Kimbrelized Again!
There’s no way to spin this. Staked to a one-run lead on Justin Turner’s run-scoring single, Craig Kimbrel promptly coughed two runs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! I am sure Craig is a nice guy, but he can no longer pitch, and he goes through this more and more. Ask…
There’s no way to spin this. Staked to a one-run lead on Justin Turner’s run-scoring single, Craig Kimbrel promptly coughed two runs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! I am sure Craig is a nice guy, but he can no longer pitch, and he goes through this more and more. Ask the 2018 Red Sox. They won the World Series without their closer… well, he was on the team, but Eovaldi and Kelly did most of the closing.
“But that was only his 4th Blown Save.” In his 44 appearances, he has allowed run(s) on 19 occasions! In 41.1 IP he has allowed 46 hits and 18 BB. He’s not a closer… he’s an arsonist! The league is hitting .272 against him. Hanser Alberto can pitch better than that. Kimbrel’s ERA is 4.57, and his WHIP is 1.55. Actually, Alberto is worse than that to those of you who strive to be 100% accurate, not just make a point.
Kimbrel is resolute and says he is going to “Fix This.” IT’S BEEN GOING ON FOR THE PAST 5 OR 6 YEARS! I’ve seen this movie, and it does not end well. The Dodgers need to figure out who is the closer or if there are multiple ones. Phillips, Ferguson, Almonte, Price, Treinen, Miller, Stone? Just anyone not named Kimbrel. We now know it won’t be Danny Duffy! I am tired of being Kimbrelized!
Ryan Pepiot just needs to ditch every pitch except the fastball and change up and be a reliever! He can’t command four pitches and his fastball and changeup are all that he needs to pitch out of the bullpen… maybe close! Seriously, ditch the slider and curve, and he might be a closer!
P.S. You can only hold your arm like an Ape if you are intimidating!
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
- OKC lost to Sugar Land 8-7
- Edwin Rios was 1-4 with a 2-Run HR… His 1st
- Mike Busch was 2-4 with his 26th HR – 3-Run Shot
- Miguel Vargas was 1-3 with two runs scored and 1 RBI as well as 2 BB
- Blake Treinen threw 12 of his 17 pitches for strikes and allowed a hit while striking out 1
- Carson Fulmer Pulled a Craig Kimbrel and blew the game. nI .2 IP he allowed 2 H, 2 BB and 4 Runs.
- Tulsa barely lost 17-4
- Andy Pages was 2-3
- Brandon Lewis was 1-4 with a 2 Run HR, his 15th.
- The Low-Light was Cole Percival who gave up 7 rins in .1 inning. If it weren’t for his last name, we would not be mentioning him.
- Great Lakes won 2-1
- Damon Keith was 1-3 with a Run Scored and an RBI double.
- Nick Frasso started and went 2.2 innings, walking 0, and striking out five while allowing 1 ER.
- Rancho Cucamonga lost 15-11 as they ended them on the 3-Yard Line.
- Chris Alleyne was 2-5 with 2 Runs
- Yenier Fernandez was 3-5 with 2 Runs Scored and 2 RBI
- Dalton Rushing was 3-5 with 3 RBI and 2 Runs
- Nick Biddison was 2-5 with 2 RBI
- We will not discuss the pitching!
Jon Weisman Does it Again.
If you haven’t read Oh, Vin at Dodger Thoughts, you owe it to yourself to read it. Here’s a tidbit:
“Good lord, Vin has been there my whole waking life. He broadcast my first baseball memory, Henry Aaron’s 715th home run, when I was 6 1/2 years old. By the time I was 10, I knew I wanted to be him. Then I wanted to succeed him. Then, when I knew that wouldn’t ever happen, I tried to emulate him, in my words, in my relationships with others. Failed, but tried.”
Read it!
I Think We All Knew One:
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Discussion (73)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Do we believe Roberts has really put Beli on notice?? Basically what he has said is its great that you can field, but we need you to hit. We’ll see
The ghost runner is stupid.
Kimbrel has the worst luck, a flipping bunt that shoulda been an out and then a duck snort to RF.
The walks do have to stop….
And PS. AF signed Kimbrel, not Roberts. And Doc has promised us a WS win and he’s never let us down when he’s done that! I love V Gon. He’s been through the wars. If he’s healthy he’s a huge asset!
Brusdar and Treinen are on rehab assignments right now. There’s no need to have Pepiot in the pen with all of the better options we have. Pepiot is a starter until he proves he can’t.
But wait, there’s more. V-Gone made his first appearance in the ACL last night with a scoreless inning, allowing a hit and 2 K’s.
I think we’ll be just fine without Kimbrel…
Phillips R
Treinen R
Brusdar R
Almonte R
Martin R
Ferguson L
Vesia L
Price L
V-Gone L
That’s still one too many pitchers for a 13-man staff with a 5-man rotation. Someone still gets bumped in the post-season when a starter gets moved to the pen.
Then you still have Bickford, Moronta, Reed and Kimbrel?
We heard the same talk about Julio couple years ago and Gonsolin a year ago about being bullpen material. Pepiot has the stuff to be a regular part of the rotation as a starter and perhaps close to what Gonsolin has done. A little more confidence in his stuff and some improvement in the slider. I believe it will come. A real key to the Dodgers success has been the development of their young pitching snd then trusting them with an opportunity. With Buehler out next year we need the starters.
But if Phillips comes to close out the game, who will come in the seventh or eighth inning with men on base? According to me, he is perfect where he is.
I trust Graterol more to start the 9th inning instead of the 7th and 8th and with men on base.
The only other candidate I see would be Price to close the game.
And I would like to know what version of Roberts we will see in the playoffs: The same one he had when Jansen and nothing was won, or the one he had in 2020 when Urias, and being champions?
The good: That Muncy is finally waking up with the bat, despite the fact that almost everyone criticized him, including me.
The bad: If Muncy was able to recover his level, why not insist with Kimbrel? He could get better too.
Do any of you think that if the Dodgers are not champions this year, Roberts will continue to manage the team?
Pepiot (Gonsolin-lite) a closer?
His command is sketchy. Going with 2 pitches? Maybe as a setup guy but hitters aren’t fooled by him these days. Middle relief till he figures things out.
Where’s Miller? It’s time.
Kimbrel after blown save: ‘It’s time for me to turn it around’ – No shit?
I can’t believe this guy. He has the worst luck I’ve ever seen, but you’re all right. The walks need to stop.
Not expecting a bunt with a one-run lead, the ghost runner on second and no outs is way beyond moronic. WTF was Muncy doing out there? JT makes that play every time.
Yes, the good news is that Phillips looks up to the task of closing games. I give Kimbrel until Treinen is ready. If he can’t get outs by then, he can take the first train to DFAville.
I’m not sure where the criticism about Pepiot’s “Other Pitches” is coming from. The only other pitch other than a fastball and the famous change-up that he threw was a slider…
He threw 18 of them, 8 Balls, 7 Strikes (3 Swinging), 1 foul, 1 out in the field and 1 Hit (Bomb that should have been an out). So he made 1 mistake on that pitch the entire night.
He threw 22 Changeups, 13 Balls, 6 Strikes (3 Swinging), 3 fouls. Throw that thing in the zone more often!
Looks just fine to me. He gave up a homer on a hanging slider and a homer on a fastball. That’s all. He needs to throw more strikes and get ahead like most young pitchers.
Sadly, the game was not lost in the 11th inning on a bunt, that should have been an out, a walk, and a bleeder. It was lost in the first inning on a homer that our regular CF would have caught easily.
When the Dodgers play clean baseball, they’ll win almost every time. The barley HR in center that would have been caught by Belli and the bunt that would have been turned into an out by JT cost them the game.
Mark –
I agree with you on Kimbrel. While he claims he is going to “fix it,” that is looking more and more like a remote possibility and that the Dodgers will ultimately have to move onto other options. Or, at the very least they should have a “contingency plan” to do so. My question is when do you and others on LADT think the Dodgers start the process of moving on and who are the potential candidates? Seems like somebody should be having those discussions now…
Kimbrel can not put hitters away . Then he starts to nibble and the BBs pile up.
Nothing you can do against that perfect bunt by Renfroe that totally caught everybody off guard. That happens.
But then after the K he walks the next guy to load the bases. At that point some bad luck with the dunker right in front of Mookie and that was the ballgame. In typical Kimbrel way.
Yes, he has had some bad luck but IMHO the WHIP tells the true story. Way, way too high to be an effective closer.
If I am the Dodgers I give him until the end of the first week in September. Divison is all but locked up . If he can not right his ship until then I move Treinen or Phillipps in the closer role. Give them a shot to take that role and gain some experience (in the case of Phillpps, treinen knows how to handle those pressure cooker situations).
If Kimbrel can not fix his woes he has no place on the postseason roster.
So now that Duffy is probably out too for the year our options are getting slimmer in the starting rotation and /or pen. Hopefully May can fit right in there and be as good as he was before TJ. His rehab starts were very good, velo was there with even more movement than before.
A rotation of Julio, Gonsolin, May and Kershaw would be absolutely fine. Though that two headed monster in NY will be a tough to beat in a best of 7 series if it gets to a Dodgers vs Mets showdown. Having to face deGrom and MS twice in such a short series could spell doom for just about any opponent.
I know there are some injury questions around both pitchers but if they are on their respective games……well, tough to beat.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not think you can keep Kimbrell on the team. You have Graterol, Treinen, and Almonte coming back. Keep Vesia, Bickford, Martin, Price, and Almonte for the middle innings. Close with Ferguson, Treinen and Graterol. Use Phillips for the stressful inning.