Consternation in Dodgerland

Still can’t win extra inning games with a ghost runner on in the 10th. Graterol with a 101 mph fastball couldn’t strike out key runners who put the ball in play and allowed three runs to score in the 10th. The bullpen and the starters will be taxed in the next 21days, AF needs to perform his magic and get the ship from sinking with some key moves to address these pitching issues .It’s not too early to do so.

Disgusting strike call s on TT. It was a big F YOU to Trey, the Dodgers and all the fans who stuck it out to the 10th. Absolutely disgraceful.

How many times Max Muncy has to strikeout with bases loaded until DRoberts realize he can’t be the cleanup hitter?

15 for 40 (.375) MLB hits Walker Buehler’s diminished fastball, that pitch has become a headache for Buehler.

Now the positive his off-speed pitches have been almost unhittable.

I really err, don’t like Jackson…

Doc pre-game interview…

The plane flight is what did Kershaw in. 😉

David Price coming back during Arizona series next week. Not capable of taking down more than 5-6 hitters right now.

Pepiot most likely pitching next Tuesday’s doubleheader.

Sounds like Julio pitching tomorrow. Most likely Jackson or Grove on Sunday.

Phillies (15-17)

Dodgers (20-10)

SPWalker Buehler R

4-1 1.96 ERA 27K

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

80° Wind 6 mph Out

Does anybody knows how many sac flies we have in the season?

I’m glad many got my point after last nights game. I won’t go over the analysis of Roberts choices as I think everybody covered that well.

What I will add is that my view of how to adjust to close games doesn’t just apply to the mangers decisions. The players themselves need to adjust to the situations. And if they don’t, they need to be taken out of those situations and put in players who will adjust. And I don’t care how famous or how many MVPs or AS games that player may have appeared in.

The other night Muncy struck out looking with the bases loaded on a breaking ball down the middle. That can’t happen. My son (14) has a couple excellent coaches on his travel team. They have their priories right. They don’t yell. They coach. That is unless one of the boys strikes out looking with RISP. Then he will get his ass chewed out. Strike out swinging 10 times in a row. You’ll get advise. Strike out looking and you will get a earful. If you have two strikes and runners on, you shorten up and do everything you can to make contact on anything close. Muncy did not make the adjustment. He did what he always does, seemingly in all situations, and tried to work the zone. You don’t do that with two strikes and the bases loaded. And that’s not a new thing for Muncy. I’ve had that issue with him for years.

Last night I cringed when Bellinger came up with the bases loaded and no outs. In that situation you MUST put the ball in play. I have never liked Bellinger’s approach with 2 outs and in close games with RISP. I have never seen a different approach out of Belli, from his first AB in spring training with the bases empty to a AB with the bases loaded in the 9th and no outs. He does not change his approach.

I’ve always admired Freeman for that reason. He and Joey Votto are both masters at adjusting to situations. They each are three different hitters. Depending on the situation on the field and depending on the count. Now I don’t expect everybody to be Freeman or Votto. That would be unrealistic. But you simply can’t take the same approach regardless of the situation. Muncy and Belli have always had this issue. It needs to end. They are too good, on too good of a team and experienced enough on the MLB level where this should not just be expected but demanded. It irks the hell out of me.

Also, Jayne Cobb is my favorite (male) character played by Adam Baldwin in the TV series Firefly. (He is best known for playing Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket, another of my favorites) Firefly was the best Sci-fi TV series ever produced (for all of 1 season). That character always gave me a smile.

“I’ll kill a man in a fair fight. Or if I think he’s gonna start a fair fight.” … Jayne Cobb

Trevor Bauer’s Appeal Hearing To Begin On May 23

By Anthony Franco | May 13, 2022 at 3:50pm CDT

Major League Baseball handed down a 324-game suspension to Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer last month after finding he’d violated the Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy. Bauer denied all wrongdoing and immediately announced plans to appeal the ban, and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic reports that hearing is set to begin on May 23.

That’s not to say a resolution is forthcoming shortly. Ghiroli reports that the process is likely to take place over several days in the coming months, with scheduling subject to the availability of the arbitrators. The panel will consist of three individuals — one of whom was selected by the league, one selected by the Players Association, and one independent arbitrator approved by both parties.

Three women have made public allegations that Bauer assaulted them during sex. He was not charged criminally, but the league has the authority to hand down discipline even in the absence of charges (as it did in this instance). The pitcher has denied the allegations.

Bauer’s appeal marks the first time a player has contested a ban under the Domestic Violence policy. (All previous players found to have committed a violation agreed to their suspensions). The 324-game suspension is the longest handed down by the commissioner’s office since the policy was put into place. Bauer was on paid administrative leave between last July — when the first woman’s allegations were made public — until the suspension was announced on April 29. He is not being paid during the appeals process. Bauer signed a three-year, $102MM free agent deal with the Dodgers that runs through 2023.

The “infamous” team doesn’t expect Kershaw to have a long-term absence. Allow me to be a “negative nelly” but we’ve heard this multiple times before. In a pre-game scrum in about ten days we will hear Doc say something to the effect CK hasn’t responded well to treatment and arthroscopic surgery is planned to take a better look.

No, I’m not proclaiming that the Dodgers handle injuries different than any other club, and I don’t expect Doc or the front office to say anything other than what has been announced on day 1 of CK’s IL stint. I’m hoping for the best, but would not all be surprised if the injury is indeed much more severe than noted today.

I don’t believe TB should have ever been suspended, but his selfish and arrogant stunt has cost the Dodgers to spend player capitol last year (Ruiz and Gray) to get Scherzer and TT and limited AF’s pursuit of SP this off season. Where’s the vaunted minor league depth in pitching? If Pepiot’s performance is indicative of the maturation and development of our young guns to this point, I’m worried.

I have done a little research, and it seems that Hanser IS a good butter and has had a modicum of success with it.

I can post several more if you like…

So you can throw that argument out. However, Doc still let Anderson in way too long.

Maybe a second shot for Pepiot after Cleavinger gets sent down after he pitches?

I will have Clayton fixed by Sunday. I’m just going to order this for him:

Not his arm it is his hip. SO chill dudes. No TJ needed.

Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | May 13, 2022 at 11:59am CDT

The Dodgers are placing Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list due to right SI joint inflammation, the club informed reporters (including J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group). The team doesn’t anticipate it being a long-term absence. Reliever Garrett Cleavinger has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move.

The SI joint is in the hip/pelvis area, so Kershaw is fortunately not dealing with any arm concerns. He missed most of the second half of last season due to forearm/elbow issues, so this latest injury would seem to register as a much more minor concern. Walker Buehler will take the ball tonight against the Phillies in Kershaw’s stead.Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | May 13, 2022 at 11:59am CDT

The Dodgers are placing Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list due to right SI joint inflammation, the club informed reporters (including J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group). The team doesn’t anticipate it being a long-term absence. Reliever Garrett Cleavinger has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move.

The SI joint is in the hip/pelvis area, so Kershaw is fortunately not dealing with any arm concerns. He missed most of the second half of last season due to forearm/elbow issues, so this latest injury would seem to register as a much more minor concern. Walker Buehler will take the ball tonight against the Phillies in Kershaw’s stead.

Why did Roberts bring in Hanser for Lux with a RHP just being announced?

Hanser is Not known for bunting anyway and why Go against the obvious matchup here?

Strange decision.

And in all my 45 + years watching Baseball I have Never Seen a Former MVP in his Prime years Look als lost als Belli at the Plate for such an extended Time.

And unbelievably muncy Looks Even worse

Go Dodgers!

I get so damn mad at Roberts. Especially how he handles the pitching staff. How many runs does a starter give up before he is taken out? Where is our closer? Last year Doc wore our pitching staff out chasing the Giants. Then in the play offs starting pitchers could not start because they had dead arms.

JT was starting to hit the ball. So of course Doc sits JT. Muncy bats clean up all the time and he plays all the time and cannot hit right now. Let Muncy sit a few games and then bat him 9th. Next year with 2 infielders on each side of second, Muncy cannot play second.

The play by Lux was a Little League play. Not anticipating a runner going home on a short pop up is bush league. I stopped watching right after that play.

So, it certainly looks like a bullpen game tonight. Maybe I should just go see Northman. Cleavinger coming up to replace Kershaw. I think I’d rather have a Starting pitcher try to take down 3 innings again ala Ryan Pepiot. Gove and Jackson are on the roster.

Looks like we’re going to be tested during this month long run with just one off day. No rest for the weary.

Uh oh Kersh to the IL.

Lux’s laziness play has happened to many players, I remember that once Pujols made it to Puig.

Those things happen when you start routinely playing the game and you start taking things for granted and then you get confident, but then every once in a while a player shows up and they’ll embarrass you.

Those plays are important because they mark the player in a positive way, they change the focus of the game, from now on Lux, just as Puig and others did, will never take anything for granted and will know that he will have to be 100% focused on every game situation.

I didn’t know we were allowed to talk about how crappy a manger Doc is. Pretty funny comment about switching two players and trying to surprise them with a bunt.

14 pitchers on the roster. Some pitch every day and Kahnle and Kimbrel (The two best) never pitch at all.

I like using your closer in the 9th at home in a tie game. Doc apparently doesn’t this time, but will sometimes.

The other comment about Lux was that he won’t do that again. Chalk that up to inexperience I guess. Clean baseball and we win that game.

The Phillies played like they wanted it more. That failed bunt turned into a rally killer. With Hanser at the plate, and all the contact he makes, why not just let him swing away and do his thing? Or, like most said, suicide squeeze. 50/50 hindsight I guess. Another point, if you’re trying to squeeze a run home, aren’t you supposed to bunt to third so the throw is more difficult?

Observation. This so-called best offense ever is not all that. With three guys hanging around the Mendoza line and the inconsistency of everyone except Freddie Freeman, I am not convinced of anything. Muncy is a HUGE hole at the top of the lineup. He gets a hit every other week. I care less that he walks a lot. He is not paid to walk. Bellinger has swings where he looks like the 2019 version and then swings like Billy Ashley. His defense though is beyond stellar. They are hitting in a little bad luck as I have seen many AT EM balls over the last several games. I also think this team has been hurt power wise by the new baseballs. Bellinger came () that close to getting LA within one run last night in his second at bat, bur shanked the ball just enough to go foul. As for the BP giving it up the last couple of games, I am not stressing over that. Happens every year. They had a stretch last season where they lost 15 of 20 games allowing the Giants to get a strong hold on first. But changes need to be made. Roberts stubbornness about loyalty to his players sometimes clouds his baseball mind. Muncy should be hitting down where Bellinger or Lux are. Taylor still strikes out too damn much. And he is doing it in clutch situations more than ever. Bellinger and Taylor are the only players with over 30 K’s. Belli at 39 and Taylor at 41. Rios has struck out as many times as Will Smith, 15, in 37 less at bats. Smith started to look like the Smith we all like last night. As the weather heats up, hopefully the power will come too.

several observations about last night:

1 – Where is it written that a starting pitcher has to pitch a certain number of innings to save the bullpen, even if it means that the decision costs you the ballgame? Anderson didn’t have it last night – even George Shearing could have seen that. Roberts could have pulled him before the game got out of control. The decision cost them the game.

2 – Why pull both Justin Turner and Gavin Lux at the same time? Because Roberts had decided to squeeze and needed a guy who could bunt and a guy who could slide into home without hurting himself. I’m sure that Girardi must have had an inkling of what might happen under the circumstances.

3 – Lux’ failure to be ready to make a throw and subsequent error cost them a run, but what I thought was interesting was Hersheiser’s comment about Lux’ “laziness” and lack of professionalism.

4 – Neither Hudson nor Almonte had fastball command last night, but Almonte showed a good slider. Hudson showed nothing, but again Roberts left him out there to take his lumps and it cost them the game.

5 – Bellinger’s HR against Wheeler is a case of “owneage” – his stats against Wheeler are astounding.

6 – To load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 9th and score no runs is horrible – there’s no other word for it.

7 – Those who have posted that Muncy is going up there hoping to walk are right – he’s way too passive.

Last night was as frustrating a game as I have seen in a while.

There was an interesting discussion here about the long season as against the playoffs, and whether the Dodgers underachieve in the playoffs based on their talent, and if so, why. Obviously there is not one reason, if they do. But I will once again suggest that Roberts is key to this. He is not a good game manager, his skills are in keeping the team reasonably content. In a long season, the few losses of games because of Roberts, do not mean much. In a crucial playoff series, almost always against a good manager, it is magnified.

Roberts has this need to be clever, when mostly it is not necessary. He did it against Atlanta in game 2, when Treinen had pitched around a nine-pitch seventh inning,, and could easily have pitched the eighth, setting up for Jansen in the ninth. But he decided to put in Urias, whose arm was tired, and then left him in long enough for the Dodgers to lose the lead, the game, and the series.

Last night, the Dodgers rallied from down 7-1, to tie it at 7-7, in front of an excited crowd. They had runners on first and third with one out in the eighth. Roberts put up Alberto, which was fine, he makes contact. A base hit likely wins the game, a fly ball does, too. But he puts on the squeeze, but a safety squeeze, apparently not wanting to take too much of a risk. Alberto fouls it off. Then amazingly, he puts it on again. The Phillies first baseman is ready, charges, throws home ,and the runner is out, because it was a safety squeeze; had it been a suicide squeeze, he would have scored. So no runs, and we lose in the ninth.

Just one game, and we are still on a pace to win 108. So like all of Roberts bad moves late in games, it gets ignored. And Roberts will be here as long as he wants. And there are certainly worse managers. But in five- or seven-game series, this kind of thing really maters, and it has before with Roberts.

First, why squeeze? Second, if you are going to squeeze, go for it, and have the runner in motion at the pitch. Finally, why in the world do you do it again? To show how clever you are, they will not expect it again! If it works, Roberts gets praised on the postgame show and here. After the game, Roberts is asked about the strategy; he purses his lips as he always does when he thinks he is being questioned. He says the the Phillies first baseman made a good play, charged in, and made a good throw. Yep. He was ready for it, and you didn’t start the runner, who scores if the bunt is laid down. Again, many more games, we have enough talent to win most of them. Let’s see what happens in playoff time. Bad percentage moves like last night stand out in the playoffs, but then people forget, and we look forward to the next season with Roberts still managing.

Apologies!

I do buy the “clutch” metric, but I’m not sure that’s what he was driving at.

I judge the book by its cover, I guess?

I don’t know if Jayne posts regularly, but I’d like to return to her idea of drawing a line from playoff games to 1 run games.

I did a quick calculation over the past three years of playoffs and the average winning margin was by nearly 4 runs.

Without putting words in your mouth, perhaps the point is that the tactics that work in the regular season (extending counts comes to mind) won’t work as well in the post-season (where starters are pulled quite early)

But I’m hard pressed to think of other tactics (defensive positioning, not giving away outs) that wouldn’t “scale” to the playoff game

I saw the Dodgers tie the Phillies, extraordinary. Although I have always heard that horse that reaches wins, it seems that it just doesn’t happen on this team. Hudson is not the piece for those situations.

I went to bed when it was 7-1 and I do not regret that decision. Move on, nothing to see here.

In my humble opinion, I believe Anderson is not a starter but a reliever, more of long reliever or piggybacks off a starter like he did with Gonsolin earlier in the season. Need a legit 5th starter.

Late response to yesterday’s post:

All interesting comments about what turned out to be a close game. I find Jayne Cobb’s post timely in that respect. But in my write up this game was put out of reach early with a poor starting performance by Anderson. He didn’t fool anyone. Have to admit, this was the game I’ve been waiting for out of him. He got the 6 innings we needed but 7 earned? Yoiks. , One on a bonehead play by Lux, so it’s fair to call it 6, but Segura might have scored somehow anyway.

I found it an ugly game but one we can hopefully learn from. It was a winnable game against another inferior club, but it wasn’t won. Get these over so we don’t do this in October? Yeah. Sure

I agree more at bats needed by Rios, but he sure looked overmatched in that late at bat. Good morning, good afternoon p, good night. Mookie had one of those to start that fiasco.

And Bellinger with another Blind Squirrel night

Our minor league hitters are impressing but can we use them. We’ve got a lineup of studs at the ML level. We aren’t going to bench any of them unles it’s for injury. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – pitching. I know it’s looked good but I’m not really a believer for 180 games. I’m prepared to be wrong about that.