Tonight the Dodgers cracked the seal on a four-game series against the New York Mets. This was the first time the Mets and the Dodgers played since last season’s contentious and controversial NLCS.
Whether the bad blood from the championship series would carry over into this season was anyone’s guess.
If there were any vendettas toward Chase Utley, they would have to wait until later, because manager Dave Roberts sat Utley with the rest of his LH batters (except for Adrian Gonzalez) in a right-handed lineup move that I absolutely disagreed with. (<–link to Pederson story)
Here’s how the game played out.
1st inning
Mets
First pitch – home run by Curtis Granderson. Did I mention Scott Kazmir was pitching tonight?
2nd inning Mets 1-0
Mets
Kevin Plawecki solo home run.
Whether the bad blood from the championship series would carry over into this season was anyone’s guess.
If there were any vendettas toward Chase Utley, they would have to wait until later, because manager Dave Roberts sat Utley with the rest of his LH batters (except for Adrian Gonzalez) in a right-handed lineup move that I absolutely disagreed with. (<–link to Pederson story)
Here’s how the game played out.
1st inning
Mets
First pitch – home run by Curtis Granderson. Did I mention Scott Kazmir was pitching tonight?
2nd inning Mets 1-0
Mets
Kevin Plawecki solo home run.
…and the Puig happened!
3rd inning Mets 2-0
A hit batter, walk and a single brought in another run. 3-0
4th inning Mets 3-0
Aaaaannnd the Dodgers’ bats were effectively never heard from again.
6th inning Mets 3-2
An error on an easy play by Howie Kendrick left a base runner alive. That was closely followed by a double by Steven Matz, the Mets pitcher. The run was cashed in, Kazmir topped out at 101 pitches, and Adam Liberatore was brought in. 4-2.
9th inning Mets win 4-2
6th inning Mets 3-2
An error on an easy play by Howie Kendrick left a base runner alive. That was closely followed by a double by Steven Matz, the Mets pitcher. The run was cashed in, Kazmir topped out at 101 pitches, and Adam Liberatore was brought in. 4-2.
9th inning Mets win 4-2
Scott Kazmir started things off by immediately giving up three runs, but he settled down long enough to keep the Dodgers in the game after that. Trayce Thompson got the boys close with his two-run homer, but nothing else clicked for the Dodgers offensively tonight.
Justin Turner fouled off about 50 pitches throughout the night, and at least a dozen of those looked like good pitches to drive. Yasiel Puig is continuing to get beat at the plate. He’s swinging at balls outside of the strike zone and missing pitches that are riving right down Broadway. He had one of the biggest chances to get the Dodgers some runs in the eighth inning when he came up with two on, but he lost that battle as well.
The story of the night was the all-righty lineup – which was a wash out. Game two tomorrow night.
Scott Kazmir (2-3) went 5 2/3 innings with 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 4 walks, 6 K’s and 2 HRs. ERA 5.54
Home run: Trayce Thompson
Team with RISP – an abysmal 0 for 7.
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.
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The good news is that you do not have to be good in the NL West to be a contender.
This is who we are.
I still think we will hit better, only because I don’t see us hitting worse. The RISP issue is a tough one to figure out, but when the team is filled with .250 hitters, why would we expect any of them to be clutch? We are now 20th hitting with runners in scoring position. 32 games in. Long way to go. How’s the confidence level? Mine? Not so much.
I look at the standings and what do I see? Exactly what I expected to see. A scrum in the West, NY and Washington in the East, and Chicago Pittsburgh in the Central. Not that difficult to predict that. Will it continue to look like this? Yeah, I think so. But, a lot can happen. Long way to go.
Of course nothing new….think I had said and most would probably agree that there would be 8 teams (Cardinals included) vying for 5 playoffs spots. With the Dodgers & Giants mediocre starts the Rockies have some life but their lack of pitching will catch up with them. The problem right now is that with the Rockies having life it is possible that the West will remain competitive for a few months which could lead to ONLY one team coming out of the West. Both the Nats and Mets are very likely candidates to make the playoffs, leaving the Cardinals and Pirates fighting it out for the other spot. Still a lot of baseball to be played but…..
Did anyone really expect Kaz to out-pitch Matz? I was surprised we had 7 chances with RISP. Even though a lot of people were understandably upset by Roberts’ lineup, Culberson had two hits and Thompson drove in the only runs of the night. Hernandez took the collar but probably saved two runs with his arm in the third. The problem is with the so-called heart of the lineup.
In other news, Jose de Leon has a sore arm. Holding him out for a month in AZ to “bulk him up” certainly paid dividends. I guess I’m dating myself when I say the way for pitchers to get in shape is to pitch. If the Dodgers training staff had gotten hold of Satchel Paige he’d have been washed up by the time he was 25.
Snider-
Not sure that is solely or even initiated from the training staff. Those decisions come from coaches and player development.
If so, my apologies. But it does seem like there were fewer guys on the DL before players started hitting the weights.
Snider I agree about the heart of the line up. I thought Turner was coming out of his slump, but he had a few chances last night, and couldn’t really do anything, with people on base. And we need Turner to produce, in these RBI moments, because he is the Dodger’s third hitter. And of course Agone is the Dodgers best RBI guy. But Agone’s at bats, are affected by Turner not producing.
Agone is really not getting any real good pitches to hit, because Turner hasn’t been producing like he has in the past. And Puig batting behind Agone, is not doing anything. Pitchers would gladly pitch around Agone, to pitch to Puig. Puig is one easy out, for any pitcher, right now!
And the other problem, is why does Roberts continue to bat Puig, near the heart of the line up. When Roberts didn’t bat for Puig in the eighth, with runners on, I really didn’t want to watch the rest of the game. He also could have hit for Thompson there too. But Puig would have been my choice.
Pederson should have hit for Puig in that situation. I love Puig’s defense, but he is going to have to hit, to stay in the line up. And if Roberts wants to continue to give Puig a chance to hit, then he needs to move him down in the order.
Both Pederson, and Thompson, are hitting better then Puig, and having better at bats, then Puig. Just like Oscar mentioned, Puig can’t hit fastballs, right down the middle of the plate.
Thompson is going to have to loosen up on defense, because we know he is better, then he has looked on defense. I agree with Bum on Thompson. It would be great to have an outfield of Thompson, Pederson, and Puig. But Roberts needs to move Puig down in the line up, where he might have better pitches to hit.
Pitchers run. A lot. Pitchers stretch. Pitchers throw. Arrietta apparently lifts a lot. I think that’s fine if you do high reps. I have no idea what the Dodgers do. All new trainers and coaches. A sore arm could be nothing this early. I suspect it’s probably not nothing. Looks like we might bring up Urias out of necessity. Not how I prefer doing it.
Badger they said that it was hurting because he is just begining to really pitch.
I can buy that. For now anyway.
This is the same thing that the Dodgers always seem to do, when they open a new series. It always seems like they lose the first game of the series. I hope it is that, and not like there last home stand, where they just couldn’t hit.
I thought that the Mets pitcher last night, was very hittable. They just need to have better at bats. But Kazmir always seems to put the Dodgers behind, before they ever bat. And Kazmir, is constantly making the same mistakes. And the only reason his velosity got higher, is because he got mad, after he gave up those HRs.
His real velosity is around ninety, and he has fastballs, at 89 at times too, but not much more then that. Kazmir leaves his fastball up all the time, and that along with always being behind the count, has caused him to pitch badly. And that is why he has already given up nine HRs. It might be that Kazmir can’t stand the pressure, of pitching for the Dodgers.
He almost always, looks like he is pitching defensively, instead of pitching offensively. He pitched well when he was with the A’s last year, but once he was moved to the Astros, he didn’t pitch that well, and they were in a pennant race. Doesn’t seem like Kazmir, is trying to pitch, with out giving up a HR. Instead of pitching, and challenging the hitters with good pitches, and getting ahead on the count?