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
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.
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Discussion (56)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Peter, I will say it every night if they will start hitting HR’s with runners on. You are right Campy. All or nothing. I like the all part.
Got my pitching gem I was hoping for and the offense came to life. Cody looks absolutely dialed in while watching from behind the Dodgers dugout. Hope we can ride his bat for the next 40+ games
All or nothing
Congrats to Kemp on #200. Let’s hope putting that behind him helps.
Idaho Al – Say what???
Puig usually hits guys with below avg fastballs extremely well. Dumb to sit him unless you’re going to get the suspension out of the way.
A lot of solo HR’s. Cannot do it with runners on.
I would like to restrict all Dodgers from being any part of the HR Derby.
Doc throws us all a curve and starts 3 LHH against a LHP, Cody, Max and Joc plus Grandal who will hit RH. I like this a lot even if it is a bumpy ride. Joc especially will never learn to hit LHP if he never faces it. With LeBlanc and Buehler it will probably be a low scoring game and well played. Now let’s work on the RISP problem and get a streak going!
Good call Mark on RISP, I too believe our offense is dooming us to a 3rd Place finish.
Why is Kemp still given so much rope when he clearly has regressed to the hitter he was in the last half of 2017. I read a fan graphs article today that he has 1 hit in the last 208 offspeed pitches thrown to him, brutal. Also after hammering fastballs in the first half he seems to be cheating on the hard stuff now. His BABIP and extremely low walk rate were bound to catch up, now that they have Can this FO just phantom DL him until September and bring up Verdugo.
Our struggles against LHP is not likely to get better, either is our RISP like Mark alluded too.
The facts are the facts, our midseason run was fueled by a ton of home runs, nothing more and nothing less. Likely not to be repeated, had we not been 16 and 26 before our run we may have had a good shot at the NL West. The fact was we were ten below so our great run just got us back in the race, now that we have reverted to a .500 club it seems like it will be not enough. One of the two teams we are chasing will play better then that down the stretch and relegate is to our living room in October.
Hope I am wrong, Mark or Ac tell me I am.
DODGERS REINSTATE DANIEL HUDSON
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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today reinstated right-handed pitcher Daniel Hudson from the 10-day disabled list and placed right-handed pitcher Erik Goeddel on the 10-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation.
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Hudson, who missed the last eight games with right forearm tightness, has appeared in 38 games (one start) with Los Angeles this season, going 3-2 with a 3.92 ERA (19 ER/43.2 IP) and striking out 40 against 18 walks. He has also held hitters to a .217 average, including limiting left-handed batters to a .182 mark.
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Goeddel, who is making his second stint on the disabled list this season, has appeared in 31 combined games of relief with the Mariners and Dodgers, going 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA (12 ER/36.2 IP) and has limited hitters to a .195 average.
Funny about your post a few days ago about how bad we are with RISP, Mark. Now the Dodger channel is jumping all over it, with both Jhair and Nomah saying the offense has to pick up the bullpen, way too many guys left on base, putting an insane amount of pressure on our pitchers. Guess you called that shot.
LaBlanc is 1-7 against the Dodgers even while Dodgers haven’t hit him that well in 11 games versus. It’s up to Buehler on this one. Under pressure.
I was surprised seeing Baez at bat. He seemed to have little difficulty making contact although it resulted in an out, still I’d like seeing more as I think it may lead to a positive result with his pitching allowing him to be more relaxed on the mound. Why I’m think that I don’t know. Just a feeling. I think he’s better than he believes and that his self doubt is his biggest problem.
I haven’t checked this thought out but haven’t the Dodgers struggled more against lefties since Turner returned and Machado and Dozier joined the team? If so, I don’t think that struggle can continue. I was thinking, which bat is always out against lefties and usually in against righties?
From The Athletic this morning:
“As for the Dodgers, they have 14 games remaining against the Padres, Reds, Mets, and Rangers and the second-best run differential in the league (+93). What they lack, at the moment, is a viable bullpen. That is the exact weakness that can lead to a team underperforming its run differential by so much. Lose close, win big (the Dodgers are 21-8 in games decided by at least five runs), and Pythagoras gets fooled. Indeed, the Dodgers are six wins under their Pythagorean expectation thus far, and the struggles of their bullpen suggest that the difference isn’t just bad luck. ”
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They don’t believe that the Dodgers will win the Division due to the weakness of the ‘pen.
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Friedman was quoted above as stating that the ‘pen is/will be a strength down the stretch. If the Dodgers lose the Division due to the bad ‘pen, he has some real explaining to do.
Great article on Clayton Kershaw’s evolution:
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Open on www.dailynews.comhttps://www.dailynews.com/2018/08/16/you-say-you-want-an-evolution-dodgers-clayton-kershaw-has-had-to-adapt-in-recent-years/–
If you want a revolution, the only solution Evolve…
I think its time to get Verdugo in CF. He’s accomplished enough at AAA. We need a guy in the lineup who is going to give you quality AB’s consistently. Taylor is not that guy right now. Kemp hasn’t hit a ball hard since the Atlanta series when he lined the ball back to Moylan so I’m not sure how what signs other than a flare and a broken bat single lead to Kemp coming out of it. I hope he does because he’s a big hole in our lineup right now and he’s losing any value to move him in the off-season.
I think Cody and Grandal have to play against lefties almost every time, because that is going to be mainly, who we will be facing.
And tonight it is another leftie, and we will face another leftie in this series against the Mariners, in the game, on Sunday.
But the problem is, some of our rightie hitters, have reverse splits against lefties, so not every rightie in the line up, necessarily hits lefties.
And this year, that includes Kike too!
We have to get hits when runners are in scoring position, if we want to win the rest of these series.
Because pitchers are not going to give up many HRs, when runners are on base, and it is harder to get hits, in these situations.
Because most pitchers pitch tougher, in these situations.
MT -DH??? Muncy, Grandal ad nausem???
I am always looking to the future and Christain Santana has 22 HR and 99 RBI at RC. I believe he is second in the minors in RBI. He strikes out a lot, but looks to be improving – watch him… he ‘s at least 2 years away.
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But, back to reality. I would love to see this lineup tonight:
1. Dozier 2B
2. Turner 3B
3. Machado SS
4. Kemp LF
5. Bellinger 1B
6. Verdugo RF
7. Grandal C
8. Taylor CF
This needs to be a series where we take 2-3. The ace goes tonight, so hopefully tonight is one of those wins
An outfield of Harper and Puig would be the most hated outfield of all time, even by some on here, make it happen FAZ
Bryce Harper, get somebody that actually has some fire and gives a damn about competition. “We have enough outfielders”, none as good as this one, cut bait.
Outside of Puig, this team is a bunch of push overs.
Utley/Harper campaign 2019
More from Dusty:
One of the worst tips I got was when I first got into managing. A guy who was a good friend of mine told me, “If you’ve got a left-hander warming up in the ’pen, and you’ve got a left-handed hitter at the plate, even if the left-hander can’t get left-handed hitters out, bring him anyway because you won’t be second-guessed.” I said, “Man, I can’t do that.” I put myself in position to be second-guessed because I think that’s the right move. I’m not worrying about you second-guessing me.