Dodgers Rule! Padres Drool!
The Padres gutted their farm system in order to acquire veteran players and a superstar so as to be able to compete with the Dodgers. Even though they gutted the farm, they still cannot hang with the Dodgers! A team does not become great because of one player. Otherwise, the…
The Padres gutted their farm system in order to acquire veteran players and a superstar so as to be able to compete with the Dodgers. Even though they gutted the farm, they still cannot hang with the Dodgers!
A team does not become great because of one player. Otherwise, the Angels with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani would be bound for the World Series… again. It takes a team to win. Andrew Friedman knows that… AJ Preller Might (I said “might”) eventually learn it, but I doubt it. AJ is the Master of the Dope-Fiend Move. When he first came to San Diego, he tried to build a powerhouse with veteran players like Matt Kemp. When that didn’t work… actually, I should re-phrase that: When that failed miserably, he tried to build up the farm, but he never allowed that to come to fruition, so he gutted the farm and acquired Drury, Hader, Bell, and Soto. Here is a glimpse of the Padres Farm System:
Right about now, the Padres need a Priest to administer last rites. There are a multitude of reasons why you do not build a team this way, and AJ Preller has violated just about everyone. I guess Dodger fans should be thanking him.
Your LA Dodgers
The Dodgers rode all year with Max Muncy, and it appears that he might be stepping out of the quagmire he was stuck in. It’s not a sure thing, but he has been hitting better (in places) of late, and that 3-Run HR was a nice step. Cody Bellinger continues to have a low Batting Average, but he makes the most of it, and his play in CF and on the bases is stellar. The Dodgers will give Joey Gallo a few weeks, and if they can’t “fix” him, maybe they will turn him into a pitcher. Allegedly, he has a 100 MPH fastball… sort of a “Reverse Rick Ankiel.”
If not, Trayce Tompson and/or CT3 are fine in LF, but they could use a LH Platoon Partner, like, say… Mike Busch. If Joey Gallo can’t get it together, look for Busch at the end of this month, or it could be Edwin Rios, who should be ready in a week or so.
Also, do not forget that the team with the best record in all of baseball is also getting Dustin May back very soon, as well as Blake Treinen and the Bazooka. Danny Duffy is hitting 93 MPH and is facing live hitters, while Tommy Kahnle is also making progress. Walker Buehler will almost certainly be back, but not built up as a starter. He will be a weapon out of the bullpen. The Dodgers still maintain that Victor Gonzalez will also return, but even if only half of those pitchers return, it will be a huge shot in the arm.
Remember that the Dodgers have the best pitching in baseball (2.90 ERA). Their starters have a 2.73 ERA, which is #1, and they are up to #5 in Bullpen ERA. With the return of several of the above-mentioned bullpen arms, it is not out of the realm of probability that the Dodgers will be #2 in Bullpen ERA by the end of the season (I don’t think they can catch Houston… unless Houston’s bullpen blows up… and it could!).
I like Andrew Heaney as a swingman. He is not built up, and I would not push him hard this year after two bouts of shoulder soreness. Call up Gavin Stone and manage both of their workloads. Gavin is Stone-Cold Ready. Here are his strikeouts last night. It was a little foggy!
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
- OKC lost to Salt Lake 4-3
- The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th when Mark Washington gave up a 2-out HR.
- Mike Grove had a great start. He went five innings and allowed two hits (both HRs) and 2 ER. He did not walk anyone and struck out 7.
- Edwin Rios was 1-2 (a double) with an RBI.
- Tulsa beat NW Arkansas 9-2
- Gavin Stone started and went four innings, allowing four hits and no runs. He walked 2 while striking out 7. His ERA now sits at 1.32. He should be in LA. He needs to be on the playoff roster in the role Julio Urias had a couple of years ago.
- The Great Lakes Loons lost 6-3 to Lake County
- Diego Cartaya was 1-3 with 2 BB.
- Jose Ramos hit his 23rd HR to go with 81 RBI. He is very much a prospect.
- Rancho Cucamonga beat IE 9-4
- 2022 Draft Pick Chris Alleyne was 3-5 with 4 Runs scored. He hit leadoff and stole a base.
- Catcher Dalton Rushing was 3-4 with 2 RBI and a walk.
- Yunior Garcia was 3-5 with 2 RBI
- Kyle Nevin was 2-4.
I think Tyler Anderson and the Dodgers will be motivated to destroy the Friars’ season hopes today. Bring out the brooms and take it to that Mental Midget, You Dogfish!
R.I.P. Doleres
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Discussion (71)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Even after Dodgers last visit to Coors I still don’t look forward to Dodgers having to play there. As long as Dodgers don’t get taxed with any health issues in Colorado is the only worry. The Indians are now the Guardians and the Dodgers are now the Custodians. The sweeping Custodians. Keep America Beautiful.
The ESPN broadcast is really monumental trash. That in-play interview to Juan Soto was beyond stupid.
Agreed. It was odd to rail on Kimbrel tonight.
Maybe Marcia doesn’t like him no matter what. I thought he looked pretty sharp.
As was mentioned the ump didn’t seem to like him much either.
It was sweet to sweep the Padres. They sure didn’t show much swagger.
2020, I bit of a cold and caustic rebuttal don’t ya think. Even though tonight doesn’t seem like the game to whack on Kimbrel. Seriously, I’d like our closer to do what he did every night.
FANSIDED
Is Joey Gallo the good luck charm the Yankees didn’t know they needed?
The New York Yankees haven’t won since trading Joey Gallo while the Los Angeles Dodgers have yet to suffer a loss since acquiring him!
I still think Craig Kimbrel should go on the sixty day injured list with “head up his ass.” I’m sure that qualifies–right?
This has always been fun, but the Dodgers have taken it to a completely different level. If Muncy and Bellinger put the ball in play like they did last night and tonight………look out! Phillips is a big time/high leverage relief pitcher who will see some high leverage innings in the post season, if there is no drop off the rest of the way.
It’s all about winning the post season, but I love that the MLB world is squarely centered in LA. The best record in baseball, above the hated Yankees, we buried the SF Giants, we took the wind out of the sails of the Padres while keeping the minor league fully stocked.
I’ll take our big four of Mookie, TT, Freddie and Will Smith over any other big four. Keep it going!
Note to Preller. Call Arte. You’re gonna need more help!
How sweep it is! Bellinger 3-3 with 2 dingers. Love it.
Man, that was a strikeout to Soto!!!
For me, that was FINALLY a clean 123 inning from Kimbrel!!
I’ll call your Soto and raise you a Muncy and a Bellinger!
In a big time, primetime game, Anderson steps up huge.
My confidence level in him for October just grew a bit.
Meanwhile, only God can help the other 29 teams if Muncy and Belly are waking up
Almonte due for an MRI on his elbow. Those of you who have been clamoring for Bellinger’s demotion out of the lineup, might be speaking too soon. Double in his last at bat last night, homer and a single today.
Hey Bear,
I read this on Jon Weisman’s twitter stream:
“I’ll never not be fascinated by the fact that Dodger Stadium was 410 to center field for most of the 1960s”
Any interest in your end in doing a historical retrospective on the Stadium itself?
Those dimensions must have been a benefit to Sandy, no?
Nice to see Andre Jackson get another shot. He got called up for a few games in 2021, but he had been struggling earlier this year–and seems to have turned it around.
Among all the SPs in the minors, Jackson and Grove seem a bit like forgotten men behind the younger, hotter prospects Miller, Pepiot and Stone, as well as still younger guys like Bruns. Those guys could all be in Chavez Ravine rotation within a few years.
Sometimes I think the Dodgers should put together a care package for the needy. (It still amazes me that the Nationals didn’t get more for Scherzer and Turner. While Ruiz and Gray were the headliners, the Nats also got minor leaguers Donovan Casey and Gerardo Carillo. If Grove or Jackson had been thrown in, would we have missed them? Kudos to AF, of course, but if I was Nats fan I’d be pissed.)
Seriously, guys like Tim Kurkjian are saying they’ve never seen a greater talent gap between the big-market haves and small-market have-nots. Perhaps the waiver rules should be adjusted to improve competitive balance.
Almonte to 15-day IL, Jackson recalled. Almonte has elbow soreness
7:08 PM ET
Padres (61-49)
Dodgers (74-33)
SP Tyler Anderson L
12-1 2.89 ERA 115.1 IP 94K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
2B Gavin Lux L
DH Joey Gallo L
LF Chris Taylor R
CF C. Bellinger L
Clear-day
0% Rain
93° Wind 9 mph Out
I’m not sure if a win or loss today has much of a bearing on the Padres season. They’re not going to catch us in the standings this year for the division, period. The Dodgers need to focus on keeping home-field advantage and the Padres will certainly cruise into one of the Wild Card spots. They’ll get home field for the Wild Card series only if they finish in the top spot.
Right now, the Padres are 3.5 games behind the Braves for the top Wild-Card spot and it’s not like the Braves are making any kind of a statement losing the last two to the Mets who are 5.5 games ahead of them in the standings. Philadelphia, if you can believe it, are just a half-game behind Sham Diego and Milwaukee is one game behind them in the Wild Card Standings and one game behind St. Louis in the Division Standings.
There’s plenty of time and games to make up those leads, or choke further down. It’s all up in the air. If the season ended today, they would be visitors to the Braves and the Phillies would play the Cardinals in St. Louis in the Wild Card round with the Mets and Dodgers getting the buy. Upon advancing, the Mets would play the winner of Phillies v Cards and the Dodgers would get the winner of Braves v Padres. That doesn’t seem fair?
I’d much rather see the Padres fall to the 6th spot and beat the Cardinals so we can play them in the best of 7 Division Series. Or better yet, just go ahead and lose in one of the first two rounds because it would be funnier.
New tower working great so far.
it sounded incredible, now it will sound stupid, but I had the idea that there would be 8 teams per league that would qualify for the playoffs, that’s why I was in doubt, I was confused, thanks JayB, now everything is very clear 4
FO will have to make some tough calls once the IL mafia starts returning especially in the bullpen. Kimbrel will not be the closer in October so September should be an audition for others to step up to the closer’s role. May, WB or BT depending on health? If CK is good to go in October along with the rest of the mafia, some pretty decent arms are going to be excluded from the active roster. Machado is a pos and should NEVER wear a Dodgers uni again !!! Let’s get this sweep taken care of today and enjoy a much needed day off on Monday. Joe Davis is better than most and yes, Normar is the best of the rest. Kristen Watson and Jess Mendoza have got to go !!! BTW, saw Corey, Yasmani and AJ play last night in Arlington. All good dudes and solid contributors especially Corey but damn if this team isn’t better off without them. TT gonna cost more than Corey’s 325 but it’s almond a must for AF to get it done.
Go Blue!!!!
The seeding only goes by record after the 3 Division winners. So if it were to end today the seeding is:
1. Dodgers, 2. Mets, 3. Cardinals, 4. Braves, 5. Padres, 6. Phillies
Dodgers and Mets get a bye. Dodgers play the winner of Braves/Padres and Mets play the winner of Cardinals/Phillies. The winners of those 2 5 game series play in the NLCS and the winner of that series goes to the World Series. Jorge, to answer your question, yes the Padres can fail to be in the playoffs. For that to happen, the 2nd place team in the Central (either the Cardinals or Brewers), the Braves, and the Phillies all have to finish the season with a better record than the Padres.
A couple of observations. Padres are terrible against the Dodgers with runners in scoring position. Tatis is starting his rehab, but how many times has a player who has missed as much time as he has, all season so far, come off of the IL hitting on all cylinders? It is going to take him a little time to get back his timing against MLB pitchers. Is there a smugger jerk in major league baseball than Manny Machado? The Padres starters on paper are pretty good. They have one starter, Darvish, who has double digit wins. None of their starters has an ERA below 3.00 Two of them, Snell, Clevinger, have records below .500. The only bullpen arm with an ERA below 3 is Crismatt. In a short series, they can throw some arms at you that can be scary. But they can also be beaten. Their offense is a little stronger with Drury, Soto and Bell. The closer is now Hader, who has of yet, not made an appearance. Lets see if the Dodgers can keep that streak going with another laugher today.
Dodgers and Mets at this point get a bye. The Padres are at this point 3 games back of the Braves and are the #4 seed. Meaning they would play the Phillies at home all three games. The Braves meanwhile would play the Cardinals in Atlanta. Of the teams out of the wildcard at this point, it would seem that only Milwaukee, 1 game out, has a mathematical chance of getting in. All that can change. But, the Padres only have 50 games left. The Brewers have 53. The Brewers are also close to the division leaders, St. Louis being only one game back. Still possible, but unlikely, the Giants are 7 games out of the wildcard with 53 games left for them. Everyone else has zero shot at making the playoffs. But, remember, those teams can cause a problem for any other team. Dodgers play KC next weekend in KC. They are going nowhere, but beating better teams gives those kinds of teams a lift. SD, 14.5 games back of LA has no shot at winning the division.
Pardon me if I’ve asked this before – Can Juan Soto pitch?