I’ve had enough of the Dodger bullpen. I’m sure you have as well. The Dodgers didn’t acquire anyone or improve the bullpen this year at the trade deadline. It made little sense to not get anyone reliable sans Adam Kolarek with the Dodger’s bullpen struggles well known since the beginning of the season. Certainly the relievers aren’t as bad as everyone thinks they are. Their numbers aren’t as bad as they appear as well. Believe me though, the collection of relievers this year is just not effective enough to win a World Series.
Something’s gotta give because I’m getting irritated. I’m sick of watching late leads slip away. I’m sick of watching this unit leaking runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. The Dodger relievers actually have the eighth best ERA (4.11) in MLB this season but if you look at their strand rate, (68.4% of runners left on base) is one of the worst in baseball. Only two clubs (Nationals and Orioles) have allowed more inherited runners to score.
That’s a huge component of having an effective bullpen. The guys have to be able to strand runners, prevent runners on base from scoring. The Dodgers have just 43 holds this season and have blown 19 games. They can’t strand runners and they can’t hold leads.
A World Series club should not be wasting roster spots on guys like Yimi Garcia, and JT Chargois. Even today after Kenta Maeda allowed five earned runs over 2.2 innings, the bullpen went on to give up five runs on seven hits over the final 6.1 innings of the game.
The Dodgers would probably be like 60 games over .500 if they had even an above average group of relievers. The Dodgers still won today anyways, despite the bullpen. They scored five runs from the sixth inning on, including two in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Padres in another walk-off win 11-10. It’s certainly a great day after a Dodgers win. The lineup is great, but we can’t expect for the offense to do this every game, especially in the postseason. At some point the Dodgers are going to have to figure out how to get a couple of reliable relievers to be able to hold leads. Or figure out how to restructure the pen. Because this group just isn’t going to cut it.
Urias was more at fault than those 2. Chargois gave up 2, but Urias put them behind giving up 3. walks at inopportune times. Maeda I do not trust as a starter and neither should the Dodgers. He has not won a game since May. They managed to pull this one out and they beat Yates who is 0-3 this year. Muncy pulled it out for them with a 4 hit game. Martin hit a HR and so did Pollock. Garcia’s penchant for giving up the long ball came back and bit him again. With out those homers, his ERA would be infinitesimal. Hitters are batting well under .200 against him. But in many ways I agree with Scott. The amount of times the BP has let leads slip away is indeed aggravating and infuriating at the same time. Kelly has been much better but the inconsistency of the pen is one thing that bugs almost every Dodger fan I know. AF did not in my opinion make the pen better. It is what it is though and they have very few ways of improving it. I doubt they will put it in the hands of the kids. But I also believe both May and Gonsolin will make some contributions before the regular season ends.
Yeah, they won the game, but the pitching is not, and has not been playoff worthy.
Offense scratched and clawed to steal today’s game.
Maeda was horrible. 2.2 innings… unacceptable. He was rolling along when he attacked the strike zone, but when he started picking at the corners with his wild sliders, he got behind the hitters, and set himself up for failure. Kenta may be on his way to the bullpen sooner than he thought.
Just better get used to this type of play. Cannot see any way to improve this team for the October playoffs. As I said before, way too many holes. Sure they “may” win the West, but don’t hold your breath, yet.
Boy, that battle between Yates and Muncy was epic, I have to say. Thanks to the rain delay, I saw it!
This continues to be so over-looked. Statistically it is so hard to get to three consecutive world series.
The team is going to have to get lucky to do so.
Let’s hope they get the luck this time!
Bluto,
You are right, it will take Lots of Luck for this team to make its’ third trip to the World Series. And it will take more than a miracle to win the coveted trophy.
I guess it all makes for some hilarious, exciting baseball, like the Bad News Bears…. close but no cigar. I just don’t know if my HBP can take any more of these late inning, come from behind victories.????
If they are successful in their quest, than we can laugh at all the rants and criticisms. If the do not succeed, then we have not lost anything, and just validates our insights.
Sit back and enjoy it, if your heart can take it!
Kenta has a habit of doing that after someone gets on base. He gave up that double and the game went to crap after that. He definitely is better out of the pen. Muncy’s AB was must watch baseball and it saved me from losing more hair. When they threw Pederson out at 3rd I really thought they had no shot of winning. Then the error that got Seager on base, and Maximus Muncius drove the boys home……on a different note, I found out about 5 Minutes ago that I am a great grandpa for the 1st time…..a little girl born to my youngest grand daughter Charlyssa. Wow……..
Wow, congrats to you Michael…. a Great Grandpappy! Awesome.
Thanks Blue…she was a little early. Supposed to be born later in the month. She is very tiny..weighs 5 pounds….
“Don’t leave early!” is a quote from Max Muncy yesterday. I’m sure he was talking about the Dodgers offense but he could have very well been talking about our bullpen. It’s going to be almost impossible to win a WS with this current mess.
Report in a little while ago that Ruiz broke a finger and is out for the year. He is going to have surgery to repair it. That is not good news for him since he was doing so well down there. Means also that Barnes will probably be their main backstop until the end of the year. But Ruiz should be ready by spring. Quite the tandem, Ruiz and Smith.
That is a tough break for Ruiz, but thankfully Smith is here to stay and Ruiz will be in camp next year, assuming he is not moved over the Winter. How did riz break a finger?
They did not say, but I would assume he did it while catching. That is the way most catchers break fingers. Campy had more than a few in his day, so did Rosey. What I find totally amazing, Lou Gehrig it has been said, suffered at least 7 during his career and that fantastic games played streak and kept on playing. Can’t imagine a player today even attempting that.
The trading deadline may be over, but there sure are a lot of players moving around. And some more are being DFA’d every day. Zack Godley of AZ was DFA’d last night. The Reds claimed Graussman off of waivers from the Braves. Lots of players headed to the IL too. Yankees and Angels seem like they cannot get through a day without someone going down. Hicks for the Yanks yesterday and Simmons for the Halos. I finally got around to reading about Victor Gonzalez, a young lefty that the Dodgers have. He just recently was promoted to OKC after stints at both RC and Tulsa. Kid has been lights out and has 3 pitches. Strictly a reliever. AF hinted that it was very possible that he comes up to the big club and does some work out of the pen. Especially if Hill is not able to get ready and back to a resemblance of the pitcher he was and they have to move Urias into the rotation.
For one thing, in yesterday’s game, had the Dodgers not brought in Yimi Garcia to serve up yet another HR, and with ANY middle relief at all, the Dodgers would not have had to bat in the 9th inning.
Chargois allowed the runs that got the Pads to 10. Urias was ineffective, but to me the onus is on Maeda. He has not won since May. He usually pitches pretty good at Dodger Stadium. But they gave him a 3 run lead and he totally blew it. Yeah Yimi gave up a homer, but he was not the main culprit in this game. Kenta came no where near doing his job, and personally, I think he should be back in the pen because he pitches with a different mind set. He gets in trouble as a starter and he starts nibbling. That leads to walks and having to come right down the pipe with a cookie. Case in point, Hosmer’s grand slam. Got behind, did not want to walk him with the bags juiced, boom, grand salami on a pitch I could have hit out. So cool the jets on the relievers. SD’s boys did a crappy job too, but they lost because their starter did not get out of the 5th. A little luck was also there for the Dodgers. Pederson doubles, Verdugo hits a grounder to 1st, but instead of the easy out, Hosmer guns it to 3rd and Pederson is out by a foot, Seager hits a sure fire DP ball to second and the second baseman, Urias, can’t field it cleanly. 2 on, 1 out, Muncy works a 3-2 count against one of the best relievers in the game and hits a bullet to right, that if it had not caromed off the wall like it did would not have allowed Seager to score. Throw offline, game over.
I concur though on Maeda, and I have correctly predicted on a few occasions in recent starts by him that he would toss up at least 1 or 2 bombs by the middle innings. I agree that now Maeda should be put in the pen and perhaps Dodgers can restructure the incentive part of his deal. He obviously is someone who really cannot get ya deep into games. He did put Dodgers in a position to use the BP for most of the game but we also lead the MLB as I understand it in walk off wins.
Did Package bail or did he have a breakdown over “Dummy”?
Lots of odd stuff going on.
Pack here, but not really posting often.
That Smart and Final contest that never had a drawing.
Mexivan, Sniderfan, Watford and other guys not posting.
Oscar gone.
The smart and final contest runs through August 19. Oscar has had some health issues and other stuff going on. No clue where the other guys have been.
True
No, Package did not bail or have a breakdown over Dummy. It is hard to get excited about a Dummy and and Idiot (AF). One has to say the team is winning well with a 77 and 40 record. With 45 games left if the team wins half they could have an even 100 wins. It does seem like he is trying to lose lately with some of the fill in lineups. After the 45 games the team starts with their weakness. The playoffs and the W.S.
I think guys we have will shape up in time for the series. Even Kenley is being rated too low. The guy is fierce.
Personally I think our bullpen will be ok. You have Urias, Maeda, Jansen, maybe add in May, Gonsolin, Kelly.
I can’t see us not making it to the series, but you never know.
I am not worried about the Astros. We always hit Greinke, so that addition doesn’t change things as far as I can see. I worry about the Yankees. They hit like we do, maybe better. That world series would be a fun one to watch.
The Yankees are hitting .272 as a team, they have 11 more homers than the Dodgers do. But as far as pitching goes, the Yankees are way behind. Their staff is rated 11th in the majors. The Dodgers are #1. The Yankees pitchers have given up 178 homers, the Dodgers, although it seems to us fans like a lot more, 133. Good pitching beats good hitting, especially in a short series. Yanks coming to LA in a few weeks, so the Dodgers can get some idea where they stand against these guys.