Players weekend was a hoot and the Dodgers made it even more of a hoot with an efficient 3-1 win over the Brewers in the series opener on Friday night. The Brewers missed out on a golden opportunity to pick up ground on the Cubs in the NL Central. The Dodgers have won 31 of their last 35 at home and 25 of their last 30 overall. The game ended in a strange way. The last out was called on a failed Milwaukee replay review. That is something that hasn’t happened in quite some time.
Kenta Maeda tossed a quality start, rehabbing from his sixth inning disaster in the Detroit series. Maeda allowed just one earned run on one hit across six impressive frames. Maeda walked two and struck out seven to pick up his twelfth win of the season. His only blemish on the night was a second inning solo blast to Domingo Santana.
Brewers 1 1 0
Dodgers 3 8 0
WP-Maeda-12-5
LP-Anderson-7-3
SV-Jansen-25
HR-Forsythe-4-Puig-23-Santana-21
Maeda’s mound opponent Chase Anderson was done in by excessive pitch count. Anderson made 96 pitches over 5 innings allowing two earned runs on six hits and struck out six. It wasn’t enough for him and the Brewers who had just one hit tonight.
The Dodger bats scored one run in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. With the boys in blue own 1-0, Logan Forsythe also known as Logie Bear tied the game with a solo home run that landed just over the wall. That’s just his fourth home run of the season.
In the bottom of the fifth, Justin Turner draws a two-out walk off of Anderson and steals second base. Yasmani Grandal’s base knock up the middle scores Redturn to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Yasiel Puig A.K.A. the Wild Horse deposited a baseball over the fence in straightaway center field off of Jared Hughes after a nine-pitch at-bat. That put the Dodgers ahead by a 3-1 score.
The Dodgers would leave the bases loaded in that frame. Forsythe would walk and then steal second base. The Brewers challenged and the replay review upheld the safe call. After Enrique popped out, Chase Utley, the silver fox lines out. But Chris Taylor walks and Corey Seager’s infield dribbler loads the bases. Oliver Drake comes in and strikes out Turner to escape the jam. How many times have the Dodgers left the bases loaded over the last week?
The Dodger bullpen took care of business the rest of the way. Southpaw Tony Cingrani tossed a scoreless top of the seventh inning. After a walk to Santana, Stephen Vogt lines into a double play. The star of the night was Josh Ravin who came into the eighth inning and struck out the side blowing away Keon Broxton, Eric Sogard, and Jonathan Villar.
Kenley Jansen also known as “Kenleyfornia” comes into the top of the ninth and immediately whiffs Eric Thames. Neil Walker’s deep drive to left is caught on the run by Enrique Hernandez for the second out. Ryan Braun’s little tapper in front of the plate is originally called safe. However the Dodger’s challenged and Grandal’s throw was just in time to get the final out. The call was overturned and the game ended. The Dodgers win!
The Dodgers are now 91-36 and are 52-14 at home. The Dodgers now have a 21 game lead over Arizona. The series continues on Saturday night. The Dodgers will use a bullpen game…..joy. Ross “chicken strips” stripling will get the start. The Brewers will counter with Zach Davies. Stripling is only expected to make 50 pitches and or 3-4 innings, whichever comes first. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM PST.
The machine just keeps rolling on. You are right, Ravin looked filthy. He was using his slider. Is it my imagination or has Grandal changed his play calling with relievers. He used to call almost all fastballs when Morrow, Baez, and Ravin pitched. He used to call a lot of high fastballs. I think some of that is good. However, the high fastball should just be above the strike zone. With Baez the other night Grandal had the target one foot above the strike zone. That is all Baez threw that night and he did not look good. Lately Grandal is calling for the slider more. When these relievers can throw in the high 90’s and then throw a good slider, they look awesome. It just may be my imagination.
Idahoal
I think you are right, that they are changing how they are pitching to hitters.
They need to do that, and continue to adjust, to keep the hitters, off balance.
And like you said, not every pitcher’s strength is the same, so certain pitchers, might not feel comfortable throwing those high fastballs.
And I think Striping is one of those pitchers, that might not feel comfortable throwing a high fastball, because he likes to keep his pitches low.
I am glad Stripling is getting this start today, he deserves to have this chance.
He has did what ever the team has asked him to do, and I think he deserves this chance.
Steward has had his share of chances, but he hasn’t pitched as well this year.
But maybe his late start when he was on the DL is why he hasn’t been that same pitcher, that he was last year.
Artieboy I am glad you feeling a little better about Agone, after hearing what Monday said.
I have been watching his exit velocities for you, since you have been concerned, and yesterday he hit the ball hard twice, with exit velocities of 94, 95 plus.
Agone has a few more games to get his timing, before Cody comes back, so I don’t see any down side, to giving Agone this chance.
It is good to see Puig continue to learn and adjust, and continue his hot streak, with his HR to center yesterday.
I hope this second night at home, will help the players get use to the time change, and help energize the players, and maybe they have a little more offense, in the game tonight.
We are winning, but this offense is not the same without Cody
And when Cody comes back, hopefully Turner and Corey, will start hitting better then too.
I am wondering if Corey is feeling he little tired, especially with his legs, like he did last year, because his power numbers are down this month, and he seems to be swinging at a lot of high fastballs, that seem to be just out of the strike zone.
I feel it is not a fair playing field for Turner, when it comes to the batting title, since Blackmon has the advantage of hitting in Colorado, and three of the last four players that won the batting title, have been Rockies.
I am not a fan of Grandal’s play calling and for me I’m not convinced. But would love to be proven wrong though.
The high strike is a SABR thing. On Fangraphs earlier this year there were a couple of articles about neutralizing the upper cut swing (which is in vogue as the stats say fly balls are better than ground outs – our Justin Turner and Chris Taylor had revamped their swing for this and Ward is trying to teach Puig this). Anyways, the high fastball potentially neutralizes the uppercut swing.
This is all fine in theory, but that’s the easy part. The part that needs the catcher is what pitch combination works in a situation and how the hitter is swinging that day. I think good catchers know, by the time 7th inning rolls around, how a particular hitter on the other team has handled pitches that day and will make adjustments based on that. Posey for example is a master at it. If he sees Puig striking out on called strikes earlier in the game you can bet he will call for fastballs in the same spot but lower so he will chase. Grandal is one of the worse at this in my opinion. In my view he’s the type that will play the percentages and ignore the game situation, and will keep making the same call if it seems to be working and ignore the fact that hitters may be catching up. Put in another way he’s a Mattingly not a Roberts.
For the Dodgers to match last year’s division winner win total, we’d have to go 0-35 the rest of the way.
WTF???
Bobby
What are those odds? Ha,ha
Package
I too heard, when Cody first went on the DL, he would come back on a Tuesday.
And Cody did say on the pregame show yesterday, that it was his sixth day on the DL, but Michael is right, Cody should come off the DL on Wednesday the 30th, next week.
Just remember this rest for Cody is a good thing, and this is what is best for Cody, and this might help reenergize Cody, for the post season ahead!
And the reason Cody sprained his ankle, is because there was a soft spot, or sight hole, in the warning track in Detroit, where he stepped, it had nothing do with the way Cody plays, in the outfield.
Not to beat a dead horse but CBS Sports says Bellinger is eligible to come off the DL on August 29
Package
I just looked it up again, and every source I went too, said Cody started on the DL on the Twentieth, like Michael said.
And I know Joe said that on the broadcast, last night.
With everything that Cody has to deal with, with his rehab, and the press, I could see how Cody might have made a mistake yesterday, when he said it was his sixth day.
But we will see!
Correct. His DL stint is retroactive to the 20th. So I believe he is eligible to return on the 30th.
Wow, was I zoning out or what. Partially paying attention to the game, and doing some work on my computer. Did not even realize it was a 1-hitter til it was over. A couple of nice defensive plays again. And Forsythe actually hit one out. Great job by the bullpen too. A little shout out to those down in Texas dealing with that hurricane. Our prayers are with you. You have to feel a little sorry for the Mets. Conforto went down yesterday after a swing. First report was a dislocated shoulder. Subsequent reports say he has a tear in his posterior capsule. A very rare injury. The first report says he might be sidelined for as long as 2 years. Wow….feel very sorry for that kid. He is very talented. Stripling gets the ball tonight against the Brewers best pitcher. Darvish coming back tomorrow, and the Big K due to pitch next weekend in SD.
To anyone who wishes to pass on a message to Badger, just let me know and I will pass it on. I think the biggest surprise for me when this season is over, is how well this team has played with some of it’s major parts missing almost the entire year. Usually you take a player of A-Gones caliber out of a lineup and something is missing. But all the parts who have come in and replaced injured or unproductive players have performed beyond expectations. Bellinger, Taylor were totally unexpected. Nobody thought Turner would lead the league in hitting for more than 2/3rds of the season. Corey repeating his rookie stats. Puig thriving in the 8 hole, and actually playing really well the last week when hitting a little higher in the order. The patchwork rotation beyond Kershaw has stepped up. The bullpen’s musical chairs approach has worked. Even with major pieces from last years group gone. Dayton is scheduled for TJ surgery and Liberatore has been out most of the year. Thank heaven Hatcher is outa here. When called up the rookies have done a good job. Barnes has been a revelation and Wood, well, he totally exceeded what anyone thought he would be. The Romo experiment blew up in their face, but at least he got to experience his childhood dream. He won the game last night for Tampa. But all in all I believe a major part of this run is due to the guy driving the bus. Dave Roberts should be a runaway winner for NL manager of the year. What he has done to get these players to buy into what I consider a total team concept and no one player is above the team goal is amazing. He talks to players and even does so during the game. Never saw DM do that. He lets every guy know what his role is and why his role is what it is. I am so glad he is the manager and not Gabe Kapler.
Michael, please convey my thanks to Badger. I have always enjoyed his baseball perspective. I will miss it if he doesn’t come back. Timmons wins if this continues to be the case and we Dodger fans that enjoy this blog take a big hit. I hope Badger reconsiders but wherever he decides please thank him for me.
Oh he’ll be back. He’s said he’s leaving many times before and always comes back. Before it was the same issue with his feud with Mark. All parties have been warned. Mark has been warned about his legal threats. All is settled. Jonah and badger are welcome to come back whenever they feel like it. Mark is not a part of this site. He has his own site.
Rest assured I will be watching more closely from now on.
I did not plan to come back here, but in light of past events, I am monitoring it. I do want to say a couple of things.
Yueh_Fei said:
“Timmons has nothing on Badger and Jonah or TrueBlue and part of what I do for a living is helping people find cheap (meaning efficient) lawyers to protect them. Timmons posts are just pure intimation, and maybe we are all too old for this s***, but for me, I’m too old to be afraid, and I am going to say what I want within reason and civility, and heaven help those who try to say I can’t.”
My response:
It’s really scary that you would say that my posts are pure intimidation (I presume that was a typo where you wrote “inimation”) unless you have been part of a defamation suit. I never made any claims that I would win – you never know in court. Anything can happen, but I have been involved in defamation suits and know what the burden of proof is… and I have won. You do have a right to say what you want within “reason and civility” but what they said was unreasonable, uncivil and a lie. Truth is an “absolute defense.” If you don’t understand that you should not be advising others.
They apologized and I accepted it, so it is over as far as I am concerned.
I don’t know everything, which is why I have a legal firm on retainer and I consulted them on this issue (in fact, I paid $780 for their advice), but I ask lots of questions and usually beat people who dismiss what I might say as intimidation. I do not know everything, but in the history of American Jurisprudence there is only one person who had a prison sentence longer than 20 years, who has defended themselves and beat the government in any jurisdiction. The prosecutor asked that my conviction be overturned and dismissed, and the Judge ordered the Sheriff to remove my handcuffs and shackles and I walked out of the courtroom a free man, 7 year 5 months and 5 days later.
I repeat: I am the only person who has ever done that, so I do know a little something. Maybe I was just lucky. Yeah, that’s it! So, I am passionate about that and when anyone disparages me, I will fight. If someone says disparaging things to my face, I won’t defend myself in court.
You have a right not to like me and I am fine with that, but you have no right to defame me with lies and I will challenge that every time. If you are helping disadvantaged people with legal issues get help, good for you.
Michael N. Norris said:
Timmons thinks he is the end all know all of Dodger baseball. When I first found this site and disagreed with him on FAZ’s construction of the team he inferred I was some sort of moron. I called him a few choice names back. Anyone who does not see the wisdom and genius of the almighty FAZ he considers uneducated or worse. I think personally that he is a pompous ass and a cyber bully. Face to face he would have no guts.
My response:
Michael,
If you read my blog, I tell you when I am right and admit it when I am wrong, which is frequently. Actually, I did it today.
You conveniently omit what actually happened. You said something to the effect that FAZ was stupid and were incompetent and should be fired and I said that anyone who believes that is a moron. I stand by that. It turns out that anyone who believed that was a moron. Now, I notice you have somewhat changed your tone.
Maybe you are a tough guy and would kick my ass. I would never predict that, but if you weren’t such an old man, I would stand face-to-face with you and let the best man win. Thinking I have no guts would be your undoing. No fight is over until someone is dead or out cold and if it’s me… then you would win, but if you beat me, you would be the first. Maybe you are a real bad ass, but you would have to show me. I make no such claim, except that it hasn’t happened yet!
Michael, you can believe I am a pompous ass but it would be a grave mistake to think I have no guts. I walked among the baddest of the bad for 7 years 5 months and 5 days and have the scars on my fists to prove it. I am sure someone can kick my ass… it just has not happened yet. I do admit at age 64, it is getting harder – that’s why I now carry an equalizer.
Actually Michael, I like you. I respect your service to our country. You stand up for what you believe. You say what you think and so do I. We both have no filter. I have no ill will against you and I wish you nothing but the best.
I wish you all the best and hopefully It’s time for Dodgers baseball soon.
Well all I can say is this, we are all wrong. We should use this site for baseball posts and not for personal attacks on anyone. It is not fair for any of us to come on here and impugn the integrity of any other individual. What ever generated this conversation should never have been discussed on this site period. It is unfair to those who want to discuss nothing but Dodger baseball. Personally, I do not know Mr. Timmons. We have never met. I have judged him on comments made on this site and that is not really the right way to do things. He in turn does not know me. I myself have been guilty of over reacting at times and getting a little testy. For that I do apologize to all. I am what I am. I am blunt, to the point and I say what is on my mind. Agree or not, that is your privilege. We all have our opinions. We all are fans and we all love our team. I suggest therefore that henceforth we confine the conversations to Dodger baseball and leave personality’s out of it.
Agreed Michael. I don’t want to ban anyone. I like Jonah. But I will no longer tolerate personal attacks or legal threats on this blog.
I will not ban anyone yet. I changed my mind. But I will issue a warning to everyone involved and create posting rules for all to follow in the next couple of days.
Jonah, you’re on thin ice right now. If you want to keep posting then follow the rules.
To Mark, please refrain from making legal threats to anyone here. Any legal threats should be kept off the site.
I will not be around tonight and james will be covering the game. Everyone please behave yourselves.
Scott,
I doubt that “Pretty Please and Thank You” would have been effective. You allowed them to say what they did and the only place in the world I can respond is where they said it.
If they don’t say it, you will never hear from me about it!
Mark, you just explained in your post to me why you have no chance suing anyone here. They posted a public court case and gave their opinions of you based on that case. You could have corrected them, gave your opinions of them, and be done. Instead you threatened them with lawsuits which now you have amply shown you knew you have little chance of winning. That is intimidation. I do help low income people get legal help at times, but, as I said once or twice before, I’m a professional negotiator, and to be more particular, part of my job is helping business owners evaluate whether they should litigate and how much they should be spending on litigation. And I’ve advised plenty of wealthy families and executives on whether to go after people for defamation, or help them after they’ve posted stuff on the internet.
For what it’s worth I do visit your site almost everyday but it’s getting too much like Dodgers Digest and other rah rah sites. I liked it at the beginning when you had a problem with Colleti and focused more on improving the lineup and roster choices, like what the posters are doing here.
YF,
OK, I see you are totally out of touch with reality. You are totally absurd. No need to continue this because it is comical.
Have a good day and I hope you don’t get sued if that is the advice you give.
Keep telling yourself that I have no clue. You have already posted enough to kill your defamation case and there’s nothing more for me to say on that subject. And have a good day and best of luck to your blog and your business.
Yueh Fei, that’s enough. Stop it here. Everyone lost.
One last post, Scott. I apologized to Timmons because I felt I actually owed it to him, not that I felt I had anything to lose to him. If you’ll read my posts for the last week or two, I actually spoke well of him and praised his blog several times. And on the Day of the War, even then I said nothing bad about him. Doesn’t matter, he was carrying hurt and I deserved it and I am finished anyway. But if you don’t ban him, stop him for posting here and attacking your commenters, your blog is finished too. You think it’s been slow the last two days, just wait for the next two. Or 200.
Yes, banning people is definitely the way to nurture a community based on participation.
Just ignore him Jonah.
It’s what I do with that Tried Blue numbskull and his moronic “takes”
Jonah,
I love it how you blame me for your petty squabble with Mark as if it’s my fault that the two of you can’t act like adults on a baseball blog.
The fact is you have insulted this community several times in the past which had nothing to do with Mark.
I told you that you could comment here and I wouldn’t ban you. I’ve been nice to you. Very nice and yet you return to ultimatum me into banning Mark. And then tell me that my blog is finished. Fyi the amount of page views and comments over the last couple days hasn’t changed without you being here.
I told you I wasn’t getting involved since this has nothing to do with me. But I’m rather irritated and sick of this whole nonsense. So tell you what I will do.
Out of fairness I will ban you and Mark and I will no longer tolerate petty personal attacks and trashing of this community. In the next several days I will create posting rules for everyone to follow and post them on the front page. From now on if I see any posts with any kind of personal attacking or petty insults I will immediately delete the post and issue the poster a warning. On the third warning you’ll be banned for a specified amount of time. Since you and a couple of others are unable to conduct yourselves like adults. I’ve had it with all of this grown ass men acting catty on a Dodger blog.
You are dead on Scott and I apologize to you personally for my conduct in this mess. I assure you I would much rather talk Dodger baseball than argue with anyone. It started off badly between me and Mark and escalated from there. That in a large part is my fault. That I am sorry for. And one last thing Mr. Timmons. I understand you are 64. I am 69. You carry an equalizer as you say….so do I.
Michael,
I suspect we are more alike than different, but I apologize as well if I offended you. If it’s any consolation, I frequently call myself a moron. Godspeed!
I concur, I also often hit myself over the head for something I might have done. In one thing we are very much alike, we both love the team. I just view things from a much different perspective than you do, and never will like the analytic side of the game that has become so prevalent. Old school for sure. Know a good one when I see them and think over thinking because of stats that are obscure to the average fan is not always a good thing. That being said, they are doing a lot better than I thought they would, and the depth is the reason why, so in that respect, I was totally wrong.
Jonah,
I think you are a good man who just got caught up in something.
You apologized. I accepted. End of story. The rest is between you and Scott. I post so infrequently here, what difference does it make?
Remaining schedule. 2 with Mil. 3 in Az. 4 in SD. Az 3 in LA. Colo 4 in LA. 3 at SF. 3 at DC. 4 at Philly . SF 3 at LA. SD 3 at LA. 3 in Colo. Sunday next week is a doubleheader. 9 of the 35 left are out of division. 7 with the Padres. 6 with the Giants. 6 with the Dirtbags. and 7 with the Rockies. 20 of the remaining games are on the road. 21.5 game lead with 35 to go. Magic number is 15.
Anyone think those baby blue caps just look wrong? Oh well, my traditional side is showing through. The nicknames are cool though.
The nicknames are cool but the uniform just look horrible to me. I liked the Brewers uniform though.
Yes MN those hats were hideous. In fact the entire uniform sucked
I am a traditionalist at heart. Never liked the DH, but this is a weekend for the players and the Uni’s are supposed to be auctioned off for charity, so I am down with that. But who came up with powder blue? They could have kept the traditional hat color with the D on it like they use in spring, I actually have one of those.
Yes agreed. It would have been nice if they required each player to choose a minor league affilate’s uniform with the nickname. That would have been cool and also serve to promote the minor league system (and show the kids it’s a long road to the majors).
Now that I think is a great idea. Anyone remember Oneleiki Garcia? Dodger farmhand a few years ago. 28 years old now, just called up by the Royals.
Not to mention the names and logos of minor league clubs are great conversationalist pieces and nice content for the announcers. Players weekend should also promote the minors.
And yes I do remember Garcia. And does anyone still remember that Zach Lee actually won Minor League Pitcher of the Year TWICE for us? (Chris Taylor won once for the Mariners so I guess we suckered them good on that one … ha ha).
Just one thing I would like to say. I enjoy reading everyone’s posts and insights. And it is not about always being right with me. For one thing, you cannot argue stats. They are there in black and white for all to see. Usually before I post anything I check to make sure I am basing on fact, not fiction, and I almost always make sure I am right before I say something. Other times what I say is my opinion, which as I have said numerous times, you can either agree or not. A few times I have gotten a bit overzealous in my reply’s to certain things that have been posted, and a little testy to boot. That I am sorry for. But for the over 60 years I have followed this team and its players, the one thing that has always been true is that I have learned the game is not as easy as many fans think it is, and not every player gets it right away. There are exceptions and we have 2 of them on this team right now, Cody and Corey. Others for what ever reasons take longer. Also the FO and ownership make decisions and trades that sometimes seem oh so dumb at the time. Others they make simply out of need. They needed a productive outfielder, since except for Puig and Taylor, they were not getting what they needed, hence, we have Grandy. They needed LH relief, so they went and got 2 that were relatively cheap and who also had demonstrated some decent skill in the past, Watson, and a lot of potential, Cingrani. The have manipulated the 10 day DL with a lot of skill and allowed those who had nagging injuries to heal. I give credit to the players, who stepped up, and to the brilliant field general job being done by the manager. Hopefully all of this ends up with LA having it’s first Championship since 88. But they have won nothing yet. A challenge of sorts is out there from Joe Maddon who says he wants the Dodgers in the playoffs. Guess he thinks his Cubbies can beat us again. Well, he will no doubt have to beat Washington to get to LA. Since the Dodgers will most likely play the wild card winner who ever it is. Let’s hope Chicken Strip has a really good game tonight. A repeat of his start in SF last year would be great.
I have tried to explain to so many of my ex-wives that I am watching history being written here, they’ll have plenty of re-runs of your show.
That is a very intelligent reply. Me, I quit the married thing years ago so I can enjoy the games in peace.
I think Maddon is doing the smart thing and putting pressure on us. But Kershaw asked the question back in May when they were starting to go on their streak, is this a streak or is this just who we are? I think putting that question, on that way, was brilliant and Roberts was also smart to go back to that a few times since. It’s a question of how good the team really is and let’s all find out – the opponents and the playoffs are all part of finding out how good we are. This is a great frame of mind and a focusing point. I hope they keep back to that statement from Kershaw.
I really do not think the Dodgers feel much pressure at all. I think Roberts has them actually thinking about each day as it comes and not looking ahead at all. Maddon may think he is creating blackboard fodder, but with this bunch I do not think they care.
Agreed. It’s still early but that’s the right mindset. Roberts may be a zen master in disguise.
Meanwhile, Kersh today for OKC: 5ip, 2 hits, 1ER (a solo hr by Jorge Soler), 0bb, 8k, 64 pitches (43 strikes)
Kershaw is raring to go. I can hardly wait to see him tear up the league for the next two months and two weeks.
I am not a stat person at all. Yeh, I look at BA, HR, RBI, and OBP. I use my eyes. So when I post I usually do not have facts to support my position. That is ok because it is just my opinion anyway.
Of course. I’m not questioning you. I was just saying I’m not sold on Grandal. Just my opinion.
Stripling did well today.
I think our offense is getting into a funk. That bases loaded ineptitude is bugging me. I dislike overrelying on the long ball to win.
I totally agree Yueh. Situational hitting was a huge bugaboo that last road trip. They were 5-2, but could have very easily came home 7-0 if they had driven in some of those stranded runners. That one game where they went 12 with Pittsburgh, they left the bases loaded 3 times. That’s just not really good hitting and I think the reason is twofold. 1. Bellinger is out of the lineup. He has driven in more runs than any Dodger. They have missed his bat. Another stat. Turner is only hitting .250 since the all star break. They need Justin to heat up. They need the real Turner when they go into the playoffs.
About what you posted about Grandal earlier. I have always thought, and said by the way, that as a catcher, I think he is not that great a defensive catcher as everyone says he is. Way too many passed balls. I also disliked his game calling. I remember a game where he called the same pitch 9 times in a row, and the hitter hit # 9 out for a homer that cost the Dodgers the game. I think framing is over rated. I think a huge problem is that the strike zone is what that particular ump makes it and not universal. I have seen some really bad strike zones and umps who were all over the place. Also, although his BA is much higher than last year, he is still not very good in the clutch and is a all or nothing hitter a lot of time.
I guess it’s hard to ease up on the uppercut swings in clutch situations. Joc and Grandal, and Chris Taylor also, really can’t their swings. But Chris Taylor tends sees better pitches because he’s got a better swing and better speed and the other team don’t want to put him on base. Grandal? In a key spot and the base not loaded, they just throw him junk and walk him as he is a major GIDP risk. Joc – he’s
Interesting article today on Dodgers Way about the Dodgers trading high on Taylor. I think Taylor is another Turner and a keeper and plus he plays all over the field. The FAZ held on to Kike and they’ll hold onto Taylor. They love the positional versatility.
I like Taylor. He is continually adjusting. He goes into mini slumps and battles right back out of them. Joc when he came off the DL was doing really well, then he went into that 2-35 slump, did not really adjust, just went back to his old swing and he was toast. Kike, I do not like his approach at the plate against RHP. He is pretty much a RH Joc when facing them. He just goes up there and flails.