Is it already time for the freeway series? It seems like the season just started yesterday. I guess time flies when you’re playing mediocre baseball. The Dodgers actually had been playing a little better so things were starting to look up. They had earned a series split against the Mets, and won the first two games of the series against the Cardinals. They had won three in a row and could have been four had Dave Roberts not foolishly intentionally walked a .224 hitting Brandon Moss for no reason. That was a winnable game, but you know he had to use three pitchers in that fateful seventh inning because lefty righty crap.
Tonight the sad sack Angels come into town to begin the annual Freeway Series. The Angels have been pretty bad this year. I guess they’re not that bad. They’ve actually won three in a row coming into tonight’s game. Right now they are 16-21 and sit in third place in the AL West 5.5 games behind the Rangers. The Halos play better on the road than at home. They have a 6-12 record in Anaheim and are 10-9 away from the big A.
Dodgers Lineup vs. Angels
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Kendrick 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Grandal C
Pederson CF
Thompson RF
Crawford LF
Maeda P
Matt Shomaker-1-5 vs. Kenta Maeda-2-3
Game Time – 7:10 PM TV- SNLA- FSW
The Angels have suffered some catastrophic injuries to their pitching staff. Garrett Richards has a torn UCL and is heading for Tommy John surgery. Youngster Andrew Heaney has a bad left forearm and is out until at least July. Closer Houston Street is out with a left oblique injury. Because of this the Angels have desperately acquired Jhoulys Chacin and are now reportedly on the verge of signing former Giant Tim Lincecum.
As bad as they have been, they still have Mike Trout, and Albert Pujols. One of the most dangerous 1-2 punches in all of baseball.
Tonight they will give the ball to Matt Shoemaker. The 29-year old right hander was once one of the Angel’s best starting pitchers. This year he has been horrendous. In 2014 he finished with a 16-4 record and a 3.04 ERA over 136 frames. This season he is 1-5 with 9.12 ERA in 24.2 innings pitched. He’s allowed 13.1 hits per nine and has a 1.9 WHIP. He is 0-1 against the Dodgers and has only thrown six career innings against the boys in blue.
Shoemaker vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Carl Crawford | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasiel Puig | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .667 | 1.000 | 1.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A.J. Ellis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .500 | .000 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.500 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 18 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | .286 | .412 | .500 | .912 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Dodgers will counter with Kenta Maeda. The Japanese right hander has never faced the Angels, but is coming off of his worst outings of the season. In that game he gave up four earned runs on six hits across five innings in a loss to the Mets. Overall he is 2-3 with a 2.30 ERA in 43 frames. Maeda has allowed 6.7 hits per nine innings and struck out 38.
Stat of the day- Mike Trout is hitting just .256 with two home runs at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers switch the lineup around again tonight. The slumping Justin Turner is not playing and Howie Kendrick is hitting third and playing third base. Adrian Gonzalez is batting cleanup and lord only knows why Carl Crawford is playing again. No Yasiel Puig tonight because you gotta get Carl Crawford in the lineup. (sarcasm)
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#
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
PCT
|
GB
|
HOME
|
AWAY
|
L10
|
||
|
1
|
|
22
|
18
|
.550
|
–
|
11-10
|
11-8
|
7-3
|
||
|
2
|
|
20
|
18
|
.526
|
1.0
|
9-11
|
11-7
|
6-4
|
||
|
3
|
|
19
|
18
|
.514
|
1.5
|
8-10
|
11-8
|
6-4
|
||
|
4
|
|
17
|
22
|
.436
|
4.5
|
8-11
|
9-11
|
5-5
|
||
|
5
|
|
17
|
23
|
.425
|
5.0
|
5-16
|
12-7
|
5-5
|
||
The battle of Southern California baseball mediocrity begins tonight!
Go Blue!
Today for Rancho: Yasiel Sierra 6ip 8 hits, 3 runs, 0bb, 6k
Call him up, he’ll fit right in.
I guess Puig gets a rest because he almost homered last night. And Crawford owns the Angels.
Scott, I don’t understand why you have to be so judgmental of FAZ and Roberts. You may not agree with their decisions but why word your disagreement so that it sounds like you think your coaching decisions would be better than theirs?
You said “They had won three in a row and could have been four had Dave Roberts not foolishly intentionally walked a .224 hitting Brandon Moss for no reason.” To me, that is arrogant. Why not just say the Dodgers might have squeezed out another win if an intentional walk hadn’t backfired. You would have made your point without sounding like you would make a better Manager than Roberts.
Well, that statement is immensely popular on this board, so Scott is a Marketing Genius!
lolz if only I was that smart.
This is actually the first time I have ever said anything bad about Roberts. Ever. But when a winnable game is flushed down the toilet for stupidity, it makes me frustrated. You best believe I’ll speak on it.
Getting frustrated is akin to getting your tit caught in the wringer. Scott, you don’t get your tit in a wringer do you?
Bad things happen when people get frustrated. It isn’t a good thing to do.
It makes one un-Vin like.
Carl Crawford. $21.6mm #8 hitter. It’s good to be wealthy.
funny. i was thinking that very same thing after his hit
For every run that Crawford hits in, he gives up a run with his arm, or his defense!
Has the league caught up with Maeda or is this just a bad streak?
I swear I have no clue!
You can’t help yourself can you. You swim below the surface for hours then BAM! Snark attack!
Maeda is off tonight. He’s not missing by much. He could get through the next inning on 10 pitches. Or, they could pinch hit for him.
Thompson needs to play. As does Crawford, Hernandez and Ethier later.
In case you have been living under the rock that is your head, I was simply saying that I do not know what is up with Maeda. He has been pretty brutal his last three starts.
Damn….
Badger Crawford’s arm and defense, makes any offensive production from him, not worth much.
Another game, where his defense and arm, cost the Dodgers some runs!
funny, i was thinking that very same thing as well after they seemed to just be going with the pitch and hitting em for singles
but he has settled down since.
Meanwhile, how about Trayce???!!! For those that don’t know, his father is Mychal Thompson, the former #1 overall nba pick and 2 time champ with the Lakers. He’s the Lakers radio guy and does a show on espn 710 in LA from 10-12. He’s at the game tonight watching Trayce. He said he was too nervous to watch his other son Klay and the Warriors so he was going to go to the Dodger game.
I wish Puig could learn from Thompson’s demeanor, especially when he is up to bat!
Mark the last couple games, before last night, Maeda basically throw those two pitches to the pitcher, and lost.
But the game before that, he was mostly good, but Baez, or Hatcher, let all the runs they inherited, to score, and that is what made Maeda’s era to look bad, in the two previous games, he pitched.
I think his pitching will be ok. I think he is suffering from what Kazmir was suffering from, and that is lack of confidence. That game he allowed the pitcher, to hit those two HRs, has caused him, to lose some of his confidence. He just needs a clean game, and he will be back on track. They are inserting Bolsinger, into the pitching rotation on Wednesday, to give all of the starting pitchers a extra day off, that should help.
I want to go on record. I don’t pinch hit for Maeda. Not in the 4th. 73 pitches. Let him try to get through 5. The pen doesn’t need the stress. And, you trust Hatcher to do better? Risky business.
The Dodgers need to do some defense drills. They be leaving second uncovered. That’s a Little League mistake.
Vin just said that the Dodgers were #4 in MLB in how deep their starters pitch into a game.
Now, that is a SNARK ATTACK to the morons who denigrate the Starters.
This has been a public service announcement by SAT (Snark Attacks Today).
Peace off!
Well – that is a little misleading I think. Kershaw leads the league in CG probably – what about the others?
Kershaw – 8 starts, 62 ip (7.75 ip/start)
Kazmir – 8 starts, 46 ip (5.75 ip/start)
Wood – 8 starts, 45 ip (5.63 ip/start)
Maeda – 8 starts, 47 ip (5.88 ip/start)
Stripling – 7 starts, 38 ip (5.43 ip/start)
None of the Dodgers’ other starters even average 6 ip/start!
Good info.
I’m not that interested this early. I do have to admit I am surprised by that stat. I figured middle of the pack. I’m much more concerned how this group will hold up over the course of a long year. My guess is – we won’t finish 4th.
2nd?
As of right now, I am leaning towards agreeing with Badger. I hate to admit this, but the front office has been a failure. This is a lackluster club on both sides of the ball. mediocre relief pitching, stagnant offense, poor base running, no speed, injury riddled pitchers, unproven coaches. etc etc. If Ryu can come back he’ll help. I just don’t see this team going anywhere unless major changes are made. It might even be time to blow it up and purge the roster. However with hundreds of millions of dollars in resources at their disposal that shouldn’t be necessary. All that money and this is the best they can do? An average club? You have to hold the front office accountable for this. It’s time for changes.
If you are supposed to be able to tell what kind of team you have after a quarter of the season is gone, we are there and 1 game over .500 (20-19 after tonight). Many of the hitters are underperforming what is expected of them (Gonzalez, Grandal, Hendrick, Puig, Turner). The pitching was never going to be great given the personnel that is on the roster. I expected better than we are getting because I expected more runs scored per game, but maybe this is only a .500 team.
It’s going to take a transfusion of talent to do better.
Let’s see some of the kids.
Today’s Baez turn to melt down
Who will it be tomorrow??
I’m still not buying Baez.
No movement on any pitches = recipe for disaster.
Agree – he has a straight fastball and not much else. Some guys he can beat with pure heat, but not everyone.
Nice throw Joc.
Team playing like crap tonight.
Per Bill Shaikin, “Dave Roberts says Adrian Gonzalez, who left the game because of back stiffness, is day-to-day.”
That’s why they need a real backup 1B.
Disagree. They have 4 guys on the club already that have played first. It is an opportunity to get one of them into the game at that position. Preferably one that’s hitting…
Agone plays more games, then most major league players. And the Dodgers don’t need a real first baseman, because Agone won’t be out that much. And Scotty is not a great first baseman. He doesn’t play first, that much better, or better, then the other players who fill in for Agone. And Scotty is hurt more often then Agone is, and Scotty isn’t even a full time player. Agone knows how to handle his back, and because of this, he never lets it get out of hand. He only needs a couple days off, here and there. That is the least of the Dodgers problems right now!
I was wrong about Thompson early this year, it looks like he’s here to stay. It isn’t going to happen, of course, but our outfield on a daily basis should be some combination of Thompson, Pederson, Puig, and Ethier. SVS can be the fifth outfielder/second first-baseman. Starting infield: Agon, Utley, Seager, Turner, with Kike and Culberson (or whomever) as reserve. If you want to improve the catching, you have to lose AJ and trade for Lucroy or some other real first string catcher. The bullpen is a disaster (Not to mention our whole management setup), I’ll let someone else clean the ‘pen…
They are starting a six man pitching rotation, starting on Wedesday, when Bolsinger, will be inserted into the rotation, and that will help some what. I was glad to see that Baez finally, was responsible for some runs, that he gave up. His era, and other stats, looked better, because when Baez has came into games, he was never charged for the runs, that he inherited, that he allowed to score.
Baez pitched badly, from the very begining, when he came in last night. And he gave away the game, in the one inning, he pitched. And this Dodger bullpen, really can’t be counted on, to do there job, consistently, and that is no suprise. And when this front office, brought starting pitchers to the Dodgers, that can’t be counted on, to pitch deep into games, and did nothing to fortify the bullpen, they didn’t do there jobs, in fact, they failed badly.
This bullpen will be on going problem, all year long, just like last year. There has to be some decisions made, about what they are going to do about both Turner, and Puig, who are not making any real offensive contributions, to the team, at this time. Puig is batting 176 in his last 100 at bats, and has only one walk, and probably has the second most Ks, on the team right now. And Turner is just not being able to adjust to how the pitchers, are pitching him. The question is how long do you go with these two players, and continue to play them, on an everyday basis, if there are others, that are doing better. The other problem is Howie.
How long does Roberts try to fit Howie, into the line up? And Crawford, just shouldn’t be playing, at all.
Because his defense, and his arm, is to much of a liability, to play him. Anything that Crawford, contributes with his bat, is cancelled out. With his bad defense, and terrible arm. Thompson needs to be playing leftfield, until he stops producing.