In 2024, Blake Snell threw 114 pitches in a no-hitter versus the Reds — it was his first complete game, and the 114 pitches were just shy of his career high. Last night, he threw 103 pitches without walking anyone, but it was a tough call to take him out. It almost backfired, but didn’t. Blake Snell’s career-high 122 pitches came on July 24, 2019, when he was pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays against the Boston Red Sox. BTW, he had elbow surgery after that season.
Since then, he’s never topped 115 pitches in a game. Most of his recent high-efficiency outings (like with San Diego or San Francisco) have been around 95–105 pitches before he’s pulled. I think he was tired in the 8th when he threw just one fastball, 95-96 MPH, to each hitter. The rest were breaking balls. It’s easy for fans to second-guess, but as usual, when a manager’s move works, he’s a genius, and if it doesn’t, he’s a moron who should be fired. It’s never the players’ fault! (Sarcasm alert).
There’s not much to say about the “Almost Grand Slam Double Play.” It is what it is… crazy stuff happens on the baseball field. Sometimes it really is a “crapshoot.” Hopefully, two things will happen tonight:
- The Dodgers bring that “another gear in the offense” that Muncy talked about, and
- Yamamoto pitches like Snell.
Sasaki won’t be perfect every time, and although it boosted Treinen’s confidence, he still scares me to death.
Dodger Farm System
Baseball America just ranked the Dodgers’ Farm System. At the plate, the Dodgers ranked first in Hit+. They also have the highest Stuff+ and nSTF+ on the other side of the ball. FYI, they said this:
“Aidan Foeller (118 STF+, 123 nSTF+) has excellent numbers. As Baseball America identified last week, Foeller ranks in the top 10 for Stuff+ among all pitchers with at least 1,000 pitches tracked, Christian Zazueta (108, 115), Adam Serwinowski (107, 113), Payton Martin (109, 112), Ronan Kopp (112, 110), Nick Frasso (101, 109), and Patrick Copen (110, 104) also stand out.“
Discussion (35)
Disagree, not disagreeable
The brainy YouTuber who produces “Foolish Baseball” did a look back on the Dodgers epic trade for Mookie Betts, which seems about ten times more brilliant today than it did then.
While Mookie had a down year on offense, he is now a freaking Gold Glove finalist at SS. Meanwhile, Alex Verdugo and Connor Wong have had middling careers, and Jeter Downs has logged about 16 games in the majors.
Some takeaways:
— While some folks here get overly excited by prospect rankings, Mookie was never a “top prospect.” He was a 5th-round draft choice who was ranked in the 50s-60s in some national rankings before he broke in with the Red Sox.
–His current WAR total already exceeds the career WAR of Tony Gwynn, Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez and Pudge Rodriguez.
I’m not sure when this episode was made, but Mookie’s successful transition to shortstop is as, Dave Roberts has pointed out, unprecedented. Ernie Banks when from SS to 1B, and Yount from SS to CF. For a star to move to SS in his 30s–that just isn’t done.
And I wonder if AF saw this as possiblity when he swung the big deal to get him–and signed him to that massive 12-year, $365 million contract.
Looking back, it’s kind of funny to recall how many of us were unsure about Mookie’s move. I figured that 2B made sense as Mookie ages, but SS seemed like a stretch. Now I think we can pencil him at SS for another couple of seasons.
And I think GG utility finalist Miguel Rojas will re-up with the Dodgers for his final season.
Mookie and Rojas named Gold Glove finalists.
Won’t happen but I’d love to see Kershaw start game three. My prejudice mine thinks he’d kill it. Know it isn’t happening. What a reward for a wonderful career.
Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez Flees Team’s Hotel in Milwaukee Over Wife’s Fear of Ghosts
I give AF credit for admitting he made a mistake in signing Conforto, Yates and Scott and keeping them off the playoff roster. Yes there may be some injury for part of the reason ,but performance in the regular season is the bigger reason. All three of them would not have helped in achieving the ultimate goal.
For us older fans, maybe the baseball gods gave us the Snell/Yamamoto show to remind us of the Big Don/Lefty blessing we were anointed with in the early years of Dodger Blue. How does a staff go from scrambling to pitch 6 innings to a complete game and 8 innings and give up one f’ing hit??? And we still have Ohtani and Glasgow ready to go with a rested BP. We are looking strong.
Rah, Rah, Ree
Kick ’em in the knee
Rah, Rah, Rass
Kick ’em in the other knee!
On Ohtani:
Hitting is very hard!
Pitching is very hard!
Hitting and pitching are harder!
I read that Ohtani is hitting .140 on the days AFTER he pitches.
He’s Human – maybe he is thinking too much.
It’s called paralysis by analysis.
it’s not over. but i don’t see this series going back to milwaukee. If Tyler G. is on , the fired up dodgers will take game 3! it would be so damn good to head back to the world series with the starting pitchers lined up just like this series! Last year the bullpen led us to a championship. It’s the starters turn. So far so good! … Mvp so far? slight edge to Kike? It’s amazing how he turns it on in october!
IF we win the series against the Brewers and IF the Mariners win the series against the Blue Jays, the Dodgers will have the home field advantage in the World Series with Games 1 and 2 in LA because of the best overall season records and the sweep at the end of the season against the Mariners ensured that happening.
i was just wondering why they would skip him for game #1 since he started game #1 in philly. obviously it worked out fine. Maybe it’s just workload. wouldn’t it be something , the dodgers up 3-0 in the series. ohtani comes in with the dodgers winning 3-2 in the 7th. Ohtani pitches 3 shutout innings to close it out, striking out the side in the ninth!! Wouldn’t that be something?
Mark is it possible that there’s something bothering ohtani? they passed him over for game 1 and game 2, and now possibly game 3. just curious . not complaining , can’t argue with the results though. He’s not looked good at the plate so it does bring up questions about him. if the dodgers win game 3 , could ohtani not pitch at all? just speculation! … As i watched Yamamoto carve up the Brewers last night, i thought how fortunate we are to root for a team like the dodgers! the best run organization in sports hands down! A dodgers fan going on 68 years, i appreciate all of you guys that post here. And Bear. wasn’t trying to be a jerk yesterday. Value your input on baseball. It’s ok to disagree. we’re all here for the same thing, Dodgers baseball. thanks Mark for giving us this site to give our opinions and share our love for the best team in baseball! And Bear, do you really believe Yamamoto’s performance was better than Snell’s ? i give Blake a slight edge. But does it really matter? here i go again! lol
Bluto,
This is really a lot of fun so far. But its not a rah rah Pollyanna site.
So we already have Mark and Bear monitoring how people think. We don’t need any others.
Yoshi topped it. Complete game 3-hitter. Teo and Max with HR’s. Max now the all-time Dodger leader in post season homers with 14.
BTW, the commentators on TV and elsewhere who fault Teo for forgetting the rule and not scoring on that crazy double play seem to forget that Dino Ebel was standing a few feet away.
If anybody should know what to do, it’s the third base coach and he should be shouting instructions. Maybe he was and maybe Teo may have messed up… but what about Dino?
Teo should have been waiting at 3B the whole time, not meandering down the line …. So what was Dino saying?
Which reminds me: Last year at this time, my son, a freshman at Hong Kong International School, is the baserunner at 3B with the game tied in the final inning of “the China Cup” tournament at HKIS, facing a team from Shanghai. The HKIS Dragons are poised for a sweep–not really a big deal considering the competition.
The batter hits a fly to left. My boy is on the bag, eager to race home.
“Should I go?” he asks the head coach, now in the 3B coach’s box.
Big mistake.
The coach, apparently flustered, says: “Bluff!” So my boy bluffs, dashing partway down the line and stopping. The Shanghai cheers while the Dragons and their parents like me are thinking, “What the hell?”
It should have been a walk-off. An amazing, heroic throw might have gotten the out, but the worst-case scenario is a tie and extra innings.
Then the rains come and the game (and tournament) ends in a tie. Ugh.
Perhaps the coach heard some grumbling, but not from me. At any rate, this season he decided to bow out of baseball and coach another sport. Word is that he found baseball too stressful. He won’t be with the Dragons next week as they travel to Shanghai.
Did Roberts learn something from his decision to pull Snell in favor of Sasaki? That nearly blew up in his face.
Anyway, great to see Yamamoto get the complete game.
During the post-game interview after the nail-biter the other day, Roberts said that Treinen’s performance could help him get his confidence back.
Well, okay… but what if Turang had worn that inside pitch to bring in a game-tying run? And how did Sasaki’s shaky outing affect his confidence?
Anyway, the Dodgers come home with a 2-0 advantage, built primarily on the work of Snell and Yamamoto. And to echo dodgerdad, Kike continues to be Senor October. How about a little love for Max? He hit on off the centerfield wall for a crazy double play and came back with a bomb in this one.
With Glasnow and Shohei lined up at home, it’s hard to imagine the Brewers coming back….
I’m happy. Why did we switch Glasnow & Ohtani?
well how about that? no bullpen needed! what a performance by yamamoto! i’ll say it again just like when the dodgers went up 2-0 on the phillies, this series ain’t over. Glasnow up next. he’s got a big opportunity to show just how good he is too! kudos to Doc for letting yamamoto finish! he and snell were outstanding. Last thing. Kike, you are amazing this time of year! go ahead and sign up for next season and take the first couple of months off! see you in october 26!!!!
Yamamoto refuses to let Blake Snell have the limelight. An absolute !
Go Dodgers!
That was easy
Mookie back into his ground out or pop up mode
I think Jimbo asked this:
“Anyone know why Roberts pinch hit Call for Teoscar with the bases loaded last night?”
Answer: He didn’t – Justin Dean took over for Hernandez last night and Pages went to RF. Call then pinch hit for Dean… not Teoscar!
8:08 PM ET
Dodgers (93-69) (1-0)
Brewers (97-65) (0-1)
SP Y. Yamamoto R
12-8 2.49 ERA
SP Freddy Peralta R
17-6 2.70 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
RF T. Hernandez R
2B Tommy Edman S
LF E. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
In Domed Stadium
that does it! i’m happy ! thanks! all’s well in bluevillle!
aint bitching. just made an opinion. i guess yours is the only correct one posted here. i have agreed to most everything you post. the one thing that i disagree with you about is this. and that’s all there is to it. i know, he got the job done. that’s the bottom line. maybe tanner scott wasn’t so bad either.
i guess you never doubt any player. I have faith they will win the series. and no , i wasn’t having a heart attack. i was nervous just like you probably were. Sasaki did create the mess. Trienan walked one and got one out. ok , he finished it. we’re all happy with that. he is not the Trienan of last year. i respectfully disagree with you. enjoy your comments.
his track prior to this season, yes. but he’s not been good or even close to good this year. i hope for the dodgers sake he is close to the old Blake !
Anyone know why Roberts pinch hit Call for Teoscar with the bases loaded last night?
agree in missed call. but trienan was up 1 ball. 2 strikes on the batter he walked. he hasn’t thrown strikes consistently this season. I have little faith in him on the mound . i hope he proves me wrong. the dodger defense didn’t have to be perfect last night because Blake Snell was damn near perfect. Doesn’t matter now, but if Snell had been perfect through 8? we’ll never know! Milwaukee is as i posted earlier, a damn good team. Poor ole Teo! he can’t win! We all expect more from him than he can provide at times. But he’s a dodger and we need him in this championship run!
A. Treinen should have never had to make that last pitch, HPU blew the call on an earlier pitch. B. Give credit to the Brewers defense and pitchers. LA hit several balls really hard. C. That blunder on the basepaths is on the players, not Ebel. All of them should have seen the left field ump signal that the ball was in play. Win tonight, head home up 2-0. Works for me.
Agree. his pitches don’t scare anybody! he was very fortunate to get strike 3. I’m afraid. Doc will trust him one time too many! … Opposing managers keep right on walking ohtani to get to Mookie. Ok. Mookie keeps right on producing runs! Let’s hope that trend continues tonight! .. Today my pick to produce is none other than Andy Pages! He’s had 2 critical plays in the last 2 games. He goes deep tonight! …. Brian Kenney was talking about the payroll disparity between the Dodgers and the Brewers. Other talking heads say it’s the reason for a salary cap. i totally agree! There should be a minimum “cap” for these billionaire owners who won’t spend their money. The Mets are living proof that money can’t always be the deciding factor in winning a championship. the Brewers have put together a very good team. They hit. they run the bases. they pitch. they are well managed. They are at 120 million for payroll. They will lose some of their top players in the future. They probably will continue to reload with talented young prospects due to the fact that they are so well run ss a franchise. They will probably spend where necessary. Teams like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Miami, Cleveland, white sox, minnesota etc are always going to keep a tight grip on their wallets. And every fan of those teams complain about the Dodgers and their money. Complain to your ownership. Look at the Pitching throughout mlb at the pitching Pittsburgh let walk away or gave away! look at the players the Marlins have shipped out and how successful they have been. Milwaukee can win this series. win or lose they can’t blame money. Ohtani and Yamamoto are probably the only 2 dodgers who could not have signed with lower payroll teams. every other free agent was affordable for every team in baseball! A salary cap won’t make Pittsburgh a contender. An owner who will spend the money to put a quality lineup on the field to support the excellent starting pitching he has will. that’s what’s good for baseball!
Treinen said his pitches pretty much went where they were supposed to. Mark has mentioned velo, I’m not seeing the movement that used to make him nasty.
Sasaki looked like a deer in headlights when doc came out to remove him. He’ll be ok. Trienan and Dave might have confidence in him, but i think no dodger fan does! Strike 3 was high and out of the zone. Who pitches the ninth today? … Look for the offense to shine tonight! with a regular starter on the mound for Milwaukee, they won’t see so many different pitchers early on. But. , Murphy could have a quick hook on peralta. Yamamoto always bounces back stronger after a bad outing! Dodgers head to LA up 2-0!
Heart of a Champion.
Gritty, gutty win.
Lets get greedy in Milwaukee now.
Offense needs to show up. Three out of our last four runs scored have been on bases loaded walks/errors.