It’s very rare these days to see a game in which there were no Dodger highlights of any kind. Yet tonight we saw one. The National’s 6-0 win over the boys in blue on Thursday evening was completely devoid of anything positive for the Dodgers. It was awful right from the start and never got any better. The Dodgers had won ten consecutive home games before tonight’s loss, which came to a painful end. Patrick Corbin tossed seven shutout innings and former Dodger Howie Kendrick (another ex-Dodger to stick it to the Dodgers) homered and drove in four of Washington’s six runs.
Rich Hill wasn’t terrible but he put the Dodgers in a hole almost immediately. There’s nothing that bothers me more than when the Dodger starters give up first inning runs. As I have said before here many times, if you fall behind super early it’s hard to catch back up. That is especially true when you’re behind by more than a couple of runs and losing within minutes of the game starting. The Dodger starters have had an annoying habit of doing this lately.
Nationals 6 9 0
Dodgers 0 6 3
WP-Corbin-3-1
LP-Hill-0-1
HR-Kendrick-6
So in the top of the first inning there was an Adam Eaton double, a hit batter and then Howie Kendrick smashed one into the left field pavilions to put Washington up 3-0. Kendrick’s three-run home run set the tone in the beginning. The Dodgers never recovered. Hill did settle in after that. But it was too little too late. Overall Hill tossed five innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits and striking out five. His mound opponent, Corbin overpowered the Dodger bats.
Corbin allowed just three hits and four walks over seven frames while striking out eight. The Dodgers historically have had a lot of problems figuring him out. Corbin entered tonight with a 2.10 career ERA at Dodger Stadium. The Dodger bats tallied six hits (all singles) and left nine men on base. To make things even more annoying, they committed three errors in the field.
The Dodgers blew their home winning streak in the most boring way possible. There will be no images or videos in this recap. There simply is none for me to reference. But hey Travis d’Arnaud did make his Dodger debut in the fifth inning as a pinch-hitter. He grounded out. Good times. The series continues on Friday with Kenta Maeda taking the mound for the Dodgers. Washington will give the ball to Anibal Sanchez with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 PM PST.
There has to be an influx of new people to this blog. IT’s pathetic.
Paul, True, Michael, Bluefan, YF and myself. Maybe one or two others, tops.
Sheesh
Bluto,
I guess a lot of those Dodger fans who sugar coat everything, are finally seeing beyond their rose colored glasses, and are at a loss for words. “They can’t handle the truth!”
What?
That, as a response, makes no sense.
Can you try it again in different words?
I’m talking about ANYONE, we just need more people here. Who cares if they handle the truth, can’t handle the truth or change the truth?
I’m irrelevant, I’d like people no matter the POV, but since i’m posting…
I’d like more people who understand reality. Who realize how good this team is and how well they are playing and how significant their accomplishments have been.
Bluto,
What should we do over here to accomplish that?
Jeez Scott,
I dunno.
I do like the conversation here, but I’m the choir. Maybe try to differentiate through content? I’m kinda stretching. Lemme think….
Do you have emails of old community members? Do you do any outreach to them?
Outreach? I have everyone’s emails but I don’t have much time for that. Figured I would get your opinion since you’ve been saying you want to see new blood over here.
Bluto
I am hurt that you did not include me Package206 in your post. I will try and make sure y ou know I am here going forward.
My bad, you are memorable
Very embarrassing loss.
Without sounding like a broken record, that is about all I can really say.
Starting Pitcher serving up hot cookie in the 1st inning. Starts Dodger offense on their heels, again.
Dodgers just had to rest poor ol’ Verdugo, who just happens to kill lefties and is a hot teammate both offensively and defensively. A huge spark to the team. The young kid does not need rest.
Kelly and Yimi tank.
Offense a dreary 0-4 RISP, 9 LOB, 9 KO’s.
What a way to open a big series at home… to lose, getting caught with your pants down below their knees.
Bluefan, you are way off base. Verdugo is young, hits lefties and has been doing quite well as of late. REmember, young people need extra rest because they lack a stores of energy, plus he has shown he hits lefties and in fact has been showing that skill very well in the last couple of weeks, thus it makes perfect sense for Bert to give him the night off. Geez it makes so much sense.
I turned off the game in the 6th inning, it was pretty plain to see that Bert was not in it to win it. So I will trust what you said about Kelly and Garcia, since I didn’t watch our beloved PPP before yet another bloody procedure, at least they didn’t kill off a sweet little precious baby win last night.
Did Badger drowned in his bong water?
Not all on Kelly. There were 2 errors in the inning. If Muncy had caught the foul ball, he would have had 2 outs and a runner on first and that run would not have scored. But the offense was again inept against Corbin. Over the last 2 seasons he owns them although this is only his second win. His ERA over that time against them is 0.66. Into every life a clunker does happen.
This loss is not on any pitcher.
You can’t win if you don’t score.
Not sure how that loss was embarrassing though.
I heard Joe Davis talk about how Roberts was bombarded with questions as to why Verdugo was not starting. Dodgers appear to play those % or so it seems. But totally correct you are here Bluto, because not only ya don’t win if ya don’t score, but ya don’t usually win with a poor defense AND ya usually don’t win when your starting pitcher puts you into a 3 or 4 run deficit in the 1st inning, and of course the starters allowing 1st inning HR’s is a huge reason for these deficits to show up early.
It never ceases to amaze me how many times Dodgers switch up the lineup dramatically against a LHP such as one like Corbin, only to see the same ole same ole results…a total collapse of the Dodger offense . But honestly, it is what it is and I won’t lose any sleep hoping for some change in approach here.
Michael Grove is starting the game for Rancho, his sixth start of the season. If you want the definition of “kid gloves,” here’s how the Dodgers are handling their former 2nd-round pick who had TJ surgery 13 months before he was drafted:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=grove-000mic&type=pgl&year=2019
I think one of the reasons it got the way it is here is because of all the name calling and bickering there was in the past. It has calmed down a lot, but many have not returned. I know Badger is in the process of moving back to California, so he is pretty busy. I am sorry to say that I was right in the middle of all of that. I was way too opinionated for some and way too argumentative for others. I have tried very hard to not be that guy any more. I am looking at the team from a lot different perspective and approach. No, I have not bought into Friedman’s overall way of doing things, nor do I really like the rotating lineups, salary dumps and dumpster diving for players. Especially when it comes to the bullpen. But I do try to at least understand his methods. I am not even close to that point yet. I think a lot of us were so used to seeing the free spending ways before he showed up, that the refusal to target star players was extremely frustrating. The way they handle the young pitchers is somewhat understandable. They have a lot of money invested in these kids and they want to get some value out of them. Us old school guys remember the way pitchers who were young were just thrown into the rotation and not molly coddled at all. Thrown right into the fire. Some, not all thrived in that scenario. Not many handled it as well as Fernando, or Rick Rhoden. A few times someone from the low minors came up and made an impact. Steve Howe came from AA. Today’s Dodgers are not just built that way. Urias will be built up slowly. Do not expect him as a full time starter until next year. Buehler’s innings will be watched also, but he is a huge piece of the rotation right now. With Gonsolin and May in the pipeline, Stripling will be a bullpen guy as long as he is reliable. Ferguson, when activated will be ticketed for AAA. He is really a starter and needs to go down there and work on another pitch. The offense is what it is. Although the signing of d’Arnaud is a real head scratcher, he finally got into a game last night and made an out, dropping his average to .073, Friedman loves versatility and that is exactly the kind of player he pursues. He does not go for the big star unless it is as a rental. He proved that with not signing Harper, or even sniffing Kimbrel. I do not expect a Machado like deal this time around. They will be getting Pollock back the end of July and that will be like a midseason deal. They will however probably make some moves per the pen. But don’t expect any major overhaul or moves until after the season is over.
Maybe it was not a bad thing that some people left. Just because someone left doesn’t mean they were righteous, yes you were quite shitty to MJ and she left. I think she was just loving having conversations and stating opinions and you took after her like a dog to a bone. I mentioned a few times that I thought secretly you had a crush on her and you needed to get a room. As far as others leaving, I really don’t recall any, maybe they were just casual posters or they were just sniffers from the Pedro Philes blog, I’m glad those from that blog are gone, they deserve King Pedro Phile as their leader as far as I’m concerned.
I like everyone who posts here, yes Brutus is an unlikable poster but I can tolerate him, as least 1 out of every 20 posts he makes has some worth.
So, Michael don’t be an apologist for the rest of the blog or whatever you are attempting to do. Just relax, don’t get overly touchy feely and enjoy.
I have never been overly touchy feely…..you obviously do not know me at all. And I was not apologizing, I was stating what I felt to be the reason for so few posters on the blog. As for me having a crush on some woman I have never seen, that would never happen. I also post on another blog that I found. I even wrote a little piece over there about life as a Dodger fan since Friedman took over. I enjoy everyone who is here. Most are quite knowledgeable. And all are passionate about the team. Scott is to me an excellent writer and I love his synopsis of the games….
Breaking news…Dodgers have traded d’Arnaud to the Rays and Orlando to the White Sox
Hello Michael, hope life is good with you.
I think you have nailed it, with your summation of what has happened here.
I read here every day, as I do the other site, but feel it gets far too personal over here. You are a great poster, with some of your recollections of your younger years as a Dodger fan really touching me. However, your passion means you are drawn into stuff that is below you. I don’t mean it in a bad way, because you are so knowledgeable.
It appears to me that there are people here who enjoy stirring things up. I like Scott and Oscar, they are stand up guys, but it seems that this place had become the place to go for any Dodger knockers.
We are arguably the best team in Baseball right now, and yet it seems very downbeat here.
Friedman has made lots of gaffes for sure, but every GM has.
Sure, our Bullpen could be better, or Doc could be a better in game manager, but bottom line, we are the team to beat.
It just seems that there is a cloud hanging over this place, and I’m sure that is not what Scott or Oscar want.
A bit of positivity would be a great starting point.
I don’t mean to be rude or condescending, but you deserve better got all the effort you put in.
You have some quality posters here, especially Michael& Badger -!those guys are a great starting point for any blog.
Agree!
You hit the nail on the head Watford. I allowed myself to get dragged in to some arguments I pretty much knew there was no winning. And the negativity took hold in a lot of ways. Like I said, I still do not particularly like the way Friedman does things, but complaining constantly is not changing that guys way of doing his business. My job therefore is to support the team I have loved for so many years and I am trying to do that. As for MJ, if she were here I would apologize for my past remarks. She is a passionate fan and I appreciate that passion. For some reason we were just totally toxic to each other and I have never met her. Oh well, water under the bridge. Badger is in the process of moving back to California from Arizona. I got an email from him today saying he was, his quote not mine, ass deep in boxes and packing. Have a great day my friend.
Or as Plunkett put it:
LAD bought a distressed asset at low cost and flipped it for cash.
IF YOU CANT WATCH THE GAME ..THEN WE REALLY DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY
Thanks for contributing, Jerry.
I feel your pain. If the Dodgers would end this silly war the cable company’s have going on, more fans could enjoy the games. I do not know where you live, but I live in Colorado, so I have to stream the games on MLB.TV. But I did not buy the package this year since I knew for the 1st 3 months of the season I was going to be in California.
Michael’s case (being out of town) notwithstanding, I’m on record as not liking this argument.
It’s VERY EASY to get the Dodgers on cable or TV. Just switch to Spectrum. It’s one of the biggest cable companies in North America.
The prices are all the same, quality of transmission is good (I think they overcompress) but there are very few hurdles.