The Dodgers triumphantly returned to Chavez Ravine from a very successful road trip, only to have the San Diego Padres throw cold water on their parade and a fastball at their starting pitcher’s throat.
The Dodgers suffered a great scare when Rich Hill took a pitch right in the side of his throat while attempting a bunt in the fourth inning. Hill rolled on the floor in obvious pain, but after a few minutes he sat up, then rose to his feet, brushed himself off, and insisted he was feeling good enough to take his base and stay in the game.
Hill stayed on indeed, and put up one heckuva gutsy, quality performance. He ended the night with six innings of two run ball. He struck out nine, but he also gave up five hits, three walks and an early home run. The Dodgers were able to overcome all that, but eventually the bullpen gave up one too many runs, and the Dodgers left far too many runners stranded, including taking a big whiff when they loaded the bases with no out.
Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig didn’t miss a step, and they put on shows for the home faithful with the wood and the leather. Bellinger knocked in two of the Dodgers’ runs, and he scored the third. That was it for tonight’s offense.
It was all Cody, all night.
As for the defense, Yasiel Puig showed incredible poise, power and aim with this spectacular outfield assist.
Unfortunately, over two innings of “work”, Ross Stripling gave up two runs and the victory to San Diego. That wasn’t the only reason they lost. The Dodgers simply couldn’t knock in many runs. They left ten men stranded over the course of the game, and hit an anemic 4 for 14 WRISP.
I suppose the biggest victory goes to the Dodgers who didn’t lose Rich Hill to that fastball. More dramatics tomorrow, I’m sure.
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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You jinxed them Oscar with that thread from yesterday. Hey, no sweatski! D-Backs and Rocks both lost,and it is another day off the calendar. That was a nasty shot Hill took. Had a lump on his throat. I put this one on the offense. They did not get the job done. Forsythe hitting into a DP with the bases loaded and no outs is unforgiveable. They left guys on base all over the place. No clutch hitting means more pressure on the BP to protect a one run lead. What I cannot figure out is they got 3 HR’s and every ball the Dodgers squared up died on the warning track including Puig and Farmers shots in the 8th. Both would have gone out in a day game. Well just put this one in the rear view mirror and concentrate on tomorrow. CK threw a BP session and is close to going on a rehab assignment.
Michael
The Padres didn’t have any trouble hitting the ball out, so I don’t think that is true.
But you are right about Forsythe, but I can’t get all over Roberts, because Forsythe has much better numbers, against lefties.
But hitting into a double play and striking out, with runners on base, is not helping the team.
And of course our bullpen allows two more HRs, and I know Stripling gave up both HRs.
That has happened to often since the start of August!
That is the eleventh HR our bullpen has given up since August first, and I am counting both HRs that Baez gave up in that one game, where Puig saved him.
They better get on these guys, or look at their strategy, with the way they are pitching guys, because something is not working as well, as it did before!
And our guys probably had a let down after playing the Dbacks.
Cody continues to be an all around hitter, by making sure he gets a hit, when runners are on base, instead of over swinging, and trying to do to much, like some young players, tend to do!
And Oscar called this game and had to rain on the parade, but I can’t blame him, because that has happened in the years, before.
Here’s a link that explains how they compute WAR for position players: http://www.fangraphs.com/library/war/war-position-players/
It is done differently for pitchers. Once again, I THINK there is a lot of discretionary judgement in the computation, enough that you can influence its outcome higher or lower, depending on your personal opinion of the player. Baseball is a game we decide to like or not to like, we do the same with the players. I think the simple stats we’ve used for a hundred years maybe tell me all I want and need to know about a player. As many of the people still around use “the eye test” to evaluate players, I can go along with that. I shall simply disregard those who quote “WAR” and other obscure SABR stats to overly complicate a simple lovely game.
Bottom line, Forsythe could be improved upon by at least 4 players on the 25 man roster and Joc isn’t much better.
Actually MJ, it is true. When the sun goes down and the temperature drops at Dodger Stadium, the balls do not travel as well as they do in the daytime. I will go you one further, why do you think the Dodgers do not hit a lot of HR’s at Dodger Stadium in April at night? The marine layer out there cools things down a lot. Taylor, Puig and Farmer’s balls all would have gone out in a day game, I would almost guarantee it. Orel said as much during the broadcast. It happens all the time. Puig crushed that pitch, so did Farmer, and Taylors shot would have made it too. One thing about HR’s, they are the most unpredictable part of the game. Stripling had given up only 4 in 52 innings. So he is not normally one you worry about. That being said, both of those shots came on pitches that missed location. I am sure Ross did not want the ball to hang like that in the zone. But, once that ball leaves your hand you have no control of where it is going. I am pretty sure the Mets pitchers did not want to give up 25 homers in 7 games to the Dodgers. Hitters hit mistakes, pitchers make mistakes, it is going to happen no matter what kind of game plan you have. It is not just the bullpen. Hill gave up his 4th homer in 2 games, so he should watch where the hell he throws the ball too. That being said, the player that hit the first homer off of Stripling has not been with the Padres very long and the Dodgers have not seen him very much, so the scouting report might not be as good. The second homer off him was a really bad pitch and hung right in the zone. But to me, this game was on the bats. You get the bases loaded and do not score, that’s on the hitters. They left men on base all night. Another thing on the HR’s MJ…it is August. Ya think maybe all those innings are starting to catch up with the boys? I think fatigue factors into it. At some point, it affects you until you get your second wind.
It’s not very scientific but I figure any time the pitching staff holds the other club under 5 runs, they did their job. Any time the hitters don’t score at least 4 runs, they lost that game.
Usually that is exactly the case. Dodgers run differential against the Padres was +43 going into last nights game. Means of course that they had outscored SD by 43 runs. Seems to me scoring against those guys should have been a lot easier. Of course chasing pitches a good 10 inches off the plate and low decrease your chances of even hitting the ball.
Jonah
They left far to many runners on base, last night!
They probably had a little let down, after playing the Dbacks tough.
Michael
I am very aware of what Dodger stadium is like a night!
Both Puig and Farmer, are much much bigger, then the two Padres hitters, that were able to hit the ball out, last night!
They didn’t seem to have a problem hitting their balls out, even with the thick air, at Dodger stadium at night !
Both Puig and Farmer, apparently didn’t hit their pitches that well, or they would have went out too!
And the Mets pitching is not comparable to the Dodgers pitching.
The Mets have had so many injuries, with their pitching, that many of the pitchers currently on their team, are pitchers, from their AAA team, that they never would have brought up, without all the injuries!
Our bullpen has allowed 10 HRs, since August first, and the bullpen has also given up over twenty runs, since then too!
And they were responsible for the only two games we have lost, since then!
And our bullpen has not pitched even close to the innings, that they had to pitch, last year!
Not going to argue with you about that MJ, I am just stating facts and size has nothing to do with it. If it did AJ Ellis would have hit a lot more homers than he did and Jimmy Wynn a lot less. Launch angle has a lot to do with it, but the air also makes a difference, Puig’s ball was more on a line and did not have a lot of altitude, Farmer’s ball looked like it had the altitude but died right there at the end. And as far as pitching, they hit the HR’s off Hill and Stripling so how about giving their hitters a little credit there for hitting mistakes. The Dodgers left too many pitches in the hitting zone go by and chased some really bad pitches. Corey looked terrible in his last at bat. He let that first pitch go by and it was right down the pipe and then chased 2 low and away pitches to strike out. And I do not care how many injuries the Met staff has had, it makes no damn difference. The Dodgers hit homers off everybody they sent out there including deGrom. Bigger? Pirela is 6′ 220 pounds, that’s a big boy, Margot is 5’11” 180 pounds but has hit 12 homers. He obviously has more power than one would expect and quick hands as Joe an Orel stated last night, so they are just as capable of hitting the ball out as Puig and Farmer. Farmer is the same height as Pirela and 6 pounds lighter. So the argument that they are bigger, except for Puig who clips the scales at 240 does not hold water. Taylor generates power with lift and bat speed and he weighs 195. Kike is a little heavier than Margot, but the same height and he generates his power with bat speed. Difference is they both hit lame ducks. Right in the hitting zone and got all of the ball on the barrel. Puig and Farmer although they hit the ball hard did not barrel it up. Hill has given up 12 homers in 89 innings. So that adds up to 24 over a full season. Stripling has given up 6 in 54. HR’s allowed….Jansen 3 Darvish 1 Stewart 2 Baez 6 Kershaw 18 Wood 6 Fields 7 Morrow 0 Avilan 1 Ryu 15 Maeda 13 McCarthy 5 Hatcher 7 Dayton 5 and Romo gave up 7. Everyone else, 1 or less. Relievers as a whole have given up 48 HR’s in 382.2 innings. They have the 3rd best ERA in the MAJORS. They are 23-11 with 36 saves in 49 chances. Their combined WHIP of 1.08 is the lowest in the majors. The batting average against is .212, only team with a lower one is the Yankees. They are middle of the pack in HR’s allowed, the Giants have allowed the fewest with only 29, but consider how huge their home park is. Only 6 teams, Giants, Red Sox, Indians, Yankees, D-Backs and Royals BP’s have allowed less than 40 HR’s. So the bullpen HR rate is not as bad as you think it is. Dodger starters have given up 71, which is the lowest total of any starting staff in either league. I am sure if you have any suggestions on how to stop the opposition from hitting homers short of walking all of the hitters capable of hitting them, the coaches would be glad to hear it. That not being the case, I think you just let the coaches do their job and don’t sweat what is not really a problem.
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