The Dodgers disappointed mothers everywhere with a pathetic 9-6 loss to the Rockies in Denver in Sunday’s series finale. They’ll leave town with a series split and stuck in second place. The loss comes as no shock as starter Julio Urias was terrible and the Dodgers screwed themselves out of several runs in the first inning with an ill advised bunt play which led to two Dodger base runners getting thrown out at third.
Urias was not his usual stingy self today allowing six earned runs on seven hits across 4 innings and striking out just one. Colorado starter rookie Antonio Senzatela wasn’t sharp either, but was good enough to get the win. The hard throwing youngster tossed five innings and allowed four earned runs on seven hits and struck out 5. He improves to 6-1 on the season and is a big part of the reason why the Rockies are in first place right now.
Dodgers 6 12 0
Rockies 9 13 0
WP-Senzatela-6-1
LP-Urias-0-1
SV-Holland-16
HR-Seager-6-Puig-7-Valaika-2,3-Arenado-9
The Dodgers were forced to use the dredges of the bullpen when Urias couldn’t get past the fifth frame. The dredges meant the awful Sergio Romo and Chris Hatcher. Romo allowed a fifth inning home run to Nolan Arenado and Hatcher served up an eighth inning shot to Pat Valaika. You know you’re going to lose when you have to bring in Romo in the fifth inning. Valaika hit two home runs in the game, and scored nine runs on 13 hits. Colorado used four extra-base hits and three dingers to drown the Dodgers.
The Dodger bats did all they could, scoring in each of the first three innings. The Dodgers were 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base squandering a lot of opportunities. The Dodgers hit two home runs (Seager and Puig) and took advantage of six walks from the Colorado pitching staff.
The first inning saw the Dodgers with a chance to take a huge early lead, but an unwise bunting attempt and poor base running ran the Dodgers out of the inning. The Dodgers still got a two-run shot from Corey Seager, and singles from Justin Turner and Grandal to put runners at second and third. For whatever reason, Dave Roberts has turned into Don Mattingly. He’s been constantly bunting this week. Of the four times Roberts has used this strategy only once (Alex Wood’s squeeze) has it worked. Check out the play below and all the stupid with it.
Despite the poor pitching the game was back and forth with the Dodgers tying the score in the second inning and taking a 4-3 lead in the top of the third. Turner, Cody Bellinger, and Yasiel Puig each had two hits each. Puig hit his seventh home run of the season in the third. Yasmani Grandal went 3 for 4 with a walk and an RBI. The switch-hitting catcher is now hitting .292.
Unfortunately the Rockies scored twice in the fourth, and fifth innings to take a 7-4 lead. The Dodgers scored twice in the top of the eighth inning to close the gap to 7-6. However Valaika’s second home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth put the nail in the coffin for the Dodgers. It gave the Rockies a 9-6 advantage.
With Brandon McCarthy and Rich Hill due to come off the disabled list the Dodgers will head to San Francisco for a three game series against the last place Giants. McCarthy is scheduled to take on Matt Cain in the series opener on Monday night at 7:15 PM.
Cody Bellinger watch: The kid was 2 for 4 with a double, single, and a run batted in. He walked and struck out twice. Batting average .319.
Turner makes another fantastic play at third base:
They bunted/ran themselves out of potential big inning, fought back to within one, and then gave the ball to Chris Hatcher. The altitude must be affecting Roberts.
The Rockies don’t look bad in pink, but the Dodgers–it’s just wrong.
For the first time this year, Urias faced a line up that did not rank in the bottom 3 in all of baseball in scoring runs and the results were a little, er a lot different for him.
The positive….he kept his innings down. Only used up 4 of em today.
Urias has a chance to be a decent major league pitcher. Will depend if he works at his trade and makes the necessary adjustments in his approach. The jury is still out as time will tell.
Now it’s FAZ’S dynamic duo coming back from rehab, I mean the DL. Fresh and ready to go against the 29th ranked offense. Lets go get em.
And the starting pitching musical chair goes around and who is the lucky customer back on the DL? Anyone? Hatcher and Romo would be good choices.
Michael
Hatcher needs to be dropped, he has been wasting roster space, far to long!
He will never be able to pitch in high leverage situations, for a big market team, like the Dodgers!
Hatcher has simply been on the major league roster for two years, because he doesn’t have any options left.
Who cares if he has good stuff, he is a thrower, with command issues!
And because the FAZTER loves him.
“Urias has a chance to be a decent major league pitcher.” Interesting comment.
I think Roberts tried to manage too much that first inning. He’s trying to work some motion into the offense, rather than just doing things the Mattingly way (i.e. riding out good streaks doing nothing until things fall apart, rather than trying to improve for the postseason when there’s a bit of a cushion). But I would probably have waited until later in the game.
My fantasy baseball team has 3 Dodgers now off the waivers scrap heap. Bellinger, Taylor and Wood. I’m in first place. However I also note that I’m in first place because of 3 other much earlier waiver pickups – Zimmerman, Santana and Severino.
YF-
Congrats. IF the season ended today you would have both the MVP (Zimmerman) and the ROY (Bellinger).
I think Bellinger will be a lock for ROY but Zimmerman will be strongly contested by his teammate before this season is done.
If Taylor makes a good bunt that doesn’t happen.
On this date in 1998, the Dodgers traded Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins for Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Manuel Barrios. A very dark day in Dodger history.
Yeah. Dumb move.
For reading pleasure:
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&cid=260&stn=true&sid=t260
Is Rios a real prospect? I hope so. He’s 6’3″ 220, but might be a better fit st 1b. Trade bait maybe. I hear talk about Mieses, but his numbers don’t look like all that. Farmer and Ahmed are interesting pieces. Ahmed’s r/l splits are very even, with an OPS over 1.000 against LHP. Not many ab’s though. He may not show enough power for FAZ but his OBP has been impressive. He’s got a 6 game hitting streak going.
I think the minor league system, though no longer stacked, is solid. I’m thinking the FAZ is lining up their next blistering trade. Be reddick for it, as it will be a dozie.
Funny you should mention those two guys, Rios and Mieses. I saw both of them play when they were at Rancho. Mieses had a couple of hits and Rios launched a long homer. He was playing 3rd that game. Looks a little shaky over there and does not move exceptionally well for a big guy. More a 1st baseman, but we know who is going to block him from that spot. Mieses looked good that game which is one reason I followed his progress when he went up the ladder. But he seems to have regressed a little. I think Rios is definitely trade bait. None of the farm teams are playing exceptionally well. There are a couple of guys in the pen at OKC I think might be helpful down the road. Joe Broussard and Somsen. Broussard has not allowed anything in 9 innings over 6 games, he was promoted from AA about 2 weeks ago, and Somsen has a .051 ERA over 10 games. If FAZ trades anyone, I hope Hatcher is included along with Romo, but us fans cannot be that lucky. By the way, Kemp is hitting over .330. Ahmed’s brother plays for the D-Backs.
The Kemp trade goes on my list of mistakes. You’ll also find Piazza, Pedro Martinez on there. Don’t try to add Clemente, he wasn’t traded.
No, but they made a really stupid move not protecting him. Pedro was a HUGE dumb move. Lasorda trading Konerko for Shaw was not exactly brilliant either. And do not look now, but Schebler has 10 HR’s over there in Cincy. That would be high on the Dodgers.
Just read a piece that said centerfield is our weakest link. I guess I wouldn’t argue that. Sure would like to see Pederson step up in his role there but he continues to make the same mistakes at the plate. This article suggested his defense ain’t all that either. He looks slower this year. I wonder if he isn’t carrying a few extra pounds.
Cain and dis-Abel’d today. Could be biblical.
Let’s hope Schebler keeps it up. Goood for him though! He’s really going quite well.
Michael
I heard that about Schebler the other day, but I don’t know if he is hitting much over 200, and the Reds play in a band box!
Corey would probably have at least four more HRs, playing there.
He hit into one of the worse luck, compared to most major leaguers, not to long ago.
Average means nothing anymore MJ. It’s the slugging that is determinate. Very militaristic strategy – Special OPS.
Badger
Sorry it does to me, and it is still a factor in games!
Walks are not hits, even if the sabers want to believe that, and strike outs, take a teams out of to many rallies, and they are not, just like every other out.
Very true MJ, but the powers that are running the game now do not agree. Strikeouts are more common because the saber guys do not place the negative value on them that was done in the old days. Guys who strikeout a lot, like Grandal for instance, but also walk enough to give them a good OBP are valued, not shunned. I dislike K’s as much as anybody but I doubt you will see hitters like Tony Guinn and Joe DiMaggio who often had a lot less K’s. DiMaggio for his entire career spanning 13 years, struck out less than 400 times….in his entire career. Some guys now come close to that in 2 years and a few have passed it in that time frame.
Michael
That is why I said that.
Both Joc and Grandal, benefit from the way sabers value walks, and strike outs.
But we all know a walk is not equal to a hit, and a strike out, is not the same, is every other out.
If I went by OPS last year, Joc provided the second most offensive production, on the team.
And Grandal ranked fourth.
And we all know that is not even close, to the truth!
Yeah, we agree on that MJ. But Michael is right. If you want understand today’s GM’n, you have to try to see it like they do. Sometimes it seems counterintuitive, but you and I thought that about our election, and look how well that has turned out.
He is hitting .252. Has a .534 slugging percentage and a OBP of .324 and a OPS .858. Pretty much better than anyone we have playing out there now save Bellinger. And MJ, he has more HR’s on the road than in Cincy, so his numbers are not skewed by his home park. He actually has a .316 BA on the road and 7 homers, so he is pretty legitimate. Players on the Rockies usually have better home splits than on the road. He is also hitting .258 against lefty’s. Only 30 at bats against them. He is hitting .250 against RHP.
Michael,
Like I said, I didn’t look at his numbers, I just heard that, on a telecast, that I watched for a while.
He may have more HRs then Corey now has, but we all know, he isn’t the player, Corey is.
But I am happy for the kid, hopefully he will stays there all year.
He was never really given a fair chance, like some of the other young players, were given, still on this team.
Badger
You and I both know, what they look at, but that doesn’t mean, it is accurate.
And actually the fact that there are so many walks and strike outs now, that has made the game very boring, at times.
And a lot of strike outs and walks, don’t make for a productive, offense.
If you want to see how badly OPS values a players offensive production, take a look at Duke Snider’s 24 year old season, and compare it, to Joc’s offensive production from last year, when he was 24.
And then take a look at both Sniders and Joc’s OPS, what a joke.
And on the TV broadcasts, they try to compare Joc to Snider, in HRs, but nothing else, is even close..
Corey plays in LA. In April and May it is pretty hard to homer at Dodger Stadium especially at night. Turner has crushed a few that made it the wall and that was it. Puig has had a few knocked down too, that is one reason Ward was working with him to elevate the balls he pulls and to take the pitch where it is thrown when he cannot pull it. That cold set of games in Chicago robbed a few from the team too. But you play where you play and if you are a good player you adjust to the park you are playing in. Wally Moon adjusted his swing when the played at the coliseum. RH hitters who play in Boston become pull happy because of the monster. Granderson adjusted his swing when he played with the Yankees in NY because of how close the RF fence was. Dodger hitters have never had the luxury of having a home park since Ebbet’s Field anyway that was homer friendly. Which is why only 1 Dodger in LA history ever won a HR title. Adrian Beltre just before he left in free agency. Before him the last was Duke Snider in 1956. And Shawn Green and Gary Sheffield were not even the runner up when they hit 49. No Dodger has ever hit 50.
Michael
If you look at the chart of where Puig has hit a HR, every pitch he has hit out, is solid in the very middle, of the plate.
yep, when they put them there he kills em. He is a work in progress and learning that his kind of talent is not going to get the job done on its own.
Badger
It looked like Dodger Digest, tried to make that implacation about Joc, gaining weight.
And Joc did get engaged, not to long ago.
And that ball that he mis judged in this
last series, that went off his glove, sure
should have been, an error.
But I think Joc is a pretty decent centerfield, but he is just not an elite center fielder, like some think.
Badger
What is the article you read?
Ca?
As a case in point about Coors Field, Arenado actually is hitting better on the road. Blackmon is hitting .391 at Coors and about .201 on the road. Reynolds splits are pretty even, but he has more HR’s at home. LaMahieu is over .300 at home and around .220 on the road.
Off to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. After yesterday’s debacle I need a laugh or two. Thank goodness I got the Dodger feed on my computer so I did not have to listen to Drew Goodman drone on and on and on.
Yaisel Sierra is going to be 26 soon. He’s pitchin a’ight at AA, when do we put his FAZie feet to the fire?
I’m not sure they consider age, given the aggressive placements with O’Neil Cruz, Mieses and UriaS.
On the subject of Rios, the comment I read about him, Calhoun and The Cubs’ guy is the best position is the batters box.
At one of the other sites is a good, recent write-up of Mieses. Not a reporter/scout just a fan.
Heard the same thing about him. Great bat, lead glove, at 3rd anyway.
Only 9 errors so far this year at third.
He’s 26, in his prime, and pitching well in the minors. Maybe he could be a slide piece in the DL Musical Chairs parade.
On another site? Not a scout? A fan?
Well here’s another fan posting a scouting report:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/eyewitness_bat.php?reportid=313
Sounds like a replacement centerfielder to me. Go Johan!
I heard a good reason there to bring in the DH.
Jonah
Are you general Tso?
I’ve eaten General Tso’s Chicken, several of them as a matter of fact. There seems to be thousand’s of variations on his supposedly favorite recipe. How would I know, I’m not Chinese… And I have a very good alibi for November 22nd, 1963 if that is your next question…
Badger
Toles could be that guy.
And I don’t think he will let this injury or the year, set him back much.
He was already proving he can adjust, and hit, major league pitching.
And he seems to be more, then just a contact hitter.
He hit more HRs in his first month, of the season, then Joc did, in his first month.
And he has elite speed, and his scouting numbers, are better.
And we know he has the attitude, and the discipline, to get better.
That’s a year old. Based on the other report, he’s improved since then.
BUT
He’s a high ceiling, low-floor guy.
What other report? You said it wasn’t a reporter/scout, just a fan. What fan and why does his opinion mean more than a scouting report?
High ceiling yes, but his numbers so far kinda suck.
Bluto
You got that right, but that didn’t stop a major league team, from finding a place, for them to play, did it?
Jonah
You got me on that!
I had to look that one up.
So you did you shoot him, and ran to a movie theater, or did you shoot him in a movie
theater, and run to a warehouse?
I saw you, from the grassy knoll, but I will keep this to myself!
I think the secret service didn’t fire the first shot, but I think when one of them shot, they accidentally hit Kennedy, and that is why he was shot and hit, after the first couple shots, by more shots, at a different angle.
What I would like to know is where Mark Timmons was when all that was going on?
A joke came to mind Jonah ….
I’ll leave it alone.
FAZ can’t prove where he was at that time and neither can his slimey Bedouin friend, I just checked. Let’s see Mr. Teflon get out of this…