Could the Dodgers Stand Pat?

Well, that was a tough one. Miller pitched well but couldn’t quite snag that comebacker. The bullpen was excellent against until Robertson lost to Robertson. The placed-runner puts a lot of pressure on the reliever.

Kudos to Outman, who picked up two walks and scored the Dodgers’ only run, with Mookie delivering the RBI.

Also, Mookie sure looks smooth at 2B, doesn’t he?

I thought that everyone would blame Roberts for the loss… but I was wrong. It’s Max Muncy’s fault!

The Dodgers had 4 hits. The following Dodgers had NO hits:

1. Freeman

2. Muncy

3. Martinez

4. Peralta

5. Marisinik

6. Outman

7. Barnes

8. Smith

But we need to get rid of Muncy?

Take some dumbass vaccine… please!

Oh, there is no such thing.

It sucks to be you!

Are Dodger Fans EVER happy? Oh that’s right, we need a WS win to be truly satisfied. Fourteen games above ,500?, Yeah but so- and so is not hitting,and needs to be traded. I say hats off to Doc and the Dodgers to be where they are in spite of losing May ,Bueler etc. and certain hitters not performing.

Eric Karros has made an interesting prediction re Ohtani:

“Who’s he going to be playing for?” Karros said on Saturday. “He’s going to be playing for the Giants. … That makes all the sense in the world. They have the wherewithal to do it, then they get him for a couple months to try to court him so they can sign him in free agency. … And you don’t think that the Angels wouldn’t want to trade him to San Francisco to spite the Dodgers? C’mon, this is drama.”

The “stick it to the Dodgers” angle is pretty good. And right now, the surging Giants have moved ahead of the D’backs, while the talented, underachieving Padres lurk beneath. Getting Ohtani would seem to makescompetitive sense

But who would the Giants deal? Their farm system is ranked 17th by mlb.com and 18th by Keith Law, while the Dodgers are ranked second. Moreno might want to “stick it to the Dodgers”–but would he also spite himself by taking a weaker offer? The Angels’ system is down at No. 28, which is why they may be interested in quantity as well as quality

Several pundits think the Giants will pay whatever they need to in order the get Ohtani and will open the war chest and pay him next year. I could see that. I could also see the Padres using Juan Soto and gutting the farm to get Shohei in one last desperate act. Preller could go for broke and think this might turn the Padres around. The Reds could try the same thing. Up until this weekend, they have been one of the hottest teams in baseball, and they have collateral to trade.

Moreno will not trade with the Dodgers even if their offer was double what others were… but of course, we know that AF would not do that either. Ohtani isn’t coming here this year, and this trade has the potential to wreck the Dodgers’ season. However, trading for him could wreck several seasons!

A lot of good thoughts today. Now they play a very good Baltimore team and then the AL West leading Rangers. 1 1/2 up on SF with AZ falling into third place. Padres lost to the Phillies again and looked bad doing it. My take on Muncy is this. Max has a very good OPS. But, Muncy takes way too many good pitches and ends up swinging at balls he couldn’t hit with a railroad tie. When he does get hot, he can carry the team. Problem is he hasn’t been on a hot streak in quite a while and he has made the four hole and almost automatic out. Hard to watch. In the last 3 games, he is 1-11 with 5 strikeouts, They need more production more consistently than what he is doing. If you go back over his last 138 games though, he is hitting .210 with 33 homers and 92 driven in. But, in that time he has struck out 156 times in 485 at bats. Over 30% of the time.

Trade rumors heating up everywhere. There is one out there that the Astros are very interested in Bellinger.

Marcus Stroman has an opt out option after this season. I would guess he takes advantage of his good year and tries the open market. He would be a good potential trade target. I think the Cubs would like some young, controllable pitching.

I still think Urias/Kershaw/Gonsolin as your top three with Miller and Pepiot rounding out the starting five is a pretty decent rotation.

What the Dodgers need is some help in their relief corps. I haven’t heard much about Blake Treinen, but apparently he’s been throwing since April. Still no guarantee he pitches this year. I’ve heard nothing about Jimmy Nelson. Even Buehler, presuming he makes it back, is not going to be stretched out to start, so he could be a viable bullpen piece.

Mark Leiter Jr. is another Cub. He’s under contract till 27, but he’s already 32. He’s having a decent year and can pitch multiple innings. He’s not a closer so won’t be closer expensive like a Bednar, although, because he’s cheap, there’s no real incentive for the Cubs to trade him.

Kyle Hendricks is in the final year of his contract. He hasn’t pitched terribly. The Dodgers would likely have to pay some of his 13 mil salary, so resetting the CBT is out of the question.

I think you will see old friend Rich Hill back in Blue to bolster the staff and wont cost much at all.

Since I absolutely suck at predictions, I will just sit back and see what happens at the deadline. I have a wish list that I doubt will come to fruition.

Everyone seems to assume that Kershaw will be back good as new in few weeks. The first report was that he wasn’t even going to miss one start. So until I see him back pitching I assume he isn’t back on roster.

I don’t think we are even looking at BP pieces. A good quality RH OF would be nice, but not necessary and I wouldn’t want to give up any prospects for what is out there right now unless it’s a surprise player that hits 280-300. Starting pitching is I’m sure where we’re looking, but is a 3rd tier guy really going help??? Arenado would help and I would love to have a 4 year younger version on this team, but he wouldn’t put us over the edge right now. I think if we stay pat it just tells you a lot about our plans for going after Ohtani. Reset the payroll tax throw $500 mil at Ohtani and hope Buehler and May come back strong. That is enough to get us back to the WS.

* I never could find a TV broadcast of the game yesterday. MLB Extra Innings apparently didn’t carry the game again for reasons unknown to me. I’m blacked out from Sports Net LA since I’m a close 1000 miles away from the stadium. Of course, I missed the games on Apple+ as well.

Can’t find a radio broadcast on-line either. I’m out of the listeners area. So, I’m too close to watch and too far away to listen.

For the expense of my MLB Package, I’m missing too many games and I’m pissed off.

I really wanted to see Scherzer and Bobby Miller and the match up didn’t disappoint. A real pitchers duel.

I “watched it” on ESPN game cast with some jazz playing in the background. Kinda fun actually. I felt like a kid again listening on the radio to games with my imagination presenting all the visuals. My mind could fill in all the details from the pitch by pitch information. I don’t want to make a habit out of it but it was kinda fun.

* I’m sure somebody has ways to stream games and get the audio somehow, but I don’t really care to know. I pay good money to watch games and that should be good enough without being a video Sherlock Holmes. I want to turn on my TV and have the games without going on a snipe hunt.

* It gave me plenty of time to second guess decisions, waiting for the next pitch and the results to pop up on the computer screen. I had such hope for Outman to get a hit in the 9th after Taylor’s nice double. Not to be. We couldn’t seem to get a timely knock.

* Muncy is just killing us in the 3 or 4 hole. Again taking hittable pitches, getting behind in counts and striking out too much. Move his ass down in the order. Better yet, call Mann up somehow and let him platoon at 3rd.

* I’m critical of Doc recently after being easy on him all year. In the last 3 games, we had 3 outstanding starts from Urias, Gonsolin and Miller, for 2 wins.

My question is why has each outing been cut short? We were around 83 pitches per outing. Now, since the break, it’s 72 pitches per outing with NO bad starts.

Urias had 6 innings and 85 stress free pitches.

Gonzo pitch count only 54 pitches in 5 innings on Saturday. Tony has only gotten to 90 pitches in 4 of his 14 starts.

And Miller’s pitch count was 77 in 4.2, by far his lowest total in his 9 starts.

Are we saving starters out of fear of injury? Are we keeping then “ fresh” for September? Is that what’s going on?

I’m good with not overtaxing the starters but 72 pitches and calling it a day? That’s a bullpen session. You get what you ask for from players. We are 3 1/2 months into the season and we asking starters to go 5 innings and 72 pitches. Show me the science that supports such caution.

For no reason that I can see, Doc/the Wizard are relying exclusively on our bullpen which has been great but seems to me to be the NLF. That’s Not For Long, when they have to cover 3 or 4 innings a game. And Duke says we need bullpen help.

Doc is just in his element when he can change pitchers every inning after the 5th.

* I have said this before and I will repeat it – for Barnes to help his team and be an asset, he needs to be the best bunter in the league. He can’t hit so spend quality time learning and practicing, the bunt.

I have largely abandon talking about the bunt because we don’t do it. But I swear there are critical times (like yesterday) when it’s the right play, ESPECIALLY during playoff baseball games. And you just can’t start doing it in the 8th inning of an elimination game. Practice it during the season!

A nice little sac bunt in the top of the 8th with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs would have kept Barnes in the game and saved Smith to pinch hit later, as needed.

Instead Smith pinch hit and nicely moved one of the runners to 3rd with a fly ball. Nice job but I’d take a sac bunt moving both runners up.

I know, it will never happen and I’ve practically abandoned think about it, but I still believe that play is in order.

* We had our chances. Just didn’t get it done. I’m sure it was a great game to watch. I wish I had.

“Are we saving starters out of fear of injury? Are we keeping then “ fresh” for September?”

Yes and yes.

Kershaw to undergo an MRI on the shoulder?

Great!

The Dodgers PR machine strikes again.

7:05 PM ET

Dodgers (53-39)

Orioles (57-35)

SP Emmet Sheehan R

2-0 4.35 ERA

SP G. Rodriguez R

2-2 7.35 ERA

Confirmed Lineup

2B Mookie Betts R

1B F. Freeman L

C Will Smith R

3B Max Muncy L

DH J. Martinez R

LF D. Peralta L

RF J. Heyward L

SS Chris Taylor R

CF James Outman L

87° Wind 8 mph Out

While everyone seems to be ragging on Max and saying he should be moved from the clean-up spot, here’s a stat to consider:

His OBP over the past 30 days is a solid .355, which is slightly higher than Freddie’s and Will’s. (Mookie’s is .439, but he’s in a separate galaxy right now.) Max’s power is a bit down, however, with a OPS at .755.

If Roberts wants to try a different guy in clean-up, Heyward might be the best option. He’s been pretty hot over the past month: a .306 BA, a .390 OBP, and .859 OPS.

Where Muncy bats pales in comparison to if he bats!

Did any of you see Devin Mann’s home run?

Did any of you see Devin Mann’s home run?

I’ve seen enough of Sheehan. He needs more seasoning at OKC. He needs to improve his slider, better command of his change and fastball and please more first pitch strikes. And until Outman can cure his constant swing and miss, his ceiling is an average mlb outfielder

If anyone thinks for a second the Dodgers will go late into the season/post season with Miller, Grove, Sheehan in the starting rotation, especially after seeing Sheehan’s shaky performance tonight, is a moron and in need of a vaccine.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want them to succeed, or that I don’t want them to have a long and successful Dodger career, it doesn’t mean I don’t think the Dodgers are bad at developing talent, it doesn’t me I don’t love the Dodgers, it doesn’t mean I’m opposed to young/rookie talent, but it does mean I want them to win a WS and three rookies in the rotation during a pennant race is a recipe for disaster and AF knows it.

Orel really called it with the difference with Rodriquez when he has to pitch out of the stretch.

CT3!!!!!!! But my goodness, what horrible pitch selection by Orioles. How can you not throw Taylor a down and away slider 0-2? It’s his kryptonite!!

I think I like the Orioles.

THey really went through some extended horrible times, but this team is fun to watch.