Series Split
The Dodger offense finally woke up (at least a little bit), after taking six games off. Now, all the Dodgers have to do is win today and they still will still not have lost a series this season. That may be easier said than done however because Joe Musgrove has been the Padres best pitcher this season. He is 2-2 because of poor run support but in his 26 IP,
The Dodger offense finally woke up (at least a little bit), after taking six games off. Now, all the Dodgers have to do is win today and they still will still not have lost a series this season. That may be easier said than done however because Joe Musgrove has been the Padres best pitcher this season. He is 2-2 because of poor run support but in his 26 IP, he has struck out 37 batters and has a 1.04 ERA to go with a microscopic 0.54 WHIP. The league is hitting .124 against him and of course, he has thrown a no-hitter. Dustin May needs to be on his game and the Dodger hitters need to bring their bats.
Joe Musgrove is a classic example of how long it sometimes takes for a player to develop. He was drafted in the first round in 2011 by Toronto and then traded the next year to the Houston Astros. That was before they became the Asstericks! Then is 2018, he was traded to the Pirates in the deal that got them Gerrit Cole. Then in January of this year, he was traded to the Padres. He has shown flashes of greatness, but could never consistently harness it. So far this year he looks like an Ace. Can he keep it up? We shall find out tonight!
Will Smith, Corey Seager, and Sheldon Neuse look to be getting their collective Mojo’s back. Hopefully, the rest of the team will follow their lead! Noisy could be a very effective player. A bench of CT3 and Noisy could be very potent. That’s the good news – the bad news is that Corey Knebel will likely miss “months” with a severe lat strain. That’s hurts, as he was just starting to get some of his “magic” back. It’s now possible he will not be a factor this year. Not to worry… there’s plenty more pitchers in the system. They just have to find the right combination.
It appears that Kenley Jansen can pitch about every other or every third day and be extremely effective. He looked solid last night. The bullpen will be fine… even with Garrett Cleavinger! There are a bunch more arms at the Alternate Site and if that doesn’t work, the Dodgers can always make a trade. There’s no reason to even considering panic right about now. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and yet many of you are panicking because they are now on trade to win just 115 games? SILLY!
We are barely through 10% of the season. This is a small sample. Some of you are moaning about the defense, but Tatis leads baseball in errors with 8. The Dodger bats have not heated up … yet. They will! When Bellinger is back patrolling center and Betts is in right the outfield defense will be outstanding. The infield defense will be solid, if not spectacular. Fielding statistics are incredibly subjective. Last year, the Padres were ranked #2 by Fangraphs in defense at + 16.2. The Rays were #1 with 16.8. The Dodgers were #23 at -7.4 … and yet we all know how that turned out. This year, the Padres are #24 and the Dodgers are #25 with identical -3.4 DR, while the Rays are last with a -6.1. Patience Grasshoppers!
The bullpen is creeping up in the rankings. It was #16 a few days ago with an ERA of 4.10. The ERA is down to 3.77 and the Dodgers bullpen cracked the Top 10. They will be in the TOP five by June 1… maybe TOP3! I have zero worries about the pitching or the bullpen. Ditto for the hitting. Don’t panic – the Dodgers are still the best damn team in baseball… even after a horrific 6-game slump… and they still have not lost a series. Also, there might be a flood from all the tears from crying about Dave Robert’s bad moves. I find it comical… but that just me.
Revolution
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Discussion (76)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Peters is a kid playing a mans game. Way overmatched and swung at ball four
D J Peters is the worst hitter I think I have ever seen to wear a Dodger uniform. He’s been around for years, can hit home runs in batting practice, strikes out 50% of the time, and how nervous and f—-d up can you be to swing at a ball around your eyes to escape a walk off walk. What a complete waste of a baseball player. I would trade or DFA him tomorrow and bring up damn near anyone.
Peters does not fit at all with Dodger philosophy of hitting, taking pitches, making contact and playing smart baseball. Swinging at that last pitch at eye level just disqualifies him. That was a walk off walk! Amazing. He will never live that down.
You can hang this one on Doc. He just over manages. He loves every left and right or right and left situations Now we have nothing left for tomorrow except Urias and Jansen. I thought Doc learned some lessons last year. He is now back to his old ways.
That Series was great!
Machado and Tatis were better than Betts and Seager in this series. When has April baseball ever been this exciting? Gonna be a tough series with Cincy coming up after this
Stealing bases is important
Dave Roberts should be fired. The bat boy could manage this team better. He thinks he’s so mart with the shift that works out 5% of the time and he is a piss poor manager of that bullpen. He was a Padre at one time, probably wanted them to win.
Why just 6 innings if a pitcher is not in
Trouble. I’ve never understood Robert’s. If you have a lights out BP. Yes, I can see it. If you are a starter for the Dodgers, you will never pitch a complete game.
Padres beat us now–let’s see what happens in October when it really counts. If Raley and Peters are any indication, we may not have much in the way of position players in the minor league that can help us out.
“Everything you hear is an opinion…”
Well, no, I’d say that’s not true at all. I’m confident that the philosophers Aristotle and Joe Friday would back me up on this. (Joe never said, “Just your opinions, ma’am.”)
But back to baseball. As surely as 2+2=4, the Dodgers just lost the Padres in extra innings.
I trust nobody here denies this reality, though we all have opinions about how this fact came into existence and what the Dodgers should do about it.
From what I can tell, we might be lucky to hold on to Eric in here – he could be heading for a role in the Dodger’s analytical department.
He’s been telling us all along about the various foibles of our BP, and he’s pretty much nailed it.
Big Up Eric
(Ps – thought the Bench looked a bit light before the season began. More so now).