Michael Conforto has a short, compact swing that generates power. In theory, he should be a batting title contender. How he hit last night should not be surprising… but it is! Michael Conforto has been consistent. Consistently bad! He is hitting .171 on the year. In his last seven games, he is hitting .160, In his last fifteen games, he is hitting .180, and in his previous thirty games, he is hitting .168. While not a butcher in LF, he is possibly average. There comes a time when the Dodgers are just going to have to say, “This is not working.”
The time is near! After going 2-5 with 3 RBI last night, he will get more chances, but at some point it will end… unless he can hit! Things can change, as we all know. All things considered, I would let Dalton Rushing play LF two or three times a week. Kike can be his Caddy. Andy Pages seems to improve in CF with every game.
Onto another subject: Muncy. Look at this (as of last night’s games):
- Max Muncy .246 BA/.814 OPS/.373 OB%
- Nolan Arenado .247 BA/.708 OPS/.309 OB%
Arenado can’t carry Muncy’s bat, but he is still a very good defensive 3B. Thank you, but I will keep Max.
Clayton Kershaw
I finished Andy McCullough’s book on Clayton Kershaw, “The Last of His Kind.” It is arguably the best baseball book I have ever read, and it really delivers an understanding of the G.O.A.T. That said, I now believe that Clayton’s diminished velocity (he has failed to break 90 MPH in his last two starts) signals more arm or shoulder problems. I think the league will solve him, and I doubt that he will finish the season. I do not think he can continue to win with an 88 MPH fastball – that’s what his slider used to be. It’s hard to say, but I think he is done. Sorry, Clayton!
California Trip
My wife and I took the “Red Eye” back from California and got home at 6 AM Yesterday. I got a good night’s sleep last night, and I feel great! We had a great time at Mountain View, Palo Alto, and on the last day, we went into San Jose and were really impressed with the new Santana Row area. We ate lunch at Augustine and highly recommend it. We did go into San Francisco, which I have called a shithole in the past. I commend the new mayor, Daniel Lauie, who is visibly making an impact. London Breed was a disaster. My wife said, “My city is coming back.” I am headed to Ft. Wayne one or two days this week to see the Loons. I am going to try to get interviews with the Big Three there.
Discussion (30)
Disagree, not disagreeable
The thing that kills me is walking guys that can’t hurt you. Every mlb pitcher should be able to throw a fastball for a strike and make a hitter earn it.
Seldom but it would happen, if I thought the umpire missed the pitch or a couple of pitches in the at bat, I would commute the sentence for giving up the leadoff walk.
The thing especially in mid and in this part of his career, Kershaw does not walk people. The biggest thing about that is if you give up a homer it is usually a solo shot. Kershaw makes people earned their way on base which is extremely hard. If you can get on base three out of ten at bats, you will be in the hall of fame. It seems today with everyone being a power pitcher that walks are up league wise. I have looked up no stats to back that claim but it seemed like the really good pitchers didn’t walk hitters. In my limited coaching baseball career, high school, if our pitcher walked the leadoff hitter of any inning he had three line to line runs. As a coach we all have something that really irritates you. In basketball which I coached for a long time mostly at the high school level some at the college level, giving up offensive rebounds use to drive me crazy. If we gave up an offensive rebound on an opponent free throw, someone was coming out of the game. Our pitchers could learn a lot from Kershaw.
some will say it was against the rockies, ok. but actually the rockies have been one of the better hitting teams in baseball lately. And playing in coors field ain’t that easy either. 69 pitches over 6 innings? doesn’t that mean his control was excellent? He could have gone 2 more, but i believe Doc wants him to get to 3000 K’S at dodger stadium! .. Kirby Yates still scares the crap out of me! if he had blown that win for Clayton. Scott continues to be lights out! With a little help from Andy and Freddie! … Rojas ain’t going nowhere! not this season. ….. Kike can’t hit a breaking ball! …. No substitutions today for Doc! how often does that happen? … 2 out of 3 in KC(all 3 would be sweet)!
Dodgers swept the Rockies
3-1
Kershaw did 6 innings in 67 pitches, gave up one finger
I’ll take that any day
Pen was s great again.
Get few throwers back and we are golden.
Kershaw is a stud
That’s 4 straight excellent starts by the washed up Kersh. What a bum!
Wednesday scores
Oklahoma City 16, Sacramento 0
Frisco 3, Tulsa 1
Great Lakes 11, Fort Wayne 0
San Jose 6, Rancho Cucamonga 1
Thursday schedule
4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Wyatt Crowell) at Fort Wayne (Miguel Mendez)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Peter Heubeck) at Frisco (Josh Stephan)
6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Aidan Foeller) at San Jose (Charlie McDaniel)
6:45 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Kyle Funkhouser) at Sacramento (Carson Seymour)
“Triple-A: After shortstop Alex Freeland was placed on the 7-day injured list on Tuesday, infielder and 2024 seventh-round draft pick Elijah Hainline got the call to Oklahoma City all the way from Rancho Cucamonga. Hainline entered a 15-0 game and played the final four innings at shortstop, and hit a 101-mph line drive that was caught in right field in his first Triple-A at-bat”.
3:10 PM ET
Dodgers (50-31)
Rockies (18-62)
SP Clayton Kershaw L
3-0 3.31 ERA
SP Austin Gomber L
0-1 8.38 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
C Will Smith R
1B F. Freeman L
RF T. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
2B Tommy Edman S
LF E. Hernandez R
3B Miguel Rojas R
84° Wind 6 mph R-L
The Dodgers activated RHP Luis Garcia and optioned RHP Will Klein.
I thought Conforto’s reaction when he hit that dinger last night was priceless. He looked absolutely shocked at how far he hit that ball. Let’s hope the hitting coaches unlocked something and it’s not just playing a AAAA team in high altitude.
R.I.P. Diego Seguí
The Dodgers are tied with the Tigers for the best record in baseball. but the Dodgers remain alone at the top of the power poll.
Is there anyway to get the dodger players to stop that inane waving of the arms after a big hit?
The DSL has been added to the Minor League Affiliates.
Which is translated as:
My English isn’t very good, so sometimes I have to use a translator… Are you José Luis?
And you’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of people here with sensitive eyes, and well, I promised not to express my admiration for that great SD team again.
I get the impression Kershaw wants to retire with a ring, but on the field, and in a normal, complete season, without excuses or pretexts. The first one was a shortened season, and no matter how much it’s said to be the toughest, that “asterisk”still remains, and the last one he was on the IL.
In addition to his 3000 strikeouts
And 2017 doesn’t count, forget that!
Having dissed Conforto so much in recent weeks, I feel that he was bound to have a good game.
But now I’ll diss him again and remind everybody he did it at Coors Field… And I’d still rather see Kim in the lineup to see if he can improve his .750 BA against lefties.
And I’d still prefer to see three or four current Comets on the roster instead of Conforto…
Speaking of Coors Field, that makes Wrobo’s 5 innings all the more impressive.
I hope Mark’s wrong about Kershaw. Assuming he’s soft-tossing without pain, I see no reason to think he won’t finish the season on the roster. With another World Series win, he can retire as a champion.
Mark, would you be so kind to add the Dominican Summer League to the above MINOR LEAGUE AFFILATES. The league starts tomorrow with the Dodgers having two teams.
8:40 PM ET
Dodgers (49-31)
Rockies (18-61)
SP Y. Yamamoto R
6-6 2.76 ERA
SP Chase Dollander R
2-7 6.19 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
3B Max Muncy L
RF T. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
2B Tommy Edman S
LF M. Conforto L
C D. Rushing L
75° Wind 7 mph
San Francisco is a shithole. It’s the only city I know of with an official SnapCrap app.
Last time I went I stayed about 30 miles south. I got on a train to go to a Giants game. Not that I like trains. I didn’t want my car to be stolen, broken into or vandalized. The train dropped us off right by Willie Mays and the front door of the stadium. What a beautiful ballpark. It was a little weird eating brats instead of Dodger Dogs.
After the game, we started wandering with a goal of some good food in Chinatown. It wasn’t too long before we came across boarded up buildings, tents, smelly bums, used syringes, vomit and lo and behold, human shit all over the place. I haven’t been back since.
Maybe they can leave Conforto in Denver after the series where he can thrive for a cellar dweller
I always thought Kershaw’s slider was at its best when he took a bit off and threw it more around 83-85. If he can have a big enough gap between his fastball and slider while throwing that splitter/change I think he can still get people out. I’ve always wondered if the Dad body had something to do with the velocity drop and back issues. If definitely has something to do with my back issues.
Tuesday scores
Oklahoma City 13, Sacramento 2
Frisco 5, Tulsa 1
Fort Wayne 8, Great Lakes 7
San Jose 11, Rancho Cucamonga 10
ACL Dodgers 9, ACL Royals 4
Wednesday schedule
12:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Emmet Sheehan) at Sacramento (Trevor McDonald)
1 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Sterling Patick) at San Jose (Niko Mazza)
4:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Roque Gutierrez) at Fort Wayne (Clark Candiotti)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (TBA) at Frisco (Kohl Drake)
For more detailed recaps,stats,schedules, daily standings and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of this page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.
To those of you who want Walker Buehler, I am sure he is available. Ever since Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05 million deal with the Boston Red Sox in December, the right-hander has severely struggled on his new team.
Across 13 starts this season, Buehler has posted a career-worst 6.29 ERA, which is also the highest of all American League pitchers with at least 60 innings.
They are taking him out of the rotation.
I hope your wrong about Kershaw. All signs point in your direction but I keep thinking of Greg Maddux. Kershaw won’t be what he was 10 years ago, none of us are , but I still believe he can be a real strong starter. Maybe I’m looking through rose colored glasses but I’ll never give up on Kershaw until he hangs them up.
I believe there is a big four in Great Lakes. Nevin who is an outfielder playing in the infield is good. His bloodlines run deep and what I can follow the past couple of years, he’s going to be a player.
“…We did go into San Francisco, which I have called a shithole in the past. I commend the new mayor, Daniel Lauie, who is visibly making an impact. London Breed was a disaster.”
Why do you feel the need to inject your politics into this otherwise entertaining blog? Let’s stick to baseball.
Or am I being a “dumbass” again for noticing?
Watched some of the AA Tulsa vs Frisco game on the MLB Network yesterday, which they lost 5-1. What a dreadful lineup Tulsa has. Miller is the only prospect ranked there. Time for the outfielers at A+ Great Lakes to be promoted to Tulsa. Hopefully it happens sooner than later. Copen was just OK. NOT that impressed.
Sadly I agree about Kershaw. Perhaps he will call it quits before October. But if not injured we know he wants one more shot at WS
Ate Brunch here on Sunday:
https://www.sweetmaplesf.com/
Santana Row is heaven for people who like to shop [i.e., women].