Zack Greinke was the one the Dodgers let get away (to Arizona). Like a true mercenary, Greinke chased the dollars to the desert, and many in LA were smug and satisfied when he began 2016 in the worst way possible. Greinke was shelled mercilessly early in the season, but the pitchers the Dodgers replaced him with really haven’t been doing much better.
He has since recovered (16 innings scoreless streak), and has been pitching well enough to put the fear of Greinke into a Dodgers lineup that would probably have trouble scoring against Charlie Brown.
Here’s how the happy reunion played out.
1st inning
Dodgers
RBI double by Justin Turner scored Corey Seager to put the Dodgers ahead. 1-0
Dbacks
Mike Bolsinger gives up a Paul Goldschmidt home run. OF COUUUURRSE!!! 1-1
3rd inning Tie score 1-1
Dodgers
Corey Seager – Walk
Justin Turner – Single
Then three straight outs, with two Ks.
Dbacks
Bolsinger gives up another homer. 2-1
5th inning Dbacks 2-1
Dodgers
Corey Seager solo home run! 2-2
Dbacks
Bolsinger can’t hold the lead. He gave up the go-ahead run and he was gone. Dbacks 3-2
J.P. Howell in with two out and a runner on first. Job done.
8th inning Dbacks 3-2
Dodgers
They had one of their best chances of the night. Bases loaded on three walks with one out.
Three pitch strike out for Enrique Hernandez.
Howie Kendrick flied out to center field to end the inning.
9th inning Dbacks 3-2
Dodgers down to their last three outs, with the top of the order coming up.
Chase Utley: 4-3
Corey Seager: 6-3
Justin Turner: 1-3
Dodgers lose 3-2
Mike Bolsinger gave what Dodger fans have become accustomed to. He doesn’t get shelled, but he just can’t hold a lead. If the Dodgers give him one run, he’ll give it back. If they give him two runs, he’ll give those back. It’s like he’s a super nice pitcher who doesn’t want the other team to be behind and feel bad. To make matters worse, he’ll probabbly go out and pitch well his next time out. just so he keeps Dodgers management fooled that he’s got it figured out and now he’ll pitch good every time…honest.
The Dodgers pushed the Mercenary to 120 pitches, but they couldn’t do anything against him beyond their usual: Score in the first inning, and then pick up a solo home run later. Even their eighth inning threat wasn’t legitimate. They had bases loaded on three walks. When they needed to actually do something in order to score – they failed miserably.
On the bright side…it was nice to see Greinke again?
Mike Bolsinger (1-4) went 4 2/3 innings with 5 hits, 3 runs, 0 walks, 5 Ks, 2 HR. ERA 5.76
Doubles: Pederson, Turner, Van Slyke
Home run: Corey Seager
Team with RISP: 0 for freakin’ 11 Jeeeeeezzzzzz !!!
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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Greinke is beatable and the Dodgers were on their way to doing it. But, when you’ve got a pitcher like Bolsinger, who gives up way too many home runs, and hitters who don’t hit, 3 walks, bases loaded, 1 out, and no one comes through, well, how many more chances are you going to get?
No, Bolsinger is not a 5 inning guy, he’s a 4 inning guy. 🙂
Maeda tomorrow. He’s looking good, again. There’s hope.
In the 5th inning when the D-Backs scored their 3rd run, was that not because of the stolen base, or was that a passed ball or wild pitch — but the runner should not have been at 2nd base . . . scores.
But I remember saying to myself at the moment — is there not a catcher in the Dodger system who can catch the ball . . .
Roger
I think that a passed ball, has allowed the other team to score, in at least the last two or three games. And last night, that was the go ahead run, in the game. Honeycutt also went out there to Bolsinger, to give him the instructions, how to pitch the next hitter, and Bolsinger of course, allowed a hit, and the go ahead run, scored. I could tell that Roberts was pissed at Bolsinger.
Please send wake-up alarm when this season ends. This may be one of the least entertaining clubs that I have ever had the “pleasure” of watching.
Set and ready
Well, if there’s a positive take away, Corey Seager will be the ROY…..and we aren’t paying Kemp and Hanley huge multi-year deals to give the team negative WAR numbers.
At least we’re not the Angels.
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=21,a
Dodger patch
That may be true, but the front office, has wasted a lot of money, on injury ridden pitchers. And because of that, Bolsinger is pitching in the Dodgers starting pitching rotation.
Well Dodger patch, I will take Kemp’s 253 average, 15 homers, and 43 RBI’s over Grandal’s lousy stats anyday……Other than Thompson, we do not have an OF close to those stats……..
Michael that is for sure! I remember when they traded Kemp, everyone knew that the Dodgers offense, would go down. And when the front office signed MCCarthy and Anderson, everyone knew that those were really bad signings. And that is why the Dodgers now have Bolsinger, pitching in there rotatation.
Michael
We really miss Ethier’s bat, in the outfield.
He was the Dodgers best bat, in the second half last year.
yeah, and from the looks of things he will not be back before August, when most likely we will be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo far behind the Gnats, that there will be no shot to catch them…
Just the pitching match up makes me mad. The Dodgers shouldn’t have a pitcher like Bolsinger, even in there starting pitching rotation.
The reason that Bolsinger is in the Dodgers rotation, is because of incompetence of the front office. Because they signed all of these pitchers, that pitched for the A’s when our GM was working for the A’s, that have long injury histories.
And then claimed that was depth. When it comes to odds, Anderson must have had the greatest odds, to go down because of injury, of any pitcher, pitching in the majors.
He is the most unathletic pitcher, I have ever seen. And he has only been able to pitch two seasons, in his entire career, that he didn’t go out hurt.
And predictably he went down before the season even began. And because so many pitchers have went down, the Dodgers have a Pitcher like Bolsinger, now pitching in there starting rotation.
And there is so much wasted money, because of the pitchers, they have signed, with long injury histories. And there are still people backing every move they have made, including the signing of Anderson, and MCCarthy.
The Dodgers now have two pitchers, that even the Dbacks, didn’t want on there team. That is a joke. And about important times in the game, Roberts needs to stop putting Kike, up in clutch situations. Kike just isn’t able to slow the game down, right now.
After Kike batted last night, and Howie already had two strikes, Orel said that the Dbacks pitcher, had only thrown one strike to both Kike, and Howie at that point. And Kike struck out on three pitches.
And two of those pitches, were balls, so Kike struck himself out. But I have to say, that Howie did have two good at bats, and got a hit in those two at bats, so Howie, looks like he is starting to hit again.
Well guys, it is my birthday, #68, so I am not going to upset myself on a day that I am having cake and Ice Cream, and a lot of hazelnut coffee. Suffice it to say that Mike Bolsinger is not even a good AAA pitcher. He does not belong in any major league rotation, let alone a rotation in which the team payroll exceeds 250 million. He should have gone the way of Crawford and A-Gone Jr. by now, but alas, the so called genius’s in the FO have NO ONE to put in his place because they are either injured, McCarthy, Ryu, Anderson, Beachy, or because they are not quite MLB ready…Lee, Deleon, Cotton..so we are forced to watch the Bolsinger dog and pony show. Oh yeah, Wood is injured too…….must be made of balsa wood…..well, blow up the pitching staff, and bring some guys up to see what they have got. Steve Howe made the jump from AA to the bigs, try it with that kid Trevor Oaks at AA Tulsa, or Brock Stewart…..they both have ERA’s under 3 and Oaks is 8-1. Try something, anything, but do not subject us to another Mike Bolsinger slop show….
Michael
Happy Birthday, and have a great day!
I hope the Dodgers can pull off a win, to night, for your birthday, and everyone else’s, peace of mind.
Thanks MJ, much appreciated………yeah, a win would be nice….Maeda’s pitching, so they have a decent shot if they hit.
It all makes sense if you look into the future.
The one problem that I see, and Tim referenced it yesterday, is the lack of confidence most, including me, have in Friedman to pull off the moves (FA signing primarily) when the time comes (and it will) to do it. I’m going with a “they aren’t really trying that hard now” approach. It’s working for me.
Happy birthday Michael.
Badger, you hit the nail on the head. They are focused on tomorrow or next year or whatever. There is no urgency in the team or the FO. It can be maddening. But I am too old and remember the bad and the good. I do know that as constructed right now, they are no where near championship caliber. The best thing about this year is the development of Corey Seager, and the inspired play of Trayce Thompson, of whom I said WHO? When he was traded to the Dodgers……the could use 5 more like him
Thanks Badger…..I appreciate it…..heading to the hills for some fishing for 4 days on Thursday…..after CK pitches naturally! LOL
Well don’t you have that timed about right! Happy D-Day, I mean B-day!
Thank you Chili…yeah I did! LOL
Thank you Chili, and yeah I did ! LOL
Badger
That is not easy to do.
Because this same team, except for Greinke, and really, a couple of new position players, that are actually better, then the ones that were here, are the same team, that went to the play offs last year.
And the other reason that makes it hard, is that we are expecting that Turner, Agone, and Howie’s bats, to heat up soon.
And Turner looks like he is getting hot now.
The other reason is, that the Dodgers are not out of the race yet.
And they have been able to mostly, to stay close to the Giants, even with everyone out with injuries.
And with many of our good hitters, not hitting, like they have in the past.
And really, if Kenley would have been able to save that second game in SF, everything would be different right now.
The Dodgers would only be at the most, four games out.
And everyone here, would be feeling, a lot different right now.
Badger
In ESPN it said that the front office was getting pressure, from the inside of the Dodger organization, and outside of the organization, to bring a good bat, to the Dodgers right now.
Because the Dodgers have mostly complementary players, that are only are able to hit pitches, that are mistakes, by pitchers.
And the Dodgers offense, needs a hitter, that can hit good pitching.
And Friedman had said, that they would be checking in on getting another player, to help the team, after all the draft stuff was over.
June 14th..flag day…..I was 21 before I realized they were not putting the flag up just because it was my birthday! But on this day, I remember the pledge I took to my country and my fellow soldiers, to protect and defend, and I have never forgotten…..God Bless the USA and all of you…….
Wish I felt 68 again, 75 now, big difference.
I said I was 68..but some day’s I feel 90 LOL
Wondering
Your not making me hopeful, for the future.
Back at you Michael, and thanks for your serivice!
Happy birthday Michael!
Thank you Scott….love my Dodgers!
Bolsinger was pretty good last year until the Braintrust grabbed Latos to take his place. He wasn’t the same in the 2nd half of the season. He looked good this spring and then got hurt. And no, he hasn’t been good since.
Bolsinger is the “depth” that everyone has talked about. He was never intended to start the season in the rotation – he is a 6th starter. That being said, he is in the rotation because the Braintrust decided to sign the likes of McCarthy and Anderson, who have been injured nearly every year their whole careers. That is the error in judgement.
The “Moneyball” theory is to find “market inefficiencies” – that is, stuff that other miss, and because others miss it, you can get it cheaply due to supply and demand. The Braintrust decided that frequently-injured pitchers can be had cheaply so signed them instead of signing – say, Johnny Cueto.
Bolsinger is fine for what he is – he just shouldn’t be in the position of being a regular member of the rotation and would not be if not for the Braintrust’s penchant for signing the infirm.
When I looked at the staff last year my first thought was, with Kershaw and Greinke anchoring it could be good IF Anderson and McCarthy don’t get hurt again. Of course one went down rather quickly, now both are down. For this year? Most of us figured Greinke was gone and to replace him would be virtually impossible. So instead of signing one or more of the premier free agents, we sign who we did and we didn’t add a bat. These non moves was a clear signal to me – we will compete with who we got, or not, and in the mean time we get Urias, Montas, and hopefully De Leon, some innings, Thompson and Seager and others, valuable experience, and The Plan is one step closer to operation. We are bargain shoppers until we aren’t. Is this team worth offering up De Leon, or Bellinger, or Holmes or Buehler – for all that it would take to beat the Cubs, Nats, Cards, gints in a long series? I say no. I keep everybody until we are close (like last year) then I make the move. I don’t anticipate being close anytime soon. Blue – prove me wrong.
I saw the HR that Puig hit in Rancho, it was in right field.
And Puig didn’t swing hard at all.
It sounded like Puig would be back, to the big team on Sat. Maybe working with Puig’s mechanics, will pay off, when he gets back.
Happy Birthday, Michael. When you were born, I was a 10 year old kid running through the pasture pretending I had a playmate. May you have many more great years!
Guess we are both glad we made it this far.