How Ya' Doin'???
Here we are a little over a month into the season. So, I thought I would check on some of our old friends and see how they are doing after leaving the blue. I guess one of the reasons is that I always felt that Cody Bellinger would, at some point, start to at least resemble the…
Here we are a little over a month into the season. So, I thought I would check on some of our old friends and see how they are doing after leaving the blue. I guess one of the reasons is that I always felt that Cody Bellinger would, at some point, start to at least resemble the player he was a few seasons ago.
I have always believed that his shoulder injury had a whole lot to do with his swing problems. So far, he is hitting very well for the Cubs. .291-7-18. OPS of .937, which puts him in the top 20 of MLB. His replacement, James Outman, is at .290-7-21, OPS .980. So Cody’s production has been matched by his replacement.
Muncy has been hitting for power with 12 long balls and 27 driven in. His OPS is 3rd in the majors at 1.039. The man he replaced as the primary third baseman, JT, is hitting .273 with two homers and ten driven in. His OPS is .749. Muncy had his average up around .250, but a slide in the last couple of games brought it down to .239.
Trea Turner has yet to get untracked with the Phillies. He is at .259-3-8. He only has 4 stolen bases, but a more disturbing stat is his 35 K’s in 135 at-bats. Trea will no doubt get better as the season progresses, but that is a high K rate. We all know how Kimbrel is doing; he looks a lot like last year.
Tyler Anderson and his 3-year deal with the Angels do not look all that great right now. He is 1-0 with a 5.74 ERA. Andrew Heaney is 2-2 with a 5.52 ERA and has given up 7 bombs in six games. Edwin Rios, who I always thought just needed some playing time, is only hitting .100 in Chicago. Both Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen are doing well in Boston. Jansen had not blown a game until the other day and has seven saves. Martin’s ERA in 9 games is a solid 2.00.
Fan favorite Joe Kelly is not flourishing in Chicago, 0-1, 7.71 ERA. The Giants have three exe Dodgers on their pitching staff; of the three, only Scott Alexander, 2-0, has a winning record. Strip is 0-1 and Wood, who is on the IL has none but a sparkling 1.80 ERA. Joc Pederson is hitting .250-3-13 with an OPS over .800. Matt Beaty is back in the minors.
Alex Verdugo is having a stellar year, .315-5-18, with a .897 OPS. Kike .243-3-11. And Connor Wong, who most fans forget got his start in LA and went to Boston as part of the Betts trade, is hitting .284-3-10. Connor Joe, another former LA farmhand, is playing in Pittsburgh. .295-4-11. It seems former LA hitters are doing a lot better than the pitchers. Joe was originally drafted by the Pirates but was property of the Dodgers in 2017 and 2019.
Hyun Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda have had injury issues this year. Ryu is yet to pitch, and Maeda has lost all four of his starts. I really do not feel that the Dodgers have missed any of these guys at this point. You could make a case that Bellinger would just be blocking Outman. But you could also make the case that had they retained Bellinger, neither Heyward nor Peralta would have been signed.
It seems Mookie is following the same script he has throughout his career. He has never been a strong hitter in April. But as it heats up, so does Betts. We can all hope the same will happen with Martinez once he is back in the lineup.
Keibert Ruiz is still trying to reach the potential the Dodgers saw in him. .248-2-8. Jeter Downs was sent to the minors by the Nats. Josiah Gray is 2-4, but his ERA is very good at 2.67. DC’s lack of offense is no doubt a factor in his W-L record.
Zack McKinstry is doing well as a utility guy in Detroit, and their old friend, Rich Hill, has a winning record as a starter for the Pirates. Now, do any of these guys ever have a chance to wear the blue again??? Doubtful, but it has happened. Over the years, several players have returned to LA after leaving. I will continue to monitor their progress or regress as the season marches on. Play Ball!!!
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Discussion (78)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Well, that sucked. No clutch hitting, again. And Kershaw wasn’t sharp. Oh well. Could be this way all year.
San Diego is a good club. They look a lot different with Tatis back in the lineup. Kinda like we did with Trea Turner.
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Dave Roberts removed Max Muncy from tonight’s game because Muncy has been dealing with flu-like symptoms the last couple days. #Dodgers
Mark, heading to Scarsdale New York to watch the three grandkids participate in sports. Will be unable to post the lineup today but will be on it Sunday.
Let’s be real about things, this is who Clayton Kershaw is nowadays.
He is no longer an Ace, and hasn’t been for a couple of seasons, as the various injuries and innings pitched have taken their toll on him.
He is still a very good Pitcher, but no longer Elite. He is a #3.
It is not realistic to expect him to pitch like an Ace any more. He is still my favourite player but let’s get some perspective. The Dodgers will struggle in the Post Season unless they can pick up someone to pair with Julio in the shorter series.
I’m not being negative, I’m really enjoying the season so far, but we need another top end Starter.
Did I see that right, Taylor pinch-hit for Muncy? And Doc still thinks Thompson can hit LHP. Might as well have kept Heyward in there. Speaking of that the Dodgers seriously need to add an outfielder that hits LHP and one of the trio that only hit RHP needs to go.
I guess Dave Roberts threw in the white towel by bringing in this pitcher suero.
I wonder why Doc started Rojas instead of Betts at shortstop.
I’d rather see Taylor or Thompson start instead of Rojas.
Miller got squeezed TWICE that inning!
Muncy needs to swing at the first pitch more than once in a blue moon.
I want to say, the Padres uniforms look like something designed by Taco Bell.
“Let’s go Chelipas”
It looks Mexican, but it ain’t.
Dodgers will come back.
Seems to me that Dodger bats feast on bad and mediocre pitching but struggles against good and elite (playoff) pitching. I feel Freddie is only Dodger we count on to hit elite pitching
Man, I can’t stand Tatis, but that sure is a lightning quick swing.
Just a matter of time, Kersh without his best getting tagged by a dangerous Padre top order.
Anyone who thinks our main rivalry is with the Giants and not the Padres needs to think again.
Your main rival needs a villain or two. The Padres have a few.
The Giants roster has absolutely no personality.
Tonight feels like last year’s playoffs.
Vargas keeps improving looking like a natural at 2nd base
Nice throw by Will Smith. Also, nice tag by Vargas letting that ball travel right into the runner and not catching it out front and bring it back
Why isn’t Kersh throwing his slider with 2 strikes?!!! No where near the stuff he had last outing. This is going to be a struggle
The padres are wearing their Friday nigh beer league costumes tonight. They look ridiculous in those costumes. I hope the Dodgers blow them out like they did Philly. They’re too ugly to be called uniforms.
Ex Dodger Edwin Rios was optioned to Cub’s Triple-A Iowa.
9:40 PM ET
Dodgers (19-13) 1st Place
Padres (17-15) 2GB
SP Clayton Kershaw L
5-1 1.89 ERA 38IP 41K
SP Yu Darvish R
1-2 3.60 ERA 30IP 34K
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
CF J. Heyward L
LF James Outman L
2B M. Vargas R
DH D. Peralta L
SS Miguel Rojas R
Partly-cloudy-day
11% Precipitation
61° Wind 11 mph L-R
The Dodgers let Kike Hernandez go after 2020. Probably because they thought Taylor was the essentially the same player and they had confidence in McKinstry, who played IF and OF.
Mc Kinstry started off very well in 2021 before he was injured. He did not return to form and did not get playing time because Roberts was having a bromance with a string of outfielders hitting under .200. Eventually, McKinstry made a couple of errors and he got buried on the bench and I believe he was spending time in the minors too. Seemed like giving up on him too early. Especially, trading him for a one or two month rent a pitcher. I thought they should have traded some other guy in the minors.
Couple of Dodger tiktok dudes need to slow down on the Cody Sainthood.
Small sampling cherry pickers.
Open on www.tiktok.comhttps://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRws8HFN/Asked Chat/Gpt who wins this weekend:
“ That’s a good question. The Dodgers and the Padres are two of the best teams in the MLB and they have a heated rivalry that goes back to last season when the Padres eliminated the Dodgers in the NLDS1. The first series of 2023 between them is starting today at Petco Park and it’s expected to be a thrilling showdown23.
According to the sports data from Bing4, the Dodgers have a slight edge over the Padres in terms of win probability (51.9% vs 48.1%) and standings (19-13 vs 17-15). However, the Padres have been heating up lately with their offense led by Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr.5. The pitching matchups are also very exciting, with Clayton Kershaw facing Joe Musgrove today, Dustin May against Yu Darvish tomorrow, and Julio Urias versus Blake Snell on Sunday3.
So, based on these factors, I would say that the Dodgers have a better chance of winning the series, but it’s very close and anything can happen in baseball. What do you think?”
Good enough but, “…heated rivalry that goes back to last season…”?
No way. A bit of soft toss to keep Dago fans happy. Sheesh.
Thursday scores
El Paso 8, Oklahoma City 2
Tulsa vs. San Antonio, postponed
Great Lakes 4, Quad Cities 2
Rancho Cucamonga , Lake Elsinore, postponed
Friday schedule
3:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Emmet Sheehan, Landon Knack) vs. San Antonio (Nolan Watson, TBD), doubleheader
3:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Orlando Ortiz-Mayr) vs. Quad Cities (Chandler Champlain)
5:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Bobby Miller) at El Paso (TBD)
7:15 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Luis Valdez) at Lake Elsinore (Fernando Sanchez)
SD’s world series tonight.
Think they will have a parade, hang a banner if they win tonight???
Hope we shove it up their…..A