It's Now or Never!

Some Positive Dodger News:

RHP Dustin May (Tommy John surgery)

Expected return: August or September

May threw a 40-pitch bullpen session at Dodger Stadium on June 18 and everything went well, according to manager Dave Roberts. The next step for the right-hander is to face hitters. May will throw about four live batting-practice sessions, according to Roberts. If all that goes well, May will then proceed to make rehab starts. May’s progression will be similar to a typical Spring Training, so it appears the right-hander is getting closer to making his return. — Juan Toribio (Last updated: June 18)

They should at least give Lamb a shot before he can opt out

Did he get hit by a pitch?

Betts headed to IL with a cracked rib. McKinstry most likely called up.

Way to go Subpar Freeman!

I hope Dodgers are enjoying the taste of the 5 run lead in the 7th but remain hungry enough for the next match. And the next match. And so-on, and so-on. Maybe see the crime of leaving runners on base so much. Remember that the fans signed up for something too.

Is that nuts about Nolan Ryan! On this day in 1974, 13 innings 19 K’s 10 walks and 278 pitches! Any pitcher today would need 2 Tommy John surgeries after that!

David Price for closer! And brilliant move by Roberts to move TT to lead off!

Any concerns about Urias should be gone. Walks in the 1st, as usual. Muncy gave up the the run. He’s dealing like we all know he can. Pitching is certainly not our problem, even with Walker out.

Julio looks on point.

I’m hoping what we are seeing tonight is because something was said.

I know Mookie hurt his ribs. But I hope his late scratch tonight was to make a point. We will never know.

That said. David price is warming up in the pen. He should be warming up a TV dinner at home, looking into post career opportunities. Why is he even on the roster? Veteran presence? Certainly it’s not because he can pitch.

I need to take a few days off from watching. I’m really salty at the moment.

Trey Turner is 9-19 in the leadoff position before tonite and why not that’s the position he is more used to than any other. Perhaps DR should switch Trey and Mookie in the bstting order.

Ok fans that’s more like it!!!!!! After 3 innings EVERYONE has contributed one way or another. The first 8 in the lineup all have hits and Barnes has a sac fly.

REVISED LINEUP

SS Trea Turner R

1B F. Freeman L

DH Will Smith R

2B Max Muncy L

3B J. Turner R

CF C. Bellinger L

RF Chris Taylor R

LF Gavin Lux L

C A. Barnes R

Mookie scratched from the lineup(rib)

Freddie offense IS NOT subpar.

I’m typically the guy who is telling everybody to settle down. We’re in a good spot. Slumps happen. We could go on a 10 game winning streak any day now.

Not this time. This time is different. We aren’t being beat with heroics.

We’re not seeing close losses with guys killing themselves to score runs only to come up a little short.

This team has no energy. No focus. No leadership.

My son had a bad end of the school year with his grades. Dropped them all by a point because he got way too lazy. Way too apathetic. Figured 8th grade was almost over and he was already looking ahead to trying to make varsity as a freshman.

That bird don’t fly with me. I benched him from his travel team the day I saw his grades. He was suppose to go to the Quakes game and meet Mark and the other guys with me. He sat at home that weekend. He didn’t play in his teams tournament last weekend. Which was tough. He’s their best pitcher, best catcher and best hitter. Killed me to hurt his team just because my boy is (hopefully temporally) practicing to be Forest Gump in the next school play.

You know what his team did? Won the whole damn tournament. Without him! And I know that killed him. Instead of celebrating a 1st place win, he was vacuuming out my truck and cleaning behind the refrigerator. Just so he could play in 2 scrimmages today against the local 15u Pony All Star team.

He went 6 for 7. Was one pitch away from an immaculate inning. Twice! We just got home. He’s cleaning out my wife’s car right now (rest of the team is having a pool party). This so he has a shot at playing next weekend.

The freaking Dodgers should be cleaning out the grease traps at the stadium this morning. They should be mopping the showers and scrubbing the toilets in the locker room.

As others have said. Bench guys. Bring up AAA players. Knock some sense into their overpaid lethargic skulls.

This too shall pass. IF somebody does something to shock them into reality. Make them want it again. They are acting like my son. Like these games don’t matter and they already have tickets to the playoffs.

That dog just ain’t going to hunt.

AF needs rattle the cage. Turn the hot water off in the showers. Something!

Eddy Alvarez was hitting well in OKC and earned the promotion. He hit the ball hard yesterday and was denied a hit on a leaping catch by a second baseman placed in short right field. (I see no reason to outlaw the shift but such positioning might be against the rules next year.)

Injury helps explain Max’s struggles, and age may well explains JT’s. But why is Freddie ‘s offense subpar? While Freddie doesn’t totally suck–his OPS is over .800–he has delivered only 5 HRs, which is fewer than trea , Will Smith, Taylor, the still -struggling Belli, and part-timer Rios. The part-timer Barnes and mega-slumping Max and JT have 4 HRs each,. (They are hitting the deadened ball too.)

So I’m frustrated by Freddie too.

After playing so well, Mookie’s slump underscores the notion that he really is the driving force on the team–and that, in turn, exposes why others need to step up. Nobody has played better than Mookie–but he needs more help.

Hey, remember that play in which Trea was criticized for lack of hustle on the basepaths? I didn’t fault Trea, but I think the highlight revealed the difference between a good and great baserunner. Trea slowed down out of fear that the ball might be caught. I think that Mookie, in an identical moment, would have realized that ball couldn’t be caught and would have kicked it into high gear. His instincts, not raw speed, make him a superior baserunner.

Is Lamb or Martin the answer? Maybe Vargas? Can’t hurt to try.

But I hope AF is looking for proven ML bats that might become available on the market–and for proven arms as well.

Hey AF…..

I sure as shit hope this was you after the game!

I know Al Campanis’ grandson. If you don’t want to do it, I’m sure he’d volunteer to do it for you.

https://youtu.be/RyyGgcRqrhs

7:15 PM ET

Guardians (33-27)

Dodgers (39-24)

SP Julio Urias L

3-6 2.80 ERA 64.1IP 56K

Confirmed Lineup

RF Mookie Betts R

1B F. Freeman L

SS Trea Turner R

3B Max Muncy L

DH J. Turner R

CF C. Bellinger L

LF Chris Taylor R

2B Gavin Lux L

C A. Barnes R

Clear-day

0% Rain

75° Wind 10 mph Out

Mitchell White pitches for AAA Oklahoma City and Gavin Stone pitches for AA Tulsa tonight weather permitting.

Je, Brewers DFA Lorenzo Cain.

One more day and the Dodgers will have to make one roster move to add Andrew Heaney to start Sunday’s game. Which pitcher gets sent down? Then on Monday June 20th, another pitcher will be sent down to meet the roster MLB requirement of 13 pitchers and 13 position players, Who will that pitcher be? My educated guess will be that McKinstry gets added as the 13th position player.

Sticking with Mark’s theme, how can we promote Justin and Max? Coach? Front office?

Maybe Taylor and Bellinger need to be told they have to lay down a bunt at least once every game and hit a ball to the opposite side once per game. The penalty for not successfully accomplishing that order is to sit the next game.

Maybe Friedman likewise sits Roberts if the Dodgers fail to bunt twice in a game.

Back to reality. How can Muncy swing as hard as he does and be injured?

So Roberts has said he doesn’t plan on sitting Max. So I guess if you want him to play batting cleanup is the ‘best’ way to take the pressure off.

Just FYI vs LHP:

.318 Will Smith

.288 Mookie

.284 TT (2021 .396)

.279 Hanser Alberto

.274 Freddie Freeman

.268 Lux

.254 Taylor

.192 Bellinger

.185 JT

‘146 Max

.095 Barnes

Average in scoring position:

.357 FF

.326 Smith

.320 TT

.259 Mookie

.244 Muncy

.233 Lux

.200 Bellinger & Taylor

I’ve mentioned this before. McKinstry and Outman are already on the 40 man roster. Bring them up and send down Alvarez and Alberto. Bench J. Turner and Muncy and give McKinstry and Outman a shot at starting.

Interesting that no one here has mentioned bringing up McKinstry, who has the highest batting average and OBP at OKC. When they have added him to the L.A. roster this year, he gets about 1 at bat every 3 days.

If Doc is finally ready to sit JT and or Max for a week, let McKinstry take those at bats. Let him play 8-10 games and see if he can prove himself. He deserves that much.

“leading us to wonder for the 37th time this year “Is Cody Getting his MojoBack?”

I think NO ONE believes that Belli is getting her mojo back.

“Freddie likes to play everyday also but last I checked the manager fills out the line up card. Sit him down for a game or DH him but for goodness sakes shake it up.”

It’s exactly what I said several days ago and someone said that Freddie should play every day.

“Will take a break from Dodgers baseball for a few days. Watching this team stumble and tumbel is not good for my health”

Totally agree, I did the same, it’s been boring and tedious to see this team in the way they’ve been playing lately.

Someone said recently that Freeman was having a disappointing season or something, and I think someone told him that he wasn’t, I think it is disappointing, but because he came to LA to put the ball in play, and the way he that he has been hitting, the total inability to produce or move runners WHEN it was really needed, instead of striking out, the boxscore when he has 3 or 4 hits looks very nice, but they were not relevant or decisive in winning that game.

And Mookie…. Again the same mediocre hitter Mookie has been almost since he came to LA, except last month!

But the good thing is that the Dodgers are the best in ERA, in starters, among the best in runs scored, in the bullpen and I don’t know what other categories, right? Well then, no need to worry!

Every day I read the same story…

No, we signed Bauer

Rendon to undergo season ending surgery. Good thing the Dodgers didn’t sign him.

Muncy still hitting cleanup is assassine. For that alone Robert should be canned immediately.

Not having CT3 and Lux bunt in the 9th with the win there for the taking was horrible management, especially for a team that is in a funk getting the key hit. Yet another win managed away by Roberts and his stubberness in playing for the big home run when small ball would have been enough.

I am all for calling up Lamb and Martin. Sent down Alvarez and put Muncy or JT on DL. This can not continue or the Dodgers will sind faster than the Titanic in the standings.

New lineup:

TT, ss

Martin, lf

Betts, rf

Freeman, 1b

Smith, c

Bellinger, cf

CT3, 3b

Lamb, DH

Lux, 2b

Play more aggressive, steal bases, take the extra base.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to protest the lousy play by not watching the game tonight. Considering the way they have been playing, I won’t be missing much.

Well, the one problem I have with Chris Taylor is his all or nothing approach. Swings from his heels. Honestly, I was hoping for a squeeze with the runner on third and a chance to win right there. For whatever reason, we have too many players strike out instead of putting the ball in play.

This is really frustrating team on the offensive side. Not all that great defensively. I hope Mookie’s injury is not another lingering one that will impact his season. Maybe somebody hits a reset switch and the offense explodes. It’s almost like a malaise hangs over the Dodgers when it comes to good at bats. Since this hasn’t been a short term thing, I’m beginning to wonder. Is JT done? I hope not, he’s one of my favorite Dodgers ever. Cody, just a guess, will get better. Max, I’m not so sure. At this point, it’s obvious the Dodgers offense was beyond overrated. No real depth except on paper.

Where does this end up? Yes, the Dodgers miss AJ Pollock. Maybe re-signing KJ and keeping Pollock may have made more sense. Honestly, something weird about that moment in time. Wait until we make a trade and dump some money. Then the trade for Craig Kimbrel. Was the money actually part of the equation? None of it made much sense. Maybe they just didn’t want KJ back.

When are they going to announce a final verdict on Trevor Bauer? Perhaps this is just the Bauer curse.

Hey, all those great hitting gurus can’t seem to reduce the Dodgers flair for striking out. Those mounting strikeouts are rally killers and run production flameouts.

Going to the games, this is a difficult team to watch. Sometimes past Dodger teams would go through a patch or two, but this almost seems to be a pattern.

A lot of people have the tendency to look forward as it pertains to the roster instead of focusing on this year. Why is it that people lose interest is a star studded team that’s always either in 1st place, or striking distance?

The Dodgers are in a funk right now, but they’re playing close to 500 ball. 4-6 in their last 10. A half game behind the Padres. Is the sky really falling? I think the Dodgers are doing their fans a disservice by dominating the last decade. Our fans are spoiled and entitled like this generation of millennials. They expect first place and a blowout from start to finish every year. They don’t seem to want to admit that the baseball season is a marathon. There will be ups and downs.

Look at it this way. If we could just win a few extra innings games, we would still be in 1st place. I think that has a lot more to do with Doc always making the wrong move in those situations. The problem is that you’re in a worse spot if you fire Doc mid season since Bob Geren is his “yes man” bench coach who should have been replaced already for a stronger personality. Look at the rest of the coaching staff. There’s no others with managerial qualities. It sure as hell won’t be RVS or Brant Brown and I can’t Dino Ebel or Clayton McCullough taking that role. Maybe Mark Prior, but that would leave a gaping hole at Pitching Coach, an area where they currently excel. We’re stuck with Doc for now, and by the season ends, he’ll have another NL West title and three more years on his new deal.

I think you got that lineup wrong. Martin is a very good defensive outfielder, he should be in LF. Lamb at 3B. Vargas at DH.

Doc’s record in extras is perfect! Perfectly futile. Tells you a lot about his skills as a manager.

Eddie Alvarez can’t hit his weight, but you’re gonna promote a bunch of guys that had similar stats in AAA? How’s that gonna work out?

I guess Max Muncy saw that Jose Ramirez left 3B vacant and thought he could beat the catcher to 3rd? Thought wrong.

Yesterday, Belli was the one that can’t be fixed, a day later it’s Max and JT. What a difference a day makes.

Amaya went from crap to a 1.086 OPS overnight. Way to go Jake! We’re rooting you on.

I would really love to see Jason Martin get a shot. He’s such a great kid and I watched him play quite a bit as a teenager. Another good local kid. Just put him in LF and leave him there. CT3 can play 3B and JT and Max can split time at DH until they improve.

Max crushed a couple of balls last night with nothing to show for them. Maybe he’s about to break out. Maybe his bat is just bit slower because of the elbow.

I’ve said the same thing about the Branch Rickey rule. But, how does that apply to JT. He’s playing on the last year of a three year deal. He earned the first two years of the contact. You aren’t going to trade a guy like JT or DFA him. But, you don’t need to play him full time either.

I really think it’s time to send Alvarez back down until they need a middle infielder. Bring up Martin to play LF, move CT3 to 3B and let Max get most of the ABs at DH. Use JT and Muncy to spell CT3 at 3B.

Phil Jones said yesterday “There are other quality defensive outfielders who can hit .200 that are not going to ask for the king of money that Bellinger and Boras probably will want. ”

Homework assignment. Show me the list of those CF’s that meet your criteria. I think the results will surprise you. I agree with you about $20M being his ceiling right now. He has one more year of arbitration, so he may or may not get that money this offseason. You say Boras is gonna want a whole lot more? Not even Dr. Evil can get him more than $20M a year after the last couple of seasons. Like I’ve said before, his worth is slightly better than CT3. If he improves, he’ll be worth more. He’s not getting Seager money unless he comes back into his first three years form. If he does, he’s worth it. He’s got a year and a half to get those big bucks, so I think you’re jumping the gun. No need to make a change right now. By then, Outman or Pages might be ready, but I sure will miss his range.

It’s very alarming that Bellinger is striking out 33% of the time and CT3 is striking out 39% of the time.

Surprisingly, the Dodgers are 22nd in strikeouts.

Maybe Pollock is available for a RH bat.

And yes I hate it when a manager says, ‘he wants to play every day’. DUH

The Dodgers are too loyal to dump Muncy and JT. But I agree, it’s time to bring up Vargas and Lamb and start them. And platoon dh Muncy and JT. They cannot be in the lineup together. See if one of them can get productive over the next month or so to the trade deadline.

AF should have followed the Al Campanis rule to either trade or let a player go a year early rather than a year too late. JT was brought back on a FA contract but his game looks over. Appreciate all he’s done for the Dodgers and he just might make a great MLB manager, but his playing days should be over like right now.

Max got a contract and now lacks anything remotely like the guy who worked/played hard to get that contract.

It’s time to shake this stuff up. I know Freddie likes to play everyday also but last I checked the manager fills out the line up card. Sit him down for a game or DH him but for goodness sakes shake it up. I agree it’s time to do something that kicks these millionaires in the ass and gets them to play “team baseball” and enough of this BS we’ve been watching for the last several weeks.

Vargas, Outman, Lamb or someone else, but do something now. AF it’s your move.