The Dodgers are red hot right now. They’ve won six consecutive games and are coming off of one of the most exciting games of the season that saw them come from behind to score two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Nationals on Wednesday evening 4-3. The highlight of the rally was Yasiel Puig’s mad dash towards home. Everyone in the media called it a “little league home run” but what it actually was a single and a three-base error when Michael Taylor over ran the ball in center field which allowed Puig to race all the way around and score.
The incredible inning and series has reminded us of that magic the club had back in 2013 when they went on that incredible 42-8 run. As I’ve said since spring training, the Dodgers will probably win around 90 games this season. The playoffs are a different story. It’s just nice to know that the season has turned around somewhat and that they’re capable of winning on any night. There are still problems with injuries and holes in the roster but there’s enough talent on the club to overcome and at the least be competitive. That’s all I ask for, is to be competitive.
Dodgers Lineup @ Pittsburgh-TBA
Nick Tepesch-0-0 vs. Jameson Taillon-1-1
Game Time – 4:10 PM -TV- SNLA
After a much needed day off on Thursday the boys in blue travel to steel town to take on the Pirates which begins a seven game road trip. The Dodgers will play a four game wrap-around series from Friday through Monday in Pittsburgh and then fly to Milwaukee for the final leg of the trip. They’ll go for their seventh consecutive win in the series opener.
As the series begins we get to meet Nick Tepesch. Who is Nick Tepesch you ask? He’s the Dodger’s starting pitcher on Friday night of course, of course. Why is Nick Tepesch starting on Friday against the Pirates? Because everyone is hurt and the front office did such a poor job building the pitching staff and acquiring reliable starters.
The Dodgers have four starting pitchers on the disabled list (Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-jin Ryu, Brett Anderson, and Alex Wood). The Dodgers have two more starters who they’re shutting down for the season because they’re petrified they’ll blow their arms out (Julio Urias, Ross Stripling), and they have one other starter who is terrible (Mike Bolsinger). So that’s it, the Dodgers have used up all of their so called “depth”. That only leaves random triple-A guys who we’ve never heard of to fill the backend of the rotation. Enter Nick Tepesch.
To be honest, I had barely heard of him. He’s a 27-year old right hander from Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Missouri University and was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fourteenth round of the 2010 amateur draft. He made his MLB debut for the Rangers in 2013. In that debut season he made 17 starts and tossed 93 frames while posting a 4-6 record and a 4.84 ERA. He struck out 76 and walked 27, and posted a 7.4 K/9 rate. However he allowed 100 hits and a 9.7 hits per nine rate.
|
#
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
PCT
|
GB
|
HOME
|
AWAY
|
L10
|
||
|
1
|
|
47
|
27
|
.635
|
–
|
22-13
|
25-14
|
9-1
|
||
|
2
|
|
41
|
33
|
.554
|
6.0
|
23-15
|
18-18
|
8-2
|
||
|
3
|
|
34
|
38
|
.472
|
12.0
|
15-17
|
19-21
|
5-5
|
||
|
4
|
|
35
|
40
|
.467
|
12.5
|
13-25
|
22-15
|
7-3
|
||
|
5
|
|
31
|
43
|
.419
|
16.0
|
18-22
|
13-21
|
5-5
|
||
In 2014 he appeared in 23 games for the Rangers and made 22 starts. He posted a 5-11 record and a 4.36 ERA. He struck out 56 and walked 44 in 126 innings pitched. He’s battled injuries over the last couple of seasons. He had severe shoulder inflammation and also had to miss all of 2015 after having thoracic outlet syndrome. He had the same surgery that Josh Beckett had. He seems to be recovered. He pitched in 11 games for the Ranger’s triple-A affiliate Round Rock and then was placed on waivers and released. The Dodgers signed him on June 6. He started 3 games for Oklahoma City and posted a 3-0 record with a 2.50 ERA. He struck out 17 and walked 3.
Supposedly Tepesch has a solid composure on the mound. He throws a four pitch mix with a fastball, slider, curve and changeup. He also has been considered a control pitcher that is able to throw strikes. Tepesch has walked 2.9 per nine over his two-year MLB career. The current Pirates haven’t seen him in a while.
Tepesch vs. Pirates
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| David Freese | 13 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .308 | .308 | .308 | .615 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Jaso | 8 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .375 | .375 | 1.000 | 1.375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matthew Joyce | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .200 | .333 | .600 | .933 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Erik Kratz | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sean Rodriguez | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 33 | 32 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | .313 | .333 | .531 | .865 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Countering for the Bucs will be 24-year old right hander Jameson Taillon. The rookie is in his first MLB season. He’s made just three MLB starts posting a 1-1 record and a 3.50 ERA. Taillon got hammered in his last start. He gave up four earned runs on eight hits over four frames in a loss against the Cubs. However the week before he tossed eight shutout frames against the Mets for his first big league win. The Dodgers have never faced him before. Remember Taillon throws hard, but hadn’t pitched since 2013 after succumbing to Tommy John surgery. Taillon is a Lakeview, Florida native.
In order to clear room for Tepesch somebody has to be cut because he’s not on the 40-man roster. Maybe Urias gets sent back down? Or perhaps this could be the day they finally cut ties with Chris Hatcher. I don’t know. My bet is on Urias getting sent down for now and somebody moving to the 60-day DL. I won’t be around when that move and the lineups are announced because I’ll be at work. Oscar will be and he’ll fill you in on all the moves and the game recap.
Nick Tepesch No-Hitter vs. Wilmington (5/19) from Jason Cole on Vimeo.
In the meantime check out this video of Tepesch tossing 7.1 innings of no-hit ball for high-A ball Myrtle Beach. This was back in 2012.
Go Blue!
Venable DFA’d to make room for this guy, pitching staff back at 13, which I think is a joke. Bench is thin enough with 5 guys. 4 makes it worse, and the 4 are most likely SVS, Kike, Ellis, and whoever is not playing LF..also leaves them without a LH pinch hitter…….DUMB
Michael
Who would you have moved? Or are you just upset, that they brought this pitcher up, for one game?
Howell…..he has pretty much not pitched at all lately. I am upset that this dumb ass front office has forced the fans to watch so many mediocre pitchers ply their trade. As for Mark’s remark about having a deeper bullpen, well the frippen BP is over worked already as it is, as I see it, this is basically a throw away game, just as it would have been had Bolsinger or whoever pitched. There is no rhyme nor reason to the moves they make. They should have signed a solid 3 months ago, or at least traded for a true #2. What good are prospects who cannot give you immediate help? Trade someone who is lower tier, or maybe 3 or 4 of those guys and get a solid pitcher and do it before the trade deadline. Or they are going to look up and find themselves in a hole they cannot dig out of. There are good starters available, but Fried Brains keeps going to the friggin bargain bin for JUNK, and I for one am sick and tired of it…..this is the DODGERS>….not the damn Rays
It may be Dumb, but it would have been Dumber to not have a deep bullpen with a guy you know very little about.
Montas was going to get the call, but broke another rib. Maybe he should get them all removed. I think he’s effectively done this year.
FAZ only signs players who will get injured. I said it so, some other guys don’t have to say it… as stupid as it sounds!
Did someone hack your account? …and it’s already been said.
Specifically, which part was said? All of it? Some of it?
OH, I didn’t read the last thread!
Montas broke another rib? What does he do in his spare time, roller derby?
I’ll predict that there will be no middle ground. Tepesch will be shut-out good of batting practice bad! Hang on!
1 – Tepesch is not going to be the savior of the Dodgers’ season. He is 9 – 19 with a 4.56 ERA in parts of 2 seasons (2013-14) with Texas. He has a WHIP of 1.36 and K/9 of 5.4. If he pitches more than a game or 2, we are in trouble.
2 – Tepesch is another example of the Dodgers’ “depth”. The fact that we are using him at all speaks volumes – Bolsinger has been bad, Urias is a bright spot but cannot yet pitch enough innings to help much, Wood has been hurt most of the season, McCarthy, Ryu, Anderson and Montas may not ever be able to help (at least this year), so the Dodgers are left with the Great Clayton Kershaw, Maeda (a #3 or 4 starter in my view), the inconsistent, HR prone Kazmir (notably, neither Maeda nor Kazmir are able to consistently pitch deep into games) and then ???
3 – So, the Dodgers are going to compete with the Giants with this rotation? And before Mark reminds us again how good the Dodgers’ pitching stats are, I would posit that no team would want the back end of a rotation like what the Dodgers are forced to throw out there and will be using the rest of the way. Kershaw is 11-1; the rest of the staff is 30-32.
4 – The Dodgers are facing 17 games in 17 days beginning tonight. What will they be using for 4th and 5th starters?
5 – I’m glad that Turner and Kendrick have started to hit; I note that Thompson has stopped hitting. Will the Dodgers be able to score? They are 11th out of 15 NL teams in runs scored (4.2/game). They’d better score more than that with the pitchers who are pitching.
6 – The recent series with the Nats may be a good sign – is the team awakening from a season-long slumber to play better ball, or are they a tease?
This is the only thing we need to remember regarding our great pitching staff:
If we’re a wild card team, Kersh will pitch in that wild card game. If he can win that game, it means games 1 and 2 on the road of the NLDS in Chicago or DC or NYC will be started by Maeda and Kazmir.
Kersh wont pitch until Game 3 at home or Game 4 at home. We’ll see then how our great and deep our pitching staff is.
Tepesch ready to step into the spotlight!
Another bolsinger,now I see why all the previous scouts were fired
I just got up off the floor. I have been laughing for the past twenty minutes. Tepesch is throwing batting practice and the Pirates are eating it up.
So this is the minor league depth that Mark loves so very much.
OKAY — I have one things I have faith in for the Dodger system. That some of the draft picks of last year and this year and international signings — some will rise to the top and help the major league club.
SO — take a prospect or two and get some pitching. Now.
7 H and 5 R in 2 1/3 IP.
Shocking.
Badger
Did you hear Puig’s bat, when he hit that HR?
I keep hearing that. Who would you suggest?
Of course he is not the depth. He’s here for just one game. Montas was going to get the start, but…
Los Angeles Times
By: Brad Smiley
June 24, 2016
What goes around can sometimes come around in various ways.
Andrew Friedman’s wife said that she needed a new car, her old one needed an oil change and she was just too busy to stop by the dealer for the oil change. So she told her husband to take care of getting her a car.
Andrew knows this guy in Downey. So he stopped by on his way to the office and made a deal. He found a 1955 Nash Rambler, fully loaded.
Here is it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTp2aaVPMZY
The car has 198,523 miles on the engine (which is the third engine). Andrew paid $19,999. What a deal. She will love the car.
Charlie said that the Dodgers W-L record is identical to last year’s at this time (74 games). Is that right? And after 74 games last year, the Dodgers were up one game on the Giants.
Sounds like the Giants got better and we didn’t.
I believe there’s a little over 50% of the season left that will determine that.
We are halfway around the track.
By the way, another great start by Brock Stewart for OKC today:
6ip, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1bb, 10k
Oh well.
8 out of 11….still not bad.
Well Michael you were right! One wasted game. And Hatcher and Baez, have given up 14 HRs now.
The offense gets you back in the game you need to shut down the other team. Coleman was unlucky a little bit, but still he did not get the job done. Hatcher is Hatcher, and that is not a very good pitcher. Grandal is still a slug behind the plate and at bat. Gonzo missed a couple of big chances as did Howie. Puig, Seager and Turner continue to get better…….Good bye Tepesch. Do not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out……
just dont go to the games …maybe the front office will get to message
Well Jerry…….that is unrealistic because you would need all the fans to come together and boycott the team, and that is not going to happen. If I do not go to the games it makes no dent in how much money those guys will rake in. The Dodgers lead MLB in attendance. And us not going to games does not bother the FO at all….the owners would have to see a major drop in attendance to even think there was a problem……
Perhaps if everyone boycotted the games every time the Dodgers lost, they would never lose ever again…ever.
I chuckle over the histrionics following a single loss.
Trepesh isn’t depth. He’s this year’s Scott Baker….Stephen Fife…and those countless other guys whose names I don’t recall and don’t care that I don’t recall. He’s an emergency spot starter.
It’s not FAZ’s fault Montas broke a rib. They couldn’t have foreseen he would break a rib. There is no such thing as a Magic Sabre Crystal Ball. They don’t, by design, go out and sign players who are guaranteed to get injured.
Get a grip.
Baker, Fife and those countless other guys was the pitching depth FAZ had lined up after Kershaw and Greinke. Now the countless string of wannabe arms is only after Kershaw. We’re still in it and that’s all that matters.
And the grip you recommend is getting harder to come by in today’s world.
Well, that was forgettable.
We hit enough to win most games, but not this one, and frankly it isn’t all that surprising.
One at a time.
Wasted days and wasted nights………seem to have heard that somewhere before……They had them on the ropes…….and blew it….
Badger
Puig is 5 for 11, and one HR.
When Puig hit that HR, it was loud off his bat.
And it did look like Puig did have a more compact swing.
He got all of it. If he can just do it more often.
It’s good that we appear to be hitting. We keep it up, we can score 6+ and it will be good enough on most nights.
Doesn’t it seem like the front office isn’t really trying? Six games back and they give the starters an extra day off to audition another AAA pitcher? Will we see Brock Stewart before they decide he’s thrown enough innings and shut him down too?
Snider
That gets maddening because they are responsible for the rotation problem.
And there is no second guessing from anyone who has mentioned this.
The only thing that surprises me is that this hasn’t happened more often. They’ve actually pitched better than I thought they would. But it’s a long season and I think this staff is going to get stretched thin.
Badger
Good point! This isn’t even Hatcher or Coleman’s fault.
It’s all second guessing. Pretty silly as a matter of fact. The FO realizes that the season is not won until the end. FAZ is most certainly responsible for the rotation problems: They wrecked Ryu’s shoulder, McCarthy’s elbow, Anderson’s back and Montas’ rib! FAZ the Destroyer! If you say you knew it would happen, please be prepared to tell me what the stock market will do at the closing bell Monday!
If Montas had went down a week from now, we might have seen De Leon, but FAZ isn’t making any dope-fiend moves on that. They aren’t going to trade top prospects they have been sitting on and they sure are hell don’t care if you or me are happy. They have a plan, even if you can’t grasp it for whatever reasons. They aren’t going to change the plan. The Future is what it is all about. It not about beating the Giants for a year – IT ABOUT BEATING THEM FOREVER!
Has anyone been shut down yet? The Dodgers are being cautious with Stripling, De Leon and Urias and if they weren’t you all would be on them for not being cautious. I can’t believe how miserable some people are.
Yeah, the front office is not really trying! Really? You said that? Say that your computer was hacked and I will understand… otherwise that is incredibly ridiculous!
Mark
What I said is that everyone here said at the time, that signing these pitchers, with long injury histories, was not a good idea.
No, you have been very clear on your position Mark. It’s about now AND the future. It’s about 95 wins now, which if done would surely win the Division. The fact that some of us saw this coming is simply because we are astute evaluators of talent.
I’m not talking about only today, or Montas.
What I’m pointing out is not that some injuries were unforeseen, although counting on pitchers who are already injured being ready on schedule seemed unrealistic. I’m talking about moves that are made which make no sense and other moves that are not made. Of course, it’s only one grumpy old man’s opinion, but the seven games between the Dodgers and Giants is coincidently the difference in wins between Cueto and Kazmir.
And the market will be down at the close Monday. You’re welcome.
Just saw a video of Tepesch in 2012. He was hitting 93-94 on his fastball all game long. Tonite he never hit 90. Radar guns different in the minors? Mound closer to home plate?
Curse the Godless FAZ! May all the Plagues of the Bible befall him….
Injuries happen…..we all know that and nobody can foresee them. BUT…signing guys to long term contracts who have injury history’s and expecting them not to get injured is just plain stupid. Signing players off the trash heap and expecting them to excel in a pressure packed division race is also stupid. I am not saying sell the farm to win now. What I am saying is be more diligent in who you sign. Anderson, McCarthy, both had history’s and they were not pretty. So you pay McCarthy 48 million and so far have 4 wins and almost 8 months on the disabled list. You bring back Anderson for almost 16 million and he has been out since spring. Wood, Montas, nobody could predict those. Beachy, he is still recovering from his 2nd TJ surgery. The kids are on innings limits, so they are not going to be all that much help either. Trading for a vet like Shield probably would not have worked, but Zimmerman has been pretty good over in Detroit. He would have been a great acquisition and he would have only cost some money.
Michael
Zimmerman was the guy I wanted, and actually by today’s standards in baseball, he was a very good deal. And signing Beachy was another big risk.