Ever Again……
The Dodger’s losing streak has now reached five games and we’re beginning to enter defcon 5. Last night’s pathetic performance was just another pathetic performance in a long line of pathetic performances. The club scored one run and the bullpen imploded again in the late innings. Even the most ardent brain trust supporters are beginning to see that there are some real problems with this club that go beyond just the injuries.
If I were to briefly get into it, I would say one of the biggest problems is the lack of impact players. We can get into the quantity versus quality argument another time, but the Dodgers have a lot of mediocre players on the roster right now. The club needs better quality players on both sides of the ball. Having a bunch of average players on the roster doesn’t mean depth; it just means having average players.
Dodgers Lineup vs. San Diego
Utley 2B Jay CF
Seager SS Myers 1B
Turner 3B Kemp RF
Gonzalez 1B Upton Jr. LF
Grandal C Ramirez SS
Hernandez RF Norris C
Crawford LF Weeks 2B
Pederson CF Rosales 3B
Stripling P Rea P
Colin Rea-1-1 vs. Ross Stripling-0-1
Game time – 6:10 PM – TV-SNLA
One thing is for certain, Chris Hatcher has to go. He needs to be DFA’d right now as I type this pregame article. Don’t do it later, not tomorrow, not next week, not after breakfast, but right this minute. Sending him to the minors won’t work either. Just cut the experiment and ship him out. I’m sorry but he’s actively hurting the team right now. Switching his roles won’t help either. He’s wasting a roster spot that could be used for someone else more reliable. If the front office doesn’t want to spend money on expensive relievers, that is fine. However don’t just leave the garbage in the pen. Take out the trash and call up some of the kids from the minors.
Some guys are just not meant to be pitchers. Hatcher is a prime example of this theory. He may throw hard, but he is no pitcher. His lack of command and stiff front leg mechanics are all bad news. He’s a nice guy and it’s terrible to say, but I think it’s time for him to go. Someone else needs to assume the role of the set-up eighth inning guy. Whether that is Joe Blanton, (I can’t believe I am actually typing that) or Liberatore, or J.P. Howell. I don’t care. At the least the Dodgers can do that.
Carl Crawford needs to be released as well. He is actively hurting the club. He can’t hit anymore, can’t stay healthy longer than a week and has no throwing arm. My god Dodgers just cut bait. The club has to cut bait at this point. Swallow the 20 million dollars. They have other guys that can play left field.
Tonight’s pitching match-up will see 25-year old right hander Colin Rea countering Ross Stripling as the Dodgers try to pull themselves out of this “funk”. That’s what manager Dave Roberts called it last night.
Rea is from Cascade, Iowa and was drafted by the Padres in 12th round of the 2011 amateur draft. This is his second MLB season and he is 1-1 with a 5.04 ERA in five games. He’s made four starts and has struck out 19 against 10 walks in 21.1 innings pitched.
He allowed three runs, two earned on seven hits across five innings in a no-decision last week against the Cardinals. He’s faced the Dodgers twice pitching six innings allowing three earned runs on five hits and struck out six. The Dodgers are batting .263 (5 for 19) against him with four extra-base hits so they haven’t seen much of him.
Rea vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Joc Pederson | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .750 | 1.250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .333 | .500 | .667 | 1.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carl Crawford | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .500 | .000 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A.J. Ellis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Trayce Thompson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 22 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | .263 | .364 | .474 | .837 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Dodgers just need to win tonight. They’ve been losing to bad clubs and are now 4-7 at home. The good news is that the Giants and Dbacks are also struggling. All three clubs are currently tied for first place with identical 12-12 records.
The Dodgers need to score runs tonight. They need to pitch well and actually act like a real major league baseball club and go out and beat a lesser team they should be beating regularly. Losing again would mean falling under .500 and if that happens I may just have to start getting very irritable. You know I don’t want to have to do that. So please Dodgers, for my sake and the sake of everyone around me. Please win. Please score runs tonight. Just keep Chris Hatcher far away from the game, for the love of god, please.
Completely agree. I told a buddy of mine earlier, there’s like 3.5 really good players on this team (Kershaw, Janen, AGonz and Grandal is you want to argue about it), and the rest are all unproven youngsters, on the decline veterans or battling back from injuries. Is there a bonafide scary hitter in this lineup? Maybe Adrian Gonzalez but he’s getting up there in age and is hardly the power threat he once was. Justin Turner may be turning back into a pumpkin, but let’ face facts, he excelled as a super utility guy and has NEVER been an everyday player, let alone a number 3 hitter on an alleged championship contender. Puig is a tease, Pederson is inconsistent and whiffs way too much for my taste, and Seager is going through an adjustment period (though I think he’ll be an excellent player). There’s no Goldschmidt, Stanton, Buster Posey in this lineup, a guy that a team has to game plan against. Pitching wise, it’s a 3 man deal. Kershaw, Jansen, and Maeda, and Maeda has a tiny track record of 4 or 5 starts. The entire bullpen is a joke, so much so that Joe Blanton might be our setup guy. Just a bunch of throwers with live arms and zero command. The 3-5 starters have a long way to go to be even considered reliable innings eaters.
This just seems to be a transitional year with a mediocre team, waiting for guys’ contracts to expire so youngsters can come up eventually and replace them. Maybe they save their FA dollars for Bryce Harper in 2018, who the hell knows.
The solution to the Dodger scoring problems is not as simple as letting Thompson play and stop platooning Pederson but that is what I would like to see done.
The purpose of playing games is to entertain us and to win and not to use them to give Crawford and Kendrick their spring training. They should be willing to play enough games at OK to get themselves ready to play up to their talent, whatever that is now.
As you know, I’ve said repeatedly I believe this to be a transition year. Next year could be too if we don’t move some of the dead and dying weight. It would be a shame to not win a championship with Kershaw and Gonzalez playing so well but the window slipped shut last July. I’ve taken a lot of heat for believing that, but it’s quieted down some. The team, as it is currently constructed, is not the class of the league. Doesn’t seem to matter to fans as we continue to outdraw everybody. It could still turn around, and since the West appears to be tripping all over itself, we could still win the division. We do have some injured players, and should they recover and play well, who knows how this could shake out. I intend to keep watching and listening to Vinnie. Even with his many nightly mistakes, it’s still a treat to have him doing the games.
Just saw the end of the Mets gnats game. Mets are damn good.
The first two weeks of May are a brutal stretch. (Jays/Mets/Cardinals) Unlike the Dodgers, I feel the Jays and Cardinals will turn things around, they have the players and team chemistry to do it, unlike the FAZ robot which is our Dodgers.
The past two weeks:
Runs- 28th out of 30
Avg- 29th out of 30
Looks like my prediction of no Dodger hitting over 20 HR is looking good, as well as stating our lineup is terrible on multiple occasions. Roberts seems to be another pawn in the FAZosphere, yippy! Instead of changing the entire dynamic of our team which many said, he is now getting the free pass because it is his first year, comical, as long as FAZ calls the shots with the same players, he is Mattingly all over again. Youhadme states a good point I know Watford and I brought up many times, this team has no impact players whatsoever, besides Kershaw. The lifeless bunch showed up earlier this year then last, no leader, no life, a bunch of band aids covering a shot gun wound.
The most BORING and ROBOTIC Dodger team I have watched in my 20 years as a Dodger fan, it is disgusting what it has become, a true embarrassment. Not an embarrassment to teams happy with barely making the playoffs, but an embarrassment to a 200 plus million dollar payroll Dodgers squad trying to appear in the World Series for the first time in almost 30 years. The more moves FAZ makes, the more they look like they have absolutely no clue what they are doing. Saving money was a great idea until they decided to spend it on worthless moves.
79-83.
Badger had a very funny dialog about that, and the Dbacks.
Kike’ starts in RF against a righty. Let’s see what he an do.
I’m still good with Turner at 3rd and hitting 3rd. I have always liked Agon in the 5 hole.
The Dodgers have the same record as the Giants and Cardinals have a better record than Arizona, Colorado, San Diego, Houston, The Angels and The Yankees and you guys are losing your minds because you KNOW how bad they really are? They have lost 5 in a row and have looked pretty bad, but earlier they did some very exciting things.
They were never going to win 114 games, nor are they going to lose 83. Some of you think that Kendrick has no value because he is off to a bad start after being injured in spring training. Badger asked “Who has the highest BA – Kendrick or Crawfish?” It’s the same, but in the past 5 years CC has 1,098 AB’s while Howie has 2,330 AB’s. They both have .291 career BA’s but the lowest Kendrick has ever hit is .279 while CC has a year at .255 and another at .259. Kendrick is remarkably steady.
Why did the Dodgers sign him for $10 million/2 years when they already had Utley? Insurance and trade value. Only 4 second basemen not on steroids had a higher BA than Kendrick last year and one plays in Colorado. The Dodgers signed him because it was a good deal and if some team in the race loses their 2B, Howie is worth a lot. If anyone thinks Howie is not all that, how many players have hit between .285 and .297 the last 5 years? NONE that I can find.
A-Gon is very streaky as is Puig. Turner was tearing it up in the Spring but he will get his stroke…. about the time some of you STROKE out! Calm down! 92-95 wins is a cinch. I’m all for cutting losses on Hatcher, Baez and CC. Send Baez down.
Mat Latos is on his way to 5-0 – I wonder if Honeycutt has photos of Friedman and Zaidi in some compromising position. It’s time to put some of the pitching problems on the coach!
24 games are in the books – let’s see if The Truth Hurts after 48 games. I say, “The Truth Speaks with forked tongue”.
Actually, The Truth Will Set You Free! Watch and learn! 😉
The Big Dodger in the Sky has spoken!
Good stuff Mark. I hope your right. I wish Roberts had your enthusiasm! Oh ya, he does!
Mark, to say this team will win 92-95 games as a cinch without a guy who can hand the ball to Jansen, an average offense, and complete question marks at rotational spots 3-5 is optimistic at best and a delusional crack head at worst.
Colletti has been in a good mood lately!
In what world is Mark Timmons the sanest person on the site. This one it seems.
Insurance and trade value? That’s your story? Sounds kinda like your steroids make you run faster because they help you recover quickly gambit. Howie only played in 117 games, was a 1 WAR player, partly because of a negative dWAR number, and had a 108 OPS+, which is slightly above average. And that is, at best, what he is now – slightly above average. We don’t need him, so I look forward to that trade you refer to.
And hit .360 with RISP. We could use that guy now. I’m skeptical of the WAR numbers, but I think FAZ’s first instinct of signing Utley and letting Howie walk turned out to be correct. And so did Mr. Timmons until the front office reversed itself and re-signed Kendrick.
You have a window as an organization and team, Dodgers punted on 2014-2015 and now I guess are playing for the future, which is what they HAD to do after hoarding and refusing to trade any young players.
2013 – they were damn good and a WS favorite before Joe Kelly wrecked Hanley Ramirez and Mattingly blew game 1 of the NLCS by pulling Agonz, that was our best team since 1988 IMHO and they went 6 in the NLCS
2014- team could hit a ton and had zero relief pitching (sound familiar?), and the lack of a bullpen killed us in the NLDS. Andrew Miller would have been nice at the deadline, instead JP Howell was our setup guy.
2015 – team needed another starter not named Mat Latos. Go back to game 3 last year of the NLDS, 3-0 lead and Brett Anderson implodes in the bottom of the second. Changed the series.
Guys get older, guys leave in free agency, and the window gets shut down pretty quickly, but it’s the path they’ve taken These young players better be worth the wait.
Latos gives up 11 hits , 2 HRs, and gives up 4 runs in five innings.
I thought Stripling was learning at the begining of this game. Because he was not trying to be to fine. He caused this whole inning, by being to fine. Walks Kemp, Meyers, and gets behind on the count to BJ, of a people. He got squeezed a little on BJ. Then Honeycutt comes in, he throws three balls, and throws the next pitch, right down the middle of the plate. This is all his making. All he has to do is throw strikes. There is no defense for walks. After his last two games, you would think he would learn. He had Kemp and Meyers in his head, before they even batted! He is getting worse, instead of good.,
And he did this after he had two outs. Honeycutt, should have went out there sooner.
Why Hatcher? I don’t care about his self esteem, he can go get it, on another team’
Scott I think you better change your title. I think the Dodgers are taking it literately!
Well they suck MJ, Friedman and moneyball has ruined this team
Scott I was just joking with you. I have a dry sense of humor.
The league has figured out Stripling. Next victim from the so called “Depth” PLEASE!
1. Cody Bellinger made his AA debut tonight, playing 1B, and went 2-4.
2. Stripling is learning – the Dodgers will stick with him.
3. After 22 games with the Reds, Scott Schebler is hitting .145! Ouch!
4. Jose Peraza is hitting .256 at AAA Louisville.
Don’t know what alternate universe your stats are coming from, but Peraza is hitting .301 according to BR, right in line with his career numbers. Let’s agree not to discuss Micah Johnson’s numbers.
This is an 85 – 89 win team. Right now I am of course looking at the lower end of the spectrum because THEY JUST LOST 6 GAMES IN A ROW TO THE LOWLY FISH AND PADS!
They have to pick up gimme games – they will have to play tougher teams eventually and those games will be harder to win.
I don’t care what Scott Schebler is hitting. I do care what the Dodgers’ players are doing.
I’d rather have really good players than “depth” in the form of mediocrity.
I want a bullpen that pitches well in high leverage situations; a rotation where the team can rely on more than 2 starters; an offense that is adept in scoring runs in more than one way (able to hit the 3 run HR or scrape together a run playing small ball).
I want a management team that is at least as concerned with putting together a great major league roster as it is a great farm system.
I agree with youhadme. The window may indeed be closing. No Jansen next year – what kind of ‘pen will they have? The old guys (Ethier, Gonzalez, et al) will be another year older. The rotation will be just as inept unless the prospects are ready.
In no way is this a 95 win team. They haven’t won 95 since 2009 (the Manny Ramirez team).
This is the Mark I fondly remember and have enjoyed reading all these years.
Thanks Mark, and all of you for your companionship. Specially now through this
ugly stretch of baseball from our Major league team.
Welcome aboard Rock, misery loves company
Went to see the Quakes last night. Some of my observations.
Siera, small-did not fool or dominate any batter in his 3.1 inn stint._Not impressed.
Leon, the catcher needs to mature physically, and mentally but he can hit. _Like him.
Diaz, small, great at bats_ Impressed.
Miesis, younger-smaller Puig with a better baseball feel to the game. Like him.
Mejia, good looking SS with good offensive potential. Like him.
Garlick, Hitter. Like him.
Sierra Had 8 Ks, but it sure didn’t feel like it.
All I kept hearing was hard contact.
The gun never had him above 92, mostly at 90
though I suspect it was malfunctioning. Very good offspeed
pitches but the other team seamed to be sitting on them.