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Dodgers Go With Rookies, Urias, Stewart Against Cubs

Julio Urias

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”.

Embed from Getty Images

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!

Scott Andes

Scott Andes: Longtime writer and Dodger fanatic

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Scott Andes
Scott Andes: Longtime writer and Dodger fanatic
https://ladodgerreport.com

12 thoughts on “Dodgers Go With Rookies, Urias, Stewart Against Cubs

    1. 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.

  1. 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.

    1. 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!

  2. 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

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