I Am Certain of Nothing, But Remain Hopeful

*we have scored enough runs to have won at least a couple of games recently

Ultimately a disappointing night again, but well done to you guys to sticking with it.

Starting Pitching is killing us now.

Who do you trust?

We

Have scored enough runs to have won at leading a couple of years recently.

Credit to Puig, who I doubted, for continuing his mature approach at the plate.

Kershaw v Cueto later on…

I don’t know when Ryu did his last bullpen session but it sure seems like they could have set him up to piggyback with a 3+ hour rain delay going on.

Nice looking swing by Turner.

The Dodgers have 4 guys with 19 HR’s. Some guys are due for 20.

Not a big fan of going to Ravin. Hopefully it works out.

Dodgers get off the deck and strike for 4! Blach out of the game (and thankfully so is Maeda.) Let’s go!!

Make it 4-0 as Puig forgot where the wall was and the ball goes off his glove for a charitable triple. The run scores on a GB to second. We need some runs!

Great time for the game to get going.

They should start at this time every night.

Anyway, normal service has been resumed.

Maeda gives up a 1st innings dinger to Denard Span (no really).

Doc then Pinch Hits The Forsythe Saga for Chase in the 2nd, who doesn’t get a single AB?

Could be a long night

Make it 3-0 as Parker goes deep but Maeda strikes out the side. Let’s go Dodger bats!! Happy Birthday Hawkeye if you’re still up. Indians make it 19 in a row by a score of 11 to 0 and the Rockies knock off Az in Phx.

The rain delay went long and Bochy pulls Stratton and puts in the leftie Blach to mess up Robert’s lineup. 1st casualty is Utley as Forsythe hits for him. Maeda burned by Span who hits one in the water and is now 5 for 10 against him and the team starts in a familiar early first inning hole 2-0.

Thank God it’s started, Nurse Wratched was heading down the hall…

Hawkeye

Happy Birthday!

I would chance Ethier for ganderson. Bearns for grandal ando Taylor for utley

Well Doc didn’t listen to any of us (naturally):

Granderson

Seager

JT

Cody (CF)

Puig

Agone

Grandal

Utley

Maeda

Dodgers need personal coaching, or psychological coaching. They need to see things from a different perspective. Not as the looser, but as the winners. Actually, Dodgers are still 9 games above Arizona. Thats more than a respectable difference. Emphasize the difference. Emphasize how we got there. Let’s play calmly, remembering how good we have been this year. Just focus in playing one game at a time. One swing at a time. One pitch at a time.

Go Dodgers.

Let’s get a serious lineup out there tonight, Dave. Spring Training is over – it’s time to win some games:

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1. Ethier LF

2. Seager SS

3. Turner 3B

4. Bellinger 1B

5. Taylor CF

6. Grandal C

7. Barnes 2B

8. Puig RF

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Quit all the dumb stuff. Do this for me just this one this!

Just in case anyone missed it, Mel Didier, longtime Scout, passed away. Below is an Eric Stephen article on Mel’s passing and why he should be remembered by every Dodger fan.

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Here’s an interesting post from Think Blue LA:

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The point of the article? If this group can’t pull it together, maybe it’s time to keep the key players and gut the rest of the team and start over.

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“Like with everything in life, when there is an ultimatum in place there must be a result for not meeting that goal and, in this case, I believe there really is only one option – to start over for the seasons to come. Don’t get me wrong, by starting over I don’t mean a full on rebuild. What I mean is to sell some of the current major league talent to make room for our top prospects to come up and get playing time. Guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Logan Forsythe, and even Yasmani Grandal can go. By getting rid of them the team would be making room for the players of the future, thus giving them the opportunity to learn and perfect their craft without having to worry about playing time. For a team that is stacked with highly touted prospects, it might not hurt to bring them up as everyday players.

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“This purging of veterans would also accomplish another thing, it would essentially restart the process for a Dodgers team that is in desperate need of a restart. If this team doesn’t reach the end goal of making it to the World Series, then I’m left wondering if any team could get there. This is a team that had 90 wins faster than all but three teams in the history of the game. This team is not only historically excellent but at times has looked as if no other team could challenge them in the playoffs because, in reality, they are just that good.

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“Please allow me to clarify exactly what I mean by sell. First of all, I want to start that by saying guys like Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and maybe even Chris Taylor are all untouchables. Along with these guys, all of our top prospects should be safeguarded as well, and moved into major league roles.”

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The interesting thing is that here is a fan who feels like this had to be the year that they could at least make a run in the postseason, but like all thinking fans, now doubts that this group of Dodgers is ready for prime time. If not, to what extent does the Braintrust have to start thinking about another rebuild?

The Dodgers definitely played bottom, now what you have to do is play as if you were to play post season do not put to play Granderson, Grandal, Forshyle, Peterson, and take a tarp staff of 5 pikers kersaw, Hill, Ryu, Wood and other.

lets go dodgers

All I can say is I hope it all ends up better than it’s looking right now. For the players, DR, the coaches , FAZ and most of all the fans. This losing streak would be hard to swallow at any time but coming right after all the winning it’s just bewildering and inedible.

Per Houston Mitchell of the LA Times today:

“Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and I finally realized the problem: I haven’t been wearing my lucky Dodgers socks.

Random thoughts

Dave Roberts (Jae C. Hong / AP / AP)

The Dodgers have lost 15 of their last 16 games, and some will tell you that it doesn’t matter, because a lot of teams have stumbled into the postseason and won the World Series. I was even saying that when they lost five of six, or seven of eight. But 15 of 16? That’s a different kettle of fish. How bad is this 1-15 skid? Let’s look at the worst 16-game stretches by Dodgers teams since 1901:

0-16, 1944 Dodgers (-66 run differential)

1-15, 2017 Dodgers (-55)

1-15, 1937 Dodgers (-46)

1-15, 1909 Dodgers (-53)

1-15, 1908 Dodgers (-32)

See? It’s the second-worst stretch of 16 games in modern Dodgers history.

The worst part is you can’t pin it on any one thing. The starting pitching is bad one night, the bullpen is bad the next. Then errors sink the team, then lack of timely hitting. It’s really amazing to watch. The Dodgers seem to give up three runs in the first inning every game.

Meanwhile, no one on the team gives the appearance of caring, other than Clayton Kershaw after his bad outing on Thursday. Everyone gives the appearance of “Hey, we’re still going to win the division, why is everyone so worried?”

Justin Turner after Sunday’s loss: “Just sitting back and saying ‘We’re still the best team in baseball’ isn’t the answer. Because regardless of what the record says, right now we’re the worst team in baseball. What we did three months ago doesn’t mean a whole lot right now. No one in this league is going to feel sorry for us. No one in this league is going to show up and be like, ‘Oh, poor Dodgers.’ There are a bunch of sharks in the water. We’re bleeding a little bit right now. I think teams are smelling the blood.”

I think you’re bleeding more than just a little bit. The Dodgers’ could get a mascot out of all this though. License Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine. “What, me worry?”

Then you have Dave Roberts, who appears to have been suddenly possessed by the ghost of Don Mattingly, sitting there dispassionately while the losses keep piling up. His latest gem? “Just got to shake your head and laugh. We’re doing some unprecedented things right now.”

Actually, I’m not sure if shaking your head and laughing is really the best reaction.

And when he finally does get mad about something, who is the target of his anger? The fans. He got mad at Dodgers fans for booing Pedro Baez.

Here’s the thing that Roberts is missing. Dodgers fans have been down this road many times with Baez. We’ve seen him put up impressive numbers. Then, when the pressure is on, we’ve seen him fall apart faster than a Jenga tower in a room full of pre-schoolers. So we aren’t booing him just for this season, we are booing him for seasons past where he has given up key home runs to cost the team important games. And we see it happening again, and see no one seeming to care that the team has lost 10 in a row, so booing rains down on the field.

Instead of getting mad at fans about it, how about using the boos as a motivational tool? Because the days of “I guarantee we will win another game” are over.

I could go on, but I would just be repeating what I have written for a week now. I don’t want to be Mr. Negative, but I don’t want to stick my head in the sand either.

This is not a normal dry spell. It’s not worth losing sleep over it if you are a fan. Let’s hope today’s game begins the turnaround we are waiting for.

Wait, they’re playing the Giants next, a team they can’t seem to beat even when they are playing well? Let’s hope the turnaround begins Friday then.

The sacrifice

A lot of fans are wondering why the Dodgers never sacrifice a runner into scoring positions, especially in games where one run can mean all the difference. There are a couple of reasons.

1. Most major leaguers can’t bunt. They never are asked to, and those skills atrophy after a while. Sure, you can bunt during batting practice, but that is totally different from trying to bunt a 92-mph slider.

2. Most if not all sabermetricians will tell you a bunt is a waste of an out. You have only 27 outs in a game, and giving up one just to move up a runner is not the best use of an out. Metrics tell them that a runner moving up a base is not worth the loss of an out, particularly if you are using a position player to bunt.

In case you missed it

Curtis Granderson is now 8 for 70 with the Dodgers, a sterling .114 batting average.

Since Aug. 16, Alex Wood is 0-2 with an ERA of 6.35.

Note to the rest of the NL

If you have a pitcher that is struggling, pencil him in to start against the Dodgers if you can. That will cure him.”

Today’s the day!! What better place to win than up there

Well said AC – very uplifting post.

I have to say that as I watched last night, I began to feel the first real pangs of doubt.

However, after a good nights sleep, I agree with many of your thoughts.

I hope Doc has learned from this fortnight, and has some clarity for the post season.

I have seen this feast or famine problem with our offense before, but not in such an exaggerated fashion.

I’m hopeful that once we get going again, things will start to ignite, and the exhilaration of post season play will kick in.

If we can kickstart ourselves in the next couple of weeks, we will have enough time to peak for the playoffs.

I’m still optimistic.

Excellent commentary from AC, as usual.

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But Mark – You have to be delusional (nothing personal :0)) to think that Roberts or any other manager would think a losing streak is fine and would do nothing to stop it, let alone enable it. Any such manager would and should immediately be fired and hung from the rafters so us fans could take turns smacking him with a bat.