Let Me- Make One Thing Perfectly Clear…
Lots of Dodger fans are blaming Dave Roberts for using Blake Treinen when Blake has not been successful. They genuinely believe that Roberts is a moron for repeatedly running Treinen out there. I want to make one thing perfectly clear : Dave Roberts is the Game Manager, but he…
Lots of Dodger fans are blaming Dave Roberts for using Blake Treinen when Blake has not been successful. They genuinely believe that Roberts is a moron for repeatedly running Treinen out there. I want to make one thing perfectly clear: Dave Roberts is the Game Manager, but he is not the ultimate decision-maker—baseball has changed from the days when Leo Durocher, Casey Stengel, Walter Alston, and Sparky Anderson were managers.
Dave Roberts is part of a management team that includes Andrew Friedman, Brandon Gomes, Josh Byrnes, Jeffery Kingston, Alex Slater, David Finley, Galen Carr, Will Rhymes, and others like Ron Roenicke, Chase Utley, Denny Lehman, Bob Geren, Mark Prior, Conner McGinnis, Rob Hill, and Jose Vizcaino… among others. It varies, game-to-game, depending upon who is doing what… scouting or whatever…
Dave Roberts is the on-field extension of the Front Office. He does not make decisions in a vacuum. There is a lot of input, scouting, and brain power involved. It’s easy for us to say after the fact that “Treinen should not have been in the game,” but who should have been there? These types of things are discussed ad nauseum, and we are not privy to those discussions. Dave Roberts has not “gone rogue.” He knows what the consensus is with the front office and their evaluations, as well as sabermetrics analysis.
They chose to put Treinen on the roster, and they even specified where he might be most successful. He is a high-leverage reliever, in theory, but he is not in reality. His 8.31 ERA speaks volumes. Banda has been even worse with a 10.38 ERA. Happily, neither one should pitch tonight, and tonight is a “must-win.” Tonight, Wrobleski, Henriquez, Kershaw, Sheehan, and Sasaki should be the bullpen options. Sasaki should be able to handle the final two innings.
Tonight, a couple of things have to happen:
- Blake Snell needs to pitch the game of his life, and
- The team needs to hit collectively.
In 162 Games, the Dodgers scored just 27 more runs than the Blue Jays. However, they had 53 more home runs. In the postseason, the Jays have played one more game than the Dodgers (15 to 14), but they have outscored the Dodgers by 31 runs! The Jays are averaging 6.26 Runs a Game in the Playoffs, while the Dodgers are averaging 4.5 runs a game. The Dodgers are not going to win this World Series unless they can hit!
In the playoffs, the Dodgers have a 3.04 ERA, and the Jays sit at 4.09, but in the World Series, the Jays have a 3.48 ERA while the Dodgers sit at 4.30. The Dodgers have the stars, but the Jays have the recipe to win. If the Dodgers don’t wake up today, it’s over. The Blue Jays are hitting .285 in the postseason with a .823 OPS, while the All-Star Dodgers are hitting .243 with a .746 OPS.
Andy Pages has had a lot of bad luck – he has only struck out 20% of the time – he is just hitting the ball where they are. I would continue to keep him in CF. This is a team issue, and it’s not all on Pages. Call didn’t look any better. The stars better hit tonight or the fat lady will be singing.
By the way, the First Draft of my book is done. This is just a bad mock-up of the cover:
More from Dodger Talk
Dodgers Food Trailer
I did this interview a couple of weeks ago with Chef Mike, who runs the Dodgers Food Trailer for the Great Lakes Loons. They are there for every home and road regular season and playoff game. They prepare three meals a day for approximately 50 people (players and coaches). Since games end late most evenings, they do not prepare breakfast. Many of their hotels have a complimentary breakfast anyway. However,…
Meet LAD 2026 Draft Picks 1-12
3 picks were High School players (2 SS and 1 OF). There was a college OF, college catcher, college SS, and 10 college pitchers. Of all the talk for a need for a catcher, the only catcher the Dodgers selected was Luke Bard, son of LAD bullpen coach Josh Bard. Bard was a 4th year senior from Houston Christian University. He is not a prospect, so the Dodgers are still…
Interview with Paul Beachy – Team Bus Driver For The Great Lakes Loons (LA Dodgers Minor League Team)
It’s been a few days since I did this interview. We have evidently been working my son-in-law (the video guy) like a rented mule at US Water Systems. However, I am taking him to London with me in a few days, so maybe Watford will buy him a pint as a tip, but he’s a dang Red Sox fan, so there is that! I thought that it would be interesting…
Thanks for Your Service: Chris Taylor
I was going to do this post when Chris announced he was retiring, then he changed his mind, but since the chances of him ever playing for the Dodgers again are slim and non-existent, I will go ahead with this post. He unretired, went on the IL, then decided to call it quits on May 24th. Taylor was born in Virginia Beach VA on August 29th, 1990. He attended Great…
Discussion (41)
Disagree, not disagreeable
In the Series only 3 Dodgers hitting better than .250, Freeman, Teo and Ohtani. LA is batting .214 in the series and the Jays .259. LA has outhomered them 7-5 but have struck out 40 times to the Jays 37. Kike is not having a good series; he has struck out 8 of his 16 at bats. Max has 3 hits and 7 Ks. They have to make better contact. My take is that they take way too many center cut fastballs without even trying to hit them. Then they chase out of the zone. Jays rarely chase. Prime example last night was Call looking at two pitches right in the middle of the plate before striking out.
Mookie has plenty of company in the black hole bat group