Wednesday night’s 8-1 loss to the Angels was a total disaster. Mike Bolsinger pitched ok, but the Dodger’s defense in conjunction with their subpar relief pitching did them in during that fifth inning meltdown. The offense was as useless as ever, scoring just the one run and doing virtually nothing else. Does that sound familiar? It should. The Dodgers are now 13-19 in games not started by Clayton Kershaw. The boys in blue are mired in mediocrity and continue to stagnate in the NL West standings. They are now 2.5 games behind the Giants and will continue to flounder unless improvements are made to the roster. Slowly but surely the Dodgers are becoming unwatchable.
The club will try for a series split against the Angels tonight in the series finale before they travel to San Diego for a weekend series. The Dodgers will give the ball to rookie Ross Stripling while the Halos will counter with Jhoulys Chacin.
Dodgers Lineup @ Anaheim
Utley 2B
Turner 3B
Seager SS
Kendrick 1B
Pederson CF
Thompson LF
Grandal C
Puig RF
Crawford DH
Jhoulys Chacin-1-2 vs. Ross Stripling-1-2
Game time – 7:05 PM – TV – SNLA-FSW
Ross Stripling will be making his eighth career MLB start. He is 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA across 38 frames. In his last start Stripling Earned his first big league win despite not pitching very well. He tossed five innings and allowed four earned runs on eight hits in an 8-4 win over the Cardinals. Fortunately the Dodger’s offense bailed him out for once. He’s never faced the Angels, but he has posted a 2.12 ERA away from Dodger Stadium.
The Angels will counter with Jhoulys Chacin. The 28-year old right hander was recently traded from the Braves to the Angels for minor leaguer Adam McCreery. He was awful with the Braves. He posted a 5.40 ERA and a 1-2 record in 26.2 innings pitched. He struck out 27 and walked 8 but allowed 9.8 hits per nine innings with a 1.3 WHIP. He’s made just one start so far with the Angels. In that start he gave up two earned runs on five hits across seven frames in a no-decision versus the Mariners. Perhaps a change of scenery is what the Venezuelan needs the most to turn his career around. That’s what the Angels are hoping. Overall he is 1-2 with a 4.81 ERA, so that means he’ll probably pitch a shutout tonight.
The Dodgers are familiar with Chacin from his days with the Rockies. Chacin suffered some shoulder problems which ultimately led to his release from Colorado. His velocity dipped considerably as well. All in all Chacin is still a ground ball junkball pitcher. He throws a wide variety of pitchers which include a fastball, slider, cutter, sinker, and changeup. Against the Dodgers he is 9-7 with a 3.47 ERA in 19 appearances. The current Dodgers are hitting .344 (32 for 93) against Chacin with an .847 OPS. A.J. Ellis surprisingly hits him well with a .412/.444/.647 (7 for 17) batting line. Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .333 (7 for 21) with a home run and four runs driven in versus the right hander.
Chacin vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 25 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .333 | .360 | .476 | .836 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| A.J. Ellis | 18 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | .412 | .444 | .647 | 1.092 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 12 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .333 | .417 | .444 | .861 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yasiel Puig | 11 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .300 | .364 | .300 | .664 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carl Crawford | 9 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .889 | 1.556 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .200 | .333 | .200 | .533 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Howie Kendrick | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Justin Turner | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Seager | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Blanton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .500 | .000 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Joc Pederson | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 106 | 93 | 32 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 14 | .344 | .385 | .462 | .847 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Once again we can never take anything the front office says at face value. They had told us that Adrian Gonzalez would be back in the lineup as a DH on Thursday, but he’s not. Again the decrepit Carl Crawford returns as the DH batting ninth. Justin Turner is batting second again for some unknown reason. At least Trayce Thompson, Corey Seager, and Joc Pederson are all in the lineup. The kids can’t do everything. When are the veterans going to start hitting?
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#
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
PCT
|
GB
|
HOME
|
AWAY
|
L10
|
||
|
1
|
|
24
|
18
|
.571
|
–
|
11-10
|
13-8
|
7-3
|
||
|
2
|
|
20
|
19
|
.513
|
2.5
|
8-10
|
12-9
|
6-4
|
||
|
3
|
|
21
|
20
|
.512
|
2.5
|
10-12
|
11-8
|
5-5
|
||
|
4
|
|
19
|
24
|
.442
|
5.5
|
7-17
|
12-7
|
4-6
|
||
|
5
|
|
17
|
24
|
.415
|
6.5
|
8-13
|
9-11
|
4-6
|
||
Today, the #Dodgers selected the contract of RHP Chin-hui Tsao from Triple-A @okc_dodgers and optioned RHP Mike Bolsinger to OKC.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 19, 2016
The Dodgers optioned Mike Bolsinger back to triple-A to make room for right hander Chin-hui Tsao because they don’t need Bolsinger for another five days? I don’t know. Are they scrapping the whole six-man rotation idea? It’s probably because they burned through the entire bullpen last night. Remember how much Tsao sucked last season? Enjoy.
This is what 250 million dollars gets you. Garbage. See you guys after the game!
Go Blue!
What an absolute embarrassment this team has become, wait, what an absolute embarrassment this team has been! The “hovering vulture”, my name via Cabbage Patch, is back, looking for the optimists who doubted the truth, no, not me, just the truth.
79-83, still stand firm. Pathetic team this is. Pathetic ownership this is.
Small story, I buy MLBTV every year, no questions asked, a one time payment of $120 or whatever it is. Never miss a game. After last season, I questioned it for the first time in 20 years, went month to month this year and just cancelled. I’m over this bunch, have been, the most horrendous grouping of players I have ever seen as a Dodger fan. The ownership has made this team so lifeless, it is hard to even get behind them, lowest of the lows in my opinion. I agree with Rick, 2018 might be to soon, as long as these owners are running it, 2030 might be to soon.
Turner is exposed for being a part time player, I know I said it last year and was met with much hostility. I also said this offense sucks repeatedly for months, which it does, no one wanted to hear that either.
I’m not beating a dead horse but just want to know why there were only a select few of us that saw this coming on this blog, or, for that matter, voiced it, especially when they PROVED it to us last year. What I really want to know is, why the few that voiced concerns, were met with such hostility and tried to be run off this board. Opinions were not respected and it seems those who had the least knowledgeable ones, were the same ones, bullying everyone else.
So glad those people are gone, call it what it is, not what you want.
This organization needs a complete overhaul, Watford said it, starting with Kershaw….to many pieces need filling, he would at least fill some.
Pot shots until you actually identify a couple of trades you would make including what you want back for Kershaw. Blah, Blah, Blah truth.
You can’t possibly play GM and identify trading partners. There is no way for us to know who is available and who wants to make a trade.
Besides, I am tired of some posters who propose trades like – I don’t know, maybe Mike Trout for McCarthy Anderson and Puig. trades that no one would ever do.
Agreed Rick. I actually think Bums suggested that trade. His response isn’t shocking, he is one bothered most by any “negative” comments, not accepting of the truth.
Not true. I prefer to read more uplifting comments but negative comments that don’t call people names or call someone stupid are fine with me. I think there are better ways of saying things that don’t sounding arrogant.
My way of being negative is to propose a trade that gets rid of players that I don’t want on the team.
It is an excuse to say you don’t have enough information to suggest a trade. Just tell us how you would make the team better instead of just identifying the problems Ray Charles can see.
If I were King of the Dodgers, i would:
1 – Try to extend Jansen;
2 – DFA Crawford;
3 – Pick 3 OF and try to play them 85% of the time – right now, that would be Puig, Pederson and Thompson. When Ethier comes back, he might replace one of the 3;
4 – Start bringing in the kids. The most major league ready guys seem to be pitchers. i would look to trade Wood. I would move Urias into the rotation. I would look to move Hatcher and Howell – take what I could get for them, and make room for a couple more kids;
5 – I would try to trade one of our multiple 2B. I don’t know that Kendrick has any value now. I don’t trust Kike at this point – he has turned into a pumpkin.
6 – I would look to thin out the management team and bring in someone with actual baseball experience. They don’t really need 8 GMs.
7 – I would look to draft something other than a starting pitcher early in the draft. Other than Seager, that’s almost all that the Dodgers have drafted in the 1st 4 rounds for several years. How many position players have they developed that have turned into stars? The only one that I can remember in the past several years was Kemp and I think he was a 6th or 7th round draft choice.
8 – The Braintrust Walking Wounded Brigade (aka McCarthy, Anderson and Ryu) will be coming back soon. i would look to trade McCarthy and Anderson if possible.
9 – I am not impressed with the Braintrust’s assessment of the health of players (especially pitchers) that they have signed. Maybe they need to dump the training staff again.
10 – I would sign a manager who wants to be his own man. Sure, then new metrics are here to stay and the numbers help the decision making process, but they shouldn’t control decision making. Let the manager use his experience, judgement, info from scouts and coaches and the numbers to make the decisions.
11 – I would sign or trade for the best available starting pitcher to give Kershaw a partner. We want him to stay after 2018. You build around franchise players, and Kershaw is a franchise player.
That’s fine Rick but you are the one that says that Kendrick has no trade value and would be the first to complain if the young players don’t win.
For all of those who blamed Rick Honeycutt for Mat Latos’ struggles last year and were crowing about his successes this year, this is from MLB Trade Rumors today:
“Having already designated John Danks for assignment and having seen Mat Latos struggle to a 7.84 ERA over his four most recent starts, it’s not exactly a surprise to hear the Sox connected to pitching upgrades. While there may be some optimism that Latos can right the ship to some extent, his strong start — 0.74 ERA through his first 24 1/3 innings — was largely fueled by a .167 BABIP, and his continually declining strikeout rate and velocity don’t paint an optimistic picture moving forward.”
Maybe it wasn’t Honeycutt’s fault?
most of us knew Latos wasn’t going to start the all star game. He is who he is, and most likely, it’s too late for him to change that
It’s ironic that while we are in a stretch of 5 straight games where we can actually watch the Dodgers on TV, they are becoming unwatchable! I’m sure Vinny could spin a great line with that. Play ball!
All these saber tooth douches don’t know how the game of baseball is played. You don’t platoon half or more of your lineup. Baseball players are creatures of habit and the most talented ones need consistent ABs. That’s why over the course of the year, the numbers even out. You also don’t take a super utility player and try to force him to be an everyday player like Turner. You don’t take a guy like Kendrick who has played 97% of his career at second baseman and make him an outfielder/third baseman/first baseman because it sounds like a good idea. These guys play the game on the computer. This philosophy is the most insane thing I’ve seen. Meanwhile not a single effort is made to improve the pen besides bringing up fodder garbage from the minors.
One word….MONEYBALL!
I agree with this post. Making a 2B as 1B/3B/LF just because when he ‘s not good at it is a bad idea. Taking every day players and turning them into part-timers or vice versa is a bad idea. Chili is right – this is a Moneyball idea – Moneyballers believe that baseball players are baseball players and that they can just play anywhere.
That and they do not value nor account for routines, consistencies or timing. Disregard the human element as they treat everyone as computer programs. For example, on the simulated computer games a guy that hits lefties well does it, even while playing sparingly. In the real world a player needs to play often to perform at those expected levels. Why do they continue to add depth….cause what I just stated…players are interchangeable parts in their IT world.
The sooner F&Z are gone the sooner the Dodgers will contend for a Championships again.
Turner was not given the 3rd base job. He earned it and over a month plus beat out Uribe. I don’t like Kendrick on the team and I don’t like him in LF but he can handle first and third.
There’s still a lot of baseball left and I don’t think any of the NL teams are any good.
I think this team sucks, yes, but there is still a chance if we weather the siege.
I don’t think the other teams, at this point are looking at trades to acquire veterans. Let’s be fair, this was a problem with the strategy of middling depth in the beginning, so let’s not let FAZ off the hook on this. But what it means is that we’ll get to see how Roberts and the veterans deal with the logjam. I think a bunch of DL and rehab stints is in order for many of the vets. Let the kids try to hold the fort for now until we get to the trade deadline. Then we can unload some combination of vets and contract controlled players. Trying to trade vets and eating money is not going to work, we will have to take back bad contracts and that will just block more young players. And like it or not we’ll still have Crawford, Agon, Ethier, Guerrero, McCarthy, etc. at the end of the year.
Let’s start the short term with the bullpen, the 4-5 starters and the slow-producing vets. We are already in the middle of a rebuild and we actually got very lucky that the other NL West teams are no good this year.
I can’t believe that they are bringing this same pitcher up, that helped fix a game. If it would have been in American baseball, he would be suspended for life.
I much rather have had Chapman, at least he never did anything at work, that caused his suspension, like this pitcher, that they got off the scrap heap. They could have brought Urias up to the team, to help in the bullpen, but no this is there big move to help the bullpen.
And moves like this, make me wonder, if they will be able to create a really good team, if they can’t help themselves, from making moves like this. They really are not the smartest guys in the room.
MJ,
I’m assuming that if they bring Urias up before a certain date (I believe in June) than they would lose a year of control over him. Computer says ‘don’t bring him up before then.’ So it’s next body up…..
Thanks Chili I know, but it is just the point.
Good to see you truth.
79 wins is certainly possible. I think we are more likely to be over .500 than under. But, who knows. I won’t bet on this team. I will keep watching and hoping the guys we have figure it out. I say we have the sticks. They’ll come around. It’s still pitching that concerns me the most. But I will admit, I don’t know what to expect going forward. More of the same is a safe bet. .512 now. 83 wins. Giants on pace for over 90, but Cain and Peavy can’t keep it going until October. Can they?
A win streak would help everything.
Is Kershaw throwing the next 4 games?
What’s sad is that the Angel’s really are not that good of a team. The Dodgers need to win tonight and at least split with them. This is kinda a big game. 2 above or even .500 is on the line.
But Chili they did sweep the Mariners, before the Dodgers. And the Mariners are playing good baseball this year.
Well they are a major league team (on paper)….and every major league team will win 60 games but look at the hitters in that lineup…look at the BA’s…
Bad. And then look at that pitching staff. That staff couldn’t win at the 3A level. So desperate they had to sign Timmy L. Take Trout and Calhoun off that team and no one else, position player or SP would start for 80% of MLB teams….that’s bad.
Badger I lot of the Giants wins, have been because a different player, hit a HR.
And when they face good pitching, that will be harder to do. And they have not been scoring many runs anyways. But they have a better pen.
June might help too!
Good to see you to Badger, you were attacked but always stay the course, I had to take a break!
Ya, over .500 is probably right BUT I just can’t take the 90 win, early postseason exit clubs anymore. I think we have seen this show (team) before and know what they are NOT capable of doing, or for that matter, what the front office is NOT willing to do to help it.
The way this season has started, I am just very worried about the future of this squad, I hate it, we all do. Just tough to watch and let reality sink in on where this has gone. Hindsight is 20/20 but we are not the ones paid to make this team a World Championship one and many of us voiced our concerns and were called out, for reasons unknown.
I long for the Hanley/Uribe/Kemp/Agon days, the days that this team felt like an actual team. Dare I say Manny………what I would do for the summer of 2008 again, that was edge of your seat fun, wow, was that fun.
Neddy Jr. is like an oil slick. There is only one way to fix that problem.
Turner needs to protect the plate with two strikes. He got a pitch right over the plate, and let’s it go.
How about Grandal, Kike, Kendrick, and Baez for that Posey guy?
Stripling better throw strikes. And stop trying to be to fine. That is his biggest problem. We were lucky with that double play!
I would offer that 4 for something, maybe a good relief pitcher.
Puig took his eyes off the first ball, he swung at. His head went in the same direction as his bat, instead of looking at the ball.
Stripling better snap out of this, otherwise he only gets another couple starts before June.
And in June, Urias will be up, and he will take somebody’s job
I hope you are right about that Bobby!
Trade Kershaw? This is kind of a silly idea, is it not? Why would any team trade their ace if they have the money to pay him and are not depriving the team as a whole from acquiring through free agency. We just did this with Greinke and look what has happened. Are the Warriors going to trade Curry to acquire talent that is not on his level? Rare talent is what makes teams great. Kershaw is not a problem. It’s the team that has been assembled around him by the front office who have an agenda which none of us are either privy to or responsible for. If they are indeed sacrificing the next couple of years for the pay off from their farm system, then we have no choice but to wait and see. No team wins every year forever. They could make it more tolerable than they have, but it could be argued they have made it as tolerable as possible. No satisfaction either way.
Are you confident FAZ will re-sign Kershaw? We just witnessed Grienke’s debacle. The FAZ supporters say no Large, Long Term contracts, well guess what, it’ll take a long term, most money per year to date to keep Kershaw. I’m for keeping him for the obvious reasons. But if not, then it’s either trade him for many top prospects or fear only receiving a comp pick if/when someone comes in and offers $40-$45M per year for multiple years.
Tsao? Really? Idiots!
How to turnaround a team.
http://m.phillies.mlb.com/news/article/179062028/heres-why-phillies-are-playing-so-well
any idea if those guys we’ve sent over there like Sweeney are playing?
Out of curiosity, what would be a fair trade offer for Trout?
Urias, DeLeon, Joc, Puig, Bellinger/Verdugo?
Joc did his job.
They need to move Turner down in the order. He is getting more at bats, then anyone but Utley.
get him out of there
Leave the kid in there!
Boooooooo!
Sorry guys, the hosting provider had a little outage. Looks like we’re back up.
Scott
Thank you for letting me know. And Thank you for running this site!
Just in time to bitch about Hatcher, Scott!
He needs to be released immediately
Well – that was special.
Earlier this week, I was admonished for being too negative after the Dodgers split with the Cardinals and took 2 against the Mets. Well, they’ve lost 3 of 4 against the horrible Angels and the only one they won was the game that Kershaw pitched.
The starting pitching hasn’t been good (Kershaw excepted) – the same with the ‘pen (Jansen excepted). The offense has been truly offensive – and the management – well how about the plan to save the pitching staff by pitching Bolsinger yesterday – now the pen is burned out and they’ve lost 2 more games!
Things have to get better soon…they can’t get worse, can they?
PS – don’t put Hatcher or Howell in any more close games.
Dodgers would be 5th in the NL East, 4th in the NL Central.
Rick, what the “admonishers” don’t want to realize is that it’s not negativity, it’s tough love, we love this team just as much as they do (which they can’t stand) but we see the clear picture and don’t sugar coat things.
It is what it is, this is a .500 ball club right now headed south in many, many ways.
.500 and Utley MVP
Not looking so far off the mark after 1/4 of the season.
Ha! Spot on Watford. How depressing.
Watford
We knew that Utley would come to spring training ready to play, and he hasn’t disapointed at all. He did everything last night t try to score runs, to make the Dodgers win the game!
If Cory and the other young players, learn enough from Utley this year. They will not only be very talented players, they will no what it takes to win.
I only wish Utley could have came to the Dodgers, in his prime. It is hard to win Agone out of the line up, especially with out another big bat.
Turner is not hitting, that would be like Trout not hitting for the Angels. And I am not saying Turner is the same as Trout. I am saying that Turner is our one of two important bats, in the line up.
Mark where are you? Do you think that they will really bring up Urias, after June
. We need Turner to hit. I was watching Turner hitting last night, and in his first few at bats, it looked like he was trying to drive the ball, to rightfield, but later he pulled the ball a little, and got a hit.
Maybe he is trying to hit to the opposite field to much, or he made an adjustment, in his last at bat, and just pulled the ball, since they have been pitching him inside so much.