On a night when no other Dodgers drove in any runs, Max Muncy and Joey Gallo, the true “Live by the HR, Die By the Strikeout Guys,” went yard three times and drove in all six Dodger runs. They didn’t have to get the Home Runs out of the ocean as Max did to Baumgarner, but they did have to get them in the grandstand. Don’t you dare say the Dodgers can’t win with Cody, Max, and Gallo all in the lineup! They did it before, and they have done it again.
Don’t forget that Joey Gallo is a Gold Glove outfielder. With Betts in RF, Bellinger in CF, and Gallo in LF, lots of runs are saved. Juan Toribio wrote, “The top four in the Dodgers’ order get all the attention, and deservingly so. Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, and Freddie Freeman are three of the best players in the world. Will Smith is arguably the best hitting catcher in the Majors.” That’s true, and then when you have a healthy Gavin Lux and Re-Juvinated Justin Turner in the lineup, maybe you can play three “Three True Outcomes” Players. You can disagree all you want: SCOREBOARD!
The Stats say you can. The fact that the Dodgers have the best offense in baseball says you can. If Andrew Friedman says you can, I am down with it. Last night the “Strikeout Guys” Won the Game Single-Handedly! Case closed! We have all seen a lot of crazy stuff in this game… who knows?
Craig Kimbrel came in and did his job: No strikeouts, but he threw 13 pitches, and ten were for strikes. I pronounce that I am hopeful, but he scares me more than Kenley Jansen – I have seen this movie for years…back to 2018 with the Red Sox. He can be very good… or very bad. Fortunately, the Dodgers do have the arms to compensate for it. I remain hopeful.
Rants & Raves
- I would go to war with Tyler Anderson. This is a classic case of “past performance does not indicate future results.” At 32 years old, Tyler Anderson was 43-41 with a 4.24 ERA, with a 1.24 WHIP (not bad). He had allowed fewer hits than Inning Pitched, and he did not walk a lot of batters, but he had really never learned how to “pitch.” The Dodgers taught him that, and he just improved a little bit and maximized his strengths while minimizing his weaknesses. I trust him as the #4 in the playoff rotation. I think he will do us proud. 14-3 with a 2.73 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. He is a solid pitcher.
- Danny Duffy and Tommy Kahnle both pitched for OKC last night – Duffy went .2 innings and allowed 2 H, 3 ER, and 1 BB while striking out 2. Kahnle fared much better, as he threw one perfect inning: six pitches with five being strikes. Don’t place too much emphasis on the results – focus on the health after the game.
- Diego Cartaya seems to be running on fumes, as he looks tired. Over the winter, he might need to add 10-12 pounds of muscle. He has plenty of places to put it. Still, at barely 21, he has 22-HR and is OPS’ing .901.
- As crazy as it seems, Dalton Rushing, who is also 21, is pushing him. Rushing went 2-3 last night and is hitting .426/.542 OBP/1.306 OPS with 7 HR and 26 RBI in 94 ABs. He has also walked 19 times!
- 19-year-old Yenier Fernandez is hitting .297/.386 OBP/.822 OPS at RC. The catching seems to be in good hands – no pun intended!
- Gavin Stone may have been shut down for the year. He hasn’t pitched since August 31st… or not! He has thrown twice the innings they allowed to Bobby Miller last year!
- I watched the Joe Maddon Video that someone put up, and while I could present a cogent argument for either side of the case, I feel that Joe is a dinosaur who likes to be the smartest guy in the room… and sometimes he is. Sometimes he is not! He might be bitter about the later, but baseball has/is/and will continue to change.
Discussion (29)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Well, the magic number is down to 6. They should if all goes well clinch the division by the weekend. Barring some sort of hiccup, they should also clinch home field throughout the playoffs. Trying to figure out who is going to be on the pitching staff and the roster is a lesson in futility. Without the straight skinny on injuries, rehab results, and generally the thinking in the front office makes it so. But I believe they will carry 4 starters at least all the way through the playoffs. Depending on health, those four will be, Urias, May, Anderson and Kershaw. Gonsolin has an outside shot if he heals fast enough. At this point, that is not the case, but he still has 4 weeks to get better. I believe they will load up the pen. Locks would be Phillips, Kimbrel, Treinen, Vesia. Ferguson, and Martin. After that, it is anybody’s guess. I think all the position players on the roster now except Vargas, will be on the playoff roster. The only way Vargas makes it is if there is an injury. Thats my story and I am sticking to it.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR581TEX/
Last 6 starts for the Mets’ Jacob deGrom:
8/7: Retired 17 in a row
8/13: Retired 16 in a row
8/18: Retired 12 in a row
8/25: Retired 13 in a row
8/31: Retired 12 in a row
Today: Retired 12 in a row
Nobody else in last 40 years has retired 12 in a row in more than 4 straight starts
There is hope for all of them to turn it around. Bellinger included. The only thing about Taylor is that he has said, he just does not feel right at the plate. Muncy heating up is always a good thing.
And Muncy! So there’s still hope for CT3 to turn it around. Can’t say I have much hope for Bellinger tho.
Line-up is very deep with Turner and Muncy finally regressing to their norms.
Can’t say I’m optimistic about Taylor, but I truly thought JT was done for a bit this season.
Get It Out Of The Grandstand!
sure looks like Maxwell is back!
Nice hit by TT over “Fat Boy” Pederson!
Eric- you make this place so meet much better.
I just realized something. Not including Vargas there are only three position players on the active roster that came through the Dodgers organization. Not counting Bruhl and counting Gonsolin who is on the IL, there are five pitchers on the active roster that came through the Dodgers organization. I believe that has been the trend through the years that the Dodgers produce more pitchers than hitters.
Justin Turner is only 13 points away from an 800 OPS. He’s come a long way from earlier this year.
Gavin Stone pitched and pitched like he as tired and had nothing more to play for.
Both are true!
They have CT3 doing poorly, but on the other side of the hitting spectrum we have JT. Joe mentioned last night that JT has had the highest average in baseball since the first of June. Pretty damn remarkable. He has quietly returned to the JT we are used to seeing. The power is down a bit, but I’ll take clutch singles and doubles all day.
Mark, I believe I remember you stating months ago when Max returned from his rehab assignment that you expected him to have an OPS over .800 by the end of the year. He’s at .702 right now. He’s raised his average by about 40 points as well. Even though he may not make it to .800 Max has made a hell of recovery. Kudos to him for hanging in there for sooo long. Count me in the line that thought Max was toast or at least needed some R&R to get mentally reenergized. But, the important aspect in all this is that Mark will have been wrong in his prediction. Lol. Max (and MT)still have time though.
Perhaps this has been written about and I missed it, but I have been puzzled by the reluctance of the Dodgers to give Carson Fullmer a shot. For most of the season he was “lights out”, yet he has continually been passed over for others with less success at OKC. The thought keeps coming up that AF may know something that we don’t. There may be something of a personal nature that AF isn’t comfortable with.
Fun game to watch. Especially with Max getting three hits, all for extra bases. 9 times out of 10, Bellinger is starting. Simply because he is elite in CF. Thompson is good, not elite. Thompson will get plenty of chances to play the last few weeks. Gallo ran into one and made a sparkling defensive play. Those skills are going to keep him on the roster come playoff time. Today’s temperature at game time is going to be in the high 90’s, which means that it will be close to or over 100 on the field. Players are going to have to make sure they are hydrated. Scherzer on the IL? No surprise. Vargas not in the starting lineup today against Cobb. Barnes catching CK and hitting 9th. Taylor back in the lineup at 2nd. Lux still not game ready. Gus Varland’s little brother called up by the Twins. Colin Moran, and Jake VanMeter both DFA’d by their teams.
4:10 PM ET
Giants (65-69)
Dodgers (93-42)
SP Alex Cobb R
5-6 3.58 ERA 118,0IP 34BB 122K
SP Clayton Kershaw L
7-3 2.59 ERA 90.1IP 18BB 94K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
DH Max Muncy L
3B J. Turner R
CF T. Thompson R
LF Joey Gallo L
2B Chris Taylor R
C A. Barnes R
Clear-day
0% Rain
97° Wind 7 mph Out
Wednesday Dodger Minor League Schedule
10:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Gavin Stone) vs. Tacoma (Konner Wade)
3:35 p.m.: Great Lakes (Adolfo Ramirez) at West Michigan (Carlos Pena)
4:35 p.m.: Tulsa (John Rooney) at Frisco (Tim Brennan)
6:30 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Justin Wrobleski) vs. Lake Elsinore (Victor Lizarraga)
BTW, Max Schelzer goes to the IL, sounds familiar?
Looks like they’re giving Thompson a start against a righty and sitting Bellinger tonight.
OPS+
Trayce 152
Bellinger 75
Gallo 111
Bellinger’s D isn’t that much better than Thompson’s. If Gallo +/or Taylor get hot then Bellinger sits. It’s all about who finishes the best and I have no hope that Bellinger begins to hit.
P.S Outman’s OPS + 282
Ok, I will said it because it wasn’t commented in this past two days. 2 days ago TThompson was given a start against a RHP like everybody wanted, even moreso after the PH 3 run Homer. Guess what?
4 STRIKEOUTS for TT
Does this is a trend? No really but It is for all of the so-called Strikeout Gang. CTaylor, MMuncy, CBellinger, JGallo and TThompson. Yes, Trayce is there also but you know what,
That’s a team policy/strategy.
Hit hard the ball. Putting the ball in play is thing of the past for this SO gang. Let that stuff to Trea Turner.
If SO, next one in line will try again.
Right now the better ones executing it are Muncy and Trayce.
Mets To Place Max Scherzer On Injured List
By Steve Adams | September 7, 2022 at 8:58am CDT
The Mets are placing ace Max Scherzer on the 15-day injured list, manager Buck Showalter announced to reporters Wednesday morning (Twitter link via Newsday’s Tim Healey). The team is hopeful that he’ll return after a minimum stint on the shelf. Scherzer departed his most recent start due to “fatigue” in the same left oblique muscle he strained earlier in the season — an injury that kept him sidelined for nearly two months.
Scherzer, 38, has been sensational for the Mets when healthy enough to take the mound. The three-time Cy Young winner has logged a 2.26 ERA while striking out 30.6% of his opponents against just a 4.6% walk rate. He’s averaged 6 1/3 innings per outing, even with a pair of early exits due to an increasingly problematic left oblique. Scherzer had been slated to start this Friday in Miami.
Everything changes, not always for the better.
You’re absolutely right Mark. I think people overlook the importance of good defense and the Dodgers are very good at defense, especially in the outfield.
The lineup is potent top to bottom and they can beat you in a variety of ways. Last night it was all Max and Joey and some big flies. The pitching was superb except for the one that Brandon Crawford ran into. When was the last time Kimbrel stuck someone out? Chris Martin’s fastball must look like a blur.
The Mets and Braves are now tied for the division lead. Can the Mets win without deGrom and Scherzer pitching every game? It sure doesn’t look like it. It’s going to be really tough to lineup up those two to pitch the majority of every series especially if they have to burn them to get through the Wild Card.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers are holding postseason tryouts. Giving some players rest, others a runway to find themselves. Some will respond and others won’t and hopefully the best will be in the lineup when the games matter most.
The bullpen is going to be a big weapon in the postseason. I just don’t know how they can put all of these guys in there at the same time, fake injuries and all.
I liked the conversation about statistics and projections yesterday. Some will only look at the stats and go from there. Some rely on the eye test. During the last month of the season, a lot of decisions will be made on “Stuff” with consideration towards “Stats”. There will be a lot to debate over the next month or so, as a result. If a guy has a bad night during a rehab outing, it could just be he’s working on a certain pitch rather than a setback.
Kimbrel’s walkup song is hilarious to me. But, I think there’s a more fitting song for him. “Staying Alive”.
A reminder, a team can reset their roster for each post-season series.
Early afternoon game today 4:10 ET.
So with the East being tied who would we rather face in a 5 game series? ATL or NYM?
Thats a tough call, I just hope whoever it is they have to play 3 games instead of 2. If I had to pick right now give me the Mets in a 5 game series and then I think we see STL in the NLCS. The travel and less days off this year will be huge and this very much favors the Dodgers…..put your seatbelts on going to be a wild and fun ride thru November.
Any chance Betts moves to 2nd base. So Bench Taylor and Gallo-Trace-Belli in outfield. Probably not
If the playoffs started tomorrow, Trayce Thompson is in the lineup every game. So your decision is does he play left and you sit Taylor and Gallo or does he play center and you sit Bellinger. It’s too bad that Taylor is going so bad right now but he’s the type of role player that can get hot in October and win you a series. Heck the way Barnes is hitting right now maybe put him in left!
Taylor. ugh 3 more Ks