The Dodgers threw away a great pitching performance from Hyun-Jin Ryu in the first game of the Giants series and they lost 2-1. Clayton Kershaw delivered a seven inning gem and the Dodgers scratched out a 2-1 win for themselves.
Tonight’s game featured a very capable Alex Wood against Johnny Cueto, who always gives the Dodgers trouble, so true to form, this series between the California rivals was shaping up to be won by the team who makes the least mistakes and wants it more.
Both pitchers held the opposing team scoreless through the first four innings. The other news flash was Alex Wood was throwing a no-hitter through those four. And then it was five.
In the sixth, Corey Seager launched a huge solo home run to center field. The measurement was 463 feet.
That opened the gates. Justin Turner singled and Yasmani Grandal doubled him to third. Yasiel Puig took avery good walk to load the bases. Chase Utley blooped a single to pick up an RBI and reload the bases.
Andrew Toles hit a DP ball to short, but his speed kept him safe, and the third run of the inning crossed the plate. The Dodgers handed the ball to No-hit Wood with a shiny new 3-0 lead.
One too many folks must have said “No hitter” (including Joe Davis) because Drew Stubbs led off the sixth with a base hit. Wood was still good. That was all they got.
With the no-hitter no longer an option, Sergio Romo took over in the seventh. Nothing was broken, but the formula and chart-driven Dodgers pulled Wood who had dominated the Giants all night, and brought in a gift. Romo gave up a single and then a two run home run to turn the game on its head, and let the Giants back in.
In the 8th, Pedro Baez gave up a solo home run that tied the game. An inning later, the Dodgers and Giants went to extra innings.
Soon the Giants had bases loaded and no out against Ross Stripling. Hunter Pence got the game-winning hit, but Dave Roberts and his quick yank of Wood lost the game.
Streaking: Justin Turner has a 12-game hitting streak.
Alex Wood went 6 innings with 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk and 5 Ks
Tomorrow they play an afternoon game. I can’t wait.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
Follow Me:
Interesting for Roberts to question Grandal’s pitch-calling in that final AB. I surely thought Grandal’s calling towards the end of the game (a lot of early count FB) was odd.
Barnes tomorrow? Maybe?
Well, he was too damn predictable. It is a wonder Pence did not hit one of those pitches too the moon. His call for a high fastball to Morse was very questionable. Guy had been out of the majors over a year and they gave him a cookie. Romo does not look all that great either. Baez had been nails up until the dinger. Wood deserved better and they should have won these first 3 games instead of being down 2-1. This is not last years team that’s for sure. But SF has become a den of horrors over the last few years.
Let’s face it, these really are your Los Angeles Dodgers. The team is woefully underachieving. So much so, that this year, all the tell tale signs of poor decision making by FAZ will be coming home to roost. The only upgrade the team has made is Logan Forsyth and he’s hurt. Pitching has crumbled already. Hitting is closely on its tail. All the depth that we supposedly have is smoke and mirrors. Good trick. Almost fooled me last year, but it’s hard to believe in this team. Did Badger say boring?
This one is on Roberts and Honeycutt. No way around it, and I’ve been one of their biggest supporters. He’s showing some very disturbing Mattingly-like trends and vibes.
Tomorrow’s a new day but Roberts need to get over his sophomore jinx real fast. I have faith but the pressure is on.
You can’t question Robert’s decision making because he doesn’t make decisions, he just implements them…
Great. Then I question his decision to not make any decisions and his decision to implement the decisions that he is implementing.
And I question my decision to question Robert’s decision not to make any decisions.
Too bad we couldn’t afford to resign Joe Blanton. Guess we couldn’t afford $4MM after signing Hill. Shades of McCourt!!!
Fangraphs has a nice new write up on Bellinger. I actually managed to understand 14% of the big words used. Just kidding, it’s really a nice informative article. I won’t post the link as that will trap this post in moderation purgatory. You can find it easily enough – it’s on the front page of http://www.fangraphs.com
Yeah, the strikeout rate in the minors is a genuine concern. Major League pitchers WILL take advantage of that. Is he another Pederson? The short answer is yes. And I believe it’s because we are teaching our young hitters it’s ok to swing out of your shoes no matter the count or the situation. I think it’s an organizational mistake, but it is what it is.
He’ll be back in the minors soon, Badger, possibly with Toles.
I agree that is where he should be Jeff, but his approach at the plate is concerning to me. He looks like Tiger Woods with a driver in his hands. Beautiful swing, but the ball here isn’t on a tee.
Badger
It is still pretty early to make a judgement, on Bellinger.
But if he isn’t able to make that adjustment, we would have to wonder, if we are teaching our young players, the right way.
I know that Bellinger didn’t swing like that, until about a year, or two ago.
And he was hitting in the 300s, before his swing was changed, but we are only talking about 8 at bats, or more, so it is to early to make any judgement.
The Astros have brought up young players, that didn’t look really good early, but after there players, were allowed to get plenty of at bats, and start more games, they did come around, so it is to early.
I remember when Springer first came up, he looked terrible, and he is a really good athlete, and he is a very good player now.
And even the great player Trout, didn’t look good, when he was first brought up.
Baseball is not a 6 inning game. Wood deserved to win? He pitched his 2/3 very effectively. Very disappointing outcome.
SF is better than they’ve played. Are we? I keep saying yes, but then I tell myself – “you gonna believe you or your lying eyes?”
Badger
Wood has been a really good pitcher, the first two times, through the order.
But it almost always seems, that Wood is immediately hit hard, the moment he faces the top of the order, the third time through.
And this has happened a lot, since Wood has been with the team, so I can’t be upset with Roberts, about that.
I love this title! The Dodgers threw it away. Oh well. Great performance by Wood.
We all thought the big three were kid K, Maeda, and Hill. It’s shaping into kid K, McC, and Wood….so far.
Should be fun with Urias today. Maybe one of our corner infielders will finally hit a HR.
We will start winning only if Agone gets his mojo back. These slumps are big indicators of how mental the game really is. This team has been under the spell of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins for too long.
SJH. One strange dude. I prefer Fogerty’s version of that song. But your point is made.
SJH is the definitive version. Fogerty is nothing but derivative. Distinctive voice, though.
We are a derivative driven culture. Everywhere I look I see differential quotients.
I’m a Creedence fan. Went to see them several times.
Michael
First I got ready for bed after we scored the three runs, and then I checked my phone, and saw that Romo gave up a two run HR to the rookie, and then later I saw Baez gave up a HR, to Moore.
After that I didn’t turn my TV back on, because I correctly feared, that this game was over.
I agree with most everything you said, except that this isn’t like last year’s, team.
Because what happened in this game, sounds exactly what happened last year, in that early four game series we had, against the Giants, at AT&T, last year.
Remember Stripling had a no hitter, up to the seventh or eighth inning, in that one game, and then Hatcher came in, and lost the lead, and the game.
In this series last year, Baez also gave up a HR, that cost us the lead, or the game.
And in the fourth game of that series, Kenley blew a save.
But like you Michael, I don’t understand why Baez continually, gives up so many HRs, every year.
Especially when we know a hitter is only up to the plate, to get a good pitch, to hit it out.
It is like Baez never learns.
A hitter like that, should be actually easier to get out, because they are going to be so agressive.
I didn’t see what Grandal or Baez did, but since Baez has continued to do this, since his first year, I don’t know why we can’t find someone better, to get the ball to, late in games.
And by now like you said Michael, why don’t they know how to pitch to a hitter, like Moore.
And because what happened in this series last year, Roberts did eventually start trying other pitchers to get the ball to, and that is when Roberts finally figured out, that Blanton, was the right guy, to get the ball too, so give him time to adjust again.
And Roberts is different from Mattingly, because Mattingly was still making the same mistakes, after three years, and he would take to long, to make changes.
But since Romo has pitched for this team, I have noticed that he has came in, and allowed his first batter, to get on base, with a walk, or a hit.
And that can’t happen so much, and how did he allow a rookie to hit the ball out?
He is suppose to be a veteran pitcher, so I agree with you about Romo too.
And what some people don’t understand, is that last year are team, was pretty lucky, to get as far as they went.
And if we didn’t have the young pitchers to go to, and the players didn’t step up, and provide a good offense, after Kershaw went out, things could have turned out, a lot different last year.
We didn’t go that far, because of the way the front office set up our pitching rotation, we went that far, inspite, of that pitching rotation.
It sure gets old that all these other teams are beating up on the Giants, and we can’t even win a series against them, at AT&T.
This was just another game, that was thrown away, and I am so glad, I didn’t have to watch this, this time.
And I don’t think Blanton would be our answer either, because last time I saw, he wasn’t doing great either.
I wish the front office would have took a chance, on the pitcher the Rockies now have as their closer, because he was once a very good closer, and he would have been a really good set up guy.
But our front office wouldn’t even spend the extra money, to get Blanton, but they need to learn, sometimes you need to pay a little more, to get premium help, and what is a extra one or two million dollars, for a big market team, like the Dodgers.
Well MJ, I watched the entire game. Wood did a great job. He pitched a 1 hitter through 6 and pretty much was never in trouble at all. In the 7th, Romo does what he does best. He lets guys get on base and rarely has a clean inning. The ball Arroyo hit out was a hanger right over the middle of the plate and to his credit, he did not miss it. Baez has been really good since he came back off the disabled list. I put that HR on terrible pitch calling by Grandal. Morse had been out of the majors since last year, and was in the minors at AAA. He has always had power, and for about a day he was a Dodger at one time acquired in the big trade with the Braves and Marlins, and Joe Davis was totally wrong when he said Morse was flipped for Mat Latos, Latos and he came over from the Marlins as part of that 12 player trade, which also landed LA Bronson Arroyo, who never pitched an inning and was on the DL until the Dodgers released him. Morse was flipped to Pittsburgh for Jose Tabata. Any way, they got 2 strikes on Morse and Grandal kept wanting the pitch to be a high fast ball. So that’s where that pitch was and it was right where Morse could extend his arms and kill the damn thing. Bad pitch calling. Stripling lost the game because he could not get anyone out in the 10th, and if you load the bases with nobody out, you usually lose. Bad pitch calling again by Grandal because Pence got 6 or 7 straight high fast balls and there was a 3-2 count, so Stripling had to throw a strike and fly ball, ballgame.
Michael
I remember all of those transactions.
I know Grandal isn’t your favorite player, but his pitch calling, has been questioned by others, and if that is what Grandal called for, he is part of the problem too.
But Baez gave up a HR last year, in this same series, that cost us a game too.
And he has been doing this, for three years now.
He gave up more HRs then he should last year, and he hasn’t been back, that long, to pitch that many innings, to tell if he is good.
Jeff
Agone is still hurting.
And you could tell he was still hurting, with the way he swung the bat yesterday.
Until he gets better, I wouldn’t expect much.
Still the ardent chauvinist for Agon, I see.
Jonah
That is just a fact.
He is probably not going to hit better, until he feels better.
Gonzalez is a massive worry.
Two pop-ups, a strikeout and a walk. He’s a virtual lock for one or two pop-ups a game.
It’s pathetic.
It’s either father time or injury.
Let’s hope it’s the latter, but he won’t heal playing ball. Or will he?
Jeff and Bluto,
Do you guys remember how bad Turner was last year, for the first three months, of the season?
Personally I think Agone needs to go on the DL, until he is better, but who is going to step up for him, is the issue.
And at this point in the season, I am sure, that no one will say Scotty, can fill in for Agone.
Hi MJ,
I thought about this too. The numbers are shockingly similar.
Let’s hope it’s that.
Who doesn’t like the classics, from CCR?
About Hill, his hand or fingers are suppose to be ok now, and one of the announcers asked Nomar, if he felt more hopeful, about Hill’s situation.
And Nomar said no, how could he feel hopeful, until Hill pitches a few games in the minors, and sees if his hand will hold up, and he won’t get a bad, blister.
This is why I wish Nomar was still with Orel and Joe, in the Dodger’s Broadcasts, because Nomar doesn’t make excuses, he says, what is on his mind.
Orel tends to try to make everything, in a positive note.
Orel tends to try to make everything, in a positive note.
The road to job retention and promotion, a house man.
Jonah
I am not sure he works for the Dodgers, on those broadcasts.
But he does want to be on good terms with them, for sure.
Jonah
How are you feeling?
Are you getting sick of having to put all of those medicines, in your eyes yet?
That can be a pain, but not literally.
Jonah
What did you think about Bellinger and his at bats?
There’s a new thread, MJ
Jonah
Thanks just got off my exercise bike, not to long ago.