In the second of a two game series at Tropicana Field, the Dodgers sent struggling pitcher Alex Wood to the mound against the struggling Rays.
Tonight’s question: Quien es mas struggling?
1st inning
Alex Wood declared, “Yo soy mas struggling!” And he promptly gave up a solo home run to Brandon Guyer.
Nothing much happened for the Dodgers through the first three innings.
4th inning Rays 1-0
Dodgers
Yasmani Grandal stroked a two-out single to score Howie Kendrick and tie the game, 1-1.
Rays
Alex Wood immediately gave up another home run. This time to Steven Souza Jr.
5th inning Rays 2-1
Dodgers
Yasiel Puig single.
Adrian Gonzalez single.
Dodgers on first and third with no out.
A wild pitch brought in Puig.
Game tied at two apiece – but not for long.
Rays
Without recording a single out, Wood gave up a three-run home run (the third homer of the night) and he put the Rays ahead 5-2. Clearly, Wood wanted the “mas struggling” title.
Bum out – Louis Coleman in.
7th inning Rays 5-2
Rays
Pedro Baez in.
Home run Rays. 6-2
Baez was worthless – he wanted to be mas struggling tonight. He gave up another run. 7-2
Adam Liberatore came in. First batter, double. 8-2
The competition for mas struggling was going to be thick.
8th inning Rays 8-2
Dodgers
Bases loaded and no outs.
Chase Utley walked to bring in a run. 8-3
Then the fourth walk of the inning came to Corey Seager. Another run in. 8-4
What’s this? The Rays wanted to be back in consideration for mas struggling.
Joc Pederson came up. RBI sac fly to left. 8-5
Carl Crawford came in and struck out to end the inning.
Don’t ever count ol’ CC out of the mas struggling race.
The Boys in Blue were never heard from again, and the game ended 8-5, with the Marlins on top.
Every weakness in this Dodgers team was exposed tonight. From bums in the starting rotation to bums in the bullpen, to not hitting with RISP, to washed up, overpaid bums off the bench, to over-reliance on charts and numbers that sat a home run bat from the night before.
Quien es mas struggling? Turns out it’s the fans who are struggling to remain optimistic about this club.
Alex Wood (1-3) went 5 innings with 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 0 walks and 7 Ks. He gave up 3 HRs. ERA 5.18
Doubles: Puig, Turner, Corey Seager.
RISP: 1 for 13. Yeah, I typed it right – 1 for 13!
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.
Follow Me:
This is a frikin joke. I agree with everything Oscar posted above. I was going to have an open mind until the end of May which I pointed out a week or so ago as being the real test. Uncle!!!! The state of F’ing Florida owns us. And they shouldn’t even have a major league franchise. Let alone two. Who have beat us 5 out of 6. Roberts is looking like Donnie dumb dumb with a tan. I will try to refrain until May is over.
Hey Tim. I feel your pain man. For us to look so bad against teams that aren’t going anywhere is frustrating. Hang in there. It will get better. And by better I mean better than .500. It has to. We are not a .500 team. We are more like a .537 team…….
I have no answer why we continue to struggle with runners in scoring position. Focus? Discipline? I just don’t know, but if it continues, we won’t win enough. We have only played 1 good team so far and they got the best of us. The superior teams are all coming up. We better solve our problems, all of them, or there will be some ass kickings in our future.
One pitch at a time.
You are right in suggesting we wait until May is over. We will know on June 2nd what kind of team we have. That follows 7 games on the road against the Mets and the Cubs.
I have said from the very beginning, this team has huge holes. It is far from being a serious pennant contender until those holes are plugged. The main problem is still the pitching staff. One good start, one bad one is not going to cut it. The slumps for the hitters will come and go as they always do. But the real pro’s will come out of it. Kendrick and Gonzo have great track records, so I do not worry when they go into a slide. Turner has been solid in his 2 1/2 years as a Dodger, and he is also starting to square the ball up. They miss Ethier’s bat. And they miss SVS. Crawford is still rusty from a short spring, and playing on turf is really bad on his already bad wheels. But until they straighten out the starting staff, and the BP they are doomed to be mediocre……these next 10 games against teams that can hit and pitch are going to be brutal…and if they go 5-5 they will be extremely lucky..
8 hits and 7 walks, and still lose. By a lot. I’m sick and tired of hearing from Alex Wood and his manager cheerleader that he feels good and threw well except for a few pitches. Face it. He has succumbed to the LA curse that afflicts a lot of our pitchers. He can’t take the pressure of pitching for this limelight team. Few can, it seems. One more shitty start, and he goes to OKC. He would even suck in our crappy bullpen. We lose these games against teams we “should” beat because they are better than we are. And play with more guts. We dance.
This is not on Roberts. He doesn’t have the starting pitching, and doesn’t have any decent arms, in the bullpen. And that is why he didn’t pull Wood sooner! Both Wood and Kazmir, can’t face the other team’s offense, more then twice in the order. And really, Kazmir can’t even do that, most of the time.
And because these two pitchers, can’t pitch successfully, farther then five innings, they are just not, starting pitchers. Because a starting pitcher, should at least, be able, to pitch six strong innings.
And it seems like everytime these two pitchers pitch, and the Dodgers go ahead, or tie a game. These two pitchers, can’t even hold the lead, even past the next half of the inning, when the other team, comes up to bat. And that sucks all of the momentum, that the Dodgers just got, at that point of the game.
And the two quote set up pitchers, in the bullpen, have performed, even worse. And this is not the first time, that the Dodgers have had these two pitchers, not do there job. And they have had so many chances, to try to do better.
But these two pitchers, always seem to give up a HR, to help the other team, to tie, or to win, or to put the game out of reach. And they constantly sap any momentum, that the Dodgers might have, and have loss, way to many games.
And actually, these set up pitchers along with Wood, and Kazmir, have given up 18 HRs in a month, and four days, into the season. And the Dodgers are next to the last in team HRs, this season. And this, can’t continue, if the Dodgers at least, want to stay at 500, until Ryu comes back. Or the Giants start playing better, to make the Dodgers pay, for all of these games, that the Dodgers continue to lose.
It is odd that we were first in HRs, last year, and next to last this year, at this time. That might be the reason, that the offense is not doing better, especially with runners, in scoring position. Maybe some of the players are trying to hard, to try to get runners over, to help the team, to have a more productive offense.
And this is affecting there hitting, especially with runners, in scoring position. The other problem can be, that Turner just hasn’t been himself, from the begining of the season. But
he did look like the Turner of old yesterday, in his last at bat.
And like Michael has said, they also miss Ethier’s bat. Because Ethier has been the only productive outfield bat, on the Dodgers, in the last couple of years. The main problem is the back of the starting rotation, especially Kazmir and Wood, along with the bullpen, which is no big suprise.
There were a couple of good things, that did happen, in yesterday’s game. And that was Turner, who looked like, he was starting to hit. And it looks like Puig is starting to hit, and Puig has looked good, in the last couple of games.
Bobby 17 I am sick of hearing Wood say he felt good too. And the reason that Roberts was talking to him, after he pulled him, was because Wood wanted to stay in, or wanted to know, why he was pulled. Kazmir has been even worse. He can never pitch in a game, without giving up runs, in the very first inning.
And he is always leaving his fastball up, and because of that, he has given up, way to many HRs. I don’t know how this front office, could sign him, to a multi year contract, especially after what happened, when he was with the Angels.
This front office has wasted so much money, on all these injury ridden pitchers, that are not anything special. In fact, they are not even good pitchers. And Kazmir didn’t pitch well, in the second half of the season last year. And what happened with Kazmir, when he was with the Angels, isn’t that long ago.
Just a note to you guys. What did you expect Roberts to say? The guy was crap? Throw him under the bus maybe? He is using what the FO has given him. And it is not very good. As for pitching in the LA limelight, explain why Wood is pretty good at Dodger Stadium. He stinks on the road. Yep, Kazmir has been giving up first inning runs, then settling down and limiting the damage…..He wins a game where he gives up four, and loses a game where he gives up 2. Go figure. He is what he is. Just pray he does well enough to use his op-out clause, or you are stuck with the guy for 2 more years. As for Wood, he is Fried Brains fair haired step child. The center piece of the big trade with the Braves. They will keep trotting the kid out there because of one thing……..potential….that is what they see. Some guy on ESPN/LA said that they should bring up someone and put Wood in the BP..like who???? Lee is 3-1 with an ERA over 5. Urias is 3-1 with an ERA under 2. But Urias is not yet 20. And has never pitched over 100 innings. I would like to see him up for a few games, but not an extended period. See how he does against the big boys….He had a mediocre spring, but maybe he can help for a few weeks. Montas is throwing now and so is McCarthy……..