I know we were all bummed out over the results of this weekend series with the Giants. First, a pitcher they had owned all year shuts them down. Then they rally to tie and then go ahead. Then they lose in extras on an error on a easy play. They come back on Saturday behind some great pitching and win 6-1. Then on Sunday, their Ace implodes and gives up 6 runs to a tram he has owned his entire career.
The offense continues it’s month long struggle to score, and does not rally until the 9th inning, blowing several chances along the way against the Giants parade of bullpen pitchers. So it was a downer all the way around.
That is the bad news. The good news is that they are only a game back. They have 25 to play. 4 with the slumping Cardinals, then 3 at home against the Padres followed by 3 with the D-Backs.
Then they leave on their final road trip of the year, 3 in Cincy, 3 in Colorado, and then on to Arizona for 3 more with the D-Backs. Then they come home for the final 6, 3 each with the Padres and then the Brewers.
While all that is happening, the Giants are in Colorado for 3, then head to Chicago for 3 before coming home to face the Padres for 4 and Atlanta for 3. They then head out on the road again for 3 with the Padres and 3 more with the Rockies. They finish the season at home with 3 against Arizona and finish with 3 against the Padres. The Giants have 10 games left with the Padres, 6 with the Rockies, 3 with the Cubs, D-Backs, and Braves.
The Dodgers have 6 left with the Padres and D-Backs, 4 with St. Louis, 3 with the Brewers and Rockies and Reds. The Reds, Padres, Brewers and Cardinals are over .500. D-Backs and Rockies are not. So 12 games against sub 500 teams and 13 with teams above .500. The Brewers staff will probably be the toughest they face in this stretch. Cardinals staff has been hit hard by injuries, Mikolas, who is starting game one has a 0-1 record. The other pitchers they will face are Happ, Wainwright and Kim. Flaherty is out. Rockies have been a very good home team, so they will need to put up some runs there. D-Backs are a mess, the Reds have been slumping and the Padres staff is also hit hard by injuries.
The Dodgers need to find their offense and find it fast. But they have been in this position before. 2018 going down to the wire with Colorado. Even though they have some veterans, the Giants have not been in this position before. And their starting pitching has been really hit hard.
The Dodgers can do this. They have a deep team. They have weathered all that has been thrown their way. The have plugged the holes and gotten to where they are on the strength of their pitching. And I am not going to let a bad game by one of them make believe any less that they are not going to be right there at the end.
I believe they will call Beaty back up. He has been very hot at OKC hitting over .400. No one else looks ready to contribute to the offense. Lux, who was hitting close to .300 last week, is now at .240. Of course the pitchers are going to be on a shuttle service. But hopefully Kersh comes out of his start at OKC feeling good. And Gonsolin is getting close also. You have to keep believing in the Blue.
The pitching has kept this team as close as they are. It will have to keep doing so for them to keep close to the Giants and hope some of the opponents of SF can string a couple of wins in a row against them. Yesterday’s win over the Cardinals was as frustrating as it was satisfying. The offense once again went into slumber mode after scoring early. And it was only Scherzer’s gem that kept fans on the edge of their seats because the offense was over matched the rest of the game.
I have to keep believing that someone in this lineup is going to get hot and lift the team up. Who that might be, I have no clue. But my obvious choice would be Betts. He is an ignitor when he is hitting. Turner, Trea, and Muncy need to crank it up a little too.
Discussion (45)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Former USC running back Sam Cunningham passed away today at the age of 71. I watched him play many times. RIP Sam the Bam.
Giants claimed Jake Jewell off of waivers from the Dodgers and sent him to AAA. Lux got 3 hits in tonights OKC win. Neuse had 2. Davidson drove in 5 runs
Not anymore. Joe Adell gets a 2 out 2 strike 2 run single
Snell is pitching perfect vs Angels !!
Remember him: Yadier Álvarez P Cuba He pitched 1 inning tonight 3Ks no runs allowed in the ACL .July 2, 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent RHP Yadier Alvarez to a minor league contract.
Positive night for Bellinger. 0-4 but no K’s, Turner tied for NL batting lead after his 9th inning single. JT gets number 2 tonight….as Jackie would say, ” How sweet it is! “
Bear,
like you an old timer and analytic stuff is new to us. Some interesting, some seems like coming up with a stat to state the obvious. Like someone is batting worse than his norm because his BABIP is much worse than past years. Well DUH. Or someone batting .425 at end of May will probably not hit that because his lifetime is .285 and will Regress to Norm. When I read that I wonder if someone is getting paid by the word.
Bear, hold your head up high. You do a great job here. I would tell you to respond less, but I’m one to talk. 😉
As someone who mainly watched home team games, I did not see much of Albert. What I liked about Manny in his few years as a Dodger was he would be facing these National league pitchers for first time and often look silly the first time up. But that was all it took for him to figure them out. And watch out next time. Plus that fantastic OBP. I think in that playoff againmst Cubs when others struggled.
Shefield(watched in Fl and LA) I appreciated his tight swing. Never struck out over 100 times (83 was his high). And walked WAY more than strikeouts. A great feat for a power hitter. OPS over .800 his last year at age 40. But teams did not want to sign him.
Kershaw went 3 innings at OKC. Gave up 4 hits and 2 runs. Both runs came on a 2 run homer. Gonzalez has given up 2 runs in 1/3rd of an inning and is still pitching with OKC up 7-4. Davidson hit his 23rd HR tonight. Neuse and Lux have 2 hits apiece.
Even though Betts lined out, it was a good sign because he hit it hard to right. St. Louis is hard to hit a ball out of. They have hit some balls really hard that have stayed in the park. Two this inning.
Will does it again. Love watching that kid hit. Bellinger has not struck out tonight. That is a good thing. And he drove in a run. Also a good thing. Turner also homered. BP is doing a nice job.
Spicy home rum.
Hi Mark,
Need some advice again on the water front.
We live in West Los Angeles. Lots of sediment in the water.
We have a tankless water heater. They want us to put in some sort of house filtration system, which seems like a bit much to just keep the tankless heater running smoothly.
Do you have recommendations that maybe we can localize near the intake of the tankless heater?
Thanks in advance.
yeah, I too get tired of defending players who have earned heroship (that’s not a word but you get it) in my book and thusly have little to say other than cheerleading. But maybe the real reason is I don’t possess high enough baseball I.Q. for input. With that, that was some home rum by Smith, eh?
Bear I love your stories and the research you do. I love the strolls down memory lane. I really hope you continue posting. But I have an observation to make that I mean in a very constructive way. I’m going to be the coach for a minute and offer some well meant advice.
You’re taking this site too seriously and it isn’t healthy. Your frustration is real and has been apparent for a few weeks now. Your sense of humor is gone. The Dodgers and this site is obviously very important to you but some things, like folks perseverating on negative things, just have to be water off a ducks back. You’ve lost your ability to ignore it. While well meaning, you seem to think it’s necessary for you to respond to damn near everybody’s comments and opinions. Today, you’ve been doing that for 12 hours and 20% of all posts.
I don’t know you other than what you’ve shared. What I do know is, I like you. I love your passion. And I hope you don’t quit. Perhaps just give folks with a variety to opinions, who are driving you crazy, a little more space. Maybe, you’ve gotten a little too close to the Sun.
Is there any hitter more accomplished than Albert to ever wear a Dodger uniform?
Who would even be 2nd on that list, behind Albert? Manny? Thome?
Phillips has a good comand
I have enjoyed writing for this site. There are some though who feel I am not qualified to write about baseball. Fine with me. I get tired of reading some of the constant bitching and moaning from the same guys every day. I can understand totally why Mark considered closing the site down. Sometimes when the same thing is beat into the ground day after day after day, the frustration of reading all that stuff gets very old very fast. You can have an opinion, I respect that. And there are times I might agree and other’s I will not. Like most people, there comes a point when you just cannot listen any more. There is enough negativity in the world and this country right now. And personally, I do not need any of it in my everyday life. You don’t like Roberts? Fine, your choice. You think you know more about how the team should be constructed? Fine. I no longer care about what you might think about those things. And I will no longer post a rebuttal. Just go your merry way, stay miserable, and I shall write about history and good things.
Put Albert Pujols en Center Field!!! Jajaja
You are going to see Cardinal Fans go crazy when Albert comes to bat.
Doc is batting him 3rd out of “professional courtesy!”
Sorry but the numbers going down were in line when I typed it but when I posted it, they came out not exactly under each other. Well I tried but you get the jist of it.
2021 Batting average vs LHP.
Trea Turner .323
Billy McKinney .313(5-16)
Albert Pujols .313
A.J. Pollock .298
Chris Taylor .293
Corey Seager .290
Max Muncy .283
Justin Taylor .264
Mookie Betts .262
Will Smith .218
Austin Barnes . 214
Steven Souza .200 (3-15)
Cody Bellinger .118
Tonight’s Lineup:
HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG
T. Turner2B 159-498 58 21 26 .319
J. Turner3B 126-452 71 21 2 .279
A. Pujols1B 60-251 48 16 2 .239
C. SeagerSS 74-264 39 8 1 .280
C. TaylorLF 124-469 71 20 13 .264
W. SmithC 94-355 67 22 3 .265
S. Souza Jr.RF 4-25 2 1 0 .160
C. BellingerCF 45-273 32 9 2 .165
C. KnebelP —– — — –
No Mookie or Max
DODGERS SELECT STEVEN SOUZA JR.
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers selected the contract of outfielder Steven Souza Jr. and optioned infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers transferred left-handed pitcher Garrett Cleavinger to the 60-day injured list.
Souza Jr., 32, returns for his second stint with the Dodgers after hitting .160 with one homer and two RBI in 13 games for Los Angeles. He has spent the majority of the season in Triple-A Oklahoma City, batting .247 (37-for-150) with 12 doubles, nine homers and 27 RBI. He has spent his Major League career with Washington (2014), Tampa Bay (2015-2017), Arizona (2018), Chicago (2020) and Los Angeles, slashing combined .231/.321/.415 with 72 homers and 205 RBI in 495 games. He signed with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent on April 12.
McKinstry, 26, was added to the roster on September 1, going 0-for-1 in his lone pinch hit appearance. On the season, he is batting .215 with seven homers and 29 RBI in 60 games for the Dodgers. In six minor league seasons in the Dodgers organization, he has hit a combined .269 (349-for-1296) with 33 homers and 157 RBI across five different levels. He was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the 33rd round of Central Michigan University in the 2016 First Year Player Draft.
Corey Knebel to Start Tonight Against the Cardinals.Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts did say that they expect to use Mitch White in a bulk role in this one. In the last couple of weeks, they have used him several times and deployed him both as a starter and out of the bullpen following an opener.
Last 30 games:
Bellinger 26G, 84AB, 12 H, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .143 AVG , .170 OBP, .262 SLG, .432 OPS
CT3 24 88 15 3 9 .170 .245 .307 .552
Muncy 25 91 17 8 14 .187 .282 .495 .776
J. Turner 22 71 16 1 5 .225 .333 .262 .432
Bellinger is hitting .165/.240/.304/.544. His BA against fastballs 94 MPH or higher is .093. They pinch hit for him with Austin Barnes for heaven’s sake.
All of the happy talk about hard hit balls can’t disguise what he’s done this year. He has an OPS+ of 48 where 100 is league average. You can put lipstick on a pig but he won’t look any better. Bellinger is a liability at the plate right now. Period.
He’s not going to figure it out this year. Maybe in 2022 (if there’s a 2022 season).
By the way – for all of those who said that he is figuring things out in June when his numbers improved, his OPS in July was .401, in August was .597 and so far in September it’s .077!
And when they hit him 7th and Barnes 8th, they essentially run only 2/3 of a lineup out there.
Ahhh…silence is golden…..one of the biggest pain in the ass residents is going to be gone for a month or so. I am going out to California for Christmas this year. Not driving, taking the train. I hate short bench’s, Limit’s the managers options. With 28 spots now, they are still carrying only 12 position players.
I was just listening to MLB.Radio and they said that based upon the Pathogorian Win-Loss Model the Dodgers are 5 games behind where they actually should be and the Giants are 5 games ahead of where they should be. They have been lucky and the Dodger have been cursed. Based upon the Pathogorian Model, the Dodgers should be 9 games ahead of the Giants… except they are not!
I think this season is unique and very special and very difficult to repeat how things have turned out. That the team is on track to achieve 100 victories with the number of injuries of key players but above all that it will achieve it with one of the weakest player benches in MLB, for most of the season, it seems to me an incredible achievement. This team has overcome very strong things and is still in the fight, this team is tough, this team is special.
Not saying it will happen, but if it does, Has a team ever received a Cy Young winner and a Batting Champ in one trade? Max is possible for the Cy Young & Trea is a possibility as Batting Champ. Could Belli need glasses? Some of the pitches at which he swings are not close to the strike zone. Some umps don’t seem to know the zone either!
You are wrong and you are frequently wrong and frankly it’s an embarassment to this site that your voice is so prominent. I wish you the best in whatever you’re good at but writing about baseball ain’t it.
* Max is so efficient. He’s 7 over par after the 1st inning, based on 15 pitches an inning being par (I actually used 16 but 15’s are easier to count). So the 2nd inning is 10 pitches, so he’s just 3 over. After 3 he’s 5 under. After 4 he’s 11 under. He finished 17 pitches under par for 8 innings with 13 strike outs. That’s incredible. He could have easily pitched the 9th and been well under 120 but there was no need with a 4 run lead. A 4 run lead in his games feels like 7.
* Mookie and Smith seem to get more fastball strikes called on them that are a whole baseball off the plate.
* Some guys just show bunt to move defenders with no real intention of actually bunting. I’m not sure Belli was fully committed to that bunt attempt yesterday. Like many have mentioned, I’d like to see him use that tool way more ofter. Like once a game when the situation calls for it. I know he’s hitting 8th a lot but still lay down a bunt single, then sacrifice him to 2nd with the pitcher to get to the top of the order.
* Joe Davis is fixated sometimes with exit velo on batted balls that are outs. I pay attention to exit velo but the game isn’t our barreled up balls versus theirs. Dusty Baker has said it best “I don’t care about balls hit hard. I care about hits.” I have no problem with exit velocity but there’s something to be said for ‘aim” as well. Like missing a shift once in awhile.
* I enjoyed Orel’s conversation about restaurants in St. Louis like Mike Shannon’s Steak place and the Italian places on The Hill. Tommy knew his Italian food. What was funny was Orel describing their signals and stuff to know when and where their meals were comped. When you’d think that wouldn’t matter to a big league player; to many, it does. In those days meal money was about $105 a day, but despite that generous amount for those days, I never knew a big leaguer to turn down a free dinner, or cocktail, or beer. I was involved with a few bars and restaurants around the west and we catered to the sports crowds. You’d be amazed at the NBA stars who sat at my bar and never paid a dime. All the tabs were picked up by strangers. And many times I’ve seen them stiff the bartender or waitress. They paid for nothing. My staff hated waiting on them. My friend Hot Rod Hunley owes me for about 1000 Budweisers. Frank Layden paid his way and everybody’s around him. He wasn’t hesitant to pick up the check. I was with him when he quietly gave gloves and scarfs off him body to homeless folks.
I bet Tommy Lasorda may have gotten some free meals but I bet the wait and kitchen staffs got well taken care of. The MiLB guys might get a free meal at favorite spots at home occasionally but never on the road. The guys with the cash got the most freebies.
Don’t know if it’s been mentioned but former Dodger prospect A.J. Alexy, who was traded for Yu Darvish, has had a really nice start to his MLB career.
White pitched 6 innings Friday night for RC, so probably tomorrow is more likely and Jackson pitched 4.2 innings last Saturday for Oklahoma City and could technically pitch tonight with 4 days rest.
I am not for or against Cody Bellinger.
My entire point is that the people closest to the situation should have a better idea than we do.
I believe that they do… and I trust that they will do their jobs.
If they decide to play him, there must be a reason and if they decide to sit him, there must be a reason.
I am not going to lose my mind over it (one way or another) for the sole reason that I believe they are in possession of more facts… facts of which I may or may not be ignorant.
The word ” ignoramus” comes right from the Latin word, which literally means “we do not know,”
Right now watching Bellinger hit is like watching Albert play centerfield
Bear’s comment on how bad Taylor has been lately has been somewhat overlooked because of the constant Bellinger criticism. I knew Taylor has been struggling lately, but last 30 game stats show he has been even worse than Bellinger in contact rate. Taylor’s KO rate during the last 30 games is 39%. For that KO rate he has produced a HR every 37 ABs which is not what you want to see. He hit one out yesterday, but I believe it was his second hit in the last 7 games. And that was a HR. So right now the Dodgers are playing with only six somewhat productive offensive players with Taylor, Bellinger, and the pitcher’s spot adding almost nothing to the offense. That’s a tough situation to overcome in trying to win a division. To have played as well as they have in the past month is a remarkable achievement.
Is Mitch White the scheduled “bulk innings” guy today?
If so, then is Price Andre Jackson the bulk guy tomorrow?
I have a question: Why does everyone mention Buehler, Wheler and now Scherzer as potential Cy Young winners, but no one mentions Urias … Doesn’t he deserve at least one mention? He is the leader in wins…
Wow, we had a nice win yesterday after a brutal travel day with a masterpiece by Scherzer and all anyone wants to talk about is Bellinger who absolutely smashed a 107 MPH bullet off the bat against a 94 MPH 4 Seamer. Here’s the list of guys in the lineup yesterday that didn’t hit a ball that hard…
Trea Turner
Max Muncy
Mookie Betts
Justin Turner
Corey Seager
Chris Taylor
Austin Barnes
Yep, that’s right. The hardest hit ball all day was off the bat of Cody Bellinger.
The Dodgers need to DFA Flyout Strikeout Mckinney ,bring up Steven Souza Jr. for a second time and his much needed outfield right handed bat with Pollock on the IL to platoon with Bellinger against lefties,, and option Mckinstry to OC and bring up Beatty for the stretch run.
All eyes will be on Oklahoma City tonight with Kershaw hopefully going 3 innings and able to return to the rotation or bullpen against Arizona next week .
Yes I think its not a matter of Beli ‘getting it together’. The guy is physically not able to perform and Beatty would be a better option. How long can you stick with a guy who is just about the worst hitter in Baseball. And when you see a lineup with him batting 7, Barnes 8 and then the pitcher. YIKES!!
I am not saying to give up on the guy, but not ready this year.
I checked this morning and the Dodgers are now 9 games over .500 against teams with a over .500 winning pct. Their road record is almost as good as the Giants. And they are great at home. The Giants are 11 over against plus .500 teams. And they have a few tough customers in Atlanta, the Brewers and Padres left on their schedule. It should be fun down the stretch. By the way Dodgerram. the Dodgers record against lefty’s is better than you think. They are over .500 against them. So Happ being a lefty with a high ERA is not as daunting as you might think. Pujols and Betts can inform their team mates what he throws. They both faced him a lot in the AL.