About twelve or so years ago, I wrote a blog about Jason Repko, who was a prospect for the Dodgers. While I do not recall exactly what I wrote, I am sure that it was crass and inconsiderate. Well, Jason Repko’s dad read this blog and took me to task (and rightfully so). He cut me down very eloquently and said that I had no idea how hard Jason had to work and what he had overcome to get to where he was. I was crass and inconsiderate and took what he said to heart. I apologized and vowed not to be that way again. I realize how hard it is to get to play in The Show and know that I could have never made it and most of you could not have made it either.
Andy Dominique, Jeff’s son played in the majors and got a World Series ring from the Red Sox. In nine years in the minors, he hit .270 with a .354 OB% and hit 122 HR. All that work, got him into 9 games with 14 ABs in the majors. It’s damn hard to get there. Was it worth it? I’ll bet he thinks it was. He lived his dream and at age 22 he hit 24 HR with 102 RBI in the Sally League. Talent is important… and so is timing and luck. My point is that there is a ton of talent in the minors, but luck and timing come into play too.
I see fans say “This guy is bum” “Send him back to the minors.” “He’s horrible.” … and I cringe. Tyler Gilbert of the D-Backs is the most recent case-in-point. By no-hitting the Padres in a 7-0 win on Saturday, Gilbert became just the fourth pitcher in big-league history — and the first in nearly 70 years — to toss a no-hitter in his first big-league start. The Athletic has an exceptional piece on Tyler and his journey, written by Zach Buchanan. I will publish a few tidbits:
To fully comprehend the unlikelihood of what happened Saturday in Phoenix requires an understanding of Gilbert’s journey. It’s that he’s not just any rookie — or, conversely, that he could be just any rookie. He is not and has never been considered a top prospect. At this time a year ago, he was apprenticing under his electrician father. A Dodgers farmhand at the time, Gilbert had not been invited to the alternate site. “I was trying to make ends meet,” he said.
As he was making ends meet, it seemed entirely possible that his career could soon be meeting its end. The Dodgers didn’t protect him in the Rule 5 draft — not just the major-league portion, but the minor-league phase that only required him to be placed on their Triple-A roster. He was 26, had never reached the majors and seemed to have stalled out.
But the Diamondbacks had been following him. They plucked him away from their divisional foe in that Rule 5 draft and turned the longtime reliever into a starter. It was a flyer — the stakes are not high in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 — but Saturday it paid off in ways that almost no one would have predicted. A no-hitter in the big leagues? Many wondered if he’d even make it to the majors at all.
But not Gilbert.
“I knew there was never anything that was going to prevent me from getting to the big leagues,” he said Saturday night, a half-hour after he bequeathed his glove to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “That’s something I really bought into, especially this year. No matter what. I was just so confident in myself. I know my stuff can play up here. There was never a doubt.”
Matt Hahn, a scout for the D-Backs had this to say about Gilbert:
“I watched Tyler improve every single season,” Hahn said. He looked on as Gilbert pitched to a 3.63 ERA at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2018 and then watched him post a 2.83 mark at the same level a year later. He watched him in the Dominican Winter League in between. He saw Gilbert add a cutter — a pitch the lefty threw 47 percent of the time Saturday — and then continuously improve upon it. “I watched a guy who was always challenging hitters,” Hahn recalled, “who always knew what he was doing.”
Ultimately, what happened was that Gilbert was switched THIS YEAR from being a reliever to a starter. At age 27 (he will be 28 in December) Tyler finally made his dream come true and he put it all in context:
“I’m happy to be here. I’d rather be doing this than pulling wires,” said the owner of just the third no-hitter in Diamondbacks history. “No offense, Dad.”
I’ll bet no offense was taken! I do not think Tyler Gilbert will be a great pitcher. He may not even be average, but he threw a no-hitter in his first start and that’s something no one here has ever done. If Darien Nunez and Edwin Uceta are bums, we are all pond scum or worse!
Progress is not linear or even predictable. Max Muncy, Chris Taylor and Justin Turner are living proof that dreams come true and all three were picked up off the bone pile. Muncy and Turner were cut and signed as free agents and CT3 was traded for one of the biggest draft busts in Dodger history, Zach Lee, who happens to be nice young man. Zach will be 30 next year and is out of baseball, but he at least, did make it to the show.
I root for guys like Billy McKinney, Luke Raley, and Zach Reks. There is still hope for them all, just like Tyler Gilbert, but at least they made it to The Show. That’s something very special. If you are perceptive, you can see that pitchers like Nunez and Uceta flash talent – it’s just a fine line between success and failure.
Dodger Rants and Raves
- People talk about Max Scherzers eyes and it a fact they are very different! Scherzer has a condition, called heterochromia iridis, which impacts the color of his iris. The condition affects less than 1 percent of people. Scherzer has one blue eye and one brown eye, and he said that the pigmentation of his eyes can even change. The shades of blue and brown fluctuate
- Cody Bellinger is slowly getting his mojo back. He has had some big hits and played a role in this winning streak. Sometimes, it’s one step forward and two steps back, but he is becoming a force again. Let that be a lesson.
- I agree that the Dodger defense needs to improve, but some of the mistkes were just plain wierd and likely never to happen again… like Trea Turner almost falling on his face trying to throw. Sometimes stuff just happens.
- The Dodgers, who have the largest positive run differential in baseball at +193, have won 10 of 13 games since July 31, the day after the Trade Deadline. Max Scherzer has been as good as advertised, allowing four runs over 16 1/3 innings (2.20 ERA) to start his Dodgers tenure.
- Trea Turner’s bat woke up and he went 3-4 with 4 runs scored. When he gets on, it’s hard for the Dodgers to lose.
- Look for the Dodgers to be tired tonight after the cross country trip late last night. This is where you have to suck it up. The Giants aren’t going away… yet, but one has to wonder how long they can keep this up. No offense.
- I have a friend who is a Giants fan who insists that Bruce Bochy never tried to win after each of his World Series Championships. He claimed that Bochy said “It’s too hard to go back-to-back. The team needs a year off from the pressure.” I have serious doubts that Bochy ever said that, but the results speak for themselves.
- Here’s what I want to know about Trevor Bauer: Did the latest woman who said Bauer choked and punched her have a record of saying that, or did she just say it now? That would tell us a lot…
- Who will the Dodgers put on IL to bring Mitch White back tonight?
- Lux was 2-4 at OKC last night and played 2B.
- Mike Busch was 2-5 with a double at Tulsa.
- Miguel Vargas was 3-5 and is still hitting over .300 and OPsing .911.
- Yurchak is still insane. He went 3-5 for Tulsa and is hitting .431 with a 1.119 OPS. Whew! Thta’s after 54 ABs.
- 20-year-old Eddys Leonard hit .295 at RC and was promoted to GL where he bis hitting .341 and playing CF. He mostly played SS in RC
- Jorbit Vivas is still hitting .318 at RC with a .925 OPS after going 3-5 last night.
Discussion (45)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Mark, I remember that Jason Repko piece you wrote and his father’s reply. It was a sobering moment for a lot of us. When you consider the hours of work to get to that level, it is staggering. I think I mentioned my wife’s cousin, Jonathan Loaisiga of the Yankees. The kid has a million dollar arm and can hum up the velo to near 100. But he went through the TJ process and years of rehab to get there and we all know it can all disappear with one pitch and another arm injury.
Jonathan’s younger half brother, Mike, was a shortstop, signed by the Dodgers. He was a well thought of prospect and he entered the Dominican Summer League with high hopes a few years back. He never panned out, couldn’t even approach the Mendoza line in that League and was a total bust defensively. The number of hours he put in aside from within the organization but with personal trainers and coaches were immeasurable.
My point. The game is hard. Only a few achieve and get to the highest level. Sitting back and criticizing is pretty easy. Those guys are human and I think our fandom gets in the way at times and we can easily forget. Nothing said here is earth shattering, but I catch myself from being overly critical for these very reasons.
Dodgers back to having the second best record in the majors. They would be leading any other division but the NL West.
You guys should really wait until the game is over to bellyache about Roberts and his lineups, sitting a player and assorted other gripes. They won. That is the most important thing. Kept pace with the Giants, gained ground on the Astros and no one got hurt. They have no control over what the Giants do and they need to take care of their own business.
We win a nothing game! We win a nothing game!!!! And thank you Dave for starting McKinney against my wishes. And for overmanaging and pulling Graterol mid inning for Treinen. And trusting Kenley to close it out. In fact Dave just stop listening to me from now on!
I have always been a Doc supporter, but totally disagree with the spring training lineup tonight. Just got back from a great road trip and you sit Smith, Bellinger and Seager st the same time. This is a total trap game, and we made the pirate starter look like Cy Young. You kind of see a pattern over this season. We all get pissy when we can’t beat the Padres or give a few away to the hated ones, but how many times this season did we lose to the bottom feeders on the nights the Giants won? A handful of them were because of our weak lineups, and a game lost here and a game lost there and you look up one day and we are 4 games out. Don’t get me wrong, I know you gotta rest guys, but sometimes Roberts sits a guy for a rest day when the dude is on fite, like Will Smith. This game has trap game written all over it,
I love Big Barrels- I cannot lie!
Billy McKinney I take it ALL back!!!!
7th inning stretch was the most cheering we’ve done all night!
Wow! Jet lag defense and jet lag offense!
So far another nothing following an all!
Jackson did a great job! His off speed stuff was very impressive. He couldn’t command his fastball tho. I thought he had more giddy up on his fastball . He sat at 92-93 most of the night.
Mets 3 Giants 2 5th inning. Jackson wiggles out of another jam. 4 scoreless innings. The kid has poise for sure. Best thing about tonights game, Orel is not there!
Come on when I was a young man I worked hard jobs and rarely got eight hours sleep I mean come on these guys are playing a goddamn game
When I was 19 I worked all day carrying the hod, Then came home got cleaned up went out and played a softball game
If you’re a baby you’ll never get used to it and that’s what they treat them like babies
Jackson five, five strikeouts were Andre just the beginning
Is this umpire call strike happy enough?
Cole Hamels placed on the 60 day IL effectively ending his season. He recently suffered another undisclosed arm injury that has derailed his comeback efforts.
Nunez and Uceta to OKC. Feliz and Jackson called up. Padres getting beat so far by the Rockies, 5-1 in the 5th at Colorado.
Could be another long night for the offense with another ridiculous lineup….Barnes, McKinney.,Pujois, pitchers spot.
44 games and counting and yes there should be some urgency or we will be playing a one game playoff. Yes we do have the #1 run differential but we have seen too many times to have a dud game offensively after 10-15 run outburst.
At Dodger Stadium tonight. Hopefully not to see a nothing following an all yesterday. Ned predicted a 3 homer game with TT being one of them. We’ll see! Looking forward to seeing Jackson and if he can throw strikes!
What’s up with all of this resting guys. Tonight’s lineup looks horrible. It use to be that guys would play all the time unless injured, with just a few days off throughout the season. Nowadays Doc babies his players. Hello, we are 4 games back of the Giants and the clock is ticking.
Continue down the Billy McKinny path, or cut bait and sign Adam Eaton? Both are good defenders and neither are hitting much. Or is that just swapping spit.
I am a 69 year old white dude with no problem with Tatis’ antics. He is a great player with great skills. He is fun to watch. I never considered race to be a factor in how I watched the game. I do not like him solely because he is a Padre. That is not the same for Machado who I despise. For those with a problem with Tatis and the SD dugout after a HR, I assume none of you had a problem with Joc and his little hop and skip and exaggerated low five with Dino around 3rd after a HR. On one of his HRs this year, he did the Tatis dance around 3rd, and Chicago loved it. Or Max Muncy as he stands at the plate, flips the bat, and admiringly watches his HRs. How about the bubble machine in the dugout after a HR? The Braves and their selfies?
I loved watching Tim Anderson hit his walk off in the Field of Dreams game, with his bat flip and skipping to first. Was he showing up Zack Britton or celebrating a win? After the game, Anderson said; “The fans came to see a show, and we gave them a show.”
Was Kirk Gibson’s fist pump in the ’88 Game 1 WS walk off HR unsportsmanlike? Was he trying to show up Eck, or was he celebrating a win? It is fun. It is a game filled with personalities. I think one of the problems with this year’s team is the absence of the two biggest kids on the bench for the last several years: Joc and Kike’. Where is the personality for the 2021 team? Hopefully it will be Mookie going forward, but it is hard while he is not playing.
One of the greatest celebrations I watched was Tiger Woods chip on the 16th at the 2005 Masters. Was he showing up Chris DeMarco or was he celebrating with Stevie Williams? The gallery loved it and played off of Tiger’s reaction. Tiger changed the game of golf with his fist pumps. I loved watching Tiger make those great shots and celebrate with Stevie. It is a different era.
BTW, I am also just as fine with a Corey Seager non-descript trot after his HRs.
Tonight’s lineup:
SS Trea
2b Max
1b Albert
3b Justin
LF AJ
CF Chris
RF Billy
C Austin
P Justin Bruihl
No Cody or Corey against the leftie
When Dodger fans called Max Scherzer for a curtain call and he obliged, was he showing up the opponent? Was that a lack of sportsmanship? At one time it was considered that. Now curtain calls are a tradition.
Different era’s, different traditions.
So CC is saying that baseball traditions are racist? Don’t show up your opponent is racist? Sportsmanship is racist?
I get tired of everything being called racist if a “POC” doesn’t like it.
Vince Lombardi famously said “When you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.” Doing something good is good enough. Hitting a HR or getting a big K speaks for itself.
I was taught sportmanship by my Dad. I believe in it. Gloating and showboating is not being a good sport. Why is that racist?
I believe we will win the NL West, even if it comes down to the last game of the season.
We need to win out vs. SF and hope for the best in the other games.
Hamels may help but I’d like to be 3 back by September. Rotation is a little thin right now.
Taylor is so good he can be Mookie while Mookie’s out. Looking forward to Lux’s return. Tired of these bench bums.
I know playing a night game and then returning home to play tonight was not easy on the boys, but they at least did pick up 3 hours, so that had to help.
In addition, I’m glad they didn’t play yesterday afternoon in that oppressive heat. Remember, they didn’t do well Thursday in Philadelphia when playing a day game after a night game. We may have only had 2 runs had we played in the afternoon.
But I’m not saying we should kick some Pirate butt tonight because I do believe it is going to be close with our bullpen having to get heavily involved. Here’s hoping whoever pitches today is focused and confident, unlike Nunez last night. He looked wide eyed and wanting his Mommy to comfort him. Can’t blame him….New York can be intimidating. Even Scherzer was in trouble just about every inning he pitched, but some how managed to get out of trouble for most of them.
* I see Jason Repko occasionally. I coached against him in high school. Great kid. Great family. I mentioned his name to John Shoemaker once when I talked with him. John had high praise for Jason. He’s back in the hometown with a lovely family.
* Scherzer is such a craftsman. He got through tons of early traffic when we forgot how to play defense for the first 4 innings, especially with a big lead. Despite the forced extra pitches due to these lapses, Max’s pitch count was 4 over par for his 6 innings. What a pro. I love his laser, in-game, focus.
*Orel and A-Rod should have a talk-off. You’d think both got paid by the word.
* I’m like Lou Pinella when it comes to pitchers. I’m not interested in any excuses. It’s completely unacceptable to be unable to throw strikes with a 7 run lead. Nervous? Work it out in Tulsa.
*Maybe I’m wrong but rest days would be fewer and farther between for the healthy regulars down the stretch. And never multiple regulars at the same time. No panic. Just urgency. This line ups rolling. Why screw with that?
* I’m actually going to enjoy this competitive run down the stretch more than I have enjoyed what we have done in the past in September. First, I never like multiple September call-ups. Now that’s fixed. Second, I hated how the regular’s playing time and competitiveness was sacrificed. It became “try-out” time for the youngsters. Do that in OKC. I hated the multiple line ups and unpredictable playing time with no competitive incentive going into the playoffs. And while I hated that, I was likely wrong, as it didn’t seem to effect our success in the post season, especially last year. But I just didn’t like to watch it and never thought it was a good way to prepare for the playoffs.
* I wish I have photoshop skills. I would love to put Ted William’s face in place of Tatis’ with that pin wheel celebration chain in the dugout. Can you imagine Ted wear that? Or Bob Gibson or Drysdale looking at that from the mound. I’ve come around some on the celebrations and players “having fun” but to me this stuff as way over the top. Another reason I can’t stand the friggin bush league Padres.
* I hope the boys can overcome this swell schedule and muster the energy to keep the pedal down tonight. This is the reason players, in days gone by, took greenies.
From the Dodgers Nation
“Yet, here in the middle of August, the Dodgers have committed an unsightly 68 errors on defense and allowed 60 unearned runs, tops in baseball.
Last night in New York, the team was officially charged with only one error, but the sloppy play we saw earlier in the season reared its ugly head in a big way. By the estimation of Dave Roberts, at least 4 outs were left on the field behind Max Scherzer, costing the ace the opportunity to pitch into the 7th or even 8th inning.”
I think T Turner will improve at 2nd by the end of the year and be fine for the playoffs. JT has lost some range and his arm can be an issue. Seager is average at SS but I think he’s played great since he’s been back except for the brain freeze yesterday. Everyone else is above average to very good defensively. We’ll be fine. Our pitchers definitely need to do a better job holding runners on. Now we know why Mookie wasn’t stealing any bases earlier this year! If he can get somewhat healthier we have some ability to steal some post season bases. TT, Belli, Mookie and even Pollock steals some bases! We’ll need to manufacture some runs post season. Phil, you’re in charge of that
Dodgers Claim Evan Phillips
By Steve Adams | August 16, 2021 at 1:01pm CDT
The Dodgers have claimed right-hander Evan Phillips off waivers from the Rays, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Tampa Bay designated Phillips for assignment over the weekend. The Dodgers have yet to formally announce the claim.
In his 1 appearance, Phillips showed off a fastball that sat right around 96 mph but did not miss a lot of bats. His slider and change-up, however, did miss quite a few bats in those brief 3 innings of work. Despite bad numbers, Phillips did put up good strikeout rates with the Orioles in 2019 and 2020, something that likely appealed to the Dodgers.
Defense is just as important as offense and pitching, in a season where most games are against inferior teams, you can hide-make-up with offense and pitching but in October when the teams are of a similar level the games are closed most of the time, with few runs, that is when the defense acquires great relevance, good defense is essential and can be the difference. This team has to correct the defense and avoid SBs because when you face a team of similar level the thread will break at the thinnest, the weakness will be evidenced and it will bite you.
About defense, Wes Parker was one of the best defensive 1st basemen the Dodgers have ever had. But, he was a mediocre offensive player until he had 4 good seasons in a row hitting better than .270. Prior to that he was always around the .240 mark. He had his best season in 1970 hitting .319 and driving in 111 runs. He never hit for much power, and finished with 64 career HR’s in a 9 year career. He called it quits at age 32 in 1972 after the season. His reason was simple, he said the game was not fun anymore. Wes committed 45 errors at 1st for a .996 fielding pct. And only 4 more while playing the outfield. He was an excellent outfielder. He was more valued for his defense than his bat, but occasionally he rose to the occasion. He had a HR against the Twins in the 1965 Series. By contrast Karros had 111 errors in 14 years, 103 of those with the Dodgers in 12 years, but was more valued for his offense. His career fielding pct is .993. Garvey, who won 4 gold gloves to Parkers 6, finished with 81 errors at 1st and a .996 pct. At 3rd it was another story, 47 errors in 191 games and a .922 pct. Obviously he was moved to keep that bat in the lineup. In 5 seasons, Bellinger has made 8 errors at 1st and 8 in the OF. 5 in CF, 2 in RF and 1 in LF. He also has a .996 pct. at 1st. Just a little comparison for y’all. Oh yeah, the guy who spent the longest time as a starter at 1st, Gil Hodges, made 126 errors at 1st in 16 seasons. A .992 pct for his career. Pretty decent.
Padres are close to signing Jake Arietta. They are desperate for starting pitching. Tatis Jr. hit 2 dingers last night in his return and played RF. Light moment of the night was when Beaty took Drury deep with that moon shot in the 9th. At 443 feet, 1 foot shorter than Smith’s game tying blast on Saturday. Dodgers got in early this morning, so they will most likely not take batting practice today. Pirates starter is lefty, Stephen Brault. 0-1 with a 3 ERA. That means Tio Albert will most likely be in the starting lineup at 1st. If they decide to give Seager the night off, they can plug Taylor in at SS and keep Turner at 2nd. Muncy could move to 3rd and give Turner another day, but I think they stick Max at 2nd and put Turner at SS. Taylor can move to one of the corner outfield spots along with Pollock. Back to a 7:10 start time for you west coasters. 8:10 for me here in Colorado.
Good morning all. Nice end to the road trip after two nail biters. Light moment of the night was Beaty’s moon shot off of Drury. That thing was crushed. I know one person personally who played in the majors. Kameron Loe. He is the son of a good friend of mine who I have played music with many times, Pam Loe. She is now married to one of the best bass players I have ever worked with, Chad Watson, who toured with many artists back in the day.
He still works in So-Cal. Anyway, Kameron had a 9 year MLB career playing with the Rangers, Brewers, Mariners, Cubs and Braves. He finished with a 34-43 record and a 4.49 ERA in 322 games. His best season he won 9 lost 6. That was 2005 with the Rangers and his first full season. He pitched in the playoffs for the Brewers in 2011. He did ok against Arizona, but the Cardinals knocked him around in the NLCS. He started and relieved and has 4 saves to his credit. Big kid, 6″8″ 245 lbs. He was born in Simi Valley and went to Cal State Northridge. Drafted by the Phills in the 1999 draft, he did not sign and then was taken by the Rangers in the 20th round in 2002. He got suspended for using a banned substance for a while and went to Japan and played for the Softbank Hawks. I talked to him about it and he said it was really a dumb move, but he was injured and used marijuana to help ease the pain. He now lives in Phoenix, is married and founded Haloe Health-Intelligent Microcurrent Healing. What ever the hell that is. So far it has been pretty successful. Always wanted to play for LA but never got the opportunity. Nice guy and lived the dream.
I was in high school in southern Illinois in 1953 when Bobo Holloman pitched a no-hitter in his first major league appearance with the St Louis Browns. He ended that year with a 5.23 ERA and never appeared in the majors again.
I just want to clear up something. I do value defense but not at the expense of offense.
An example being that I would rather start someone like Beaty over McKinney because Beaty is clearly a better hitter than McKinney even though McKinney probably according to stats is better at defense.
Also I believe that the WAR stat puts too much emphasis on defense and not enough on offense. Plus as BulldogsandPenguins explained above, defensive stats are flawed.
Winning 5 of 6 on this East Coast swing was huge. They took care of business on two topics that fans were questioning, That’s a whole lot of winning against >500 teams and we improved our record in extras with back to back extra innings wins.
Giving credit where credit is due, Doc handled this last game admirably. No unnecessary double-switches. He pulled Nunez when everyone can see he clearly didn’t have it tonight and let Uceta take down a couple of innings with a big lead. He got Greene some more experience in his young career by allowing him to close out that last inning. He even gave both Mad Max’s a little breather taking Scherzer out an inning early with a big lead and Beaty got into the game to give Muncy a breather and he rewarded Doc with a batting practice moon shot late in the game.
Mookie will be eligible to come off the IL on Friday or Saturday depending on whether or not this stind was backdated. The last time he went on the IL, he had a cortisone shot, but it wasn’t successful in relieving the pain. This time, he had another shot, but word is that it was successful. I wonder if this will be enough to get him through the last couple of months of the season.
Thank God Bellinger is coming out of his funk. When he was doing his best Billy Mac impression, it was tough to keep rolling him out there. We don’t need him to be SuperStar Belli, we just need him to be more like last year’s Belli with excellent defense in Center and coming up with that one big hit each game as he’s been doing lately.
I love Trea Turner, but as you can see, he isn’t as good with the glove as people assumed he is. His defensive stats are only slightly better than Corey’s and defensive stats are subject to interpretation. It’s kinda like the difference in sports where you score a goal like soccer or football vs. a sport like competitive diving where you’re scored by judges. Defensive stats are largely decided by people who judge whether or not a play should have been made and the difficulty of the play. Of course, a shortstop that looks flashy will tilt the judges in their favor scoring a play as being more difficult than a similar play by a less flashy counterpart.
We’re officially on a roll, kind of. If we could have won that last Phillies game, I would feel more strongly about that statement. We still have a lot of players on the IL, this time mostly pitchers which brings us to a bullpen game today, followed by Price and White, both only getting into the 50’s with their pitch counts in their most recent outings. I really wish that Doc had a little more trust in Price to have already stretched him out to get to this point in the season.
Who survives the dog days will win the West. Bochy was right. It’s a tremendous mental grind.You would think the Giants will hit the wall at some point. They can’t continue to win at this pace with their talent base. But it has been a magical season for them so far
McKinney got a hit. But was it really?
I understand that there are gifted athletes that for whom everything comes easy. Somebody has to be the fastest guy in the league but does he also have to be 6’2” with 20/10 vision? I also understand there are guys who are just determined to outwork everyone else until they get their shot. Those stories are inspiring.
It feels to me like the Dodgers are going to need some help. I’m not sure where it’s going to come from but there are days off needed in late August. We are in a stretch of 22 games in 23 days. We have only 5 off days the rest of the year and end with 6 against teams that are, at this time anyway, in contention for a playoff spot. Does Scherzer need a blow? Does Buehler?
It’s still a long way off, anything can happen, but if with 4 games to play we still need to win all 4 to have a shot at the Division, and that’s basically what 538 predicts, we aren’t going to able set up the rotation for the first series against the Wild Card winner. We need to win the last 4 to beat the giants by 1 game. That will be fun. Work your magic Doc.
Vogel has started hitting some at RC. Good to see the kid get going .
Speaking of RC: Where is Cartaya ? Has not played in weeks now.
5-1 road trip to Philly and Mets and we can only shave one game of the Giants lead. Tough , tough division the NL West .
And why have they not disclosed the injury sustainded by Joe Kelly ? Very unusual .
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s a good point. We make fun of these fringe guys but what they’re accomplishing is a total dream. I think we churn and burn a little too much but we trust our org to identify the keepers.
Seager is due for a day off. Do you put Trea Turner at shortstop? Or do you keep him at second so he can continue to work on timing and get comfortable at that position?
Good morning, I agree with what you say about some players who are just starting in the big leagues, and if they are there it must be for something, surely they must have talent or they would not be there, you have to be patient.
I think the desperation of us as fans is that being in the middle of the championship race, we don’t want to give away more games for bad pitching, we believe and want that the Dodgers as a great team should have only stars. But it is true that even the great players, the baseball gods were also rookies at one time, they too were given the opportunity to play, and surely they also had a difficult start in their careers.
And speaking of the field of dreams, I read that the Yankees are the first team in MLB history to lose a game in Iowa … That made me smile!
White is still here and on the 26 man active roster. We will see Andre Jackson starting a game or coming out of the bullpen this coming week against the Pirates or Mets who is already on the 40 man roster. Another possibility is Tropeano who is not. The options are limited with no off days in the midst of a 13 consecutive game sdchedule and Urias on the IL.