After 11 wins in a row, the Dodgers were beaten like rented mules! Sadly, ‘er, I mean happily, I missed it all. Yesterday morning, I had my second eye surgery – this time on my right eye. The left one was two weeks ago. I not only had the cataracts removed (wow! The colors are so vivid!), but I also had both eyes implanted with what are called “Intraocular Toric Lens Implants.” While I do see better (I am told I don’t look any better) than I did without my glasses, I do not see as well as I did with my glasses. The big selling point with the Intraocular Toric Lens Implants was that I would most likely not need glasses… except maybe for reading. At this point, that looks like hyperbole, but I have to wait 30 days for all the healing to take place before I get another eye test and likely fitted for glasses. At this juncture, it does not seem that I got a good value by paying an extra $6,000.00… but they told me to be patient and that my eyes would improve. So, for the first time, I am typing this with no glasses because none work!
At any rate, we went to dinner with my stepdaughter and her family at Ricks Boatyard, which is one of my favorite hangouts. Then, after dinner, I got home about an hour and a half before the game started and decided since it had been a big day, I would take a nap. Well, I woke up at 2 AM, so I was saved the misery. I did speed-watch the game this AM. Blahhhhhhh!
At any rate, after an 11-game winning streak, the Dodgers were bound to lose… sooner or later! Of greater concern than the loss was Tony Gonsolin. He was immediately arrested after the game for “impersonating a pitcher!” If he is not hurt, and he evidently is not (or the Dodgers would not keep rolling him out there), I would allow him two more starts in August, and if he cannot right that ship by September 1st, then he goes to the bullpen to see if he can pitch an inning or two. If not he is left off the playoff roster. Maybe he is concealing some arm discomfort, and if so, he needs to “fess up and come clean.”
It is hard to believe that Tony has a 4.98 ERA while the “great Sandy Alcantra has a 4.11 ERA. Baseball is a crazy game. Gus Varland pitched well, even though he gave up a run. CT3 played that into a triple. Kike might have caught it! Gus misses bats!
Dodger Thoughts – Sue me, Jon 😉
- Did you know that Max Muncy is #4 on the Dodgers in strikeout percentage? #1 is CT3 at 32.4%, #2 is James Outman at 31.7%, #3 in JDM at 30.7%, while Max is #4 at 26.9% (#75 in all of MLB). Max Muncy is #1 on the Dodgers in walk % at 16% (#7 in all MLB), and Juan Soto is #1 in all of MLB at 19.1%.
- JDM has chronic back problems, and we see him break down often. I believe that it is possible he will be back next year and share the DH spot with Max (who will also likely be back), but at a slightly reduced salary (maybe $8 million). These are things that need to be decided over the winter… and it should be interesting.
- We might see Michael Busch if bJDM goes on the IL.. Busch was 2-3 with 3 RBI last night and hit his 24th HR.
- Landon Knack went seven innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 R. He is quietly having an excellent year at AAA.
- The Dodger bullpen continues to be #1 in all of MLB since June 20th, and the Dodger bullpen is now up to number 12 in all of MLB after a bad April, May, and part of June. I predicted the bullpen would be Top 10 at the end of the year – they will likely be better than that!
- River Ryan went 5 innings and allowed six hits but no ER. His ERA sits at 2.89.
- Standings Watch:
Discussion (45)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Watching today’s two games brought to mind a baseball maxim I have heard since I started playing the game – “good piotching will always beat good hitting.” The Marlins showed off some excellent young pitching in this series that kept the Dodger hitters – except Mookie – in check. Fortunately, our superstar performed and we got two wins.
Today looked like playoff baseball to me where strong pitching dominates. This is why I hope we see the Dodgers continue to play more “small/smart ball” to get ready for the playoffs. It was also encouraging to see the solid defense in both games – that will be needed in the playoffs too.
Well, it looks like the gig is up for the Puds and Angels…
In the nightcap, the Dodgers played superb defense, ..but so did the Marlins.
This game was primarily determined by Julio’s pitching and Mookie’s bat.
…proving once again the singular importance of STAR players giving star PERFORMANCES.
Wow, what an exciting day of baseball. Amazing pitching ,defense, and clutch hitting.
How lucky are we to be dodger fans?
In the end I am ok with how the Gonsolin situation was handled. Obviously the loss of the one game doesn’t mean anything. And OK we don’t know what actually the real situation is and how it was addressed. So perhaps he felt he could pitch thru the injury. So Roberts said ok let the guy pitch until he is convinced he really is injured. So thats what happened. He let him stay out there and get punished to prove to himself that he is really done for the season and its time to give up.
Next up there has to be a similar resolution to JDM. It doesn’t seem to make sense -one game in, one game out. He should also go on IL and maybe be ready for playoffs.
Marlins making this one interesting in the ninth. Mookie hit two more bombs. Now only one shy of his career high.
I keep reading that last night’s loss was Roberts’ fault for not taking Gonsolin out of the game before 10 runs? Wow…
* Stolen bases are at their highest per-game rate since 1992, when five players stole 50 or more bases. At this rate we will see 1,087 more stolen bases this year than last year, an increase of 44%. The stolen base success rate has jumped from 75% to 83%
* Joe Posnanski presented an article where he reported some amazing stats from the past.
He was talking about Roy Campanella and Yogi. He said Campy was the better defensive catcher — you couldn’t run on him, for one thing, He threw out 60% of attempted base stealers over those eight seasons, ranking among the leaders every year. Yogi was no slouch throwing out baserunners himself; he threw out about 50% over those years and led the league three times in caught-stealing percentage.
But Campy was all-world.
* Think about that compared to today’s success rate.
I know, bigger, stronger, faster but Campy and Yogi must have had some pop times. And pitchers may have actually held runners.
What a great game. I love pitching duels.
Barnes a hero again. I said earlier in the season that to help his team, Barnes needed to work on being the best bunter in the league to help his club. The safety squeeze today was a perfect example. Good for Doc calling it in the first place and doubly for leaving it on after an unsuccessful attempt. The play is indefensible with any half decent bunt.
And Barnes’ tag at home early on Peralta’s throw from right was huge. He made that pick on a tweeter hop and tag look easy. It wasn’t. And try it wearing all the gear. Great play. Nice to see Barnes contributing in a big way.
The Perez kid for them was great. Some nasty stuff. I’m glad they pull pitchers now days as we were eating out of his hand all day.
Pepiot looked the best I’ve seen him. Nice tight stuff. I hope this is his entry into the rotation. I was dreading him taking a loss after pitching so well. Especially on a slow roller that a more speedy, athletic third baseman could have turned into an out at first.
The new guys came through again.
Now let’s get Julio on track and sweep the doubleheader.
Martinez in, Heyward injured
9:10 PM ET 2nd Game
Marlins (64-60)
Dodgers (75-47)
SP Braxton Garrett L
7-3 3.91 ERA
SP Julio Urias L
10-6 4.35 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
DH J. Martinez R
2B Amed Rosario R
LF Chris Taylor R
CF James Outman L
3B E. Hernandez R
SS Miguel Rojas R
77° Wind 8 mph Out
Saving the bullpen to sweep them today
I have never understood why a starter should be left in to give up 10 runs. 4 wasn’t enough. 7 wasn’t enough. It’s conceding the game. The Dodgers can score a lot of runs. They always have a chance. As for the pitcher getting shellacked, it reinforces the bad habits that got him shellacked.
Conversely, I have never understood pulling the starter having a good game. For example, pulling a guy throwing a no hitter on 68 pitches. Saving him for October, when he probably won’t be on the roster.
With this performance, Pepiot might have just cemented his place as the 5th starter for the rest of this season.
Ok. Any plenty of fresh arms for game tonite
Barnes made another play that wasn’t talked about at least in the broadcast I was listening to. When Mookie make an incredible on a ground ball to his left but threw the ball away, the runner didn’t advance. I didn’t see Freeman going after it so it had to be Barnes backing up the play. The ball was thrown on the outfield side of first base so Barnes wasn’t just going through the motions. It’s hard not to like Barnes as a player but this month he’s done everything well but stopping the running game. I’m still not convinced that the backup catcher needs an upgrade next season.
Who kept saying?? Why doesn’t Barnes just bunt more since he can’t hit?
After the pummeling yesterday, and the way this game went for seven innings, we’re playing with house money now
Nice win !!!
How about that Barnes?
How about that Roberts keeping the bunt on after strike one.?
Ok. After a game and a half we can start panicking again. Facing playoff type pitchers and this is the result. Pitcher who throw strikes, especially with secondary pitches give us (and everyone else) fits
This year I feel we WILL figure it out.
DeJong DFA’d, Carson Kelly signs a MLB deal with the Tigers.
Muncy strikes again!!!!
I’m going to do small post of praise for Gonsolin. He’s still in his arb years and could easily have protected his future value by going on IR or made a big deal about his elbow.
But the team was stretched thin on pitching, the young pitchers needed veteran presence and the guy kept taking the ball and doing his best.
Bellinger has a couple of dingers today. They had a clip with him working in BP closely with a hitting coach. Finally, someone got through to him and he allowed it to happen.
That young Marlins fireballer reminds me so much of Ramon Martinez.
Tall, lanky flamethrower . Even his delivery is a lot like Ramon. My favorit player back then. Saw his 18 SO game, still have the box sore of that game from the LAT somewhere.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to see Pepiot hopefully get his shot. I see some are saying that we need to bring back Stone. Stone needs to work on his command. It’s not uncommon to see after a game he pitches to have 8 strikeouts but five walks. I’d love to see the Dodgers put Gonsolin on the 60 day IL and give Landon Knack a shot. He’s throwing the ball really well at OKC. Our organization is blessed to have so many very good young pitchers. By not trading them away at the deadline on some foolish trade we can recover in house from temporary injuries. You can’t replace a Betts, Freeman or a Kershaw, but you can stay afloat if one of them go down momentarily. Our front office is the best.
Thanx. Did not think about that.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who is going down for Hudson ? Pepiot replaced Tony.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My take on the elbow injury is that Tony needs minor surgery (and will likely have it soon), but Dr. ElAttrache deemed that continuing to pitch would not exacerbate the problem.
Doesn’t anyone read the previous posts before the repost the same info?
DODGERS RECALL BRYAN HUDSON
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Dodgers recalled left-handed pitcher Bryan Hudson from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed right-handed pitcher Tony Gonsolin on the injured list with right forearm inflammation.
Hudson, 26, returns for his fourth stint with the Dodgers and he is 0-0 with a 7.94 ERA with four strikeouts in three games. He is 5-1 with a 2.76 ERA (14 ER/45.2 IP) and 75 strikeouts in 39 games for Oklahoma City this season. He is a combined 37-28 with a 4.23 ERA (236 ER/502.2 IP) and 443 strikeouts in 189 career minor league games (75 starts). He was drafted by the Cubs in the third round of the 2015 First Year Player Draft out of Alton High School (IL).
Gonsolin, 29, pitched last night, allowing 10 runs in 3.1 innings. On the season, he is 8-5 with a 4.98 ERA (57 ER/103.0 IP) and 82 strikeouts in 20 starts. He has been with the Dodgers five seasons, posting a combined 34-11 record with a 3.19 ERA (133 ER/375.2 IP) and 349 strikeouts in 79 games (71 starts). He was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2016 First Year Player Draft out of Saint Mary’s College.
08/19/23 Los Angeles Dodgers recalled RHP Ryan Pepiot from Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Tony Gonsolin Placed On IL With Elbow Injury, Unlikely To Return This Year
By Darragh McDonald | August 19, 2023 at 12:45pm CDT
The Dodgers are placing right-hander Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day injured list, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (X links). Manager Dave Roberts says that it’s unlikely Gonsolin will return this season.
More to come.
And there you have it.
The Dodgers are placing right-hander Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day injured list, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Manager Dave Roberts says that it’s unlikely Gonsolin will return this season.
“According to Roberts, Gonsolin has been dealing with an unspecified elbow injury for about four to six weeks”.
Really? I find it hard to figure why Doc/the Wizard would send damaged goods out to pitch. We are so protective of arms and managing workloads. WTF would we jeopardize and compromise Tony? And the teams chance to win his games. I seriously don’t get this one, unless it’s just an excuse to easy Tony’s ineffectiveness.
On the other hand, he certainly doesn’t look right. Something’s up.
Bobby Miller has a 2.59 ERA during the second half, a 1.15 ERA in the month of August. He is pitching his way into serious consideration for a starting role in the playoffs. Lynn is a tough one. As well as he’s pitched so far, I don’t know that he’s yet earned the trust to be one of the three primary starters the team will need playoff time. I suppose you could look at how they match up against a hypothetical Braves starting rotation, but having your starting rotation start to pitch well heading into the last month of the season is a good problem to have.
If Pepiot is healthy I say he takes Gonsolin’s spot. His fastball has been down in velo all year, he’s not missing bats – the barrell % and zone contact % are all dramatically up versus previous years, his BB% is up. Something’s wrong with him. I would say he’s still suffering the ill effects of that forearm strain that shut him down at the end of last year. He’s fragile. Shut him down and, either get surgery, or have him go through extensive PT and strength and conditioning during the off-season.
According to Roberts, Gonsolin has been dealing with an unspecified elbow injury for about four to six weeks, which would just about encompass the nine-game stretch that was the worst of his MLB career. While Gonsolin wouldn’t use that as an excuse for his performance issues, his manager certainly thinks it’s a factor.
“Tony is just going out there and doing what he can,” said Roberts. “At times, his stuff is good, the fastball is good. But physically, he’s not 100 percent. So I think we’re going to circle up with Tony tomorrow and figure out if a blow, a break makes sense.”
I changed the channel after Burger’s blast and watched a Paul Hogan movie that was made in 2009. Charlie and Boots. Father-son thing. They leave off on a 3000-mile trip to go fishing at the northern most point of Australia. They need to reconnect after the passing of the dad’s wife and dad is not too happy about the trip. But after a time, they settle in, and some fun ensues. I had never seen it before. But I digress. Gonsolin was not sharp from the get-go. I figured after I read the box score that DR was trying to get some innings out of him because of the double-header today. It is on the website that Ferguson is starting game one. Pepiot is likely the bulk innings guy. I did not get to reply to Duke not Snider’s last post. Duke, I understand what you said about my comment that Muncy’s AB’s were a black hole and you disagreed. That is fine, you can disagree all you like. And according to what I heard when I watched the re-cap, Max hit the ball pretty hard a couple of times and did get a homer. My problem is this, I do not give a rats rear end about his OPS or his walk rate or any other geek stat. What I care about is seeing a player hit the damn ball. I can tell you right now, it is not fun watching Max hit. Yay, 29 times we have been rewarded for our patience with a ball over the fence. Sorry, the contact percentage for me is way too low. When I watch a game and see a guy take pitch after pitch right down the middle and then swing at one way too low or wide of the zone, well, it gets a little old and annoying. JD has Cody Bellinger syndrome. He chases pitches outside of the zone on probably 75 percent of his swings and misses. Max is what he is. But this sub=200 BA has been going on for almost two years. I saw guys jump all over Bellinger about his low average and strikeouts. And Cody had as bad if not worse injury that required surgery. Nope, to me it is just bad baseball. Max is a great person and he never uses anything as an excuse, but for most of the time, watching him hit is just not fun.
3:00 PM ET 1st Game
Marlins (64-59)
Dodgers (74-47)
SP Eury Perez R
5-4 3.19 ERA
SP Ferguson
7 – 3| 2.38 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
DH Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
RF D. Peralta L
LF Chris Taylor R
CF James Outman L
SS E. Hernandez R
C A. Barnes R
85° Wind 10 mph Out
Mark, I have an eye condition that prevented me from getting the $6000 lens in both eyes when I had cataract surgery last summer. So I settled for choosing a lens where I can see distance and need readers. And it saved 6 grand. I now have 20/20 vision and got some readers, one set being progressive, photo gray, tri-focals for ballgames. I can see the program, my hot dog and the baseball. I too immediately noticed the vivid colors. The whites are now white and not yellow. I trust your vision will improve as advised.
I just have to believe Gonsolin has been trying to pitch through arm issues. Doc tried to get some innings out of him but couldn’t. You thankfully won’t see many lines that look like his 3.1 innings, 8 hits, 4 walks, 10 earned and 5 homers. On 97 pitches. Ouch!!!!!
He obviously wasn’t right from the get-go. He must not be upfront with the staff. They would not pitch him injured. Maybe the truth will come out. Next man up. Pepiot gets his chance I hope. Like to see Busch.
Hey it’s one game. Let’s start a new run today and win two.
I stumbled upon this and found it very interesting and entertaining. If you don’t wanna watch the whole thing, the most interesting part starts at 15 minutes in. It might change the way you think of a controversial dodger trade
https://youtu.be/vB9wAcB0rrI
AF, please put Tony Gonsolin on the IL and leave him there for the rest of the season. The way he is pitching right now, he will be of no benefit to us in the playoffs. He’s throwing batting practice right now to the opposing teams. Rather see Stone,Sheehan,Knack or Pepiot in his spot in the rotation and see which one could make the playoff roster. Catman is done in 2023.
Give Busch a shot! Certainly he can’t do any worse than Jeb and the two George’s!
Yes. Finally admitting that Gonsolin injured. As for ERAs of him and Alcantera–They are moving in opposite directions. At this point just put him on IL. Certainly not the guy you want to see in pen. Unless to bring in instead of Rojas.
Be patient grasshopper, I had the same procedure done 3 months ago, May 15, on right eye. Same lens.
It will improve (not your looks) it takes a couple months to adjust. Prior it was like looking through a frosted window now it exceeds 20-20.
Finally Roberts admitted that Tony G. is dealing with some kind of injury (article on the homepage).
Dodgers should put him on the IL and take an extended look at Pepiot.
Busch is absolutely on fire. How long can the Dodgers keep him down ?
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!