If the trade of nice guy A.J. Ellis meant anything, and it did, you would think that trading away the one guy that that had the most knowledge of the pitching staff would probably be a bad idea. I’m not blaming Saturday’s 6-4 loss on the trade but did Carlos Ruiz have to be catching Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning? The two probably got crossed up because they had never pitched to each other before causing the tying run to score on a wild pitch. That comes as no surprise. Don’t put your backup catcher that you just traded for in such a high leverage situation.
Did Ruiz have to play last night? Did he HAVE to catch Kenley in the ninth? Do they have to constantly play percentages with all-righty lineups and lose? They didn’t have to play Ruiz. Smarter minds should have prevailed and said “You know what let’s not throw Ruiz out there to catch our closer in the ninth inning of a crucial game in the pennant race, because he just flew into town and he’s never caught Kenley before and probably isn’t even up to date with our signs”.
Dodgers Lineup vs. Chicago-
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Grandal C
Reddick RF
Pederson CF
Toles LF
Urias P
Jason Hammel-13-6 vs. Julio Urias-4-2
Game Time – 1:05 PM TV-SNLA FS1
Once again the Dodgers chose to do it. Of course the loss is on Kenley and the rest of the bullpen for not doing their jobs. I’m not saying it isn’t. Kenley and Company blew it and there is no question of that. However the Dodgers made it harder to win by not putting themselves in the best position to win. They didn’t have their regular catcher in. They lost with their worst, instead of losing with their best. They chose to play percentage baseball. They’ve done this over and over and over and over this season, and it’s a big reason why they are not 6 games up on the Giants right now.
These are the types of decisions made by non-baseball people. It strikes me as odd that old school baseball guys like Dave Roberts and Bob Geren would make decisions like this. This leads me to believe that the front office is heavily influencing game strategies. Or they are all just really foolish.
Just stop playing Kike Hernandez and Charlie Culberson against left handers. Stop playing the percentages. Stop losing with your backups. Always lose with your best, never with your 36-year old backup catcher that you just acquired the day before.
Hammel vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 43 | 38 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | .184 | .279 | .316 | .595 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Howie Kendrick | 18 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | .438 | .500 | .563 | 1.063 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Chase Utley | 14 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | .500 | .643 | 1.000 | 1.643 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Carlos Ruiz | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .273 | .273 | .364 | .636 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .500 | .667 | .500 | 1.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 | .200 | .200 | .400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Reddick | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .250 | .000 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bud Norris | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Blanton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 117 | 101 | 26 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 22 | .257 | .348 | .386 | .734 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
“The first one was a tough block for anyone and it got him to third base and the other one was a misfire with the cutter,” said manager Dave Roberts. “Obviously, with the lack of familiarity, Kenley is tough to catch. It happens. It was a tough loss. It’s a game we wanted to win.”
Or you could have not used your 36-year old backup catcher in that situation Dave and oh I don’t know maybe played your regular catcher?
The Dodgers will try and not get swept as Julio Urias (4-2 3.95) will take the mound for the Dodgers. The Cubs will counter with Jason Hammel (13-6 3.07).
Brock Stewart goes in the series finale on Sunday against Jon Lester and the best club in baseball. That should go great because he was so dominant in his previous disasters.
PLAY THE DAMN REGULARS!
I can’t believe that Kendrick isn’t playing with that BA.
You and every other real baseball fan. It’s like we’re TRYING for the wild card. Take Kendrick out and leave 0-FOR in. Very deep.
I don’t blame Ruiz. Itz FAZ’z fault.
Reddick going to have a better offenzive day. He’z due. If he doezn’t, I will blame FAZ for that too.
Badger
Reddick still shouldn’t be hitting farther up in the line up, then Joc and Toles!
About Howie, I just think it is a bad time to rest any of our best players, against a team like the Cubs.
Rest them, when we are playing a lesser team.
If Reddick doesn’t do anything today, sit him, and let Toles play.
And a single with no runners on, is not enough.
I think Reddick only has one or two, extra base hits, since he joined that team.
And still hasn’t hit in a single run!
Thuz iz why I zay he’z due.
Badger
It wasn’t today.
Bobby
Have a great day, and give us a text, after you have had a few cold ones!
Where is everyone I want to strangle Baez?
Baez systematically tired to give this game away!
And he did it slow and pain fully, so it was pure torture.
8th inning man. Jesse Chavez.
Damn. Jesse did a great job there. Made it look easy!
Being here is so nerve wracking!! This is a playoff atmosphere and we need today’s game
Bobby
Have another drink!
Have a couple for me, after having to watch Baez.