I understand the Dodgers have a huge lead in the NL West and want to experiment and take a look at some of the youngsters. But if they don’t stop screwing around they’ll see their huge lead evaporate real quick. We’ve seen huge leads in September disappear before. It’s not uncommon. Memo to Dodgers, play the regulars until the division is clinched. Because Arizona is not going to just give up and go away. The Dodgers have now lost 6 of their last 7 games.
The Dodgers punted away another game as Pedro Baez served up a walk-off home run to Yangervis Solarte in the bottom of the ninth to drop the first game of the double-header 6-5 to the Padres. The starting lineup was a joke. Logan Forsythe batted leadoff, Enrique Hernandez was hitting third and the Dodgers had rookies Alex Verdugo and O’Koyea Dickson in center field and left field respectively. It was a good game for Verdugo as he collected his first MLB hit. The Dodgers also took a first look at PCL pitcher of the year Wilmer Font. The youngster allowed two earned runs and walked three in 1.2 innings to contribute to the losing effort.
Dodgers 5 10 1
Padres 6 7 0
WP-Hand-3-4
LP-Baez-3-3
HR-Bellinger-35-Turner-18-Solarte-15
Starting pitcher Brock Stewart allowed two earned runs over 4 innings walking four and striking out 5. I guess that’s about as good as we can expect from him. Mound opponent Clayton Richard allowed three earned runs on eight hits across six frames. The only reason the Dodgers mustered three runs against Richard was because Cody Bellinger knocked in two of the three.
One of those runs was on a fielder’s choice grounder in the top of the first after three consecutive singles from Logan Forsythe, Austin Barnes, and Enrique Hernandez. Yes Enrique! The Padres tied it up in the bottom of the third after a walk, single and a sac fly from Jose Pirela.
Bellinger popped his 35th home run of the season to lead-off the top of the fourth. That ties Mike Piazza’s rookie record. Yasiel Puig doubled into the gap but was thrown out trying to extend it to a triple. The Dodgers added another run in the fifth frame when Chris Taylor’s pinch-hit double gave the Dodgers a runner in scoring position. After a walk to Forsythe, Barnes singled home Taylor to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.
The Dodgers would give it back though. Wilmer Font relieved Stewart in the fifth and tossed a scoreless frame. Then he lost it in the sixth inning. Font walked Wil Myers, and then gave up a double to Corey Spangenberg. Jabari Blash’s RBI single scored Myers to make it a one-run lead. Font struck out Austin Hedges but Hector Sanchez’s ground out scored Spangenberg to tie the score at 3-3. Edward Paredes had to come in and strike out Carlos Asuaje to clean up the mess. By the way, Paredes has been outstanding and the Dodgers should seriously consider using him in the postseason.
With the Dodgers up 3-1 they decided they would punt the game away for good by calling in Josh Ravin to relieve in the bottom of the seventh. Ravin was predictably horrible. Pirela walked and Myers tripled him home. Then Spangenberg’s single scored Myers to tie the game at 3-3.
Move to the top of the ninth. All-star Brad Hand is on the mound and the Dodgers would rally to tie the score. Rob Segedin doubles and after thunder thighs O’Koyea Dickson whiffs, pinch-hitter Justin Turner homers to left to tie the score at 5-5.
The jubilation would be very short lived. Pedro Baez enters the game and…..boom. After a fly out from Pirela, Solarte would take him deep to right field to end the game. Dodgers lose yet again. Baez deserved to earn the loss.
This was a makeup of the May 7 rainout. Ironically we’re awash in tears with the Dodgers punting away another game. This is certainly annoying to watch but I think the Dodgers should be fine. The boys in blue have no time to lick their wounds. The second game of the double-header starts at 7:10 PM PST.
Alex Verdugo watch: 1 for 3- first MLB hit
I said before the game that it looked like a AAA line up. Cody had a good day but the rest was pretty pitiful. You load the bases with no outs, you should score more than 1. All Puig needed was a fly ball and he popped out, Barnes was dancing down the line instead of tagging up, and probably could have scored if he would have tagged since the infielder was going away from home plate and the throw would have needed to be perfect. Roberts made a few mistakes today, including not having a pitcher up behind Font when he went out for his second inning. Result, 2 runs and a tie. Font walked 3 batters in that inning before Roberts pulled him, and he did not warm anyone up until it was 3-2. By then it was too late to stop the run from scoring. He should have done a double switch after Verdugo made the last out the inning before. Then Ravin had the same problem an inning later. Too little, too late and no sense of urgency. What ever momentum they gathered in the 9th disappeared over the wall like Baez’s hanging fastball. They need to win the next 2 and get some steam up them selves, because, bad news, AZ comes to town Monday and the same 3 pitchers that they hammered this week in AZ will be out there Mon, Tue and Wed, Hill, Ryu and Maeda.
Line up for 2nd game……Taylor, Granderson, Turner, Grandal, Gonzalez, Utley, Ethier, Verdugo, Darvish. No Bellinger????? Is he NUTs?????
Glad you see it that way since Jordan Liles is pitching and Cody probably would have had a field day. Gotta play AGon, right?? Roberts is probably just trying to work Cody in slowly.haha Verdugo is in for both games??
Yes, Cody was crushing the ball in the first game and drove in 2 runs. Verdugo got his first hit, but it meant nothing.
USC up 42-31 on Western Michigan in the 4th quarter…they had to score 21 in the 4th quarter to do it. They gave up a game tying 100 yard kickoff return….and they are ranked 4th??? Wow, Western Michigan????? Well 49-31 now, interception run back for a TD.
It is my personal opinion that fans got way too caught up in all that MLB season record for wins crap. Too much can happen, and any team can go into a prolonged slump at any time. The Dodgers avoided that until the last week. And it is not a coincidence that the slide coincided with Cody going on the DL, Turner’s slump, lousy starting pitching and Corey needing time off to rest his elbow. Winning that opening game of the double header should have been a priority. But a day game after a night game and Roberts did what a lot of managers do. He rested most of his regulars. They should be concentrating on finishing off their pursuers, BEFORE they rest guys. Plenty of time for that later. My lineup until they clinch, Taylor, SS, Bellinger 1B, Utley 2B, Turner, 3B, Puig RF, Granderson CF, Ethier, LF. Grandal C, with Barnes vs lefty’s. You could mix and match and move Taylor to CF against lefty’s with Hernandez at SS. I do not trust Forsythe at all. Rockies down 3 already to the Snakes in Denver. 3 run homer by Martinez….so no help there. Dodgers need to win 2nd game.
Michael
I heard on the MLB radio where Darvish said he should never have been put on the DL. He was not hurt. Now you know why I do not trust the FO. This is not the first time they have lied.
Package
Agone playing, doesn’t stop Bellinger from playing.
Where were you when both Cody and Agone played at the same time?
And Corey is going to be out longer then Cody, are you happy now.
There goes your conspiracy thinking.
And Roberts wants to see what Verdugo can do, he already knows what Cody can do.
And what Darvish said, both
Corey and Kershaw said, that they can play, and now Corey is having to rest his elbow now, because he didn’t want to say he was hurting, when it first happened.
And most players, would say they are ok to play, but if Darvish is having back issues, he shouldn’t be playing, with this big lead.
Roberts and the Dodgers are only protecting the players.
And I would hope you knew enough about baseball, that if a pitcher or a player, has only a slight injury, that may cause them to get further hurt, because that might change their mechanics, and cause them to get further injured, or cause another injury.
And Roberts is probably resting Cody because he is playing in the early game tomorrow, like most managers do!
Turner is back!
Michael
I just typed a huge comment to you trying to explain what the Dodgers are trying to do but after I thought about it I knew you wouldn’t get it. You only think your thoughts are correct. I may be wrong sometimes but not all the time.
That’s not true at all. I read everything everyone writes. I am not always correct. At this point, I do not think anyone knows what the Dodgers are trying to do. I just look at what they have done over time. With this FO, anything is possible. I just do not think there is a concerted effort to get Adrian more at bats. Bellinger not playing the second game does not make sense to me, but I am not running the team. I am not dense, if you have an argument. present it. If it makes sense, great. I personally think Cody should be out there instead of Verdugo because he is far and away the better player. Not playing your best in my book lessens your chances of winning. Of course with the starting pitching as bad as it has been lately, well that kind of throws the whole thing down the toilet. I think when you brought up that they put Cody on the DL just to get Gonzo playing time that it simply was not the case. To me, and everything I read or heard was that they were protecting the kid. As for Seager, his injury is such that rest might help, but it will be the off season before it can be properly taken care of. They still want him to be able to hit, and because of that he will not go on the DL. They are trying to keep him sharp for the playoffs. By the way, contrary to what you thought, the 10 days has not really affected Cody at all.
If you actually think you know what the Dodgers are trying to do, you are smarter than me, because from what I have seen the last week, they are trying to lose the NL west.
Michael
When the Dodgers were winning all those games, the same lineup was sent out in many,many of those games. The guys were having fun with little or no pressure. Everyone knew someone would come through on that day and they did. To me, that is why they won and why I hated it when Cody was taken out for an extended period of time. Then the FO and the manager decided they could just play anybody and they would keep winning. Not so, they need chemistry and they are outhinking themselves and that is why they are losing in my opinion. No conspiracy theory, just a thought from someone who has played and worked with many people. You can get all the right people and LET them win but you cannot MAKE them win. Also, I do not think all this resting is helping, it is just hurting the team. Just my opinion, think about it. I do think however that Roberts is playing AGon to help him more than for than for the team. They are friends.
Excellent points. And it makes a lot of sense. But it is really hard to win when the pitching gets as bad as it has been the last week or so. Your pitchers give up as many runs as they did in Az, and put that offense in such a huge hole, it is almost impossible to come back from that. I think also that with so many games on the road, the team just looks lethargic. But you lose a pitcher with 14 wins and 15 wins like they did with Kersh and Wood, and that makes it even harder. But remember this, Cody going down coincided with Turner going into a slump. Granderson other than a few HR’s has contributed very little to the offense. The same scenario as AZ is playing out today. They have owned Lyles his whole career, and to day they can’t hit him? Makes no sense to me. But you can bet that Roberts will sit down with the team probably prior to tomorrows game and give them a little kick in the ass. The lead will be down to 14.5 after tonight’s debacle. But they have 27 games left. Pressure is on the D-Backs to keep winning. My bigger concern is to keep that home field advantage in the playoffs. They still are 9 up on the Nats.
Michael
I believe you are correct about the pitching but again, I say go back to basics and use the very pitchers that were winning during the streak. Heck, most of the time the Dodgers were using Joc and Kiki in CF. I don’t like playing either of them but if it works do it. I don’t think they put out lineups like that. Who knows what formulas they use to determine who plays? One thing is sure and that is none of this started until Cody left and Roberts won’t leave him in since he has come back.
Good point. Joc and Kike were playing CF most of the time when Taylor was in left. And the same pitchers who were winning were the ones AZ lit up. So there is the conundrum.
Third game that Agone has started, and hit in a run!
Means nothing if they keep losing. I am happy for A-gone.
boy has out pitching gone to hell…it suck this last week…something needs to change
boy has our pitching gone to hell…it suck this last week…something needs to change
Except for Kershaw nobody has pitched worth a damn since Hill threw that one hit loss. The hitting has tailed of a lot too. Right now, nothing is working, they are getting beat by a bad team as of this moment. The Rockies are not doing well and the D Backs close to winning their 8th in a row. That 21 game lead will be 14.5 if the score remains as it is right now.
I’m not very sentimental baseball wise but I’m glad Ether is in the game.
That’s great, but I would rather see someone in there right now who is ready to play, and hitting. I like Ethier too, but he has been out all year.
Michael
I only said that about Agone because of the way, people are talking about him.
And I just don’t think that is fair, or the truth.
And every player that has went out, said they were ok, and most players would say that.
And because I think Agone is a better bat in this line up, then Forsythe and others!
And like you said, it has been the starting pitching that has let the team down, not to mention Baez, who doesn’t really have better numbers this year, if you look deeper into his stats.
I know MJ, he was getting a bad rap because the guy has ALWAYS been clutch. And about Darvish and the DL, he said CK encouraged him to take the time off. The team needs him in the playoffs and that was more important than just one start. Of course he looked like doo doo last night.