If the internet and Twitter were running things, Joc Pederson would be taking his at bats in the Show Me state, and Adrian Gonzalez would be literally delivering butter and eggs to a supermarket near you.
They’ve both been mired in season-long slumps. Young Joc had a wonderful Opening Day with a grand slam and five RBIs. After that, he went ice-cold at the plate. As baseball fate would have it, it seemed like every time he came up to bat, the bases were loaded, and Pederson would weakly pop up or helplessly strike out. He hadn’t hit a home run since that grand slam. Folks all around me on Twitter were calling for Joc’s head. For the past week they’ve lobbied for him to be sent down to the minors. Similar rumblings have been heard in LADRs comment section as well.
Today Joc came up in the fourth inning. There was nobody on, and there were no big expectations. It was just Pederson and the pitcher. Then this happened…
Pederson ended his day 1 for 2, with a home run, a walk, and two runs scored. It wasn’t earth-shattering, but here’s hoping it was slump-shattering. Being in the mix, scoring twice and contributing with a home run smash will help his confidence. It was all in all, a very good first step.
At least Joc had an Opening Day grand highlight – the File Cabinet hadn’t done much all season. Gonzalez came to Spring Training with a sore elbow, and he never seemed right from day one. I even wrote an article here advising the Dodgers to bench or DL him, as he had become an automatic out.
A few days later, Gonzo went on the 10-day DL. He returned last Thursday, but by his own admission (and our eye test), he still wasn’t 100%. Once again the Twitterheads were questioning the decision to keep playing Gonzalez. I wasn’t that harsh, but I was concerned about his batting fifth. That’s a little high in the batting order for a guy likely to come up two or three times a game with men in scoring position, and more often than not, two outs already in the bin.
The skipper, however, never lost faith in his man, and today that unyielding belief paid off – several times.
In the first inning, with two on and two out, Gonzalez came to the plate…
The File Cabinet was just gettin’ started. Gonzalez ended the day 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, a single and 3 RBIs. He even made a great sun-blinded catch of a foul ball a few feet short of the stands.
After the game the skipper had this to say: “No matter where I hit him, I trust Adrian Gonzalez with guys on base.”
Me too.
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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Joc only got one hit and that was not a good pitch to swing at. I don’t know what he was celebrating.
It was what it was, a confidence builder. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see how frustrated the kid was. It is a building block, nothing more, and he was celebrating because he actually finally hit one. And he is still a kid at heart.
And believe it or not, those 2 walks were good AB’s for Joc. When he can get on base it is a productive at bat.
Roberts had some great quotes to counter Mattingly. More than a defense of his players, which Roberts certainly did by taking full responsibility, he just showed that he’s just a better manager.
The issue was Corey swinging on a 3-0 count in the 7th in a 5-0 game, not the Bellinger HR. 5-0 is nothing in MLB. If Mattingly thought the game was over in the 7th of a 5-0 game, maybe that’s why we hardly ever came back from late inning deficits while he was around.
YF
Good point!
A lot of people here, saw the line ups that Mattingly was going to have before the games in the post season, and we already knew we were not going to win those games, with the line ups, Mattingly choose to have.
And you are right, even though we were only one or two runs down in the sixth, and seventh innings, in some of those post season games, they looked and seemed, unwinable, when he was the manager.
Bottom line Mattingly should not have ever been the Dodger’s manager!
Not sure a 1 game performance implies anything other than it is progress.
I think it means a little more with Agone, because he was three for four, and hit in 3 runs.
I just hope our team keeps on providing good offense, against the Cubs, and the Cardinals.
We will probably see how our hitting is, against these two teams, because they should have better over all pitching, then some of the teams, we have faced.
That first double AGon hit exited at 100+ mph. Good sign.
Chili
I will take your comment as a positive comment, or should I say, progress from you.
You can take it however you want….. It’s not meant to be positive or negative. A trend is never established by one data point. Give me a week or so of data and we’ll know if possibly progress is being made. BUT that still does not change the real possibility that Pederson will ever hit above .250 or that Gonzalez is going to slow down Father time. The later is a given, it’s just a matter of time and many think they are seeing it.
Sure Gonzalez will have moments. How is Gonzalez feeling today, you know being age 35ish and all. Coming back from injury and actually making good contact and having to run the bases (well, trudge around the bases) yesterday. It all takes a toll after awhile. The body just does not respond like it did when say, a person was 25.
Seager, Bellinger…..and the other young pups wake up everyday feeling good. Ready to go. Probably not quite the case with the Gonzalez’s of the baseball world.
Chili
I was just joking with you!
I understand. And my comment was not meant to come across furiously….. most of the time I am smiling or laughing when I post. Am just very analytical by nature.
Chili
But I do think it does mean more for Agone, and I am basing that on what Agone has done, in his career, more then just one game.
And he hit in all three runs in,with two outs, so that makes it, even better.
But anyone would not be to bright, to try to argue that Agone will have no age regression, in his career.
MJ-
And IMO I would and do agree with your point. Agon has done this before…..many times before. He is a professional hitter. But my point is that it is quite possible that his body will not respond and/or bounce back like it has done in the past. That is the part of aging creeping in. AND that will have an influence in his performance sooner or later (as many have been seeing it) as Father Time is undefeated.
Fortunately the Dodgers have Bellinger ready to step in…..unfortunately with their high payroll they do not have other ‘proven good’ hitters in the lineup to ease the burden/production that they need out of Gonzalez even now. Does that make sense?
I agree!
Better manager? Mattingly won Division titles here and he did it with better players. Roberts did the exact same thing. The Marlins have fewer good players than we do so the idea Roberts is a better manager doesn’t fly with me. If these two teams were to trade managers the outcomes at the end of the year would be the same. I read somewhere that managers can win 5 games a year and lose 7. Mattingly could win the Marlins 10 more games, which he won’t, and the Marlins would still miss the playoffs. It’s about the players, not the manager.
Dodgers 2017 payroll….$245M. Marlins 2017 payroll…$113M. Am sure the Marlins fans/management/coaches would all love to add another $132M worth of talent to their roster. Imagine doubling what they currently have…..or eliminating their couple of (or many) weaknesses.
http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/
Dodgers 2017 payroll….$245M. Marlins 2017 payroll…$113M. Am sure the Marlins fans/management/coaches would all love to add another $132M worth of talent to their roster. Imagine doubling what they currently have…..or therefore eliminating their couple of (or many) weaknesses.
It’s probably safe to say that Mattingly/Marlins FO will have a much better $ per wins ratio than the Roberts/Dodgers FO.
The problem, as we all have suffered with, is that the $132mm wasn’t full of productive talent.
Beckett, Crawford, Ethier, Kemp, Olivera. That’s a lot of money that would have added nothing to how the Marlins perform.
The money doesn’t guarantee talent. On the contrary, money is usually most useful in allowing a team to overcome mistakes/injuries/under-performance.
It’s not, in final, a direct correlation to providing more WAR or better FIP.
Bluto
You just made their point!
And I don’t understand how you are conventionally, leaving out all the starting pitchers that we have also wasted money on, like Kazmir, for one.
Well Bluto, I would not throw Kemp into that bunch. He has been very productive since he left the Dodgers. 66 HR’s Well over 200 RBI’s, a cumulative BA close to 275. OPS is over 800. And the Dodgers are still paying a portion of his salary, which by the way, the guy is earning. All the others you mentioned up there in your post, have been injury prone, or in the case of Olivera, just stupid. I doubt the Braves feel Matt is underperforming and his stats over the last 2 plus years say the same.
This has been brought up several times already, but you need to rethink Kemp’s actual value, Michael. His nearly league leading shoddy defense makes his total value barely above replacement level. Trading him and 18 million of his salary allowed the Dodgers to fill a position of need with Grandal, who is currently right alongside Posey as the best catcher in baseball at the moment.
The Dodgers had to eat the 28 million dollar signing bonus to Olivera, and you might find fault with the organization for signing him. But look at it another way. The Dodgers acquired an asset they then used to get Wood and Avilan. I’d consider that a success. The GM who truly blew it on that deal was the guy for the Braves.
And MJ, you have to accept that even the best and smartest general managers are going to whiff on trades and signings. Among the second tier pitchers available in that offseason, Mike Leake has been a good signing for the Cards. Kazmir, not so much. But consider, too, that Kazmir is only for three years. If the plan is to populate the starting rotation with farm developed arms, then shorter deals are better. I don’t care how well he’s pitching, I’m still glad the Dodgers didn’t sign Greinke for six years.
I know DodgerPatch.
The best way to indicate Kemp’s value in MLB is to point out that he was traded for Olivera, when Olivera was going to be suspended and ejected from MLB.
Kemp was literally traded for nothing.
If anyone thinks or saw (sees) any value in Kemp they literally could have had him for nothing.
Well Patch. I think his offensive numbers more than make up for the few errors he commits. He has made only 1 error this year so far, our LF have made more. dwar means nothing to me when I have a guy capable of hitting 30 homers and driving in 100 runs. Kike has a worse dwar than Kemp right now, so did Toles. Only 2 LF better are Bellinger and Gutierrez. Like I said many times before, I am old school. BA< HR and RBI"s are much more important to me than GEEK stats. Matt Kemp drives in runs and gets hits. If he makes 8 errors in 150 games, so be it. He is damn good the other 142. He had 10 OF assists in 2015 and 9 last year. He may not be as fleet afoot as he once was, but he is still a better hitter than anyone playing OF for the Dodgers at this point of the season.
Personally, I do not think either is a tactical genius. But they both have had a lot of talent to work with. Mattingly had a better starting 5 and a lousy BP for the most part. Roberts has had so so starters and BP’s that have been nails. DM’s team had a lot of firepower when they were all healthy. Roberts hitters are spread out through the lineup. I think Roberts is a better communicator than Donnie Baseball, and he handles his BP pretty good, But like Badger says, he has a lot more talent to work with. The Marlins starting lineup is pretty good, but their pitching not so much. The Dodger defense is definitely stronger.
I thought this comparison was about when Mattingly was managing the Dodgers, not the Marlins!
That is comparing them managing the Dodgers. DM’s BP’s for the most part were not very reliable. He had a better 1-2-3 punch than Roberts has had up to this point in the starting rotation. If the rotation as now constructed can stay healthy, Roberts might have very good starting pitching, but this musical chairs starters crap is not exactly stable. What DM did here was OK. His teams won a lot of games but he was no Bochy or Maddon. He is not a tactician and he is not a good communicator. He also had a tendency to stick with the hot hand and not really explain to the guy on the bench why he was there. Roberts went up to Ryu and talked to him for quite a while on the bench after that terrible start in Colorado. He can also be seen talking to his players and encouraging them during games. Mattingly never did that,.
DP-
‘Mike Leake has been a good signing for the Cards. Kazmir, not so much.’
Did you get Daddy’s permission to say this? You do realize all last year the narcissistic one ripped on the Leake signing by the Cardinals and the Samardzija signing by the Giants. ALL last year he was propping up Kazmir. We, the defenders of the Leake & Samardzija signing were stating that both of those signings were about eating up innings with proven healthy performers. That fell on ‘deaf’ (actually someone that has a preconceived narrative) ears.
Leake had his worse season of his career last year but has bounced back and pitching as well as ever. He will be a good 5 year signee for the Cardinals ESPECIALLY when considering he was signed to be their #5.
Numbers with their new teams after signing their latest contracts the winter prior to the 2016 season:
Jeff Samardzija – 264 IP, 3.98 ERA, WHIP 1.184, 3.4 WAR, $18M per year avg
Mike Leake – 230 IP, 4.07 ERA, WHIP 1.243, 2.9 WAR, $15M per year avg
Scott Kazmir – 136 IP, 4.56 ERA, WHIP 1.357, .2 WAR, $16M per year avg
Please tell me who is the worse signing of the 3?
This is not ‘after the fact’ statements. I argued that both Samardzija and Leake were better signings than Kazmir at the time……only to be called names.
Chili
I agree with most everything you said.
And we both know that Bellinger will eventually have his struggles to, like every new major leaguer, has.
And hopefully Agone can pick up for Bellinger, when that happens.
And of course Agone is probably not going to pick up for any possible power loss, but he is still one of the better hitters in this line up, especially when important RBIs, are needed.
And I was really surprised that Agone hit like he did yesterday, because I didn’t think, a was that healthy, yet.
But I do think Corey and Turner, are hitters this team can count on, and I do think that Bellinger, will more then pick up, for any power loss, that Agone has.
It will be interesting to see what we do in these two next series, because we should be facing a lot of quality pitching, this week.
Michael
I think it is the other way with Mattingly.
He would give a day off, to a hitter that just got hot, far to often.
Roberts had far more things to deal with, in his first year, then a lot of managers, have to deal with.
And Roberts was not given the job, like Mattingly was.
Roberts did a much better job learning how to work the bullpen, and find the right pitcher, for the right time, in the game too.
I didn’t get the Marlins reference, at all.
How he got the job does not matter, what matters is what you do after you get it. DM was recommended by Torre. Torre had a solid reputation and it was always felt that DM was being groomed as a manager. They had totally different styles, and totally different idea’s. DM also suffered from some extremely bad luck where it came to key players getting hurt. And usually at exactly the wrong time. His record as Dodger manager was 446-363 a .551 winning percentage. That is pretty good. His team improved in wins in each of his first 4 years. And the 5th year it only dropped by 2 games. His teams finished 2nd 3rd and then 3 Western Division titles in a row. They were 8-11 in the playoffs. In 2013 they went to the NLCS and lost to the Cardinals. His hottest hitter was knocked out of that series in the first game. Hanley. Without Hanley, the offense sputtered and they got beat 4 games to 2. Not really his fault. A major piece was gone and it really affected the team. Kemp was still recovering from his surgery, so he was not what he should have been. The next 2 playoffs they were out after the first round. We all know what happened in those 2. They should have beat NY, and the Cardinals beat Kershaw in 2014. This year with Miami, he has a pretty bad team. But it would be a better team had they not lost their Ace to a boating accident this winter. With Fernandez they would be a much better team. He also has lost the left side of his infield to injury. He is dealing with a lot of the same problems Roberts dealt with last year with a lesser talented team. Yeah, he sat guys down when they probably should have been playing and he was not a great handler of his bullpen. But beyond that, he was a successful manager. You do not win 3 straight titles and not be doing something right. I do think he did a really BAD job handling the different personality’s in the Dodger clubhouse. He is more confrontational than Roberts, and to tell the truth there is really no way to compare them. Lets see how Dave looks after 5 years on the job. If his teams are better than .551, then you can say he out managed DM. Winning division titles 3 years in a row would say that too. So far, Dave has matched what DM did once. Different guys, different styles. Neither one is as good as Lasorda was getting the most out of his players.
Here is a little tidbit for you. Bruce Bochy has won only 25 more games in his managerial career than he has lost. His winning percentage is .504, and most consider him a HOF lock. Why? Because the Giants won 3 Championships in 3 years. He was under .500 as the Padres boss. Casey Stengel was considered a genius with the Yankees, but all his other managerial jobs were total disasters. He never finished above 10th place with the Mets. His winning percentage is .506. Barely higher than Bochy. Tommy’s was .521. In Stengel’s 12 years with the Yankees, his team won less than 90 games ONCE! 1959 the Yank’s won 79 games. Was he a genius? Oh hell no, he was a colorful personality that his players loved and played hard for. But those teams were loaded. So a lot of how good you are as a manager depends on who is around you. Imagine what Roberts could do with Mantle, Skowron, Maris, Ford, Berra, and guys like that. Joe Page in the bullpen, Johnny Mize on the bench….Hank Bauer, wow…..
http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/
Chili
What I learned from the thread you posted, is that the Brewers are getting the most out of there money, then any team in baseball right now, since they are leading, in the Central Division.
Yes they are BUT because of their low budget……no margin for error. A stretch of poor performance by their pitching staff…..done. A stretch of poor offensive output……done. A few minor injuries…..done. A major injury…..done. That is the life of teams with low budgets/payrolls.
Chili
They are suppose to be in a rebuild, anyways.
Well we get Lynn and Leake the first 2 games, and both have won 4 and have pretty decent ERA’s. Lynn is unfortunate in that he is facing Kershaw, Hill goes against Leake. Of course the Cardinals have become Claytons wolfs bane. But one antagonist will not be there. Matt Adams who is now playing tom tom’s for the Braves. But they still have Carpenter and Molina. Should be a good series and winning 2 of 3 would be huge.
Michael
Carpenter has to be one of Kershaw’s, and the Dodgers, biggest thorns.
I don’t believe the Cardinals have a single left handed starter. Hmmm, when would be a good time to plan a Joc bobblehead give away night? Yes, let’s schedule it against a team that has ZERO lefty starters. Kudos goes out to the Dodgers Marketing Department.
That being said…..the Dodgers should like that the only lefty on the horizon over the next 2 weeks is Jon Lester (unless the Cubs plug in Montgomery) and that is assuming his spot comes up during that Cubs series. Could/should be a good opportunity for the Dodgers to put some distance between themselves and the NL Central teams when it comes to overall record.
They traded the only one they had, Garcia to the Braves……They have 2 LH relievers, Siegrist and Cecil…..I wonder how much the Dodgers charged Stanton to repair the RF fence…….
I’ve heard Friedman raise this point. That the Dodgers woes against LHP is somewhat mitigated by the paucity of LHSP.
Bluto
Was that the new google, that you gave me that thread too?
Chili
I see the Cubs plugging Montgomery, into there rotation, if they can, with Anderson off again.
Thought I’d roll by and see whats crack-a-lakin… Badger, you are so right on Donnie Baseball and alot of managers… You are what you field!!! A lil more Oct. Kershaw and were in it!!! But you don’t be saying bad things about Kersh or you’re drawn n quartered…
Happy for Agon and the team…Seems like a different cast of characters almost nightly is making the difference…
Actually if a good manager adds 5-7 wins that’s a 5-7 WAR player, and they can do that for more than 10 years. Very valuable and great bang for the buck.
We also tend to know more about manager’s make up because they have to talk to the press all the time and have to cover for players as well as the FO. I don’t get how managers are discounted in discussions.
For me, the best barometers for a manager are how they handle a bullpen and how they integrate younger players. I can come back to that later. I tend not to second guess their lineups and in game decisions unless they do it consistently. (Platoons).
And Mattingly had much better teams than Roberts. Yes the Hanley injury was horrible but Roberts did not have Kershaw and Greinke at full strength (and Ryu). And MattIngly did not go to Kenley as full time closer early enough, nor did he ever develop any feel for how to deal with the bullpen. I sense he was at odds with Honeycutt which was why he alone stayed on.
“Actually if a good manager adds 5-7 wins that’s a 5-7 WAR player, and they can do that for more than 10 years. Very valuable and great bang for the buck.”
That’s true, but the way they have computed that “5” win number is based on what the team is projected to do. Last year the Dodgers were projected to win 91 games. Roberts was a 0 WAR manager in his first year. They are projected to win 95-96 this year – depending where you look. Their odds of winning the World Series are currently better than the Cubs (538 updated after every game) We are favored to do big things so for Roberts to be a 5 win manager we would have to win 100. I certainly don’t expect that.
YF
Mattingly actually dissed Kenley one year, too.
And we didn’t continually see Roberts make the same mistakes with the bullpen last year, like Mattingly did.
Once Roberts saw that Hatcher and Baez, didn’t do their jobs, Roberts tried, and went to someone else.
And that is how Blanton became our set up guy.
Mattingly would stay way to long, with certain pitchers, and players.
And I always thought that maybe Honeycutt had to be asked by Mattingly, before he could give advice too.
You just never know.
I found an interesting tidbit in my Dodger media guide. In 1959, the Dodgers made 1 trade the entire season. On June 15th they acquired Chuck Essegian and a minor league pitcher for 3B Dick Gray. That was the only move they made the entire year. In 1960 they made 9. I do not remember when the deadline was in those days, but I think it was June. Now they sent down and called up a lot of players, most notably Maury Wills, and Roger Craig who won 7 games down the stretch. Larry Sherry came up also. Essegian was mainly a RH bat off the bench and hit 2 PH HR’s in the World Series tying the Giants Dusty Rhodes. Wills replaced the regular SS, a guy named Don Zimmer, who was below the Mendoza line when Will’s was recalled. Zimmer was traded in April of 1960 for Ron Perranoski, John Goryl, Lee Hendley and cash.
Ah for the days of the reserve clause.
Yeah, free agency has been a sleigh ride, and there is really rarely a player who stays loyal to his organization, but the reverse is also true, there is rarely an organization that keeps a player his entire career.
The Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson to the Giants when he got old. That says it all… Hometown discount, my
Trade was nullified so it never went down as a trade. Robinson retired rather than play for the Giants. And the pitcher the Dodgers were supposed to receive never pitched for them.
Put yourself in Roberts position. What might you do differently?
Probably not much.
He was hired knowing full well who he was going to work for and what was expected of him. You want platoons? Not a problem. You get platoons. You are ok with 5 inning starters? I can provide relief in the 6th, and do it again tomorrow and the day after. I got 8 guys down there with one being the best closer in the NL. You don’t give me players with speed? Ok, we don’t run. You like OPS, I teach them plate discipline and swing for the fences.
I think I could do this job.
The one problem I see daily and would not put with is being lazy on defense and not working the fundamentals. You want OPS half that formula is getting on base. You do that with plate discipline and having a clue up there. By that I mean do your homework and know how they will try to get you out. On defense everyone moves on every pitch. On every ball in play every player has an assignment. I see you standing and watching you will be sitting and watching.
The Dodgers are favored to win the West not because of their manager. They are favored because they clearly have the most talented roster in the Division. If they all remain available, big if with this team, nobody is going to stop us from winning the West.
I don’t think FAZ can ef this up. I don’t care much for their moves, but most of the talent that was there before them is still there. Just don’t do anything stupid and we will be in the playoffs.
FAZ can ef up a wet dream.
To expand on that, the kind of operation FAZ runs get too close to the minefields for me. If you’re a small money club, you don’t have much choice in the matter. But anybody with good sense gives themselves as much leeway as possible. If you can afford it, and he can, you sign better, healthier players who probably won’t break down, you buy redundancy, not versatility to cover breakage. You play too close to the edge, you just might fall over.
They are shuffling the deck waiting for some contracts to clear. If they just sit on their hands for a while we should be ok this year. Unless of course mcBrittle scroinges a plesiac, Wood’s balloon leaks helium, and Hill does what Hill do. If those things happen I worry we will trade Verdugo and Buehler for Bartolo Colon.
I’m trying to spin a positive here. How am I doing?
Badger
Well it looks like the Cubs are not hitting that Giant leftie starter, who we haven’t hit that well all the time.
They are leading the Cubs four nothing.
I think we have enough to survive, though why we are even in this position is beyond me. Just sitting on their hands all of last year would have gotten us just as far and would have set us up better this year. I don’t second guess play calling but I do second guess FO moves. Is that a double standard? No it’s not. Play calling has a time limit and but FO moves don’t.
Turning to another subject. Did everyone see the Dodgers Digest article on Eibner? It’s a thing. They are really going to try him as a reserve OF and seventh reliever (or 8th, depending on how you see Hatcher).
I did. And as much as I would like that experiments to actually work, I sense the only time we would see him would be in blowouts. If that turns out to be the case, yeah, sure, let him pitch. But if he stops hitting the experiment is over.
As for Gonzo. I will believe he is out of his slump when he jacks a few over the wall.
Michael
That won’t coincide with each other, because Agone has his injury issues.
And no one is really expecting much power from him, because of that.
Agree. But without the homers he’s still dangerous with men on. When means he should be batting lower in the order with his speed as there should be at least 1 batter between him and Grandal to stay out of the easy double plays.
YF
Exactly, and really we do need a hitter like Agone on this team, because we don’t always do well, with runners in scoring position.
Well I know hits are important, and I know he has been injured, but supposedly he says it does not bother him now, so he can get hits fine, but until he jacks a few, I do not think he is the threat he was. That’s my opinion gang and I am sticking to it. He is a DP machine the same as Grandal……
Michael
You have to remember that Agone had never been on the DL, before.
And that wasn’t because he never got hurt, or never had something, that was bothering him.
And he came back from the DL sooner then he wanted too, after Toles got hurt, so he isn’t 100 percentage but he won’t say that, or make an excuse.
He has had problems with his neck and back before, and you just never know with a back or neck, but Agone is not going to make excuses, for himself.
Just like someone here said, the double he hit would have been out, when he was feeling healthy.
Agone also said he has his timing now, and thinks he has broke out, are you taking his word about that, like you are about him being healthy?
Greinke with a great start tonight. 8 innings 3 hits and 1 run given up so far. Rockies lost so we pick up 1/2 game on them. On May 23, 2002, Shawn Green became the 14th player to hit 4 HR’s in one game. He sets a MLB record with 19 total bases and 6 runs scored. The Dodgers beat the Brewers 16-3 and hit a team record 8 homers.
There were some great comments today. Kudos to all for a great off day discussion. And props to Oscar for nicknaming Agon the file cabinet. That is an awesome nickname! Hopefully the file cabinet has healed and regains his power.
I was wrong, the Rockies won and so did the D-Backs. Greinke went 8 2/3 giving up 4 hits and 1 run. He is now 6-2. We are 2.5 games back of the Rocks. Astros first team to 30 wins. That team is GOOD!
We start the series with the Cardinals firmly back in third place but only 2.5 back. That’s nothing. What is something is right now the better teams in the West are playing well. Even SF – 8-2 in their last 10. Everybody in the West won yesterday. That’s unusual.
Well, some roster questions coming up. Forsythe and Turner return, what happens with Taylor? The 7 starter shuffle will continue. Frankly I think that’s a good thing. I can’t help it, I’m still waiting for Butter McBrittle to take his turn on the DL. I give him 12 starts. Too many?
Who is Max Muncy? Yeah, organizational depth, 27 years old. I never heard of him. He’s hitting .348 at OKC. He hit a 3 run homer to beat El Paso yesterday.
Fangraphs staff predictions had LAD an overwhelming favorite to win the West. Barring tragedy we will remain the favorite until it’s actually decided sometime in late September. It’s going to be an interesting ride.
Badger
Did you watch the Giants Cubbie game, last night?
They had trouble with the Giants young leftie too, until later in the game.
They picked up Muncy on waivers about 2 weeks ago. Career minor leaguer. He and Drew Maggi are leading the charge down there at OKC since Dickson started slumping.