That was a terrific win for the Dodgers. How many Dave Roberts haters are going to admit that the buttons he pushed in this one worked very well. I know some of you out there are saying:
Jordan Hicks was not good in his last two outings, and after the first two batters, it did not look for him again. Mookie led off the game with his 50th career leadoff HR (100.4 MPH), and the next pitch was a Shohei Ohtani single (106 MPH). After the first two batters, the Dodgers had more 100MPH+ AB than they did in Sunday’s against San Diego. Hicks settled down and retired the side.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up Thairo Estrada double in the first. But in the 2nd, Wilmer Flores led off and hit a hump back line single to CF. With one out, Blake Sabol hit a hard ground ball that Mookie got to, but he could only knock it down. Next pitch he left a hanging curve center/up that Luis Matos crushed into the LF stands.
After 2 innings the Giants had a 3-1 lead, and the way the Dodgers have been hitting of late, there had to be some concern…right? But the Dodgers caught a couple of breaks with wild pitches. Andy Pages continues to hit as he led off with a double in the 5th. With one out, Mike Yastrzemski made the play of the game laying out on a Mookie Betts line drive slicing away from Yaz to make a fantastic catch. With Ohtani up, Hicks uncorked a WP and Pages moved to 3B. Ohtani then hits a dribbler to 2B that Estrada could not make the play and Pages scored. The Dodgers were unfortunate that Yaz made the play, but fortunate because of the WP.
Mike Yastrzemski, FULL EXTENSION! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/oeg1u96Qi3
— MLB (@MLB) May 14, 2024
In the 6th, with RHRP Luke Jackson on the hill for SF, the Dodgers got a leadoff walk for Muncy. Muncy moved to 2nd on a WP, and with two outs, Gavin Lux slugged a ground rule double to CF that Matos could not make the play, and Muncy scored the tying run.
A multi-hit game
Both hits 105+ mph
An extra base hit
Not sure who this Gavin Lux is…. but I'm down pic.twitter.com/PNYzWI5HPX
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) May 14, 2024
Yamamoto In the bottom of the 6th, after only 68 pitches through 5.0 innings. Yamamoto’s control escaped him. He had just got Estrada on a ground out to Lux, and that was 12 in a row. But inexplicably, Yamamoto walked Matt Chapman on 4 pitches, and LaMonte Wade Jr. Wilmer Flores popped out on a foul ball to Freddie, and it looked like Yamamoto would get out of it. But on a slider middle/in, Heliot Ramos singled into LF for the go ahead run.
Yamamoto had only thrown 84 pitches, but Roberts made the first of multiple decisions that turned out to be correct. With two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, with the hot hitting LH hitting Blake Sabol coming up, Doc brought in Alex Vesia to face Jackson Reetz PH for Sabol. Vesia needed 3 pitches to strike out Reetz to end the inning and threat.
In the 7th with James Outman due up, and 2 out of the next three LAD batters LH hitting, Bob Melvin brought in LHRP Erik Miller. Roberts key decision #2… Kiké Hernández was sent up to PH for Outman. On the 2nd pitch Kiké saw he slugged a changeup low and in into the LF stands just inside the LF foul pole. It was the hardest hit ball all night (112.7 MPH) and the longest hit ball all night (406 feet). Good decision, Doc. Better hit Kiké.
Michael Grove and Daniel Hudson each pitched a clean inning with 2 Ks. Blake Treinen relieved in the 9th and had to navigate around a single and BB. He had help with his pick off of PR Tyler Fitzgerald, who was running for Flores.
Camilo Doval pitched the 9th for SF, and with a free runner on 2nd in the 10th, the Giants turned to Taylor Rogers. He struck out Ohtani, but Freddie walked on 5 pitches. Will Smith, who had been in a big slump, came to the plate and hit a crushing blow to CF that Matos could not make the play, that turned out to be a 2 run scoring double.
Will Smith for the lead! 😤 pic.twitter.com/lW5siMN83f
— MLB (@MLB) May 14, 2024
Ryan Yarbrough was not going to be used if at all possible. That left Nabil Crismatt, Gus Varland, and J.P. Feyereisen to choose from. Doc chose wisely as he brought in Feyereisen. JP struck out Brett Wisely for the first out. He walked Yastrzemski on 8 pitches, which turned out to be fortuitous. On the 2nd pitch, Thairo Estrada hit a tailor-made 5-4-3 DP. Good grab (not difficult) by Max and good turn by Gavin to get the DP and the Game 1 win.
Good for Feyereisen, having a moment like this. He was out for so long that pre-injury Walker Buehler actually pitched in a MLB game more recently than JP did (by 8 days). A whole lot of work went into this, love to see it. https://t.co/ORE3XuNsZ2
— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) May 14, 2024
Injuries are a part of baseball. The Dodgers have had their share with pitching, but the Giants have been decimated. On Sunday, the Giants lost rookie CF Jung Hoo Lee to a dislocated shoulder. Matos replaced Lee in CF and had a big 3-run HR that Lee probably does not do. But I wonder if Lee makes those 2 catches in CF. We will never know. What we do know is that the Dodgers won, Giants lost, and Padres lost to Colorado.
It is a pair of rookies going in game 2. Gavin Stone vs Keaton Winn.
JP “smoke and mirrors’ Feyereisen
Hey, he’s surprised me his last few outings. He seems to be coming around and pitching well. Let’s see if he stays in this groove.
Excellent win. Really looking forward to Gavin Stone tonight and see how he does on the road vs the rivals.
Felt like it was a lot of work to get that W. 3 for 11 WRISP, Teo and Freeman 0fer, 13 Ks, one costly gopher ball. But it’s a W as the rest of the Division hovers at .500 or less.
Sure wouldn’t like to see consistency in this lineup, but as Joe and Orel mentioned, 7-9 with runners in scoring position has been dubious through the first quarter of this season. Lux appears to be snapping out of it, Outman has both struggled and been unlucky when he makes good contact, Taylor is a ghost and Kiké is a .220 hitter.
The pitching has been, in my opinion, surprisingly good. That out of nowhere home run on a hanging nothing ball hurt what could have been a gutsy outing by Yamamoto but the bullpen gave up nothing for half that game.
This lineup is fun to watch when it’s rolling. It’s frustrating when they are not. Against a team like SF they should prevail, and, they did. But should it take 10 innings to do it?
Here’s a follow up to the Mike Petriello Statcast article I linked to yesterday. This one is from Ben Clemens at Fangraphs.
More interesting stuff for those who enjoyed the first one.
Interesting to see the cross plots.
Juan Soto is a free agent next year. Want to tie him up through age 36?
And who else mentioned there under the age of 28 might be a free agent soon? I’m too lazy to do the research on that, but those teams that have guys they can’t afford to keep might be interested in some of the prospects we have blocked by obtaining other free agents from teams that couldn’t afford to keep them. You know, it’s good to be rich.
Hard no to Soto
No chance
Nerve wracking game, but the end result was nice. Kike crushed that pitch he hit for his homer.
Saw this remarkable stat online this morning:
Of the 10 currently active former Cy Young winners, 9 are currently on the IL.
Yikes!!
Okay, who had that stat. 😯😉 Neither Corbin Burnes nor Justin Verlander are on the IL. Verlander was, but came off April 19. On the IL – Snell, Alcantara, deGrom, Scherzer, Kershaw, Cole, Ray, Bieber. But it is an impressive pitchers IL. 6 of the 8 are scheduled to come off sometime this year. Only Alcantara and Bieber are considered out for the year.
Good find!!!
Good find yourself! I didn’t bother to do the research before I posted that comment. By the way it was from the daily Athletic column, The Windup.
But even 8 out of 10 is crazy.
Great win, and great to see the pitching staff rounding into form, even Grove and Feyereisen are starting to pitch well. Defense has been pretty good too. Now if Lux could just get going, hoping this is the start of that.
worried about Buehler though. Hard to come back from one TJ, let alone two. what is this now 19 consecutive games allowing four or less runs?
20 I believe
Yep 20. Starting with April 21 defeat of NYM 10-0.
0 runs – 3
1 run – 4
2 runs – 6
3 runs – 3
4 runs – 4
Remember when we worried about team defense?
https://x.com/sis_baseball/status/1790087924962201828?s=46
I don’t remember worrying that much myself
The “we” was the royal we.
You wear the crown well.
Yeah, I do. Color me surprised.
Will it last? Sure. Why not?
In researching Japanese pitchers injuries in comparison to the US, I found this:
https://www.drlintner.com/blog/want-to-avoid-tommy-john-start-doing-this-today#:~:text=Take%20a%20break%20between%20pitching,day%20gives%20you%20added%20protection.
Some interesting links contained therein. MEAT or RICE? Both?
Outman has company
https://www.mlb.com/player/corbin-carroll-682998
I brought that up a week or so ago and wondered out loud if the Arizona fans were pushing hard for Carroll to go back to AAA. That would be in Reno which i a hitters paradise.
LeBron has been seen in Cleveland and Cleveland rumored to be considering drafting Brony in 1st round. LeBron could turn down his option and sign with Cleveland and that could keep Pelenka from doing more stupid.
As I’m writing this, Nabil Crismatt is trying to protect a 10-1 lead over the Giants…
Been traveling with spotty internet and just catching up on the action. Helluva catch by young Yaz. (Why aren’t there more grandsons in the game? So many sons, but not enough grandsons.)
I wonder how many infield grounders Shohei will beat out this year, He’ll deliver 99percentile exit velocity for a 450-foot blast and then single on a dribber that travels 45 feet. He can certainly lead the league in BA and HRs, but needs to catch up on the RBIs…We still love the Triple Crown, even though the RBI really isn’t as important as the run scored.
Another fine outing by Stone tonight. But four Ks from Pages…. a step toward the inevitable slump?
Perhaps the Pads really will have to replace the Giants as the great rival. Not as much history, but they are a problem now.