Murphy s Law

From the Dodgers point of view, it turns out that Murphy may have been a optimist. In a week where if something could go wrong, it did go wrong, and then wronger and wrongest!  I have always maintained a “glass half full attitude.” The storm generally passes and it’s never as bad as the “glass half empty” people say. Here’s a little more about Murphy’s Law:

Fabian Ardaya of The Athleletic put it this way:

The starting pitching remains brilliant, as Hyun-Jin Ryu worked six scoreless innings in his first outing for the Dodgers since May 2. His season ERA now stands at 1.77, with many others in the rotation not far behind. The bats have produced more than five runs just once in the past week. The bullpen has no clear-cut roles or security. But Wednesday was a splash of optimism in a cruddy week, perhaps put best by Dozier.

“Last I checked, the majority of winning streaks always come after a loss, right? That’s the beautiful thing about baseball.”

Brian Dozier is rapidly becoming one of my favorite players. I called the majority of the Dodgers “Choke Artists” yesterday and I still mean it.  Their deplorable lack of hitting against pitchers who throw from the left side of the mound is… well, deplorable.  Look, even Ray Charles can see what the problem is:  They are horrid when hitting with RISP.

So, change your approach!  It sounds simple, but it really isn’t! Change is hard, but the change has to start at the top.  It has to start with FAZ, Doc and Turner Ward.  Something is “off” with their approach. This team has a lot of talent… maybe too much sometimes, but that is another column. 

One of my favorite sayings is “Change Your Thinking – Change Your Life.” I am not a hitting guru, but success at anything is better acheived if you are willing to change your perspective – your outlook – your thinking.

Kenley Jansen looks like he will be back early next week.  Ross Stripling is out at least 9 more days. Daniel Hudson may be back tomorrow and Julio Urias has not had any setbacks despite not pitching well last night (it happens when you haven’t pitched in over a year).

Chris Taylor does not need to be sent down any more than Joc or Cody needed to be sent down – he will fix it!  Manny Machado is starting to look comfortable and Matt Kemp will come out of his valley.  These guys are simply too good… and then there are Justin Turner and Brian Dozier – you know they are ballers.

Yasiel Puig will be suspended two games, while Hundley was fined.  Two games is not much, so whether he appeals will depend upon the matchups. The fact that it was only two games tells me that Hundley must have said some stupid $h*7%t.  

You all know I love Andrew Toles, but I would love to see Alex Verdugo at the top of this lineup.  I think he would be an OB Machine and with JT, Manny, Kemp, Belli and Dozier behind him, it could be a Dodger fans’ dream and a pitchers nightmare.  Alex Verdugo’s ball-to-bat ability is very rare!

The Dodgers Will See More LHP

Why?  It’s simple: because they can’t hit them.  Friday, in Seattle they face Wade LeBlanc, a 34-year crafty lefty and on Sunday they face Marco Gonzales, another LHP.  These choke artists better figure it out… and soon, if they want me to stop calling them Choke Artists. I will give credit where credit is due and when I say they are “choke artists” it is becaused I think they are a lot better than that!

The season stretch run starts tomorrow!

Finally, in the midst of all the mayhem, Pedro Baez has shut down the opposing hitters 1-2-3 in his last 3 innings. It’s hard to get excited about el Gasolino, because of his past history, but could he have turned a corner?  Well, I have to see it.