*I like David Cone more each time I hear him. He doesn’t jump out at you with a big personality but he’s funny and smart. He’s especially good with Michael Kay. Yesterday, he said subtly, “a pitcher needs to beat the hitter, just enough”
Was the breeze blowing out the other day? Six HRs is a lot, and Ohtani’s blast was epic. Freddie’s traveled a long way too…. Apart from the wind, I don’t understand how atmospheric conditions play into homer equation.
For reasons I can’t quite understand, I’m more excited about River Ryan’s arrival than I am about any other pitcher in recent memory.
Maybe it’s just the hope that the Dodgers really fleeced the Pads. Nothing against Matt Beatty–a fine fellow, I’m sure–but flipping a bench piece for a two-way player who The Athletic’s Keith Law is hyping as a potential No. 2 starter is pretty sweet. Not an ace, but ace-adjacent….Credit to the Dodgers’ scouting staff for targeting Ryan.
He’s been running his four-seam and two-seam fastballs in the 98 mph range.
So I’m not dealing Ryan for Crochet.
But reports of a potential blockbuster persist…
As we head into the last week before the deadline, AF is probably re-thinking his original strategy. Until half of our starters went to the IL, I’m sure he thought he’d have extra pitching to trade in July.
In any major trade, I’m sure he’ll be asked to include Wrobleski, Ryan or both and I’m not sure he can afford to do that since we still don’t know how effective CK, Miller, Buehler or Yamamoto will be down the stretch.
I wonder if Frasso, Sheehan, Hurt, May or Gonsolin have enough trade value at this point that he could convince someone to take one or more of them in a major trade? Chances are that any team we make a major trade with probably won’t be going to the 2024 post season, so they could afford to wait for these guys to pitch for them until next year. Only question is whether a team would want to see them actually pitch before trading for them.
Whoa!!!!!
Just announced that the Dodgers will DFA Paxton.
I’m sure they’ll be able to trade him, but that seems like a strange move unless they’ve already lined up a trade or two for a pitcher that they feel confident will actually come to pass.
Very interesting decision on James Paxton. U could argue that he was one of the most dependable sps throughout the year. When it appears we are looking for sp u might think the Dodgers would be hesitant to DFA a guy who hasn’t been on the dl this year. I don’t think he figures in the playoffs or in the bullpen. I would rather c Wrobleski, Ryan, knack get innings but just surprising. I don’t think he has much trade value so it is a gift to a team willing to take on a minimum salary. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us with an opposing team. Although rare he has been very good on occasion and did show a 96 plus fastball yesterday.
Paxton DFA
Rosenthal estimates, given injury history and lack of production, only a 40% chance of Robert Junior being traded at the deadline.
Also, looks like my “trade target,” Max Fried, is off the market
Wow. I was shocked to hear they DFA’d Paxton. I would have thought it would be Biggio if anyone. Something is brewing.
Miguel Vargas vying for the Gold Glove with a huge assist from LF followed by a diving catch!!
Not sure if this has been posted here, but Fangraphs had an interview with Robert Van Scoyoc on his philosophy and hitting in general.
It’s a great read, IMHO.
This passage was particularly interesting I thought:
Laurila: There has been talk about banning shifts. If that happens, will anything change about the way you work with hitters — primarily what you’ll communicate to them?
Van Scoyoc: “Probably not. I haven’t thought a ton about it, but we’ll adapt to whatever. I mean, the highest-value batted balls are going to be driven over the infielders’ heads. We want to do that as often as possible, so I don’t think [banning shifts] would change the game all that much, particularly with how pitching is going. With how good pitchers are now, you need to drive the baseball.”
Laurila: You mentioned driving the ball over the infielders’ heads. I’ve had hitters tell me that they’ve gone from that approach to one where they’re looking to drive the ball over the center fielder’s head.
Van Scoyoc: “One is talking about an outcome and one is talking about process. From an outcome standpoint, we know that we want the ball hit in the air, somewhere above the infielders’ heads to above the outfielders’ heads, but not too high above the outfielders’ heads. The other one is more of a process to create the outcome. So, it’s a little bit apples-and-oranges. From an outcome standpoint, we want the ball driven in the air; there’s no doubt. There are guys who think, ‘Drive the ball really high; hit a fly ball,’ there are guys who think, ‘Hit a hard groundball,’ and everywhere in between. It’s about appreciating what process is going to create the optimal outcomes for each guy.”
Great win Dodgers!!! Can’t stand the pumpkins.
Teo what a story. He has improved so much!!! He makes a conscious effort with 2 strikes to make contact.
Heck of a win considering that Ohtani, Smith, Freeman, Pages, and Lux went 0 for 16.
4-0 out of the gate after the break. Jeff will be posting a story on Friday then he will be out for a while with his surgery. I would appreciate some story ideas you might like. I have 3 doctors appointments myself between Tuesday and the 31st. I will do game recaps if I do not have a story ready to go. I appreciate all of you guys.