The Dodgers punted away another game in a playoff race as they were blown out by the Reds 11-1 in a rain soaked disaster on Saturday night. They’ve now lost three in a row and are lucky to still be only a half game back of the Giants who lost to the Mets in San Francisco earlier today.
I don’t know what the Dodgers were thinking when they rolled out that terrible lineup that included several automatic outs. The al-righty lineup unsurprisingly recorded just one hit until the top of the ninth inning. The terrible lineup is frustrating enough. Watching Brett Anderson pitch is even more frustrating. Once again he was horrendous allowing 6 earned runs on 9 hits over 3 innings and then having to leave the game in the fourth inning because of a blister on his hand. The Dodgers were down 5-0 by the second inning and 7-0 by the fourth frame.
The Reds battered Anderson like the rain battered the patrons at Great American Ball Park. The Reds scored 4 runs in the first inning as Anderson looked as ineffective as he was last week against the Pirates. Speedster Billy Hamilton opened the game with a single on a ground ball to center and then stole second base.
Dodgers 1 3 0
Reds 11 18 0
WP-Finnegan-8-9
LP-Anderson-0-2
HR-Duvall-28-Peraza-2-Schebler-4
Former Dodger Jose Peraza who had 3 hits on the night singled to left. Joey Votto’s little dribbler towards first base somehow eluded Anderson and Adrian Gonzalez. Then slugger Adam Duvall crushed an Anderson meatball into the left field seats and the Reds were up 4-0 before the chairs were warm.
In the second inning opposing pitcher Brandon Finnegan doubled and then scored on Peraza’s second hit of the night to give the Reds a 5-0 lead. That was all she wrote. The Reds scored two more runs in the fourth inning off of Grant Dayton after Anderson was removed from the game because of a blister on his index finger. Dayton walked Finnegan and then Peraza homered to put the Reds up 7-0.
The Dodger lineup had just one measly hit until the top of the ninth inning. Meanwhile the Reds continued to pour it on adding 3 more runs off of J.P. Howell in the eighth inning. Another former Dodger Scott Schebler homered in that inning adding insult to injury. The final score was 11-1 and the Reds notched 18 base hits on the night.
This was an incredibly pathetic performance from the Dodgers. The pitching staff is torched right now and guys like Brett Anderson are obviously not the answer. The Dodgers will shuffle their rotation giving Julio Urias the start tomorrow and Scott Kazmir the start on Monday afternoon.
Kenta Maeda will start the opening game against the Giants on Tuesday night with Rich Hill finally slated to make his debut on Wednesday. One thing is clear though. Brett Anderson can never be allowed to start another major league game again. Cut bait Dodgers. Please cut bait. This is a playoff race for God’s sakes!
Scott,
Where do these prayers go? Surely not to the FO! The FAZ ego continues to dominate with their pitching selections like Anderson. They cannot admit that a mistake has been made. You know what it’s like when you make mistakes over and over again? One day, it just hits you. With FAZ, it has to come crashing down into the disaster zone. We are not there, yet. Evidently.
You cannot defend these guys. What they have put together, no matter what the plan is, is terrible and pretty much painful to watch. Anderson is not a viable MLB pitcher at this point. A blind monkey could see that.
Dave Roberts agrees with you. He figured Anderson would get torched so he gave some of his regulars the day off.
I thought FAZ made the lineup. Isn’t Roberts just a puppet?
No. Not a puppet. Just a guy that knows what’s expected of him.
From the Roberts job interview:
FAZ: “what’s your best motivational line to your team?”
Roberts: “Out here assholes, you keep your shit wired tight at all times!”
FAZ: “ahh, Sgt Barnes. Platoon. Excellent. You’re hired”
Good Hire FAZ!!
Now Mr. Roberts square those turds away.
The Reds pitcher pitched really well. Usually good pitching stops good hitting. I will give him his due, or is that do or even dew. I red a book once and it turned out to be a good reed. Wood anybody here want to give Anderson another start?
Good ones Bum. I almost missed them.
Say, I wrote you and BOB a joke on the other thread. It came out quick. Might need some refining. Tell me what you think when you get a chance.
Badger, I didn’t look at the last thread after the game was about an inning long. Is this the comment you were referring to?
Badger says:
August 21, 2016 at 6:29 am
Two Dodgers walk into a bar at 1 o’clock. One leaves at 3.2 and the other at 4:20. Which one was the pitcher and which one was Puig?
I will guess the pitcher left blowing a 3.2 and Puig left at 4:20 to get to the ballpark after everybody has already completed stretching excercises.
Well, close. 3.2 used to be the alcohol content of Coors beer (and yes the number of innings our pitchers could be expected to pitch) and four twenty is the universal code term for smoking cannabis. Like I said, the joke needs some work.
I said a week or so ago that I would go with a rotation of Maeda, Kazmir, Stripling, Stewart, and Urias/De Leon until all others were 100%. For me, its not about Anderson being offered a QO, its about using him in a game before he is proven ready.
If FAZ wants to pay $16M for basically a draft pick that is okay with me as long as they don’t make poor decisions on who plays.
Maybe the rotation down the stretch will be Kershaw, Hill, Maeda, Noris, Kazmir. That could be good enough. It might be best if Anderson’s blister is a Hill blister and Anderson doesn’t return.
Bum
Why does it have to be either Urias or De Leon?
DeLeon is rated higher then Stewart, so I would have Urias and De Leon in the rotation, and use Stewart as back up long man, to Chavez.
I like Stewart and think he has pitched much better than his stats show. Stewart has been healthier and has rapidly moved up in the organiazation. He has a better history of control and command than he has shown with the Dodgers and I think he is more likely to go 6 innings than Urias or De Leon.
De Leon will have to go through his first game jitters, maybe even two game jitters and the Dodgers can’t affort to keep sending out pitchers that are coming off injury or pitching their first games in the MLB.
Bum
I like they way Stewart throws, and so does Vin!
I sure hope Hill can pitch. Like all our pitchers, he might be limited to 5 innings, but for a different reason. Frankly at this point 5 innings from him I would consider terrific. I’ve come to not expect quality starts from anyone anymore.
As you know this team does not excite me. I like what some of them are doing, I see potential, but my hopes are pinned on a post season not because of our play but because the giants’ schneid appears to be real. I will be expecting a push from somebody in September, and my money, if I had any, would be on the Cardinals. My gut feeling early was that pitching would be our problem and unfortunately I was right. With 40 games left there is plenty of time to put something together, but my confidence is not high.
I expect a non inspiring brutally critical pep talk from the FAZters sometime this morning. Don’t disappoint FAZoholics.
Jon Wiseman gave it a try. His heart wasn’t in it.
OK, Here it is.
It’s F ing amazing Dodgers have the worst rotation in baseball, after suffering more injuries (by far) than any other team in baseball, but, somehow have the fourth best record in the NL and are 1/2 game out of first place!!!
F ing amazing, or is it magic? Perhaps, Devine Intervention? The FAZicians are making Harry Houdini look like an amateur. $70M in player salaries (Kershaw, Ethier, Crawford) on the DL for much of the season and still the fourth best record in the NL. F ing amazing.
Teams like the AZ DBags can only wish they had been constructed to compete by FAZ, as they languish at 21 games below .500!!!!
Oh ye, of little faith, give thanks and remember:
“Baseball is never static. Baseball is a process. A game isn’t an inning, a series isn’t a game, a season isn’t a series. Setbacks are inevitable. What comes after them is what it’s all about”. Jon Weisman
Too much credit to the FAZholes and not enough to the Giants, Rocks, Snakes, and Pads. In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One-Eyed man is King…
Nicely done box. I’m impressed.
Talk in Arizona that LaRussa and/or Stewart will be replaced. The players didn’t get it done, but of course they won’t be held responsible.
Players didn’t trade a #1 pick for Miller.
Shelby Miller threw 205 innings of 3.0 ERA last year at age 24. Had he repeated that, or improved as a 25 year old, he would have been worth a top prospect. It didn’t work. Neither did Latos. Stuff happens.
You mean Fazoline?
I agree Bumsrap. Use Stripling, Urias, and Stewart as starting pictures. Also, bring up De Leon. Enough is enough. McCarthy and Anderson are not ready. Neither has any command of their pitches. I will put some of this on Honeycutt. He should know they do not have any command of their pitches. We are close to the end of the season. Hitters will hit every mistake a pitcher makes. This is no longer Spring training. They are not ready to pitch. Stripling and Urias are better than McCarthy and Anderson right now.
It is good to have options!!
Why would you think Honeycutt would have any more freedom of choice than Roberts?
There was a rumor yesterday that Puig got on a plane for Cinti while the team went to New Orleans. I was hoping. But, he pinch hit in New Orleans last night.
Maybe he just got on the wrong plane because he is Puig…
lol
Bum
Did you see the end of that game, in the ninth inning?
Joc was the last hitter, and he went after the ump, on a third strike call, that ended that game.
Roberts had to come out and try to save Joc from getting in trouble with the ump.
CB Buckner is the worst home plate ump in baseball. I’m sure Joc felt if they had to go out and continue playing in those conditions he should get a fair shake at the plate.
I missed it MJ. Joe and Orel mentioned how bad the pitch was several times in Sunday’s game though. Apparently it wasn’t even close.
The Giants have only won 11 games since the break and the Dodgers are still .5 out.
Mind boggling and frustrating.
Hawkeye
It was the last out in the top of the ninth.
Yeah. I know. I was watching. It was hilariously bad call. Buckner is worse ump behind the plate in the game.
Sorry, that should be pitchers, not pictures.
No more Andersen and McCarthy please!
Let Stewart and De Leon take us into September.
Anderson and McCarthy are highly paid starting pitchers and the expectation was they would pitch themselves into starting form. I understand the thinking in that process. The problem is the thinking was wrong. These guys just aren’t any good. The back up plan of others very much like them physically, but paid considerably less, isn’t working either. Now the chatter is Hill and Kershaw to be ready soon. Can’t say I’m a believer, but I’m ready to be surprised. Sure would like to know why De Leon isn’t being considered. Is it really about that extra year of control? Who thinks like that? Cross that bridge later. We have a more immediate bridge to deal with. Put him in there dammit.
I am really concerned that Hill won’t be ready to pitch after being out so long.
And I don’t know why I feel this way, but it might be a start from Norris, and two starts from Anderson, that have made me feel very Leary about pitchers, coming off the DL to pitch there first game.
I have to give Anderson credit, I don’t know how he made almost the exact same thing happen, in back to back starts.
But I am serious, I want Hill to pitch well, especially against the Giants.
I was right Anderson started having a blister back when he was pitching in. AAA.
He said he thought the humidity caused it to get worse.
And of course I am concerned that Hill may have a reoccurring problem too, with blisters.
I am also concerned with our offense, is this just a couple of hiccups, or are they going into a small hitting slump.
I hope the former.
The Dodgers are going to have to see why they have so many players, that can’t hit leftie pitching.
Someone said Turner’s problem with lefties, is the way he stands up at the plate, and I can see kind of what they are talking about.
Turner is turned around, and has a perfect view with rightie pitchers, but I think it causes him not to see lefties as well.
Agone was the one that got the one hit, and Cory came in to hit, and he got a hit too.
I rather have the almost regular line up, playing against leftie and righties now, especially in this pennant race.
If they want to replace a leftie hitter or two, who just don’t have a prayer, to hit a tough leftie pitcher, I would be ok with that, occasionally.
I hope they come out hitting today, and have this game in control from the begining.
It isn’t fun to watch a game, that is over in the fifth inning.
I thought it was funny that Roberts pinched hit with Reddick yesterday, against a leftie pitcher, and of course Reddick did the same thing as he has done, since he came to the Dodgers.
I think it is ok to be concerned now, about Reddicks slow start.
It has been three weeks, and not much more then a month to go.
Hopefully Roberts will move Reddick down today, and Reddick will start hitting, and he will be the offensive stand out, that will help us beat the Giants, the rest of the season!
Headin’ south pause lineup
1. Chase Utley (L) 2B
2. Corey Seager (L) SS
3. Justin Turner (R) 3B
4. Adrian Gonzalez (L) 1B
5. Yasmani Grandal (S) C
6. Josh Reddick (L) RF
7. Joc Pederson (L) CF
8. Andrew Toles (L) LF
9. Julio Urias (L) P
Go get ’em lefties.
Thanks Badger
I wanted to see the line up, because I heard Toles came up, and Reddick was moved down.
Good decision and maybe Reddick will break out today.
And Turner is a rightie killer too.
Guess they mistakenly thought Toles was Puig…….beard and all……..
I saw what you did there MJ.
A little Leary huh? Memories of “88” and then the 1989 return and flameout?
Or was it a psychedelic illusion that our pitching was improving?
Slotim
I was actually using just Leary, but I know about professor Leary of course.
But I really like what you did with that Tim, could it be the LSD?
Ugly loss. Unfailingly it brings out the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the FAZophobe pitchfork mob and the self-referential I-told-you-sos.
It isn’t wise for a FO to be reactive. A long term strategy assumes individual stumbles on the long march, and you do the best with what you have, which assumes that a front office makes decisions based on that universal concept of the scarcity of resources.
“The Dodgers should have signed Greinke, David Price, the two “studs” Samardija and Cueto and traded for Hamels and Sale.”
Well, if you understand that any major league team doesn’t have unlimited resources in perpetuity, then the non-signings and the signings make sense.
Injuries have decimated the team. Some can be anticipated. Kershaw wasn’t. Nevertheless, credit goes to a front office and a coaching staff that can create a team that’s reslient: that bends but doesn’t go into freefall. It didn’t take much to push the Dbacks over the edge in spite of their notable acquisitions. It hasn’t taken much to send the Gnats into a freefall in spite of signing “studs” and that pricey acquisition of Moore.
All the team can do is weather the storm and hope that a rotation of Kershaw, Hill, Maeda and Kazmir, along with a resurgent offense and solid defense can help the team make the playoffs and maybe go deep in them.
No, you are right. Everybody hopes Kersh and Hill can help stem the tide, but why even offer Anderson a QO last winter? You knew the guy would not get a better offer than the 15.6 guaranteed. It is 3 weeks since the trade, no Hill, Reddick is non productive and the guys in the BP must be on the verge of collapsing. Credit>? Well I guess there are a couple of ways of looking at it. But like I said before, there were other options out there that would not have cost them a whole lot in prospects or money. Guys without injury history’s. Hell they could have brought Nicasio back. He has been decent for the Bucco’s. But we are beating a DEAD HORSE here. You and others like the plan, and that’s ok. There are some pretty die hard fans out here who tend to disagree. Only at the end of September will we know who was right. If they get bounced in the first round because the starting pitching sucks…….you are going to hear the howl long and hard. But we will sit back and see what transpires….
Michael
Toles being called up, should tell us a lot about Puig, and his standing with this team.
I do not think that at all. Freidman went down to OKC and talked to Puig personally and according to all, it went well. I think they wanted Toles speed in the lineup.
Chase starts out this game right!
Sorry for the late pregame guys. Here’s match-ups for today’s game
https://ladodgerreport.com/julio-urias-andrew-toles-return-dodgers/
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