The Dodgers fresh off a game 1 win earlier in the day. In the night-cap, they had to go up against Max Scherzer. Scherzer has been the best pitcher in the National League this year. Combating Scherzer would be Rich Hill who has been having a rough go of it. Rich Hill made two pitches and had to leave the game with blister issues. So today would be a bullpen day. So you figure it would be a loss.
Joc Pederson leading off again started it off with a double. Pederson seems to hit Scherzer pretty well. Max Muncy then singled him in. Muncy has been a good find to this point and the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead. Scott Alexander had to pitch the first inning when Rich Hill was taken out. Alexander pitched two scoreless innings. Pedro Baez came in during the third inning. Now at this point I thought the game was over. In the top of the 5th, Max Muncy hit a solo shot off Scherzer to take a 2-0 lead.
Baseball: Max Scherzer threw 121 pitches. Rich Hill threw 2. The Dodgers won.
They're 6 out in the NL West.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) May 20, 2018
Pedro Baez pitched two scoreless innings. Yimi Garcia called up today to be 26th man on the roster came in to pitch a scoreless 5th. To this point, the Nats hadn’t gotten a hit. In the top of 6th, Yasiel Puig hit a double but got stranded. Trea Turner led off the bottom of the sixth with a double off Yimi Garcia for the Nationals first hit. Tony Cingrani then came in and hit Bryce Harper in the back. With two outs Mark Reynolds hit a double to score in a run. Daniel Hudson then came in to pitch. Matt Adams then singled in two as the Nats took the lead. Then Scherzer hit a single to score a run and make the score 4-2.
In the top of the 8th, Cody Bellinger got his first hit of the series with a solo shot off the Nationals bullpen and the score was 4-3. Chris Taylor then hit a triple and they had something cooking. Justin Turner who had the game off, came in to pinch hit and was walked. Yasiel Puig then hit into a double play.
He hasn’t quite looked like his usual dominant self, but Kenley Jansen’s season ERA is quietly down to 3.20 after two scoreless outings today.
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) May 20, 2018
The Dodgers hadn’t won a game all year trailing in the 9th. Sean Doolittle came in to pitch for the Nats. Austin Barnes with two strikes delivered a single. Logan Forsythe then followed up with a bloop single. Matt Kemp then came in to pinch hit and hit a double to score two runs and the Dodgers took a 5-4 lead. Kenley Jansen then came on during the 9th to close out the game for the improbable win.
The win went to the newest Dodger Erik Goeddel picked up off waivers. He pitched a scoreless 8th inning. So now Ryu, Kershaw, and now Hill will be on the DL. The Dodgers have won three straight and are now 6 games back in the NL West. They are still 7 games below .500. The Dodgers might need to add another arm. Tomorrow morning against Stephen Strasburg, Alex Wood will be searching for his first win.
It sounds like Rich Hill will miss significant time. Dave Roberts described Hill’s blister as sliced open and said he will require a rehab assignment to prove his readiness. “This is as bad as I’ve seen it,” Roberts said.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) May 20, 2018
James Moya
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So glad to see the Dodgers take a double header especially against Scherzer. Good to see the team start to heat up and get help from the bullpen. I would never have thought they could win a game with the SP bowing out after 2 pitches and the full game played with our bullpen. To see Alexander and Baez trot out like they did to continue the game didn’t inspire confidence in me. But, every dog has its day, and they did it until Cingrani came in. Cingrani is supposed to be one of our best. That pitcher hasn’t shown up in quite awhile.
I think it’s time to cut bait on Rich Hill. His ongoing blister problems have impacted the team and have taken valuable time from finding a solid, healthy SP to replace him. The amount of money they threw at him was beyond ludicrous and this could be the poster boy for the FAZ style of acquiring starting pitching talent.
Speaking of Baez, over his career he’s been great when he’s coming in the 5th or earlier. Good stuff. No brain and no heart. They should call him the Tin Scarecrow.
Wow. A sweep with only one home run, and the key was Stripling going 6 innings in the early game and saving our bullpen.
And then Kemp knocks two in with a double, while our three true come hitters after him, Kike, Grandal and Bellinger goes strikeout, strikeout and pop out. Good thing they didn’t try to pitch around Kemp.
Also worth noting was the Nationals earlier pitched around Turner and got Puig to GIDP. Giving up walks works especially against a team with holes up and down the lineup like we have. We could have picked up a few wins against the Marlins and the Reds, and likely would have would the WS without going to 7 by pitching around Springer and Altuve. I still don’t see this in our team.
I don’t want to toot my own horn for calling a win against Scherzer (and also saying presciently that our starting pitching wouldn’t have anything to do with beating Scherzer); the main thing is we are improving somewhat but we are still not playing well yet. Hudson needs to be see less MLB time and Cingrani don’t look right.
YF
What did you think about our new relief pitcher, that came in the eighth?
Actually Cody only struck out one time I believe in that second game, so maybe he is turning the corner now.
He sure didn’t miss that fastball, right down the middle of the plate in his last at bat.
So….will the Rich Hill and Andrew & Farhan defenders please stand up….this record was broken and old AGES ago. Now…we’re still dealing with it?
Cingrani isn’t right Yueh. He might need more time on the DL.
6.2
4.5
3.74
7.71
7.53
6.08
3.2
The ERA’s of the 8 pitchers who took the mound for us in a Game 2. Yoiks.
The bullpen pitched 12 innings yesterday. I wonder if that has ever happened before. Maybe in an 18 inning game?
Muncy up to .258. OPS’n .866. He can play a lot of positions. Can we move Pederson now? Please?
We signed Utley for 2 years. Can someone tell me why?
We signed Hill for 3 years. Can someone tell me why?
Squirrel 0fer with 3 K’s in second game. First game he contributed. That’s why he squirrel.
Team struck out 24 times yesterday. Team was 17 for 68, 3 for 18 WRISP. And we won 2. Analytics at its best.
What if Wood can’t go 5? What if he can only go 5?
The Cubs are in 3rd place with a +67 run differential. That RD equals the Yankees. Houston leads MLB with a +93. Boston at +70. There some scary teams out there. We aren’t one of them.
Badger
You forgot one thing. Chips down in the 2nd game and BAM! Kemp with a two run double to go ahead and later win. Remember???
Remember what? Yesterday? Yeah, I can remember that far back. I can because I’m not that far gone.
Do you think I don’t like Kemp?
I want to follow up on an earlier post that I made last week about Arizona. My perception of this team has been downgraded dramatically as I feel they are ‘Fool’s Gold’ in the West. What looked like a solid team is now looking like what I wrote about. My new prediction, following their deposition from 1st place, will be a takeover by either the Giants or Rockies, within the next week or 10 days, and whose pitching is not as good as Arizona’s, but the hitting, which has carried these 2 teams is far superior to the Diamondbacks. There is still no upside to be seen in Arizona. They are daring everyone to topple them. Even with their superior pitching, they have only 2 SO’s. Dominating pitching dominates and produces SO’s.
What does this mean for the Dodgers? Die hard fans will not be dissuaded from feeling that the Dodgers can catch up. Mathematically, they can, obviously. But, as you can see, I am worried about toppling the Giants and Rockies, too. With our stumbling, bumbling, blistering pitching staff, all bets are still off for climbing into 1st place. We need to see a real change in the way the pitching has been handling itself. The return of Turner has definitely had an effect. I’m not sure how this will translate into our pitching. They seem to crumble too easily even though we’ve won the last 3 games, and they crumbled a bit in Game 2 against Washington. The bats saved that game, not the pitching.
Fool’s Gold?
In all fairness they too are dealing with some devastating injuries. Delgado, Pollock, Ray, Miller and Walker are all on the DL. They don’t claim the incredibly unbelievable generationally astounding depth that we do, but when and if most of those players get back they can beat anybody.
The bullpen went 9 and held the Nationals to 4. The starting pitching failed miserably. But the pitching did contribute to that win in Game 2.
Jeff
Badger has been saying Arizona is not all that, even when they were winning.
I didn’t think they were all that, even when they were beating us either, I just thought we were that bad, at that time.
But after we lost all of those games, non of the teams in the West, has played well enough to knock us out, so they obviously don’t want the West that much either, or they would have stepped on our neck, and put us 10 or 15 games behind.
Agree. Pitching is still a major issue. Starters don’t go long enough, relievers don’t provide relief enough.
With that new pitcher we picked up, and Santana pitching that well in AAA, that may be some of our help, when it comes to pitching.
Hudson may be on his way out the door, or down to AAA, if he still has his options.
I think we have a good chance now, because I saw in our players last night, what I saw in our players last year.
I think Bellinger is almost right, because he only had one strike out in that second game, and he hit that fastball down the middle to deep center, and out of the park.
I don’t know what Puig was thinking when he came up in the eighth, especially after that pitcher was having trouble throwing strikes.
Thank goodness Kemp saved Puig, when he hit in those two runs, in the top of the ninth.
Barnes may be also getting right too, because he hit some balls to the right side for hits, and he had a gusty at bat, in the top of the ninth too.
And I was amazed that Forsythe got his bat on one of the Nat’s closer’s fastball enough, to get that bloop hit.
Kike is definitely lost, he only needed to move Kemp up, so he should be sitting next to Turner Ward now, because he is going remain a squirrel if he doesn’t stop trying to hit the ball out all the time.
We were lucky we got a rusty Scherzer in that second game much of that game, until he started to get his command in the later innings.
We didn’t beat Scherzer MJ, we beat their bullpen.
And what I said about Arizona was that they were not a .600 club. When healthy, and currently they are not, they can beat anybody.
Santana has made 1 start in AAA… I would not go tooting his horn after 1 start. Lets see where he is a couple of months from now.
Hill said on the after show, that blister just started showing up, at the end of his warm up, just before the game.
But I wonder about that, because it didn’t look like something that just popped up, and that is why I said Hill has to be honest, if he can’t do the job, so he doesn’t put his team down, before the game starts.
It appears to be an issue that will not go away. He had this problem before he got here. He had this problem when we signed him to 3 years and $48 million. We could sure use that money now.
Badger
I wonder what they did last year, because he had this problem early in the season last year, but he was fine after the first could months, I believe.
I don’t know how spell check got could out of two.
Our pitching problems are not going away very soon. Again, this is more or less the same group as last year, minus Yu and Morrow. Yu made no difference and Morrow certainly didn’t make up for all the pitching shortcomings that we have now and festering for a few years.
Hill needs to go. Seriously. You can’t have a guy like that in a starting rotation. At best, bullpen and emergency starter sort of like Stripling. With Maeda and Buehler our only healthy starters, how can we expect to compete with the better teams? We will still win some but this is a long season and what happens when more injuries come? You know they are just around the corner with all our walking wounded. This whole area needs to be addressed and not painted over. If Kemp is traded, you know we are not getting back equal talent and that will take away a star player who has given the team some real help. If we can limp back to .500, I will be happy with this group. Until then, I’m not thinking past that for the Dodgers.
They recalled Venditte to replace Hill. They did not BEAT Scherzer. He gave up 2 runs and left with the lead. They beat the bullpen, and Doolittle in particular. Yardbarker reports the Dodgers may not be in a good position to deal at the deadline, at least for offensive help. According to reports this morning, Hill will be gone for a month and then will need a re-hab assignment to prove he is ready. Hill is not going anywhere Jeff, he has another year after this one on his contract. No matter how good Santana is doing in the minors, they will most likely not bring him up until September. And even then it will be to just give him a taste of the big leagues like they did for Buehler last year. One of the AAA starters most likely to be recalled to fill Hill’s spot since Urias is still at least 6 weeks away. Kershaw is still not throwing off the mound and Ryu is not even throwing. My guess is that if they trade for anything it will be a starter and a bullpen arm. Kemp has proved he belongs. Kike has proved he cannot hit. They still strike out way too much, especially Taylor and Bellinger, and for a guy with his skill set, Kike. He looked like a AA player with that at bat yesterday. I still think carrying 13 pitchers hamstrings the manager and weakens the bench, but as bad as these guys have been they need 13,,,,,,maybe 14 15 or 16…
Next year they will be able to more easily absorb the bad Hill investment. This is the reset year. He’s not going anywhere he’s not going to help much. Maybe once he heals, like you suggest, he will have value as a spot starter. Maybe we can find some cheap innings by dumpster diving. It’s what FAZ likes to do. Show us some of that garage sale mining genius FAZ.
If I had to bet on it, which I don’t, I would have to bet that Jeff is right. This group looks bipolar. They will have their moments and I look forward to them. Championship? Not with the Cubs, Astros, Yankees and Red Sox in the tournament. Heck, Milwaukee, Philly and Atlanta look better than us now. Who knows where this is going.
I say again, they surprised me last year, and all the so called experts were convinced we would win 96 and cruise in the West this year. If we get healthy, big IF, this could end better than it has started.
Badger
When did I say they beat Scherzer?
I never said they beat Scherzer!
But they did score runs off Scherzer early in that game, because he was rusty.
“We were lucky we got a rusty Scherzer in that second game much of that game”…..
He didn’t look that rusty to the Dodgers. 2 earned in 7.
Yeah, Scherzer was rusty all right. He walked 3 and struck out 13……I would like to see one of our guys that rusty.
Badger and Michael,
We scored two runs early in this game, because Scherzer was rusty.
But remember, we had the lead most of those seven innngs, that Scherzer pitched.
Because the Nats didn’t get the lead in this game, until the six inning.
And I would take Scherzer over a bullpen game, from our bullpen, on most any day!
Our bullpen out pitched Scherzer, most of those seven innings.
MJ, will you quit acting like we did not watch the game? They did not beat Scherzer, and just because they scored 2 runs off of him does not mean he was rusty. He had not pitched in 7 days, but you do not strike out 13 guys if you are rusty. They ambushed him early and got the lead, but the bullpen lost the lead while Scherzer was still the pitcher of record. You play 9 innings. Not 7 or 6….so what you are doing up to then means squat. 2 earned runs over 7 innings? How many times would the Dodgers have killed to have a starter do that? The bullpen did a credible job, but they outpitched him for 5 innings because they gave up the lead in the 6th…..
She is going to argue with us no matter what because in her view they beat him because we scored 2 runs and those 2 runs were luck because he was rusty….my ass he was rusty. He may have had some minor command issues, but he looked pretty damn efficient to me. Scherzer threw 121 pitches…..89 of them were strikes…..yeah, he was rusty all right.
How about this – We won the BLEEPIN’ game.
I think we can get back into the division race and our bullpen will start pitching a lot better. Honeycutt and a Roberts are not as bad at handling the bullpen as they’ve shown, but we really need to get rid of Baez and Hudson, and send Cingrani to a long DL.
Who will get a few spot starts? Stewart?
YF
I agree, because non of the teams in this division, are running away with this division.
But I think the key is our starters, and I do think Hudson needs to go, and Cingrani needs to be rested too.
That move to Hudson yesterday, had to be one of Roberts and our bench coaches, worse decisions, lately.
Cingrani got lucky today. He walked the first two guys he struck out.
Huh?
Yasiel Puig’s first 28 games: 0 homers
Yasiel Puig’s last 7 games: 4 homers
Badger
I have seen that happen more often with hitters, so that depends on one’s perspective, I guess.
Badger
Now that is lucky? Ha, ha
Bluto – anytime you get a Major League hitter to swing at ball 4 and miss you got lucky. Cingrani did that twice in one inning. I’ll take and obviously so will he. We could use some things to go our way.
The ricochet off Fields leg to end the 8th was pretty lucky……
Got it. Thanks.
Scherzer was rusty early, because he didn’t have his good command, until at least the fourth, or fifth, inning.
Because he hadn’t pitched for seven days, before yesterdays start, didn’t you hear Orel say that?
No he had lousy command in the first inning…he struck out the side, passed 100 K’s on the year in the 5th, and did all of that with lousy command…..wow what a BS analysis. He was pretty damn good no matter how rusty you think he was……
Michael
Scherzer gave up five hits, a HR, and walked three batters, in the first four innings of his start.
I don’t consider that great pitching, especially for only four innings, but I guess you do!
He was very lucky, he didn’t give up more then two runs, in the first four innings of that game.
And I already said, he seemed to get his good command, around the fifth innng, so I don’t even know why your are bringing that up.
Yeah Michael,
Why aren’t you bringing up the sliver of subjective reasoning that supports MJ’s questionable claim?!?!?!
Huh? Oh yeah, I guess I missed that.
Yeah he did MJ, and he still held them to 2 runs. Who cares what he did over the 1st 4? He kept his team in the game. They managed to take the lead. You look at his entire outing not just the 1st 4 innings. The HR he gave up was with the bags empty. Pederson’s triple was not hit hard, but it was hit in the right spot. And Muncy hit a ball against the shift to score him. He strikes out the next 3 guys. None of the two other hits hurt him. He struck out 13. If the Dodgers had capitalized on all those baserunners he would have been out of the game a lot sooner. And you know something, no one really cares what you consider good pitching since you are inconsequential to the events on the field. It was a good outing, not great, but more than good enough to win had his teams bullpen held the lead. Had that happened, this discussion would not even be taking place since a big old L would be up there. Your opinion of my opinion means nothing to me. You just yabber on with your inane analysis and march to the beat of a different drum.