Had a great wedding yesterday. A photo of my son giving the couple their vows is below.
We were staying at the hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) in Ft Wayne, Indiana, which overlooked the Tin Caps field. (Padres A+ Affiliate). I am most certainly staying here next year for the six-game series with the Loons! Downtown Ft Wayne is beautiful, not sketchy, and has no homeless camps. My daughter lives about 12 minutes away. My son-in-law grew up with Zach McKinstry and played baseball with him until college.
However, this is about the Dodgers Offense… or I should say, The Lack Thereof! Of course, they scored eight runs on Sunday as they beat the Padres and slid back into first place in the NL West, but scoring has been down for them lately. Many fans want them to fire Robert Van Scoyoc because, well, he seems to be the architect of the “Three Outcomes” offense, and they dislike it. In case you care, I think RVS’s offensive approach is just fine, but what I think has been happening is that the Dodgers are too dependent on analytics for their at-bats. Let me explain:
I will start with this caveat: I cannot prove any of this. So… there is that! BUT, here is what I think is happening: For the past several years, the Dodgers Analytics Department located deep in the Bowels of Dodger Stadium has been developing data on pitchers and hitters, but especially pitchers, which tells them what pitchers proclivities are in numerous situations, and what pitch they are most likely to throw in the following situations:
- RISP, with a 1-1 count;
- RISP with a 2-1 count;
- RISP with a 1-2 count;
- RISP with a 2-2 count;
- First pitch with the lead;
- First pitch being behind;
- Bases-loaded;
And on and on. I think the Dodgers had a good idea of what pitch was likely in certain situations… UNTIL the other teams started getting wise. Then… they started changing it up so that the analytics were useless. Then, the pitch the Dodger batters were looking for was dramatically different. I think it started mid-season, and the Dodger hitters are having to change their approach. They no longer have a good idea of what is coming in most situations. The hitters are having to adjust. Baseball is a game of adjustments, and we all know how much Andrew Friedman likes analytics… and they are wonderful… until the other teams figure out what you are doing and stop doing what they do. I think that is where we are, and the Dodgers are now having to adapt.
This may take a little time, but the offense will be back! You can count on it. It was nice to see Dalton Rushing get a nice three-run bomb – he is still a better option than Barnes… even defensively!
X-CITES
Discussion (15)
Disagree, not disagreeable
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Blake Snell is expected to start on Friday vs #DBacks. Snell was placed on Paternity List after his last start in San Diego. Snell’s wife gave birth to their second child. #Dodgers
Yes, congrats on the nuptials!
I can’t imagine my daughter would ever accord one of her brothers such an honor. The father of the bride must have done something right.
But back to the Dodgers….
Did Emmit Sheehan just produce the best performance by any Dodgers starter this season? I think so. Seven shutout innings with 10 Ks and only one walk and two hits. Yes, he got a little help from the defense… but he was dominant. Sheehan threw 96 pitches, and in the olden days he’d have probably notched the shutout?
If he keeps this up, he might push on the big-bucks stars out of the playoff rotation. I’m rooting for him.
Remember when Sheehan first came up? He was one of the “other” rookie pitchers after budding ace Bobby Miller. Now, of course, we’re hoping that Miller might succeed as a reliever.
Next season, Stone, River Ryan, Frasso and Gonsolin should be in the SP mix, and let’s hope Sasaki returns to form. And will Jackson Ferris be ready?
Congrats Mark to you and your family.
Bye, Bye Buddy.
Hello Kike!
I was listening to MLB Radio today and the way they talked Cedric Mullins is a disaster in CF. I have not looked it up, but he is allegedly -17 DRS. Yikes. They are allegedly moving him to LF. Mullins would have done the Dodgers no good, and the Mets traded three prospects for him.
Someone asked why the Dodgers did not trade for Ramón Laureano (who is RH – and the Dodgers did not need another RH bat). Well,the Padres traded 6 Prospects for him and O’Hearn. This is his career year, and he will be 32 next year. I think the Dodgers realize that their stash of prospects will start to pay off as Freeman, Betts, Smith, and Ohtani age.
10:10 PM ET
Reds (68-63)
Dodgers (74-57)
SP Hunter Greene R
5-3 2.63 ERA
SP Emmet Sheehan R
4-2 4.17 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
RF T. Hernandez R
3B A. Freeland S
LF M. Conforto L
CF Andy Pages R
2B Miguel Rojas R
77° Wind 9 mph Out
whoooaa! no need for that! can’t stand the guy, but not like that. and yes cronenworth. 9 out of of 13? pretty good season series huh? And conforto still there! …. please no buddy miller tonight!…. Freeland is damn sure a keeper!…. Dalton seems to be getting a rhythm at the plate! With Will struggling, maybe a little more playing time?…. Finally , what’s wrong with the dodgers bats? I don’t think 2or 3 of them are using bats when they hit!!!!!
Some idiot in SD called Tanner Scott a traitor, and he responded, “How can I be a traitor? I was traded here and only stayed two months?”
Not only is that team full of idiots, but the city is also full of brainless shit!
The famed Socratic Philosopher Yogi Berra was purported to have said “Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.” Me thinks the scholar was onto something. Let us assume there’s a contingent of sports psychologists hard at work to assist the players as they deal with the subjective challenges thrust upon them during the grueling marathon that is a major league baseball season. I recall reading somewhere that Mookie has had middle of the night self doubts whisper to him that he may never get another hit! Damn, our heroes are at times just like the rest of us mere mortals as they go about the business of performing their insanely difficult craft.
Psychological assessment and application of the latest research on performance is a subset of the overall analytics of the team’s approach and I’ll bet that AF et al are way ahead of the rest of the pack. The Dodger brain trust is something to behold: or as my grandfather might say if he was still around: “they are really good at picking the fly shit out of the pepper shaker.” GO DODGERS!!!
Sand Dogs announcers begrudgingly said I guess when you hit four homers, you don’t need to play small ball. Yep!
Freeland’s Off/Deff play, Rushing’s overall play and spirit and Pages’ new power are bringing new life to the team
Dave Roberts said Max Muncy will be facing pitchers this week at Dodger Stadium.
Mazel tov!
Enough with batting Smith third, he’s not just in a slump, I think his hitting is already coming back down to Earth, I hope I’m wrong, as has happened many times, but I doubt Will Smith will finish the season batting 300. Besides the fact that he’s not a force at the plate, don’t bat him third anymore, leave him at sixth, but of course there’s also the problem of who to put in that spot?
A question: How many times did Othani feel the pressure of hitting and pitching in a previous season? With the Angels, I don’t think he ever had that pressure since he never made the playoffs, so I don’t think he ever had it, or at least that’s what I think.
And last season he didn’t pitch, he just hit, plus the Dodgers were the leader practically the whole season, at least that’s what I remember, so he never really had a strong pressure
And this season after so many injuries and slumps, plus being in the middle of a close race for the lead with the San Diego Idiots, I think he’s feeling the real pressure and maybe it’s affecting him.
Are we really sure that Othani can handle the pressure of playing for the Dodgers?
Max has been missed. It’s great to read that he’s expected back sooner than initially expected.
The lineup in a few weeks…
Shohei DH (NL-leading 50+ bombs and 1.000+ OPS and scoring nearly a run per game)
Mookie SS (improving–still clutch)
Freddie 1B (leading the NL in BA)
Will C (leading NL in OBP)
Max 3B (.950+ OPS since the new spectacles)
Teo RF (25 + HRs)
Pages CF (25+ HRs)
Edman 2B (another late-season surge?)
Kim/Call LF (sparkplugs at second lead-off)
Bench: Rushing, Kike, Rojas
Before analytics they had scouting to try and come up with the same answers. We all remember Gibson knowing what pitch was coming in that WS game. So sure things may be more exact, but I don’t think things have changed that much. And certainly teams didn’t just get smart this year. Why couldn’t they figure it out last year? So I don’t agree all that much with your premise.
For me I feel much of ‘slumps’ is the result of guys playing with injuries. Sure Conforto isn’t in a slump, he just sucks. But Mookie with his illness and broken toe, Freddie playing with 2 or 3 injuries, Teo still with groin issues. Kike and Edmond and Kim ‘slumped’ for a month or so before they went on IL.
OK just my opinion