The Dodgers (67-53) screwed the pooch on Thursday in Philadelphia. The boys in blue blew a 4-run lead that lead to a 5-4 defeat to the Phillies in the series finale that ruined their potential sweep. If you remember they were unable to sweep the Phillies on the last home stand as well.
That coupled with the Giant’s 10-7 win over the Mets allowed San Francisco to shrink their lead in the NL West back to a half game. Maikel Franco’s seventh inning home run off of Grant Dayton was the nail in the Dodger’s coffin. Dayton had allowed only one earned run in his previous six appearances. So this was bound to happen.
The Dodgers can’t win every game and the Giants aren’t going to lose every game. What was interesting about the loss was that manager Dave Roberts went against the Dodger’s usual M.O. of percentage baseball and allowed the left hander Dayton to pitch to the right hander Franco. It’s important to know that there is a due to win/lose/allow runs factor in baseball.
If a rookie reliever has allowed only one earned run over first 6 appearances and has been nearly flawless over several weeks, odds are he’s going to be due to allow runs at some point. I think Roberts should have been aware of this and probably hooked him before the damage in the seventh inning. That’s baseball I guess no matter how frustrating it is. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Dodgers @ Cincinnati
Tonight’s Dodger lineup at Reds:
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Reddick RF
González 1B
Grandal C
Pederson CF
Kendrick LF
Norris P— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2016
Bud Norris-3-2 vs. Tim Adelman-1-1
Game Time – 4:10 PM – TV-SNLA
The Dodgers better be on the ball over the weekend against a terrible Reds team before the next home stand. The Giants and Cubs are looming. Before that the Dodgers have a four game wrap around series with the Reds to put some wins in the bank. The Dodgers will fly into queen city on Friday as right hander Bud Norris returns from the disabled list.
Today, the #Dodgers reinstated Adam Liberatore & Bud Norris from the 15-day DL and optioned Casey Fien & Ross Stripling to Triple-A OKC.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2016
The last place Reds will send right hander Tim Adleman to the mound to counter. The Reds have a 51-69 record and are 26 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central. They are 29-30 at home. The Dodgers are 29-29 on the road. We’ll also see former Dodger Scott Schebler who is batting only .186 for the Reds.
Norris is pitching for the first time since July 31 when he strained his back and was placed on the disabled list. Norris had made 6 starts and 7 appearances for the Dodgers since he was acquired by trade from the Braves. Norris is 3-2 with a 4.34 ERA in 29 innings pitched. He’s struck out 32, walked 8 and allowed 8.4 hits per nine.
He’s faced the Reds once this year back on June 15 when he was a Brave. In that start he picked up a no-decision when he allowed three earned runs on three hits over five frames. His last real start was on July 26 when he tossed 6 innings of shutout ball against the Rays. In 9 career starts against the Reds he is 1-3 with a 4.41 ERA. He’s never pitched well at Great American Ball Park. Norris is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in two career starts in Cincinnati.
The current Reds have not hit him very well. These Reds are hitting just .232 against Norris with a .677 OPS against.
Norris vs. Reds
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Brandon Phillips | 23 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | .286 | .348 | .429 | .776 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joey Votto | 18 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | .333 | .444 | .667 | 1.111 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zack Cozart | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .167 | .000 | .167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Homer Bailey | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Billy Hamilton | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ramon Cabrera | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ivan De Jesus | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam Duvall | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Holt | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Anthony DeSclafani | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Schebler | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 64 | 56 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 15 | .232 | .302 | .375 | .677 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tim Adelman is a 28-year old rookie from Staten Island, New York. He’s made 4 starts for the Reds and is 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA. Across 19.1 innings pitched he’s allowed 8 earned runs and 9 walks while striking out 16. Adelman has given up 3 home runs and has posted a 1.3 WHIP. He was originally drafted by Baltimore in the 2010 draft. According to the scouting reports Adelman throws a two-seamer, four-seamer, changeup and curve. His fastball clocks between 90-94 and his curve is his best pitch.
In other news Clayton Kershaw has began to throw off of a mound and is preparing to throw a bullpen session in an attempt to come back from a herniated disk. Kershaw has not pitched since June 26. The Dodgers are hoping they can get him back sometime in September.
Honestly I don’t know how long they can last like this. The Dodgers need starting pitching and going this long without Kershaw has put a huge strain on the entire pitching staff. Fortunately the Dodgers have had one of the best bullpens in all of baseball and those guys have done a terrific job keeping the club in games. It’s not a traditional approach to winning games but the Dodgers have survived this long. They’ll have to go a little bit longer. Now if Rich Hill could actually pitch that would help too. Buckle up Ladodgerreportians, this is a race.
Go Blue!
Norris-Liberatore activated, Stripling-Fein demoted to AAA.
Yahoo!!!!
Go Blue!!!!
2 hits for Reddick tonight .. I’m calling it!
Reddick strikes out on 3 pitches leaving runner at third. Nice. Can we trade him for Ruggiano?
Or Grant Holmes?
Bobby
Watching this right now is plain torture.
Wow- nice return for Bud Norris
Norris gives up a hit to a pitcher with two strikes, that shouldn’t happen!
Pitchers and blisters are a mysterious mix. With “crack” Dodger medical
and training staff the last decade and more (no matter whom they hire),
thought Hill was a poor choice for them. Would have been shocked if he
had actually started within a few days, as originally scheduled.
Over the years, Reddick has struck me as the kind of kid who has to be
VERY comfortable to do well. Thought it was three out of five he would
struggle coming from low pressure to high, one of five he would do OK,
one of five he would be a surprise plus.
Some one of the stat-guys-with-power in the Dodger hierarchy is proving
what I’ve been saying since Bill James’ opus: they have legit insights to
offer about the numbers in the game, but often have no feel for the game
itself. That Reddick is still in key RBI spots in the lineup, after weeks of
his best Andruw Jones impersonation, is plain indefensible.
Dud
They made the same mistake with Johnson last year, and he had an even worse back ground, of not being able to deal with pressure well.
And Reddick got his fifth single today, since coming to the Dodgers, after the game had already been long over.
I think Baez gets paid by the HR.
that’s 11 in 57 innings – hard to do
That is about half of what Kazmir has given up.
The return of pitchers off of the disabled lift was supposed to be a big advantage for the Dodgers. Just look at who might be available – Kershaw, Ryu, McCarthy, Anderson, Norris, Wood. Even Hill, whom they traded for while he was on the DL.
McCarthy had 4 good starts – but 4 bad ones and now he’s gone. Anderson has given us 1 inning and 5 runs. Norris less than 4 innings and 6 runs. Ryu less than 5 innings and 6 runs. Hill has yet to make an appearance after being sent to the Dodgers 3 weeks ago – he hasn’t gotten an out since 7/7.
The cavalry has to ride to the rescue soon. The Dodgers’ closest thing to a consistent starter is Maeda since Kershaw went down.
Roberts has said he hopes to get 2 or 3 starts from Kid K before the post-season begins. Wood is supposed to return, if at all, as a reliever. Ryu is done for the year. SO…
The Dodgers will have to ride Maeda, Kazmir and whatever cast of characters they can scrape together to the post-season. Their next 2 series are against the Cubs and Giants, and they’d better pitch better than they have against the dregs of the league (Philly and Cincy) to have a hope.
Dodger rick
I noticed you have not said a thing about Reddick, what is your take on Reddick?
Another 5 runners left on base by Reddick. Is Roberts really this dumb or is he just following orders? Does it matter?
Dodgers 1 for 15 with RISP tonight – a big departure from their recent successes.
Dodger rick
So it has now been three weeks of this?
Wondering
Reddick just doesn’t look good at all.
It looks like he has trouble getting around on a 92 fastball.