Tonight’s game was a battle of the young pitchers. The Dodgers sent forth 19-year-old Julio Urias, and the Phillies sent 22-year-old Zach Eflin the mound.
Two go in. One comes out.
1st inning
Corey Seager hit one into the pavilion to crack the seal on the scoring. 1-0
Justin Turner followed with a double high off the left field wall.
With one out, Adrian Gonzalez singled Turner home. 2-0
With bases-loaded and one out, Joc Pederson hit a two-run double to the CF wall. Score two more. 4-0
Rob Segedin hit a sac fly to score Grandal. 5-0
2nd inning Dodgers 5-0
Phillies
Two scoreless for Urias
Dodgers
Chase Utley went down low and hit a solo homer into the Phillies bullpen. 6-0
3rd inning Dodgers 6-0
The first threat of the night. The Phillies had bases loaded with one out.
Urias got a tailor-made come backer. He just needed to toss it to Grandal, waiting at home plate. Instead, he threw it away, to the backstop.
Two runs scored, two runners remained, and it was still only one out. 6-2
Base hit. 6-3
In a few minutes, the Dodgers went from cruise control, and leading 6-0, to an active bullpen; in just the third inning.
Pitch count: 68
Dodgers
As bad as that first half of the inning was, the Phillies managed to suck more.
Yasmani Grandal got one run back with a solo homer. That was the second one hit into the RF bullpen. 7-3
5th inning Dodgers 7-3
Phillies
Urias had a quick inning, but his pitch count was 88. The skipper won’t let him continue .
Dodgers
A second easy inning for the Phils.
6th inning Dodgers 7-3
J.P. Howell in.
Dodgers
1,2,3 inning. Very sleepy bats for three innings in a row.
7th inning Dodgers 7-3
Josh Fields in. Easy inning. Job done.
Dodgers
Wow! Corey Seager with his second homer of the night! 8-3
8th inning Dodgers 8-3
Pedro Baez in.
He gave up a solo home run, and the boo birds let Baez know how they felt. 8-4
Dodgers
Yasmani Grandal hit a double.
Joc Pederson followed with his second double of the night to score Grandal. 9-4
9th inning Dodgers 9-4
Josh Ravin in.
Job done, but he gave up a two out triple.
Dodgers win! 9-4
Big bats: This was the second night in a row the Dodgers hit three -or more – home runs. Pile four doubles on top of those.
For the Corey Seager Marching and Chowder Society: Multiple home runs. His 20th homer tonight gave him the LA Dodgers HR record for rookie shortstops. Number 21 was blue icing on the cake.
A good win tonight, and a great job of killing off any momentum the Phillies might have gained after Urias’ ill-timed error in the third. That error also took a toll on Urias’ ERA.
On the bright side for Julio, he did not give up any runs in the first or second innings as he almost always does. That’s something to build on.
The Giants won, but they played a marathon 14 innings, and possibly lost Buster Posey after he racked himself up with an ugly slide into third base. First place for the Dodgers will have to wait one more night.
Julio Urias (W 2-2) went 5 innings with 5 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 2 walks, 2 K’s. ERA 4.66
Home Runs: Seager (2), Grandal, Utley
Doubles: Pederson (2), Grandal, Turner
Team with RISP: 3 for 6 Great job!
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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And, the Dodgers keep rolling……….
Bats are batting and shadowing some weak pitching. Facing a weak team, Urias barely has his shit together. They are sure making each series about as interesting as they get! No one knows who will be on the mound from day to day or which Kaz and Maeda will show up. Well, I guess the bats are going to have to put this team on their shoulders and fly. I don’t mind as long as they keep winning.
Honestly, Urias has not impressed so far. But I worry more about Urias being traded too early. I’d wait on him. Early adversity is good for the talent evaluators. You kind of want the stars to fail early to see what they’re made of.
There is talent there, for sure. There is also an atmosphere of rush/rush as the pitching this year has been spotty. They are trying all sorts of possibilities to get them through the season. Urias will certainly be in the future mix of SP’s unless they are buying some big talent in the FA market or by trade and he is used as a trading chip. He is not efficient with his pitches, yet. I think he also still struggles with his control. Plus, they are pulling him as soon as they can even when he’s doing a good job. They need to decide on some kind of commitment to him in the rotation or let him hone his chops in the minors. I imagine if they had more stability from the starting pitching rotation, they could slot him in as a #5 SP.
Yes, I agree. He’s letting his stuff play down because of the inefficiency. That’s his next level, to get to the ace level, if he can get as efficient as possible. It’s what every rookie goes through. First we see whether he’s a “fighter”, then we see whether he can be a star.
My opinion only. The kid has talent. But they brought him up WAY TO EARLY. He is going to be good down the road, but he has not built his arm and body up to the point where he can take the everyday work load a big leaguer takes. They would have been smarter Bringing up a guy like Frias who is older, and a little stronger. The need for starting pitching is magnified and they are grasping at straws, and Hill still has not thrown an inning….by the way, Report on Thompson says he has fractures in his back. He will not be back anytime soon.
Michael
I saw that about Thompson.
Thompson must be a tough kid, because he didn’t tell Roberts right away he was hurting.
Michael Norris: “There were 50,000 there…..they were playing the Giants. Garvey tied the game with a 3 run shot in the 8th, but they lost 6-3 in 10 innings. An aside note. That was the game where the Giant pitcher hit Cey and broke his arm. Putting him out for the season until the playoffs…..”
Well, I guess we can see why you only sang at Dodger Stadium once.
All kidding aside, 50,000! I have seen Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull, David Bowie, Charlie Daniels, Beach Boys and many others, but, none had 50,000 fans. Very Impressive. You the Man!
Do you have a Utube of you in action?
No, but the next time we jam, which will be sometime this month at a friends family reunion, we are going to video it. Maybe then. Yeah, Cey getting his arm broke was not cool, but if you remember, he got beaned in the Series too. But I sang it for a world series champ. Cannot take that away from me ever. Wes gave me a ball and I got about 16 autographs on it, including Sutcliffe, and Sax, Manny Mota, and Jerry Reuss. Shook Fernando’s hand, but forgot to get him to sign my ball!
Did Sax give it back to you wide left, in the dirt and all the way to the dugout?
No actually Saxy handed it off to Mota
I do not know if you remember Frances Friedman…she was the older lady who always sat in the LF pavilion. She would twirl a bag of garlic at the other team to thwart rallies. Quite the character. She came down out of her seat to tell me she thought I was the best anthem singer she ever heard. I took the compliment with a grain of salt, but I though that was very cool…
How about a U-Tube of my youngest son? He is a Senior this year in high school and his team was selected to play their first game at Lucas Oil Stadium in the Horseshoe Classic next Friday. He’s the long-haired hippie! I’m pretty proud!
Now, back to Dodger baseball!
As a fellow Colts fan and long-hair hippie, that’s pretty cool. Although I prefer freak to hippie.
Nice photo, Dad. On Urias: I was glad to see strikeouts down and very good strike to ball ratio. Learning to trust is stuff and not trying to strike everyone out. Ravin is ticked that he was suspended for PEDs while in rehab; doesn’t think its fair. Is it? A rule is a rule. On another point: I was watching Kendrick of the Cubs pitch the other day, and he was lights out and has been the whole year. He might be the Cubs best pitcher, and he can’t hit 90mph. Other than Kershaw, when has our team actually made a pitcher BETTER? I can’t think of any, certainly recently. Maybe Anderson from last year. On another point: Iwakuma, the guy who flunked our physical after signing, just won his 13th game with the Mariners and shut out Detroit, the hottest team in baseball. Are all talent evaluators/medical people this bad? I don’t think so.
I always thought that the Dodgers made Mike Morgan better, but I can’t remember what made me think that.
Puig: 0-3 with K and BB.
Bobbie 17
Did you see those videos that Puig posted.
At Inside the Dodgers, they have all of the videos, take a look.
Here is that Foxsports article MJ alluded to:
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/why-its-time-to-stop-doubting-the-los-angeles-dodgers-080916
I really like Urias stuff. When I look at a 19 year old in anything (Urias, D’Angelo Russell, etc), I look for flashes of greatness. The mistakes will always be there, unless you’re one of the few that comes right in and dominates (Seager). Urias shows flashes. As the mistakes dwindle, the flashes of greatness will appear more and more. If we don’t trade him, he’ll be our #2 by 2018. But now, it’s time to call up DeLeon and see what he shows us.
Meanwhile, I have to give our management some credit; this depth thing seems to be working. I liked what I saw from Ravin last night. I really like what I’ve seen from Grant Dayton. I really want to give our entire bullpen a standing ovation. They must be on some record setting innings pitched pace!
I enjoyed that article, especially the part about grit.
Bum
That is what I liked about the article too.
And I do see the change this year.
Rosenthal even said that Joc was learning, and getting to be a gritty player.
I think hiring Roberts, was probably the front office’s best move of the year.
Did you see the videos that Puig posted from AAA?
He just doesn’t get it.
It was reassuring to hear that Joc was getting that grit. That will help him get a hit with risp instead of getting too many of his rbis from solo homeruns.
Thanks Bobby!
I’m sure I am going to have to post this from MLB TRADE RUMORS:
The Dodgers’ oft-ridiculed offseason strategy of acquiring depth looks increasingly smart in retrospect, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. The Dodgers’ front office has taken flak for the better part of a year for acquiring large numbers of solid players rather than acquiring or retaining stars like Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke and Andrew Miller. But the team is currently just one game back in the NL West, and leads the NL Wild Card race, despite making a ridiculous 26 DL placements this year. The Dodgers have gotten solid contributions out of somewhat lower-profile additions like Kenta Maeda, Chase Utley, Joe Blanton and Louis Coleman, not to mention players like Adam Liberatore, Grant Dayton, Andrew Toles and Josh Fields, who arrived in moves that were downright minor.
As I was saying….
Enjoy a fresh helping of crow!
On the other hand, absent the decision to sign/trade for the injured or injury-prone , the Dodgers wouldn’t have had the “ridiculous 26 DL placements this year”.
If the players that you sign are injured or injury prone, it isn’t depth – it is guys on the DL.
1. It has worked;
2. If you didn’t have those guys you’d have several big,long-term contracts that hamstring you later; and/or
3. You would have a lot few prospects for the players you traded for.
You can’t have it both ways.
Dodger rick
I don’t know if you read the article Bobby posted, but it isnt one way, like Mark is trying to say.
And the whole article was in Fox sports.
MLB Trade Rumors, only posted some of Rosenthal’s piece.
Mark
That is only part of what Rosenthal wrote.
And I think he was very fair with what he wrote.
Mark
This article was a big part about the team’s culture change this year, and there isn’t a thing about that, in this MLB Trade Rumors, that you posted.
And Rosenthal said it is fair to question, some of the moves, this front office has made, like people have asked here.
Rosenburg said the minor moves seem to be the best.
In defense of Grandal’s defense, do good framers catch the ball more often in the outer part of the glove to allow most of the glove to be in the strike zone and therefore have the ball bounce off their glove more than bad framers?
Makes sense to me.
Bum
I think Grandal try’s to frame a strike so much, he keeps his glove in the strike position longer.
And because of that, he isn’t as ready as he could be, to block a ball, or protect himself.
Utley remains an important part of dodger success but he is tiring.
Should Kendrick start to more evenly share 2nd with him?
That could give more playing time for Kike’ and Segedin in LF.
I fully agree with u. And/or if not Howie back at 2b, then for sure Kike can play there.
But either way, you’re right. Give Utley more rest now, as we’ll need him for late Sept and hopefully thru Oct! I’d say rest Agone as well, but he has woken up, so we need him now while he’s hot
I think Chase needs a two week vacation.
The Dodgers are not happy with the videos that Puig posted.
In fact they are not only upset with Puig, they are upset, with players that were in Puig’s videos.
And these remarks came from Friedman.
Can you post links to the videos and remarks?
Wondering
Those videos are on Inside the Dodgers.
By the way, since I’m free tomorrow, I might roll to the stadium for the 12pm game vs Philly.
Anyone else going to the day game tomorrow? I’d love to finally meet someone on this board and share a beverage!
I thought the kid looked good last night. None of the hits during inning 3 were hit hard. There was a soft hit ball that hit the bag, a FC that turned into a hit, an error on a DP ball, and seeing eye single to RF.
I guess if you want to rag of FAZ you can say you don;t like their handling of Urias, but when he was called up he had a streak of about 25-30 shutout innings. Personally, I have gotten better in lots of sports by playing tougher competition. I’m not sure Urias had any more to learn in AAA, but he sure does here. I think it will help his development, but that’s just me.
no, i agree with u. He was done learning at AAA. Maybe he needed to build up his arm and body more, but that can be done anywhere; doesn’t need to necessarily be done at AAA.
He was ready for his promotion. This was a great learning curve for him. Next year he can go 140-150 innings.
Slot him as the #5 and roll with it.
Totally disagree…..AAA ball is supposed to get you ready to pitch in the major leagues. Urias is not ready to pitch in the major leagues because Urias cannot at this point in his career go more than 5 innings. He puts more strain on a bullpen that does not need the strain. That is part of learning. He has great stuff, a great mentality, and a lot of desire. What he does not have is the stamina and the experience to be pitching every 5th day at the big league level. 140-150 next year? Great, what they need are innings eaters. Something they are woefully short of without Kershaw. Anderson is on a re-hab assignment, and maybe he can eat some innings. Stripling went 7 his first outing, and has not come close to that since. Building up arm strength and stamina should not be done at the major league level unless you are so far out of the race that it does not matter. They have 50 games left. They need as many innings out of the starting staff as they can get. The more, the better…
Michael
I totally agree with you about Urias.
He not only needs to build his arm up, he needs to face hitters, more then twice in the order.
Until Urias does that consistently, we won’t know what kind of pitcher, he will be.
And part of his learning process, will teach him to keep his pitch count down, and teach him to get better command of his pitches.
I thought that some moron often said that no one posts following a Dodgers’ victory, I can’t recall the moron’s name right now. Oh wait, I’m feeling it may be our resident narcissist that can’t stay away (same song, 91st verse).
Maybe some old dogs are learning new tricks.
It’s possible even you might be able to do that… whatever your moniker happens to be today.
Hope is a great thing. Try it!
Badger
Where are you?
We need a little support here.
Maybe he crawled back in his hole!
Mark
Thanks for saying that, I know he will be here now.
😉
I for one am glad to see more of the prize prospects of the farm system get a chance to play. One of the things that Ned Colletti did that drove me crazy was to only play veterans. We never got to see if any of the prospects were going to be any good or not.
Stripling has been one of the bright spots of the season. He is a competitor and seems to have a good feel for pitching. Watching Urias, you can see the talent and stuff. Kershaw was raw and inefficient at first too. If Urias can harness his stuff he will be really good. It will be interesting to see who else will come up and make a difference this year and next. I would like to see the team be a little less cautious about their young pitchers but I understand the reasoning. I also understand why they are using Urias, et al. He is obviously talented and can get hitters out and with all of the injuries, someone has to pitch.
Obviously, Seager is a prodigy. Thompson (not one of our prospects but a Chisox guy obtained by the Braintrust) showed flashes. Pederson is still a solid CF who has real power and may end up being a really good player for a while.
Who’s next?
Colletti got the players, the managers under him chose who they were going to play. You can bet he never told Torre who to play on any given day. Torre had complete control over the players. Torre was never one to use rookies a lot. He was forced to with the Yankees because they called all their best players up at the same time. Big difference between Kershaw and Urias. Kershaw had pitched a lot and was older when he broke in. Urias was 17 when signed, and he still is not fully grown yet. Urias needs to build up stamina. A pennant race where he is pitching maybe 5 innings a game is not the place to do it.
Corey Seager = Best Dodger SS Ever?
Maybe best Dodger ever? Long way to go, but we could be witnessing history.
Thanks Logan White!
Scott is on DL again,
I guess we broke that record now.
Old SVS just cannot catch a break. Probably a goner next year as they will integrate the young guys on the way up, why the recalled Taylor instead of Toles, is a mystery.
Best hitting maybe, but he has a long way to go to beat Pee Wee, who was a natural leader.
Pee Wee was 22 in his first FULL season and he hit .229. The next year he hit .255 then went into the military for 3 years. He came back and had a very good career. If he would have retired 3 years sooner, he would have been better off as his last there years were not very good (ages 37,38 and 39).