The Dodger’s miserably average season continued with another disappointing loss on Thursday evening to the Brewers. Scott Kazmir got lit up like a Christmas tree, and bullpen torches Pedro Baez and Casey Fien poured gasoline on the fire. To be fair Fien has been pretty good until last night, but the Dodgers punctuated the losing with a failed rally in the ninth inning and a tussle between Yasmani Grandal and Justin Turner in the dugout. Not even a Trayce Thompson three-run home run could save the Dodgers last night. The 8-6 loss in the series opener marked yet another pathetic loss in a season full of them. The Dodgers are now 6.5 games behind the Giants in the NL West, yet Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi are still employed.
Yet with each demoralizing loss more and more of Friedman’s fan boys and butt kissers are disappearing. It’s become official. The Dodgers are now out of the race, and everyone is beginning to see the terrifying truth; the Dodgers are an average club. Friedman’s administration has been a resounding failure. Much like fellow moneyball doofus Paul Depodesta, who also destroyed a first place club in 2004 to build one of the worst Dodger clubs in the 21st century. Sound familiar? History repeats itself.
The Dodgers are hoping to stop history from repeating itself by turning things around with a win on Friday night and an even series with the Brew Crew. Mexican phenom Julio Urias will take the mound for the Dodgers, as the Brewers will counter with right hander Zach Davies.
Dodgers Lineup vs. Milwaukee
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
González 1B
Thompson LF
Pederson CF
Grandal C
Venable RF
Urías P— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 17, 2016
Zach Davies-5-3 vs. Julio Urias-0-2
Game time – 7:10 PM – TV- SNLA
The Dodgers are still deciding whether to shut Urias down or not because he is approaching his innings limit. The Dodgers are petrified that He’ll blow out his arm if he pitches more than 80 innings (about two more starts) or so. Unfortunately Friedman and his cronies did such a lousy job of building a reliable pitching staff that they really have little to no options left. Maybe Frankie Montas, or rookie Jose De Leon, who have both battled injuries themselves this year. Regardless, Urias will be allowed to make his usual 90-95 pitches or so before being hooked.
Urias had his best start of his MLB career last week against the Giants. He allowed just two earned runs on four hits over 5.1 innings pitched in San Francisco. He struck out 7 and walked one. Of course he still took the loss. Overall Urias is 0-2 with a 5.84 ERA in four starts. This will be his fifth MLB start, and he’s thrown 17 innings while striking out 21. He’s walked just 7 and whiffed 11.9 per nine.
The Brewers will counter with 23-year old righty Zach Davies. The Washington native was originally drafted by the Orioles in the 26 round of the 2011 draft. Davies (5-3 3.88 ERA) was traded to the Brewers for Gerardo Parra in 2015. He’s in his third MLB season and has posted a career 3.82 ERA. He’s struck out 50, walked 19, and posted a 1.181 WHIP over 62.2 innings pitched this season.
Davies has never faced the Dodgers and never pitched at Dodger Stadium and has a 4.46 ERA away from Miller Park. None of the current Dodgers have ever faced him either, so you won’t see any stats in today’s pregame match-ups. Sorry guys.
Not much else to say for tonight. Urias should be on a strict pitch count, the bullpen torches will be on standby in the fifth inning as usual. No point in bringing in any of those bums, just let the kid pitch. An extra 15 pitches or so is surely not going to blow his arm up.
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#
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
PCT
|
GB
|
HOME
|
AWAY
|
L10
|
||
|
1
|
|
41
|
26
|
.612
|
–
|
22-13
|
19-13
|
6-4
|
||
|
2
|
|
35
|
33
|
.515
|
6.5
|
17-15
|
18-18
|
4-6
|
||
|
3
|
|
32
|
33
|
.492
|
8.0
|
15-16
|
17-17
|
8-2
|
||
|
4
|
|
29
|
39
|
.426
|
12.5
|
13-25
|
16-14
|
5-5
|
||
|
5
|
|
27
|
41
|
.397
|
14.5
|
16-21
|
11-20
|
4-6
|
||
On a parting note, the Dodgers have come to agreement with first round draft pick shortstop Gavin Lux, according to reports. He’ll get a 2.3 million dollar signing bonus.
Go Blue!
I’m damn sure not a fan boy, butt kisser or part of ‘everyone’ you’ve mentioned… But there I am, not knowing it has been labeled official by whomever that the Blue are out of it… Granted I’ve had my share of drugs in the past and rebounded well in my later years, but is this a form of MLB dementia creeping up on me…
I know what this is, WonderLick disguised as Scott A… I feel better now…
O/U on Urias IP – 5.1.
I too see an average MLB club watching this group. As a fan wearing Blue glasses, I do see potential for better play so perhaps I would say the needle is pushing slightly above average. Their record says it all. Will they begin to play better? Honestly, with the fragility of the athletes on this team, I fear they will play worse. AGon ain’t right, neither is Grandal, Utley is 50, Seager is a rookie and might tire, Puig and Pederson are … Puig and Pederson and other than Kershaw this starting staff is made of phyllo dough. I would be less surprised if truth is right with his 79 wins than Mark being right with his 95. I feel my under on 92 is relatively safe. These guys are not a 92 win team. We can revisit that if changes are made.
Badger, there were very few criticizing this team during the off-season but at least you did. After watching last year, the amount of optimism coming into this season by some still baffles me. This is not a surprise, this team is exactly what they were last year.
Well, I am glad to hear that they are exactly what they were last year when they won 92 games. I call that GOOD NEWS!
Personally, I thought they were a tad better – I said 95 games, but I’ll settle for 92. Glad we agree!
OK, let’s move on to the Farm System which is nothing next to incredible!
You are on record. 95. And 92 was the O/U at the beginning of the year. You took the over. truth and I took the under.
The Farm System? Ok. We’re now #2, which we were all along. Why? They finally stopped calling our starting shortstop a prospect.
By end of the year we will likely be back at #1. Look at AA and A – they are loaded!
BTW, who says we are #2?
I just did. Atlanta is #1.
What I need is a player in the locker room that demands that the manager and coaches leave and all hell hits the fan. You can blame/fire the front office, coaches and the kid responsible for stocking the double bubble and seeds… It just doesn’t happen anymore… If Kirk Gibson who I believe I can manage better than were at the controls would be be carried out on a stretcher with a cardiac…
By God were not the Lone Ranger either… Too much damn $$$ floating around…
That being said we can/will win the NLW…
PeterJ,
Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities — Oscar Wilde
That pretty well sums it up!
That is interesting. No one has ridiculed more than you.
So does that make you a ridiculing ridiculer or a mediocrite?
Neither. Just observant.
I’m not giving up on the season yet. And I’m not ready to label FAZ as colossal failures. No administration can speed up the development process of the kids nor can it delay the aging process of the old geezers on the field. And not much can be done with Kazmir and Bolsinger.
Currently this is both mediocre and estheticly grotesque. But if the current crop of kiddies pans out in a year or two we will be a much better team without any bloated contracts.
I have a link to a Paul Depodesta article. I didn’t know much about him when he came to town in 2004 but he is quite an impressive person. When I find it I will post it for your viewing pleasure.
I think I said earlier this year that the 2016 season was about Vinny. I don’t care much about/for the product on the field, except maybe Urias developing further. Just give me my Vinnisms till the end of this season. At least we won’t lose 99 games like 1992…I hope not 🙂
By the way, unless he gets injured, Urias will be closer to 150 innings than 80 innings. You can write that down.
I don’t understand why Roberts has Venable playing over Howie. Howie has been hitting, and had two hits in yesterday’s game.
They need all of the hitters, they can get. The only reason for playing Venable is defense.
I actually think Howie, has been much better, in leftfield lately. And Howie has made plays, that Crawford would never make.
Venable shouldn’t be on the roster – he will be gone when Puig returns
Trayce, Pederson and Puig. Every night. And we live with it.
I was under the impression 150 was both the goal and the ceiling for Urias this year. Did I have that wrong?
I have read 120 – 130 innings for young Julio
Ok. I don’t know where I got 150. Might have been my own goal for him. Though he has pitched professionally for 3+ years now, 120 sounds reasonable considering his history. No need to rush him.
I still stand by what I said – he will be closer to 150 than 80!
Atlanta has the Number One Farm System according to Badger? Dodger castoff Zach Bird is #12 and Olivera is gone. Atlanta has some nice prospects, but the Dodgers have WAY MORE!
I was listening to MLB radio and they said there are there are the Dodgers at # 1 and then everybody else! The mid-season rankings will be out soon. Watch and learn…
Not according to Badger. According to what Badger read on the googlenet.
Frankly I don’t put a lot of importance in such things. I look at the box scores and the standings.
The Truth Hurts — I have posted many times for the last two season — that I did not like the Dodger ROSTER. At first, people put me down. But the reality has set in.
Other clubs are building and rebuilding their teams — and for some of them it is working.
This past winter, I would have made the following additions to the Roster —
Dexter Fowler – who was a free agent. Put him in CF, Pederson in LF, and Puig in RF.
Johnny Cueto – who was a free agent. Go with a proven starter, roll the dice.
Aroldis Chapman – with that trade to the Yankees, he and Jansen close and set up as needed.
Ben Zobrist – Free agent, he is 35, but knows the game. Plays 2B and in the OF.
OK – Dodgers would have lost 3 draft picks — and some minor leaguers —
BUT — fixed the major weak points on this team. Risk? yes. I believe the energy these guys would have brought to the team — would have spread to other players and made the better players.
You are right, Roger – those deals may have allowed the Dodgers to win it all this year, but what about the next three years?
Fowler, Zobrist and Cueto are all having CAREER YEARS (so far). Did anyone know that?
The opposite is true of the Dodgers signees – most are having “career worst years.” Who knew?
Roger, apparently. Give him an office.
For all of the talk about the greatness of the Dodger farm system, what about the actual Dodgers? Are we fans of the Dodgers or of their farm system? Or of their front office?
Let’s evaluate the Dodgers farm system. How many top position players are in it? Of Baseball America’s top 100, the Dodgers have 7. Of those, 2 (Maeda and Seager) have been in the majors all year so that leaves 5 (Urias, DeLeon, Bellinger, Holmes and Verdugo). The Dodgers have used few draft top draft choices on anything except right handed pitchers. It takes pitching to win, but it takes a few other guys too – like infielders, outfielders and catchers.
And what percentage of top prospects actually make a difference in the majors? Not many.
How about actual major leaguers?
That’s old news. The new news is that there are about 10 or 11 other players who could break the TOP 100 by end of year, namely Barnes, Montas, Cotton, Barlow, De Jong, Stewart, Garlick, Oakes, Calhoun, Schafer, Farmer and others (don’t forget about Buehler). Of course, they all won’t, but some will!
… and you are right -very few make it, so the more you have, the better the odds.
Stockpile ’em – the one you trade away may be the star!
And the major league roster rots while those guys develop over the next 2-3 years
Hey guys
Urias comes out, the ‘pen gives up a run. That didn’t take long. And of course, no one is hitting. Wash, rinse, repeat.
How do they hit a pitch off there ankles? This umpire is calling strikes, at players ankles. But when Urias was pitching, this umpire didn’t give him any calls. That is why in the first inning his pitch count was up!
Oscar’s article has really given Turner motivation
Guys we won!