The Dodgers opened their home stand against the Boston Red Sox tonight. There was lots of fanfare around the game, as the Sox’s visit to LA brought the farewell tour of Big Papi, David Ortiz.
There was a warm welcome and some reunions for Papi before the game. Adrian Gonzalez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, were all Big Papi’s teammates in Boston.
BTW – The pitching matchup was Scott Kazmir vs knuckleballer, Steven Wright.
1st inning
Sox
Boston picked up a leadoff single, but nothing more. This was the best Kazmir would be all night.
Dodgers
Justin Turner hammered out a two-out double into the right field corner. They left him there.
2nd inning
Sox
They got on the board first, taking the lead 1-0.
3rd inning Sox 1-0
Sox
Kazmir gave up a solo home run. 2-0
Dodgers
The Dodgers had a couple of base runners, but they just couldn’t drive them in against the knuckleballer.
4th inning Sox 2-0
After a 5-ball walk, Kazmir gave up another home run. 4-0
Next batter, base hit. Kazmir completely ineffective tonight. At least he matched his teammates’ offense.
5th inning Sox 4-0
The first scoreless inning since the first.
Dodgers
For them… just another in tonight’s string of scoreless innings.
6th inning Dodgers 4-0
Sox
Kazmir dumped after one out and two on.
Josh Fields in. Job done.
Dodgers
Knuckleballed again. If not for Justin Turner in the first, this would be a no-hitter.
8th inning Sox 4-0
Jesse Chavez gave up three singles, a walk, and a solo homer. 6-0 by the time the skipper yanked him.
J.P. Howell in.
Utley committed an error and two more Boston runs scored. 8-0.
Quoting Vin Scully: “The Red Sox get two more. As if they needed them.”
It was 9-0 by the end of the inning. That was how the game ended.
Dodgers lose 9-0
Scott Kazmir was the bad Kazmir tonight. He ate up some innings, but he also bled runs throughout his outing. The Red Sox are a good hitting team, and they showed Kazmir no mercy tonight.
The Dodgers pitching staff gave up lots of home runs in Colorado, and to some extent, home runs are to be expected. Trouble is, in returning to “pitcher friendly” Dodger Stadium, they continued to serve up home runs (three more tonight).
I find it hard to fault the Dodgers offense too much for being tied up by a quality knuckleball, but the pitching failed to keep the Sox run count low. Nine runs is an almost impossible mountain to overcome.
Trade Watch: Jesse Chavez and Josh Reddick have shown nothing to make Dodgers fans think trading for them was a good idea.
The Giants continue to lose, so the Dodgers are not sinking any further in the standings. That said, the boys had better wake up fast, because all of this losing at the top of the standings has allowed the red hot Rockies to scramble back into the race.
Scott Kazmir (L 9-5) went 5 1/3 innings with 5 hits, 4 runs, 2 HRs, 4 walks, 2 K’s. ERA 4.51
Team with RISP: 0 for 4
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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Could you imagine Grandal trying to corral a knuckleball??? It’s a sweet pich when it’s workin…
He would have to use the Uecker method…..wait until it quits rolling, then pick it up.
The Giants are trying to give the damn division away and the Dodgers fall again – this time to a 31 year old who throws his first career shutout. Impressive.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2655363-yasiel-puig-demoted-by-dodgers-to-triple-a-oklahoma-city?utm_campaign=tsipad&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=teamstream
“Worst person I’ve ever seen in this game. Ever”
Worst ever? Depending on how old that unnamed source is, that’s a lot of persons.
What a waste.
Last 5 games we have matched the midgets in wins and losses. Somebody in this division needs to go on a win streak. Colorado?
Will there be another thread added today. With all due respect, I watched the game last night. I know what happened.
And the Marlins and the Cardinals are on are butt
I don’t know how many HRs Haren gave up, but Kazmir has given up 19 HRs, and we still have some time to go.
And we have Kazmir, for another two years.
All the Faz people thought that Faz was so smart by giving Kazmir an opt out.
But most of us here, knew this guy was never going to opt out.
And that is even more true today.
But because Faz made the deal, it was genious.
What happened to just a little common sense?
This guy was released by the Angels, and was pitching in the independent league, only a couple of seasons ago.
Kazmir and Hill should have a lot to talk about on the bench, because Hill was also pitching in an independent league, not to long ago.
Kazmir sounds like a good pitcher to give a multi year contract to, if you believe Faz is all that.
I still can’t believe these Faz followers, believed Kazmir would be opting out.
Our hitters didn’t look like they had a plan to attack a knuckle ball pitcher.
The only player I saw consistently hit some balls hard, was Agone but he didn’t get one hit.
I have never talked about our hitting coach, but our players didn’t look good up at the plate yesterday, I guess I will give them a break, because most have never seen much of a knuckle ball pitcher, but there bats better come to life today.
I hope they come out hitting today, and win this game today.
They need to bring back some of there credibility after yesterday’s game.
Boston hits. It’s their pitching that keeps other teams in games.
I believe the approach to hitting the knuckler is to shorten up and try to drive everything back through the middle. Does that sound like the Dodgers? No, it does not.
Stripling today. Over/under on innings and earned runs? How about 5 and 4? We are favored again. Why? 8 1/2 runs. I got the Dodgers and the over. There’s a surprise.
Badger
Exactly what you said!
Badger
We are facing a leftie pitcher, do you still think we should be favored?
Haren gave up 27 home runs in 2014. 3.60 ERA.
Blyleven used to give up 20 plus every year. Usually though they were solo bombs..
Michael
I looked up Haren, and Haren gave up 27 so Kazmir, probably won’t catch Haren.
But that figure might be different if Kazmir, could pitch farther then five innings, most of the time.
That’s what a pitcher wants to happen when he gives up HRs.
Make them solo HRs.
But look how many more innings he pitched!
Yep, and look how many games he won too….Blyleven could pitch…had a GREAT curveball.
Snider
Kazmir has given up twenty HRs, in 121 innings, and I believe Haren gave up 27 HRs, in 181 innings.
But like you listed, Haren has a better era then Kazmir.
But I guess Kazmir still has a chance to allow more HRs then Haren did.
Not much you can say after an ass whuppin like last night. Kazmir was what we have seen all year. Nothing to write home about. I do not fault the hitters much. Wright kept them off balance and the knuckler is not an easy pitch to hit. Vinny referenced that when he said Joc was trying to kill the pitch and you will never hit it that way. Those trades looking really good……….NOT! I expect Reddick to have some adjustment to the league issues, but he should know the Red Sox staff pretty well. Sandy Leon the Sox catcher was pretty impressive. That homer he hit down the left field line was golfed out on a pitch that I was surprised he even hit. Turned the game off when it got to be 5-0…not that big of a masochist.
And he is the back up catcher.
Reading the sports page lately and watching some of the games on TV, I can’t help but notice that the Marlins are playing blue collar baseball for our formerly white collar manager. And Stanton stinks. And Gordon just came back. How about getting aced out of a wild card by the Marlins? My guess is that they will give the Nats a run for the Division title. Is Barry Bonds the difference? Just having him around? The F-you attitude? Interesting to watch.
Bobbie 17
Bonds has a lot of the Marlins players hitting.
There centerfielder, was hitting so bad last year, that the Marlins owner wanted to put him down in AAA.
Now he is hitting for a good average, and hitting with power too.
But the Marlins have a lot of good hitters in there line up, but they are still having trouble scoring runs.
That is probably because of Mattingly.
When he was with the Dodgers, all of the Dodgers other stats, said that they should be scoring more runs, then they were.
Mattingly was in love with HRs, and didn’t know how to have a productive offense.
I like that just about the entire RC team has been promoted together to Tulsa. I hope they keep these guys together until the Bigs. Logan Bawcom was a winner again yesterday for OKC. He should be the next call up. Really, he should come ahead of Urias on the depth chart. He’s been around a while and probably a stronger guy.
That is a good way to bring up the Dodger way, throughout the system, and all up the way up to the big team.
Puig plays today for OKC?
SATURDAY: Puig is expected to report to the Oklahoma City Dodgers tomorrow, Rosenthal reports (all Twitter links). The reason his debut with Oklahoma City has been delayed is that he first needed to clear optional waivers to be sent to the minors. He cleared Thursday, but his actual reporting date will coincide with the beginning of a road series against Iowa.
What all this means, I think, is that Puig is no longer on the 40 man roster since he cleared waivers.
Wondering
That means he can be traded now, if the Dodgers want to do that right.
I think this is more an attempt to make him straighten out, and to help him to realize how good he really has it, up in the bigs.
And probably to help him with his hitting, if he will listen.
This is pretty much a wake up call for Puig. The Dodgers are trying to drill into his head that it takes hard work ethic to stay in the league. You cannot get by on raw talent alone. If you look at Puig’s steadily declining stats the reason is obvious. He blows this, they trade him for a bag of used balls this winter.
It’s not about stats. Puig was one of about half a dozen guys who had slumped through long stretches of the season, and he was one of their hottest hitters at the time he was demoted. They just don’t like him personally.
Wrong, Puig is on the 40 man roster. Optional waivers means he was out of options, so they dangled him and no one bit. Only players who are off the 40 man are those who are out righted or on the DL.
Michael
Are the Dodgers able to trade Puig if they want to now?
In order to trade anyone they must be put on waivers first. If they are claimed, the team can allow the claiming team to have the player and assume the contract, which in Puig’s case is very manageable. If the team decides not to let him go, the claiming team and the Dodgers have something like 48 hours to work out a trade, or the Dodgers can simply pull Puig back off waivers. Right now the Atlanta Braves would have first shot at getting Puig. Teams with the worst record have first dibs. Teams in first place would be the last to be able to pick him up, so no, the Dodgers cannot trade him unless he clears waivers, or they trade him to the claiming team…it is a little complicated. If he is on a teams roster prior to Sept 1, then he is eligible for the playoff roster…..that’s why Utley was eligible for last years playoffs…..
Bobbie, you didn’t read my post a couple of hours ago?
Dang. And I thought everything I wrote was devoured by all in here. I’m crushed.
Marins are an interesting team. Stanton. His play reminds me of a line from the Peter O’Toole movie “My Favorite Year”. The swashbuckling Alan Swann panics when told the show will be broadcast live and exclaims “I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star!” That’s Giancarlo Stanton this year. 118 OPS+. He’s actually only being paid $9 million. Only $14.5 next year. His real money doesn’t kick in til 2018. Maybe that’s when he becomes a Dodger? He will be 28 then. He’s a butts in seats movie star. Good fit for LA?
Badger
My biggest concern about Stanton is his injuries.
For being so chiseled, he has had trouble staying on the field at times.
And do you really think this front office is going to go after real elite players one day?
I don’t want players who are buffed. Give me guys like Ted Williams and Stan the Man. And I don’t think FAZ will suddenly change their spots once they get under the cap.
Snider
Baseballs never use to have a lot of oblique injuries like they have now.
And I just don’t think they can help themselves, but to go for the cheapest price.
I was going to say go for the best value, but I don’t believe that is what they have done.
9-9 since the AS break 🙁
But we are still two back, so there is still hope. Who pitches today? Stripping? Hope, hope, hope!
Stripling gets the nod……….against this Red Sox team he had better be his sharpest…….
Did everyone hear that Hill isn’t pitching on Sunday?
Robets said that Hill’s blister isn’t fully healed, and he might be developing another blister.
McCarthy to take his turn on Sunday on regular rest
Unbelievable
Or maybe it is believable
So, I’ve been reading Dodgerland, a book about the 1977-78 Dodgers. While the book is interesting but flawed, it got me thinking. Compare today’s Dodgers to 1977:
1B – Garvey vs. Gonzalez
2B – Lopes vs. Utley
3B – Cey vs Turner
SS – Yeager vs Grandal
LF – Baker vs Kendrick et al
CF – Monday et al vs Pederson et al
RF – Smith vs Puig et al
I would take all of the ’77 Dodgers vs the current ones except at SS.
Starting pitchers
Sutton vs Kershaw
John vs Maeda
Hooton vs Kazmir
Rau vs Wood et al
Rhoden vs Stripling et al
i would take all of the ’77 starters except for Kershaw
I would take today’s ‘pen.
Interesting study. The problem is that you can look at many Dodger teams and see how much today’s team falls short.
No catchers, wrong guys at ss.
SS – Russell vs Seager
C – Yeager vs Grandal
Sorry
And Rhoden hit better than most of our regular players.
Dodger rick
Wasn’t Ferguson still catching then?
I’m not sure what nauseated me more last night. Rolling out the red carpet prior to the game for the juicer who played a handful of games against the Dodgers, Kazmir giving up gopher balls, the thought of FAZ trading for Sanchez, or how silly Wright made the Dodgers hitters look last night.
I have a bad feeling about this game. A rookie facing the best offense in baseball, while we face a left-hander. And facing a knuckleball pitcher usually throws hitters timing off the next day.
Is anyone surprised Hill will miss a start? Grrrr.
Kike Hernandez batting 5th and playing CF.
Uggh.
2 for 2..guess Dave chose right on that one…