Tonight’s opening game of the home stand featured the Tampa Bay Rays and Chris Archer, the RH pitcher who almost everyone on Twitter and the blogs is wishing and hoping will be traded to the Dodgers. Bud Norris, who’s already a Dodger, was hoping to continue building his reputation as a reliable starting pitcher.
1st inning
Dodgers went down 1,2,3 with two strike outs. No first inning scoring today.
2nd inning
Dodgers
Three up, three down again.
Rays
Norris has given up two hits, but the Rays are scoreless.
3rd inning
Dodgers
Chase Utley got on when Archer pulled the first baseman off the bag with a high throw.
Corey Seager went down low and bopped one into CF for the Dodgers’ first hit of the night and he scored Joc Pederson.
Justin Turner followed with a single to LF to score Utley. 2-0
4th inning Dodgers 2-0
Rays
The Dodgers returned the favor with an error by JT.
Norris got a 1-4-3 DP to erase the runners.
5th inning Dodgers 2-0
Rays
Norris made a great play to record the third out.
Archer hit a high bouncer that Norris charged, caught, and side-arm flipped to Gonzalez at first.
7th inning Dodgers 2-0
Rays
Bud Norris was hanging tough. He started the inning at just under 90 pitches. After one out, one walk, and 104 pitches, his night was done.
J.P. Howell in. He was totally ineffective, walked his first batter, and was quickly pulled for Pedro Baez. Job done.
Dodgers
Archer left one up to Yasmani Grandal, who jacked it out and into the RF pavilion. 3-0
8th inning Dodgers 3-0
Rays
Joe Blanton in. Horrible.
Bases loaded. Single 3-1
Blanton out. Luis Avilan in.
Passed ball. Another run in. 3-2
9th inning Dodgers 3-2
Kenley Jansen vs Rays
One pitch, base hit.
One out, runner advanced to second.
K – two out.
Hit batter. Two on.
K ~Finally
Dodgers Win! 3-2
Bud Norris pitched well again. He never let the Rays put together a rally, only gave up two hits and kept them scoreless through six and a third.
Bonus: Bud Norris notched his 1,000th strike out – looking.
Bonus Equalizer: Howie Kendrick’s hitting streak ended tonight at 16 games.
The Dodgers offense scored two runs early, but that was partly thanks to two errors in the third. Otherwise, they did not really put anything together against Archer, until Yasmani hit one out in the 7th.
We’ve said it before. Saying it again: The Dodgers bullpen happy time is over. They are in a down slide and giving up base runners and runs nightly. The Dodgers are going to have to score 5 or 6 runs a game to compensate.
Extra Bonus: In case you didn’t hear, Andre Ethier took batting practice today for the first time this season.
Bud Norris (W 6-9) went 6 1/3 innings with 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 6 K’s ERA 4.27
Home run: Yasmani Grandal
Team with RISP: 2 for 4
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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Well, the Dodger bats certainly didn’t appear to help, but Grandal’s insurance HR was a lucky run for us. Archer really kept the bats in line for most of the game. His record doesn’t reflect the quality with which he pitched tonight.
Is the bullpen cracking? Or, is it the choices that Roberts makes about who pitches when? Howell, who pitched nothing but slow curves, went under quick. He would not have been my first choice to relieve Norris. Blanton was so bad from the start, I was surprised he wasn’t pulled sooner. He should have been yanked like Howell was. These are manager related issues. If your guy looks bad, he is bad. Get him out of there. Baez looked great but only faced 2 batters. I think Roberts is often working from a formula and not really paying attention other than who bats right handed or left. Jansen routinely faces both types of batters and is not fazed by either. Mattingly was also weak in this area of who to use in different situations.
This was a close call for the men in blue. They almost let it slip away and the Rays are a very weak team.
I think Roberts has grasped what pitchers to use in the pen, for different situations in the game pretty well for a first year manager.
Especially with the relief pitchers he has been given, to work with.
I think the guys that have been used the most, are getting tired now, after having to pick up the starting pitcher’s load.
Now the starting pitchers need to pick up for the pen, and pitch deeper into games.
Duh….that has been the case the whole season and it ain’t happened yet. And with this collection of rag arms, it might never be the case.
Well Norris did pitch further into the game last night.
6.1 wow alert the media……any of these clowns know how to get to at least 7, or god forbid 8???? NO……….rag arms….
Partly thanks to errors?
The Dodgers scored 1 earned run against a team that looks AAA.
The luck is going to run out eventually.
Badger
The Giants were very lucky to win last night too.
If Matt Cain wouldn’t have hit that three run HR, the Reds would have won that game.
Bochy actually uses his pitchers in the pen, more then Roberts does, I am suprised the Giants relief pitchers, don’t get tired throughout the year.
I know they have two starting pitchers pitching deeper into games, but Bochy often will use one pitcher, for just one hitter.
At least Stripling is up to be the long man.
I just don’t know what took the front office, so long to get a long man up.
I think Norris might be a candidate for 3 innings a couple times a week. But then, he’d have to be replaced in the rotation. And, who do have as a replacement? Norris IS the replacement.
Badger
There was a good article in Bleacher Report today, about the Dodgers being to late to get a good starting pitcher.
It also talked about the starting pitchers that the front office choose to sign, and there injury histories.
Blanton was supposed to be the long man. That was why he was signed. They expected all their pitchers to be healthy, not on the DL. It was supposed to be Howell, Baez, Garcia, then Jansen. That was shot to hell early. Hatcher was supposed to be good all year. They counted on a lot of things that went south quick. So now the entire staff is patch work. Coleman, Fien, they were after thoughts. Frias was supposed to vie for a starters spot. Stripling was ticketed for AAA. The injuries screwed all that up. Now they have some hard decisions to make. Because it is beginning to look like they are going to have to win without Kershaw. And that is no easy job. They have been doing it with smoke and mirrors…..sooner or later that luck will run out. The Giants will get their walking wounded back, and the simple fact is that they have better 1-3 pitchers than we do……
If MCCarthy can keep on pitching like he has, I think he is better then the Giants number three pitcher.
But that is if McCarthy can continue to pitch this well, so that is a big if.
Our bullpen has now pitched the second most innings in all of baseball
Badge, they did cash those two errors in, which they weren’t doing earlier this season. A win is a win is…
Agreed. I didn’t mean to sound like I was complaining. Beating up on inferior teams is something $240 mm teams are supposed to do. And we did.
That said – the Rays suck the ruby begonia. I wonder what Longoria thinks in his private moments. He’s 30, and from Sothern California. Wait……. he’s also been to the post season 4 times, including a World Series.
Never mind.
The Rays pitching isn’t that bad.
General George McClellan, the men he led appreciated and respected his caution with their LIVES. McClellan once said to his soldiers, “I am to watch over you as a parent over his children”. How many Viet Nam vets would have appreciated this sentiment from their superiors and politicians?
While it is generally stated, that McClellan was wary of engaging the Confederate Army in the “meat grinders” that Civil War battles were, not to be ignored, McClellan’s generalship received an important endorsement. The endorsement came after the war, when a relative of Robert E. Lee asked the former Confederate general to name his most able opponent during the war. Thumping the table emphatically, Lee replied, “McClellan, by all odds!”
I am am reminded of another Civil War General named George, George Custer. Custer led his men with daring and abandon, he was more than willing to fight, but, we all know how that turned out!
I think the Dodgers would be well served to take a McClellan over a Custer.
But how was he at designing saddles?
True Badger….but wars are not won by cautious men. McClellan was right about those being meat grinder battles. The Civil War would have gone on longer had Lincoln not changed leaders. McClellan was not a fighter, Grant was…had he not been, the US would not be united today. Patton was the same kind of general that Grant was……men died, but freedom was preserved…….that is the truth of history….Viet Nam was a different animal all together…..it was purely a political war and not fought with winning in mind…….
If Lincoln had followed this advice, the Union would have lost the war, there would now be a separate country called the Confederate States of America, and slavery would still be legal.
Great advice!
Lee didn’t think well of Grant, (a certain measure of sour grapes), but Grant had a superior strategic insight. He knew that if the north fought aggressively, it would win due to its superiority in men, manufacturing, raw materials, food, and the blockade of southern ports. Lincoln once said of Grant that he wished he had more like him because he fought.
The North didn’t win the war until the cowards, the tentative and the incompetent generals were forced out and the aggressive and competent (Sherman, Sheridan, Grant, Thomas, etc.) took over the northern armies.
You have to be aggressive to win – if you don’t fight you can’t win.
What?
This is baseball not musket and cannon ball field slaughters. Get real.
Yes, and GM’s can be cautious in baseball……..not war
Maybe it’s just me, but comparing baseball strategy to war is ridiculous.
The one and only comparison that I would buy is the business end of it. Both MLB, and post WWII US war involvement, are multi billion dollar businesses. End of comparison.
Now Badger that is funny and the truth, and that is to bad.
To some fans my friend, baseball is a war..homers are called bombs, you crush the enemy….the comparisons are always there,,,,subtle, but there
It’s only competition. It’s not life and death. And at the ML level, everyone competing is paid millions. Even the losers live like kings.
Kershaw talked about his recovery last night, and it sounds like he didn’t injure himself further.
I think he just rushed his first recovery to soon.
Kershaw said that this current team, is the closest team of guys he has ever been on, so Roberts has done a good job.
I hope Kershaw can come back.
I just wish he would have took his time the first time, but I know hard it is, to want to come back, right away, and it isn’t in your hands, so you have to take it easy.
If he can get back reasonble soon, he might still be able to get another Cy Young award, and help the team.
And they talked to Kenley after the game last night, and he said he isn’t in sync with his delivery yet.
He said he is still working on it.
Say what? It’s almost August. When did he get out of sync?
Well, they are playing as a team. So, if Roberts has something to with that, and I suspect he does, then good for him.
I don’t expect Kershaw back any time soon. The team is winning without him, so, leave him out of it. He still has years 29-32 to go, at $35 mm each, so, as far as I’m concerned Kershaw is a ghost. There is no Kershaw. There is Maeda, Norris, Kazmir and McCarthy followed by them again, with an in between sprinkle of Who Knows, then them again. It looks so so, but has worked so far, so, so far so good. So there.
Badger
That is what I don’t get!
After Kenley lost that save against the Giants at there place, he should have been trying to get back on track then.
But three lost saves later, you would think his delivery would already be there, like it needs to be.
Ross hopes to throw another bullpen session this week and then increase his workload up from there. As for when he will return, that has not been determined. I don t know exactly how long, but I want to get back on the mound as soon as possible. I m feeling better. That s what I m working towards, he said.