Been watching with a lot of interest the comments of fans on all sorts of posts on social media. I have to personally believe that too many think this is last year’s team and that is not the case. Several key pieces from the Champs are now plying their trade elsewhere. Some key pieces of this team have not played enough to make an impact. How many thought back during spring training that Dustin May would be gone for the year, or that Bellinger would have fewer HRs than Beaty or Barnes? Seager has been out for almost 2 months, and our SS has been Lux. As good as his fielding has been, for the most part, he is not close to Seager yet as a hitter.
The team has been streaky and extremely inconsistent, but they still lead the league in runs scored. Go figure. There is a lot to like, and a whole bunch that puzzles you. The starters have been good, the pen better than expected. Yet they still have those games where the HR ball kills them. They cannot hold runner’s on base and teams are taking advantage of that. Arizona, despite losing all 3 games, ran at will.
The Pads over the first two contests have done the same. And the Dodgers? Well, they are not using what speed they do possess at all. Seems to me like they keep waiting for the 3 run bomb. And this year, that is not happening as often simply because a couple of their main sources of power have not been healthy. Fans are quick to react after a particularly bad loss, or a string of losses to teams they either despise or feel are inferior to the Dodgers.
Remember this, although they might only be weak sisters in the league, any team on any night is capable of beating another. I have seen it happen so many times in my life watching baseball. It is indeed a game of inches. Cody Bellinger’s lone HR this season, his grand slam, barely missed being caught by the outfielder. Turner’s shot to right last night was hit just a wee bit too hard and stayed in the air long enough for Myer’s to catch it. Be that as it may, they are 3 games out on the 23rd of June. How far back were they in 2018 when they had to come back just to tie the Rockies for the division lead and force game 163. Which luckily for them was pitched by Walker Buehler who totally dominated the Rocks. Is help coming?
Well, if I know one thing about Andrew Friedman, it is that he is not a passive type of front office guy. He will make changes if he thinks they will improve the team and do not destroy the farm system. He has already made some additions this year. Some have been ok, Pujols, and others, not so much, Tsutsugo. The guys brought up for a cup o Joe have contributed sometimes, and struggled at others. Some have been nice stories, like Raley getting his first big league hit and homer, Souza blasting a dinger after picking himself up out of the dirt, Burns getting his first MLB hit. There will be ups and downs, peaks and valleys, just like there have been every year in their existence.
I think a lot of us as fans have been pretty spoiled with the success of the last 8 seasons. But no team is a lock. And no team is invincible even though one might think so. Will the Giants fold like a wet taco? Only time will tell. What I do know is that this team needs to be more consistent. Life as a Dodger fan can be complicated at times, and also frustrating. But when they do win, it is a great feeling. I am like any fan of the team. I hate losing to the Padres or the Giants, and if I never hear that Beat LA chant again I will be extremely happy.
But as Garagiola said, baseball is a funny game. It is also maddening. But we better enjoy it while we can. Because I believe there is a storm coming sooner than later. I do not trust MLB or the MLBPA to be amicable come the CBA discussions. I am all in on banning the shift since hitters obviously are not going to try and go the other way. I also think those who put so much blame on Roberts for his way of managing and his in-game decisions, are just wasting energy since it is obvious to me at least that Dave has not changed one bit since he took over as manager. And it is wasted because he is loved and valued by ownership and the front office and is not in any danger at all of being fired or replaced. The 2021 Dodgers have more holes than the 20 version. How they fill them or fix the deficiencies they have will determine how far this team will go.
Discussion (44)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Playing like chumps rather than champs! Looks like a bunch of overpaid ,non motivated fat cats who have nothing to play for with last year’s World Series trophy in hand. As Yogi used to say ,”it’s getting late,really early”. AF has his work cut out for him before the deadline. Another starter is needed (I like Berrios of the Twins), or another quality reliever. If they get a starter move Gonsolin or Urias to the bullpen. Not your 2020 Dodgers yet.
Talk about bottoming out in a hurry. This team doesn’t show up for big games and most of the lineup just tries to hit home runs instead of hitting a line drive.
Great to see Joc getting his ring at Dodger Stadium with his old teammates .
I mentioned about a week ago Turner was playing an awful lot, probably out of necessity because of injuries to others. The analytical department probably have him in the Red Zone with regards to overwork – and Doc is following their advice and keeping him off his feet.
I noticed recently that he was available to PH but Doc went to Barnes instead which illustrates the point.
Not much Doc can do with the position players if they are collectively not hitting.
Personally I think we are going to see more of the same for a while yet because most of our regular top of the order players havnt been able to find any rhythm and therefore, consistency due to injury.
It’s gonna take Corey some time to come back from a broken hand – I remember Muncy struggling for some time with the same injury.
Max has been out with his side strain, and Mookie is dealing with any number of ailments, and as a result isn’t playing with the same swagger or confidence he displayed last season – that seemed to rub off on the others.
Cody really didn’t need two different trips to the IL considering he was coming off virtually no ST due to his shoulder operation. He is only getting started, against MLB quality pitching.
Have to be honest though – I’m not sure we havnt seen the best of him, in the same way as Puig was never able to replicate the stellar start to his career.
My hope is that we can keep in touch for a playoff spot, and slowly get players back to something approaching their career numbers, with no more major injuries, and head into the final weeks of the season with some momentum.
The big problem I see, is keeping the Rotation fresh for a big end to the season, because I really like the look of Buehler, Bauer, Urias and Kershaw in the Post Season.
I would look to add a veteran arm to lessen the load between now and then.
The offensive strategy of the team to play only the 3-run HR we have to admit that it has gone well, the Dodgers are always in the first places in runs scored, the results are there, but it is also very boring, I think the Dodgers could steal more bases, guys like Betts, Lux, Bellinger and CT3 can do it, it is very maddening to see all the games that Mookie takes first base and to know that he can only score with an HR or a double, the team does not exploit all the qualities of these four players, keep looking for the three-run HR but also move the wheels, that will make the offense more complete and dangerous !!!
Headline: CUBS COMBINE FOR NO-HIT WIN -Robert struggles to motivate listless Dodgers.
Look at the bright side: The Dodgers play the D-backs / Rockies 11 times in July.
Can we please stop complaining about the injuries and Doc’s lineups. This team just sucks! Top to bottom! Can’t hit 98, can’t hit 89. What can you hit? Can’t defend. Even Mookie. Starters can’t stop giving up homers and relievers can’t stop walking people. No energy. No passion! Not exactly a recipe for defending a title. Really hard to watch right now!
Cero hit. What a shame
Headline: DOLDRUMS DOG DODGERS — leaderless , lethargic losing streak lengthens.
Well, look at it this way–it can’t get much worse!
Hard to watch this stuff
Why is David Price and his 1.62 WHIP and .830 OPS pitching in a close game?
Comical……………no hit through 6 against Davies. Dodger offense is offensive and yes Doc with a head scratching line-up.
We finally get two guys back from the injured list and doc decides to sit Turner and Smith. Amazing. Amazing managing.
Also why are Pollock and Pujols starting against a right hander.
We are already four games back of the Giants does doc want to be more games back.
#fireRVS
5 fwy
Good job Davey. Iets rest the two guys that are hitting . JT and Smth. Need to win today, especially after being swept.
Someone already said it, how many days off do they need. I guess the trip up the 5 fly was grueling
Pathetic offense. But 2 guys who might get a hit for La aren’t playing. Lux can’t hit righty or lefty. Won’t walk either. Go into 5th against a guy who can’t hit 90 with Nono. Seager only guy missing from lineup that Robert’s will play. Bellinger can’t hit right now but at least he will take a walk.
Anybody else think Paul George is a little mentally retarded?
Yeah it’s really getting hard to watch
I don’t know how to look this up, but can someone tell me how many games in the last week we have gone without a hit in the first three innings? It seem like that is often the case.
Mookie. Is un fucking believable I keep thinking hes gonna come around but he just keeps on going down the shitter
We have sure had trouble getting out of the 1st inning without a home run putting us behind.
The new strategy of allowing 1st inning homers is being executed perfectly. They’re really getting good at it.
The Cubs have a formidable lineup for the first 5 hitters. Their pitcher tonight always gave the Dodgers trouble when he was with the brewers. He has good breaking stuff when on. For the life of me I don’t understand the Cubs getting rid of Darvish and Carantini. Well I guess I understand it was money. The way Darvish is pitching the Cubs could have been a strong playoff contender. The Cubs swept us so I guess they don’t need Darvish to beat us. This is the best I have seen Darvish in his career.
We need a win to turn things around. This is not a good time to be playing bad. A bad series here could put us way back. A good series here could put us right back in the thick of things.
Doc sitting turner doesn’t surprise me. He never shows any urgency. We have a poor record against good teams. 6 in a row vs. winners.
So why isn’t Turner in the starting lineup again? How many rest days does he need? It would be nice to get some consistency in our lineups without benching the regulars as often as roberts thinks he needs to do!!! Betts is also riding the bench way to often for being a 28 year old.
Mookie is back, JT rests
Mookie RF
Max 2B
Chris 3B
Cody CF
Allbert 1B
AJ LF
Gavin SS
Austin C
Walker P
In response to thousands of inquiries, please note that Yasiel Puig is hitting .300 in the Mexican League.
Per an interesting article about lost projected WAR due to injury, the Padres have lost most games to injury as of 6/11. SD had lost 926 games to the IL as of 6/11, vs. 662 for LA. The Dodgers had lost an estimated 4.62 projected WAR to the IL vs. 3.45 for the Pads. So about 1 game difference.
The Giants had lost 2.34 games to the IL so about 2 games difference.
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2021/6/11/22530081/the-impact-of-injuries-on-the-2021-diamondbacks
It’s not as much as you think.
Whether the Dodgers have all of the same players or not, and whether they are healthy or not, the fact is that few of the 2021 Dodgers are playing as well as they did in 2020.
Buehler, Taylor and Muncy are having great years. Seager wasn’t going great before he got hurt, Betts hasn’t looked like Betts all year. Pollock was much better last year. Kershaw is giving up bombs and has an ERA over 3 – the extra 2 MPH on his fastball has disappeared this year.
You can talk about injuries all you want, but the uninjured Dodgers are mostly not as good this year. And that’s just a fact.
This year’s Dodgers are 9 – 14 in 1 run games, have 0 walk off wins vs. 4 walk off losses, have 14 blown leads, are 1 – 6 in extra innings, and are 15 – 21 against teams with a record .500 or better.
One of the things that makes the offense look better than it really is that the Dodgers are 15 – 5 in games decided by 5 runs or more, so that they mostly have won blowouts but lose the close ones when the offense doesn’t hit.
Facts are stubborn things. After 74 games, the Dodgers are worse than the Giants (!), Astros and Chisox. They have played 46% of the season so you can’t say that it’s a small sample size.
The Dodgers could go on a great run. They have several players who might start to play better. Friedman might correct weaknesses at the deadline. But you can say the same thing about all of the other teams that they have to beat.
As Cassidy said, at the beginning of the year many pundits were talking up the Dodgers as one of the best teams of all times. Now, it’s not clear that they are the best team in their division. Guys have to play better.
One thing I know for certain is that Friedman is not going to make a knee jerk reaction type move. Not his style at all. You have to admire his protégé, Farhan, for the job he has done with the Giants. Who ever expected a couple of journeyman pitchers like Gausman and DeSclafani to be pitching like Cy Young winners? We have 3 of those on our staff. Two of them are barely over .500 in wins, Kersh, 8-7, and Bauer, 7-5. And the other is in the bullpen. The pen lost the game last night, but over the last couple of weeks they have been pretty good. Walks will kill you, and Gonzalez has not had the same command of the strike zone this year that he had last year. Even Orel and Joe mentioned that. But the main reason they lost is that they were simply OUTPLAYED all three games. So far in the 10 games played they are 3-7 against the Pads. 8 games left, all at the end of August and then the end of September. They have a losing record against teams over .500. They are 1-8 in extra innings, and 9-14 in one run games. They are 16 11 in their own division and have a 9-6 mark in interleague play. Another big difference between this team and last seasons, the defense, and despite what some posters here think, as the Padres showed in this series, defense can win the game, or keep it close for a team. The outfield defense has suffered because the 3 supposed regulars, Pollock, Belli and Betts, have only played together out there for a handful of games. I expect that to change when all 3 are in the lineup more regularly. Changes will be happening, most likely in the pitching department, but I would not rule out some surprise move by AF at some time. Pitching match ups for the Cubs. Buehler-Davies, Gonsolin-Arrieta, Urias-Mills, Kershaw-Adalay……lines Bauer up to start against the Giants on Monday, and Buehler for Tuesday’s game. They need some length out of the Catman.
Success is like being pregnant. Everyone says congratulations, but no one knows how many times you got F’d to get there.
Instead of being amazed that we’re in this position with almost half of our lineup out all year and still leading the league in runs scored, most people will focus on the negative because we aren’t the best team in baseball on June 24, which is not a significant date, not the All-Star Break, not the Trade Deadline and certainly isn’t the end of the regular season.
Last year, the team was very healthy and we were the best team. This year, the team has more stars lost to significant time than any other team. The only team that comes close to talent lost is the White Sox, who are in 1st place, play in a crappier division and happen to have the same exact record that we have. Do you think their fans are disgruntled?
If this team keeps having injuries in the second half, like we did in the first half it wasn’t meant to be. Does it mean that this team sucks? Hell no! It means that this team was too injured to compete with teams that were worse, but healthier. A GM can do only so much to guard against injury.
People can call out Cody and Corey all they want. Seager was in a dry spell right before getting injured. Everyone seems to forget how you couldn’t get him out in the second half of Spring Training and the first couple of weeks of the season. It’s like no one has ever watched baseball before. Players get hot, they get cold. I’ll still take a cold Seager over the alternative.
Bellinger was recovering from shoulder surgery, had a short Spring Training and got hurt, came back and got hurt again. No one wants to take that into consideration? Bellinger was bad last year with a 789 OPS. Kris Bryant was worse with a .644 and Nolan had a .738. Both rebounded, neither had offseason shoulder surgery. Bellinger will be fine once he moves further from that injury. Does anyone consider that maybe the shoulder was a problem that lead to the down year last year? After all, he did have surgery right afterwards.
Even if Bellinger, Seager, Betts have off years, they’re still better than the guys that replaced them when they were injured. And those players took a significant amount of ABs and still contributed to the top offense in the league. It stands to reason that when all of them return healthy that we will be better offensively.
And for DodgerPatch…
Karen – is a pejorative term for a woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is appropriate or necessary.
Do you think it’s being entitled and demanding to constantly have a negative outlook towards a team that has the second best record considering all of its injuries? I do.
The funny thing is, during the first two weeks when we were stomping on everyone, I thought the season was going to be boring. At least this season isn’t boring. I still can’t believe we haven’t dug a bigger hole and that we’re only three games back.
So I guess you can choose to be a Polyanne or a Karen.
It certainly is not the only problem, but I think that the weak spot of the team is the bullpen. We simply do not have more than one reliever (Jansen, who certainly has surprised me so far this year, but is still not a lockdown, clean inning reliever) whom we can confidently rely on, and that is ruinous down the stretch of a season. Last night, we tied the game, and then the bullpen gave up two runs. Yes, of course Beaty’s misplay was a major cause, but the walks were given up by Gonzalez. The bullpen is simply hit and miss. We blew almost all of a 9-1 lead at Arizona. We blew a 7-1 lead against SD at home a while back. We know that most playoff games come down to the bullpen holding a lead, and our bullpen simply is insufficient.
It is going to come down to improving ourselves at the deadline. But we have not picked up a major reliever at the deadline in years. I figure that SD, which is determined to win now, will do more than we will. Yes, we have other issues, but if we had a top bullpen, we would have enough to win the title, even without the fifth starter. But we do not, and we have not had one for years here. We did get away with it last year, but it was a short season, and also we were able to use Urias out of the bullpen in the playoffs, not this year. Right now we’ve got the typical Dave Roberts grab-bag of relievers.
As far as Roberts goes, I think that Kapler and Tingler are better managers. I wanted Kapler to be hired years ago, but then he did not do well with the Phillies, and he was being mocked, and people were saying how fortunate to hire Roberts instead of Kapler; but maybe not so much now? Roberts may stay here another sixty years, but he is still not a very good game manager. If you get him a loaded team at all spots, he will win with it, he will not have clubhouse rebellions. But as the Padres and Giants look to get better in upcoming seasons, while we decline in talent, his shortcomings will be more noticeable. But since he is going to stay for many decades, apparently, we had better do something about the bullpen, and also a legitimate right-handed power bat. A.J. Pollock is a likeable, hard-trying guy, but how many key base hits does he provide in a season? Very few. Mostly we see fly balls to left field, and groundouts to the shortstop. And Pujols is not the answer.
These games against the Padres are great, in spite of the outcome. The atmosphere is definitely playoff-like.
This series reminded me of Liston-Clay. Liston, known for his great knockout punch and Clay the brash youngster. When you looked into Liston’s eyes, you could see the fear that he might not be able to get it done and that there might be a new champ very soon. That’s how this series looked to me. There is still plenty of time to change this scenario but for the last three days, the Pads had every right to be confident.
With apologies to Jorge, I can’t get upset with our enemy to the south. If I have to choose between SD and SF, I’m going to choose SD. At least I can see why they win games. I still have no clue how the Giants are doing it with that roster.
One last thing. The battles between Bauer and Machado/Tatis are spectacular. Bauer acknowledges their accomplishments when they take him deep and both Machado and Tatis have given a nod to Bauer when he strikes them out on a good pitch. That’s what competition is all about. That’s what baseball is all about, not strip searches on the mound.
I don’t know as much as you do, but obviously we don’t have the quality to outplay the Padres. Unless there are some changes, we will have to prepare ourselves psychologically to be left out of the playoffs. On the other hand, any hit from the Padres goes to the stands, ours just barely pass the infield. Ummm !!!
Any explanations??
Go Dodgers.
2017 and 2020 Dodgers did the small stuff well. They won close games. They came from behind to win. They had key hits and key outs. … They hit home runs at a prodigious rate (hitting home runs is a really good way to win ballgames).
The Dodgers are 11th in home runs. SFG is first. The Giants have a uniformly good core of both young and old hitters who are getting it done. We can talk about the flu or sore backs all year long, but it’s clear Betts is not having a great year. Bellinger, even when he’s healthy, runs the serious risk of being last year’s Bellinger, which might be his new normal. Seager is out, and even when he was in the lineup his production had nosedived. He is an aggressive hitter and the risk is pitchers exploit this.
For a team to have a historically good year, all the little things have to come together at the same time. At this point, and it’s still possible, the Dodgers can only win the division and the WS if there is a confluence of a lot of things suddenly going right when they’ve been going wrong all year long.
Pol·ly·an·na
/ˌpälēˈanə/
noun
an excessively cheerful or optimistic person.
“what I am saying makes me sound like some aging Pollyanna who just wants to pretend that all is sweetness and light”
Pages homered again.
At the beginning of the year the Dodgers were being touted as one of the best teams ever and possibly breaking the all time wins record of 116. In reality we’re only the fourth best team in California this year. We’re a team that beats up on bad teams and bad pitching so the overall stats look good. But we get shut down by good pitching and good teams.
A lot to be unhappy about but the euphoria we all experienced last year with the acquisition of Betts and then his stellar superstar play is equally matched in my disappointment of his play this year. Shoulder, stomach flu, needs a day to re-boot, whatever is the excuse he just doesn’t seem right and somewhat dispirited . He was the absolute guy you wanted up in a big moment and this year I’m almost dreading his turn in the line-up when we need a big hit.
There is probably a stat out there that will prove this comment incorrect but I’m not sure he should even be our leadoff guy at this point. Is “table setting” still a thing in todays MLB? Betts’ first AB in every game seems to be a quick 3-5 quick pitch AB ending in a fly out, K or ground out but seldom do I see a long AB where he makes the pitcher work by fouling off some pitches until he gets one he can hit or works a BB.
Betts is a great player but I’m starting to worry he got paid and the stats won’t match the AAV.
It’s a very disappointing sweep at the hands of our red headed step child. These things happen. I think everyone is being a little over dramatic here. This team isn’t last year’s team? Why, because we’re missing Joc, Kike, Floro, Kolarek and McGee? Give me a break. The reason this team isn’t the same as last year is because we’re missing 2-3 freaking stars every time we play this team.
Every move went wrong last night. Taylor batting leadoff went 0-fer. Beaty, who shouldn’t have been playing for Pollock went 0-fer. The Padres smartly pulled Musgrove after 6, Doc tried to get 7 from Bauer and it backfired. Treinen finishes the inning by striking out Tatis, but Doc has to bring him out for another and it backfires.
Turner getting called out for running out of the baseline? You almost never see that. It was very frustrating on all levels. Over managing and guys playing tight. Turner not able to throw out Manny on weak ground ball. Man, Murphy’s law.
Time to move on. Hopefully they hooked Mookie up to an IV and got that stomach flu out and we can put together a mostly full strength lineup without having to have Z-Mack and Beaty in the outfield at the same time.
Beaty had a great run after he went down to AAA for a while. Maybe he needs another trip since he hasn’t done anything for weeks now.
This team will look a lot different when Taylor is a utility guy and is splitting time with Lux at 2B.
2021 is not the Dodgers year. It is becoming clearer with every day. WS letdown. Too many injured players. Too many players not playing up to their standards.
Last year they found ways to get improbable wins , this year they find a thousand ways to lose.
I hate to be pessimistic but I do not see this squad turning things around.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why was Beaty in cf to begin with?
When you only score 7 runs in 3 games, you are going to lose. The bullpen is not the problem with this team. The inconsistent hitting is! Seager will be back next week and then if the offense cannot gel, someone or some things may have to change.
From the Minors:
Ryan Pepiot picked up his first win of the season as he struck out six and twirled six scoreless innings. Pepiot threw 45 of his 62 pitches for strikes as he gave up just one hit and lowered his ERA to 1.47 on the year. The right-hander, a 23-year-old selected in the third round of the 2019 Draft, has now surrendered one earned run or fewer in three straight starts and in seven of his eight outings this season. He could move to OKC soon and then to LA… maybe?
Bobby Miller was roughed up (still a 1.90 ERA), and in 2.2 IP gave up 5 Runs ( a 2-run HR and a walk did him in).
Nate Robertson (1.31 ERA at Tulsa) got his 3rd save.
OKC did not play.