I got to watch my first game in over a week. It may not have turned out the way I wanted it to, but it was good to see baseball again. While the outcome guaranteed negatives, their were some positives to take from the game.
The biggest positive was Freddie Freeman joining an elite club of MLB hitters with 2,000 hits.
Reaction from family and fans after hit:
He is the 291st player to reach the milestone. He is the 6th active hitter. The other active hitters with 2,000 hits:
- Miguel Cabrera – 3,119 hits
- Joey Votto – 2,098 hits
- Nelson Cruz – 2,049 hits
- Elvis Andrus – 2,036 hits
- Andrew McCutchen – 2009 hits
There are three other active hitters that are closing in on 2,000 hits.
- Jose Altuve – 1,961 hits
- Evan Longoria – 1,911 hits
- Paul Goldschmidt, – 1,834
The two players just ahead of Freddie on the list are former Dodgers:
- Shawn Green (290) – 2,003 hits
- Todd Zeile (Tied 287) – 2,004 hits
Freddie has now reached a pair of career milestones while as a Dodger…300 HR and 2,000 hits.
As I turned into the game, I learned that Chris Taylor went on the IL with a sore knee that is just not getting better. Yonny Hernández was recalled, and that left three position players remaining on the 40 man eligible for recall. All three are in Tulsa: Diego Cartaya (C), Jorbit Vivas (2B), Eddys Leonard (SS). None of the three are likely to be recalled. Max Muncy is due back on Tuesday, and that should send Yonny back to OKC.
As the Dodgers entered the Houston series, the team already had eight rookies on the 26-man roster:
- Emmet Sheehan
- Bobby Miller
- Michael Grove
- Nick Robertson
- James Outman
- Miguel Vargas
- Jonny DeLuca
- Michael Busch
Teams with 30%+ of rookies do not generally contend. However this LAD team with 8 rookies won the 1st two games of the Houston series.
After CT3 was placed on the IL, with Yonny Hernández now on the roster, that is 8 rookies, and one very near rookie on the 26-man. LAD came back twice, once down by 3 in the 8th and again by 1 on the 10th. They almost eked out a tying run in the 10th, but a fantastic defensive play by Mauricio Dubón to save a run on a Will Smith hard hit grounder up the middle. He not only saved the run, but got Smith out at 1st.
Doc decided to PH Miguel Vargas for Jonny DeLuca. That did not go well as Vargas struck out on a 3-2 sweeper at the top of the zone. Vargas had the more experience, but he has also been struggling of late. He is now batting .201 with a .677 OPS. Next batter, David Peralta, hit a weak ground ball to 3B for the 3rd out to end the game.
The Dodgers scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th after two outs. Mookie Betts was HBP and scored on Freddie’s double, his 2,000 hit. Will Smith followed with a 2-run HR in dead CF to knot the game at 4-4.
In the bottom of the 10th, the Dodgers were down a run. With Miguel Rojas the free runner on 2nd, Michael Busch had a productive out by pulling a hard hit ground ball to the right side getting Rojas to 3B. Mookie just missed hitting a walk off HR, but hit it deep enough to score Rojas.
The game started out on a high with Mookie slugging a leadoff HR, his 19 HR of 2023. It was also his 8th leadoff HR of the season, and 44th of his career. He is tied for 8th on the all-time leadoff HR list. Jimmy Rollins with 46 is next on the list, then Curtis Granderson with 47.
Tony Gonsolin’s out pitch used to be his splitter. On this night, he hung two that were crushed out of the park for 2-run HRs. On a year that his velo is down across his repertoire, the velo was down on this game compared to the 2023 average on his two best pitches, the 4-seamer and splitter. He was able to generate only 5 whiffs on 28 swings. Except for the splitter, Gonsolin was fairly successful at creating soft contact.
The curious point in the game was that Gonsolin was pulled after 5.0 IP and only 61 pitches. I recognize that there was an off day on Monday, but with only 60 pitches and most of his pitches inducing soft contact, I was curious as to why Gonsolin was pulled after 61 pitches. That was extremely efficient with an average at 12 pitches per inning. That is certainly not taxing for a starting pitcher. Is there an underlying reason he was pulled after 5.0 IP, and his velo is down? No wild ass speculation, just a curious question. I did not hear any post-game explanation before composing this post.
Yes, Brusdar Graterol and Yency Almonte gave up runs in the extra innings. But Caleb Ferguson, Ryan Brasier, Nick Robertson, and Evan Phillips each pitched a scoreless inning to continue the current excellent relief work.
Daniel Hudson was the opener in the OKC game against Las Vegas. He faced 4 batters retiring all of them while striking out three of them. Hudson should be activated this week, and I would suspect that Nick Robertson will be optioned. Nick may not have been as consistent as he would have liked, but he showed enough that he will be back.
The rotation should also get another back this weekend. On Sunday, Julio Urías had a rehab start in Rancho Cucamonga. He completed 4.0 IP, allowing 1 run, 2 hits, 1 BB, and 8 K. He threw 60 pitches in his 4.0 IP. Unfortunately those two hits and 1 walk all came in the 2nd inning. It has been reported that Urías will be activated for the weekend series against KC. Michael Grove is expected to be optioned at that time.
Jimmy Nelson is getting closer to being activated as well.
Next up for LAD is at Colorado. Clayton Kershaw, bullpen game, and Emmet Sheehan are scheduled to go against Colorado. Colorado has not been friendly for Clayton over the years. In 26 starts at Coors, CK has a 4.82 ERA and a 1.336 WHIP.
Congratulations to Freddie. Truly, the best player the Dodgers have acquired since AF came to town.
With 8 rookies in the entire rotation, have any of them won any games for us recently? All the pitchers seem to be collapsing and Vargas inches closer to the Mendoza line. Outman is the only positional player that may survive but his SO rate is scary. Most of our pitchers seem to be giving up easy HRs. Urias led the team in giving up HRs before his injury. Let’s hope Colorado makes us look better than we really are. This season is shaping up to be a real fight.
I guess we can start with Emmet Sheehan on Friday. Michael Grove followed Sheehan with 2.0 hitless/scoreless innings. Michael Busch run scoring double against LAA. James Outman ground rule double to score tying run and setting up winning run on Saturday. Plus going 3-4 with 2 runs scored on Friday. As poorly as Miguel Vargas may be playing he did get a big 9th inning HR against LAA for an insurance run.
Rose colored glasses don’t really change reality.
And neither do comments : “With 8 rookies in the entire rotation, have any of them won any games for us recently?”
Reality is that Sheehan did win a game on Friday.
Reality is Michael Grove pitched two hitless/scoreless innings following Sheehan.
Reality is that Michael Busch hit the game winning hit against LAA.
Reality is James Outman hit a ground rule double that tied the score on Saturday. The hit should have scored two but the ground rule kept the runner at 3rd who later scored on a balk.
Reality is that James Outman was 3-4 on Friday and scored 2 runs in the LAD victory over Houston.
Reality is that the Dodgers with more IL days than any other team and is playing with a roster composed of 30% rookies is still a WC team. With Muncy, Hudson, and Urias due back this week, and Nelson not too far behind, the picture starts to look a little brighter.
It does not take rose colored glasses to find reality. Of course if all you are looking for are negatives, you can find them as well.
Every dog has its day. Reality is the struggle that they are in and the overall lack of help from rookies. It’s not something that is unexpected and we’ll have to live with it. FYI, I don’t always look for negatives, but I am also not a believer in what my eyes don’t tell me. We have different views. Nothing new about that. If you are really happy with the team as it is, so be it.
Good for Freeman, he got it in front of the home crowd. Varas needs to be sent down. His swing is totally messed up.
Yep. Vargas needs to go down. I knew the gig was up when Doc pinch hit him for DeLuca.
Bottom of the order is not producing shit.
Actually they have been doing better.
Good series. Look forward to seeing Hudson and Nelson join the pen
I’m not alone in my year-long belief that the Dodgers need one more solid righty bat. Vargas and Deluca are not weakening that belief.
Muncy is due back soon–woopeeeee.
Why not start Grove instead of using a bullpen game?
Buehler more and more looks like he will be back for the playoffs.
Unfortunately I only have Urias as 50 50 being as good as we need him to be.
Busch continues to battle. Outman making more contact.
When do we get Giolito?
Send Vargas down and replace him with who? He’s a rookie. I believe they will have to live with his struggles, which would be fine if there weren’t so many other rookies struggling out there.
Roberts said he felt Gonsolin had nothing going for him so it was time to get him out of there.
Elvis Andrus has more hits than Freddie Freeman?
Yonny. Maybe some spark.
Nice comeback. A blooper off Graterol. Bullpen with no earned in 6 innings. Looks good in the scorebook.
Considering what is going on with this team I think they’re doing great. It’s my opinion if everyone were healthy we’d be out in front.
Betts and Yonny can play second if Vargas gets a 2 week stint in OK or gets more bench time. Who doesn’t want to spend time in OK?
LOL
I thought you wanted Betts at short?
Yonny replacing Vargas doesn’t sound like much of an upgrade to me. I think in order to learn how to hit Major League pitching you have to hit Major League pitching. The Dodgers made a commitment. I believe they should see it through.
If Vargas does get sent down I would bring him back up within 2 weeks regardless of how he did in OK. Maybe more bench time will help him relax and reset.
I was shocked to see Elvis Andrus having more hits than Freddie. It looks like he got his 2,000th hit on April 5. I do not remember any publicity about that. I do remember it for Cutch when he got his 2,000th hit on June 11.
I had the same reaction as you, Jeff, when I saw Andrus’ name on that list.
He’s got to have one of the most under-the-radar decent careers in MLB history, although part of that might just be that he’s been around for 15 years. You can really build some numbers in that amount of time. On the other hand, if you aren’t doing something productive you don’t get to have a 15 year career.
Mookie to 2B. Heyward in RF through the trade deadline. Mookie is a great 2Bman. Vargas needs to learn how to hit. I can live with Peralta/Outman/Heyward outfield. Busch/Rojas/Mookie/Freeman infield is okay. Barnes, not okay. Pitching I have no solution for.
Doc indicated that Grove is going to be the bulk reliever in the Wednesday bullpen game. With Andre Jackson now in Pittsburgh (Good Luck Andre), the bulk reliever now looks to fall into Grove’s glove. I always believed Grove would be a very good reliever. That role would normally be Jimmy Nelson’s, but he is really only throwing 1.0 inning per outing. Grove is the current version of Ross Stripling and Mitch White. Nothing wrong with that.
For the last two years, AF has not listened to me about Giolito. I do not think he is going to take my calls on that matter (or any other matter). I do think there is a real chance (good???) that the Dodgers will acquire Giolito. But I am sure he is on the wish list of Arizona, NYM, Houston, San Diego, NYY, Baltimore, LAA, and others. Remember Arizona (3) is right below LAD (2) in the farm rankings, and Baltimore (1) is ahead of LAD. LAD should be able to beat out any other organization for Giolito. I do think Arizona would like to finish strong, and have a third reliable starter in the playoffs. I do think Arizona could and will overpay. But will AF overspend for a rental, even one from the Dodger’s back yard. As I said before, both Lucas and his wife went to Harvard-Westlake, so lots of family pull for an extension or FA signing. Maybe this year the Dodgers will catch a break with a wife wanting to be close to family. It worked for Philadelphia and Trea Turner. Studio City is a lot closer to Dodger Stadium than New Jersey is to Philadelphia. Maybe the following year Max Fried will want to come home as well. I am kind of cool on the Jack Flaherty possibility. But there was a time when Flaherty was talked in the same tone as Walker Buehler.
A little help please. As I understand the rule the ghost runners in extra innings do not count against a pitcher’s ERA. They shouldn’t count against a bullpen’s “runs against” either. Not sure how they are counted. Someone must know 🙂
From MLB:
“Automatic Runner
Definition:
As part of MLB’s health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, all half-innings after the ninth will begin with a runner on second base in the 2020 regular season. This rule will not be in place for the 2020 postseason or the 2021 campaign.
The runner placed on second base at the start of each half-inning in extras will be the player in the batting order immediately preceding that half-inning’s leadoff hitter, or a pinch-runner. So, if the No. 7 hitter in the order is due to lead off, the No. 6 hitter (or a pinch-runner for the No. 6 hitter) would be placed on second base.
If the automatic runner comes around to score, an earned run will not be charged to the pitcher.”
I don’t know why people call it a ghost runner. Designated or Automatic is more accurate.
I visited a haunted house recently and it was full of designated souls.
Were they running?
I read today on google news that Roberts has said the Vargas will lose playing time to Michael Busch. I think Vargas should be playing every day, even if it is at OKC. His at bats are getting painful to watch.
If he’s not going to play, then yeah, send him back. But he has nothing left to learn there. I would see to it he gets at bats every day at this level, it’s the only way to get better. But maybe that’s just me.
If. he’s not hitting, he still has work to do. Let him do it in OKC.
We already know he can hit that pitching. If he’s a bust, we need to find out We’ll know soon enough what the Dodgers intend to do.
Here’s the information I found:
Dave Roberts said he doesn’t think Miguel Vargas has gotten on a roll yet. He’s struggling a bit. But he’s still in it and grinding.
Doc will be more mindful of giving him days off to get him on track. Like they did recently.
Dave Roberts said Michael Busch “potentially” could see some time at second base as the Dodgers look to give Miguel Vargas slightly more days off while he tries to get on track.
So it’s me and Dave Roberts.
It may take a while but I think he’ll figure it out. Same with Busch. By the end of the year they’ll be veterans.
He is a hitting machine.
Not yet. But he will be.