The final game of the Freeway Series of LA vs OC (who think they’re LA), saw Ross Stripling take the mound for the Dodgers, trying to earn a split. The only thing that split was the Dodgers’ chances for a win.
1st inning
Dodgers
Chase Utley got on with a bunt single and eventually got came around to score, courtesy of two wild pitches.
Dodgers 1-0
Angels
Stripling hands one back. Mike Trout hit an RBI single to even the score 1-1.
2nd inning Tie score 1-1
Dodgers
Two on and two out for Howie Kendrick. Stand up triple past a diving Calhoun.
Score two! 3-1
3rd inning Dodgers 3-1
Angels
Stripling gives another run back. However, if you’re gonna give up a homer to Mike Trout – and who isn’t – make sure you give it up with nobody on base. 3-2
5th inning Dodgers 3-2
Dodgers
Utley and Turner on with no out.
Corey Seager sac flied Utley to third.
Kendrick walked to load the bases with one out.
Joc Pederson got an RBI on a little force play. 4-2
Angels
Stripling pitch watch: 66 pitches, 2 runs
He went to bases loaded for Albert Pujols. Was it time to give another run back?
He struck out Pujols and then hit C.J. Cron to bring in a run. 4-3
Chris Hatcher – who had no business being there – was brought in and immediately gave up a double. Angels 5-4.
6th inning Angels 5-4
Hatcher still in, so naturally, home run, Angels. 6-4.
Joe Blanton came in to face Mike Trout. Force play with an RBI. 7-4
7th inning. Angels 7-4
Dodgers
Awful quiet.
8th inning Angels 7-4
Dodgers
More nothing
Angels
Chin-hui Tsao came in.
1,2,3 inning.
9th inning Angels 7-4
Dodgers haven’t had a hit since the fifth inning.
Yasiel Puig – rung up on a pitch that was a strike on the little pitch tracker box. Looked outside to me.
Carl Crawford – fly out
Chase Utley – 4-3.
Dodgers lose 7-4
Ross Stripling did the same thing that we saw him do against the Cardinals – every time the Dodgers scored, he would go out there and give the runs right back. He surrendered 5 and the Dodgers were held to 4 runs, so Ross gave back enough to not win.
Last night I mentioned the futility of the Dodgers batting Justin Turner second and using Carl Crawford as the DH. Turner went 1 for 4, and CC was an even more worthless 0 for 4.
It’s getting harder for this eternally optimistic Dodgers fan to remain so.
Ross Stripling L (1-3) went just 4 2/3 innings with 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, 3 Ks, 1 home run. ERA 4.85
Triple: Howie Kendrick
Team with RISP: 2 for 8 Nuff said.
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.
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Nice pitching staff these idiots assembled. Just got torched by one of the worst hitting teams in the AL (except when Kershw pitched) of course. How much rope Chris Hatcher gets is beyond me. FAZ determiend to ride one of their brilliant acquisitions to the grave.
As the Dodger Oracle sez, I’d STILL rather have Dee Gordon than Chris Hatcher. Hatcher and Baez are two bulls who bring their own china shop with them.
I don’t know if the Angels are the worst hitting team in the AL but the first four guys in their lineup are pretty tough.
Snider the Angels as a team, are hitting 300 in the month of May.
They had lost six straight games, and then swept the Mariners in a three game series, right before they played the Dodgers.
Although the LAD have played less games in May than SFG they have scored more runs than the gnats. Maybe signing good starting pitching and creating a good bullpen is an important part of a winning plan. SFG has the lowest ERA in MLB this month. Don’t forget clutch hitting and resulting never pee your pants mentality that the LAD do not have. The LAD clubhouse personnel know who pees their pants and so do we when we we see the LOB.
BOB the Giants have been scoring runs with HRs, and winning games, with HRs, but like you have said, the Giants haven’t been scoring a lot of runs.
Remember when the Dodgers hit a lot of those HRs, in the first month of the season last year? It is hard to keep winning games, with just HRs. Because it is hard to hit HRs, against good pitching,
It’s May. The teams that I thought were a bit better than us are playing that way. Will that continue? I don’t know. My guess is – well, yeah, it will.
Maybe the hitting will improve, or maybe it won’t. The pitching is pretty much doing exactly what I thought they would do. We have one horse, a couple of ponies and a mule or two. They might get better but I don’t see them getting good.
It’s a long way to the deadline. I don’t believe there will be any trades that will dramatically change anything. We might move a few prospects that are not in our top 10, but only for more of what it is these guys seem to like – which will likely result in more of the same. We are going to win half our games until we start hitting, then we can win 55% of them. As is, I don’t see us beatng the better clubs. And at this point I feel I’m just repeating myself. It looks kinda like I thought it might.
We are packing up to head to Colorado for a few days. I’ll check in later. Try to think the positive thoughts. It’s just baseball. There are a lot more important things going on around us.
Badger I hope your trip is going to be ok. Have a safe trip!
And Badger just think about the Giants, who will be facing the Cubbies, all weekend long.
Becoming a habit. Losing. The bottom half of the batting order: Pederson, Thompson, Grandal, Puig and Crawford (as DH) went 1 for 19. That really does not help a team.
These guys win 2 in a row and we get excited. Turning the corner. Then lose what ever in a row, and reality sets in.
Last night when Stripling went out in the 4th and Hatcher came in — and bingo, the game was over. I got to had it to Roberts — he comes back with what the GM give him in pitching. Mostly junk, so he uses it.
Have a good trip, although I know Colorado is not your favourite place.
I enjoyed your comment about watching without emotion this season. I totally concur with that, as it makes the whole thing easier.
I think it was Roger who said a while back, that there is no Dodger hitter that makes you stop what you are doing to watch.
It makes watching the mediocrity difficult & that’s why I’m hoping to see Urias and maybe Deleon before the season’s out.
The Angel’s rotation is decimated, but we couldn’t take more than CK’s start.
We have a nice run of games coming up, but we thought that prior to getting swept by the Fish.
SF seem to be gathering momentum, while we scuffle.
It’s gonna take a big sea change for us to turn this around.
Too many players batting .230ish with the only consistency coming from Utley & Seagar.
Turner, Grandal & Kiki are really struggling & AGon is stiff. I like Trayce and he needs to play. Joc is slowly learning.
Turner cannot bat 2nd (MJ called it weeks ago).
Howell is finished, but Tsao actually pitched ok last night.
Other than that things are good.
Ps – Badger – your 2nd team, AZ aren’t playing that well…. Yet
Watford
Utley did everything he could, to score runs, and help the Dodgers to win that game. But he can’t do it, by himself. I only wish that the Dodgers, had Utley in his prime.
With Turner not hitting, it is like Trout not hitting for the Angels, and I am not saying Turner is as good as Trout. But Turner is one of the two, most important bats, on the Dodgers.
With Turner not hitting, and Agone not in the line up, it is very hard for the Dodgers to win, unless one of the young players, hit a HR. Agone wanted to play yesterday, but Roberts wanted to give Agone an extra day, so he will be good, for the rest of the season.
Agone’s back, and Turner not hitting, has probably made it hard for Agone to hit at times, but he still has decent offensive numbers.
Dodger rick was talking about WAR yesterday, but when it comes to more offensive numbers OPS is important. and Agone, and Utley have the best OPS on the Dodgers. I don’t know if that is for May, or the whole season. I read this in True Blue LA.
Your comment about the top Dodger hitters in OPS is inaccurate.
Number 1 is Joc Pederson at .909, followed by Trayce Thompson at .898. Seager is at .844.
Utley and Gonzalez are OPSing .817 and .770, respectively, making them 4th and 5th on the team.
By the way, .770 is not very good for a 1B. He ranks 11th in OPS at 1B in the NL out of 17. #1 is Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs at .965, followed by Brandon Belt of SF at .907. Gonzalez was in a slump when he got hurt and hadn’t been hitting very well for a while.
Dodger rick
Thanks for the correction, I thought it might be May, but I was wrong. And by the way, Agone has had mostly Puig hitting behind him, and has had mostly Turner, hitting in front of him. And both of these players, have not been hitting, so they are giving no protection to Agone, in the line up.
And because of this, Agone is getting no good pitches to hit. Rizzo and Belt have players batting in front of them, and in back of them, that are hitting. And protecting them in the line up. Belt has Posse and Pence, batting in front of him, and in back of him.
And Rizzo has that super utility player, and Chris Bryant, batting in front and in back of him. Agone has nobody protecting him, in the line up. And that does makes a big difference!
Agone probably had better stats, when he had Hanley and Kemp batting in front, and back of him too. But with Turner not hitting, Agone is going to be, pitched around, so he isn’t getting many good pitches to hit.
Why would a pitcher want to pitch to Agone when they can pitch to Turner, or Puig, who have been really easy outs lately.? And do you really think that any of those players you mentioned, besides Cory, would have such high ops, if they were batting in the heart of the order, and getting pitched to, like Agone is?
MJ, those OPS numbers might be for May, because the season OPS leaders are different.
Joc is leading the Dodgers with .909, then Thompson .898, and Seager with .844. Utley not far behind with .817
I’m not a big stat-head, but I do like this stat because it combines hitting with hitting for power.
That’s why I argued when they sat Joc against LH pitching. You can’t sit the home run leaders and OPS leaders and expect to win.
BTW, MJ…in your comments about my suggestion for the first five hitters in the lineup… you thought I didn’t want AGone batting fourth. I wasn’t really saying I don’t want him to bat fourth, I was setting the lineup for that day, and AGone was not available. It was the day after he took himself out of the game because of his back. I just set my lineup with the available players at the time.
Oscar I think you are right about that being probably a stat from May. Because like you pointed out, there are different OPS stats for the whole season. And I am not big on some saber metric stats either. And Joc having the highest ops, is a good example, on why I don’t always look at some saber metric stats. I think Joc is doing really well, and learning how to hit, and he is having pretty good at bats, even when he doesn’t get a hit. But in my opinion, he is not the Dodgers best hitter, or best offensive player.
There are a couple of stats in saber metrics, that I don’t agree with. Sabers believe that a strike out, is the same as any other kind of out, and they also believe a walk has the same value, as a hit, and both of these values, are just not true.
And they don’t give any real value, to hitting for an average. And that is why Joc’s ops looks that high, because Joc gets a lot of walks, but he also leads the team in strike outs too. But
he is not is penalized in saber metrics, for his strike outs. And he is also given the same value for his walks, as a hit, and those two things, are not equal in value.
For example, if there is a runner on third or second, and Joc gets a walk, those runners don’t score, like they would if Joc got a hit. And if there is a runner on second, and Joc strikes out, that runner, does not advance to third. But if Joc grounds out, to the second or first baseman, the runner advances to third.
And after saying all of this, I still think Joc has done pretty well this year. I was getting a little worried about Joc, because once May begin, his batting average started to drop, like it did last year, but he has brought it up, in the last couple games.
But as good as Joc has been, I don’t think he would have done this, if he was hitting in the same position, of the line up, as Cory has. Because a pitcher, pitches much tougher to players , in that position in the lineup.
And I understand why you didn’t have Agone hitting fourth. And Oscar, this team is not the same team, when Agone, is not in the line up. They have missed Agone badly, in the last two games.
And not only what he can do at the plate, but also, what he can do with his glove. Agone is the quiet leader, on this team.
More exciting GM moves. Bolsinger up and Culbertson down. Then the next day . . .
More exciting GM moves. Tsao up and Bollinger down.
And today it will be . . .
I will repeat myself here like so many others do.
I think:
1. Urias will get 4 or 5 starts in June and replace Stripling in the rotation.
2. Ryu will replace Urias in July in the rotation.
3. De Leon will be brought up in June to pitch in relief if his arm is solid.
4. Kendrick should not have been signed and should not have been given time in LF but now that he is here and completed OJT/spring training, he should share time at 1st and 2nd with Utley and Agon.
5. Kike’ should be the backup 3rd baseman.
6. Grandal and Agon should be swapped for a setup reliever(s).
7. Crawford, $$, Hatcher, and a sweetener (Cotton?) should be swapped for a good reliever.
8. Baez should be sent to OK to work on an off speed pitch and a cutter.
9. Utley, Turner, Seager, Kendrick, Pederson, Thompson, Puig, Ellis is the Dodgers best lineup.
10. What she said.
I like Badger’s and Bob’s takes. I miss Broklyn’s and Patche’s takes. It would be nice if Bob_Hendley would post here more often. We need more half full glasses here to balance all the venting that goes on in here. Frustration is not a good characteristic and should be eliminated from one’s self.
Set the bar low enough and you’ll never be frustrated. Guess it all depends on what one expects from himself and the things he wants to succeed.
Sounds like a personal problem. Maybe that’s why you spend an entire thread beating up on MJ over some trivial point.
Bum
Agone is the most consistent bat in the Dodgers line up. And he is probably the most important bat, in the line up. His back, isn’t that bad. He has wanted to play in these last two games, but Roberts wanted to give him two days off. I can’t understand why you would want to move Agone. He is the only player on the Dodgers, that can be counted on. And he is really important both offensively, and defensively. His glove at first, makes all the other infielders better.
And we have already seen, what the team is like, without Agone, in the line up, in these last two games. The team is just not the same, without Agone in the line up. I don’t have a problem with everything else that you said. Maybe we should give Grandal more time, but still get AJ, in a few more games, then he has played lately. I think that Maeda is much more comfortable, when AJ is his catcher.
And Maeda has pitched better, when AJ is catching him.
But Turner is one of the Dodgers biggest offensive problems. That is why I asked you about Turner, because you don’t seem to be bothered, that Turner is not hitting. But you are bothered about how Grandal, is not hitting. And Turner’s bat, is much more important, then Grandal’s bat. Turner is getting more at bats, then anyone in the line up, except Utley.
And Turner’s at bats, have been mostly wasted at bats. I did see an adjustment from Turner in his last at bat last night. He has been trying to drive the ball to rightfield, in most of his at bats all season long. And he did that, in his first few at bats, last night. But Turner finally, tried to pull the ball last night, and got a hit.
So maybe he has been trying to hit the ball, to the right side way to much, to get the runners over. But that has not been working, because, he has been pitched inside all year.
But he might have finally made an adjustment, on how the pitchers have been pitching him, when he pulled that ball, last night. It sure looked like Turner, decided to pull the ball, instead, of trying to hit to the opposite field. Let’s see what happens with Turner tonight, maybe he has figured something out, about being pitched inside. And maybe we will see Turner start hitting better tonight.
MJ, I think Agon is important in the clubhouse and has put Puig under his arm and is nurturing him. But to get a good setup reliever, got to give up somebody good in exchange. I would like for Agon to go to a team or city that he would enjoy, Angels, Padres, Athletics, Mariners, Rockies maybe.
I think FAZ wanted Kendrick’s right side bat when they traded Kemp away. Kendrick has hit well in May and I think Turner will get it going soon as well. Joc mostly has his swing in control and should be a more reliable and consistent hitter.
So, go get the pitching. Kendrick and SVS can hold the fort at first until Bellinger arrives and Ellis and Barnes can take care of catcher.
There is chatter that the Giants want Miller from the Yankees.
Bum Howie is terrible at first. He has trouble fielding slow grounders, and he has already made an error at first, that cost us a run. Howie is not even half the player Agone is., and Howie has no power. The only position that Howie should play, is second. The problem with this, is that Chase is a much better defensive second baseman, and just a better player
over all. You saw what happened in the last couple of games, when Agone, is not in the line up. They played terrible. Chase did everything he could, to score some runs, and win the game, but he can’t do it himself.
Kendrick’s error was due to inexperience with a first baseman glove after using a stubby glove for years. If a person can play second or short, they can play 1st.
I miss Always Compete. I thought he was one of the best posters here – always insightful and informative. I presume he’s not around anymore for the same reason I don’t really post much anymore: who’s got the time or the energy to be exposed to the same tiresome arguments by the same preternaturally negative posters over and over again? It seems like there are now more and more of that personality type gravitating to this site, creating a little echo chamber where everyone repeats the same tired, cliched arguments and pat each other on the back for repeating the same “Moneyball bullshit” mantra over and over.
I don’t think there’s a clear understanding about what Moneyball is or what really encompasses a more data centric approach to evaluating player value and performance. I remember reading George Will’s book way back in 1990. Even back then he described La Russa being at the vanguard of looking at computer printouts of past player performances in an attempt to glean insight. I remember an article describing the use of early motion capture to analyze Orel Hershiser’s pitching motion. All those digital means of more deeply analyzing performance were in their infancy. We now just have more fleshed out tools for doing the same thing baseball strategists have been trying to do since time immemorial – gain a small advantage through better information. The posters here treat it as if it’s witchcraft. It’s not. It’s just and extension of what managers and players and executives have been doing since the beginning. The tools are just better. Get over it.
Yet another thing the “Moneyball bullshit” crowd here doesn’t grasp is the fallacy of criticizing the results as opposed to the process. Yeah, the team right now is mediocre. It’s underperforming , underachieving, treading water. So everyone fulminates and directs their rage against the front office. Well, what should they have done differently?
“They didn’t fix the bullpen?” Well, they tried. I think orchestrating a trade for the most electric reliever in baseball was a good start. I think the FO was right to walk away from the Chapman trade. If one of the goals of the team is to build a team rather than assemble a team around individual egos and head cases, you don’t need an unstable personality with character flaws on the team. McGee? I dunno. Maybe. I don’t know if it’s wise to give up prospects for someone of his caliber? Relievers are relatively easy to come by internally. Too bad that Hatcher can’t find the strike zone. He was actually very effective at the end of last year. I think it was reasonable to assume that he would perform better.
“The hitting sucks!” Ok, what would you have done in the off season, smart guy? We could use a thumper. Who? Cespedes? Where do you put him? Puig’s in right. Joc’s in center and you have Ethier and Crawford with contracts that make them unmovable. I think Ethier would have been productive had be had him now. Bummer he broke his leg, but that’s the way luck works. Todd Frazier in the Peraza trade? I think Turner earned a starting job based on a relatively larger sample size the last couple of years. Is he performing now? Now, but how is that the front office’s fault. Puig’s not hitting, Kendrick’s not hitting….even Agone’s not hitting. I don’t know how you anticipate that. The Utley signing was criticized mercilessly. There’s no chirping about that now, because that’s looking to be a good move.
“They didn’t fix the starting pitching with their so-called ‘depth.'” Well, I still think it was wise not to outbid the Dbacks for Greinke. Kazmir was solid for Houston last year. He’s a solid pitcher. He just can’t find the strike zone this year. Maeda was a pretty darn good signing. You can only criticize the process, not the results. If I were to criticize the FO for a non move this last off season, it would’ve been for not going after Cueto more aggressively. The deal he signed with Frisco, with the opt out, would have been a good deal for the Dodgers, too, because he could have walked about the time Urias and DeLeon and Buehler start making an impact. With Greinke leaving, the team really needed another solid #2 of his caliber. I still think the Giants overpaid for Samardija. Still, the Dodgers have arms coming back after the ASB. I think Ryu will be a key. If he can be close to the guy he was before, that will be a big boost. I think it’s reasonable the Kazmir finds a semblance of his command at some point. Does Urias get a call up, soon? Can Montas be a valuable bullpen addition this year? The guy does throw close to 100 with a wicked slider. Is it reasonable the FO gets a bullpen piece? Is it reasonable that Turner, Puig, Agone and Kendrick…and Kike start to hit a little closer to their historical averages? Will Ethier be productive when he comes back?
So, I’ve posed the question several times already. If you’re not happy with the current state of affairs and how the current FO has constructed its current team, what would you do instead…specifically? I’ve never gotten a satisfactory answer to this question. The answers that have been posited have been around the theme of blowing up the team and playing the kids. Well, if you’re willing to deliberately make the current team a losing one, you really have no business complaining that the current team is mediocre. You need to start earning some credibility with some insightful posts and something resembling analysis instead of just complaining about “moneyball bullshit.” I like reading Timmons because, even though some of his trade proposals are a little half baked, he writes original content that isn’t the same repetitive “moneyball bullshit” tripe.
We need a 3B who can hit RHP. Turner is doing okay vs. lefties. As for trades, I have a Yugo and a Ford Courier that aren’t running–what would I have to throw in to get a Toyota Camry back?
Snider
I noticed that split. Because Turner hit righties much better, last year.
Well in all do fairness to CC he should have had a double in the 9th if not for that brilliant catch by their LF.
And as far as this series is concerned, Trout is pure baseball joy. Kershaw can amaze every five days but Trout seems to amaze every day. What a player!
Per the Dodgers’ website:
“Thursday’s 7-4 loss at Angel Stadium was the latest in a rough stretch for the team’s relievers, who have allowed 13 earned runs in their last five games. The only game in which the unit didn’t allow runs involved Kenley Jansen and eight innings from Clayton Kershaw.”
We need Kershaw to pitch every day I guess…
I wonder how many innings that those 13 runs have been in. It can’t be that much.
This from Dodgers’ Digest about the Dodgers’ offense:
“Bad luck is not the only factor in the Dodger’s offensive tribulations at home this year. Poor plate approaches have also been a detriment. The Dodgers have the highest swinging strike percentage (11.3) in all of baseball.”
“When they do get on base, which is not often, they have no running game. They have grounded into 23 double plays, the most in the league.”
If you swing and miss the most and hit into the most double plays, you won’t score many runs.
The new coaches are really a lot better than last year’s.
I’d rather see a swing-and-miss than a called third strike. Too many of those in this series.
.230 from 66. Can’t send him down because it would hurt his feelings. While he’s making baseball fun again, the team is stinking around him. I’m tired of the same bs every year. Different faces. Same results. The boss had given these guys, from the front office down to the water boy, everything they need to win it all. And they still stink up the joint. This could be the worst in years. Only one pitcher and one bullpen guy. We haven’t mentioned Honeycutt lately. What’s he been doing to get these struggling guys going? What can he do? Another cheerleader. We have lots of those.
We have fired hitting I structor’s,why won’t we fire a pitching coach.
The Giants have won with mostly HRs, and like BOB said, they haven’t been scoring many runs. And a team can’t always hit HRs, to win games. Because that doesn’t work well, against good pitching.
It is not like the Giants have been playing really tough teams, and facing really tough pitchers. They didn’t win there series against the Mets, and the Bluejays. And they haven’t played the Cardinals yet.
They have been playing the Dbacks, and the Padres. And they have been winning these games, with one or two runs. And the Giant’s number four and five pitchers, are not going to pitch that well all year. They pitched well, in only a couple of games.
Our four and fives, haven’t been that good, but they have been better lately. And they even had better stats, then the Giants four and five, before both teams, four and fives, were pitching better.
We will be getting Ryu back, and he will help. Let’s see how the Giants do against the Cubbies this weekend!