The Dodgers dropped to two games behind the Nationals in the fight for home-field advantage in the playoffs after losing last night, with the number of chances to gain ground dwindling. Tonight it was Jose De Leon‘s chance to bring the Dodgers closer to their final goal of the regular season.
1st inning
My personal choice for the Dodgers’ MVP of 2016, Chase Utley, homered to begin the game. 1-0
With two out, Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer. 2-0
Padres
With bases loaded, the newest Dodger-killer, Hunter Renfroe knocked in two to tie the game. 2-2
The Padres later brought him in to take the lead. 2-3
3rd inning 2-3
Dodgers
Corey Seager on first. Gonzo blasted one to the wall to drive in Seager and tie the game again. 3-3
Padres
The Dodgers continued to pitch to last night’s villian, Renfroe, who hit a two-run home run to break the tie. 3-5
After his third walk of the game (and 5 runs), the skipper had seen enough.
De Leon out. Josh Ravin in. Job done.
4th inning 3-5
Andrew Toles singled against the shift.
Joc Pederson then went deeeep to tie the game. 5-5
Padres
Ross Stripling in. Another run scored 5-6
5th inning 5-6
Stripling stayed in and struck out the side.
7th inning 5-6
Jesse Chavez in. Job well done.
8th inning 5-6
Luis Avilan in. 1,2,3 inning, including a strike out of Renfroe.
9th inning
Psssssshhhhhh….that was the sound of the air escaping from the Dodgers’ beach ball.
Dodgers lost 6-5
Even though the Nationals lost their game tonight, the Dodgers could not take advantage of the opportunity to get back to within one game of home field advantage. 6 of the last 8 games of the season must break the Dodgers’ way for them to earn home field advantage.
The Dodgers fought back well tonight, with the offense jumping out to a first inning lead on the strength of two home runs. They also came back twice more to tie the game after their pitching kept on bleeding runs – particularly to Renfroe, who collected 4 more RBI’s after his fistful of runs last night. The Dodgers now sit on the verge of being swept in San Diego.
Oh no! Andrew Toles grabbed his hamstring and limped back to the dugout after hitting a long fly out in his last at bat. But he seemed ok later in the dugout. Hmmm….
Some good news: Joc Pederson now has 25 home runs.
Gonzo heating up: Adrian Gonzalez picked up tow more RBIs tonight, including a HR. His BA is now at .284
Jose De Leon went 2 1/3 innings with 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 HR, 3 walks, 1 K. ERA 6.35
Home runs: Chase Utley, Adrian Gonzalez, Joc Pederson
Team with RISP: 0 for 3
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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De Leon is not repeating his delivery. He looks like a different pitcher each time. It’s too late to fix it now. He was much more consistent in the minors with his delivery. Honey will work with him. Remember, that Clayton Kershaw has a 4.26 ERA as a rookie. De Leon’s stiff is too good. Next year…
I hope Toles Hammy is OK.
Ross Stripling is just unlucky. Next year, he’s the Dodger’s swingman and long reliever.
This team has had a letdown. It’s only natural. Now they have had three days to relax and re-focus. HELLO! GET BUSY!
JDL
Didn’t get to pitch in as many games, as Urias, Stewart, and Stripling.
And those pitchers, were not that great in there first few games either.
JDL didn’t get a learning curve like those other pitchers got, in game after game.
I think what we’ve seen in the last couple of games is the Dodger weakness in their pitching, both SP and RP. Except for Kershaw, the SP’s have never been consistent this season. Maeda’s decent record is a bit misleading as he tends to give up runs early and is then saved by bats dominating. This has been a problem all season with our starting rotation. JDL, Stripling, McCarthy, Anderson and some of the questionable relievers should not touch the ball unless there is a very big lead. JDL has some good stuff, but doesn’t seem ready for this level, IMO.
Just a leg cramp
Getting the Giants in the final weekend, in SF, may be enough to wake them up ….
YF
I sure hope they wake up, and get the Giants out of the post season.
That Renfroe guy can really be irritating.
Ok Oscar you have Utley as your MVP. I’ll take Joc because of his hitting and great defense.
Artie boy
Joc came up to bat, with a runner in scoring position, and swung from his heels after he had two strikes.
All that was needed in that situation, was a hit, but instead of trying to just get a hit, to get the runner home, Joc swung way to big.
That is not being a team player.
And that runner on second, would have tied the game late in the game.
I think Turner is are most important bat on the team, and he is no slouch defensively either.
I think Roberts was right when he said, he couldn’t point to just one player.
He said it has been a lot of different players, and that is a good thing, because the team doesn’t have to count on only one player.
any one player, to step up.
MJ, as soon as I read Artieboy’s comment I knew what you were going to say. But if you think about it, Padre pitchers were mostly using off speed and inside pitches to Joc and when a 96 mph fastball comes in the upper part of the strike zone to a left handed hitter it is hard to catch up to.
When a hitter is trying to catch up to a fastball he quickens his swing. MJ, why are you trying to talk Artieboy out of Joc being the team MVP?
Bum
I am giving my opinion, and I am not the only one that said something.
Nomar and Orel both said the same thing.
And Joc has a pattern of doing this.
And Joc swung like that, on every pitch.
You know that I feel strongly about that.
If Joc couldn’t do better then this, I wouldn’t expect Joc to not do this, but he can do better.
And Bum
you knew I would say something, because you also saw what Joc did.
MJ, you would have been able to say the same thing about Reggie Jackson, Micky Mantle, Duke Snider etc. They all swung hard. As far as Nomar goes, I always worried about him hurting himself because he swung so hard.
Joc is not going to get the MVP award on this Dodger team. But given the number of plate appearances he has, his numbers are outstanding. Some of those numbers would drop like OPS if he had more plate appearances against lefties but the RBI and HR numbers would be a little higher.
I just wanted you to find another place to point out what you consider a flaw with Joc instead of doing so in a reply to Artieboy because in doing so you threw cold water on Artieboy’s comment. That location could have been better used to mention Joc’s game tying two run home run that gave the Dodgers 4 players with 25 or more HRs for the season–a rare treat.
The playoff door is wide open for the Dodgers. The Nats are a bad luck team….losing your starting catcher is huge for any team. And now Strasburg is probably out. So the Dodgers just need to take care of business with the Nationals and see whom survives between the Cubs, Giants and Mets. All 3 are probably much more formidable right now than the Nats.
Bum
Ok but Nomar and Orel were not worried about Joc getting hurt, they wanted him to think of the team first, and try to get a hit, not swing from his heels with a runner in scoring position.
And this is not about Joc’s stats, this is about the team.
He might have a couple more HRs, but he is hitting below 100 againST lefties.
And earlier this year, after watching Joc hit against lefties, you said Joc shouldnt hit against lefties.
I forgot to say this.
I hope Roberts starts giving Puig more playing time, and doesn’t continue to keep Reddick hitting against a leftie pitchers, when one is brought into the game.
He had Puig bat later in both of these two games, but in the first game, he should have brought Puig in sooner, when the bases were loaded.
Reddick is hitting under 200 against lefties, and when he hits against lefties, he has trouble making any kind of hard contact against leftie pitchers.
It is bad enough that Roberts has went out of his way to play Reddick over the other outfielders.
He needs to play Puig more in these last few games, and not only against lefties.
And Bum those players didn’t have any trouble hitting above 250 either.
I agree with the let down. However, a starting pitcher never has a let down. It is his one chance in a week to do his thing. De Leon needs work as does Urias. I just hope when the work is done, they still have their elbows in tact. Will Ryu ever be any good again? I say 50-50. The games will be intense this weekend except for the mandatory Vin Scully sendoff. Maybe that will give the team the same spark as last weekend. I’m glad the Rockies finally decided to show up. Not the case for the Cardinals. Go Mets.
Here’s food for thought. What happens if 3 teams tie for both wild card spots?
I don’t think it will happen this year but it was a real possibility prior to last night.
1. Who knows about Ryu. He can’t be counted upon, but if he came back that would be a nice surprise.
2. Maeda should never pitch on 5 days rest! PERIOD! I would insert a spot starter periodically to get him 6 days.
3. Has it occurred to anyone that Maeda could be traded? Maybe the time to do it is after this season. His contract is cheap – his value is high.
4. I think FAZ will try and sign Hill to a 3 year/$45 million deal Before Free Agency, but if he goes, I doubt they will get involved in bidding.
5. If three teams tie for the Wild Card, it will revert to records against each other, within division, etc.
6. I think Brandon McCarthy gets one more start and could be the #4 in the playoffs, if he pitches like he did last game.
Ryu had a surgery the other day that was a debridement, which is cleaning up all of the bad tissue he had, from his prior sugery.
I much rather have them trade, Kazmir or McCarthy.
But there value is pretty low.
I think Maeda will pitch better next year, after getting to know the hitters, and the league.
And the front office probaby are in love with Maeda’s contract, so I don’t see that happening this soon.
And what they said on the MLB Channel, that if the Giants and the Cardinals tie for the second wild card, they will play each other, to see who will be playing the Mets.
MJ,
That is the case when 2 teams tie for the last spot. They play a tie breaker. But ironically if 3 teams tie for both spots. No games are played to break the tie. Just kinda interesting. Obviously that is because the playoff games are set and there isn’t enough time to decide it on the field. One of the 3 teams will know that they are screwed in advance if all 3 tie.
Chili
Thanks
That doesn’t sound that fair, but it would be better for the Dodgers.
I hate that some of the teams have to wait four or five days, before they play.
And I think that would eliminate the Giants.
Mark, the Dodgers might have too many pitchers for 2017 and unless they trade some of them it could make FAZ decide to not try to sign Hill. Ryu, McCarthy, Maeda, Wood, Kazmir, Urias, De Leon, Stewart, Stripling, Buehler, Kershaw–that’s 11 pitchers already in house.
I think the Dodgers will sign Turner if he will take 3 or less years, hopefully 2 years. I think Stripling can close so I am more doubtful that Jansen will re-sign. I think the Dodgers will try to trade for a second baseman such as Trey Turner of WA or “DJ” LeMahieu of CO.
I could see a Gonzales and Calhoun for LeMahieu trade with Bellinger to take AGon’s place. I would rather have Trey Turner at second though.
Although the Dodgers from A to Z generally have not hit lefties as well as righties, the biggest difference is in offence is against righties the Dodgers have a 25 home run, 65 RBI, .850 OPS guy in the lineup that is not replaced when lefties pitch.