If You Feel The Need to Panic, By All Means Do So!
I just don t feel that need. This losing streak has gotten to the point of where it is almost comical. Yes, it is probably from that lack of adrenaline like Watford opined, but at least 50% of it is 80% mental (as Yogi used to say). The psychological side of baseball is just as important as the mechanical side. I have no direct information about that, but knowing how progressive
I just don’t feel that need. This losing streak has gotten to the point of where it is almost comical. Yes, it is probably from that lack of adrenaline like Watford opined, but at least 50% of it is 80% mental (as Yogi used to say). The psychological side of baseball is just as important as the mechanical side. I have no direct information about that, but knowing how progressive the Dodgers front office is, they are undoubtedly doing some things on that side as well.
It may seem like the Dodgers will never win another game. I assure you they will. The starting pitching has been generally good this month, so that is a plus. It was good again last night.The pen has slipped, but I suspect it will return as the players are auditioning for the playoffs. Walker Buehler will be in the mix and Tony Cingrani has been filthy his last 2 or 3 outings.
You can feel free to panic, I just don’t feel that need. I am surprised that DodgerTherapy is not back up and operating. Writers like Bill Plaschke and Howard Cole write what the masses love to hear: negative news. If you write that, you are assured of good readership. Fans clamour for it. This reminds me of a blog I wrote last year at LAdodgerReport.
Losses aren’t any fun. I don’t enjoy them, but Kershaw goes tonight. Corey will likely be back by the weekend and hopefully Yu Darvish figures out his mechanics. If not, the Dodgers still have enough pitching. It’s getting close to “Go Time.” This team will answer the bell when necessary. Baseball is a crazy maddening game: the fact that a team is capable of winning so many in a row and losing so many in a row makes this game what it is: addicting.
Hide your guns. Put away sharp objects. This is going to pass soon.
Doc believes in Curtis Granderson. Remember, it’s not how you start – It’s how you end! It was nice to see Joc get a hit. It’s sounding more-and-more like A-Gon will not make the playoff roster as he is still having major back issues according to TrueBlueLA.
At Tulsa last night, Mitch White went 6 innings and allowed 4 hits, Zero runs and had one walk, with Zero strikeouts. That’s a strange line for a guy with his stuff. The Driller bullpen then coughed up the game. Sound familiar? Mitch White might be ready for the Dodgers rotation next year.
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Discussion (72)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Mark, in his ROTC days.
The two encouraging things I took away from last nights game were named Buehler and Verdugo.
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I don’t like to make definitive judgments based on one outing, but Buehler had me wanting to see more. He’s a potentiall difference maker on a playoff roster.
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And Verdugo also looked good, and hit the ball hard in both of his AB’s last night. Also want to see more of him. In addition to his potential with the bat, I’m intrigued with the thought of having him and Puig in our corners. It’s Cannons in the Corners. And with Taylor’s very strong arm in CF, there would be no running on the Dodgers outfielders. Sort of the antithesis of rag armed Juan Pierre.
Granderson hitting leadoff tonight. Taylor with a scheduled day off. Why hit a high .obp guy like Verdugo 1st when we have the Grandy Man. Puig 5th. Not sure that’s permanent or because Barnes is catching tonight.
Granderson
Seager
Turner
Belly
Puig
Joc
Barnes
Forsythe(sorry MJ)
Darvish
As hot as the Indians are and as bad as the Dodgers are, the Boys in Blue are still #1 in the power rankings:
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Open on www.cbssports.comhttps://www.cbssports.com/mlb/powerrankings/Correction: Previous link was from Sept 1st. Az is now +1400 Dodgers unchanged as of today.
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Open on www.oddsshark.comhttp://www.oddsshark.com/mlb/odds/futuresNo panic button here but I have avoided posting for a few days as the sense of impending doom has pervaded the site. How do the professional handicappers view it? See the link below. The Dodgers have gone from +200 as their streak was coming to an end to +220 after the current losing streak, an extra $20 for your $100 bet. The DBacks are +3300 so if you really think the odds favor them then go to the window. The luxury of a big lead afforded the team an opportunity to rest and retool and get healthy for the stretch run and some questions have been answered already. Other than the Padres series which even I held my nose while watching they have played teams in the playoff hunt with a lot more to play for. It’s like betting week 17 in the NFL: who really cares if they win this week?
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After being punched in the mouth the entire organization is ready to right the ship and start winning again but the games are played one at a time. Once this streak is ended-and I like their chances today as Darvish should pitch better and Marquez has struggled against the Blue-the wins will start to come with regularity again. They have the Rocks for 4 more and the Nats for 3 but all of the other remaining games are with teams below .500. Be patient grasshopper as the tide will turn and the 2 hottest teams (Cleve and AZ) have peaked too soon and will not maintain their lofty pace. I still believe the Dodgers and Astros will meet in the WS and so do the pros.
Open on www.oddsshark.comhttp://www.oddsshark.com/mlb/mlb-odds-world-series-futuresThis is the worst team with the best record in baseball, I have ever seen.
I don’t know about everyone else, but when Arenado hit that three run HR off Kershaw in the first, my first thought was, the Dodger’s are cursed, thanks again, Sports Illustrated!
Can’t talk about our current play, but found this interesting
Open on www.google.co.ukhttps://www.google.co.uk/amp/amp.timeinc.net/si/mlb/2017/08/31/long-shot-netflix-trailer-dodgers-fan-accused-murder%3fsource=damNot much good can be said about last night’s game, except for two words:
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Walker Freaking Buehler
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Friedman called up a rookie starter the year the Rays went to the World Series who played a nice role in their success. That rookie starter who went to the bullpen was David Price.
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Based upon what I saw last night, Walker Buehler is a slam dunk to be on the playoff roster. I think he is just as effective against LH as RH batters. 100 MPH with that slider? He just looks like he belongs.
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The playoff bullpen so far: Morrow, Buehler, Jansen, Cingrani?
One thing has been proven kershaw does not do well on xtra rest but they keep doing it.
When I first saw the line up tonight I was concerned. Let’s face it, with no Seager and no Turner, we are toothless. But, look at the bigger picture. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when we were kicking some serious butt, that Colleti was on the Roggin and Rodney sportstalk show and he said that even he was surprised at the winning streak the Dodgers were on the last few months and how long it lasted. He also said that hey, the other teams are getting paid too, meaning nobody was falling over for the Dodgers. We have to look in the mirror also. Our guys are getting paid too, they hate losing as much, if not more than we do, and this is just part of the game. It’s why we are on this damn blog, because we love our team so much. Pretty much the same guys we are trashing right now were the same guys that could do no wrong only about a month ago. While the winning streak we were on was unrealistic to sustain the whole season long, so is this current slide. We have way too many vets who have been through the wars (A=gon,Chase, Granderson, Turner, Kersh, and even Roberts), and they know that things have a way of evening out. Plus, look at the young studs we still have on our team, Seager, Bellinger, a reborn Puig, Barnes, Taylor, etc.. We are way too good for this to keep going on, and it won’t. The starting pitching has been a whole lot better the past few games, we are just not hitting. Not saying that Seager coming back Friday will be our savior, but it is a step in the right direction. I would rather have us fighting tooth and nail for a play-off spot and home field advantage than coasting like we did last year the last week and half of the season and getting our butts handed to us by the Madres and the VaGiants while we trotted out spring training lineups. That was just flat out embarrassing. This too shall pass. We will be better for it.
Per ESPN.com:
“The Dodgers are still six games clear of the next-best record in MLB, but they’ve now gone 13 games with just one win, a swoon matched by only four other teams this season. Each of those four is at least 19 games under .500.”
That’s it Rick, now you got it!
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All is well that ends well…and this hasn’t ended yet. And I’m pretty sure all of your passionate ranting won’t make any difference in how the team plays. All you do is make others panic. But have fun with it, just don’t give yourself a stroke (you know, don’t take it too seriously). However, I bet that the Dodgers win the division.
Nothing to see here people – just keep moving. The Dodgers are just fine – just ask Dave Roberts, the guys at Dodgers Digest, and even our host here. That 7 game losing streak – 12 of 13? Just a mirage.
This is more than a losing streak. Some poisoning happened and these guys don’t even want to be on the field. Kershaw looked stressed by his third pitch. Panic? No. Sleepy? Indeed.
Panic Mode
Am I seeing the same game being replayed time and time again??
Kershaw doesn’t even go 4 – at least the Dodgers actually scored a run.
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Based on recent performance, who here would wager that the Blue will win tonight?
Well no shutout tonight! Turn out the lights…
Not Kershaw too!
I wonder what kershaw thinks when he sees seager out and we will just rest our best offensive and defensive player. He better hope he can pitch another shutout. Turner is the one guy who has hit decent of late and the leader. Kershaw is probably the best hitter in the last 4.
Arizona swept us without their best player(goldy) I guess their depth is paying off. If we hold onto the division I think the dbacks will pitch the wrong guy in their opener. They will go with greinke and he has earned it but ray is lights out right now. It might cost them. I think we will win the division but it is not a sure bet. We need to start tonight but gray has been very good against us when we were actually hitting. I am not panicked more resolute. We will either have the worst collapse in history or we will hold our nose and get in. Either way we deserve it. We are writing the story of how we defeat ourselves. Give me a bat I will stop this rally. I just think you don’t start experimenting until the division is won. If he plays his best players and manages the game to win I think we will. But if he thinks spring training lineups are in order it will be close in the end. I think the last 2 games we were much more competitive so we may be trending in the right direction.
I agree with you Rick and Bobbie, that there is reason for concern right now. The last two weeks have exposed some weakness that we overlooked before and some questionable decisions by Doc that had worked in the past are not working anymore. If he gets credit for his management in the long winning streak, then he has to take some blame for the losing streak now. Even Mark has commented in the past that “insanitiy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”, well some of the lineup decisions have been just that. They haven’t worked so change them (especially Granderson). “Nothing is as bad as it seems, and nothing is as good as it seems” We couldn’t expect to keeping winning they way we did in the streak, and I doubt that we will continue losing the ugly way we are now. The real question is, How good are we — really??? The constant excuses we are throwing out there are getting old, right now we are not playing well in any part of our game and it needs to turn around soon.
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I also believe that it is OK to make critical comments about the team you love without being branded stupid, a moron, or a traitor.
It’s not panic. It’s disappointment. These guys are not as good as we thought. The current excuse is Seager. If the team were any good right now, it would make up for the loss of one guy. It might be that opposing teams have figured us out. Pitchers throwing high strikes most of the time. Batters collective weaknesses. Every team will play us that way. Gray will have the same plan tonight. Losing the division is a real possibility. If so, it will be one of the biggest blow jobs of all time. If Kershaw loses tonight, look out. Right now I’m thinking wild card.