I’m almost at a loss for words. The Dodger’s bullpen misery continued on Monday evening as Scott Alexander once again deconstructed on the mound allowing the Giants to score four runs in the top of the ninth to erase what was a 2-1 Dodger lead handing the Dodgers their fourth consecutive crushing loss. The bullpen has now blown four consecutive games with Alexander blowing two of them. Why that bum was allowed to get anywhere near this game with a lead in the ninth inning is beyond my comprehension. Yes that’s on Dave Roberts but remember that Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi put that guy on the roster. I’ve been saying since the season began how bad that stupid trade was.
For the first eight innings the game was a classic pitching duel between Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner with the Dodgers coming out of it with a one-run advantage. Kershaw was in vintage form striking out nine and allowing just one run on four hits over eight excellent frames. Kershaw’s slider was electric and the ace did what he has done for the last decade. He put the club on his back almost single handedly defeating the stupid Giants. Kershaw even drove in one of the two runs with a flare double into shallow left field. What a shame that Alexander ruined his fantastic start.
Bumgarner was tough too and the Dodgers got some breaks in order to score their two runs off of him. Bumgarner allowed a run in the fourth and fifth innings as the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead. Bumgarner finished with four strikeouts, two walks and limited the Dodgers to two earned runs on seven hits over six frames.
Giants 5 8 0
Dodgers 2 8 1
WP-Black-2-1
LP-Aleander-2-1
SV-Smith-9
HR-Turner-7
In the bottom of the fourth, Austin Barnes reached on a ground ball single. Kershaw followed with a flare into shallow left field that fell in between Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria. Crawford and Longoria collided as Barnes scored while the ball dropped in. The baseball gods had smiled upon us. Finally something that went the Dodger’s way. Crawford had to leave the game with a neck/head injury. The play looked scary with Crawford hitting his head and rolling over on the grass. Hopefully Crawford wasn’t seriously hurt on the play. Dodgers lead 1-0. The boys in blue added another run in the bottom of the fifth when the red-hot Justin Turner homered into the left field pavilions to put the Dodgers ahead 2-0. Turner is starting to find his groove at the plate, and thank god he’s back to form.
The Giants got on the board in the top of the sixth when Steven Duggar singled, Bumgarner singled past the third base bag and Andrew McCutchen’s force out scored Duggar to cut the lead to 2-1. The Dodgers stayed with Kershaw as long as they could. Kershaw got three consecutive ground outs in the top of the seventh and then got through the top of the eighth with the Dodgers still leading 2-1. Then the top of the ninth came around and the Dodgers threw up all over the field.
First Roberts made an ill-advised double-switch, putting Max Muncy at first and moving Cody Bellinger into the outfield. Muncy is a good hitter but not the smoothest fielder in the world. His error was costly, but in the end meaningless. That’s because Scott Alexander, lousy reliever is unable to get out major league hitters. As usual the inning started out fine with a McCutchen ground out. The Giants then got four singles, a hit batter and a fielding error. All of this off Alexander. You ready for the pain? Chase d’Arnaud singles. Buster Posey followed with a single. Evan Longoria’s grounder to third was close to being a double play but the Dodgers only got a force at second. With runners at first and third and one out and the Dodger Stadium crowd literally screaming, frothing at the mouth for Roberts to take out Alexander, he stood there like a statue and let the game get away.
Alexander then hit Austin Slater with a pitch to load the bases. Again, Roberts does nothing. I thought Dodger Stadium was going to collapse into anarchy with the crowd running onto the field and devouring Alexander like the zombies in the walking dead. I would think that even a zombie would have had a better chance at getting the last out.
Alexander was allowed to stay in and of course pinch-hitter Nick Hundley, the Giants damn backup catcher singled in the tying and go-ahead runs to put the Giants up 3-2. Even after that Roberts still left Alexander in. Gorkys Hernandez singled in another run and then promptly stole second. Then Duggar hit a routine grounder to first that Muncy fumbled all over the field. It was a grounder to first! This was a real life Buckner moment and it cost the Dodgers another run, the fourth of the inning. Not like it mattered. The game was lost as soon as Alexander touched the mound. Pedro Baez of all people had to come in and clean up the mess.
It’s almost unexplainable how bad the Dodger bullpen is right now. I’ve said it before earlier in the season, the Dodgers are simply not very good this year. Sure that’s a simplified answer, but if you want a more defined explanation, I can give you one. The roster is poorly built. The relief pitching is lousy. The hitting is inconsistent. The players are injury prone and the defense is sloppy. All in all the Dodgers are not a championship caliber club. On the bright side we should have plenty of free time this October to go out to dinner, or visit family. We’ll also be a lot less stressed.
Oh and if things couldn’t be any worse for the Dodgers, we get hit with this news after the game. Awesome.
John Axford has a fracture in his fibula after being hit in the leg. Out 2-3 weeks. Brian Dozier has an abnormal EKG. More tests needed.
— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) August 14, 2018
Luckily Bartolo Colon and the Rangers beat the Snakes and the Dodgers are still only one game back. Scott Alexander should be immediately released. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, but right now as I am typing this. Either changes are made now, or the losing goes on.
And on and on it will go. The Dodgers look to get embarrassed again by the Giants on Tuesday night in the second game of the three game series. Andrew Suarez, another left hander (yay!) will counter Alex Wood with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 PM PST.
No doubt, the dodgers have closer woes. FAZ and Roberts thought they had enough in Alexander to get by, but this is clearly not the case. The original plan was to have Fields as the bridge to Kenley, not Alexander. Why Fields is not back yet, I don’t know. Perhaps he is still rehabbing. But, the blame for this situation should be put squarely on FAZ for not having a better backup plan in case Kenley went down, and down he went.
One of the starters should be the closer in the meanwhile. Alexander has very decent stuff but he was throwing right down the middle. He should never have been combined with Barnes who doesn’t have enough experience closing out games. Grandal is our man, not Barnes. Alexander needs to be a short term reliever. No reason to get rid of him. Just don’t use him as a closer.
Our bats are not supporting the pitching. Machado has done very little, but Turner has heated up a lot. Moving Machado to the #3 spot is the right move, but he’s not hitting well. Playing Barnes over Grandal is not giving us any hope at the plate. He is below the Mendoza line, plus Grandal is a switch hitter. Even against lefties, I’d rather see him than Barnes.
What a shame that Kershaw got no support once again from the bats. He pitched well and deserved this win. Axford getting hurt makes the pen a critical zone for immediate help.
Test!!!!
I am hoping the problem with Machado is not that he flourished in obscurity, and is now wilting under the bright lights.
The upside of that is he may not have as much demand in November and end up signing here….
Test Again!
Test mobile
Test test
This place has a completely different look and feel.
I posted several times last night, none showing up. I shut everything down and sometime during the night they showed up.
This another test.
My test. OK, it remembered me, everything seems to be working but the appearance is not as warm and friendly as it used to be.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a little larger font….
Hey hey hey, so obviously late last night I changed the commenting system in hopes that it permanently fixes the login problem for everyone.
This is wpdiscuz commenting. A new look and hopefully better experience for all posters.
OK, last night’s game was a watershed moment, all downhill from here. Opposing teams are going to stomp the crap out of us on a regular basis. There will be some games where our home run hitters cut loose, but our good starting pitching is not going to be able to throw shutouts that often. I do think for the most part we have some good hitters, last season sort of proved it. But Dummy, as package calls him, has them all messed up with starting and setting and being pinch hit for at odd times, not to mention all the position changes. That isn’t the way you make people comfortable and bring out the best in them. FAZ is also an idiot. A hundred and fifty plus seasons give us a pretty good basis for selecting good players from bad. His bargain basement computerized selections are very good at finding the one potato in the barrel which is not completely rotten, but why even shop there when there’s whole barrels of perfect potatoes available. He really screwed up the July trade market, I don’t think there are any good relievers available at any price now. Both FAZ and Roberts need to be fired now.
Good graphics, jonah!
Posting is working now, but font is too small for geezers like me. Too much white in the background, too.
Yes, I mentioned the font already. Did you notice the “+””0″”-” just to the left of “Reply”? Clicking on the plus or minus allows you to agree or disagree with the post. That’s something new.
Come on Jonah. Do you really think a different manager would have a different result with this current group? You change horses in the middle of this river it’s all going out to sea.
So, Dummy, as some like to call him, let’s Kershaw throw 110, and only needs 3 outs to get a win. This is the giants, not the Yankees, so he goes to the next man (you do know there is schedule for relievers, right?) and that next man, like the those in the previous three games, swallows a choad, and that’s the managers fault?
Has anyone here actually played this game?
This current collapse falls directly on the players that FAZ put together in this, THE RESET YEAR. I said months ago 2018 would be remembered for being the reset year and what you’re seeing is the result.
Roberts won’t be fired because Friedman and Zaidi know this is on them.
All that said, there is plenty of time to pull it together. Will they? Everyone here, including me, has doubts. But, I remain hopeful. Find the closer. I don’t know who it is, but there has to be a guy that has the make up to stand out there in the 9th, in front of 50,000, stare down those in box and say “Not tonight. Not on my watch”. Stetson Allie has the look, and he’s striking out a lot of people everywhere he’s been this year. I don’t care he has no ML experience. Everyone we have here now has experience and a lot of good it’s doing them.
Shake it up.
I firmly believe that a GOOD manager can have as much effect as a good woman can have on a man, she helps him in every way, and a bad one can pull him down just as far. And in case your wife is looking over your shoulder, think hard before you disagree with me on that…. You like squirrels, try this one:
Well, in retrospect I think I would have brought Baez in before the bases were loaded. But I do understand Roberts sticking with Alexander. “Get the last out. I believe in you son.” They are going to need Alexander in the coming days and weeks.
There will be no complete games. We need the bullpen. We also need to score more than 2. In fact, this offense needs to get back to 5+ per game. This is a team schneid.
How bout this dude in the 9th?
who he???
Stetson Allie. 11K/9. He’s a converted second round pick. At AAA now.
The picture I posted is gone from my view. Is it still up for others?
I know FAZ can’t fire Roberts, I say fire both of them. I don’t know too much of your history, Badger. Did you ever work for a boss you thought wasn’t really very competent? Don’t you think you could have done an even better job if your boss did his right? “It” really does roll downhill, it has to affect everyone it touches.
Badger
I read plenty of posts yesterday from people, that were complaining because Roberts didn’t let Alexander finish the game on Sunday!
But like I already said yesterday, there is not a pitcher in that pen, that Roberts can trust, to get the last three outs.
And Alexander of all the pitchers in the pen, has given hitters more free bases, then any pitcher in that pen, so what he did last night, was not surprising!
But this team needs to step up right now, and give the pen more then a one run lead, to protect.
Because this team is having far to much trouble, scoring runs.
But if the other team puts in a sub par pitcher, this team will tie the record, for most solo HRs in a game, this year.
But will that win the game, is the question?
Not much you can say. Pitiful performance by the pen again. This is on FAZ and the pitchers out there.
Guys,
as you can see the old commenting system is back. Unfortunately the new one I was trying out was on a trial basis. I had to revert back to the old system because the new system was blocking images from showing up and causing other issues on the backend.
In the meantime I will keep looking for a solution. I will probably have to hire a web designer to help with the backend coding that I am just not very knowledgeable in. I will keep looking for a solution but expect a site redesign in the offseason.
That’s cool Scott. What ever you do to make it better is best for the site.
Thanks Scott!
I was having problems with that new format, anyways.
As much as everyone wants to blame the bullpen for these loses, this team is having to much trouble, scoring runs.
And in last night’s game, nothing changed with our offense.
We were very lucky to even score the run that was not provided by Turner, last night!
And why did Kershaw try to take third, with the top of the order coming up, is another good question, about last night’s game too.
And this would be mentioned more, if it was any player, but Kershaw.
But runs are a premium for this team, especially against lefties, and especially, against Bumgarner.
This team is not the same team we had, last year.
Because we are missing one of our two best hitters, and Turner just started to heat up on offense, in the last couple weeks.
And some of the same players from last year, are not performing as well on offense, this year.
We have to many average hitters on this team with pop, to consistently score runs, especially without Corey anchoring this offense!
And just think of what Corey has done in that second slot, since he was a rookie on this team, because it isn’t as easy, as Cory has made it look.
This bullpen is on the front office, not Roberts!
Remember they were the ones, that thought giving Forsythe another year with a raise, was more important then signing Morrow back, or getting another good arm, for the pen.
And they practically did nothing for the pen, at the trade deadline.
Remember after going to game seven last year, the owners of this team, didn’t want to have to pay any penalty on the luxury tax, this year.
And this was even though, quite a bit of money was coming off the books, after this year.
And the fact the value of the Dodgers would probably double, if they came back and won it all, this year.
But we wouldn’t be up against the luxury tax, if the front office didn’t waste so much money, on unreliable pitchers, that were not worth the risk, they came with!
But this latest decision about Forsythe was really a bad decision, considering how tight money was.
Because we had plenty of players already on this team, that not only could play second, they could easily out perform Forsythe, when it comes to offense.
With all of this, the Dodgers owners still has no problem raising all their ticket prices, and they raised the prices on their concessions, too.
Too true. The baseball gods demand a sacrifice. Since Forsythe is no longer here to take his beating, I suggest FAZ take his place. I have the club…
This is spot on accurate. They’ll never win a championship with those small market Morons running the team. This year is a wash. They were ten games below .500 earlier in the year. I suspect they finish third, with Arizona winning the west. The best path for the team moving forward is Guggenheim sells the club, Friedman zaidi and the rest of those small market dum dums get run out of town and we start over again with new ownership and a new front office.
Scott. Guggenheim is being sued for misuse of funds. So they are in some hot water. They also are trying to sell a minority stake in the team. But like you said. I will be much happier when FAZMANIA and all the cronies are out of here.
I would stand and cheer if the team was sold. I have my favorite choice for owner. Don’t know who might be available for management positions.
Another video for the Badger. His old pal Catbox might enjoy it too…
Catbox would love it. That song could have been written about every president since Reagan…. every president but Clinton that is.
What happened to Boxout?
My car happened to him….
He’s got 9 lives. He’ll be back.
I’m not going to say anything else cuz he might show up here.
You do miss that sheep picture, don’t you?
I miss nothing about that guy. I’m assuming he went to the Indiana Water Talk board.
Jonah
Isn’t this the same guy, that had the song about streaking?
That doesn’t give him much credibility, especially since the other guy, was the one who put us in that worse recession we have ever had, since the depression.
And it was another Democrat that had to help us get out of the original, and the worse depression ever, too.
Jonah
Your sheep always cracks me up!
Although I am more a dog lover, that picture of that cat, is gross!
Where do you get these things?
That’s Badaaagger’s sheep, not mine….
You trying to pick up where catbox left off?