Kenta Maeda is becoming “one of those” Dodger pitchers. When he pitches, people are starting to wonder which Maeda will show up – the awesome one, or the dreadful one?
Now that I think about it, the Dodgers overall, are “one of those” teams.
Here’s what happened today in the crazy universe that the Dodgers occupy.
For the first four innings, Maeda was effective, and he held the Padres scoreless. He was also efficient, spreading five strike outs over 53 pitches.
5th inning
Dodgers
Joc Pederson fouled off a ball which bounced upward into the plate umpire’s groin. He crumpled to the ground and eventually left the game. The game was delayed about 15 minutes.
Padres
Dodger-killer Melvin Upton Jr. was driven in from third to score the first run of the game. Padres 1-0
Maeda walked the bases loaded with two out.
Then, the killshot –
A pop up to right field that dropped right in front of a diving Yasiel Puig. It scored three.
6th inning Padres 4-0
Dodgers
Enrique Hernandez lead off walk.
Chase Utley base hit.
Corey Seager, with a base hit to right, scored Kiké. 4-1
Wild pitch! Utley scored from third. 4-2
Adrian Gonzalez came through with a base hit to score Seager. 4-3
7th inning
Dodgers
Justin Turner upper-deck home run to tie the game.
8th inning Tie score 4-4
Dodgers
Howie Kendrick blasted his first home run of the season to put the Boys in Blue ahead! 5-4
Padres
Louis Coleman in.
With two out, the skipper went to Kenley Jansen for the four out save, and redemption against Upton Jr.
No redemption today. Upton tagged Jansen again, this time for a triple and to tie the game. 5-5
9th inning Tie score 5-5
Dodgers
Base hit Puig.
Puig took second on a wild pitch.
Ellis bunted to third (as he should), but Puig was confused and stayed at second.
Nothing followed, except…
EXTRA INNINGS
13th inning
Dodgers
Everyone has been used. J.P. Howell even had to bat for himself. He looked like a guy who hasn’t batted in five years.
14th inning Tie score 5-5
Lead off base hit for Joc Pederson.
Solid base hit by Puig, and Joc went from first to third.
After a walk to load the bases, it was Carl Crawford up with bases loaded and nobody out. He hit a harmless infield grounder for a double play. nobody scored.
Utley out and that was all.
15th inning Tie score 5-5
Dodgers
Clayton Kershaw brought in to pinch-hit bunt. A few laughs and nothing more.
Padres
Ross Stripling in to pitch. His first time out of the bullpen.
17th inning Tie score 5-5
Dodgers
Howie with a ground rule double. This set up what happened back in the 15th. They walked AGone to face the pitcher. Up came Stripling.
He slash hit and got the job done to move everyone up. The Padres walked Joc Pederson to load the bases for Puig.
Puig came through with a base hit! Score two Dodger runs! 7-5
Passed ball! 8-5 And Puig went from first to third.
Crawford beat out his double play ball, so Yasiel brought in the fourth run of the inning. 9-5
By the way, all of this occurred with the Padres unlucky pitcher hovering around 80-90 pitches.
Padres
Ross Stripling with a four run lead
At the 5 hour 45 minute mark, the game had to be stopped because the outfield sprinklers turned on.
Finally, after 17 innings, game over, at 5 hours, 47 minutes.
Dodgers win! 9-5
No further comment. Let’s all just go on with our lives. Whew!
Kenta Maeda went 5 innings with 4 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 5 Ks. ERA 3.29
Home runs: Kendrick, Turner
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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The Dodgers just outlasted the Padres because Stripling was available and that last Padre pitcher had to throw over 85 pitches. Good effort by the bullpen though, even though bringing in Jansen for the 4-out save backfired. Offense showing signs of life with Kendrick’s average now over .280 in month of May. Puig finally came through although if he hadn’t lost the popup in the sun and frozen on the bunt everyone could be home by now.
Kenley needs to stop thinking he is invincible, and can throw balls right down middle of the plate, and no one can hit them.
Snider do you think that Puig should have caught that pop fly, when Maeda was pitching?
Don’t know. I live in Cox country and listen on the radio, but it sounded like he lost it in the sun and got a late jump.
Snider the guy at True
Blue LA, made it sound like Puig should have caught that ball. Thanks for answering me. Orel and Nomar, made an excuse for Puig, that is why I wasn’t sure. He wasn’t in the screen until the last moment, so we didn’t see where Puig was.
They have to make a move tonight or early tomorrow and call a bullpen arm up, don’t they??
No, they don’t. Stripling should continue as a RP. Perhaps this unexpected scenario lit a bulb in management’s head.
Turner, off the bench, I like it! HR
Howie and Utley continue to hit as they should.
Starting pitching a big problem for the Dodgers as well. No one reliable after Kershaw. Must wait for Ryu, etc. Perhaps the Dodgers should go to a 4 man rotation, temporarily. This would give Kershaw more starts and more opportunities to win. Maeda either adapts or flops. Too much thinking on Dodgers part. Kershaw, Kazmir, Maeda, Wood. Just temporary. Keep Stripling in the pen.
If it is true that Puig should have caught that pop fly off of Maeda, then it wasn’t Maeda, that pitched bad.
Yes they do. FAZ need to justify their existence!
Bobby
the guy at True Blue LA said that he thought that they would bring Bolsinger up.
They can’t bring Bolsinger up, they just sent him down and he has to stay down for at least 10 days.
He can be recalled to replace a player who goes on the DL. Tsao is experiencing “soreness”–kind of like the umpire yesterday.
They have to call up Urias for Tuesday. Yeah, I know it will be 4 days rest… skip his next start and let Ross start.
Kershaw needs to pitch all 9 on Monday.
The Dodgers bullpen is up to 14th in ERA and 8th in WHIP.
Why is it that some fans think they can just say this team is not talented and we are supposed to believe it? They are FOS!
they are still under .500 – they struggled to win 1 out of 3 against the last place Pads – that’s why people think the Dodgers are in trouble.
Can’t call up Bolsinger – unless someone goes on the DL.
If they call up Urias, they have to add him to the 40 man roster. I am still for it, by the way. Then need to put him in the rotation.
Mark
Hatcher came in the seventh inning, and of course got behind on the count, on almost all of the hitters he faced, and of course he walked a hitter, and that hitter, later scored and tied the game.
And Coleman came in, in the eighth inning, and got behind on the first hitter he faced, and walked that hitter, and that hitter, later scored and tied the game.
So the Dodgers went ahead in both these innings, and the relief pitchers, put the tying runs on base, in both of these two innings.
And it seems like Coleman gets behind on the count, and walks almost everyone of the first hitters, he faces.
It is like Coleman isnt warmed up properly, and gets his control, only after the first hitter, he faces.
And of course he isn’t as bad as Hatcher, but these relief pitchers, are constantly getting behind on the count, and walking people.
The Padres didn’t even have to get hits, to get on base, with these relief pitchers. They didn’t lose the game, but they sure should have, with the way they pitched and put hitters, on base.
And along with everything that Puig did, the Dodgers probably shouldn’t have won that game!
Mark
I think it is more the starting pitching, and the bullpen. I know that is how I feel. I do think Maeda is good. And I think he just got a little snake bitten, in that game against the Mets, where there pitcher hit those two HRs. And he started pitching defensively after that game, but he pitched like he can, yesterday.
If you think about it, some of the starting pitchers have pitched good games, and then the bullpen comes in, and lost some of there games. Roberts at the begining was to easy on the starting pitchers, and took them out to soon, at times.
And now Roberts is pitching some of the starting pitchers, a little longer then he should. And that is because he doesn’t trust his bullpen pitchers. And some of the starting pitchers, are facing the players on the other team, the third time around in the order.
And you know, most starting pitchers, become more vulnerble, when they the face the order the third time around. I think Wood needs to see how he is pitching differently, after facing the order the third time, or is he pitching to similar, to the batters the third time around.
Because his results are like night and day, when he is facing the order the third time around. I think that Kazmir has been the worse starting pitcher, and he is a veteran starting pitcher. But he continues to make the same mistakes. And that is leaving his pitches up. He knows he can’t do that with 90 fastball. He constantly loses his concentration when he is pitching.
The other starting pitcher that has had trouble pitching deep into games, is Stripling, because he has that one bad inning, where he try’s to be to fine, and walks to many hitters, and everything goes to H.
I think Puig may have lost the ball in the sun so he hesitated, plus the wind they say was blowing in and to the right, so he tried making that diving catch.
Maeda was actually great for 4, until a few balls found their way thru for hits, and that bloop thing somehow became a 3 run triple. I thought he threw just fine, and was hitting 93 on the gun
Maeda had a no hitter through 4.
Most of us here, regardless of how we want to look at the 2016 season, have wanted a long reliever. Stripling looked great in that role last night. He is coming off TJ so his innings will be limited anyway. Kazmir and Stripling have trouble in the 5th or 6th inning so far and therefore look like prime candidates for long reliever roles.
Hatcher needs to agree to have hurt his toe and use 15 days on the DL to find the groove he had at the end of last year. Baez needs to go down to work on getting movement on his fastball and gain confidence in an off speed pitch.
I want Urias to make 4 starts in June and then go back down to protect his young arm. I also want Lee to get 4 starts beginning in May.
I like Turner. He is still my starter at 3rd.
Long relief–thank you. With most of the starters struggling the third time through the lineup a guy who could go three innings plus would be golden. Look at what that Padres pitcher (Villanueva?) did to us for three innings yesterday. A long reliever could also start a game when we find ourselves in a situation like we’ll be in Tuesday. They got Blanton to be the long man this year but so far I don’t believe he’s pitched more than two innings.
When Carlos Frias was healthy he looked like he might fit the bill. Maybe Stripling or Wood can make the transition to relief if Ryu comes back, but a lot of guys find it difficult to make the change. Pitchers are creatures of habit.
Bum
I agree about Stripling, but I don’t trust Kazmir, in any part of a game.
That is because he loses his concentration, and gets lazy, and starts letting his pitches get to high, and gives up HRs, almost anytime, in a game.
We can’t have him pitching relief, because he gives up way to many HRs.
And there all caused by letting his pitches up in the zone.
And I was thinking about Urias, and I know Bobby said they have to wait until early June, to bring him up, to keep him for an extra year.
And I think he should be brought up then. I feel he is wasting his pitches in AAA, the big team needs him now.
And I think it would be good to let him be in the rotation for a few times, like you said, my Bum, and if his pitch count, is getting to high, they can take him out of the rotation, and put him in the bullpen, and control his pitches, in the bullpen.
Some of these young pitchers pitch a lot of innings, and then are up in the majors, and have to have TJ surgery, right away.
So by leaving them in the minors to long, they waste a lot of pitches, that they could have been throwing in the majors.
This is because it seems, after a couple of years, they eventually have to have TJ surgery.
That is what happened with a few of the Mets starting pitchers, and with Strasberg I think.
A team should bring them up, when they are ready, so they are not throwing to many pitches in AAA, that they can be throwing in the majors.
Urias is ready, and he should come up, right after the date that Bobby said.
Bum
About Turner, maybe he has just been to tired, because the HR he hit yesterday, looked like the Turner of old.
The one Turner hit in the game before, didn’t look like the Turner of old, but that HR he hit yesterday, sure looked like Turner.
But he still isn’t going to cut his hair, and you know how demanding you can be, so are you sure he is your thirdbase man?
I thought Cory looked very tired yesterday, and that was from the begining of the game, so maybe he needs a day off.
I can’t wait until Urias comes up, as well as Ryu. If Ryu can pitch like before, he might be even better, after taking care of his shoulder.
It had to be hard for him, to pitch knowing a had a shoulder problem.
Maybe Puig will start hitting a little, because he got a few hits yesterday, and the whole team got a nice batting practice.
Roberts better never take Thompson, or one of the young players, out of leftfield, and have Crawford, playing leftfield, in a close game, especially in the later innings.
He is way to much of a defensive liability on defense, and his arm is even worse!
Did everyone see that they had to shut MCCarthy down, because he felt something in is elbow?
The Dodger GM of course down played McCarthy’s elbow tenderness. I would too, after I signed all of these pitchers, Injury prone pitchers, that pitched for the A’s, when our GM, was the A’s, assistant GM.
Everyone here, knew that signing MCCarthy and Anderson, were terrible signings.
The Dodgers knew MCCarthy and his terrible pitching well, because he pitched for the Dbacks.
And our GM said that Anderson just had freak injuries.
Anybody that watched Anderson pitch a couple of games, could see he was a big clutch.
…MJ said: “But he still isn’t going to cut his hair, and you know how demanding you can be, so are you sure he is your thirdbase man?” // LOL MJ, I am going to sneak into his hotel room and trim that hair up a little bit. He trimmed up his scraggly beard and it looks good, now he needs to do the same with his hair. Turner has earned the 3rd base job and it should be his through May.
….MJ said: “I thought Cory looked very tired yesterday, and that was from the begining of the game, so maybe he needs a day off.” // I agree. Young players need a mental day off more than they need a physical day off. Its a grind. I think the left side of the infield should be shared by Turner, seager, and Hernandez and the right side of the infield should be shared by Utley, Kendrick, and Agon.
Bum I really think last year, Joc learned what it will take, and is applying everything he learned. When his average starts slipping below 250, he eventually gets a couple of hits, and brings it up. I have always liked Turner, I just wanted Roberts to move him down, in the order, for the team and for Turner. In Dodgers Digest they said he was getting less fastballs this year. And I think they are pitching him inside a lot too.
Bobby I felt that Maeda got squeezed in that game. By first tbe umpire being knocked out, and then a new umpire came in, and had a different strike zone. And then Puig causing that pop fly, to be a triple. That pop fly was up in the air, a long time.
That umpire has the worst strike zone in the league. He constantly calls pitches that clearly hit the corners balls. He has had numerous arguments with the Dodgers before about squeezing the zone, and last year Mattingly got thrown out arguing with the guy. One of the few umps I have seen that makes AJ Ellis irritated.
Michael if your talking about the umpire that started the game, I think he got more then any umpire should get, when he left the game.
No, Angel Hernandez, the guy who replaced him……he is awful
Bobby that game made me nervous, all day long.
Long relief, Blanton or otherwise, isn’t going to help if 2/3+ of our starters and short relief sucks.
I want to hope for the best, but right now both the Midgets and the Snakes are looking better than a month ago. They may not suck as much as we hope(d). Which means we may actually be sellers at the trade deadline rather than buyers. Actually if we totally suck as much as this, and the 17th inning game victory (that should have been won in the 9th or the 15th, notwithstanding) had actually gives me more heartburn than just a total wipeout loss, I shudder to think what we’d be selling at the trade deadline. Yoikes.
YF this bullpen got me nervous all day yesterday, so I know how you feel. And that is because almost everytime the Dodgers took the lead in this game, a pitcher would come in, and get behind on the count, and walk the first hitter they faced, and that same hitter, they walked, eventually scored.
And then that hitter, tied the game again! The Padres didn’t have to get a hit to get on base, because Hatcher and Coleman, put hitters on, by walking them. Of course Hatcher almost always, comes into a game, and gets behind on the count, and walks a hitter.
And Coleman almost always does this, with the first hitter he faces. It seems like Coleman, is not warmed up enough, and doesn’t have his control, with the first hitter he faces. He isn’t as bad as Hatcher, but not many relief pitchers are.
And I didn’t like that Roberts had Kenley face BJ or Melvin again. I felt he did that personally for Kenley, Instead of think about the team. They had asked Roberts about that match up, after the first game, that Kenley loss. And Roberts made a big point about how he would take that match up, any time. Kenley is begining to think, that no hitter, can hit his stuff, and getting careless against hitters, especially with two strikes. Sometimes Kenley’s mechanics, are not correct, and his cutter is flat. And it has almost always seemed, that any time Kenley is asked for more then three outs, something happens, and he loses the game. I don’t know how you would find a stat like this, but maybe someone can check and see about Kenley’s record, when he pitches for more then three outs.
I have said it numerous times on here, and I have said it since spring training. This team has holes. There is talent here, but outside of Jansen, the bullpens roles are not defined. Blanton was supposed to be the long reliever. Hatcher the 8th inning guy, and Baez the 7th. Roberts is all over the place with them. But he is totally hand cuffed by the fact that outside of Kershaw, none of these clowns can go more than 6 innings, and some cannot do that. Outside of Kazmir 1 time, not one of the trio of Wood, Maeda, or Stripling has gone 8. I think if you check al 3 have only gotten to the 7th once. Stripling when he had his no-hitter working against the Giants. Wood at Dodger Stadium a couple weeks ago. Other than that, the strain on the bullpen has to be huge. It is a wonder their arms don’t fall off by July. 2 problems brining up Urias, 1 is creating roster space, the other is the fact that the kid is only 19, and has never thrown 100 innings in his career. I think rushing him to spot start is ridiculous. Lee has been doing well at OKC and he is on the 40 man, bring him up and find out now if he has anything to offer. Kike should be sent down to play everyday until he gets his mojo back. Call up Segedin, who is crushing the ball at AAA, and use Turner as the utility guy for now. Have someone explain to Puig that when the bunt is too the 3rd baseman, run stupid.
I agree Segedin deserves a look, but where would you play him–first or third? Or maybe just have him pinch-hit? I think managing is a lot like Blackjack: sometimes you play perfect strategy and go bust while sometimes someone does everything wrong and walks away the winner. Roberts keeps shuffling his cards trying to find a winning hand. The lineup yesterday looked pretty good, although the double-switch took Thompson out of the game for Crawford, which was not PBK as Chick would put it.
If you play perfect basic strategy you will go bust over the long run. In the short term anything can happen. FAZ are more like card counters use information gleaned from the game to make their bets. Won’t always win, minimize the chances of going bust (not making the post season) and above all ignore the losing slide (negative variance) up until a certain point before they reasses. Which made me think. When do these kinds of baseball analysts give up on the season and start to sell? How many losses by July 1?
I play him at 3rd. Move Turner to the bench, and keep a Howie-Utley combo at 2nd, with Howie giving A-Gone a rest. I also send Kike to the OKC team to get steady AB’s and regain his mojo
Roberts pretty much had to replace Thompson with Crawford. It was a double switch. He was bringing Kenly in with two out in the eighth. If he hadn’t made the double switch, he would have had to let Kenley bat next half-inning or hit for him and get a new pitcher. He really had no choice there.
I guess I would’ve let Calhoun finish what he started rather than make that move, but you’re right of course.
Wondering
Did you see Roberts interview after Kenley blew the save the first time? He could have let Coleman finish the inning.
I have been watching Segedin and wondering if he could help. He’s already 27 and hasn’t made it yet, but he could be a late bloomer, I suppose.
Turner looks like he’s waking up. 2 hr this past weekend in SD. Maybe his knee is finally feeling good, and he’s regaining his stroke.
I trust him over some dude named Segedin who’s most likely an AAAA player
Nothing to be too proud of from yesterday. Kendrick, maybe. Maeda cruises along and then, Bang! Not the first time this has happened. Reading a Grienke interview from yesterday, he says he is pitching inside more, and keeping the ball down better. He thought he was getting too predictable. Maeda, etc. need to do the same thing. Honeycutt should whisper this in their ears. Stripling got away with some bad pitches, from the little I saw. I would say his confidence level is still low, even after yesterday’s win. Now for the lowly Reds. After the lowly Padres. The Reds bullpen is worse than ours. Of course, they haven’t had the good fortune to go against our hitters.
I guess the good news is they kept fighting when it would’ve been easy to say, “it’s just not our day.” Puig puts that pop fly in his pocket most of the time and Maeda is down one run. But yeah, it was an ugly win.
Trade idea
Guerrro, Hatcher, and failed prospect Anderson
for
Gregerson – HOU
Houston has the worst 3B (.173) in MLB, and 18th of 24th (.196) DH, and they are not going anywhere this year.
It is a lot abut it gets rid of multiple problems and fake depth
Start Kendrick at 3B and make Turner the often played Reserve
Make it happen Bob, except for the Turner part. Or, trade Kendrick instead of Guerrero and get a better player back.
For Maeda — yesterday had that long break in the action when the home plate umpire got hurt and the game was stopped — Maeda was not the same after the break.
San Jose giants beat RC again. Took the series at RC. Will our teams ever learn to beat these guys? Head to head, it is no match. And RC is good, in first place. Dodgers’ “good” and giants’ “good” are two different words. Dodgers’ “good” is going to the playoffs; giants’ “good” is beating the Dodgers and winning a championship. Different priorities, I think. More success with lesser talent.
Overreact much?
For those of you who didn’t see the game yesterday, here’s video of the ump doing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite:
https://streamable.com/cegi
I’ll pass.