All of the good feelings from Justin Turner’s two-run eighth inning go-ahead home run were immediately erased when Kenley Jansen chose a horribly bad time to have his first blown save of the season leading to the Dodger’s 7-6 loss to the Padres on Friday evening. The good thoughts were certainly there. Seeing some Justin Turner magic return to the club was a great feeling. Things felt like maybe they were turning around.
That came to a shattering halt when Melvin Upton Jr. hit that two-run walk-off home run. I still can’t believe how bad the Dodgers are this season. It doesn’t matter who they play or where, they will find some way to lose. You can rest assured it will be in excruciatingly aggravating fashion.
So today, the Dodgers have to figure out how to win a baseball game when Clayton Kershaw is not on the mound. It’s going to be tough, but I think the Dodgers can do it if they try hard enough. The frightening thought is that the Dodgers have games coming up against the Mets and Cubs. Better figure this out Dodgers.
Dodgers Lineup @ San Diego
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Thompson LF
Pederson CF
Puig RF
Grandal C
Wood P
Alex Wood-1-3 vs. Cesar Vargas-0-2
Game Time – 7:10 PM – TV-SNLA
Tonight the Dodgers will give the ball to Alex Wood in the second game of this three game series. The big problem with Wood is that he pitches so poorly on the road. His home/road splits are pretty insane. On the road Wood is 0-3 with an 8.05 ERA. At Dodger Stadium he is 1-0 with a 1.37 ERA. In his last start he pitched well, but he was at home. He allowed just one earned run on three hits over six innings in a no-decision versus the Cardinals. Overall Wood is 1-3 with a 4.17 ERA in 45.1 innings pitched. He’s whiffed 42 and walked 15 while allowing 8.7 hits per nine.
Wood faced the Padres back on April 29 and pitched very well, but again that was at Dodger Stadium. That was another no-decision for him but he allowed just one earned run on five hits across seven frames. He is 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA against the Padres and has pitched eight scoreless innings at Petco Park. The Padres are batting .300 (15 for 50) against Wood with an .804 OPS. Former Dodger Matt Kemp is 5 for 9 with a home run against Wood.
Wood vs. Padres
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Derek Norris | 12 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .182 | .250 | .273 | .523 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Kemp | 9 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .556 | .556 | 1.000 | 1.556 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Melvin Upton | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .500 | .571 | .833 | 1.405 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alexi Amarista | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Wil Myers | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Travis Jankowski | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jon Jay | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .667 | .500 | 1.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alexei Ramirez | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam Rosales | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cesar Vargas | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brad Hand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 55 | 50 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | .300 | .364 | .440 | .804 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
San Diego will counter with right hander Cesar Vargas. You should remember him because he shutout the Dodgers over 5.1 innings back on April 29 at Dodger Stadium. Ironically that game was against Wood. The bullpen blew that one, but the Dodger bats were unable to get anything off of the 24-year old Mexican hurler.
Vargas has been pitching well. He earned a no-decision in his last start against the Brewers allowing two earned runs on eight hits and striking out 7 over five frames. The problem with Vargas is he has yet to go past the sixth inning in any of his starts. His highest pitch count is 96 this season and the Padres seem to yank him when he reached around 85.
With that said he is still winless with an 0-2 record and a 3.55 ERA in five starts. This is his first taste of MLB action. The Padres signed him as a free agent but he was originally signed by the Yankees back in 2009. Here is what the Dodgers have done against him which has been a whole lot of nothing.
Vargas vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasiel Puig | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carl Crawford | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Wood | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 23 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | .211 | .348 | .263 | .611 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The best news the Dodgers got in Friday night’s loss was watching Adrian Gonzalez return to action. The veteran slugger is expected to be back in the starting lineup. Turner hit a home run last night so his reward is he is back to hitting third despite being barely above the mendoza line. Perhaps this is his turning point? Former Dodger Matt Kemp is back in the Padre’s lineup and third.
I can’t take anymore losing. Please win tonight Dodgers. We all need some good vibes.
Go Blue
Scott
Of course the Giants are winning against the Cubs, right now. The score is five to one, in the top of the seventh.
Maybe last night’s game, will still make a change , and help the team in a positive way. Just like you said last night, before they lost.
Scott, I am confused again with 11 files over the past 4 days, I am not sure what is where. Oh well.
Grandal is starting to wear on me. As a catcher and as a hitter. As a catcher he looks very average to me. leads the league in passed balls. Has thrown out 4 and had 14 steals agains him.
As a hitter, he is at .200 and falling.
Ellis cannot catch an entire season. Barnes is in AAA, waiting. Dodger really need to upgrade at catcher over the winter. But who and from where I do not know.
Post everywhere Roger. No limitations
Grandal has a .217 caught stealing %. That is a horrible stat. He can’t throw out base runners trying to steal.
He can’t hit or block pitches either
3 LOB already – making Vargas look like Cy Young – he has a WHIP of over 1.5 on the season
Wow – Wood looks like Koufax or something the 1st 2 times through the order
The Dodger hosts acted like this guy had pitched well. Hitters average against him is 300.
Dodger rick
Trayce heard our pleas.
It is amazing how much different he is the third time around.
He almost completely stops the first two times in the order.
And the third time around not even close. I guess that adds up, to long relief.
Mattingly sure didn’t use Libertore correctly last year. He had him face as many righties as lefties. And then sent him down to AAA.
He was good in spring training, and probably went down because he still has options.
Did everyone fall asleep tonight?
Or just our hitters? I don’t often post during games because the Dodgers are paying guys to comment and most of them know more about it than I do…for one thing, they can actually SEE the game!
‘Pen has been lights out tonight
They have actually. I am pleasantly surprised
Until they walked in the winning run, what a disaster this team is
Well, that extra reliever helped out a lot.
To lose 3 of 4 to the Angels and 2 in a row to the Pads – unless Kershaw pitches, they lose. (At least lately).
Rock bottom. Tsao can walk back…to wherever the hell FAZ dug him up.
Neddy Jr is FELONY STUPID. As a GM I would NEVER call up a RP with a WHIP higher than 1.00. Tsao had a WHIP of 1.35 at AAA. There are 3 other RPs at AAA that have a WHIP lower than 1.00. NEDDY Jr. DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE ABOUT PLAYERS. Thus why I said the other day that Tsao was a mistake. Watching the LAD is becoming a big mistake.
The mistake lies with Roberts using him in this situation.
4.5 games back.