MiLB Game Summary Report

Smolts never shut up starting in the first inning. He even speculated what the pitcher would have thrown had the previous pitch been a strike. “Sasaki has to stay with his inconsistencies until he becomes consistent” John, shut up! I spent the game paying close attention to Roki’s pitch shapes. I know, the Dodgers have state of the art toys to evaluate everything about every pitch, so for an old man with a remote like me to analyze Sasaki’s stuff is the lowest end of the spectrum. I used my eye balls. Roki’s pitch shapes are wildly inconsistent, one to the next. The good ones are crisp and effective, but far to often, they aren’t. Roki features 3 pitches. A 4-seamer at 97ish, a slider at 87ish and his reported out-pitch, his splitter (forkball). that apparently, he is trying to throw the harder. To me, he has all 3 pitches from 97 to 87; with no slow stuff to get a hitter out front. He “fools” the MLB pitch identifier, which lists his 4-seamer sometimes as a sinker but to me his 4-seamer is straight as an arrow. He lacks the hop to effective work the top of the zone. His high fastball, located up, is very hittable. Maybe move those figures around or change finger pressure to get some movement. Or go to a 2-seamer? His secondary stuff all goes the same way, right to left. The good spitter gets some arm-side depth but too often it breaks like his slider, lacking arm-side depth. His command and release of that splitter varies wildly. The good ones are great. The poor one’s are meat. He has an inconsistent feel and release on his slider, which I think is horseshit. About 1 out of 4 have teeth. The others back up or hang. No Yak. Hanging sliders go a long way. His 3 pitches can, when thrown right, be effective. But they don’t come out of his hand consistently. When all 3 don’t break as intended, he gets too much of the zone and gets hit. Inconsistent shape and command. He lacks a change up. Yesterday, Roki was okay. His line was typical with 3 dingers and 99 pitches through 5. The Dodgers scoring 12 didn’t hurt. And as many point out, right now the Dodgers down’t have much choice. I don’t really know how his stuff played in Japan. It must have been special. It isn’t now. Maybe it’s inexperience. He’s only 24. Maybe he is learning to pitch in MLB instead of perfecting his pitch shapes and repeatability and perhaps adding a pitch – in AAA. He’s being forced to pitch in the Bog Leagues when he isn’t ready? Is he better in the bullpen? Perhaps he’s suffering from arm issues. I don’t know, but I do know he’s not as advertised. Not yet anyway. The Dodgers were out of challenges in the 3rd and fortunately we didn’t need them. I thought the “take” on the Challenge System by Joe and Smoltz was interesting. Both like the system. Both care more about the strategy and entertainment created by the Challenge System than getting all the pitches correct. Smoltz stated that full-time ABS would “negatively effect batting averages” Huh? Calling all strikes and balls correctly would drop batting averages? I don’t get that one. Maybe someone can explain that one to me. Davis said that ABS takes away the “subtlety” of baseball. Huh again?

After the three years, the Dodgers have two club options at $5MM each. Kim will be a Dodger through 2029.

Maybe Cora could start up a Garage Band. He could be the drummer on the garbage can. POS is right.

Nestor Rios. He was/is a position player who looks to be transitioning to pitching. He just turned 21.

Okay, Davis did not mention that on the telecast, he just referred to Kim’s original 3-year deal. I stand corrected as I often do.

Guys are always dissing on other teams. Imai, when he signed with Houston said he would get great pleasure out of beating the Dodgers and the guy has never pitched in the majors until this year. He was punished, he is now on the IL and most likely will be there when Houston plays LA in May.

Root might be injured

Smoltz and Hershiser from the same broadcast school I believe. I prefer someone else in the booth not named Karros. I really like Nomar when he rarely handles that job. Glad they do not use J-Hair. He would never shut up. Personally, I believe that part of Sasaki’s problem is that high leg kick when he is not in the stretch. To me it seems he loses the plate momentarily.

IMO, those players will continue to exist, but will be at the bottom of the lineup, rather than at the top. I miss the days of Wills, Lopes, and Butler at the top of the lineup. But it looks like those days are gone. Dodgers do not run like they used to, at least at the MLB level. Kendall George leads off for Tulsa, but he would bat 9th for LAD.

4:10 PM ET Cubs (17-10) Dodgers (18-9) SP Shota Imanaga L 2-1 2.17 ERA SP Justin Wrobleski L 3-0 1.88 ERA Confirmed Lineup DH S. Ohtani L 1B F. Freeman L LF T. Hernandez R CF Andy Pages R RF Kyle Tucker L 2B Miguel Rojas R C D. Rushing L 3B S. Espinal R SS Hyeseong Kim L 67° Wind 14 mph Out

He might be, which is why I did not list him. He has not been healthy yet. Chronic? Maybe, maybe not.

“ Maybe move those figures around or change finger pressure to get some movement”. You’re not the first person to suggest this. Any idea why this hasn’t been done? Is it possible this was tried but hasn’t been successful in bullpen sessions? What I find more confusing is that during the WBC in ‘23, Sasaki evidently threw his splitter at 90/91 mph. Yesterday was the first time he did so as a Dodger. Why wasn’t he doing it last year? Was it due to arm soreness? Or mechanics that were so out of wack? As for ABS, the players like the current system as do most fans (who watch for entertainment). So, don’t expect any changes anytime soon.

Interesting that Kim is facing a lefty rather than Freeland. I wonder if the Dodgers are trying to get a further read in his capabilities? Of course it could just be Roberts giving Freeland a day off.

Rushing also getting the start over Will Smith is notable.

How so? Smith’s injuted

Tight back.

Solid points Ted, but who in MLB will be the ones talking to the owners? The owners are MLB. They don’t listen to fans. They don’t have to. Fans line up and throw money at them no matter what they do and the money is then divided between them. It’s a billionaire boys club that makes their own rules. The only voices that ever challenge them is the millionaire boys club players association, and we know how that plays out every 5 years or so. They get vacations and the fans get screwed. So what to do? I suggested a fans Opening Day boycott several years ago. I was laughed out of the chat room on that one. But I’m open for suggestions. I’m also open for discussions on who to send to Pittsburgh for Skenes. He’s probably going to average 7 WAR for 7 years. It’s going to take probably 5 players that will be both controllable and project that much WAR plus a point or two. Mark mentioned some names, as did I the other day, which included the Ontario franchise and Timmons. I didn’t get any feedback on my offer. In all seriousness I think it begins with our best prospect and at least 3 other players. Since it’s the Nuttings maybe a van full of money could be thrown in. Again, I’m open for suggestions here.

“During his pregame media scrum, Roberts said Smith could play today, but they didn’t want to push him. He is currently day-to-day, and they are not considering an injured list stint, according to Jack Harris of the California Post”.

I suggested a two seamer. It’s a sinker that can break both ways through thumb placement. In my opinion Sasaki is a candidate for that pitch. Heck, every pitcher is. And a circle change is not that difficult to learn either. These guys are professionals. It’s all they do. Figure it out dammit. I read somewhere Sasaki was throwing 100+ in Japan. He ain’t here. Why is that? I’ve been a proponent of the ABS system for a while now. And I have been because of the varying shapes of MLB umpires zones I see on different sites. All of them are shaped like a vertical football. Corners of the box were not getting called. Apparently now they are. At least more so. This challenge system has forced umps to get better. As for how it would change batting averages, those corners are the most difficult to hit so if they aren’t being called hitters don’t have to swing at them. With ABS they will be called, so it’s possible averages will go down. The strike zone has already been shrunk about a foot. Remember when it was arm pitts to bottom of knee? I sure do. Now it’s navel to knee. You want more offense just make it belt buckle to nut sack. That will put more runners on.

“Circle change is not that difficult to learn“. Tell that to Kershaw who could never figure it out. Then with his slider and curve, he did not need to.

Gagne sure could throw it though

Michael Busch flat out owns the Dodgers.

You would think Smoltz gets paid by the word

Getting even for when they owned him

A lot of guys threw, and continue to throw it successfully. Hershiser, Pedro, Trevor Hoffman, Glavine, Maddux, Hamels, Ryu, Johan Santana, Devin Williams, Christopher Sanchez and yes Gagne. Heck, I threw in MABL when I was 50. Same with a two seamer. Just throw it over the middle of the plate and the movement will take it away from the sweet spot.