Stop the presses! The Dodgers have won their third game in a row and they knocked my socks off doing it.
The Phillies were hot before they hit L.A., and the Dodgers’ starting rotation has pitched like the real deal for the past week, so things were getting very interesting in Chavez Ravine.
When last we met Brandon McCarthy , he led off the current Dodgers pitching hot streak. Could he continue it on a cotton candy Saturday night?
In the first inning Andrew Toles belted one over the CF wall to lead off the game’s scoring.
That held up until the Phillies got to McCarthy with a couple of hits and a big 3-run blast to take the lead and crush the Dodgers’ dreams of a one to nothing victory. Just like that, they were down by two.
Then the Phillies did something almost unheard of in Dodgerdom these days, they scored for a second inning in a row, by knocking in a run with two out. The cheesesteaks were up 4-1 after four and a half.
The boys played dead until their half of the seventh, when Cody Bellinger punched out his first bomber of the year, cutting the run deficit in half.
In the eighth the Phillies got that run right back with a solo homer. It was 5-2 and the Dodgers were quickly running out of outs.
In the meantime, the Phillies were loose and playing “Bubble gum Baseball Cap” on their side of the field.
The Dodgers made some noise in the eighth with a Seager walk followed by a baby single from Gonzalez. Then Yasmani Grandal weakly struck out. The usual.
Then the UNUSUAL happened.
The Dodgers punched three consecutive home runs to tie the game! Yasiel Puig led off the ninth with a solo home run that landed halfway up the pavilion in CF. Cody Bellinger hit one out and the crowd sat up and acknowledged the Dodgers had a chance. With the stadium buzzing, Justin Turner came off the bench and blasted a home run of his own into right field to tie the game at five. Dodger Stadium was going bonkers from the Top of the Park gift shop right down to the dugout steps.
Austin Barnes slapped a base hit. The stadium was abuzz and Bobblehead Night Corey Seager stepped to the plate with two out. Seager rapped out a single to set the table for the Butter and Eggs Man. Adrian Gonzalez fouled off a number of pitches with two strikes as the crowd held its breath.
Then A-Gon got a piece of one! He beat it into the ground toward the hole at shortstop. That ball must have had butter all over it, as it evaded two Phillies and Austin Barnes brought the winning run to home plate along with every other Dodger from the dugout.
With three consecutive home runs and a bleeder from their dean, the Dodgers climbed what looked like an impossible mountain to beat the Phillies and steal their third win a row.
What a finish!
Three Times Really are a Charm: This is the first time this season the Dodgers have won three in a row.
Reality Check: Their biggest accomplishment so far is to finish the first month of the season at .500
One for the Cody Bellinger Marching and Chowder Society: After hitting 50+ home runs in the minors, Cody unleashed his first two ML home runs tonight (both solo dingers).
I Need a Friend: The Dodgers hit five home runs – all solo.
Brandon McCarthy went 5 innings with 8 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 3 Ks and 1 HR. ERA 3.10
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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I thought both pitches Bellinger jacked were on the inside part of the plate. Not high where he can’t handle it, but not low either. Is he already making adjustments?
The ball Toles hit was same old same old. He can really drive those low pitches and it surprises the pitchers.
YF
Most left hand hitters, have a sweet place, where they hit low pitches for HRs.
Can anyone explain what Yasmani Grandal has ever done to
merit the extra and key at-bats that come to someone hitting
4th or 5th?
See tonight’s eighth for a perfect example why he is in the wrong
place. Time after time….
Who in the org is his Magic Rabbi? One of the stat-blind?
Bet he can really whack a golf ball. Sounds like a golfer’s swing.
Granny ground out is FAZ’s fair haired boy. He is now below the Mendoza line again and he cannot use the injury excuse now. His skill is framing pitches and hitting for power. He will never hit for average. He also is below average at blocking balls in the dirt, which Joe Davis said was because he is breaking in a new mitt that is bigger than his old one. Tonight was about as excited as I have ever heard MR. Joe Buck clone. Replacing Vinny is un doable. The kid is trying, but he still drones on like Buck.
I think Bellinger was saying he doesn’t really care for Oklahoma. His musings may even have stirred Agon…
A “Quality Start” is defined as one in which the starting pitcher completes six innings and allows no more than three (earned) runs.
1. Is it not reasonable that a “Quality Relief” by the bullpen would be to hold the opponent to no more than one and one-half runs for the last three innings?
2. Is it not therefore reasonable for a club to expect to pay about 50% for their bullpen of what the starters cost? The Dodger starters exceed $80MM a year, $40MM for the bullpen would seem equitable.
3. Is it not reasonable to expect the offensive component of the team to score five and a half runs for their comparable “Quality Start”?
Baseball is such an unreasonable game….
Very interesting points there Jonah. I also think the WAR numbers for starting pitchers are really crazily inflated, relatively speaking, vs. the rest of the team. Whoever came up with WAR took the old school adage, that starting pitching is 90% of the game, to heart, in the wrong way.
I wonder if McCutchen of Pittsburgh isn’t a more viable upgrade than Braun? They need infielders right now and everybody always needs pitching. McCutchen is what we hope trace Thompson MIGHT become…
Jonah
Thompson is batting lower then what Utley was hitting, but he is doing it in AAA.
My point. Thompson is only a “maybe”, ‘Cutch is all we could ask for now and better, and cheaper, than Braun. Come on, FAZmonkey, work your magic…
SVS, Charlie Culver, and Kaz AND his money to Pittsburgh for ‘Cutch.
Jonah
I agree as much as Braun’s stats look really good against both lefties and righties, we really don’t know, what we will be getting, and we could be stuck with a bad contract, especially in the last couple years, of that contract.
The only think I like about Braun, is that he is more then a power hitter, because he hits for a good average, too.
And this team needs good hitters, more then another power, hitter.
And I actually like Thompson, he seems like a nice kid.
I don’t know if all this time off, has caused his slow start, because he didn’t hit for a high average in AAA, and he really didn’t hit that many HRs, in the minors.
I think the most he hit, was 18.
I don’t have a good feeling about Cutch, but it isn’t based on any of his numbers, so I could be wrong.
Where you listening in the bottom of the ninth, when they hit those HRs last night?
I get your point, but Trayce is a long way from McCutchen.
I still think Agone should go on the DL and see if he can feel better, and they can have Bellinger fill in for Agone, during this time.
But what I was going to say, is that even with all of our HRs last night, the guys still need to learn to do what Agone did last night, in his last at bat.
With good pitching a team can’t rely on hitting HRs, and it isn’t good to rely on HRs, even when the pitching isn’t good.
Our players still need to learn to do the little things, and hit better, with runners are in scoring position.
And I hope between Roberts and his coaches, and Agone and Turner, they all can teach the young players, to play as a team on offense, and to do the little things.
I thought Orel was trying to make to many excuses for McCarthy last night.
He was letting his balls go over the middle of the plate, and they were a little to high, to induce any ground balls.
I still think they need Nomar in the broadcast booth.
He says exactly what is on his mind, and he doesn’t candy coat everything, like Orel does.
And Davis was making excuses for Grandal, who still cannot handle pitches in the dirt. Together they are boring. A-Gone was totally lucky that last AB, he never got a pitch he could drive and he kept fouling those outside pitches off. The ball that scored the run was barely under the guys glove and actually looked like it hit the bottom of his glove which caused it to change direction so the SS missed it.
Michael
You are right!
The key was it was barely under that defenders glove, but he did hit it in the whole, and it did hit off that defender glove enough, to change the direction of the ball.
And that is where Agone was trying to hit the ball, in one of the holes, on the left side of the infield.
He did stay in there, to try to get the right pitch to hit, he could have struck out easy, but he made it his mission, to make contact, and put the ball in play.
I can still see the two defenders on the Phillies face, after the ball got through, like it did.
They had that funny look on their faces, like what the heck just happened.
MJ,
Are you serious? Gonzalez should have ended the inning with a weak dribbler. Scratch that. Another weak dribbler. Another ball not driven.
Instead the Phillies misplayed it.
Bluto
He hit the ball into a hole, just like the Phillies did quite a bit against McCarthy, last night.
It is a lot better then striking out, because sometimes when a hitter does put the ball in play, good things can happen.
And it isn’t like Agone is healthy.
Bad night for bullpens.
No doubt the Phillies pitching coach is having meetings with his staff regarding how to pitch to Dodgers hitters. It’s a very simple, two point plan. First point -thigh high fastballs over the middle of the plate will result in fines. Second point – high and tight fastballs, low and away two seamers and change ups. Neris was handing out lollipops and the Dodgers were ready for them. Hopefully this lights a fire under the offense.
The Squirrel will do what the the Squirrel do. He will find a few nuts when the air heats up and he will continue with high passed ball numbers because he is moving his glove 8″ on every borderline pitch. You saw the chart I posted a while back showing the decline in balls being called strikes. Well, maybe you saw it, it’s a real thing, so umps have been embarrassed long enough. They still suck and the ezone will be considered, but Squirrel’s d-value has been devalued.
Interesting points Jonah. Food for thought. The one inning closer makes about 25% of your bullpen budget.
Presumably, five $4MM pitchers are better than five guys making $10MM or $12MM altogether. Quality costs money.
If a pitcher is asked to pitch 80 innings of 2.48 ERA (Joe Blanton) shouldn’t he be paid AT LEAST half of what you offer a starter who has a snowball’s chance of pitching twice that and with an ERA anywhere near that (Kazmir, McCarthy, Hill)?
The obvious is answer is hell no because as YF pointed out starters WAR value is crazily overrated. These algorithms are mercurial and will hopefully continue to evolve – and that includes redifining a Quality Start. How is 2/3 of a game with a 4.5 ERA considered quality? I define quality as distinctive, superior, excellence. How about 7 innings of 2 runs or less? That’s 2.57 ERA. In yesterday’s game a complete game was a measure of excellence. That’s history. In today’s game 7 innings is a big deal. 6 innings of 4.5 30 times a year and you can make $25mm a year? Yoiks.
I
Badger
That was a pretty good HR by Puig, because one thing that closer had, was good movement on his fastball, at times.
But there closer, did throw a fastball, in a very good location, for Bellinger to hit it out.
It was a pitch a little in, and not to high or low.
And actually the pitch that Turner hit, was above his belt, and kind of high, with a lot of velocity.
I was surprised that Turner could handle that high of a fastball, like he did, because his pitch was higher then Puig’s and Bellingers pitch, on his belt line.
Also after the first two hitters, hit it out, you would think that that closer, would have got it by then.
I think they should have their veteran set up guy, trade places, with their closer, because of his experience, and the fact he has a good change up, and a 95 fastball.
Velocity isn’t better, then experience, and having, good command.
I guess Neris was the name of the Phillies closer, but I thought he was Baez’s little brother, after watching that pitching, display.
Not that MJ was doing this.
But one of my favorite observations is when fans stress over pitcher velocity, but gloss over batter’s exit velocity.
1. Andrew Toles (L) CF
2. Cody Bellinger (L) LF
3. Justin Turner (R) 3B
4. Adrian Gonzalez (L) 1B
5. Yasiel Puig (R) RF
6. Yasmani Grandal (S) C
7. Chris Taylor (R) 2B
8. Enrique Hernandez (R) SS
9. Hyun-Jin Ryu (R) P
MJ these videos are available at MLB.com. Each pitch is observable. The ball Puig hit was midfle-in and up. By “up”I mean not down but belt high. The ball Bellinger hit was center cut thigh high and Turners was belt high over the middle of the plate. I saw no movement on any of them, suggesting to me they were 4 seamers. They were mistakes, and the Dodgers credit they were ready for them.
Day game. 80+ degrees. Turner 3 hole, AGon cleanup.
FAZ loves pitcher velocity. The only reason Hatcher is still here is because he can throw 98.
Badger
I saw movement twice when there hat pitcher threw Puig a pitch.
The first one I saw, jammed Puig a little, because the movement of the pitch, went from the middle, to in on Puig, and he was only able to foul it off.
Puig hit the other pitch, right before, it moved more inside.
Yes I think Bellinger got the best pitch to hit.
I didn’t see any movement on Turner, or Bellingers pitches, only two to Puig.
I tried to find that on MLB.com, but I couldn’t find it.
Is it just on Dodger.com, or MLB.com, I looked at the later.
And what is it under?
It’s actually MLB At Bat. It’s an app.
Yeah, quiet in here.
Badger
I use to have a subscription to MLB.com, and I think at the time I got the MLB At Bat, but I never learned how to use it.
Isn’t that something you use on your phone?
Badger
Why is it easier for leftie hitters, to hit low pitches, as compared, to rightie hitters?
No basis for that claim. http://sonsofsamhorn.com/baseball/hitting/hitting-statistical-analysis/do-left-handed-hitters-really-crush-the-low-and-inside-pitch/
That’s interesting Jonah. I have the same article stuck in moderation posted almost at the exact same time. Like minds – that’s what I’m talking about. (see what I did there)
Is everyone on strike?
Is it easier?
http://sonsofsamhorn.com/baseball/hitting/hitting-statistical-analysis/do-left-handed-hitters-really-crush-the-low-and-inside-pitch/
Thanks Jonah for your info!
Rendon with a day. Mets pitchers give up 23 runs, but only 22 were earned.
Toles is another guy saying he didn’t leave anything in Oklahoma to go back to. If that final preposition offends you, tough.
Jonah
You could never offend me!
That was for Badger. He called out Scott for doing that a few days ago. And of course, it’s all in fun… Where are the ‘alleged’ Dodger fans today?
Jonah
I don’t know, that is why I coming back and forth, to see if anyone is posting.
Is Timmons getting a lot of action today?
Timmons action? I’m gonna leave that alone and just say – I don’t know and I don’t care.
Jonah
I don’t think so, it is slow everywhere today.
Bluto
This is for you!
The last line drive Agone hit, had a exit velocity of 105!
Wait.
He hit a line-drive?
I wasn’t watching or listening today.
Lemme look:
1st inning: Strikes out swinging. Four pitches.
3rd inning: Singles on a ground ball to right. 84mph exit velocity.
5th inning: Flies out. 82mph exit velocity.
7th: Lines out. 105mph exit velocity.
Ugh. Ugly.
He’s gotta be dealt with.
I cannot believe they are going to send down Bellinger and not put Gonzalez on the DL.
Pride goeth before the fall.
Believe it, plus, Forsythe and Pederson will be back by the weekend and the plan is to activate Gutierrez before Tuesdays game with the Giants that Moore is starting. Gonzo will only go to the DL if Gonzo wants to go. So what do you do with Taylor, and Bellinger, Utley and SVS? Taylor and Bellinger have options left. They could put SVS, or Utley on the DL. Turner was quoted on how much Utley means to the other players as a mentor and role model. I think they will ride that horse until they are sure it is dead. Oh, Hill is going to be back in a week or so too……..
All around pretty good game. Some good defense and timely hits. Toles had a good day and so did Turner. Grandal even found some nuts today. Ryu did not have much velocity today, but he was getting great location and movement on his pitches. That first inning skewed his pitch count a little. 99 times out of 100 Puig catches that ball, but that first step he took in caused him to miss. He hit into 2 double plays, but both of those pitches were scorched. Phils made it interesting with that 2 run blast in the 9th, but Kenley slams the door. 1st win in over 900 days for Ryu. Kershaw tomorrow against Queto, Giants losing in extra’s right now.
Queto
It was Quato in the movie. Pretty good flick….remake sucked.
I’m just messing with you Michael. You’ve been spelling Cueto with a Q for some time now. I figured this guy must be one of your sci-fi heroes.
I had three posts in quarantine and I was getting peeved at LADR when I realized I had misspelled my own email address.
Ya know, I did not even realize I was doing that ! What a dumb ass! LOL……..Quato was a pretty cool character…..