The Cream Always Rises to the Top
Three Under .500 Three Outta First. That s part of what you should know but there s a whole lot more than that. The cream always rises to the top! Yes, up until the past couple of weeks, the Dodgers have played poorly for a variety of reasons, some valid, some problematic. The cream always rises to the top! So far, the Season of 2018 will be known as the Season
Three Under .500 – Three Outta’ First. That’s part of what you should know… but there’s a whole lot more than that.
The cream always rises to the top!
Yes, up until the past couple of weeks, the Dodgers have played poorly… for a variety of reasons, some valid, some problematic.
The cream always rises to the top!
So far, the Season of 2018 will be known as the Season of Bad Luck – If you look at the teams above the Dodgers in the NL West standings, you will see the following “run differentials” for each team:
- Rockies – 20
- D-Bags +19
- Giants – 45
- Dodgers +26
On runs scored verses runs allowed, the Dodgers have been extremely unlucky, while the Rockies have been extremely lucky. The Dodgers have also been extremely unlucky in losing Corey Seager for the season, Justin Turner for about 45 games, Logan Forsythe for 30 games and the early and/or current slumps of Puig, Taylor and Bellinger. It’s also bad luck to lose 80% of your starting rotation to the DL and have a body snatcher occupy the body of your closer for about a month.
The cream always rises to the top!
Walker Buehler and Ross Stripling have risen to the occasion. Boy, have they! Kenley is back, Kemp is great, JT is getting it together, Puig and Taylor are on the move and Cody is showing signs of life. Last night we saw that Dennis Santana has some stuff that will play well in the pen… maybe not in Colorado and maybe as as starter…. just not yet. Since the clock has already started on Santana, they will probably keep him in the OKC shuffle. They might try him in the rotation, but I happen to believe he will be very good in the pen.
The biggest worry is Clayton Kershaw, who has landed back on the DL with back problems for the 4th time in 3 years. At some point… and it could be right now, he is going to probably have to try and get that disk surgically repaired. I say go ahead and do it now so that he will be ready in 2019, but his agent and his opt out clause will likely take precedence. So, we know we won’t see him back until at least July… maybe longer. Don’t bet that he still won’t opt out. I think he will. Someone will have to fill his shoes in the meantime. The candidates are Buehler, Wood and Stripling. My money is on Strip!
The cream always rises to the top!
I still think the Dodgers need another bat and an arm or two. Jose Abreu is making more sense. Would the ChiSox take Pederson and Toles for him? Platoon Muncy and Forsythe at 2B and put Abreu at 1B. Bellinger is stuck in CF, but the offense will improve. Insofar as more arms, Tom Koehler, Urias, Hill and Ryu should all be back by July. The Dodgers just need to play a game or three above .500 until then. Andrew Toles could play a role too…
The cream always rises to the top!
It’s a long season – there’s a long way to go. Yesterday, Bluto posted a quote from another team’s unnamed executive: “The Dodgers are going to win that Division by 7 games!” They will win the NL West, but the World Series will be more difficult without Corey Seager and Clayton Kershaw – although they have been unable to win it with them. They will give it a try and who knows what could happen? The last time they won the World Series, they did it with a Bulldog and without their best player. You never know in baseball. That’s what makes it so confounding, frustrating, fascinating and fun!
The cream usually rises to the top!
- Ariel Hernandez threw 2 scoreless innings for Tulsa last night, with no hits and no walks. After being demoted back to Tulsa from OKC he has 15.2 IP with only 3 walks (he had 7 walks in 4.1 innings at OKC). If he can keep that up (0.89 WHIP/2.30 ERA) he will be in LA in a blink of an eye. He can be Brandon Morrow 2018!
- I’ll bet Zach Reks can hit in the majors right now.
The cream generally rises to the top!
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Discussion (64)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Where would this team be without Kemp?
Just another good day, on both sides of the field.
I guess someone was right about hitting for an average, first.
Huge game by Valera who is a switch hitter and has a smooth glove. Please play Joc, Kemp and Puig tomorrow plus Taylor! Yas and Cody need a day off as well, play Barnes and Muncy instead. I am hopeful Wood can go 6 tomorrow but it may not matter the way the bats are working. 2 back and looking like a scrappy bunch!
What a great 6th and 7th inning. If you are a true baseball fan and not a bandwagon boy, you gotta love it. Puig, down 0-2, walks, JT goes the other way on a tough pitch and scores a guy. Yasmani legs out a single to keep the inning alive . And Kemp,(Damn Mark, great call two months ago) is a damn stud. Don’t really care who is out right now, (Kersh, Ryu, Chase, Hill, Kenta, etc.) Our boys have some fight on the road. Bring all the torches and pitch forks all you want for Doc and FAZ, but we are right there in the division. Sometimes we just have to shut our mouths and watch the process,
2 huge wins for the dodgers! We have had chances to put games away this year with one clutch hit. We finally got that hit tonight. From the beginning of the year when we were horrible, when everything that could go wrong did, we are now close to .500. Once we get to .500 I think we will be able to have the confidence that we can win the division. We are getting contribution up and down the lineup currently. I said joc needed to be able to hit .260 to help us and he is in that range now. We need to get bellinger and Barnes going. Kemp has been an all star while Taylor has been steadily climbing. Just having turner in the lineup helps but he is due a hot streak. I think Roberts is looking for somebody to take charge at second. Maybe it can be Valera. I don’t know how our pitching is doing it but they are really competing.
Back to the premise of the article, the depth on this team is unbelievable. Not everything has been perfect (what is?). But losing 80% of the starting rotation, Corey Seager for the year, JT for nearly 50 games, Bellinger clearly in a sophomore slump, and they are only 2 games out of 1st place. Muncy and Valera, 2 players nobody expected anything out of, and while they are not going to be winning any MVP awards, they are helping to win games. Chicken Strip, Buehler, Santana, Stewart…none were expected to be in the rotation. While no team is going to mistake them for the Nats rotation or Mets rotation, most are pitching fairly well.
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I am still concerned about the bullpen, but there could be some trades that will bolster that part of the team. Maybe there could be a trade for a starting pitcher. It is rumored that J.A. Happ is being made available. The Yankees appear to be in on Happ as well as Hamels. Maybe Hamels has one more half year in him. In the midst of a not too great season, Verlander gets traded to the Stros which did great things for both pitcher and team. Maybe Hamels can be deja vu (maybe not).
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I know there are those who are going to say that there is still only 4 teams with worse records in the NL, and three of them are trying to throw the season. The team got as low as 16-26, and since then they are 12-4.
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2013 – 23-32 on June 2, in 5th place, 8.5 games behind – Finished is 1st 92-70.
2014 – 31-28 on June 2, in 2nd place, 7.5 games behind – Finished in 1st 94-68.
2016 – 28-27 on June 2 in 2nd place , 5.5 games behind – Finished in 1st 91-71.
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The depth has kept the Dodgers competitive and maybe now they are just starting to feel like a team.
After posting the link about Dean Kremer earlier today, it looks like he had a great game tonight! What is he ceiling? Him being Jewish, I hope there is not pressure to be another Koufax.