The Dodgers suffered another embarrassing loss in a series opener on Monday night 3-2 to the lowly Mattingly Marlins. This might be more pathetic than losing to the Braves. There is nothing worse than making Don Mattingly happy. I can’t stand these awful all righty lineups that Andrew Friedman is coercing Dave Roberts into putting out with left handers on the mound. He did the same thing when Mattingly was still at the helm. Those lineups have moneyball stink all over them.
The Dodgers could only muster two runs on seven hits last night. Wei-Yin Chen and some rookies were able to hold the Dodgers to two solo home runs from Yasiel Puig, and Trayce Thompson. That might be the last we see of Trayce Thompson’s playing time, since Carl Crawford is due to be activated. Crawford was supposed to be activated during the Colorado series but his plane was delayed. Then the Dodgers needed to carry an extra reliever when coming home because the bullpen was exhausted after a typical Coors Field series. Crawford was 4 for 11 during his rehab assignment at Oklahoma City. Of course there needs to be a roster move to clear room for him. I would expect Adam Liberatore to be optioned again to clear space for Crawford.
Dodgers Lineup vs. Fish
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Puig RF
Grandal C
Crawford LF
Pederson CF
Kershaw P
Tom Koehler-1-2 vs. Clayton Kershaw-2-0
Game time – 7:10 PM- TV – SNLA
Update- *Turns out it’s Zach Lee getting the axe to clear room for Crawford*
Today, the #Dodgers reinstated OF Carl Crawford from the 15-day DL and optioned RHP Zach Lee to Triple-A @okc_dodgers.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2016
Tonight’s pitching match-up will see Tom “throws everything but the kitchen sink” Koehler countering Clayton Kershaw. Koehler has been with the Marlins for several years and the Dodgers have seen him a lot over the years. Last season Koehler was 11-14 with a 4.08 ERA in 31 starts. This season he has posted a 1-2 record with a 4.80 ERA in three starts. He’s a pitch to contact type of guy since he has only struck out 12 in 15 innings. Koehler has been remarkably average since his MLB debut in 2012. Since then he has posted ERAs of 4.41 in 2013, 3.81 in 2014, and 4.08 in 2015. His FIPs are as follows; 4.27 in 2013, 3.84 in 2014, and 4.53 in 2015. Koehler is 29-years old and originally hails from the Bronx. The Fish drafted him in the 18 round of the 2008 amateur draft.
For some reason he always pitches like a Cy Young winner against the Dodgers. The boys in blue just can’t figure him out. He is 2-2 with a 2.83 ERA in five starts against the Dodgers. He’s made three starts at Dodger Stadium, and is 0-2 with a 4.30 ERA. The current Dodgers are batting .324 (22 for 68) against him with a .924 OPS against. Chase Utley, and Justin Turner have done most of the work. Utley is batting .400 (6 for 15) with a home run. Turner is hitting .556 (5 for 9) with a double and a home run.
Koehler vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Chase Utley | 15 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | .400 | .400 | .733 | 1.133 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 12 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .556 | .667 | 1.000 | 1.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 11 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .300 | .364 | .300 | .664 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .429 | .500 | .429 | .929 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yasiel Puig | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .200 | .429 | .800 | 1.229 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Howie Kendrick | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .500 | .833 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 | .167 | .000 | .167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .500 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Culberson | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Wood | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 76 | 68 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 13 | .324 | .395 | .529 | .924 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
The Dodgers will counter with Clayton Kershaw. The Ace lefty is looking for his third win of the season. Through his first four starts, Kershaw is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in 30 innings of work. He’s struck out 30, walked only 3, and allowed just five earned runs. Yet some people are still asking what’s wrong with Kershaw? He’s so good that unless he’s pitching no-hitters every time out people believe something’s wrong with him.
Kershaw had quite an adventure in his last start against the Braves. He allowed one earned run on ten hits over eight frames, struck out ten, got thrown out at the plate, and threw an eephus pitch. He didn’t get a decision, but I’m sure had a lot of fun in the process. Kershaw has always pitched great against the Fish. Kershaw has been quite the fisherman over the years for the Dodgers. Against the Marlins he has posted a 5-2 record, and a 1.91 ERA in eight starts. The current Fish are batting .269 (21 for 78) against Kershaw with a .676 OPS against. Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .267 (4 for 15) with two doubles and a home run versus Kershaw.
Fish vs. Kershaw
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Chris Johnson | 18 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | .222 | .222 | .278 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 15 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | .267 | .267 | .600 | .867 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeff Mathis | 12 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .273 | .273 | .455 | .727 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 9 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .375 | .375 | .375 | .750 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christian Yelich | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .500 | .571 | .500 | 1.071 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adeiny Hechavarria | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Dee Gordon | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcell Ozuna | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J.T. Realmuto | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .667 | .667 | 1.000 | 1.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Miguel Rojas | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Koehler | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 81 | 78 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 21 | .269 | .278 | .397 | .676 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
There are more old friends than originally was mentioned. Besides Mattingly, there are several former Dodgers on the Marlin’s coaching staff. Tim Wallach and Lorenzo Bundy both followed Mattingly to Miami. Wallach is a bench coach again and Bundy is the base running/outfield coach. Former Dodger player Lenny Harris is the third base coach. Harris played with the Dodgers from 1989-1993. Oh and Barry Bonds is the hitting coach, so make sure to boo him whenever possible.
Today is national pretzel day and Kike, Joc, and Turner prepared for Tuesday night’s game by putting in some hours behind the cash register at Wetzels Pretzels.
Work Work Work Work Work Work #NationalPretzelDay @wetzelspretzels pic.twitter.com/Gw3N52cPuE
— Joc Pederson (@yungjoc650) April 26, 2016
The last thing we want to see is Don Mattingly happy. That’s a sickening thought. So please Dodgers, stop losing to the crappy Marlins. If I see Don Mattingly smiling again I might break some furniture.
Go Blue
Crawford is back!! And starting in LF today!!
Odds on when he’s injured again? I have May 2
Unfortunately for Lee, we get Crawford back for a couple of weeks. I’ll take the over on May 2 Bobby.
I guess any loss to the Marlins qualifies as embarrassing, but hey, we lost to a good pitcher. The Marlins made some good defensive plays behind him, and a couple of balls were hit hard right at somebody. Stanton got two extra chances and came through on the third. And we still had our best hitter up with a man on in the 9th.
The crazy RH lineups seem to work better for Roberts than Donnie: Thompson homered and Culberson got a hit. He picked a bad night to rest AGon, though heaven knows he needs a game off at least once a month. Turner and Kendrick continue to struggle, but the team will need them both at some point.
This is one of the few games this year that I think the Dodgers should have lost…or at least it was a legit loss to a solid pitcher in a new league. Most of the other losses were BP blowups that really shouldn’t have happened.
It’s Kershaw. We win.
Crawford won’t be hurt again this year. And no, I’m not betting any push-ups on that one. I am just being positive for all those who expect something other than that from me. I’ve got him with 350 PA’s, .278, 8 home runs, 14 stolen bases, 46 runs scored, and a 1.2 WAR. He is still a good option against RH pitching. And we all know how much FAZ Stankey loves the platoon option biz.
I think that Crawford wasn’t really hitting, probably because his back was bothering him, and he didn’t want to tell anyone right away. If I had so many injury issues, I wouldn’t want to say that, right away. Maybe he just thought, that it was routine soreness, from starting to play, baseball again. I am not saying that Crawford, is going to hit right away, but he does know how to hit. Remember when Mattingly kept playing him, because a lot of his at bats, were hard contact, and Crawford started hitting, faster then Howie, has .
I think yesterday’s right hand line up, was more pronounced, because of the game in Colorado. I do think when Roberts platoons, he gets players in more often, and it does seem like a team, of about 13 players. And the only player, that isn’t getting played enough, is Culberson, because Cory can hit both leftys, and righties.
If fans were allowed to select the starting LF (they are paying $ to see this game) would CC get the most votes? My vote would be for Kike or Thompson.
Jon Weisman reports that Dodger starters have gone 6 ip or more 11 of 20 games so far this year and 2 of the last 7 games. It breaks down like this:
Kershaw: 7, 8, 7, 8
Kazmir: 6, 4, 4, 5
Maeda: 6, 6, 7, 6 1/3
Wood: 5, 7, 4, 5
Stripling: 7 1/3, 6, 3 2/3, 5 1/3
I know that in the early season it takes a while for starters to stretch out but they have to do a better job than this. Dodgers’ bullpen useage is 61 1/3 ip as of now, about middle of the pack. ‘Pen ERA (for what it’s worth) is 20th. Batting average against is .202 (8th). OPS against is 7th (.603). WHIP is 7th (1.04), so the ‘pen has been better than you think – but if they are going to continue to be good they shouldn’t be burned out.
They have blown 5 saves, 5th worst in the league which is why we think the ‘pen hasn’t been so good.
The rotation will have to pitch more innings as the season progresses.
Dodger rick it has been Hatcher, much more, then the rest of the bullpen. And he is suppose to be the second, in importance, in the bullpen. I have seen progress with Baez, and he is still young. And like Badger said, Hatcher, is not a very young guy. He has continually made the same mistakes, and it doesn’t matter, if he starts a inning fresh, and it wasn’t his the arrival of his baby, either. He has serious command issues, that no set up man, should have. And the bullpen, has been an on going problem, that should have been serious adresssed. And a good set up guy, really isn’t that much money, when it comes to some major league salaries. And once, Kenley is gone, things will only get worse.
And I bet all of us here, know who is not pitching deep into games.
Remember Kershaw not getting that 1-2-3 first inning on his belt for quite a spell. It’s almost a given nowadays.
Yes Quas Kershaw seens more sharp this year, because remember he had a bad time, at the begining of the year, last year.
I don’t think he had 3 up 3 down 1st in his rookie year.
i’ll take those runs in the 1st no matter how we got em!
Never look a gift horse in the mouth!
I hate when we don’t capitalize on a pitcher, pitching this way, because they are harder, to get to, if they settle down, and escape situations, like this.
How does he throw that curve and start stepping towards the dugout before it reaches the plate? The kid is shifting to a whole new other gear!
Kersh is amazing
Carl’s arm killed us there, even Gordon would have not made it home easy!
Now we will see what this team is made of! Kershaw’s fastball, was on the high side, and right down the middle, to Stanton. And what I said above, about not capitalizing on that shakey pitcher.
When Kershaw suddenly loses it, kinda makes you stop and think.
Oh well. Gotta hit with ’em to play with ’em.
Especially with how the Marlins starting pitcher, was giving every chance, he could, to give the game, to the Dodgers. I don’t think the Dodgers can keep Turner in the third slot, much longer. I might be rushing to a judgement to soon, but his at bats, are killing the Dodgers.
Badger it should not matter, who the pitcher is. No one is infallible! One thing I did like about Greinke, is that when he was tired, or it wasnt there for him, he would say that he needs to come out. That is what is good, when someone gets older.
Another high fastball, down the middle of the plate.
I am wrong or did the shift hose Kershaw?
The shifts rarely work. They always screw the pitchers. That’s more of the moneyball garbage.
What?! I think you need to do a little more research. That’s a pretty astounding statement.
the first hit it looked like he expected someone to be behind him. yes I am quoting Harold Reynolds observation. then on the second hit it seemed like there was nobody in the SS hole. Maybe I just missed that one
You’re not wrong here. The infield was overshifted the entire inning. Might be why Kershaw was so irritated.
That was established long ago that Kershaw didn’t feel comfortable with those STUPID shifts. If it’s fact this is something our F/O insists on, then they’re just fallowing some stupid formula written by somebody else. They had better deal with the human element first and refer to theory generalization metrics somewhere down the line.
Okay, now THAT was embarassing.
Mmm, watched the end of that thinking that either the Marlins are better than I thought or we are worse than I thought.
They have some useful players but we were cruising until CK imploded.
Then you get to the pen. JP needs to go and recover some form. Coleman looks like Hatcher in that he has no knock out pitch, and Hatcher is well, Hatcher.
Puig wasn’t concentrating with the number of outs in the 8th.
All in all, 2 disappointing performances in a row.