You know I joke around a lot about the Dodgers sucking for comedic effect. Sometimes it holds true. You see when a supposed World Series caliber team making a playoff push in September gives up ten runs to the Cincinnati Reds, one of the worst teams in baseball then you have to wonder here. I didn’t see the game today as I was at work, but I’m glad I missed it honestly. Dodger starter Alex Wood got bombed for seven runs (six earned) on eight hits over 3.2 innings. He gave up four runs in the bottom of the first ad things went sour from there. The bullpen wasn’t much help either.
The Dodger bats tried to get the team back in the game. Chris Taylor and Yasmani Grandal both homered. Matt Kemp drove in a pair of runs but it wasn’t enough. Why Wood was allowed to stay in until the fourth inning when it was clear that he didn’t have anything today is beyond my comprehension. Scooter Gennett took the Dodgers to school with a 4 for 5 performance. Gennett drove in three and scored twice. The Reds had 14 hits today off Dodger pitching. Great American ballpark is like the Coors Field of sea level. Remember when the Reds swept the Dodgers in a four game series earlier in the season? Yeah that was the lowest point of the year for the Dodgers. The boys in blue are now 0-5 against Cincy this year. Of course the Dodgers had ample opportunities to take control of this game believe it or not. Even though they were 4 for 13 with runners in scoring position, they still left nine runners on base and left the bases loaded in the top of the first inning without scoring.
Dodgers 6 9 1
Reds 10 14 1
WP-Hughes-4-3
LP-Wood-8-7
HR-Taylor-16-Grandal-23-Suarez-32
It’s not going to happen this year folks, I’m sorry to say. With only 18 games remaining it is unlikely the Dodgers are just going to catch fire here. There was a point in this afternoon’s match that personifies this frustrating season perfectly. The Dodgers were down 10-6 in the top of the seventh inning. They had the bases loaded and Yasiel Puig at the plate against Cincy hurler Jared Hughes. Puig scorched a screaming liner to third, and wouldn’t you know it? Well you can guess what happened, but just watch the video below. That is the Dodger’s 2018 season in a nutshell there folks.
The Dodgers fall to 78-66 and are now one game behind Colorado in the NL West. The Rockies are currently beating the Dbacks, and the Cardinals are losing to the Pirates as well. The Dodgers could find themselves 1.5 games back in the NL West again. Hopefully they stay one game back in the Wild Card race provided the Cards lose. (please lose Cardinals)The Dodgers will try and right the ship Tuesday in the second game of the three game series. The Dodgers will give the ball to Hyun-jin Ryu, while the Reds will counter with Luis Castillo. First pitch is slated for 3:40 PM PST.
Lineup choices fail to produce again.
This does not look good for the Dodgers. Who cares what they do against the Rocks and Snakes, if they cannot beat the Mets or Reds.
Another starter cannot give an honest 6-7 innings. Madson is a joke.
Cannot win a World Series with this team.
0-5 against the Reds. They win 3 of those games they would be up 1.5 instead of behind. What I cannot understand is that Roberts left Wood out there to get hammered. You are in a pennant race fore Christ sake. You cut the deficit to 2 and then allow the guy to give that away. They are going with a 6 man rotation and they pushed Kershaw back so he can start the first game in St. Louis. Asinine. They need all the wins they can get and whatever good juju came out of the win Sunday gets flushed down the drain by Roberts asinine managing. Puig had a pivotal at bat with the bags juiced. He just missed clearing the bases with a scorching drive down the left field line that was foul by inches. Then he hit a screamer to 3rd that resulted in a DP. Leaving the bases juiced in the first did not help either. Venditte was good out of the pen, Madson, not so much. Hopefully Ryu can pitch a good game and get them back in the win column and Stripling the same. The offense needs to up its game. Machado needs to get really hot, I mean show some of that power they traded for, so far, he has been nothing more than so so. Now you know why I wanted them to go after Gennett rather than Dozier. He would have cost more, but is a much better hitter. All 3 of the players the Dodgers traded to the Reds in the 3 team trade with the White Sox are on the Reds active roster. Dodgers need the D-Backs to wear out the Rockies pitching staff, something they did not do tonight.
Remind me again why we traded Jose Peraza and went with guys like Kendrick and Forsythe?
YF
Who knows, but choices they made out of spring training, and choices they have made on this roster, don’t make sense.
They have players on this current roster, that would make it difference, yet they still sit.
And they don’t really look at the numbers, or they would have a better line up of players that don’t try to hit the ball out, in every high leverage situation.
That is why all these solo HRs don’t mean as much, especially with of lot of players in this line up, that hit a lot of HRs, because much of these players don’t hit consistently for months at a time.
And these type of players have terrible numbers when runners are on base, or in scoring position.
And it is the same players, year after year!
Front office just loves to look at those spreadsheets. Hey see what these old guys have done in the past, and pick them up… One, because they are cheap, two, because they dream that these old farts can resurrect their careers, if given a chance.
Result, they lose prospects, and then are stuck with a piece of junk.
Diss the Spreadsheets, for cryin’ out loud. Promote from within, instead of letting these prospects wilt away in the minors or lose them through a rediculous trade. These kids want to play, and by denying them a chance just puts that negative vibe in their heads that they are not worthy of playing ib the big show. They have nightmares every nite, asking themselves, “What the heck I have to do to get the chance? My numbers are up, yet the FO picks up a worthless band-aid of a player. What is up with that?”
What ever Honeycutt supposedly found in Madson’s delivery and mechanics, obviously did not help. Dave’s all righty and all lefty lineups are total flops. Barnes should not play a single game the rest of the season. They have two other right handed hitting catchers on the roster, both with some MLB experience, use them you moron! Muncy is better against LHP than right, Puig and Kemp kill RHP. They patched the bull pen, they did not fix it. I think one of the reasons Wood was so bad last night is this flip flopping starters crap. If Kershaw had pitched that game, they still have him for a game against the Cardinals. I thought the plan was to win the division, not frippen tip toe through the remaining schedule hoping that the offense suddenly has an epitome and wakes up. This is not a championship caliber team, and I have said this since spring training, hell, I said it last winter when they did not add anything of value seemingly in their trades and free agent signings. Matt Kemp is the only thing they got this winter that has contributed a thing. Otherwise it is the same old mediocre BS FAZ has been shoveling since he got here. They knew Corey was not right, they knew that in the spring, but they waited until July to do anything to try and fix it. Too little too late. I said at the deadline that they should have anted up and went after Gennett, far better option than Dozier. And then we find out yesterday, that Dozier has had a bad wheel all year. No wonder he is bottoming out right when they need him to be playing at a high level. Muncy has been great, but pitchers were bound to catch up with him sooner or later. And I do not care that the Dodgers lead the NL in homers, when 60 percent of those shots result in a single run. I would rather they led the league in BA with runners in scoring position. Kemp, Machado, Turner, Bellinger, and Puig, should not be on the bench any one of the remaining 18 games. Rotate the rest of the slugs, and leave the real hitters out there. Go with your best 5 starting pitchers the rest of the way, none of this spot starting crap. Madson should not pitch in another game the rest of the way, Venditte has been better than he is. If they want to win this thing, they are going to have to do it themselves. They need a long winning streak, 8 to 10 games. Now is as good a time as any to get it done. The west re-tooled, the Dodgers did not, and therein is the big rub….no pushovers in this division
We should have been pitching Venditte all year. Why pick him up if you’re not going to use him. Oh wait … that’s the FBZ rotisserie MO.
Dodgers closed sign up. Rams open sign up.
What a fuggin blue mess the Dodgers are. This team really screwed the pooch, repeatedly this season, toss that poor dog some lotion, have mercy.
Yes, Roberts is certainly a fuggin disaster. The FO is certainly a fuggin disaster.
What a large pile of Forshyte we must endure this season.
Any good Ram blogs that can be recommended.
Todays line up…Pederson LF, Muncy 2B, Machado 3B, Bellinger 1B, Grandal C, Verdugo CF, Taylor SS, Puig RF, Ryu P…….no Kemp, no Turner, RHP going for the Reds. Only Verdugo not in double figures in HR’s. Reds have 4 players in todays lineup who have 10 or more. Peraza, Schebler, Gennett and Suarez.
Bear
The Dodgers have played 145 games and 136 of them had different lineups. I always thought that you went with what works? Apparently the manager or the FO does not know what works so that explains why the lineups change just about every game. If there is a reason why don’t we know what it is? I personally blame the manager, DUMMY. I might be wrong but that is what it appears to be. If some don’t like what I think, TOO BAD. I am sure this accounts for several losses and this doesn’t even count Kike pitching or other stupid mistakes.