The Dodgers had an off day yesterday after sweeping the Rockies. So began a three game series against the last place Padres. Rich Hill was supposed to start but Ross Stripling got the nod with Rich Hill starting tomorrow. The Rockies are playing the Diamondbacks this weekend and the Cardinals are playing the Giants. In other words the Dodgers need to take care of business. Dodgers went with a right handed line-up against left-hander Eric Lauer.
#Dodgers lose 5-3. Magic number stays 8. Lead over Rockies goes back to 1 1/2. Braves regain edge for homefield in an NLDS matchup
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 22, 2018
In the bottom of the third, Kike Hernandez hit a solo shot and the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead. In the top of the fourth, Ross Stripling’s issues began. Franmil Ryes started off with a single. Hunter Renfroe then hit a two-run shot and the Padres took a 2-1 lead. Both teams went back and forth putting people on base but not getting any hits. Ross Stripling only pitched till the bottom of the fourth as the Padres took a page out of the Dodgers book and made him work.
Just between us, @kikehndez may be Superman. pic.twitter.com/sesX5IbkXV
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 22, 2018
Pedro Baez got through the fourth inning. Zac Rosscup finished off the 5th inning. Ryan Madson came in and finished off the 6th inning. In the top of the 7th, Freddy Galvis hit a solo shot off Madson in the 7th inning. The Padres took a 3-1 lead. Alex Wood came in to finish off the 7th inning. Dylan Floro then got into some trouble in the 8th inning but he was able to get out of it. In the bottom of the 8th, Joc Pederson hit a double to get the Dodger fans on their feet. Yasiel Puig singled him in and the Dodgers cut the lead to 3-2.
Yasmani Grandal then walked. Cody Bellinger came up with the chance to be a hero but he struck out to end the threat. The bullpen did a great job for the Dodgers tonight. John Axford then came in to pitch the 9th inning. Freddy Galvis got on base with an infield hit. Manuel Margot hit a dribbler to third and beat a throw from Justin Turner. Austin Hedges then reached on an infield hit. The Dodgers defense hasn’t been sharp lately.
All that, and no fireworks at Dodger Stadium. Too late to run ‘em!
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) September 22, 2018
Will Meyers hit a double to score two runs. The Padres led 5-2. Pat Venditte then came in to get three outs to keep the score 5-2. In the bottom of the 9th, Alex Verdugo singled. Eventually he took 2nd on defensive indifference. Manny Machado singled in a run to make the score 5-3 with two outs. Joc Pederson then came up with chance to tie the game but he struck out. The Dodgers are also tied with the Cardinals for the wild card as well. Dodgers need to bounce back tomorrow with Rich Hill.
James Moya
Hi I’m James Moya. I am an avid Dodgers fan. I graduated Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelors in Communications. I used to freelance at the San Bernardino Sun. I’m excited about this opportunity to write for LA Dodger Report to gain experience. I’m a straight shooter on my opinions and I hope to get some good conversations going. My dream has always been to report on the Dodgers because Baseball is the National Past-time. I hope you enjoy the ride with me.
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After a promising sweep of the Rocks, the Dodgers bow to another inferior team… a common occurance with these Dodgers. The Dodgers’ infamous “Lefty Lineup” fails again in the early innings. Another Rookie dominates the hapless Dodger offense… an occurrance we have seen all too often. The Dodgers were on there heels the rest of the game…confused and bewildered, trying desperately to dig themselves out of thier hole with the long ball.
The Rookie, Lauer is 3-0 vs. the Dodgers this year. Don’t hold your breath, because the Pads are playing their spoiler card, and attacking the Dodgers’ known weaknesses… Rookie pitchers for this series, AND another “Lefty” on Sunday.
Strips lasts only 3.1. Not a promising start. Our dynamic duo, aquisitions Madson and Axeman, are pathetic…. I guess you get what you pay for.
Our other key aquisition, “The Smirk”, has been a disappointment, to say the least. More often than not, a rally killer. Dodger offense 2-9 RISP, 17 LOB, 10 KO’s.
What is up with JT and his errors? Very uncharacteristic.
Don’t buy your playoff tickets yet, Dodger Fans. They have not made the playoffs, until Tommy Lasorda sings.
From The Athletic:
Has any team ever won anything – league, division, wild-card race, any kind of postseason spot – without a 10-game winner? Of course not! That was never a thing that great teams did, or could even possibly do, before now.
But in 2018, we live in a world where six different teams still don’t have a 10-game winner. And if that holds up for another week and a half, it would double the previous record for non-strike-shortened seasons, of three (matched numerous times).
Now we also live in a world where a team as good as the Dodgers goes through a season and sends 31 different pitchers to the mound, uses 11 different starters, has 25 different pitchers who finish a game and considers “The Pitcher Win” to be about the 97,000th most important item on the old pitcher to-do list every night.
I thought they should have kept Wood in the rotation a little longer, so Stripling could come back a little slower.
I would have had Stripling pitch in the pen to get back to where he was.
It sure seems like this team plays up or down, to their competition, and that is probably mental.
And Roberts shouldn’t be trying to get Dozier relavent either.
Because it isn’t going to happen, because Dozier is your classic all or nothing hitter, and he has been that, his entire career.
These platoons might come back and bite them in the post season, because there is not enough time left, to get the roster of players they plan on using in the post season, sharp again.
If a couple players on this team don’t come up in these key moments in games, when runners are in scoring position, this team doesn’t produce on offense.
And that is why you don’t want a line up of average or below hitters, in almost the entire line up, like the Dodgers have.
And that is not taking in consideration all the strike outs this team has too.
These type of hitters are rally killers, and are not able to deliver, when it is needed.
Hitting 20 HRs is not that big of a thing in baseball today, especially when that is the main focus of some front offices, and players.
Players that are only 5”9 are hitting 30 HRs in baseball today.
And most of these HRs are solo HRs, that are often hit long after a game is out of hand.
That is why the Dodgers have such a good run differential, and that is why the Dodgers record, doesn’t live up to their run differential.
Ha.
Could be!
Bluto
I don’t know if you are following this game, but this game is a perfect example, when the Dodgers and their average or below hitters, pad their numbers.
This game is probably unofficially over in the third inning, so the numbers will get even more ridiculous, before this game is over.
And I don’t expect the Padre’s manager, using the top pitchers in his pen, in a game like this, that is probably already over.
But most of these average and below hitters, are not able to hit good pitching, or get key hits, when runners are in scoring position, so they struggle against decent pitching, especially in high leverage situations.
And that is why this team is not as good, as their offensive numbers appear to be.
And this is why they don’t win or hit consistently.
It’s an interesting theory MJ.
The times they are a changin’, Bluto. It’s only fairly recently that the starters began to go deeper in games and the run production started to support them. The Dodgers have played spottily throughout most of the season. It’s only now that we’ve started to see the bats batting and the pitchers pitching at the same time! They have been out of sync most of the season.
And, your boy Rich gives us the first 10 game winner of the season. He’s really earned his $16M, hasn’t he?
Dodgers should continue with the army of relievers they have amassed. I’ve never seen anything like it. Apart from Kershaw, they should never pay top $$ for a starter and I’m sure they are even questioning if they are willing to continue to pay him top $$ when his contract comes up.
As I said, I love the pitching army, but I don’t like the batting platoons they’ve put in place. Will they pay Manny $26M that he’s expecting to get? I could see it going both ways. He hit a 2 run blast batting #4 tonight. This will remind fans of what he is capable of.
All in all a strange season in so many ways. And, Roberts will definitely be back.
The lefty lineup, what a joke. The big K shows up again in the worst moments and is there anything, other than watching Dozier flail helplessly, more galling than watching Grandal try to hit from the right side? Muncy, who hits lefty’s better than he does RH was on the bench. Kike did his job, the rest of the lineup did not, and Machado, what a pitiful joke he has been. The guy is not clutch at all and time after time when they need a big knock, he hits a weak grounder or strikes out. No redemption just because he singled in a run, that because of 2 weak infield hits and Turners 2nd error was made moot when Axford gave up the double to Myers, and Puig really misread that ball……Lauer was not that good. The Dodgers were that bad.
Michael,
I totally agree, the Lefty Lineup is a joke. This constant platooning of players, based on idiot sheets has ruined baseball.
Platooning “WILL” hurt this team, if it has not already. Many players are affected by this nonsense, and their numbers have suffered. Foresythe was definitely a victim. Look at him now. He is doing much better playing every day, in The Twin Cities. Kemp, Pederson, Muncy, Puig, Taylor, Bellinger, Barnes, all suffer from platooning. While deadbeats like Dozier, Machado, and Grandal start the majority of games.
The only current starters, who I think deserve to be playing every day are JT and Kiké. They play to win (except for JT’s recent defensive lapses).
These are Machado’s numbers in 157 at bats against righties, since he joined this team, before his single last night!
Read them, and weep!
229 / 263 / 420/ 684
This is not great protection for Turner.
Pitchers are probably already pitching around Turner, especially in high leverage situations, with the terrible numbers in these situations, on this team!
I knew he had been bad, I did not realize he was Forsythe bad. I liked the trade, I think he has not really made good adjustments to the pitchers in this league. You see a lot more fastballs in the AL.
Todays line up…..Pederson LF, Turner 3B, Muncy 1B, Machado SS, Bellinger CF, Puig, RF, Grandal C, Taylor 2B, Hill P, at least we do not have to look at Dozier. Muncy in the 3 hole over Machado. But again, the pitcher is RH and has an ERA over 5. Why is he playing Muncy at a position where his defense is so so? Me, I play Bellinger there 95 % of the time, and Matt Kemp hits RHP pretty damn good too. Once again they face a pitcher with not very much MLB experience. They should own this kid. They have hit lefty’s better over the last month so tomorrow they get a chance to improve on that. My biggest point is that as long as they take care of their own business, they should win the division. But they cannot lose to teams like SD. Take this series the next 2 games and their magic number is down to 6 depending on what happens with the Rocks in Arizona. They have the easier schedule, it is time to make that work for them.
Maybe Manny’s numbers are catching up with him, and his rep alone, is not protecting Turner in the line up.
And that is why Muncy is hitting third today
Manny’s numbers are about the same in September as against righties, since he came to the team.
Don’t like “The Smirk” at cleanup. Weak with RISP. Rally Killer.
Kemp should be playing.
Another Rookie pitcher that they “should” have no problem with, but Rookies tend to own the Dodgers. Another L/H Rookie tomorrow, too.
Another game of Shoula’s n’ Coulda’s.
It’s a quite good team that should be very good.
That said, I love watching Hill pitch. He’s so much fun.
Wow, Hill the only Dodger with 10 wins. Who would have thought that on the 23rd of September back in April? Unless something huge transpires, the only other guy with a real chance to win 10 is Kershaw who will get at least 2 more starts since he is pitching against Az on Monday, and most likely against the Giants on Saturday, which would line him up perfectly to face who ever in the playoffs a week from Thursday. Right now it would be LA-ATL. Steiner did keep making one mistake last night, he said the Dodgers would host the Braves, as of last night it would be the other way around. They both have the same amount of wins, but the Braves have lost 1 game less so they are pct points ahead. If they both tied with the same record, the Dodgers would host the Braves because they were 5-2 against them during the season. If the Rockies and Dodgers tie for the division, a 1 game playoff would be played at Dodger Stadium. They get Ray, Koch and Greinke in AZ this week. Great win by Old Dominion in college football yesterday and a nice comeback by the Trojans to beat Washington State. Nebraska is now 0-3..Army almost beat Oklahoma.