Fresh off a combined no hitter, the Dodgers were in Mexico for Cinco de drinko I meant Mayo. The Dodgers had three wins under their belt and had a chance to finish this road trip with a winning record. Then Kenta Maeda took the mound. Maeda’s troubles began right away. Travis Janikowski started off with a triple. Eric Hosmer then hit a two run shot and the Padres led 2-0. The Dodgers bounced back in the 2nd inning. Matt Kemp hit a solo shot. Joc Pederson who has been hitting well, singled. Kenta Maeda even hit a single.
Chris Taylor then singled him in to tie the score. In the third inning the Dodgers took the lead as Cody Bellinger walked and eventually made it to 2nd base. Matt Kemp then singled him in to make the score 3-2. Franchy Cordero walked in the 4th. Eventually he would score on a Freddy Galvis sac fly to tie the score 3-3.
#Dodgers bullpen gave up 9 baserunners and 4 runs in the 6th-7th-8th innings. That led to a 7-4 loss to the #Padres, ending a modest 3-game winning streak.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) May 6, 2018
In the top of the fifth, Chris Taylor started off with a double. The Dodgers would eventually strand him. In the top of the 6th, Joc Pederson doubled. Chase Utley walked. Breyvic Valera also walked. Chris Taylor was hit by pitch and the Dodgers took a 4-3 lead. Josh Fields then came in and things went awry for the blue crew. Christian Villanueva walked. Raffy Lopez then hit a two run shot and los Padres went ahead for good.
Rich Hill said “I’m good to go, they decided to have Stripling pitch.” #Dodgers
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) May 6, 2018
Daniel Hudson came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th. Franchy Cordero walked and then Raffy Lopez singled. Chase Headley singled him in. Carlos Asuaje then singled him in for a 7-4 lead. Chris Taylor led off the ninth with a single but the Dodgers couldn’t generate anything. Tomorrow is the finale of the road trip until they come back home to face the snakes for two. Rich Hill was supposed to start but the Dodgers will go with Ross Stripling. Sabermetrics!
Rich Hill is unhappy with the Dodgers’ decision to scratch him. “I’m good to go,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong. There’s nothing going on. They just decided to go with Strip.”
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) May 6, 2018
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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In my view, Stripling is not starter material. He belongs and does well in the pen. The convoluted way the Dodgers deal with their pitching is undermining their ability to win games. If it’s not Roberts, it’s FAZ. Enough!
I was under the impression that Fields is our setup man and alternate closer if Jansen is disabled with gas. Why bring him in early to replace Maeda?
And speaking about Maeda, he also belongs in the bullpen. Here’s a starter that can’t last in games. To me, this is the definition of a reliever.
I agree about the need to move Grandal down in the batting order. In the words of Tom Petty, ‘Freeee, Fallin’. How low will he go this time? Slump time.
I also wanted to say that I think it’s great that this series is being played in Mexico. It’s nice to see the MLB include our friends from south of the border who also support our teams and have contributed talent to the MLB. Maybe in Mexico City sometime?
An alert has been issued by NASA, there is a 265lb object hurtling at ever increasing speed towards earth. NASA expects total impact to occur in a matter of days. They have dubbed this object “Grandal Asteroid”. It just may crash and burn in Monterrey MX as early as Sunday, May 6th.
Grandal under the Mendoza line the last 13 games. He is who we said he was, not the guy who started so hot.
We must wait to see what the outcome is regarding Grandal. We know he can hit and collect rbi’s, but he doesn’t seem to do it consistently and goes AWOL for large periods of time. Is Farmer a decent enough catcher to eventually replace him, or will it be Ruiz? I don’t think Barnes is the answer.
Long term? They have some pretty talented guys in the minors, Will Smith, Keibert Ruiz and Connor Wong. I think Farmer would do fine if he was playing everyday. He is more of a contact hitter than Grandal, showed marked improvement in his framing and defensive skills during spring. I think Barnes is more the Kike type. A utility guy. I think the injury he had in spring put him behind the 8 ball. They are also in a position to sign the top position player in the International pool who is a catcher. They are loaded at that spot. We have been waiting on Grandal to show some consistency for 4 years. He is what he is, a streak hitter with power. But when he tanks, he tanks spectacularly.
Grandal is our version of the Good, The Bad and the Ugly,,,….when he is good, he is very good, and when he is Bad, it gets really UGLY.
Maybe everyone should wake up and realize the FBZ is not as good at this Sabermetric thing as everyone thought they were. They are so predictable and the top teams have passed them by at least 2-3 years ago.
I continue to be plagued by that f’n pop up video here. This is the ONLY blog where that happens! Fix it Scott.
As was mentioned a few days ago, for the last 60+ games we are a .500 team. We continue to play like one. We lead the league in blown saves and are middle of the pack in nearly all offensive categories. In a luxury cap reset year I don’t know how all that needs to be improved does improve. Getting Turner back should help, but does that make us a top tier team? I don’t think so.
Maybe Yueh is right. The good teams all have analytics experts. Maybe ours are middle of the pack.
Well, here we are at 20% of the games have been played and still Matt Kemp does not have enough abs to qualify for enough abs to show up in the MLB stats. Thanks Roberts, the best hitter on the team right now and cannot be followed in the MLB stats.
If he is there in September we will be grateful.
Package
I just looked at Kemp’s numbers against righties, and at fangraphs, it says Kemp is hitting 293 against righties.
I looked this up, because Roberts will put Taylor in the lead off position, even when Taylor is facing a rightie, but Roberts puts Kemp down farther in the line up, against righties.
To be fair, Roberts goes with the platoon advantage at the top of the line up, almost with every player, except maybe the players that were everyday players last year, but he has moved Cody down at times, against a leftie.
Kemp should be hitting higher up in the line up against righties, especially if Taylor is not going to be moved down.
Because Kemp has much more of a history of hitting both righties and lefties, and right now, Kemp is the top hitter on this team.
And because of that, Kemp should be getting more at bats, and that is not going to happen, if he is moved down against righties.
He probably should have been our third hitter yesterday, because he is our top hitter right now, but more importantly, Kemp adjusts his swings, to different situations in games.
And our other players don’t do that, or don’t do that as well, probably because they don’t have the experience Kemp has.
You have to give your best bat, more opportunities to hit and right now, and most of the season, Kemp has been our best hitter, and our steadiest hitter.
Kemp couldn’t help us last night in the ninth, because Roberts put him to far down in the line up.
But if you noticed, Kemp wasn’t taken out for a defensive replacement last night, so maybe Roberts is waking up, when it comes to Kemp.
But since we are facing a leftie today, Kemp will be moved up.
MJ, with all due respect I have to disagree with your statement that “Kemp couldn’t help us”. Kemp hit 5th, was 3 for 4 with a run scored and 3 rbi’s. Had Bellinger and Verdugo contributed by getting on base more than zero times his numbers would have been even better.
It’s my opinion that Kemp is right where he is supposed to be. It’s 1-4 who must ALL contribute.
Badger
And with all due respect back at you, we just didn’t lose because those hitters didn’t get on base.
Because Verdugo left five runners on base, and Grandal left two runners on base, and Bellinger left three runners on base, and if my math is right, that is ten runners left on base, by the three hitters, hitting in front of Kemp.
And I consider Kemp more of a run producer, that drives in runs, then Verdugo, or Grandal, when Grandal is not on a hot streak.
And Kemp has been the steadiest hitter, on this team.
And like I have said to many times, Kemp will adjust his swing in different situations in games, more often, then Cody, and Grandal.
And I don’t know what Verdugo was thinking, when he bunted with Taylor on second, because Taylor will score from second, more often then not, with a single.
But I give Verdugo a pass, because he is young, and this is the first substantial time, he has been up, with the major league team.
But I think we are both right to an extent, because we would certainly be better, if we had more players hitting 300 plus like Kemp has, and hit with the power that Kemp has with, most of the year.
MJ
What I am talking about is Kemp is hitting .330 and Bellinger is hitting .276 yet on the the team’s home page they have Bellinger is the team leader in avg. This is wrong.
Package
As you already know, it is because Kemp hasn’t had the required amount of at bats.
But if you go to the complete stats page of the team, the last time I looked, Kemp was second on that, but he might be back at the top, after Verdugo didn’t get a hit, yesterday.
But I understand Badger’s point, to keep Kemp fresh, so he will still be strong at the end of the season.
But at the point in the season, we have to start winning games, because we don’t want to get any further behind, then we already are, or there might not be a post season, to rest for.
And I do think Kemp can play much more then he has, and still be fresh, at the end of the season.
Because I think Roberts has really sat Kemp much more, then just giving him a blow, one or two days, out of the week.
MJ
Go to the MLB home page, then stats, and find Kemp. He is not there, that is my point. The Dodgers leading hitter does not show on MLBs top players. Actually I think he is #10 hitting .330.
We should be able to start Buehler, Maeda and Stripling and win 2 out of 3 against the Padres. We should be expected to win today. We are of course favored. 8 1/2 runs. I’ll take the under as neither offense is impressing.
Badger
That we agree on.
Package
I know, but Kemp was just mentioned on the Dodger’s pregame show, as one of the hottest hitters in baseball, in his last 15 at bats, I believe.
Remember this is the second time this year, that Kemp is begining to get hot, let’s see what Roberts does with Kemp this time, if he continues to stay hot.
I don’t think he is going to sit him, like he did before.
I contend that FAZ is no where near as good as everyone thinks they are. They are the dumpster diving twins. No doubt they are perusing the waiver wire as we speak looking for the infirm and the untalented bargains. They will probably take a flyer on Matt Harvey when he clears waivers. When interviewed by Joe and Orel, Mr. Talks out of the side of his mouth Friedman said that the thought of making a trade after the loss of Seager had crossed his mind, but other teams are not of the mind to become engaged in trade talks this early in the season. As Casey would say, it is getting late fast…..
Starting lineup for todays game……Taylor SS Hernandez 2B Kemp RF Bellinger 1B Barnes C Farmer 3B Verdugo LF Locastro CF Stripling P
Kersh to DL
The decline of Kershaw seems to be in full swing. His body is not holding up. The herniated disks of the last 2 years will probably come back to bother him again. These things usually don’t disappear. They are often structural problems.
Brock Stewart was called up. What an underwhelming move that is! It seems the Dodgers are sorting through their trash bin wondering if there is any life to these players or are they all fool’s gold.
Thanks Bobby!
As poorly as we have played, with this amount of payroll, I don’t think we’ve hit bottom yet. We will need an epic DBacks collapse to win the division again. We are probably a wildcard team at season’s end.
YF
You have great faith.
YF
I agree with you on that, because we do have Turner returning to the line up soon, but Roberts better not continue to play Forsythe when he comes back, if he is not hitting righties, like last year.
Because he was a hole in this line up, most of last year, against righties.
Non stop DL/ minor league call ups. I guess less wear and tear is good for his arm. Take a week off kid. Love that depth!
Well, FAZ has used the ultimate excuse for not winning the NL West. Put Clayton Kershaw on the DL along with the others, Hill, Puig, Turner, Ryu, Forysthe, others I am sure I forgot. They know how to hoo doo the fans. Some of these folks will believe anything. How come we never heard that Kershaw was having a problem? How come no details? I think this is B S. They know they truly have no depth and they failed to sign another starter in the off season. Smart guys huh? Fire all of them!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m speechless.
So, no speeches.
Just this: There will be 2 halfs to this season. I will not be surprised by anything that FAZ decides to do. I still believe this will be the year remembered for resetting the cap.
A lot can happen between now and July 31st.
Badger
The Badger I know is never speechless.
They just signed Danny Espinosa to a minor league contact.
He has been pretty solid defensively, although he didn’t have good defensive numbers at shortstop, in 2017.
But talk about, an all, or nothing hitter.