The End is Near
The sky is falling! The Dodgers are doomed! Kershaw and Ryu are through! We can t win with Jansen as the closer. Bellinger has regressed to the mean! I just hope that these die-hard Dodger “Homeys” are not fooled by all these wins, because the negatives will be more apparent as they get into the playoffs. I think that Colletti did just as good of job with way less money and
“The sky is falling!”
“The Dodgers are doomed!”
“Kershaw and Ryu are through!”
“We can’t win with Jansen as the closer.”
“Bellinger has regressed to the mean!”
“I just hope that these die-hard Dodger “Homeys” are not fooled by all these wins, because the negatives will be more apparent as they get into the playoffs.”
“I think that Colletti did just as good of job with way less money and was beat up. Neither of them won a championship and I think that the current regime gets undeserved credit for not winning, plus I hate sabermetrics.”
” The Dodgers know they have a huge handicap with their bullpen, yet they refuse to do anything about it. When you have starters who can barely get you through half a game, having a strong bullpen is crucial.”
“Who is the bigger dummy, Roberts or Friedman? Me thinks that Friedman has to have most of the blame for the lack of bullpen that he routinely shovels onto Robert’s plate…”
” No question that Dummy is a Dummy and Friedman does not know what day it is. I think I will rename them, Beavis and Butthead.”
OK, I’ll stop, but those are all real quotes from fans who are somewhat disappointed to others who are totally delusional. And… those quotes were at the end of their just-ended four-game winning streak.
Yawn! I have been dealing with this since Friedman was hired and the team has gotten better every year. The Dodgers have been the best team in baseball all season but now the wheels are falling off. Atlanta may never lose another game and the Dodgers may never win another one. The Dodgers are through as they are tied with the Yankees and Astros with 92 wins. They are toast.
Here’s a typical Knee-Jerk Reaction: “This offseason, the Dodgers need to target Will Smith as a closer.” Then Smith gives up a bomb to Polock and it’s “No, he’s not the guy!”Comeon, have some of you ever watched baseball? The game where a great hitter makes an out 7 out of 10 times? The game where closers sometimes get lit up? The game where starters run into rough patches? “But this is different!” It’s different because your hat must be too tight and is pinching off the blood flow to your brain. Calm down! The sky is not falling and the end is not near.
As usual, fans are worried about the wrong things. What worries me the most is someone many of you thought was the Dodgers’ salvation: Will D. Smith. I can’t explain what happened to make him look like Babe Ruth when he first came up, but I told you then and I am telling you now, he is not THAT guy! He’s a fringe starter in my opinion and now we are seeing him look lost. He is 5 for his last 37 at-bats, and makes Austin Barnes look like Ruth.
But, that is not my biggest worry… the Dodgers have enough offense to compensate. His catching is the problem right about now. With Russ Martin behind the plate, the Dodger pitchers have a 2.99 ERA. With Barnes, it is 3.41, but with Will Smith behind the plate, their ERA is 4.01! That is a huge disparity. Now, before you get all crazy, I am not necessarily blaming Will Smith. It’s unfamiliarity to a large degree. Clayton clearly was not on the same page with Smith last night and neither was Floro. Clayton shook him off at least half the time. The same with Ryu and Buehler.
Will Smith will be a valuable player for the Dodgers.. and I still say it will ultimately be as the backup to Keibert Ruiz, but Russ Martin and Austin Barnes have to be on the playoff roster… not Will Smith. This is not his time… yet! There: I said it, I meant it, and I’m here to represent it.
One final thing: Before you say “Well Clayton said he likes pitching to Smith.” All I will say is That’s what he is supposed to say! By the way, I only made it to one game this week and it was last night. The Dodgers look like they are sleepwalking with a 20 game lead. They are on cruise control, but Doc will get them fired up in a day or week or so. In the meantime, don’t lose your minds, and maybe we can now understand why Gavin Lux was not called up sooner. Maybe next year is his time…
DC’s 10th Inning
Friday’s Minor League Scores: A clean sweep.
Ogden Raptors 21 – Orem Owlz (LAA) 5
The Raptors have won both halves for the third time in franchise history after accomplishing the feat in both 2010 and 2012.
The 21-5 victory on Friday, number 54 on the season, tied the Pioneer League record for wins in a campaign. In the league’s short-season history since 1964, only two teams – the 1985 Great Falls Dodgers and 2003 Provo Angels – had won 54 before this night. The Raptors have one more game today to attempt to set a new record of 55 wins.
Among their 19 hits the Raptors had 6 home runs – Andy Pages 2, Sauryn Lao, Jeremy Arocho, Ismael Alcantara, Jon Littell. Pages’ one shot cleared the stadium. Littell had 4 hits, Pages 3 and Arocho 3.
Earlier in the day, Andrew Chubb was named the Pioneer League Manager of the Year.
Great Lakes Loons 5 – Lake County Captains (Cleveland) 0
The Loons advanced to the Eastern Division finals with their 5-0 win over Lake County Captains. Three players spear headed the win. Starting pitcher Jose Chacin went 7 innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3. Aaron Ochsenbein finished up with 2 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts.
Brandon Lewis as the DH hit two home runs, a 3-run shot in the 2nd inning and a solo shot in the 7th inning.
The Loons travel to South Bend to take on the Cubs in a best of 3 series starting today. It is expected Zach Willeman will start for the Loons.
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 6 – Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego) 5
After blowing the 5-run lead on Thursday the Quakes pulled one out of the fire on Friday with a dramatic walk-off 6-5 win. Trailing 5-4 entering the last of the ninth inning, pinch-hitter Starling Heredia greeted Storm closer Mason Fox with a first-pitch blast that went 428 feet down the left-field line, tying the game at 5-5. Fox would throw just one more pitch, as Jacob Amaya slugged his very next offering 392 feet to left-center field for the walk-off blast.
Andre Jackson gave up 3 runs in his 3.2 innings while Wills Montgomerie surrendered 2 more in his 5.1 innings.
The Quakes face elimination again tonight, down 2-1 in the series. Michael Grove takes the hill for Rancho Cucamonga.
Tulsa Drillers 6 – Arkansas Travelers (Seattle) 1
Behind stellar pitching by Markus Solbach (5.1 IP – 1 run), Shea Spitzbarth (1.2 IP – 0 runs) and Michael Boyle (1.2 IP – 0 runs) the Drillers moved to within one game of advancing to the Texas League Championship.
Cody Thomas drove in 3 runs. The eighth-inning double from Downs allowed him to extend his hitting streak to 11 straight games, including the three playoff contests.
Tulsa’s starter for today’s game has not yet been announced.
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Discussion (61)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Today:
Joc (RF)
Seager
JT
Belly (1b)
Pollock (LF)
Lux
Kike (CF)
Smith
Gonsolin
The Dodgers would really have to massively fail for my prediction not to be realized. I predicted a 7th western div championship as a sure thing. I definitely stop there. A pennant or WS champ IDK. But hey it could happen…or maybe not. But it’s been a good entertaining season, competitive, no matter what happens in the PS. So anyway…GO DODGERS.
Unless he is injured, Ryu will be on the roster. Zero Question.
… and I like Will Smith, but he may need all Spring to get acclimated.
Never underestimate the value of the pitcher-catcher relationship.
A Cy-young candidate not making the playoff roster? No way. He will be there. And, Dodgers will win tonight, AZ will lose and our magic number will be 2. Keeping fingers crossed and feeling positive.
Wow so Ryu goes from shoe in Cy Young winner to not making the playoff roster! This is a tough crowd! If the playoff roster is determined upon who’s going well right now we wouldn’t have enough players to field a team. So when do we bring up Wong to be our playoff catcher? This team is talented enough to win a WS. It’s all about getting hot at the right time and no one can predict that
The Dodgers May have an issue or two, but catcher is not one of them. Will Smith is just fine, but it’s a long season and catcher is a position that seems to fade in terms of offense toward the end. Legs get tired. As far as stats about ERA, toss them out. Dodger starters were throwing better earlier. More pitches finding the middle of the plate, breaking balls hanging etc. Fatigue? Or is it more mental? Hard to maintain focus. Maybe a combination. Not sure about closer Will Smith. He has been more vulnerable lately. Can the Dodgers fix bullpen issues internally in 2020? Maybe a trade or maybe just get lucky with a Brandon Morrow type signing. No guarantee with bullpens. The Dodgers are not exactly on fire (well maybe Joc Pederson) and just seem to be strolling toward their seventh straight NL West Title. But it’s not like 2017 where they lost 11 straight games. They made it to the World Series and probably should have won. Have no idea how 2019 will end up, but my guess is the team that gets hot in October and maybe even a little lucky will win it all. Will that be the Dodgers? Based on what we’re seeing right now, the answer is probably no, but which team will we see come playoffs? Does Hill come back and become a difference maker. Will Joc just take over or Seager find the magic? Maybe the bullpen becomes an invisible wall. All people can do now is speculate. So, deep breath, relax, another game tonight.
So the Dodgers are a mess. The Braves have won 9 of 10 and are 3.5 behind the Dodgers for best record in the NL. Meanwhile while everyone is concerned about playing the Nats, they’ve lost 4 of their last 5 and have a tough schedule ahead of them. The Cubs are now just 2 games behind the Nats for home field advantage for the wild card. Then there’s Arizona who’s won 9 of 10 and are now in the wild card hunt.
OUCH! Yanking off that bandaid really hurt! Seems like unnecessarily opening old wounds (issues). A couple of thoughts: Kershaw does not like change, even describes himself as stubborn; he was reportedly a very unhappy camper when AJ Ellis was traded to the Phillies, but he eventually adjusted to Grandal, Barnes, and then Martin — then Barnes gets optioned and he is once again adjusting to Smith. I really like Roberts, and hope that he is the manager for the next decade plus, but when he backs off the locomotive throttle he has a difficult time getting the train back up to speed. Joc’s hitting mechanics look great; short stroke, much quieter head, stays on balance.
Question….If a manager orders a player to be given an intentional walk and that run scores, is it considered an earned run on the pitcher’s era?
If the Dodgers performance in the playoffs is not better than it has been for the last three weeks, they are not going to get out of the NL rounds. Of course, there is that chance that come playoff time, things will look much better. But compared to say, the Braves or the Astros, we look rather lost. And yes, we did beat Colorado three times at home, but that means very little. Our road record is barely over .500.
The biggest worry is the starting pitching, which has long been our strength. We need much better outings than we are getting from Ryu and even Kershaw, and Buehler has to harness his great talent and pitch consistently well. . I keep hoping for Hill to somehow make a full recovery by playoff time. A rotation of Buheler, Kershaw, Ryu and Gonsolin is not imposing at all right now. I note that Keuchel pitched well for the Braves last night. If our starters other than Buehler cannot go more than five innings, we are left with a bullpen which is hardly a strength. BTW, did we really need to use Floro with men on base and no one out last night? Where was Kelly, among others?
The catcher spot does seem to b e a problem. If we don’t play Smith, we are back to Barnes, and then Martin, who really cannot play many games in a row. And whoever we use is going to hit about .200, most likely. In playoff baseball, if you have an “out man” in the lineup, and we have two, including the pitcher, the opposing teams will do their best to pitch around the better hitters, and get to him. We also have Hernandez hitting .240. Pitch a lefthander against us, and we have a number of weak spots in the lineup. Great pitching can make up for that, but we don’t have it now. Will it suddenly come back in the playoffs? It is certainly possible, but not all that likely. It’s not as if our starting pitchers are holding back something, waiting for the big games to start pitching well again. We are still big favorites to win the NL playoffs, but we don’t look like it on the field. And we are now slightly behind NY and Houston in the battle for home field in the World Series. Anything is possible, of course, but I don’t think that we will win any series where we do not have the home field advantage. We have too many questionable elements at this point, to think that we will win big games on the road against top teams.
Here’s a typical Knee-Jerk Reaction: “This offseason, the Dodgers need to target Will Smith as a closer.” Then Smith gives up a bomb to Polock and it’s “No, he’s not the guy!”
That was me and that is not what happened. I looked at Smith’s 2019 stats closely and noticed his lopsided splits, THIS WAS BEFORE THE GAME and determined due to the new rule next year that those lopsided splits won’t play well anymore because of the new rule. So I determined that the Dodgers shouldn’t try to get him in the off season (I was for getting him until I looked at his stats closely BEFORE THE GAME). ALL OF THIS WAS DONE BEFORE THE GAME YESTERDAY. Then I pointed out an example of how vulnerable Smith is against right handed hitters when Pollock hit that homer off of him.
I agree about Clayton saying Smith is OK. In 10 years how many negative comments as he ever had? Whether the offense can make up for pitching, well it didn’t the last two world Series. So we’ll see. As for RYU, like Stripling last time I would leave him off the playoff roster. If he comes back and gives up 7 runs again, that should be that. He could be replaced by a combination of two of Hill-Urias-Stripling. where they could pitch 3 innings each as a ‘bullpen game’ for 6 innings.