Can the Dodgers right the ship?

The Tigers are 10 games below .500. They are not going to the playoffs, but the Dodgers managed to win 2 out of 3. The Dodgers are 6-4 in their last 10 games. Still, they are not hitting on all cylinders. Can they right the ship? Other than the starting pitching, I do not believe this team is as good as last year... but they still have enough to win... even if they are barely limping across the finish line.

The next time the Dodgers play, Will Smith should be the catcher and Ben Rotverdt should be gone. Hopefully, the Dodgers can figure out a way to keep him in their system... coaching? Of course, the Dodgers could keep three catchers... but I doubt it.

Who Gets the Call?

Speaking of "who gets the Call? It's possible that Alex Call is released. He is below league average, and the Dodgers have too many other players who are better or more versatile.

I want to see Josue DePaula, but first he needs to be added to the 40-Man Roster, meaning someone has to go (Rotverdt or Call?), and then he can be called up.

Emmet Sheehan has allowed only one run in his last 17⅓ innings with 24 K's at OKC. But he was optioned Aug. 21. Pitchers normally have to stay down 15 days, so he can't simply be recalled Sept. 1 just because rosters expand. He could return early as an injury replacement, otherwise roughly around Sept. 5.

Gavin Stone is a dark horse with October implications. He's been rehabbing since Aug. 6, and there is reporting that the Dodgers view him as a potential bullpen weapon.

Blake Treinen is the most intriguing Sept. 1 possibility. He's been on rehab since Aug. 15 and has put together four straight scoreless rehab appearances. If the Dodgers believe he's ready, this is exactly what the extra pitching slot is made for.

There's another complication: 40-man roster space is becoming a serious game of musical chairs. Smith and Treinen are both on the 60-day IL, meaning neither presently occupies a 40-man spot. Activating them requires corresponding 40-man moves. The Dodgers have several expendable or vulnerable names, including Ronan Kopp, Eliezer Alfonzo, Ryan Ward, and possibly one of the extra catchers, Rotverdt?

STAY TUNED.

Teoscar looked better... On Tuesday, I'd like to see this:

1. Freddie Freeman 1B

2. Shohei Ohtani DH

3. Will Smith C

4. Max Muncy 3B

5. Teoscar Hernandez RF (Yes, you read it right)

6. Tommy Edman 2B

7. Mookie Betts SS

8. Josue DePaula LF

9. Alek Thomas CF

WSJ on mark walter

I don't know if you can read this, but I posted a "gifted" article: https://www.wsj.com/finance/mark-walter-insurance-investments-b5f81bfb?st=4qT4NP&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

OKC Comets 2 – El Paso Chihuahuas (San Diego) 1 

LHSP Charlie Barnes started and completed 4.2 IP.  In the 1st inning, Barnes hit the first batter and allowed a one out single.  After a second out, Barnes gave up a RBI single, giving El Paso a 1-0 lead.  That would be all Barnes would allow. 

Barnes got the first two batters out in the 5th and RHRP Blake Treinen was summoned to relieve Barnes. Treinen got the 3rd out, came back out in the 6th and retired the side in order.  Barnes only threw 69 pitches, so this was a way of getting Treinen an up and down 2nd inning. 

At a time when Barnes and Treinen were pitching well against El Paso, allowing just one run, Nick Pivetta started for El Paso on a rehab assignment.  Pivetta completed 4.1 IP and threw 69 pitches and seems ready to join Joe Musgrove and return to the San Diego rotation next week.  

In the top of the 7th, RHRP Jonathan Hernández retired the side in order. 

In the bottom of the 7th, OKC tied it up.  With 2 outs, DH Ryan Fitzgerald doubled (28) and 1B Matt Gorski singled Fitzgerald home to tie it up. 

RHRP José Rodríguez walked two batters in the 8th but allowed no runs. RHRP Bobby Miller pitched a clean 9th. 

In the bottom of the 9th, LF Ryan Ward led off with a single.  CF Hyeseong Kim hit a F7, but Ward was still able to tag up and move to 2nd.  Fitzgerald was IBB, and Gorski stepped up and hit his 2nd RBI single of the game, for the walkoff victory. 

C Will Smith reportedly made his final rehab start and went 1-3. 

·      Hyeseong Kim – 2-3, 1 BB

·      Matt Gorski – 2-4, 2 RBI

·      Ryan Fitzgerald – 1-3, 1 BB, 1 run, double (28) 

Box Score 

Midland RockHounds (As) 13 - Tulsa Drillers 10 

LHSP Luke Fox was looking for a breakout year, but he came up injured again.  The frustration jumped even more as he could not get out of the 1st inning for this start.  The first three batters reached on 2 singles and a BB.  One run scored on a GIDP.  A BB, single, and 2 more BB ended the day for Fox.  He left the game down 3-0 and LHRP Evan Shaw came in to get the final out of the 1st inning. 

In the 2nd inning, CF Chris Newell drew a one out BB, and SS Elijah Hainline drew a 2-out BB.  C Frank Rodriguez singled to score Newell. 

Shaw gave the run back in the 2nd after a pair of singles, a SB, and forceout. RHP Roque Gutierrez always figured to be the bulk pitcher in this one.  He entered the 3rd in relief of Shaw, allowed a 2 out BB and double pushing the lead to 5-1. 

Gutierrez gave up a solo HR in the 4th. 

The score remained 6-1 going into the 7th.  Tulsa was gifted 5 runs by some very poor pitching to tie the game.  Rodriguez led off with a BB, and 2B Taylor Young singled.  With 2 outs, SIX consecutive Tulsa batters were issued free passes, the last five forced in a run each. 

Unfortunately, Gutierrez could not shut it down after Tulsa came back to tie it up.  A leadoff single, K, and 2 singles gave Midland the lead.  After a force out, the next batter hit a 2-run HR giving Midland 4 runs back after giving up 5.  

LHRP Myles Caba got two quick outs in the 8th.  A double, BB, WP, 2 run double, and RBI single gave Midland 3 additional runs. 

In the 9th inning, 1B Jake Gelof led off with his 29th HR.  Newell followed with a double.  3B Logan Wagner walked and SS Elijah Hainline had an RBI single.  After a 2nd out, RF Jose Izarra and 2B Taylor Young both produced RBI singles, before the 3rd out was recorded. 

·      Taylor Young – 2-5, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI

·      Josue De Paula – 2-6, 2 doubles (35)

·      Chris Newell – 2-3, 2 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI, double (8)

·      Jake Gelof – 1-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (29) 

Box Score 

Lansing Lugnuts (As) 9 – Great Lakes Loons 5 

The start of the game was delayed as was the Dodgers game.  Great Lakes plays in Midland, Michigan and that is 128 miles NW of Detroit. 

LHSP Jacob Frost ran into some trouble in the 1st.  The first pitch he threw was lined into LF for a single.  The next batter reached 1B on an error, scoring the baserunner and the batter reached 2nd.  A BB and K set up the next batter who hit a 3-run HR for a 4-0 lead. 

GL got one back in the home half of the 1st inning.  CF Charles Davalan led off with a single and scored on DH Eduardo Quintero’s double (27).  

In the 3rd, Frost gave up a one out double and a 2-run HR for a 6-1 lead.  RHRP Nicolas Cruz was summoned to relieve Frost, and he got the final two outs of the inning. 

Davalan got one of them back with his 24th HR in the 3rd. 

In the 5th, a leadoff single, a 2-out walk, and RBI single off Cruz to increase the lead. 

In the home half of the 5th, C Victor Rodrigues doubled to open the inning.  He moved to 3rd on 1B Anson Aroz’s single, and scored Davalan’s SF. 

In the 6th, the first two batters reached on a single and BB off Cruz.  Cruz struck out the next batter, and LHRP Justin Chambers was called in to relieve Cruz.  He gave up the RBI single and a walk before getting the final two outs.  

Trying to stay in the game, the Loons got the run back in the 6th.  Morales led off with a BB.  Morales moved to 2nd when Perez reached base on an error.  Martinus singled to score Morales. 

After pitching a scoreless 8th, LHRP Cody Morse returned to pitch the 9th.  Morse hit the 1st batter and then a single.  Morse struck out the 3rd batter before a BB and single scored another run. 

In the bottom of the 9th, Martinus hit a solo HR (6). 

·      Charles Davalan – 2-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (24)

·      Eduardo Quintero – 2-4, 1 RBI, double (27)

·      Mairo Martinus – 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (6) 

Box Score 

Ontario Tower Buzzers 6 – Stockton Ports (As) 1 

LHP Charlie West was the opener of a bullpen game.  He pitched a scoreless 1st inning, allowing 2 BB and striking out 2.  LHRP Ian May followed and pitched two scoreless frames.  He gave up 1 hit, 1 BB, and struck out 3. 

Ontario struck 1st in the 2nd inning.  RF Javier Herrera opened the inning with a BB.  After 2 outs, CF Abel Lorenzo doubled (4) to score Herrera. 

In the 3rd, LF Ching-Hsien Ko walked to start the inning.  With 2 outs, 3B Caleb Johnson singled with Ko moving to 3rd.  Ko scored when Herrera reached on a fielder’s choice.  

Ontario opened up the lead in the 5th inning.  Johnson led off with a single and stole 2nd. Herrera had a RBI single and moved to 2nd on a throwing error.  With one out, Lorenzo reached on a force out, and Herrera moved to 3rd.  SS Kellon Lindsey was HBP to load the bases.  Ko walked allowing Herrera to score.  2B Joendry Vargas followed with a 2-run single.  

West and May were recently signed as a draft pick or UDFA.  Then the season long relievers took over.  RHRP Jholbran Herder gave up a run on a triple and double in the 5th.  He did strike out the next two batters stranding the runner at 2nd.  

Okay, Ontario still had a 6-1 lead going into the 7th.  RHRP Mason Estrada relieved Herder in the 6th and got the final out.  But in the 7th, he got lit up. RHRP Brady Pendley (another UDFA) relieved Estrada and immediately gave up a pair of singles.  Pendley came back and struck out the last two batters in the inning. 

Pendley came back in the 8th.  He got the first batter out but walked the next two.  RHRP Jecsua Liborius relieved Pendley inheriting the two runners. A passed ball moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd.  Liborius walked a batter to load the bases.  That was followed by a HBP and SF giving Stockton the lead.  

Ontario clawed back in the 9th.  Herrera opened with a single and moved to 3rd on O’Neal’s double (13).  DH Bryan Gonzalez Garcia (BGG) singled to score Herrera with O’Neal to 3rd.  O’Neal scored on a groundout.  Lindsey then drew a BB and both BGG and Lindsey moved up 90 feet on a WP.  Ko was issued a IBB to load the bases.  Vargas drew a 16 pitch walk scoring BGG. Lindsey scored when 1B Oswaldo Osorio reached   

Liborius retired the side in order, two by K.  The win clinched the 2nd half championship for Ontario, putting them in the playoffs. 

·      Joendry Vargas – 3-5, 1 BB, 3 RBI

·      Caleb Johnson – 2-6, 1 run

·      Javier Herrera – 2-5, 1 BB, 3 runs, 2 RBI

·      Doubles – Abel Lorenzo (4), Connor O’Neal (13) 

Box Score

 Something Important

I am going to be launching the new website for my book The Mountain Mover shortly. Here is a blog, I think is very important. I hope you enjoy it:

Life Is Best Lived Through the Windshield

The rearview mirror is for learning, not living.

Imagine driving down the interstate at 70 miles an hour while staring continuously into the rearview mirror.

You might know exactly where you have been.

You might see every pothole you hit, every wrong turn you made, every idiot who cut you off, and every wreck you narrowly avoided.

But sooner or later, you're going to crash.

There is a reason the windshield is huge, and the rearview mirror is small.

Life is best lived through the windshield.

That doesn't mean the rearview mirror is useless. We need it. We should remember where we came from. We should learn from our mistakes. We should remember the people who hurt us, the decisions that cost us, and the roads we should never travel again.

But we aren't supposed to stare at it.

Too many people do.

They can tell you in extraordinary detail who wronged them 20 years ago. They remember the boss who didn't appreciate them, the spouse who betrayed them, the friend who stabbed them in the back, the business partner who cheated them, the institution that treated them unfairly, or the person who discriminated against them.

And sometimes they are absolutely right.

Sometimes people really are cheated.

Sometimes people really are discriminated against.

Sometimes the system really does fail.

Sometimes bad people do bad things to good people.

I know something about that.

But eventually there comes a point when the most important question is no longer:

"Why did this happen to me?"

The question becomes:

"What am I going to do now?"

That is where life changes.

You Can Be Wronged Without Becoming a Victim Forever

There is a strange trap in being wronged.

At first, you are genuinely the victim. Something happened to you that you didn't deserve and didn't choose.

But victimhood can gradually become an identity.

And once it becomes an identity, it can become comfortable.

If everything wrong with my life is somebody else's fault, then I don't have to change anything.

I don't have to risk anything.

I don't have to try again.

I don't have to admit my own mistakes.

I don't have to face the possibility of failing.

I can simply point backward.

Look what they did to me.

Look what happened to me.

Look how unfair life has been.

And maybe every word of it is true.

But here's the problem:

Being right about yesterday doesn't build tomorrow.

At some point, you have to take your hands off the rearview mirror and put them back on the steering wheel.

Fairness Is Not Guaranteed

One of the hardest lessons in life is that life isn't fair.

Never has been.

Never will be.

Good people sometimes lose.

Bad people sometimes win.

Hard-working people get passed over.

Lazy people sometimes get lucky.

People lie.

People cheat.

People betray.

Illness comes.

Businesses fail.

Marriages fall apart.

People we love die.

Plans collapse.

Dreams disappear.

There is no cosmic referee standing nearby blowing a whistle every time someone commits a foul.

You can spend years demanding that life explain itself.

It won't.

So what do you do?

You play the hand you were dealt.

You get up.

You step up.

You move forward.

Not because what happened was fair.

Not because the person who hurt you deserves forgiveness.

Not because the past didn't matter.

You move forward because your future matters more.

Don't Waste the Pain

If you have suffered, get something out of it.

That may sound harsh, but I believe it with everything in me.

Make the pain pay rent.

Let it teach you.

Let it toughen you.

Let it give you wisdom.

Let it make you more compassionate toward someone else who is walking through fire.

Let it teach you who to trust.

Let it teach you what matters.

Let it teach you what doesn't.

Pain is expensive.

Don't pay the tuition and refuse the education.

Some of the strongest people I know aren't strong because life treated them gently.

They're strong because life hit them square in the mouth and they decided to get back up.

Their scars don't tell them where they are going.

Their scars simply prove where they have been.

The Past Is a Teacher, Not a Landlord

There is nothing wrong with remembering.

There is something terribly wrong with allowing the past to occupy every room in your head.

Resentment is particularly expensive.

You replay the conversation.

You remember what they said.

You imagine what you should have said.

You rehearse the injustice over and over and over again.

Meanwhile, the person you're angry at may be sleeping like a baby.

Who is being punished?

You are.

Sometimes moving forward isn't about forgiving someone because they deserve it.

It's about refusing to let them keep living in your head rent-free.

The past should be a teacher.

Never let it become your landlord.

Your History Explains You. It Does Not Own You.

We all carry baggage.

Childhood.

Parents.

Relationships.

Failures.

Mistakes.

Regrets.

Losses.

Betrayals.

Some people carry much heavier bags than others.

I'm not suggesting everyone starts from the same place.

They don't.

I'm saying something different.

Where you started does not have to determine where you finish.

Your history may explain some things about you.

It doesn't have to imprison you.

The most dangerous sentence a person can say may be:

"That's just who I am because of what happened to me."

No.

That's who you have been.

The windshield is still in front of you.

Stop Rehearsing Yesterday

Some people have told the story of what happened to them so many times that the story has become their life.

They rehearse yesterday instead of creating tomorrow.

There is a time to tell the story.

There is a time to grieve.

There is a time to be angry.

There is a time to confront injustice.

There is even a time to fight.

But eventually there must also be a time to live.

You cannot change one second of yesterday.

Not one.

You cannot unsay something.

Undo something.

Unlose something.

Unhurt something.

Yesterday is closed for business.

But today?

Today still has inventory.

And tomorrow hasn't even opened yet.

Look Through the Windshield

Maybe your road ahead isn't easy.

Maybe there are curves.

Maybe there are mountains.

Maybe there is fog.

Maybe there's construction, potholes, and some clown riding your bumper.

Fine.

Drive anyway.

The windshield doesn't promise you a smooth road.

It only reminds you that there is still road ahead.

So glance at the rearview mirror once in a while.

Remember.

Learn.

Adjust.

Be grateful for how far you've come.

But then get your eyes back where they belong.

Forward.

Because life doesn't owe us an apology before we're allowed to start living again.

Whatever happened yesterday, you still have today.

And if you're fortunate, you have tomorrow.

Don't waste either one staring backward.

Remember the past. Don't rehearse it.

Learn from yesterday. Don't live there.

And above all:

Look back long enough to learn.

Look forward long enough to live.

The windshield is bigger for a reason.