Rants Raves

Here were, about 25% of the season gone the Dodgers still are the Class of MLB with the best record in baseball. They have problems… juts like every other MLB team, but they are pretty dad gum good. Let me rant and rave about a few things:

• It turns out that Scott Alexander was missing his targets and was high in the zone because he has a hip problem and is likely to go on the IL to make room for Tony Cingrani… Tony could be back as soon as today or tomorrow.
• The next one back is Caleb Ferguson and I hear it from a pretty good source that the Dodgers do not plan to send him back to OKC. They want him with the big club. We shall see how that plays out.
• Kenley Jansen hit 95 MPH as he slammed to door on the Nats Sunday night.
• WAR: Cody Bellinger leads all of MLB in Wins Above Replacement, including Mike Trout, but there are also several other Dodgers in the Top 50.
  • Cody Bellinger – 3.9
  • Alex Verdugo – 2.0
  • Max Muncy – 1.4
  • Kike Hernandez – 1.0
  • Joc Pederson – 1.0
  • Justin Turner – 1.0
• As a point of reference, Paul Goldschmidt, JT Realmuto, Marcell Ozuna, Buster Posey, Yadier Molina, and Jean Segura (among others) all have a WAR lower than any of the above Dodgers.
• The Dodgers are now tied for 4th in team ERA. WOW! The starters are still #1 in MLB in total innings pitched.
• The Dodgers are 6th in team BA, but second in Runs, and 4th in HR. They are near the top in all offensive categories, except strikeouts – they have dropped to 20th.20th! Not much has been said about Robert Van Socyoc, but right about now, I’d say that was a great move by Andrew Friedman. I have a sneaking suspicion that the best is yet to come as Corey and CT3 get fully untracked.
• The Dodgers are still the best team in baseball in taking walks. Last year, they were first in taking walks, but #8 in strikeouts. They have exceeded my expectations so far, by dropping to #20.
• Hyun-Jin Ryu: 5-1/1.72 ERA/0.73 WHIP with just 3 BB in 52 innings. He should be an All-Star.
• Hopefully, the Grand Slam will help Corey Seager get back in sync.
• Some fans wonder why players who are struggling are not sent down and that’s a fair question. The thing is: if they are a proven major league player and are struggling, it’s generally something small that is causing their struggles. Sending them down to face AAA pitching really helps them to hit AAA pitching but when they face live Major League pitching, the same old problem appears. CT3, Joe Kelly or Corey Seager may dominate at AAA, but they generally need to work out the small mechanical stuff on the big league level… and slumps are generally “small mechanical stuff.”
• There’s still improvement to be made and things to fix, but all in all, we should be pretty happy with the Dodger’s start as they sit at #1 in baseball with a 27-16 record. On this day last year, they were 16-24.

Minor League Report by DC

Great Lakes Loons

The Loons had Sunday off following three days off when games with Quad Cities were canceled.  They are presently tied for first place in their division with the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes  7 –  Visalia Rawhide 11 (Arizona)

The Quakes came into their game on Sunday with a one game lead over the Lancaster JetHawks.

Bryan Warzek started for the Quakes and  probably thought the plate did move. He gave up two runs in  3.1 innings pitched on one hit, a single , but walked five. Justin Bruihl allowed both runners he inherited to score and gave up two additional runs on three hits putting the Quakes in a 4-0 deficit in the top of the fourth inning. None of the Quakes five pitchers escaped without giving up at least one run. Connor Strain gave up two runs while recording only one out while Ryan Moseley gave up one run in his 1.2 innings pitched. Max Gamboa let the game get away with four runs also in 1.2 innings pitched.

Offensively the Quakes scored their first run in the fifth inning on a Brayan Morales sacrifice fly  and rallied to actually go ahead 7-6 in the seventh inning. In that inning they scored six runs while hitting for the cycle on a Brayan Moraes double,a Jeter Downs single, a Donovan Casey triple and a Jordan Procyshen home run. Marcus Chiu chipped in with a sacrifice fly. That ended the Quakes scoring. On the night they had ten hits but struck out 17 times. Downs, Avans, Casey and Procyshen each had two hits.

Tulsa Drillers 6 –  Arkansas Travelers 7 (Seattle)

The Drillers entered play on Sunday 1.5 games back of the Travelers having taken two-out-of-three from the Travelers in the first three games of the series. The loss was a 1-0 ten-inning loss.

Mitchell White  started for the Drillers and gave up back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning. He settled down after that and went 5.2 innings giving up one more run, unearned on a Christian Santana error. The Drillers battled back and going into the bottom of the seventh inning held a 6-3 lead. Adam McCreery  and Michael Boyle could not hold the lead. McCreery had two runs credited to him and Boyle the tying run.

In the top of the fifth inning, catcher Steve Berman drove in two runs with a single and in the sixth inning Zach McKinstry plated another with a sacrifice fly. Tulsa scored three runs in their half of the seventh inning compliments of the Arkansas pitching staff. Two runs were walked home while another scored on a wild pitch.

The game went into extra innings and in the bottom of the tenth inning Marshall Kasowski was called in with two outs and runners on  first and third. He finished off the inning with a strikeout. The Drillers in top of the  eleventh inning had runners on first and third with none out and failed to score. Kasowski could not pull it out in the bottom of the eleventh inning. With a runner starting on second base and sacrificed to third, Kasowski recorded a strikeout for the second out. However, he did give up  a single allowing the Travelers to take a hard fought 7-6 win.

Omar Estevez, Angelo Mora  and Cody Thomas had two hits while Steve Berman had three.

OKC Dodgers  2 –  Round Rock Express 4 (Houston)

They were dead last in the Pacific Coast League American Southern Division of the league, 10.5 games behind the Round Rock Express, heading into Sunday’s game. They are now 11.5 games back.

Things did not start well as Dennis Santana served up a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to DH Yordan Alvarez. Remember him? Following Santana’s four innings, Tony Cingrani had another clean inning with one strikeout. Josh Sborz gave up an additional run in his two innings, unfortunately on a wild pitch and JT Chargois struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Dodgers tried to get back into it and missed opportunities with the bases full. In the top of the sixth the managed to score a run when Will Smith was hit by a pitch bringing Connor Joe home. Catcher Josh Thole hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning but the Dodgers didn’t score again leaving the bases full in the top of the eighth inning.