Julio Urias took the mound at Chavez Ravine with the intent to boost the Dodgers back up after a difficult loss to the Brewers last night.
Last night’s game was a see-saw affair with blown leads, two 3-run comebacks, a ninth inning rally that fell short, and a shouting/shoving match in the Dodgers’ dugout.
Could this one top all of that? It did.
1st inning
Brewers
Urias had difficulty putting batters away. Although the Brewers didn’t score, they worked a lot of pitches out of him – 25 in the first.
Dodgers
After two quick outs Justin Turner blasted a home run into the left field pavilion. 1-0
After that shaky first inning, Urias really settled in and had eight strike outs at the end of four innings.
The trouble was, the Dodgers hadn’t been heard from since the first inning also.
6th inning Dodgers 1-0
Brewers
Urias out. Louis Coleman in.
Back to back doubles, and it was a tie game. 1-1
Coleman out. Adam Liberatore in. No difference.
Another double made it 2-1.
8th inning Brewers 2-1
Dodgers
Justin Turner drove a hanging curve ball into the left field bullpen. 2-2
9th inning Tie score 2-2
Brewers
Kenley Jansen in.
Job done.
Dodgers could not score in the bottom of the ninth, so…
10th inning Tie score 2-2
Pedro Baez in to pitch (uh-oh) He hung tough. (whew!)
Dodgers
Will Venable came up and poked a ground rule double into the right field corner.
A.J. Ellis sac-bunted Venable over to third.
The Brewers intentionally walked Chase Utley and Corey Seager to get to Justin Turner.
It’s been Red’s night. Why make this move? The Brewers were really tugging on the baseball god’s tails.
A loud chant of “Let’s go, Dodgers” began.
Base hit to left field! Turner’s the hero!
Dodgers win! 3-2
Julio Urias continues to impress and hold his own in the starting rotation. He had a long first inning, but hung tough after that, striking out eight over five innings.
Which leads to the new pitching problem for the Dodgers. For a variety of reasons, almost every Dodger pitcher not named Kershaw leaves the game after four or five innings. This is starting to take a toll on the bullpen. After two weeks of exemplary work, the overworked relief crew is starting to fray, once again giving up numerous extra base hits.
As for the Dodgers offense, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Score in the first, then do nothing for the next seven innings. Then get a solo home run. Hope for final at bat heroics.
It’s a dangerous formula, but it worked tonight so let’s celebrate the win. Bravo, Justin Turner!
Julio Urias went 5 innings with 5 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 8 Ks. ERA 4.50
Home runs: Justin Turner (2)
Double: Will Venable
Team with RISP: 1 for 3 (Turner again)
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.
Follow Me:
It seems to me they need to find a way to put Maeda between Urias and Bolsinger to give the bullpen a little bit of rest. I wonder if Ryu and McCarthy are going to be on pitch counts when they return. More starters who can’t go more than five are not going to be much help unless they can also hit with RISP.
I would also bring in to question the whole premise of RH pitchers facing LH batters and vice versa. The first two relievers they brought in, chosen because they were facing the same handed batters, gave up the 2 runs that we had to overcome eventually and lost Urias his possible win.
Are we going to not call up Jansen if there are opposite sided hitters coming up in the 9th? Good pitchers dominate both sides of the plate. If they don’t, they are usually not considered as aces and closers. This whole premise, when adhered to rigidly, like Roberts does, is a ticket to the loss column.
I’m not against Sabremetrics, but it should be one tool in a box of several. Seems like a too easy approach that some think is infallible. Wasn’t it originally used by the A’s for keeping a small market team competitive and able to acquire decent talent without breaking the bank? But, the Dodgers are anything but small market. Something doesn’t add up. Are they communists? 🙂
Good fortune. We will need plenty more of that to compete. We had 3 opportunities with runners in scoring position. They had 13. Everyone but Turner was 5 for 29. The Crew struck out 16 times. Milwaukee sucks. We remain 6.5 out. Still on pace for 84, though that’s deceiving. A 6 game win streak puts us on pace for 90. Can this team win 6 in a row? Well, probably not this month. Looking at the schedule, probably not next month either. In August we play Philadelphia and Cincinatti back to back, but on the road. Nope, don’t see 6 in a row. Sorry.
This is MLB today Jeff. Platoon. No, they aren’t communist. Everyone on the field are capitalists. Except maybe the umps, though those guys average $120,000 a year. Maybe if they shared more in the abundance they would be paid more. I guess one could say you get what you pay for.
I think it was Al Campanis, a REAL Dodger GM some time ago who said that it was better to trade a player a year too soon than a year too late. We may be seeing the truth in that statement now in Agon…
AGon is one of two veteran professional hitters currently on this team. Three if you want to count Utley, but I expect him to fade. Some of our young guys might develop into that role, (Seager, Thompson, Pederson, Puig) but they aren’t there yet. If his back holds up, AGon will help, but he may not be there in 2018. In fact, he may not be there in 2017. It’s my opinion that we might be in a position to move him at the deadline. Much depends on how McCarthy and Ryu look at the end of July. There is one thing on which Mark and I agree – stack the minor league deck. Do it now. Not all of them need to play for us. After next year we can move some for the veterans we will need to win it all in ’18.
Wondering
Agone will be fine. He actuallyhas two hits last night. Both were singles, but they were hits.
Turner gets more days off then Agone. I thought when Roberts rested Turner in the first game of this series, he should have rested Agone instead.
Because Turner had just started hitting, and he has aleady had more days off, then Agone this year. Turner gets rested every six or seven games.
I just think that Agone needs just that one day off. And remember that Agone has had no any real protection in the line up this year.
Because Turner just started hitting again. Also, Agone is a streaky hitter, so we don’t know when he might start hitting the ball hard again. It could be in to night’s game.
I believe it was Branch Rickey, but that’s the way it was done back then before free agency and long-term contracts.
Everyone seems to have bought in on the 2018 championship but are all these prospects really going to be that good right away? 1968 was the best draft in Dodger history but Garvey, Lopes, Cey and Co. didn’t win their first pennant until ’74 and it took several more years to finally win it all with a team built around them with some shrewd trades–plus Pedro and Fernando.
Wasn’t it also Branch Rickey when he was with the Pirates who told Ralph Kiner(who had just won the HR title) was looking for a raise, “We finished in last with you and we can finish in last without you.” Ahhh yhe good old days.
Snider
They call that Dodger draft, the best draft in baseball.
I don’t understand why some people, are always complaining about Agone, and Agone’s contract. Because the same people, don’t say a thing about all of these injury ridden pitchers, that this front office, has signed, that have not been in the starting rotation, much of there contract.
Agone has hit in more runs, since he has been a Dodger, then anyone in baseball. Also Agone is in the top two or three players, in all of baseball, in games played, during that same time.
Agone has not only been one of the steadiest players, on the Dodgers, during this time. He has been one of the steadiest players, in all of baseball, during that time.
And he is still playing, and contributing to the Dodgers. While most of these pitchers they have signed, are not even in the Dodgers rotation right now.
And although Kazmir is now in the Dodger’s rotation, he has not pitched consistently well. And he has not been able to pitch consistently deep into games.
And because of that, he has been a drain on the Dodger’s bullpen, throughout the season.
And he has also had trouble, keeping the Dodgers into games. And he is only on the first year, of a three year contract.
Even if Agone does start to decline, in the last couple of the years of his contract. He has fulfilled his contract, much more, then most players, do, in baseball today!
If anyone is keeping records, you must have the record for using the word “and”.
Wondering
And Thank you!
Wondering
I know I am not perfect, that is why use Badger, for spell check.
I just try to make transitions, when I write, and I sometimes over use words. And by the way, I was not talking about you, when I wrote that. You just reminded me about others, that harp on that so much.
But they never seem to address the obvious players, and pitchers, that are not living up to there contracts.
We are all as we are. No criticism intended.
Back at you Wondering!
We struggle to win against a poor team. The giants win with ease on the road. With a complete game from their #3. With this team as it is presently constituted, Urias should remain a starter on a 5 inning limit. We have no one better, sad to say. It would be nice if when he pitched, the bullpen was rested, but that is too much to ask for. We had 4 hitters last night hitting below .200. Another 2 hitting below .250. I was thinking it would have been nice to have Ethier around now, but he might be finished. Hard to watch this season unfold. The 3 divisions in the NL might be settled by August 1. It might be a race for the wildcards between the Pirates, Mets and Cardinals. Big deal.
Bobby
Ethier was suppose to have that screening on Thursday, to see if his bone was healed, but I have not heard a thing about that. I know Ethier badly wants to play, especially with Mattingly gone. So I think he will do everything he can, to be ready to play when he can.
And about the Giants, when the Giants played the Brewers, they didn’t face the Brewers best starting pitchers. The Dodgers are facing there best starting pitchers in this series, and that does make a difference.
The good news is that Ryu’s fastball was a steady 91, and he hit 92 a few times. And that was not at his maxim velosity.
I’ll give props to Venable. When Turner hit that ball into left, Venable did exactly what a runner is supposed to do with less than two outs. His first move was back to the base, just in case that ball is caught. Good baseball genes! And Applause for Urias.
At least we’ve won 3 out of 5 🙂
OK, Turner is back – now we need to get Kike, Grandal, Joc and Howie back…
Mark
You just reminded me about something Grandal said. Grandal said that the team just shows up to a game, and thinks, that they can win the game, just with there talent.
And he said they wait, instead of trying to make something happen, and I think he also said, instead of making, something happen, from the begining of the game.
This was from a LA Times article I read. Roberts said he didn’t agree with what Grandal said.
Mark
I think Howie is almost there.