A Snell of a Game!
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…
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.“
X-CITES
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Discussion (89)
Disagree, not disagreeable
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.
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!
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.
Rah, Rah, Ree
Kick ’em in the knee
Rah, Rah, Rass
Kick ’em in the other knee!
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.
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.
Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez Flees Team’s Hotel in Milwaukee Over Wife’s Fear of Ghosts
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.
Mookie and Rojas named Gold Glove finalists.
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.