Mitch White took a No-No into the 6th inning last night. Tyler Anderson has flirted with one. So has Clayton and then there are Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urias who are even better. When healthy, Andrew Heaney has looked unhittable, Dustin May is getting close and Walker Buehler is rumored to come back later this year, and WAIT… there is also Ryan Pepiot. I am also telling you that Gavin Stone is worth a look. It seems that there is a “logjam at “starter”… not a lack of it.
As I always remind you: Progress is not linear. It has taken the above-mentioned pitchers vastly different amounts of time to get to THE SHOW! Also, for the most part, they are getting better, incrementally! As a team, the Yankees are #1 in ERA at 2.91. The Dodgers are #2 at 2.92. They are the only teams below 3.00. The nearest National League team to the Dodgers is the Padres at 3.60.
If you look at Starting Pitching, the Dodgers are the class of baseball with a 2.64 ERA. The Yankees are #2 with a 3.03 ERA. It is my opinion that the Dodgers should consider using six starters for a few weeks, just to prevent tired arms and fatigue for some of the guys who have not logged as many innings in the past.
DODGER ROTATION
- Gonsolin
- Urias
- Kershaw
- White
- Anderson
- Pepiot
Yes, I know that Tyler Anderson has never pitched like this, but there is an explanation… a reason and there is no evidence that he will stop being successful with his new repertoire. When Heaney comes back, someone goes to the pen… maybe it’s Heaney. Pepiot and White also have experience there. The Dodger pitching development machine is operating at a high level – no reason to upset it and cough up future stars in a dope-fiend move.
BTW– Kimbrel (I saw him hit 98 MPH last night) and Bellinger were the stars of the game, but Gavin Lux just keeps doing his business. I proclaim JT – BACK!
It’s Carson Fulmer Time
I have been watching him closely and he has developed a Closers’ Mentality!” Last night, he pitched 1.2 innings, walking 1 and striking out 3 with no hits. He is in the mid-to-high ’90s and his ERA is 1.60. I think he can help the Dodgers, but they have to clear a roster spot. Maybe it’s time to cut bait with Yadier Alvarez…
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
- OKC Won 10-7
- Garrett Cleavinger got his first save by striking out 2 in the 9th. Most importantly, he did not walk anyone.
- Miguel Vargas played LF… Why would he play there unless they want to get him some reps there. Vargas is not ranked as high as Pages because Pages is a better defender and has more power. Vargas uses the entire ballpark, but as he matures his power will come. Vargas is a 20 HR guy RIGHT NOW, but he will mature into 30+. He doesn’t “try” to hit home runs and most talent evaluators did the long ball. Miguel Vargas is ready and if Friedman does not call him up in the next couple of weeks, he is dumbass! There, I said it!
- Tulsa lost 12-4
- Kyle Hurt was promoted from A+ to AA and promptly was beaten like a rented mule: 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 BB 18.00 ERA. WElcome to AA, kid!
- Jonny DeLuca was also promoted and he went 3-5 with a HR (his 19th of the year).
- Great Lakes won 5-1
- Vivas and Ramos each had 2 hits
- RC was smoked 12-0
- Nothing good happened here. Move on…
Discussion (27)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Dave Roberts said that Graterol called the injury a cramp, but he wanted to see the results of a follow-up test tomorrow before ruling out the IL as a possibility.
Another good game for Gonsolin. Basically just one mistake for a home run.
Mike Brito passed away….
A baseball savant I follow frequently says that progress isn’t linear but with Lux it’s vertical!
Does Lux helmet ever stay on??
Actor James Caan passed away today at the age of 82. He was great in the Godfather and also Brians Song. Played Will Farrells dad in Elf and was in Eraser with Schwarzenegger. RIP Sonny Corleone.
Great Athletic article with quotes from Friedman on possible training deadline moves….
We’ve traded more good young players over the last five years than anybody,” Friedman said. “And at some point, it catches up to you. … It’s important that we have them. We don’t operate in black and white. And so I’m not sitting here saying we’re not going to, but we’ve been really aggressive over the last five, six years.”
10:10 PM ET
Cubs (34-48)
Dodgers (52-29)
SP Tony Gonsolin R
10-0 1.54 ERA 81.2IP 77K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
DH J. Turner R
CF C. Bellinger L
LF T. Thompson R
2B Gavin Lux L
Clear-day
0% Rain
75° Wind 7 mph Out
07/05/22 Oklahoma City Dodgers transferred RHP Andre Jackson to the Development List.
07/05/22 Oklahoma City Dodgers sent RHP Pedro Baez on a rehab assignment to ACL Dodgers.
So Dave roberts is a coach on the all star team . Probably gets to do all the pitching changes!(just kidding) still hopeful Kershaw gets the start. I know Gonsolin or kid from Miami are the favorites. Please Dodgers, don’t ease up just because it’s the cubbies, remember Pirates!
What I like to see in a pitcher is the ability to do well against both sides of the plate and Mitch White has done that so far in his career.
The Dodgers are number 2 in team batting OPS and number 3 in team pitching OPS in all of baseball.
With the expanded playoffs, it will be hard to find anyone better than who the Dodgers already have through a trade.
Evan Phillips has sure been good this year, he has the best OPS against .497 in the bullpen with enough innings pitched. Better than Daniel Hudson at .511 who is second best. That was a big loss for the bullpen losing Hudson to injury. Next are Almonte .608 and Graterol .613, but I don’t care for their splits, but it’s not too bad.
Tony Gonsolin has the best OPS against .514 among Dodgers starting pitchers. Next best is Heaney at .560 with minimal innings, next is Pepiot at .584 with minimal innings, then Kershaw at .602. That is a lot of starting pitching at or under .600 OPS against. Hell even Mitch White is not far away at .616. Anything under .600 OPS against is excellent for pitchers, but maybe with the way the balls are now the .600 mark should be reduced slightly. But either way all those names I mentioned above are doing good this year.
Trayce Thompson has been a nice surprise so far with a .915 OPS.
Third best record in all of baseball, one game behind the Astros and 6.5 behind the Yankees. What’s up with the Yankees? 6 ahead of the Padres in the division.
Insofar as the number of innings thrown, I think there are several issues at work here:
1. Pitchers are bigger, stronger, throw harder, and contort their arms in some ungodly fashions, but their ligaments and tendons are still what they used to be.
2. The mound was higher, allowing more torque to the body, not the arm.
3. The strike zone was ginormous! Pitchers of yesteryear would be “pinched” by the new strike zone.
We really can’t compare eras.
Futures Game (at the All Star Game) rosters have just been released.
Dodgers have 3 guys participating: Miller, Cartaya, Vargas
Freddie is a doubles machine. I think between Mookie and Freddie are having a great influence on players like Lux and Thompson. Now if Bellie can pay attention it would improve his offense tremendously.
Glad to see the team play little ball last night. When we are in the playoffs we will need to manufacture runs any way you can not just swing for the fences each pitch. Nice to see White have a awesome game!
Cody put ball in play when he took a small swing and missed the ball by a foot when he took a big swing. I hope he noticed.
Yes, Justin is back. Max, is not.
I don’t think the Dodgers will need Kershaw or Kimbrel next year and probably will not need Justin either. Lots of money coming off the payroll next year, maybe. Will Trea be back?
Again, Fergusson = Steve Howe and Belli = Tommy Davis
I am really enjoying this year much more than the past 10 years…..I think because I’m not being so critical but rather am looking at future possibilities more than present failures. Thus, I am able to see guys like Cody, JT, and Taylor and remember what they have done and what they could do once they can get past a hump or funk they may be in. It appears all three are turning that corner now, and combined with Mookie, Tre, Will, and Freddie…..wow! And of course, I can’t forget Lux who continues to be a consistent hitter, batting over .280 I believe for quite some time. We may not have one easy out in our lineup.
And look at all the injuries with our pitchers and yet we still are dominating there with all these new young arms. Next man up is working as scripted. It is a very exciting time to be a Dodgers fan indeed.
TM
What a weird game. Some bizarre plays but fun to watch.
* Did we see some limited flight baseballs? Trey and Freeman and especially Mookie
seemed get pretty good contact and the balls died at the warning track.
* Bellinger’s base hit, in the bottom of 5, shows how hard it is to squeak a grounder thru against the shift. It missed two diving guys by about a foot each. Seeing eye ground ball for sure.
I loved his stolen base right after as well. It didn’t lead to a run but I like it. I would have sent Trea first pitch after his walk too, in the 8th. That one didn’t happen.
* The play by Rockies SS Inglacias, in the hole was something special. He’s no spring chicken but that’s a play few SS can make.
* The JT slide into 2nd was awesome. I think he saw safe but it was an imaginative effort.
* I initially thought that Smith’s foot must be more sore than reported as I fully expected him to pinch hit for Barnes in the 7th. Doc didn’t. But Barnes got hit by a pitch and was later pinch hit for so I guess Smith’s foot was okay after all.
* I really dislike the way catchers now get on that knee to make a lower target. I think it limits their ability to move side to side on wild pitches. If the Rockies catcher, Serves, wasn’t on his knee he had a shot to catch the wild pitch that score Bellinger. The pitch was awful but he had no shot on his knee.
* Tough break for Lamb, in a huge AB, who is having to prove his worth. You get the feeling that Lamb my have a short leash and needs to perform when he gets his chances. The called strikeout pitch to him was bullshit and took the bat out of his hands
* Nice job Mookie. Good things happen when you put the ball in play.
And is it more about babying starters or their stats going through the lineup third time around?
That stat for Pittsburg away attendance #1 blows my mind. Makes zero sense to me. I guess its the giveaways they do…????
In 1968 Bob Gibson was 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA. He completed 28 of his 34 starts with 13 shutouts! Different era for sure! And Lux’s plate discipline and pitch recognition has been a huge plus for him this year. Cody can certainly learn from that!
In watching the games I’ve noticed a lot of empty seats in the far end of the upper decks upper decks. So I checked on the numbers and the Dodgers are averaging 48,000 a game which is far ahead (+9,300) of second place St Louis. The Dodgers are #4 as a visiting team draw. Surprisingly, Pittsburg is #1 followed by Cincinnati, and Atlanta. I guess home teams use the Pittsburg and Cincinnati games for major promotions in order to get fans to show up. Overall, MLB attendance is way up over last year, but is still 5% below pre pandemic levels per Forbes. The NL West is the top in attendance in MLB with Dodgers #1, San Diego #5, Colorado #6, SF #12, and Arizona #22. So my concern about attendance going down for the Dodgers was misplaced. It’s all good.
When you take a deep dive into this Dodger team I don’t see the need to make any major trades unless a year ending injury happens to a key player. More important than what the Dodgers currently have on their roster and in prospects is what their opponents don’t have. Which in many cases is a lot. Especially pitching depth. Is there really any pitcher out there that might be available that’s better than the Dodgers have? Most likely, no. When you consider all the injuries to the pitching staff, they are still #1 in the NL. That’s crazy. Hopefully, many of infirmed will be back for the final leg of the season to create an exceptional staff. One that can help bring another championship to LA.
It’s nice to see some positive signs from the black hole four. Well, Taylor’s situation isn’t a positive one for him, but for the team it’s an addition by subtraction. JT is finally looking like JT. Between Bellinger and Muncy if one can have a good night one night and visa versa then it should be fine. Muncy can get back on track by being aggressive and swinging at the first strike he sees regardless of the outcome. Then the pitchers will adjust to that and he can then work the count and look for a mistake to smash. Lux continues to make contact resulting in positive results. He may lack the long ball right now, but that’s OK. Remember he is hitting ninth! Cody may want to watch and learn. Then, again, probably not.
Carry on.
For Bear especially, but I think this will resonate with others….
It’s time to be blown away. In his last two ML seasons (65-66) Sandy Koufax won 2 Cy Young’s, had 53 wins, 658.2 IP, 699 K’s and a remarkable 54 complete games.
This year’s NL leader in CG’s is also a “Sandy”, the Miami Marlin’s Sandy Alcantra.
He has 2.
As you were saying, Patch? Yes, Pepiot was very good, he’s got a special changeup and a good fastball that plays off of it. Nothing special about White? Except his fastball comes out a little harder than Pepiot and he has a wicked slider and last night was throwing a curve that was even more deadly. The result, a combined 1 hitter.
Yes, it was against the Rockies, who have the best offense at home and the worst offense on the road, as they typically do. But, it was still no hits through 5 until a bleeder in the 5th broke up his no-no. Doc was going to break it up anyway. No one kills more no-no’s than Doc. Think of Mitch as the pitching version of Gavin Lux. He’s got the tools, just needs the confidence to go along with it. He’s another player I’m particularly found of as he went to the same Uni as my nephew, Santa Clara.
WTF was David Price doing throwing nothing but 95?!? Wow, where did that come from? Are we going to see more of this going forward? If so, he’s going to become a big weapon on this team.
But wait, there’s more! Washed up Craig Kimbrel in a 1-1 tie in the ninth comes in and gets 3,4,5 on 5 pitches with three batted balls that didn’t get out of the infield. Maybe that liner knocked him back onto the correct axis.
And if that wasn’t exciting enough, Mookie hits his first walk-off with a swinging bunt that doesn’t reach the infield dirt. Baseball is such a crazy game.
We have just 4 more home games on the current homestand against the lowly Cubbies and then we’re off on the road for a short trip to St. Louis, then to South LA to take on the Angles before we break for All-Star festivities back at home. Trade season will heat up soon. It seems it was just yesterday when Badger would post several times a day, every day on how we need more pitching.
With Bueller, May and Heaney all on the IL, not to mention Treinen, V-Gone, and Kahnle with them, it’s amazing that we’re just .01 off the MLB ERA lead. Who the hell has more pitching than we do?
I seriously can’t remember a trade deadline with more players on the IL, while simultaneously having fewer needs than we do now. With Muncy, Belli and JT starting to contribute and some of the best pitchers available at the deadline coming from our own IL, I can’t see many obvious upgrades in the trade market. Can we get a big bat for left field that will produce at the plate and be better with the glove than Trayce Thompson? Why is he platooning?
Hat’s off to Friedman for building the deepest team in baseball. Now, if he can keep his hands off the lineup card, we would be onto something. Speaking of the lineup card, I’m glad the Dodgers finally decided to listen to me and bat Mookie and Trea back to back. Now, just leave Lux in the 9 hole until you’re ready to have him bat 1 or 2.
3 K’s the night before and 3 hits today. Se la vie for the Black Hole Gang ring-leader Cody. He scored the tying run and the winning run, the only runs for the good guys.
Well, Starting pitching availability has been hit hard with both Montas & Kahnle arm problems. Does any bullpen help is better than Reyes Moronta?
6man rotation is the way to go.
Dodgers go back to Colorado for 4 games again this month and then the regular season ends with 5 games strait with the Rockies…….but at Dodger stadium!
Dodgers are exactly at the halfway mark for the season and everything says the offense will be much better in the 2nd half. Almost shocking as the offense has looked pretty bad at times and still has been on pace for 104 wins. So as the flat spots are rounding in our lineup 110 + wins is more likely than current pace of 104. Interesting!
It seems to me with all our ‘problems’ we are able to win games. Now lately the ‘black hole three’ have improved to the point where at least 1 of them comes thru each game. JT hits in 7 of last 8. Mookie back. Sure we have plenty of young guys to trade for some ‘star’, but would that really help? Hoping Tony can keep it up second half. Didn’t Wood start that one good year at 10-1 or something like that and then fade. Maybe just some minor pieces can be added. Second half we get a rested Taylor back.
Mark, I thought you retired with all the new help and all.Later in the year when everybody is back maybe a 10 man rotation. But we need more starting pitching! Now Bellinger is all hit no field! That’s 5 in a row by Price. Maybe we should sign him to an extension!