A massive heat wave has spread across southern California but the Dodgers are ice cold as they continue to play crappy uninspired baseball. The Dodgers dropped their fifth straight game losing to the Dbacks 8-1 on Thursday afternoon. The Snakes swept them right out of the desert in embarrassing fashion. Once again the Dodgers were losing in the first inning. It seems lately that the club just shows up to the game with a deficit. This time it was Kenta Maeda’s turn to pitch like garbage and well, he certainly did. It was 2-0 Arizona by the second inning and things got far worse from there. Sound familiar? It sure does. Take a look below at what the Dodger starters have done in this series.
#Dodgers starting pitchers in this series (Hill, Ryu, Maeda) — 10 2/3 IP, 19 runs, .436 BA (24 for 55), 7 doubles, 1 triple, 6 HRs
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 31, 2017
It seems as if the Dodgers have regressed right back to the way they were playing in April. The formula for losing is so simple that even beginner math students could calculate it. The starting pitchers allow 3-5 runs right away in the first inning putting the team in an early hole that the offense is unable to dig out of. So to recap; terrible starting pitching, early deficits, and listless offense means more losing. And trust me the Dodgers will continue to lose if they keep using this formula. With Corey Seager still out with a sore elbow, and Justin Turner slumping and automatic outs like Enrique Hernandez and Logan Forsythe in the lineup every day the Offense has been nonexistent, with the exception of a few spurts here and there.
Dodgers 1 5 0
Dbacks 8 10 0
WP-Greinke-16-6
LP-Maeda-12-6
HR-Iannetta-13-Pollack-9
Let’s get back to the starting pitching though. That’s been the big problem. Maeda joined the ranks of the rest of the fifth inning strugglers, but I should really just call them the first inning strugglers now. That’s because they continuously give up runs in the opening frame. The Dodgers have been outscored 10-0 in the first inning this series by Arizona.
Maeda gave up two in the first, three runs in the bottom of the second and two more in the third inning. His final pitching line looked as ugly as his pitches. The Japanese right hander allowed seven earned runs on eight hits across three frames. He struck out four and walked one. As usual the very first batter of the game Gregor Blanco immediately doubled. After a walk and a force out, professional Dodger killer Paul Goldschmidt doubled in two to put the Snakes up 2-0.
The Snakes played some long ball in the second frame. After a Ketel Marte single and a run-scoring Gregor Blanco double Chris Iannetta’s line drive home run to left scored two more runs to put the Dbacks up 5-0. Are we sensing a pattern here?
The third inning made no difference as the Dbacks continued with their batting practice. Goldschmidt doubles (again) and A.J. Pollack homers to make the score 7-1 Arizona. Of the dbacks 10 hits, six of them were for extra-bases. Goldschmidt and Blanco each had two doubles, and the former Giant Blanco had three hits on the afternoon. Just plain bad.
As for the Dodger bats, there wasn’t much to write home about. As with the formula I mentioned above the offense went right to sleep after the club was down 5-0. The only run scored was from an Adrian Gonzalez RBI double in the top of the second. The Dodgers had five hits and left five men on base. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Opposing starter and Dodger turncoat Zack Greinke effortlessly tossed six innings of one-run ball against the sad sack Dodgers. Greinke struck out six and walked two while making 99 pitches. Boy wouldn’t it be nice to get that kind of starting pitching performance lately?
On the bright side September reinforcements are on their way. According to reports the Dodgers will be calling up top outfield prospect Alex Verdugo. The twitter tropes are still going crazy over it. The Dodgers are also calling up PCL minor league pitcher of the year Wilmer Font. Apparently Joc Pederson will remain in triple-A. Trust me Joc, be grateful. You don’t want any part of this misery.
Dodgers last 5-game losing streak: April 25-30, 2016. There have been 131 diff 5-game losing streaks in MLB since May 1, 2016 (PHI has 12)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 31, 2017
Clayton Kershaw returns on Friday evening as the Dodgers look to get swept in San Diego. Right hander Dinelson Lamet (what a name) will counter for the Padres. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PST.
Well now that we got that garbage out of the way, they can get back to business. 4 very winnable games over the next 3 days with Kersh and Wood both returning from the DL and reinforcements arriving. Then return the favor to the Dirt Bags next week in LA>
Is it the SI cover jinx? Most probably.
My own theory is that the FAZ are just geniuses. They understand, having done extensive analysis over the past three years, is that there is one thing within the four corners of Dodger Nation that can put us over the top and supercharge the team for at least a month and maybe two.
And that is a Scott Andes explosion.
It’s worked everytime. Scott goes down a hit list (very desevedly so, by the way), and invariably everyone goes on a tremendous and prolonged hot streak thereafter. And it’s funny as hell the way he writes it. Oscar had a couple of good ones last year too I recall but he can’t touch the master (yet!).
We haven’t had one yet this year – however I can feel Scott is warming it up on a low fire. Note to FAZ, we’ve got to time it right and hit all the right buttons at the right time (the starting rotation, Kike, Hatcher is gone but Forsythe is here …).
What’s the right time? If we get stomped like this against the Nationals … get ready folks and strap yourselves in! I am thinking the 2001 Lakers.
(Nah … it’s probably just the SI cover jinx …)
Well I am glad we play the Dbacks again at Dodger stadium next week, but two of our best starting pitchers will be pitching against the Padres this weekend.
So it looks like it will be these same pitchers, starting against the Dbacks again next week, that will be fun, not!
And for anyone that doesn’t think Agone is worth being in the line up, he was the only one that hit a run in today.
Kershaw would be in line to pitch on Wednesday against the D-Backs. Which means Ryu and Maeda in games 1 & 2, but they both have better numbers in LA. Dodger Stadium is a pitchers park. And the night air should cut down on those long bombs we saw indoors in AZ.
Michael
Thanks I sure hope so, I want them to beat the Dbacks,next week.
And they should put Goldy on first.
Maddon did that to Bryce Harper, and Harper stopped hitting well, after that series with the Cubs.
Cannot argue with that, but then there is this. Coming into this series, Goldy was hitting about .160 against Dodger pitching THIS YEAR with 1 homer. Needless to say he sure turned that around. Things will be different in LA. I think they will analyze every at bat from this series and see where they can be better. Kersh tomorrow, Stewart and Hill Saturday, and Wood on Sunday. I think 3 of 4 is not out of the question, but Corey will be out until at least next week against the Rockies. The team themselves do not seem worried and think facing this kind of adversity has been a good thing for them because they know what they need to do. According to Roberts, Verdugo is going to get thrown right into the mix. Brandon Phillips also headed to the Angels in a trade. Both A-Gone and Turner said there is no panic what so ever in the locker room, and this is a very cohesive unit. They all pull for each other. I think Taylor will get most of the starts at SS while Corey is out with Verdugo, Puig, Granderson, Ethier and possibly Thompson when he comes back making the bulk of the starts in the OF. Cody will be at 1st and Gonzo on the bench.
I think they will want some revenge too.
Yes and no. Kerch could be lined up to pitch Wednesday on normal rest.
I try to do my best to help whenever and wherever I can.
Ya gotta curb that enthusiasm there bud! LOL.. they will be fine, bump in the road and maybe the kick in the pants they need to kick start the offense.
Yeah and I’ve got a feeling a mighty kick is coming …
Scott
Anything you can do to put this in perspective, I liked when you said forget about five inning pitchers, were talking the first inning.
Maeda home record. 8-1 with a 3.02 ERA in 12 games. Ryu is 2-2. But if Roberts goes to the 6 man rotation as he says he is, then all bets are off because it changes the set up. McCarthy and Wood will be back in action and the skinny is they are calling up Wilmer Font also. So options abound.
Michael
Those stats about Goldy explain everything, I guess we have been lucky to keep him in check like we have, before that series.
But even when Maeda was pretty good in his first year, the Dbacks always had his number.
Hopefully the Dbacks peaked to early, and I would still put Goldy on first, even at Dodger Stadium next week.
Back before the Dodger bats began to explode and win many games in this historic run, we were talking about Ryu and Maeda doing long relief. Both guys give up too many HR’s and early runs that leave the team playing catch-up ball. Not a good formula for success. These two guys are very shaky starters, IMO. Both lose control too often, are inefficient, and need to be yanked earlier than they have been. Granted, our SP’s have been banged up, yet we’ve hung in mightily because of the bats and the relief work. With all the SP’s healthy, there will be major decisions to be made as there is not enough work for all of them. Decisions about long relievers and the SP’s are coming. Even Yu is not looking like his old self. This spells problems.
My point is without the Dodger bats hitting, their starting pitching is dubious beyond Kershaw and Wood giving a 50-50 chance of winning games. Maeda has been helped out by the bats, not by his pitching. Same could be said for Hill this season. Ryu should be commended for his comeback, but he is not top-shelf anymore and I don’t see him as a viable starter. Please correct me if you think I’m wrong.
Maeda is 8-1 at Dodger Stadium Jeff, and you left out , as I did , Yu Darvish. Maeda gives up a lot of homers on the road, but is pretty stingy at Dodger Stadium with only 7. By comparison, Kershaw and Ryu have given up 12 apiece there. Hill has given up 6 and Darvish 4 in 2 games. But Darvish is adjusting his mechanics, so that is expected. I would not worry too much about the bats. Turner has shown signs the last couple of days and Cody is getting his timing down pat. Taylor will most likely slide into Corey’s spot until he is ready, but he can still pinch hit. Grandal had a good series in AZ, so he is coming around. And help is on the way tomorrow. And since it is September and the rosters expand tomorrow, the decisions are not going to be made until the playoffs. They are calling up some arms to help out the BP and Verdugo and Ethier among others are coming up to stack the bench so we do not have to suffer through Forsythe and Hernandez’s total inability to hit RHP.
Michael, I didn’t look at the actual numbers, but several games that Maeda pitched were won by the bats, not by his stellar arm. When you give up 4 or 5 runs within 5 innings by your SP, the bats are the only thing that is going to save the game. Good relief helps, too.
I am skittish about Maeda and Ryu. Completely turned off by Stewart, and no formed opinion about Yu. I can see he’s got stuff and a body that can deliver it. He has not had control. Is this the reason he was given up to us? Jury is out. He has many critics. We’ll see.
Like I said before, those memories of Dodger batting slumps make me jumpy. This time it is not Grandal and Puig. I also want Agone gone. I think he’s had it here and we went on a tear when he was sent down. I’ve always supported him, but it seems things have changed. We’ll see.
Jeff
I don’t think anyone knows what the right answer is, but we have another month, to work out all of the issues, you talked about.
As far as Agone, I have just advocated that we need to see what he has, and I don’t think Forty at bats is enough, when a player has been out that long.
And my other thoughts about that, is that we have a couple players in this line up, that are not doing anything against righties, and Forsythe is just not doing much at all, against righties.
I do agree with you at times Maeda, Hill, and Ryu to an extent, have benefited at times, from good run support.
But those same three pitchers, have had about three or four pretty good starts, that were not helped by run support so much, because they kept the other teams, from scoring more then two or three runs, before this last series.
The exception would be what Maeda did against the Tigers, because remember Maeda had a no hitter, going into the sixth inning, and he fell apart quickly in the sixth inning.
And Honeycutt has already said, he don’t think Ryu can pitch in relief, because it takes him an extremely long time, to get ready to pitch, because of his shoulder.
He does get good run support Jeff, but his ERA at home is down around 3. So he pitches much better there. He gave up 7 yesterday, and that was a career high. But Maeda is averaging close to 6 innings in LA. Ryu is hit and miss. They got Darvish because the guy was an ace in Texas, and probably the best pitcher out there at the deadline. And they did not give up a whole lot to get him. He will be fine. As for A-Gone, well you need to understand a couple of things. First, he is under contract for another year at a pretty large salary. They can’t, and will not I might add just jettison him from this team. Second, he is valuable off the bench as a pinch hitter, and Cody will be playing first most of the time. With the call ups starting today the bench will get deeper. And Third, Adrian was totally unselfish when he told the team to put him on the DL so Cody could play. He wasn’t sent down for lack of production, he was sent down after he received a lot of treatment for his neck and back. Is he finished? As an everyday player most likely. But there is still some life in his bat, and he proved that yesterday driving in the only run. And here is something else. Gonzalez has 28 RBI’s with 2 homers. Pederson and Hernandez who each have 11 homers have driven in 33 and 34 runs respectively. Who do you want up there in a clutch situation as a pinch hitter. A-Gone, or those two guys?
Michael
That was what I was thinking about Agone.
Even with his low batting average right now, he still manages to hit runs in, and yesterday, he had a two out RBI, and that is something our team can struggle with, at times.
I’m not even sure what you are saying Jeff, so it’s hard to think you are right or wrong.
That said, I 100% agree that if the Dodgers are not hitting, they probably will not win.
I’m also 100% in agreement, that on the rotation with Kershaw, Darvish, Hill and Wood at the top, Ryu can slot in well as a #5 starter.
I also want to commend your courage on coming to this community and advocating that the Dodgers pull their pitchers even earlier than they currently are, on average.
MJ, I blew it, I totally forgot Darvish. Kersh will start tomorrow, with Stewart and Darvish on Saturday for the double header and then Wood on Sunday. So they can skip someone if they want during the AZ series, but I doubt it would be Kersh. So Hill, Maeda, Kershaw is a good probability vs The D-Backs with Darvish going the opener of the Rockies series. Hill has decent numbers at Dodger Stadium and he and Maeda are much better there than Ryu. Kersh Maeda and Wood are all 8-1 at Dodger Stadium. Hill is 5-2 there, McCarthy is 4-2 and Ryu is 2-2. Darvish is 0-1 at Dodger Stadium with 1 no decision. With Font coming up they will have 8 starting pitchers on the roster. So plenty of long relief if needed. But I think they get back on track in SD.
Michael
No one is perfect so no big deal.
I guess it would be even better to beat them with the pitchers at the back of our rotation, after what happened in Arizona, and we know anything can happen in baseball.
Dodger pitcher HR totals. Ryu and Maeda 19 apiece. Kershaw 18 Hill 15 Wood 10 Jansen 4 Baez 6 Fields 8 Avilan 2 Darvish 5 Stripling 7 Stewart 3 Ravin 2 McCarthy 5 Watson 2 Cingrani 2 Morrow 0 Paredes 0. Guys no longer with the team 19…..Only 3 Dodger pitchers have given up more than 100 hits. Kershaw, Maeda and Ryu. Dayton tweeted that his surgery was a success.
BREAKING NEWS: Verlander traded to the Astros. Astros gave up 3 minor leaguers for him. Remember that guy Gonzalez who was so good against the Dodgers for the White Sox? He was traded to the Rangers and the Brandon Phillips to the Angels deal was finalized.
Verlander to Astros. Not good. You mean other teams have competent FOs too and can afford to wait out a trade just like the FAZ? Shocker. Our guys need to focus. Or maybe it is good because it’s September 1 and all the contenders are looking good now and we’re in a slump.
And Detroit is paying $10m
This was such a great deal for the Astros. We could have beaten this deal easily just to keep Verlander away from a contender. Someone was asleep at the wheel here.
YF
I have always liked Verlander, and he is a big game pitcher.
I thought if we could have got him, he would ease the pressure on Kershaw in the post season.
The only reason Verlander had a couple of down years, was because he was coming back from an oblique surgery.
He is still throwing 98 and he actually gains velocity as he pitches, a lot of the time, which is different from most pitchers.
I guess I feel a little uneasy because we haven’t seen Darvish pitch well since his first start.
I don’t know about changing his mechanics, with the way he is so behind on hitters, and he looks to be over thinking, but he may be just fine with that adjustment.
Darvish did get hit in the post season, he gave up I believe, two early HRs.
But I am just a typical Dodger fan, when it comes to the post season.
Would have been a moronic deal for the Dodgers.
Scott think of spring training. That’s what these games are right now. The post season has been secured. At this point it’s about players fighting to be on the post season roster. None of these three starters made a good impression.
Artieboy
Thanks for trying to talk all of us down, and put this in perspective!
If anything they shot themselves in the foot. But Hill will be in the rotation as a #4. That’s why FAZ re-signed him.
Puig and his Wild Horse association, have donated 20k, to Houston.
Puig Your Friend!
One of many players doing so. Kazmir donated 140,000.00 to 3 different charitable groups down there.
Well it is a little after 2:00 in LA, and no roster additions announced yet. But we know that Verdugo and Ethier will be here. Brock Stewart cannot be activated until tomorrow. He needed to spend the entire 10 day period in OKC since he is not replacing an injured player. Wood will be activated before Sundays game. I would guess that Farmer would have to stay down at OKC until his 10 days are up, so he would be up during the home stand. It will be interesting to see who they move off the 40 man so they can bring up Verdugo and then Font, who is also supposedly coming up. No need to do anything like that for Buehler when he gets the call. Pederson will be staying at OKC for the remainder of their season, and judging from the results down there, that is a good thing. He is not hitting a lick.
Verdugo to start tonight
Verdugo will be starting in center tonight.
Seager likely to go on the DL. I guess they were waiting for that MRI, or was it because they were waiting out the month to seee if he’s PH ABs would be needed before the roster expands?
Dickson called up too.
Well I guess Package will be happy to hear that about Corey.
According to everything I have read, Corey is NOT going on the DL. The MRI showed some problems with his elbow, but nothing major. He is scheduled to start a throwing program when they get back to LA, with starting next weekend against the Rockies a strong possibility.
I knew Forsythe hadn’t done much lately, and I just read, that he is 0 for 12, with 6 strikeouts, in his last 12 at bats.