Your Los Angeles Dodgers are now 12-9, and fans are jumping off bridges, buildings, couches and sandboxes. The Dodgers have lost 3 of their last 4 games. Today is an off day, but yesterday kind of felt like rock bottom. Maybe it was – or maybe rock bottom is still below us. Either way – this too shall pass. This is baseball and sometimes most times, it can be maddening. “On any given day” any baseball team can beat any other team.
This is especially true of teams playing the Dodgers. The Dodgers are the only team in baseball where the other team has a chant to beat them: “Beat LA! Beat LA!” Now, with the Dodgers’ mega payroll, other teams want to beat the Dodgers even more: It’s their World Series! The Dodgers better get used to it! It’s still April and veteran players are just getting settled in. Ohtani, Betts, Smith, and Muncy look comfortable. Freddie Freeman is struggling … and Freddie is a big part of what makes this team click. James Outman is showing he should be fine as he is scalding the baseball. Teoscar is on track.
The part of this team that concerns everyone the most are the following players:
- Chris Taylor – He can’t jump out of a boat and hit water. He has had some injuries over the past two years. Will he ever hit? He has 35 ABs… he will get at least 35 more. So we wait.
- Kike Hernandez – He has 41 ABs and is hitting .195. He will get more time, but the rope is not long as Pages can also play CF.
- Gavin Lux – He is hitting .148 and has so much more talent than that. He has settled in nicely at 2B and has 54 ABs. I am sure they will give him at least 100 more. His rope is the longest.
- Andy Pages – This game is damn hard, and he was hot at OKC, but what will he do here? We shall see!
- Jason Heyward – He only had 14 ABs when he went down. The Dodgers need him badly.
Of the five players listed above, some may be gone by the All-Star Break. There are options including Miguel Vargas and maybe even Drew Avans (would they dare?). Otherwise, they have the collateral to enter the trade market.
Landon Knack was obviously nervous in the first inning, but he then settled down and pitched five strong innings. With only 75 pitches thrown, why not leave him in for another inning? It was the right choice to take him out when they did. Let him build on that start. Michael Grove showed what he can do as well. Vesia walks a tightrope every outing, but his ERA is down to 2.61.
The offense did not show up, except for Shohei, who had 3 of the Dodgers 5 hits. The Dodgers will lose every game where they fail to score. Today they rest. Friday, it’s Yamamoto time. I am going to have one day a week were I report on the minor leagues.
Now Hear This:
We have several (three) commenters who like to stalk me. I won’t mention them by name, but I won’t put up with them. I will handle this, and I am getting new software that I can use to vaporize them. In the meantime, if they comment, I shall have some fun with their comments. I am in control of their lives as evidenced by their compulsion to post here when they are not wanted. Good riddance to bad rubbish! Carry on…
Discussion (20)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I had my brushes with the law as a kid, taken to jail, but this is a first for “Comment Jail”
Not that my comment was profound or anything, just having some fun…
Mr. Timmons , is there a ‘no links’ policy in place I’m unaware of; or not a George Jones fan?
My Dodger assessment:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Still too early; let’s wait…
But since we’re all on a music kick up in this mofo, I’ll play to the crowd:
Ladies and gentlemen , The Possum
https://youtu.be/WE5pM1HXxlI?si=lcZ145lj42x1FwXn
Buehler 2 innings 2 runs 58 pitches 4 walks 3 ks not ideal. Come on Kershaw.
FWIW, I worked with Jo Rowling.
She was lovely. Her lawyers and publishing house? Less so.
Spraying some TrollBeGone for you, Mark. Good luck!
didn’t say i would rather have chapman. just commenting on him being a nice pickup for the giants! as far as music goes im an old Skynyrd guy! . bob seger, eagles, outlaws, zz top. love em all!!
The Yankees claimed Taylor Trammell on waivers.
he any zac brown sound great together. brown doesn’t get enough credit! he’s so talented and he doesn’t fit in today’s country crappy music! buffet was a treasure. Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Turnpike Troubadours, Margot Price, Molly Tuttle, Tedschi trucks band, So many good bands, of course no airtime on regular radio. That’s why I listen to outlaw country. Love it! I would love to see Pages produce and become the Dodgers regular leftfielder. As mark said earlier, one less platoon, and I think the kid has 3030 written all over him. If he makes it and Hayward comes back healthy and productive I really believe Chris Taylor is gone, unless they would decide to try and trade KK, which I don’t think they would find any takers maybe but his value wouldn’t be very high. I said a couple of days ago I would switch Freeman and Ohtani. I don’t think this would affect Ohtani, and I think Freddy would thrive again in the 2 hole. see Matt Chapman has 15 RBIs for the Giants, may be in for a good year, maybe a good sign for the Giants. Excellent defensive third baseman. max Hasn’t been bad at third, just wish he could cut down on his swings and misses. Once again, Gavin lux Could be an important piece to a championship run for the Dodgers. Just hope he gets it together soon rather than later.
I used to live in Mobile, AL. Jimmy Buffett was from down that way. His sister had a bar- restaurant in the Gulf Shores area called Lulu’s. Saw a YouTube video recently for his song “Come Monday” which he claims is one of his 2.5 big hits. Farewell, Jimmy.
I am not jumping just assessing where we are. For all the money there are several holes.
I think Lux will improve
But Taylor and kike are who they are with kike always average and Taylor continues in the wrong direction so they probably won’t change so we should.
Vesia and Kelly not likely to change.
Ohtani and Freeman will hit because they have.
Outman, Hernandez, Muncy kkk not changing.
Defense? Time will tell but we know Muncy is a liability.
Starting pitching: jury is out on Yamamoto, Glasnow a star(risky)
Looking ahead to the playoffs we need 3 playoff pitchers. Not there yet Buehler? Kershaw? Paxton?
Bottom of the lineup needs to do better. I am not worried about April. They were 10-11 at this point last year and a game behind. I am also not worried about Freeman or Ohtani. They will both get much better at what they are deficient at right now. Lux, Kike, are the more pressing problem. Rojas has more homers than both of them combined. Barnes has been hitting the ball better. But as always, I really dislike the K-rate on this team. Muncy with 29 already, Teoscar the same. Outman the only other player in the 20’s with 20. Taylor has 18. Team as a whole, 198, tied with the Mariners for the major league lead. They have walked 79 times, but the Yankees have 92 to lead the majors. Yes, Von Scoyok is well thought of around the league, but with all the fire balling pitchers in baseball, maybe the philosophy he uses needs to be changed. Chasing balls way outside of the zone doesn’t help either. Probably the most frustrating thing about many of Muncy’s Ks. I think without Heyward, the bench is very thin. Pages will get a little leeway, but four Ks in seven ABs is not encouraging. There are no outfielders at AAA with MLB credentials, unlike the last several years where AF has stored some guys with MLB chops at that level. They are definitely waiting for Jay-Hey to get healthy. Will Vargas get a shot if Pages does not pan out? They could always send Lux down to get his legs under him and bring up Ownings, who has plenty of MLB time. It is obvious the front office sees everything a lot differently than we fans do, because I sense no sense of urgency on their front. Roberts did say that Ohtani needs to be better than 1-19 with RISP. Brilliant Dave, none of us had that figured out.
The signings in the offseason made us think this season would be different in a better way. Right now it looks like the same as last. We have a flawed team. The performance don’t match the $. Many teams found this to be true ex Mets, San Diego , yanks but Texas is an exception. It is not the money but what u get for it. Starting pitching is better but Yamamoto has disappointed early, Miller out, Paxton ?, Buehler? With only Glasnow looking ace like. Bullpen, no lefty and era doesn’t tell the story. Grove looked better yesterday(consistent) ? Playoffs? Mb Kelly has been better but not trustworthy. Treinen always hurt , who knows if he helps, Graterol has the track record. The top guys look good . Offensively, Kiki,Taylor, Barnes, Rojas, lux other than Rojas might as well pick someone out of the crowd. Muncy, outman, Hernandez kkk but will produce. Frankly, Betts has been the superstar that everyone talks about. Ohtani no clutch, freeman Punch and Judy hitter off to a bad start. I would switch Ohtani and freeman. Defense infield very shaky. Definitely not playoff ready. Same manager same results. All I here is how his communication is. It must not be helping performance. If everyone is happy then we will finish as usual.
Thursday Dodger Minor League Schedule
3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jackson Ferris) vs. West Michigan (Jaden Hamm)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Walker Buehler) vs. Sacramento (Daulton Jefferies)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Ben Casparius) at Wichita (Travis Adams)
6:35 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Gabe Emmett) at Inland Empire (Keythel Key)
“That’s right, on a Dodgers day off, in the minors they have Ferris, Buehler pitching”.
When I think of Rock Bottom, I can’t help but remember Jimmy:
Very disappointng home stand so far. Too many holes in the lineup. But it is early.
anybody else having trouble with MLb.TV ? With my HP laptop it won´t let me sign in, no matter what browser. Cleared the cache started the browsers again With the Toshiba laptop of my wife no problem .
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#fireRVS
Not worried about what happens in April…we WILL be there at the end….
Season ended today we would STILL win the West….
In years to come I think this is going to happen more and more across all sports. Since gambling seems to be encouraged across all segments of society these days.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-bans-raptors-jontay-porter-165331934.html
hope you’re right mark, they will eventually get it together! BUT! i don’t think 2,maybe 3 guys currently in the roster is will be gone by summer. taylor probably goes first. lux could be 2nd if he could be next. really pulling for lux to figure it out. he could make the lineup much more dynamic! not a big kiki fan, but good chance its him or taylor leaving. love this site, love baseball, hate hate and bickering. thanks mark for keeping it going!
0-10 with runners on base yesterday. That’s not going to cut it.
Encouraging outing by Knack. He may stick around for a bit.