The moment Dodger fans have been anticipating for the last week finally arrived. Yu Darvish made his Dodger debut on Friday evening against the Mets at Citi Field. Darvish’s debut featured a marquee pitching match-up between Darvish and New York ace Jacob deGrom. Darvish dazzled tossing seven scoreless frames and struck out 10 while deGrom lasted just five innings as the Dodgers pounded the Mets 6-0 in the series opener.
The Dodger bats hit three more home runs (Corey Seager, Yasiel Puig, Chase Utley) and have now hit 18 against the Mets in five games. Seager had 3 hits including a home run, and Chase Utley continues to terrorize the Mets. All in all it was a great night for the Dodgers. They have now won 42 of their last 49 games. One more win tomorrow and they will surpass the 50-game stretch of 42-8 from the 2013 club.
Dodgers 6 7 0
Mets 0 4 0
WP-Darvish-7-9
LP-deGrom-12-5
HR-Taylor-14-Puig-20-Utley-7
Getting back to Darvish, he was magnificent. The 6’6 220 pound right hander looked great in a Dodger uniform. As I tried to come up with as many Darvish puns on twitter that I could come up with, Darvish was dominating the Mets. He can really do it all. He can throw a fastball in the upper 90’s. He can spin a breaking ball, throw a slider and he has many different weapons at his disposal. He’s quite a pitcher and we are lucky to have him for the rest of the season.
He struggled a little bit in the first inning, allowing a single and a walk. However he struck out Asdrubal Cabrera, got Yoenis Cespedes to fly out and snared a Curtis Granderson line drive with cat-like reflexes to get out of it. Darvish racked up two more strike outs in the second frame, (Amed Rosario, Neil Walker) and two more in the bottom of the third as he settled in quickly.
Darvish rolled through the bottom of the fourth with a 1-2-3 inning and pitched around a single and stolen base from the Met’s new athletic and flashy prospect Rosario. Darvish ended his night by striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh inning. The new Dodger allowed just 3 hits across seven frames while striking out ten Mets.
Darvish pitching line : 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 10 K 1BB 99 pitches.
On the other side, the Dodger bats punished deGrom, knocking him out of the box after just five frames. Chris Taylor led off the game with a solo home run, (number 14) and Yasiel Puig added a solo shot of his own in the top of the second. After deGrom struck out the side in the fourth frame, the Dodgers plated a third run in the fifth. In that frame consecutive singles from Taylor and Seager followed by a Justin Turner run scoring double-play put the Dodgers ahead by a 3-0 score.
The Dodgers scored two more runs in the sixth inning. Chase Utley smashed a two-run home run into the upper deck to dish out more suffering to the Mets. The two-run blast gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead. Utley has truly been enemy number 1 in Gotham. Utley has destroyed the Mets over his career. That’s his 38th career home run against the Mets, and 14th at Citi Field. If you count the seven homers he hit at the old Shea Stadium that gives him 21 in New York. He’s hit more home runs at only two other stadiums (Dodger Stadium, Citizen’s Bank). Check out these numbers because they’re extraordinary.
Utley vs. Mets
.282/.375/.525 38 home runs 114 RBI .900 OPS
Utley at Citi Field
.294/.373/.555 14 home runs 49 RBI .927 OPS
Utley’s most career home runs by Ball Park
Citizen’s Bank 129
Dodger Stadium 18
Citi Field/Shea Stadium 21
My goodness that’s some serious ownage going on there. Anyways the Dodgers won 6-0 and improve to 77-32. their magical season goes on as Rich Hill will battle Seth Lugo tomorrow afternoon on Fox. This is one hell of a team people.
Oh and Joc did this to end the game…..For anyone who says that Joc can’t play defense….well……
Quite a season we have here folks.
Go Blue
Also, here’s a great article, albeit from a year ago, on Rich Hill:
https://theringer.com/rich-hill-oakland-as-mlb-pitcher-22c4af0456fe
Darvish did a great job after some 1st inning jitters. Taylor heating up again and Seager the same. Nice AB’s from Pederson to help elevate deGrom’s pitch count and Yasiel jumping on a fastball for a homer. Met fans just hate Utley. Gutierrez transferred to 60 day DL, Dodgers claim Dylan Floro, a RH relief pitcher from the Cubs and send him to AAA.
Great win!
Yeah Scott, that catch should shut some people up. I was impressed with his patience at bat during his 2 walks. Helped build deGrom’s pitch count.
Michael
They have Puig on Quick Pitch on the MLB Channel today, at 9.
The Dodgers game from last night, is the first game on Quick Pitch this morning, and Puig is on with some of the former baseball players too.
Just watched the replay. Forsythe was playing right behind Darvish on the Granderson line drive in the forst inning. Meaning if Darvish hadn’t snagged it, Forsythe would have. Weird positioning for a left handed hitter with 2 outs. Maybe Forsythe has a lot of range going to his left? (Hence he was shading towards second base? When I played SS I shaded toward third for the same reason and I was able to throw accurately without regaining my balance going to the left.)
YF
That was Corey.
YF
I think that was Chase so I am wrong too.
They shifted with Granderson, so it could be either?!?!
Yes that was Utley. My point was on the position, which was interesting due to it being a left handed batter.
Another thing, I just wanted to get this in before the FAZophiles started bragging about how the FAZ was so awesome in picking up Darvish … in fact when there was dead silence on the last day and every blogger was backtracking on their predictions and saying how the Dodgers “didn’t have to do any deals”, I (and I think I alone) maintained that I felt the FAZ would pleasantly surprise us with multiple deals at the deadline. And I never changed that prediction. I’m not bragging I’m just saying that all these bloggers who are on the Kool-Aid and the bandwagon should stop the gloating … well it may be that you didn’t know the FAZ as well and the ones that are the strongest supporters of the team are not the yes men and the bandwagoners, but the realists who have supported this team through the thick and thin.
And please for the love of Scully no more gloating and bloating.
Yeah, that “great” catch by Joc to end the game. A faster outfielder (Taylor, Bellinger, Verdugo, Puig) would have been there a step sooner and it should have been a routine catch. Joc was late getting there and had to make an awkward last second lunge to barely catch it, a very awkward catch. Shouldn’t have been. Come on, guys, some of us are old enough to have seen The Duke, Mantle, Mays, Willie Davis, et al. Now, would they have made that catch look so awkward? I don’t think Dave Roberts, himself a pretty slick centerfielder, was much fooled by it…
I didn’t think that was a great catch. He slowed down and appeared to not be sure about the wall. He had plenty of room and more than enough time to get to the ball. Routine. What made it difficult for him was not being familiar with the park.
What happened to that wide receiver 30 stolen bases speed?
That was 30 pounds ago. Another Mr. Tree Trunks growing here…
Badger
I agree that was a catch that most centerfielders, make easily.
No one said Joc was bad on defense, we said that his defensive metrics don’t look good this year.
Joc makes some catches look harder then they really are, because he isn’t that fast.
I said Joc makes all of the catches he should make, and he does a good Job, considering how slow he is, for a centerfielder.
But take a look at his advanced defensive metrics.
I don’t put a lot in defensive metrics for just one year, because they seem to fluctuate from year to year, sometimes, so I would like to see what Joc’s defensive metrics, would look like, next year.
A good example of a more elite defensive centerfielders was Cain, when we played the Royals this year.
He made a catch up against the wall high off the wall, and it looked like he did it easily, but it was a tough ball to catch.
If Joc had to go after that same ball that Cain caught, and if Joc was able to make the same catch, it would have looked like a very hard ball to catch by Joc, but Cain made the catch look easy.
MJ,
This entire post kinda demonstrates how hard it is to evaluate OF. If Cain is playing shallow he has to run more to catch a deep fly. If he’s shaded to right, a happen to left center may fall when it looks like it shouldn’t.
Much more than the IF, the OF is about positioning first, then reaction speed, then touting.
Right? Maybe?
I don’t think so. In my experience instinct, speed and route running makes up for poor positioning.
Positioning is based on chart information. If a pitcher misses his spot that positioning chart could go out the window. A good jump, the proper route, and speed makes up that ground. I don’t know that I see a lot of any of that in Pederson. He’s a’ight, but he’s in our lineup because of his OPS. In four years he has a career BA of .226 but a career OPS of .794. The last two years it was over .800. In those 4 years he has accumulated a negative .7 dWAR. Kind of sums him up doesn’t it?
Yeah, I didn’t make my point well.
Not sure what your point is either Badger (with regard to defense.)
Bluto
I think it has all those factors, and that is why defense is so hard to measure.
And positioning for one outfielder, may be different with another outfielder.
Because some outfielders, are better at coming up on balls, and others, are better at going back on balls.
And some outfielders like to play deeper, and other outfielders, like to play more shallow.
I think you need to evaluate on more then just one year, because of the big differences from year to year.
I was actually surprised that Joc’s defensive metrics, were that bad.
I only checked because I thought that Joc looked slower, this year.
You ever play outfield defense bluto?
Professionally? No.
Well, technically I did. Got some out of town spending money from a tournament sponsor. Also coached outfielders at a JC. So clearly I’m an expert. Getting a good jump, route running and speed is more important than positioning. If you don’t have any of those skills, yeah, it’s helpful to be standing in the right spot when a ball is hit your way.
Lol.
Thanks.
Badger
The Rangers have that prospect that they have had up at the major league level the last couple years, and he is close to hitting forty HRs, but he is also close to striking out 200 times this year.
I think Gallo is his name, and he plays left, but I wish they would bring Calhoun up to hit.
Because he is a much better over all hitter then Gallo, especially since he hits with power, but he doesn’t strike out a lot.
They have Calhoun on their AAA team right now.
Joey Gallo has been somewhat of a disappointment to the Rangers. Lots of power, lots of swings and misses. But when he hits em, they are toast.
That’s all well and good and I get what you guys are saying. What I am saying is that he caught the ball and that the game was over and that’s all that matters. He has made 1 frippen error all year and the team has won 75 games. Get over the saber metric bull shit. He made the damn play.
Jonah
Is that a picture of Darvish’s girl friend?
No, that’s just Badger regretting he’s a vegetarian….
I wouldn’t ordinarily do this, but here:
Is that a picture of your friend, CatBox?
Squat to pee catbox doesn’t work out. He dumps his fetid stink on us, then it’s back to his cat tower, which is only a foot off the floor. That guy in the picture is me about 5 years ago. Maybe five years, maybe not me. Vegan body builder I trained, or didn’t. I can’t give you too much info or you will figure out who I am. Can’t have that now can we.
I looked up the girlfriend business. I can’t find anything other than she’s a former world wrestling champion. 121 pound weight class. Apparently she’s from a family of wrestlers and martial artists.
Gloating and bloating is apparently all they have Yueh. I like this deadline deal more than the last two gags. And fortunately it didn’t cost us all that much. Of course the Rangers asked for Verdugo and/or Buehler and like in the past they were stifled. How come we hear no pushback on that this year? It’s my opinion the entire reason deadline deals are made is to win now or prepare to win in the future. The Dodgers, for several years now have traded with intent to win now. It’s my opinion that for two years running we have coughed up some grisly FAZballs. This one looks much different to me. Like I’ve said numerous times, the fragility of this starting staff makes me nervous. That issue was just addressed. We now have what looks like a legit #2, pushing all the others down the ladder. I think that is great for the team. I have no opinion on the relievers. Is all this it a difference maker. Who knows. That won’t manifest for two months. A lot can happen in two months.
Dervish had ACL surgery relatively recently. Maybe the same timeframe as Wood.
Maybe not
Bluto
I believe Wood had his, in high school
Badger
I just googled is Yu Darvish’s girlfriend an adult film star.
And there was many different material about this, but I don’t know how to transfer the threads here..
I don’t really know how relevant any of that might be anyway, they have been together 10 years and have two children, I think. I wish them well.
I agree. The trade with Darvish looks good. FAZ knows which ball players to keep and they keep them. They have kept Seager, Bellinger and Urias. Where would we be without Seager and Bellinger. I am sure Texas wanted Verdugo or Beuhler in the trade. That is why that trade happened right at the dead line. FAZ put the three farm kids on the table and it was take or leave it. When Texas finally realized this was the best deal, they took it.
I thought Grandal called a very god game last night. Darvish and Grandal were on the same page last night.
I also thought we had a lot of good at bats. Many counts went to 3-2. We had DeGrom out of the game after five innings. Not bad.
We owe deGrom. He beat Kershaw and Greinke in post season play. deScrew him.
Darvish has 4 above average pitches. If he can keep from hanging some of those breaking balls, he will play very well in the NL.
Badger
Degrom has lost some velocity since that year we played him, in the post season.
He was close to 97, 98 at times then.
Jonah
Darvish didn’t divorce his wife, until 2012.
It is no big deal, but it is a little interest story, about Darvish.
This is not about any judgement.
A month or so ago I mentioned I couldn’t cook decent pancakes. Michael suggested I get a griddle. Used it for the first time today and got my first ever edible pancakes. Thanks, Michael. They turned out thicker than I wanted so all I have to do is make the batter a little thinner next time. No more frozen pancakes…
Frozen pancakes?
That’s just sad man.
Don’t mention it my friend. Glad to help. It works great for omelets too. Frozen pancakes??? YUCK> glad there is an IHOP here.
I know you read books, which is becoming a rare thing these days… I just bought some Zane Grey ebooks, including several books about his big game fishing adventures, about 90 or 100 years ago. I read those books in the summer of 1955, the only year we lived in town in Indiana. We lived one block from the library. I’m looking forward to reading those books again. The world has changed so much.
A couple of things about the trade. I do not know how many of you listened to Zaidi’s interview with Joe and Orel the other day. He explained what happened counting down to the deadline. The Dodgers were actually at the time engaged with the Orioles about Britton. But with about 30 minutes to go the Orioles told everyone they had decided to keep him. Texas was losing suitors for Darvish and called the Dodgers with about 20 minutes left to the deadline. The Dodgers told Texas that Verdugo and Buehler were not on the table, Texas shifted and said they would build a deal around Calhoun, who they liked a lot. All that was left was the additional two pieces, checking medicals and the deal was done with seconds to spare and not announced until about 4 minutes after the deadline had passed. Texas was in a position where they stood to gain only a mid level prospect if Darvish left. So they made the deal. FAZ made the right decision, just like they did when they did not give up the best prospects for Hamels. But nobody really knows what the final deal for Hamels would have looked like because it was never made. And want Seager and Urias in no way meant that the FO would trade them. You can want in one hand and crap in another and see which fills up faster.
Michael
That is exactly what I heard from our GM, and that Passan guy too.
But the Dodgers had been working with the Rangers for about a month, before.
And our GM said he didn’t want to really give up Calhoun, but you have to give something to get something.
We were also kind of lucky that the Rangers called us, twenty minutes before the deadline.
But the front office does deserve credit for their work too.
Yes they were working with them, but the Rangers were hemming and hawing on whether or not to trade the guy at all. So it really did come down to the last 20 minutes. Hill is getting clobbered today. 3 home runs in the first inning….way to go blister boy…….pitcher of the month must have gone to his head.
It seems to me that every time there is a gloating post from the FAZophiles something like this happens. But it was a great comeback again!
FAZophobes I think.