Dodgers – Brewers Series Chat

yeah, don’t throw in the towel just yet! there were some good signs last night. The offense showed some signs of life. Teo and Tommy hit the ball hard. ohtani came back to us! Rojas continued his good work at the plate. But. Pages looks frustrated. he was about to get run for complaining about a ball almost dead center. Freddie. seems close. Conforto looks like a man about to get out of town. Kim? over anxious. Ruiz? nothing else to say. ……. Bullpen? HELP! Emmit? completely fell off the face of the earth in that inning. Offense kept. them right there, but, nobody in the bullpen could slow down the Brewers! Man they are fun to watch. Bunts, stolen bases, hit and run. Baseball the way it should be played. … well at least the padres and giants both lost. Clayton is on the bump today . Maybe he can somehow get a win. Quintana goes for the Brewers. He always pitches well against the dodgers. probably a even weaker lineup today with Ruiz in left field. Who knows if Mookie is back in the lineup. …. Steven Kwan ? probably not. but they could sure use someone out there who can hit! As Freddie Mercury might say, “ find me somebody to hit”

Where’s Andrew Vincent Forte?

And here we go again.

Game over, better luck tomorrow.

Maybe the game will go at least into the 5th inning.

Right now it’s more fun to watch Washington vs. the sons of bitches.

News From Internet (Draft Edition)

Keith Law recaps the NL West Draft ($$$)

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6496058/2025/07/16/nl-west-draft-grades-picks-mlb-2025/

“Los Angeles Dodgers: Despite late first selection, a strong first two picks lead solid class

The Dodgers didn’t pick until 40 because their owners are actually willing to invest in the big-league payroll, but they made the most of it, landing Arkansas lefty Zach Root (1A) with that pick and fellow Razorback Charles Davalan (1A) at pick 41….”

Future Projection Website covered the MLB draft:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-133-2025-draft-review-for-all-30-teams/id1555299031?i=1000717901827

“I like the Dodgers draft quite a bit, mostly because I think they were still able to capture a lot of upside, a lot of tools, a lot of stuff, despite where they were picking…”

Jeff Spiegel had Future Dodgers on a YT broadcast recapping the draft:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2etmlOxla8

My summary?

“Not as buzzy as past LAD picks, but interesting in the mix of quality and different player profiles.”

Dan Szymborski on what teams have the most to gain at the deadline:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/which-teams-have-the-most-to-gain-at-the-trade-deadline/

“The Dodgers aren’t an unstoppable force, in large part because like last season, the rotation has absorbed a ludicrous number of injuries. While their hopes to make the playoffs and win the division are quite safe, there’s no guarantee that they’ll coast to a first-round bye. And that matters….”

Mark Chiarelli on blocked prospects who could be moved ($$$)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-trade-deadline-10-blocked-prospects-who-could-be-impacted/

Interesting to note is that it’s Alex Freeland from LAD

Baseball America podcast covered the draft:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/baseball-america/id201539011

Among the picks they liked:

“I’ll go with the last pick of the night, of night one, rather, with the Dodgers taking Landon Viterich outfielder in Cincinnati. Really loud tool set with him, fresh off of career year. Real bat speed, consistently generates quality contact to all fields.”

Good read from a new source recapping Days 1 and 2 of the LAD draft:

“some really good picks. Not the biggest Root fan, but Davalan, Leiter, Vidourek, and Ligenza are all great gets. I like some of the upside plays in West and Hickson. A lot of reliever types which is interesting, but I like it overall”

https://medium.com/@landon_abl/dodgers-breaking-down-day-one-of-the-mlb-draft-1211ed804b0b

https://medium.com/@landon_abl/dodgers-breaking-down-the-day-2-haul-ee25b79d8de4

Davy Andrews on Ceddanne Rafaela

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/has-ceddanne-rafaela-made-the-leap/

Baseball America draft review:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2025-mlb-draft-reviews-for-all-30-teams/

Draft Theme: Safety Early, Risk Later

Most Interesting Pick In Rounds 4-10: OF Mason Ligenza, 6th round

Ben Resnic has NCAA WAR leaders for pitching:

https://x.com/BenResnic_/status/1946014001785102570

Z. Root near the top!

Interesting new pitching metric called xPitching+

https://maxsportingstudio.com/explaining-xpitching/

Casarius’ stuff stood out to me.

Top Midseason Prospect Performers from Matt Eddy/BA ($$$$)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/top-mlb-prospect-performers-in-every-organization-at-midseason/

It’s Quintero, but Hope, Sirota and De Paula get a mention.

The Brewer pitching is excellent and it seems that they rise to the occasion when they are pitching against the world champs. Of course the way our offense is playing just magnifies their abilities.

We do seem to have these kind of slump every year. It will pass.

I don’t think its so easy to ‘turn the switch on’ when it matters. Sure we are still in first place, because the division as a whole is just as bad.

Mookie has not looked right all year. Body language in the batters box in one of low confidence. Edman after a hot start just cannot hit at all. Somewhat concerned as the guys who were carrying us have cooled off and the guys who were not doing well have continued to suck. No reason for Glasnow to get a loss last night. Experience is great, but I believe the Dodgers line up as a whole is a bit too old as injuries, ailments and slumps seem to linger on and on.

the only positive from last night? Glasnow was good. he seemed to tire a bit in the 5th and 6th, but overall, he was just what the doctor ordered. yates isn’t worth discussing. the. first 2 words out of my mouth when i saw him warming up in the pen? OH SH*T! Didn’t matter. this offense is as bad as we’ve seen it in a while. Why not move Kim into the 2 spot, Will 3, Freddie 4, Pages5, Teo 6, Mookie 7, and guess for 8&9? love Mookie and i really believe that he will get back to being Mookie. But right now he doesn’t belong in the 2 spot! Heck, ohtani isn’t even close to being a leadoff hitter! Edman wasn’t close to even hitting a ball last night. Where’s van s. during this bad streak.? We madea pitcher who wasn’t considered a strikeout pitcher look like Nolan Ryan!! Miss Max in the lineup, but Max can’t fix this by himself. I say it again, AF is going to do something big.

This malaise is something I expected. It started in June and I expect it to last for another week or two. They are just going through the motions right about now. They know how good they are, and you can’t be 100% intense every game. Doc is just letting them play, but as I have said in the past, there will come a time, just like a jockey does in the Kentucky Derby, when he will “go to the whip!”

ChatGPT on “Go to the Whip:”

The phrase “go to the whip” originates from horse racing and means to urge extra effort, especially at a critical moment. In racing, a jockey uses the whip to push the horse to run faster near the end of the race.

In everyday usage, it’s a metaphor meaning:

To push hard for maximum effort

To apply pressure to achieve a result

To intensify your actions to meet a goal or deadline

Examples:

“We were falling behind schedule, so the manager went to the whip and made us work through the weekend.”

“The coach went to the whip in the fourth quarter, calling aggressive plays to win the game.”

It generally implies urgency and a last push toward success or completion.

It’s not yet time to go to the whip, but you will know when they do.

Interesting rumor/report about a potential blockbuster with Cleveland for Kwan and Clase….

I like it. Both would be great fits. But they wouldn’t come cheap.

Pinch hitting for Kim was brilliant.

But at least they are not tired, they rested for 4 days!

Hard to believe but I have lost all faith in the top 3 in the lineup…more importantly they have lost faith in themselves

Where’s AVF?

I think something is wrong with Freeman. I mean his glove fell off for godsakes. He looks confused

It’s just one inning, I know, but I’m still glad to see that a few days off helped a lot at the home plate!

3 Up, 3 Down, 3 SO….

It’s the same crap we’ve been seeing in recent weeks.

Pages, Ohtani, Rojas, Conforto and Smith. Only healthy hitters left

Andrew goes by one overriding principle

If it makes the team better

If it does he will do it !

This team still has the best record in the National League and everyone knows (but a helluva lot of fans don’t remember) that’s they’ve done it with a myriad of pitcher injuries and their strongest hitters not at their best. Mookie hasn’t been very Mookie-like all season. Freddie slumped awhile. Max was a disaster to start the season before coming on very strong. His late injury is a huge blow. I doubt he’ll be much of a factor if/when he comes back. I am pulling for Will Smith to get a lot of MVP votes. He certainly deserves them.

I wonder how deeply AF/BG will dip into the prospect pool for trades? They’ve planned just when to slowly bring injured starters back to be effective in the post season and how much they need to add to get there.

It seems to my untrained eye that the strategy regarding the bullpen has always assumed we would have too many starting pitchers )once Ohtani gets ramped up and guys get healthy) and the excess would bolster the bullpen. To my more knowledgeable friends on LADT, does this sound plausible?

hopefully, we’ll see a different dodger team against Milwaukee in Los Angeles. Milwaukee has a very good team, but the Dodgers like I said earlier, need to punch the Brewers in the mouth early! The four day break couldn’t have hurt Mookie. Teo? Needs to come out and make a statement in the second half. Hopefully the rest did him some good too! Edman? Probably needed this break as much as Mookie. Conforto? I think has 5 to 6 games to prove he belongs….. the bullpen? Is a major question mark. I still think something big is gonna happen! But the biggest thing right now is getting some people healthy and getting off to a good start in the second half!

Two-day vacation with wife councluded perfectly with no baseball. Am I a genius? Depends on who’s asking.

Maybe Mookie gained a few pounds with 3 days off

What can we expect from Betts and company after a few days off?

The same ! I don’t understand why so many people believe that three days off will improve things and that players will break out of their slumps.

Lets see how Mookie does after some rest.