Around The League
Some news from around the majors. Braves pitcher, AJ Minter will have to have hip surgery. It is not known if he will miss the rest of the year, but with so few games left, that is a distinct possibility. Harold Ramirez was released by the Nationals. He had some success in 22-23 for the Guardians. He was released and signed by the Nats earlier this year.
The Marlins told P Sandy Alcantara that they would not be trading him this winter. The Giants recalled OF Grant McCoy and optioned Marco Luciano back to AAA. The Yankees designated P Enyel De Los Santos for assignment. Jazz Chisholm was placed on the 10-day IL and Oswald Peraza and Will Warren were recalled.
Mauricio Llovaro was released by the Mariners. Braves designated OF Parker Dunshee for assignment. Michael Harris II was activated from the 60-day-IL and Eli White was optioned to AAA. Arizona recalled infielder Blaze Alexander and optioned OF Alex Thomas back to AAA. Angels released 2 LHP, former Dodger Adam Kolarek and Amir Garrett. Both were in the minors.
Aaron Judge became the fastest player to reach 300 homers in MLB history. He did it in 955 games. Arizona thumped the Rockies 11-4 and San Diego beat the Pirates, 8-2 to put pressure on the Dodgers and cut their lead to 2.5 games with the Brewers beating LA and ending the win streak at five. Dodgers made three errors and all of them led to runs. The errors were made by players who usually do not do that, Betts, Ahmed and Kike.
Buehler struggled through 3.1 innings giving up 4 runs. Only 1 was earned. The bullpen did a good job until Honeywell hit a batter in the bottom of the 7th after LA had tied the game in the top of the 7th. Phillips came in and got the second out before allowing a single to right that Mookie tried to grab and overran. The error allowed the winning run to score. Honeywell took the loss, his first.
Kiermaier saved Buehler in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and no outs, Contreras hit a shot to center that Kiermaier caught and then fired a strike to Barnes to cut down the runner at the plate. Kevin also had 2 hits. Both teams were 3-10 with RISP. Betts was 2-5 and struck out 3 times. Freeman was 3-5. Ohtani was 0-4 with a walk and 2 stolen bases. His BA is now down to .295. Teo got an RBI on a bases loaded walk, but Teo struck out his other 3 at bats. Miguel Rojas drove in the tying run in the top of the 7th as a pinch hitter.
Minor League Scores
OKC: OKC is tied with Las Vegas at 5 in the bottom of the 5th. Edman and Muncy are both 1-3 with a K. Jordan Lyles started and gave up all 5 runs in 3 innings of work. Lao replaced him. Feduccia and Hoese have homered. Brasier is now pitching. Update: OKC now up 10-7 in the bottom of the 7th. Edman is playing SS tonight. He is 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Rushing hit his first AAA homer in the 6th. He also has a double and 3 driven in. Brasier went 1.1 innings giving up only a walk and striking out 2. Tanner Dodson relieved Nick Anderson who gave up 3 runs so far in the bottom of the 7th. The error was on Max Muncy at 3rd allowing Max Muncy to score!!!! LOL. Game is now in the top of the 8th.
Tulsa: Tulsa eked out a 2-1 win over Midland. Ferris went 5 scoreless innings giving up 3 hits, a walk and struck out 5. Knowles and Hobbs pitched the next 3 innings allowing the run and 2 hits. Hobbs allowed the homer that tied the game in the 8th. Drillers scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. Two walks a hit batsman and a single scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.
Great Lakes: Lake County shut out the Loons on 3 hits. Bruns went 3 scoreless, Ruebeck pitched a scoreless 4th, and Jo Rodriguez got the loss giving up both runs in the bottom of the 5th. Gelof, Mongelli and Thompson had the hits. The Loons struck out 12 times.
Rancho: Visalia is up 8-1 on the Quakes in the top of the 7th inning. Visalia did most of their damage against Santillan a Gutierrez. Rojas and Osorio are 2-3, Hope and George, 1-3. Update: Rancho now down 9-1 in the 9th.
Not a good loss. Untimely errors, clutch hitting not happening. Just forget about it and win tomorrow. Both SD and Az off tomorrow so LA can pick up .5 on both and move the lead back to 3. Flaherty against Myers. Smith should be back in the lineup. Game starts at 11:10 LA time. Then on to St Louis who was swept by the Reds. Phillies finally beat the Marlins. How about that Kiermaier guy? One of the best outfield assists I have seen in years. Great throw.
Keirmaier’s play was fantastic, His throw was clocked at 99 mph.
Not bad for a guy planning to retire.
Mookie’s error was just so ugly….I was hoping he’d redeem himself by hitting an HR, but nope.
I was annoyed when Roberts had Rojas hit for Lux–but then Rojas came through with an RBI single.
Except for Keirmaier, the defense didn’t help Buehler. But then Buehler didn’t help himself, walking more guys than he struck out. And the offense disappeared after the first inning.
Dodgers’ lead cut to 2.5 games over both the D’backs and Padres. It’s getting interesting….
Neither play today, so they can pick up a half game with Flaherty on the mound. I like their chances.
I will be in Saint Louis Friday at the game.
Cool. Never seen a game there. But you can tell it is a great atmosphere.
So far, I haven’t seen any efficiency in Buehler. He wasn’t terrible and I feel we lost this game because of our vaunted Defense. Mookie, Kike, etc…This game was a wrap but we couldn’t put the finishing touches on it.
Badger asked the question, ‘Can SD & AZ sustain their 90% win streak. Yes, they are doing it. Of course it won’t last forever but neither will the Dodger win streak which we’ve just witnessed. Can you feel them breathing on our necks?
Errors by two gold glovers: Ahmed at SS, Mookie in right.
Pretty sure the Dodgers have the toughest schedule ahead among the contenders.
At this stage I´d rather have Ferris Buehler than Walker Buehler .
Sorry to say but IMHO the man is done, at least for this season.
Dodgers can not allow to let him work on his comeback during an intense pennant race. Not with Clayton trying to reestablish himself too and Stone not providing many innings lately too. This is a sure recipe to pile drive this bullpen right into the ground.
I would rather have Wrobleski, Miller or Knack or even Casparius taking the ball next time this spot in the rotation comes up. At some point loyality to a player has to stop when it starts to hurt the rest of the team.
Great play KK.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree that in a tight race its hard to allow him to figure it out,especially when he probably wouldn’t be a starter in the playoffs. But what do you do with him? Put him in the bullpen? ( not with poor command and control). Fake an injury and let him pitch every 6 days at OKC?
( Sketchy).Release him and re-sign him in the offseason? Or let him continue to start but keep a tight leash on him w Knack and Honeywell ready to back him up?
DFA him. I know it is a tough decison given his history and success with the Dodgers but it is inevitable. They will not resign him anyway for 2025.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think I DFA him, just yet. He really doesn’t belong in LA as long as he can’t throw very many strikes. His spray pattern (as Hershiser likes to describe it) is really all over the place, his command of his pitches is non-existent, with that said those problems indicate an inconsistent release point. He has to be sent back to OKC to figure that out. He’s had two TJ surgeries and now a hip problem, we may very well have seen that last of Buehler in any effective terms.
They are not going to DFA Buehler, and anyone who thinks they are is not thinking straight. You can bet he and Mark Prior will be pouring over the video, checking his release points and mechanics. Buehler himself said after the game that the mechanics did not feel right. He might not make more than say two starts, but it will be an IL stint before they even consider just cutting him loose.
Okay, if it makes you or them feel better then put him on the IL. Just get him off of the active roster.
You are not only losing games with him but you also run your pen right into the ground.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!
Let the brain trust make the decisions; fans do not have enough information to make a informed decision. You might not like what they do, but they have more information and know the pitcher better than we ever will. I don’t feel one way or the other. I just watch the games and try to enjoy myself.
I am glad for you that you were able to enjoy Buehler out there yesterday. I really am.
How many more games like that will you enjoy ? Is it that way when you are getting older that you are happy just to be alive to be able to watch a trainwreck like that ?
I certainly did not enjoy his pitching .
He had a long leash the first time he came back this season and did not get the job done. And yesterday was only more of the same. his numbers do not lie.
You really think he all of a sudden will turn it around ?
Well, could happen, Lux did it . But my hope for Buehler to accomplish the same are at about zero. And he not only is almost a certain L but he also is taxing the bullpen.
Hey, if management knows better so be it. But if they are wrong they should take the blame then.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And they will. Yeah, I enjoyed the game. Buehler has a lot of Bulldog in him. And if you watched the postgame interviews, he stood up there and took all the questions and did not shy away from taking full responsibility for his performance. You expect too much. One game is not killing them, and the pen did not get overworked last night. Honeywell did a decent job. Sure, his numbers look bad, I would like to see how you would perform your job if you missed close to two years. Unfortunately, his job rely’s on him having pinpoint control. Hard to do. Banda made 13 pitches, Honeywell, 29, but he is a long man, Phillips, 15 and Grove 13, that is not taxing the pen. How about the offense getting some clutch hits and not leaving so many runners on base? How about scoring some late inning runs? Something they haven’t done in a while. How about your 700-million-dollar man actually seeing more than a couple pitches an at-bat? They loaded the bases and got a run on a base on balls, a sac fly, and then the 7-hole hitter hit a double. Of the four runs they scored, only 2 were actually scored on a hit. Lot of places to blame. Buehler, as off as he was, still did not lose the game for them.
Nice job with some kind of dickish ageism there pal.
I ignored it. He does that a lot.
How are we defining sudden? Why does it have to be sudden?
This is a poor response you use to justify your optimism in the face of real criticism, and justly deserved, by the FO. Fans want their team to win and don’t idly sit by and accept the errors of management.
I do not get upset at stuff I have seen happen for more than 70 years. Criticize me all you like, I care less. I have watched this game way too long to be upset when they have played so well for this long of a stretch. Dodger fans have never seen winning like this. The FO makes the decisions, not the fans. Fans can sit back in their easy chairs and bitch all day long and it isn’t going to change a damn thing. All we can do is opine on what we think they FO should do, and we do that without one single piece of data to work with. We don’t know what goes on in the dugout, or the clubhouse. We have no clue how much work the players put in. I give a rat’s ass what you might think about my response to any question.
His stuff was not bad. It was his control, which was all over the place. The errors did not help nor did not scoring after the first inning. They should have scored at least 5 in that inning alone. The dreaded K bug bit again. 10 K’s, Teo had three of them and all of them except his walk in the first were in spots he could have done damage.
In the end it makes no difference it it is the stuff or lack of command.
And the stuff is not where it once was . The swing and miss is bad. They talked about it on the broadcast and on Dodgers heads. Hitters laying off his pitches out of the strike zone and hit it hard when he comes into the strike zone. His stuff no longer is good enough to get away with mistakes.
Sorry, the man is done. At least for this year.
You have zero information to support what you think. The Dodgers will make a decision based on what they think they can fix. I never listen to a bunch of talking heads who are in the booth, or on some podcast. His fastball hit 97 a couple times. His location and lack of command was a bigger problem, and if you were watching, that home plate umpire was awful. Several pitches that caught the zone were called balls. So now you have to groove one to get back in the count.
Some food for thought ram, Buehler has rarely busted out of the gates when past seasons have started, I’m hoping that’s all this is, him needing a little bit of time to get dialed in. You have to admit Kershaw looks better now than he did after his first start back. Give him a couple of more starts before you start to panic. We have a six and a half game lead over the Braves for the last playoff spot, so things aren’t quite at defcon levels yet.
There were guys on this site and others who were saying Kersh is through.
You really like to fluff over the facts, Bear.
So what? Bother you or something? I don’t care what you think.
So what? lol. Only your view is acceptable to you and you put down others who don’t share it. So what? Real bright.
I am not putting you down a bit. I just do not care what you think about my posts. You have your opinions, and I have mine. Thats fine, but I do not give a crap what you think of mine.
Obviously it’s important to play winning baseball all year. The Dodgers are 7-3. Keep that up and they should be fine.
The West will be decided in September as teams in that Division will be playing each other a lot, right into the last week. If the Dodgers play to their abilities they should be fine. Games like yesterday are going to happen, but they better not happen often.
I would be shocked if either SD or Arizona continued winning at the pace they have since the All Star break. I would think that to play at a .800+ pace for two and a half months is damn near impossible. If a team did that then they would, obviously, deserve to win the division. The Dodgers would have to realize it wasn’t their year and hope for a wild card spot. But, like you mentioned Badger September will have them playing each other quite a bit. So, August will be important as far as keeping the race close.
I think the team can play .600 ball the rest of the way and that should be enough, especially if they do it against the Division. Arizona and San Diego play each other also so it will likely come down to who beats who in the Division come September. Hopefully the Dodgers won’t have many like last night. Kiermaier’s throw was amazing but it looked to me Barnes blocked the plate illegally. I also can’t help but wonder if that ball Mookie charged took a weird hop. Mookie is too good to be that far off in judgment. Strange game. 7 unearned runs. Don’t see that often.
Early game today. Get ready.
Milwaukee initially thought it was blocking, but the explanation was that he was carried into the basepath catching the ball, that is a gray area, so no blocking was called. What was cooler was Kershaw catching that Ortiz had failed to retouch second, and they got him out.
Carried into the basepath is nonsense. Think about it. All the catcher has to do is take one step toward the ball and he’s out of the basepath. Ridiculous rule.
Might be but it benefitted the Dodgers last night.
Dodgers have 4 with AZ the end of this month. They play the Padres three the last home series of the year. D-Backs play the Rays, Marlins, Red Sox, and Mets before they play the Dodgers for four. They only have 3 games against a pretty bad team in September when they go to Colorado. They play the Giants, Astros, Rangers and Brewers after the Dodger series, then Colorado, the Brewers for four in Milwaukee, then they come home for their final homestand, 3 with the Giants and they finish with the Padres while the Dodgers are playing in Colorado. 6 of the Dodgers last 9 games are with the Rockies. Padres play the Rockies, Twins, Mets, Cardinals and Rays the rest of this month. Four of those teams are wild card contenders so they won’t go down easy. September, they get the Tigers, who are playing well, Mariners, Giants, Astros, White Sox, Dodgers, and D-Backs. Their last six games are on the road.
I felt kind of bad for Buehler last night. Hw was obviously struggling. To compound that his defense let him down in the second inning. Although Kiermaier did save him with his incredible throw in the first inning. I think he was close to sixty pitches after two innings. Things went better in the third and then in the fourth he seemed to run out of gas and lose focus.
What to do with him for the rest of the season will be a tough decision for the front office. It’s easy to say just DFA him and bring up Knack or Wrobleski. I would like to see him given a couple of more starts, but with the SD and Arizona hot on the Dodgers tail, they may not want to risk another short outing and add more stress to the BP. And increasing the odds of defeat. Buehler is such a competitor, but it’s easy to see his ability and confidence are not to the level the team needs right now. Let’s see what team decides to do with Buehler.
Carry on.
For years we’ve been complaining about what a disadvantage winning the division and having a layoff is. So perhaps this year we will have the “advantage” of being a wild card team.
Being a WC team it means you have to win one more series . Makes the playoff crapshoot even more difficult.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What advantage? Burning your two best starters before the Division series?
Coming in to Milwaukee, we were 2nd in the NL, right behind Philly. But Mil was 3rd, right behind us.
They’re a legit team, and I”m very happy we won 2 of 3 games so far. Jack Flaherty can make a statement today with a strong game and help us take 3 of 4, on the road, vs a likely potential playoff opponent.
I’m excited for this 11am game today. Let’s get it!
Also, for those that care, NBA season opens Oct 22, and Lakers open at home that night vs Minnesota.
lebaby still on the team?
No thanks
I refuse to watch them until he retires.
I can’t say I like him much, seems like just another egomaniac. I do enjoy watching him play, I just wish he didn’t demand so much money. It handcuffs the team.
Exactly. Give me the Showtime Lakers anyday.
That’s how the NBA is these days. Every team with max players walks a tightrope. My Warriors are the prime example. The Curry God makes almost $56M and will make almost $60M in 2025.
I can understand why many don’t like LBJ. He’s all business but his Olympic performance was amazing. Dominating. No other player like him. Management is a different story.
Mookie not in the lineup today. 🙁
Probably needs rest.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!
Does he need rest? He’s been out for weeks.
He had no rehab, he played 3 straight games, prudent move. I would rather have him most of the time rather than not at all.
Come on Bear, you’re from the older generation. (Not calling you old). Are you saying he’s not capable of playing in consecutive games? How much more do these guys need to be coddled?
Suck it up and play.
I am definitely old school. But they do not play the game that way anymore. Day game after a night game, managers choice. Sure, he is probably capable of not missing a game between now and the end of the season. You can say suck it up and play, but the this is the way the game is played now. Freddie, Ohtani and Hernandez about the only guys who haven’t been injured who are in there every game. The only guys with over 100 games played, Ohtani, 118, Hernandez, 119, Freddie, 113, and Lux, 102. Smith, Pages and Kike are the only other players with over 90 games played. Smith, 97, Pages, 96 and Kike, 94. And yes, I am old. No biggie, I earned every wrinkle and grey hair I have,,….well what few hairs I have.
Extremely weird baseball game. And a big part of the weirdness was David Rackley, behind the dish. His ineptitude on balls and strikes just added questions and indecision on the part of hitters, knowing what to swing at. There was a mysterious, moving strike zone. Add that to errors, poor pitching and specular plays which made for an entertaining game, if you don’t give a shit who wins.
My book on Rackley was spot on. “Really inconsistent on fringe pitches”. How he earned game 4 of the 2023 WS and was rated #4 best in 22, is a mystery to me.
Rick Monday said a mouthful in the first inning about Walker Buehler “You can’t battle against the hitters and fight yourself at the same time”.
I really don’t want to add misery to Walker’s struggle. He’s obviously battling himself. There are signs that his current 95 and off speed stuff can play. If he lets it. He’s a mess mentally. Without about 4 outstanding defensive plays Buehler may have never gotten out of an the first 2 innings.
He needs more rope to come to grips with his current stuff and start believing in himself.
While I’m not googling the address of that pitching lab in Florida, his alignment to the plate is better. He’s not falling off the glove side as much. But his release point is just so inconsistent.
Awesome plays kept Buehler in the game.
Kiermeier’s throw home and Barnes tag was a thing of beauty.
Kk may be a dead man walking but he’s not going down without a fight. He likely knows his fate when Muncy and Edman return but he’s busting his retiring ass in his swan song. I like the guy.
The blocking or obstruction calls are so subjective. Barnes and Smith are way different in their approaches to tags at home. Will is a swipe tag guy; he gets in front of the plate and sweep tags, like an infielder. Barnes just blocked the plate while catching KK’s great throw and made the tag. I was waiting for a review and reversal on the call, but thankfully the call went our way..
That play and check swings just have to be addressed this winter by the rules folks. Oh yeah, and put in the no challenge ABS System so we don’t get David Rackley influence games anymore.
It was very subtle but did you see Contreras try to deke Shohei top 7? He brushed the ground and shuffled around trying to deke a pitch coming inside. The pitch was away. Cat and mouse all the time.
Great move by Doc top 7, going to Rojas for Lux, hitting .177 v LHP. Great pinch hitting decision.
You’re right Badger, the old man needed a blow from SS for a day, but he found a way to contribute
For all the critics of small ball, take a look at the impact of the Brewers sac bunt bottom 7. Hit by pitch, bunt , error, run.
I was really interested in the Dodger’s defensive alignment after Heyward pinch hit for Ahmed in the 8th. Thanks to Stephen wtf’s his name, we got no information that Mookie moved from right field to 2nd, Rojas moved to short and Heyward in right. I could assume that but maybe Stephen could just tell us.
He was atrocious. The only good call he made all night was on the throw from Kiermaier to the plate.
After seeing the way KK can handle center field and the fact that he’s a lefty I am of the probably unpopular opinion that I would keep him over Heyward. In a playoff series things like that could make a huge difference.
I actually agree with that. Most likley, Heyward won’t be needed, but Kiermeri’s 4 gold gloves might.
Heyward has 5 gold gloves!
you make a good point about KK, and may be right about who could help the team more,but I doubt the FO cuts Heyward, he seems to be highly thought of with the Dodgers, FO, and dugout.
haha, that’s true too. It will be an interesting next 6-10 weeks.
I would agree with you on that. In fact, I would rather have Pages and Kiermaier on the playoff roster than Heyward. I think Pages will go down to AAA when Edman returns just because he has options and Heyward’s presence and leadership is valued by the Dodgers. Kiermaier is their best defensive center fielder and one of the better, if not the best, bunter on the team which would seem to be more important in the playoffs than the regular season.
Another day, another minor league focused podcast.
This one by Baseball America, and focused on the NL West:
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/assessing-the-state-of-every-nl-west-organization/
For my money, this is a great listen. Good discussion on the arm injuries incurred by the Dodgers, how Dodgers and Rays seem to be recently impacted by arm injuries, how draft profile and drafting position may impact the rash of injuries. The lack of high-end talent, the next wave of talent and more.
Saw this report on CBS about MLB Weighing starting pitchers going a mandatory 6 innings pitched. With all the Tommy John surgeries over the last few years it would seem like a reach by MLB but at least they are spinning their wheels over trying something. Thought it was interesting read.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-reportedly-weighing-six-inning-requirement-for-starting-pitchers-how-mandatory-outings-could-work/
Might be really hard to enforce. Teams are not going to allow struggling starters to stay out there and get their brains beat in.
It has too many what ifs right now but the article says a pitcher can come out after 100 pitches 4 earned runs or injury that results in an IL stint. The penalty for pulling a pitcher for any other reason is the double hook, you lose your DH for the rest of the game. The whole purpose is to eliminate bullpen games and openers. The article said starters average 5.1 innings a game so going 2/3 of an inning more should not be that difficult.
Players union will never agree to that.
I don’t see the need for it.
That is all wasted time by mlb there is no way the Union, and the players would agree to that.
The player’s union didn’t want the pitch clock either. The clown Manfred can propose a rule one year and negotiate that rule if there is no agreement after one year he can implement that rule without union approval. I’m not positive about the negotiation time but he can implement a rule without union agreement. For what it’s worth if the main goal is to eliminate openers and bullpen games I’m all for it. There was also talk of limiting pitching staffs to 11. It all goes back to max effort and max velocity and spin. They want more action on the field
11 pitchers is insane. Won’t happen. I can see them expanding the roster to 28 before they limit the number of pitchers on the roster. And the players union has enough power to not let them implement any rules they really do not want. Manfred is not going to be the commissioner much longer. He said he will not serve another term. The players and MLB have people on the rules committee.
I’ve been seeing and reading about this for a while. Read the article at ESPN. It refers to 11 man pitching staffs. The players union does not have enough power to prevent rule changes. The rules committee has 4 mlb reps and 3 player reps easy enough to put through any rules the clown wants. I never said the rule changes were good or bad. I just detest openers and bullpen games.
None of this has been tried in the minors or independent leagues so it’s not on the horizon any time soon but I could see it being Manfred’s going away present to baseball.
I can see this turning into a safety in the workplace issue/lawsuit if it were forced on the players
Players always have an ace up their sleeve, and the ace is that the CBA comes up again in 2026. They can pretty much hold out to have stuff they do not like removed from the rules. The pitch clock was ok last year at 20 seconds. They dropped that to 15 this year and look what has happened. Also they really need to do something about BAD umpires. Keep the guys who are consistent and get rid of the guys whose strike zones are all over the place. Manfred is a tool. I will be glad when he is gone after his contract expires in 2029.
Yep pitch clock was just fine at 20 seconds. The first thing on the agenda should be the bad umpiring. It is total bullshit when they have the means to make it better. Manfred is a disgrace to baseball.
And less action on the IL.
The way players are getting injured now, that isn’t going to happen.
Some interesting stuff to note:
Over the past week plus, Pages is hitting .391/.500/.739/1.239 with six extra-base hits.
I wonder if this is why Edman played shortstop instead of center field last night for OKC?
With Pages slugging and Betts playing right field, maybe Edman plays more shortstop than originally anticipated to keep Pages in the big leagues / in the lineup (though that would mean more Pages in CF!)
The GOAT is onto something. Now figure out how to get kike out of this series.
I hope not, Pages is scary in CF, I hope they have a better plan than that, although it would make Eric happy to tell a bunch of us “I told you so”
Edman was just getting in some work at one of the many positions he plays. He will be in CF when he comes back. Pages is not going to see much playing time. I see him being optioned to AAA until the first of September when he can be recalled.
Do you really want to see Pages roaming around in CF? Ask all the starting pitchers what they want…..I’m sure they would prefer KK to play CF all the time.
And, your sample size is pretty small….one week. What did he have? About 12 at bats? 😀
Angels to DFA Willie Calhoun.
Really bad pitching performance from Hudson. Had no swing and miss stuff with everything hit hard. Not good, not good.
Hairston and Gonzalez are talking about it now. Hudson looks tired.
This team just has to be more productive offensively. With a tired bullpen more runs will be needed.
Flaherty 3 earned in 5 ain’t great – 5.4 ERA. Gotta score. 4 just isn’t enough.
100%. The bullpen can’t keep pitching 40-50% of games. As good as Landon Knack was in that Gavin Stone game, I was actually hoping he’d be reserved for last night, in case Buehler’s first start was cut short. Then again, Stone only went 5 himself.
Hopefully we have some reinforcements come up as we’re in the middle of a 13 games in a row stretch without a day off; still 6 games to go before a day off.
Tomorrow was some planned bullpen game I believe, so hopefully we call up Wrobleski and he gives us innings. There’s no way the current bullpen has the stamina to give us 9 innings tomorrow.
Yeah, get rid of that bum Flaherty, pitched only 5 innings gives up 2 homers in the first. what a bum. Ohtani’s BA has dropped 14 points since the series opener with the A’s on the 2nd of August. That’s 13 games, a point a game. He also had 79 RBIs after that first game, he has 86 now. But he has left a ton of men on base. Teo did not have a good series either.
Edman and Muncy will be joining the team when they get home. Brasier will re-join the bullpen this weekend. Yamamoto will throw to hitters in St. Louis on Saturday.
I’m not sure I agree, I think there’s a ton of luck with this outing.
The two deflected grounders?
Split the series and definitely could have won all four. Hudson looked gassed. Maybe he should have used him earlier and let Kopech pitch later in the game.
Losing late makes for another early October exit. Good news is we’re 8.5 games up on the Mets for the last wild card spot.
I can see us not coming in first place this year. I think both Padres and Dbacks are better than us and match up well against us. Pads have a much better bullpen too. So, making the playoffs isn’t too shabby. Last year, coming in first wasn’t a blessing, so no big deal to come in 2nd or 3rd. Just get to the dance and get healthy. -TM
So it looks like my prediction of the Dodgers falling out of first place is correct. The lead is down to just 2 games now over SD and AZ. AZ is in TB and the Padres are in Colorado playing the crappy Rockies. The Padres will likely sweep the Rocks, and I don’t see AZ losing in TB, but you never know. It looks like the Dodgers are playing with a little more urgency this past week, but the results have not changed. They are still losing winable games, and are unable to beat good teams. They sweep the Pirates, but split in Milwaukee. The only way to avoid falling out of first place would be for them to literally win every game from here on out, and obviously that’s not going to happen. The Dodgers problems outside of injuries are due to a flawed organizational baseball philosophy. Here they are in no particular order…
Load management losing
The club has been committed to putting inferior lineups on the field due to “load management”. They think that scheduling rest will keep the players healthy, but has that worked at all? The Dodgers have had more injuries and more players on the injured list than any other team in the majors. Just today, they didn’t start Mookie, but just had to start guys that are hovering around the mendoza line, like Kike, and Heyward. Then they pinch-hit him in the ninth inning.
This is horrible strategy. They’ve sat around and watched while their division lead has dwindled away to nothing. Load management does not prevent injuries, and only leads to them starting .200 hitting utility players, which they’ve been doing most of the year. You want to know the truth? The players these days, pitchers and hitters are coddled and babied. You want to win a championship, you have to be tough. Guys are going to have to suck it up and get out there and play. Guys don’t need rest at this time of the year.
I think the older guys like Bear and Jeff can atest to players playing through bumps and bruises back in their generation. Players were tough back then, and management didn’t coddle them. You didn’t see the Yankees scheduling Mickey Mantle “load management rest days” and playing a .200 hitter in his place, and Mantle played most of his career with no knee ligaments winning several Rings. You want to win a title? Suck it up and play. Unless you have broken bones, or torn ligaments you should be in the lineup every day. Mookie’s hand is healed, and there was no reason for him not to be in the lineup.
2 Starters not going deep into games.
The reason MLB is looking into requiring starting pitchers to go deep into games, is because watching 7 middle relievers trot in on a nightly basis, openers, or bullpen games is boring and provides little intrigue. The front office nerds have made the game stale. In the Dodgers situation, their starting pitchers have not been conditioned to pitch deep into games, they are not efficient enough to pitch deep into games, and they have burned their bullpen into the ground. I’m not asking for complete games here, but 7 innings is not asking for much.
3 obsession with lefty/righty matchups.
Playing the percentages with lefty-righty matchups is a strategy that is supposed to be used sparingly throughout the season. It’s ok to use in the late innings when a tough southpaw comes out of the bullpen or when one particular hitter crushes left handers. But the Dodgers are obsessed with this losing strategy and deploy this during every single inning. Every lineup has the left right left right alignment. Someone on this board joked the Dodgers should just acquire 9 switch-hitters. This rarely works, because it’s supposed to be used sparingly, not in every inning of every game. If you base your entire game strategy on lefy-righty, then you will become predictable, and easy to defeat.
These are the primary reasons the Dodgers are going to fall out of first place and will likely be swept out of the playoffs again. it is a direct result of management’s neglect for the roster, arrogance, and refusal to adjust to failing strategies. It’s time to bring in some fresh voices. I think there is going to be a massive shakeup in the offseason if the Dodgers get swept out of the playoffs again.
I know some of you may disagree with me, but that’s ok. I think for some of you, you will come around when you see the team fall into second or third place, finish 90-72, and then swept out of the wild card round, which is likely to happen at this point. A perfect example of management’s arrogance and inept is the recent trade deadline. The Dodgers picked up three position players at the deadline. One is injured and can’t play. One is a .300 hitter this year, spraying the ball all over the field., and the third player is a sub mendoza line hitting utility outfielder. Management dumped the .300 hitter claiming there was no playing time for him, and of course kept the .190 hitter. Guess who is gettng consistent playing time? Yes I know Keirmaier is a gold glove outfielder. So what? The Dodgers need offence right now, not another mendoza line hitter in the lineup. They already have plenty of those.
LOL!
Oh how quickly Scott’s performance changes key!
I think the Dodgers have a good team. They have an above average manager who does things that are easy to second guess. But in my opinion, the front office comes across as arrogant and overthinking. Chalk that up to being married to analytics and data sheets. Like some others have said, I’m sorta happy to see other teams catch up to them. Let’s see how the guys perform when they’re not 16 games in front and just playing out the string. Let’s see what they’re made of.
Great post, Scott. No need to add anything new….you covered it all pretty well.-TM
Agree Scott right on target. Sick of righty lefty and the misuse of pen.
Tough loss today for sure considering another blown save in a month of blown saves. Still going to reserve judgment until Muncy, Edman, Yamamoto, and Brasier come back. Adding Edman and Muncy will lengthen that line up some more. With the emergence of Gavin Lux, the line up with Rojas batting 8th and Edman 9th is as deep as the line up has been all year. Two weeks ago, Rojas was batting 5th. Replacing Buehler with Yamamoto makes for a pretty good five man rotation. With Knack in reserve.
I think we are making more of the value of Rosario than the rest of MLB does. Evidently no one else in baseball was competing to trade for him from the Rays given that the Dodgers got him for a journeyman reliever on a minor league contract who had no chance of pitching for a team that needed bullpen help. Maybe Rosario was a .300 hitter but with no power who rarely walked and played a few positions but none very well. That may be closer to the way the rest of baseball viewed him given the acquisition cost.
I am looking forward to the last six weeks of this season, for a change. Got to admit, like Cassidy, I did check to see how safe they were for a wild card spot. But, if a healthy Dodger team is good enough, they will show it in these next six weeks. If not, and they win 90 games and lose in the Wild Card round, they will deserve the criticism that comes their way. And there will be changes in that event.
Muncy is a lifetime .227 hitter. All or nothing. Is he really going to help us?
Maybe.
Maybe. But if the Dodgers need to win many high-scoring/shoot-out games in the playoffs, his all-or-nothing results will be of little help.
They do not care about his BA Jeff. They care about his OPS and OPS+ which are .823 and 121. Most teams use OPS as an offensive measuring stick. 189 homers in just about 7 full seasons. Convincing argument. And he is a streak hitter. He gets hot, he can carry a team for a week or so.
A lot of the Dodger success will rest with Ohtani. Currently, he is not at his best and still falling. As I’ve mentioned before, he is a lifetime .277 hitter and we all know he is not thought of as a clutch hitter. He’s going to have to really stop chasing bad pitches and focusing on bat to ball skills instead of Power. That will help the team a ton. Otherwise, we have a hell of a struggle in front of us for the remaining season. I would say so far, it has been disappointing and nothing like it started out to be.
Over the past ten games, both the Padres and D’backs have gone 9-1, while the Dodgers have gone 6-4.
So the lead over both rivals has been whittled to two games.
Lets see where we are at the end of September. Both have to play some very good teams. They have been beating up scrubs.
Happy to see the news that the Tigers are bringing up SS Trey Sweeney from the Toledo Mud Hens. Sweeney, you’ll recall, was part of the deal for Jack Flaherty, along with C Thayron Liranzo.
When the Dodgers got Sweeney from the Yankees (for RP Victor Gonzales), he had a reputation as good defender but an iffy bat.
I rooting hard for Sweeney to succeed. If he does, perhaps the Dodgers brain trust will re-think its habit of scouring the DFA lists for experience guys like Cavan Biggio and Nick Ahmed, and instead give rising prospects more a chance. After Max was injured and the Dodgers brought it Biggio, a lot of were wondering why hot-hitting Andre Lipcius didn’t get a chance. When Feduccia finally made it to The Show, he managed to have exactly one AB.
AF & Associates have done a great job finding veteran pitchers that need a little polish, but their record with position players is suspect. Not long ago, our keystone combo was supposed to be Lux at SS and Vargas at 2B. Wrong and wrong. Did that blunder make AF want to play it safe in bringing in vets like Biggio and Ahmed?
So I hope Sweeney makes AF think, gee, why didn’t we give him a chance?
Two things can be true.
I bet they will both wonder if he could have helped (doubtful IMO) and they are maybe hoping that when Sweeney does well the Dodgers will be responsible (and take pride) for having had a hand in his development.
EDITED: This reads poorly, but I think the gist conveys.
A couple of notes. Yelich is going to have back surgery which ends hit season. He is going to have the surgery tomorrow and hopes he can be back for the 2025 season. The Mets signed Eddie Rosario to a minor league deal. The Twins placed oft injured Byron Buxton on the IL with hip inflammation. The Rockies outrighted Josh Rogers to the minors. The Red Sox outrighted infielder Jamie Westbrook.
Alot of negative comments about Walker Buehler and his performance last night. Suggestions to DFA him. I agree that Buehler has not been himself this year, and he is very unlikely to be on postseason roster. But Walker has been a great Dodger and deserves to finish this season as a Dodger. As poorly as he pitched yesterday, he gave up 1 earned run in 3.1 innings. For comparison, Flaherty gave up 3 ER in 5 innings today, and 4 ER in 5.1 innings his last start. Buehler is still struggling with command coming off of his second TJ surgery. Prior to this injury, he was a warrior and a great postseason performer. I understand why the dodgers would give Buehler every chance to regain his form, as during his career he has been the best postseason pitcher on the roster. Unfortunately, this season may be his last with the Dodgers, and I have greatly enjoyed watching him perform. I appreciate his talent, effort and determination.
I agree that this team needs Ohtani. It also needs Smith. Frankly it needs all of the top 6 in that order. They were slugging early in the year and the Dodgers were rolling.
Will Brasier, Treinen, Hudson and Phillips return to form? Wherever the top of the opposition lineup comes up in innings 7-9, I want Kopech facing them.
Don’t know what to say about Buehler. His team played poorly behind him, that’s for sure, but his command is off. I think he deserves another start. If the team can play solid baseball behind him and score like they are supposed to, he could finish 5, and at this point any starter that can do that would be helpful.
I still believe in this team. Slumps happen, and I’d rather see them in July and August than in September and October.