The Gig is Up!
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…

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:

Proud of My Kid
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Discussion (109)
Disagree, not disagreeable
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
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!