The Arizona Fall League

I thought Roberts had said he was going to try Scott in some lower pressure spots. So what happened Friday? But anyway I still don’t see him leaving off Scott or Conforto from Playoff roster

Walker Buehler is still trying to be a power pitcher, but he is usually only 93-94 on his fastball. Sometimes he gets lucky, but his 5+ ERA tells the tale.

He needs to re-invent himself, al la Clayton Kershaw, but that is not his mentality!

While the Dodgers starters have been rolling, old friend Walker Buehler just had a strong start for the Phils, allowing 1 earned run in 5 innings.

The Dodgers could wind up facing Buehler in the playoffs.

Perhaps he’ll enter the game in relief, with the game on the line.

Per Craig Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus, talking about the Dodgers

““There’s nothing strictly wrong with prioritizing a World Series; it’s where the league and its culture have arrived, hand in hand,” Goldstein wrote. “But the impact of taking the longest view available at every possible turn undeniably results in a diluted on-field product—again, much as we’ve seen with the league as a whole.”

IF the Dodgers don’t figure out the overall bullpen situation ,winning on the road and driving in and creating runs without the homerun, it will be a short postseason.

Every time Tanner Scott enters the game I cringe. I wonder how he can have any confidence after all the blown saves. A relief pitcher without confidence is not good. What will it take for Roberts to stop sending him in as a closer when he does not close?

0 for 12 with runners in scoring position won’t win you many games. Yamamota is a true ace. Unfortunately he doesn’t get the run support he deserves. Tanner Scott does NOT deserve to on the playoff roster.

Tanner Scott is the new Don Stanhouse.

That blown 3rd strike call cost the Dodgers the game. But Patrick Bailey cannot hit – OPS below .600. There is no way that Scott should give up a HR to that guy.

Verlander throwing lollypop curves all night and no one swung. Teo absolutely cannot hit a low and away slider and keeps swinging at them. And Ohtani was walked in front of Mookie twice and he couldn’t come through.

This loss was a team effort. Beating the Rox doesn’t prove anything.

Well, I was preparing to rag on Conforto–and on Doc for putting him in the lineup. If Conforto had been benched and Edman (or Call or Kike or ??) started in CF, then Pages wouldn’t have been there to make the error that put the Giants up 1-0 with Yamamoto crafting another gem.

But then Conforto homers! For his… um, 30th RBI of the season. (How can a guy who has played so much in the loaded Dodgers lineup have only 30 RBI at this point in the season?)

But it the end, the big story is yet another Tanner Scott debacle.

Ugh.

How soon before Sasaki is ready?

David Vassegh

@THEREAL_DV

#Dodgers Starting Pitchers the last turn thru 6 man rotation:

38 IP

13 Hits (Only 3 extra base hits-1 HR)

5 Runs

54 strikeouts

9 Walks

1.18 ERA

0.58 WHIP

12.8 K/9

I wish Robert’s would just leave Tommy in center. I don’t think it is good for his ankle to be bouncing back and forth between positions. The infield puts more stress on his ankle. We need him to be as healthy as possible for the playoffs. I’d rather have Kim or Miggy at second and Conforto on the bench.

10:15 PM ET

Dodgers (82-64)

Giants (74-72)

SP Y. Yamamoto R

11-8 2.72 ERA

SP Justin Verlander R

3-10 4.09 ERA

Confirmed Lineup

DH S. Ohtani L

SS Mookie Betts R

1B F. Freeman L

3B Max Muncy L

RF T. Hernandez R

LF M. Conforto L

CF Andy Pages R

2B Tommy Edman S

C Ben Rortvedt L

63° Wind 15 mph Out

NO Will Smith

I think there is a better than 50% chance that Andrew Heaney is on the playoff Roster… out of the pen.

Starters:

Yamamoto

Snell

Kershaw

Glasnow

Pen:

Banda

Dreyer

Heaney

Vesia

Ohtani

Treinen

Scott

Sheehan

Stewart, Wrobleski, Casparius, Yates, Hurt, Sasaki, Henriquez – U Pick

I could see a 2.50 ERA in the playoffs.

BTW, mentioning ex-Dodgers, Miguel Vargas is finally showing flashes of what he might be on a very bad team:

.233 BA .316 OB% .717 OPS.

However, over the past 30 games, here are his stats:

.277 BA .369 OB% .455 Slg

Progress is not linear, and he is starting to become the player I always expected.

I said James Outman was a #4 or #5 outfielder: I lied – he’s much worse than that!

As bad as Conforto has been, a LH power bat on the bench is good to have in the post season. He has had so good bats the last few weeks.

Pages’ has had a solid year and should improve next year. I see him as a solid piece of a great team, similar to Miggy RO.

Speaking of Miggy, I hope the Dodgers hire him as a bench coach or a manager slot in the minors. He knows baseball and working with players and is a true leader who doesn’t back down.

Getting away from the great game of baseball. That movie Mark, ranks among my most favorite ever. I have a decent size farm in Michigan with so many similarities with this movie. My youngest son is a marine and seen action in Iraq, protecting the U.S. embassy . He’s out and wasn’t killed like in the movie though. My oldest son is in politics and it was the coolest scene ever that he came home to save his family. My middle son, much like Tristan, is on my farm with me. Has long hair and the same spirited personality as Tristan, and is very motivated in defending, along with helping the farm succeed. And spent 3 years away from home sewing his wild oats. Crazy in parallel characters to us. Back to baseball…. I couldn’t be happier watching our starting pitchers excell this past week. Go Dodgers !!!!

i’m not sure the lineup will ever be “conforto “ free. at least until the end of his contract! Read dave is hell bent on running him out there! probably starting in left field tonight, with kim at second base, or maybe edman, who knows?

Rushing is eligible to come off the IL next Wednesday September 17th. Then we will be at player position full strength. One interesting situation to watch going forward is what the Dodgers do with LHP Andrew Heaney who signed and is eligible for the postseason and we all know how AF prefers veterans over rookies.

Nice dive from mlb.com on Mookie’s return to form.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mookie-betts-hot-streak-by-the-numbers

Remarkable how the pieces indeed seem to be falling in place with the playoffs approaching. The starters are suddenly studly, and Mookie is Mookie again…and soon the lineup should be Conforto-free!

is baseball over and i missed it? did the dodgers win it all again? is mark feeling better? is old bear still kicking?

where is everybody?

Dalton Rushing is catching for OKC tonight!

hope they don’t start trying to manipulate the rotation to please network tv. If ohtani is scheduled to pitch against the giants then he should start against the giants! i may be crazy , but the giants are priority this weekend! oh well, i’m not in charge! if i were ben casparius would still be in LA and yates would be in miami!!!! .. interesting Mark , Could Heaney be a suprise starter , say on sunday?

speedy recovery mark. never had it! knock on wood! …. If Blake Snell could get his pitch count down, he would be incredible!!! … Yamamoto goes tomorrow! verlander for the gnats. he’s good, but the boys in blue need to pound him! I would imagine Clayton gets the ball saturday. or ohtani goes saturday and pushes kershaw to sunday. that would set glasnow and snell up for philly. extremely important stretch coming up. padres get the rockies and white sox next couple of series. if the dodgers hit, they will get to where they want to go!