Carry on!

Today’s Afternoon Baseball Lineup:

2B Mookie Betts R

1B Max Muncy L

SS Trea Turner R

3B J. Turner R

CF C. Bellinger L

LF Steven Souza R

RF B. McKinney L

C A. Barnes R

P T. Gonsolin R

No Taylor, No Corey, Mookie in the leadoff spot ,Cody batting 5th

Dodgers are going to face Musgrove, Paddack and Snell this weekend. Our starters have not been announced yet, but supposed to be Urias, Scherzer and Buehler. Today’s lineup not posted yet.

Can’ t we all get along? Following Dodger baseball is NOT life or death, but a way to get away from life’s every day’s problems. This is the best Dodger forum with the best writers with the most passionate fans. As a newcomer this year, I’ve learned to express my opinion and move on. Our opinions will not change what Andrew or Doc do or don’t do as intellect and worthy as they may be. We’ve been extremely fortunate the last 8 years as Dodger fans and even this year under the most difficult circumstances with injuries. The sun will rise tomorrow and we all will be better people with less vicious behavior.

It’s an emotional game watched by emotional fans. The blog is entertainment, it’s a 21st century medium where people go to stay connected, to read a box score rather than waiting for the morning newspaper, to share views, to get news from around the world in seconds in what use to take days.

Who cares if someone posts a “wing nut” post without enough factual data (at least to the satisfaction of others) to support their emotional response (eg. CT3’s bat looks slow, Bellinger strikes out too much, Doc should have never used KJ in that particular situation) .

Is my life impacted greatly by a post that tells us TB should never have been signed, or Belli sucks right now, or KJ can’t pitch on consecutive nights, even if the same poster tells us the same thing every day? No, my life goes on whether I agree with the post or whether or not it was written as eloquently as someone else or even if it’s the same old story but different day. Perhaps some here are a bit “thin skinned” and get “wrapped around the axle” a bit too much.

It’s entertainment and the different perspectives is what makes the LADT unique.

Ah man, I missed it! You should have left it up a little longer, It’s only 5:30 PDT!

I was little pissed yesterday that they sat JT, but with a day game after a night game today, and JT’s recent interview saying that many of the players are feeling the dog days, I know that you have to rest guys from time to time.

The Dodgers seem to rest their guys more often than other teams. It’s frustrating at times, but they seem to find it more important to give rest knowing their pretty much guaranteed a post season spot as a Wild Card at a minimum. They way Max and Walker pitch in big games (Sans Bueller’s last start against the Giants) it makes a lot of sense to go about it this way.

Last night was a winnable game. CT3 made a couple of misplays yesterday and both lead to runs. The first play was in the first when he playing practically on the warning track and just missed catching a fly ball coming in. It lead to a three run homer with 2 outs. The second one, he turned Molina’s single into a double, then Yadi moved to third on a wild pitch and later scored. Mookie was thrown out at the plate. If any of those things don’t happen, we most likely win the game.

It’s frustrating to lose a game like that. Mitch White did a good job rebounding from the rough first inning and the bullpen mostly got the job done after Graterol walked a tightrope and Greene gave up a solo shot. Feliz pitched another clean inning on just 8 pitches.

I knew it was going to be a tough day against Wainwright. He’s a command guy and the Dodgers seem to have a tough time against guys like that when the umpire is giving him extra strikes out of the zone. Bellinger, once again, shows off warning track power with nothing to show for it. With Pujols, CT3 and Smith wearing the collar, the bottom of the lineup was a black hole.

A few weeks ago, I was a little concerned that CT3 might be slowing down after playing the most out of any player up until that point and having never coming close to playing this much in his career. It’s showing now, not only with the bat, but also with the glove.

It is what it is at this point. We still have way too many injuries and Pollock going down was more misfortune for a team full of misfortune. The rotation still has just 3 reliable arms and it’s not going to look a whole lot better with Gonso and Kersh returning from lengthy IL stints. They just aren’t built up enough to expect them to do much better than all the bullpen games. We’re running on fumes.

The bright side is there’s still more than 3 weeks to play and the offense will eventually wake up from their funk and the pitching has been excellent overall. Baseball is a crazy game. Literally anything can happen, so I’m not going to cry because we’re two games behind. Teams have made up more ground than this in a shorter time, many times throughout the history of this game. It’s making for a very exciting pennant race and the team is forced to learn to play through adversity.

A new game to play today, early as Bear mentioned. Then, we’re back home with our big three lined up to play the Padres who are one game up on the Reds in the WildCard race. It’s going to be a nail biter down to the wire.

With the two misplays by CT3 yesterday, it’s easy to see the value that Bellinger brings with the glove. It would be another story if there were acceptable replacements for his bat, but there aren’t. As far as Doc goes, I don’t see constant attacks on him. I see people questioning his questionable moves. When there aren’t any, I just don’t see people making things up to complain about. What I do see is irrational defense of him when he does screw up.

Carry on.

Since I have been reading these Blogs, Has there EVER been a manager that fans are happy with? Not counting those on other teams

Shut it down.

I do this because I love the team and the game. I do get frustrated with the team at times like I am sure all of us do. But I also get frustrated with the constant attacks on certain players and Doc. Do not get me wrong, I have been critical of some players, and questioned Roberts moves on more than one occasion. But when it is the same thing day after day and the same old rhetoric, well then it gets real old real fast. The games is at 10:15 LA time today. Gonsolin vs Woodland.