Good morning faithful LADR readers,
Today’s pregame is brought to you by Oscar. Hope you enjoy the Sunday change of pace.
The Arizona Diamondbacks won four games in a row, including the first of the four-game, extended series against the Dodgers. The boys in blue stopped the Snakes streak, winning two in a row, and send young Jose De Leon to the mound this afternoon, seeking to extend their win streak to three, and drop their magic number into single digits.
Yesterday young Brock Stewart, young Joc Pederson, young Andrew Toles, and young-at-heart Chase Utley combined to snuff out the Snakes and set the blue magic number at ten. Today is a new day – beckoning for new heroes to emerge.
Jose De Leon will square off against the Snake’s southpaw Robbie Ray. First pitch is 1:10 p.m. PST. TV (HA!) – SNLA
De Leon is 2-0 with an ERA of 4.09 and a 0.91 WHIP. His last time out was in New York at Yankee Stadium. He went 5 innings and gave up 2 solo home runs. He won that day because he had plenty of run support (8-2). This will be his first start against the D-backs.
Who will step up today to keep those Dodgers support runs coming? This is a critical question, especially since Arizona is using a lefty, and that probably means manager Dave Roberts will cripple his team’s chances with a sub-par lineup.
Robbie Ray is 8-13 with an ERA of 4.55 and a 1.43 WHIP. Howie Kendrick and Yasiel Puig have both homered off Ray.
Puig has the most hits (5) off Ray than any other Dodger. As matter of fact, Puig OWNS Ray. He crushes all the other Dodgers’ stats vs Ray with a line of .455/.533/.727 and an insane 1.261 OPS.
Kike Enrique Hernandez also hits Ray well. .300/.417/.600 1.017 OPS.
Here are the lineups:
The visiting Arizona Diamondbacks (BOOOOOOOOO!!!!)
Segura 2B
Owings SS
Goldschmidt 1B
Lamb 3B
Drury LF
Haniger CF
Brito RF
Gosewisch C
Ray P
Your Los Angeles Dodgers lineup:
Kendrick LF
Turner 3B
Seager SS
Puig RF
Segedin 1B
Hernandez CF
Culberson 2B
Barnes C
De Leon P
PLAY BALL!
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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A couple of Reddick’s hits last night looked like the baseball gods were paying back for some of the tough outs he made when he first arrived. Also, I think maybe the gods are messing around in the Giants’ bullpen. All in all, they seem to be working for the Dodgers right now.
If you are saying two of Reddick’s three hits, were bloop singles, I agree.
And by the way, the hit, that Toles smashed on a line, almost past the shortstop, was only 3 miles an hour less then Joc’s HR last night.
I made a comment elsewhere that Miller was going to get his fielders hurt after Toles followed up Joc with that hit.
Exit velocity is an over rated stat. You can hit a ball 123 miles an hour and it still can find a fielders glove, then you ping one off the end of the bat at 22 miles an hour and get a bleeder for a hit. It is mostly luck. The big thing is contact. I doubt we ever see a hitter like DiMaggio again who stuck out so few times in his career. K’s are not the pariah they once were.
Michael
That will change.
Just the fact, that two of best teams that make contact, went and won the World Series, proved that contact does make a difference.
The Giants and the Royals both are good contact teams.
And that is probably a big part why these two teams, made it through the post season, tournament play.
Because good pitching as you know, stops good hitting, most of the time.
And actually for this time in baseball, Toles does make good contact.
But because saber metrics don’t penanlize players, for striking out.
And don’t think a batting average means anything, is why I don’t value that ops that much.
MJ, batting average is not an ingredient to the OPS recipe. Its OBP + SLG = OPS. Granted AVE is part of OBP
The thing about OPS is that it is easy to have a single number to evaluate like average. .300 is the plus success for Average and .800 is the plus success for OPS. Also, OPS recognizes the ingredient most like for the first two batters (OBP) with the ingredient most like for 4, and 5 hitters (SLG). Myself, I want the person with the best OPS to hit third as that spot in the lineup needs both OBP and SLG.
Exit velocity is directly related to BABIP. The higher the average exit velocity the higher the BABIP. The harder the contact the more likely the ball lands for a base hit. Add positive launch angle to exit velocity and get a home run or easy fly ball.
Bum
I know batting average is not included in the formula for OPS.
Saber metric people, don’t value a batting average.
And that is just one of the big flaws, in some of there formulas.
I think what Michael is saying, if a hitter has good velosity rates, but are not making contact enought, it doesn’t mean to much,.
And I value batting average more then OBA.
Because if someone can hit that well, to have a good batting average, they can be taught to be more patient, and can get more walks, and then there OBA will go up.
Hitting is the hardest thing to teach.
But Bum I do value your opinion.
What I am saying is that there are far too many geek stats being used these days. I do not see the need except for them to keep the saber metric geeks happy. Never seen a stat geek win a single game. I watch the player and see what he swings at and how. I remember watching Puig his second season and seeing how the pitchers were consistently getting him out by going low and away. He corrected that some, but like Joc still has a tendency to go after that pitch. I have noticed a hole in Corey Seager’s swing too. He is very susceptible to pitches low and inside, and most of the K’s I have seen come on that pitch.
>>All in all, they seem to be working for the Dodgers right now.<<
Please forget that I ever wrote that.
Reddick is about the most un impressive pick up at the dead line the Dodgers have ever gotten. I still remember what Zaidi said on the radio after they traded for him. He said Dodger fans were going to love the guy………..it has been a month and a half, and we are still waiting to see the guy we supposedly traded for, and I do not know 1 Dodger fan who even likes the guy….
Austin Barnes starting. Let’s see what he’s got.
In other news, it’s reported Brett Andersen will be activated soon. I’m not sure I like him even as a long reliever, which is about the only fit he’s got right now. I prefer Chavez in the long reliever role.
Chavez? Nope, Stripling looks better. Chavez does not look like he has the stamina to go more than 2. They might give Anderson a start if they clinch early. I see no reason what so ever to take a chance that he blows a critical game by coming up with a hang nail in the 1st inning after he gives up 6 runs.
OK, I can answer the title question: NO!
Hind sight is 20-20…but he did not lose the game….
This game is not for anyone with heart issues!
Coleman just gave up a HR on the same pitch, in this series
All of our outfielders are too good to sit.
Kike is listed as an OF and he stinks last nights game not withstanding.
Close but no cigar. Deleon gets off the hook thanks to his team mates inability to quit. Nice job by Stripling. He should be the long man in the playoffs. He deserved a better fate. They still leave too many men on base…..
I actually think Stripling could be the 4th starter in the Playoffs. Unless McCarthy comes back strong. Coleman will probably be DFA’d to make room for Wood.
Hurts me to say, but I can’t see Ethier making the playoff roster.
They will not need a 4th starter in the first round. So I think he is the long man out of the pen. Ethier is still so rusty and has only 15 games to gain back any game time. I also think he does not make the roster. But I would not put Kike on the roster either.
Ethier really did show how rusty he is, in his at bats yesterday.
I just think Roberts is going to have to talk to Ethier, and just tell him, he isn’t sharp enough, and there is not enough time to get him ready.
Roberts said that yesterday’s game was good, because they got Kike started.
So I see Kike on the post season roster.
Let’s see what Kike does tonight.
I know he hits Bumgarner good, but let’s see what happens.
That error by Culberson didn’t do JDL even favors.
But for Coleman to come in and walk the first hitter, then make the same pitch he did, in the first game of this series, wasn’t good at all.
He is the main reason the Dodgers lost the two games in this series.
He isn’t the only one, but he sure is the main one.
He gave up a three run HR in the first game.
And he gave up this two run HR in this last game.
There were a few positive things last night. First of course was the offense coming off the mat and actually taking the lead. Second was the fine performance of Ross Stripling. The bull pen for the most part did the job. Coleman hung a pitch and the batter did exactly what he should have done, he crushed it. They had plenty of opportunity’s to tack on runs, and missed them. But with the Gnats getting beat by the Birds, it was not that big a loss. Now it sets up a classic confrontation, our Ace vs. theirs. Kershaw-Bumgarner………..Hill-Queto….that’s a pretty exciting first two games…..and with me being here in Colorado, I can still watch the first episode of NCIS< and then catch the game too! Awesome……
Michael
Good for you, I’m glad that works out for you.
Never got into NCIS but I was definitely hooked on JAG.
NCIS rocks. Gibbs is one of the best characters ever on a TV show and Mark Harmon plays him to perfection. His supporting cast has always been excellent and even losing Michael Weatherly and Cote De Pablo has not affected the excellent writing, and the obvious respect the cast has for each member. And Weatherly has his own show starting tomorrow…..Bull…should be pretty good.
The Dbacks just fired De Jon Watson, and La Russa said him and Dave Stewart will probably be next.
I’m kind of surprised Preller still has a job. He’s another one who thinks that a team can buy wins by overvaluing star players. He did us a favor by taking Kemp and his contract off the Dodger’s hands. LaRussa and Stewart maybe did the Dodgers a favor by overpaying for Greinke. You’re right about it being early to make a judgment on Greinke’s contract, but someone here who watched Greinke the other night commented that it almost looked like he was just trying to throw junk. That’s what happens when a pitcher loses his velocity, and the metrics for Greinke’s pitches this year suggest that his velocity has dropped a tick.
They engineered that disaster, so they should be fired. LaRussa was always better on the field than off. Stewart is over rated as an exec. I do not see where DeJon Watson fit into the debacle as it were, but he is a former Dodger employee. Preller should have been fired by the Padres. And even with all his so called bad moves………Colletti still has a job ..