With Clayton Kershaw on the mound against the slumping hated ones, a victory was expected on fan appreciation day at Dodgers stadium. The Dodgers playing their final game of the year against the Giants. Yasiel Puig was held out of the line-up because of his base-running blunder last night. Justin Turner also missed the game nursing a sore wrist.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning the Dodgers actually manufactured a run. Curtis Granderson hit a single followed by a double by Logan Forsythe. Yasmani Grandal hit a sacrifice fly to score Granderson. The Dodgers lead 1-0. Clayton Kershaw kept the Giants at bay or they left them at the bay. Kershaw induced 4 double plays to keep the Giants off the score board.
In the bottom of the 4rth inning, Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run shot and the Dodgers led 3-0. Kershaw ended up pitching 8 innings. He gave up a solo shot to Mac Williamson in the 8th for the Giants lone run. Brandon Morrow came in the 9th to earn the save. The Dodgers won the game and Kershaw won his 18th game of the year. The Dodgers took the season series from the Giants 11-8.
With Grandal’s homer the Dodgers have hit 212 homers this year setting a franchise record. Kershaw sets a Dodger’s franchise record with seven seasons of at least 200 k’s. He had been tied with Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. Good company to be in. Corey Seager at the plate concerns me going into the postseason. Joc Pederson actually got on base three times today.
The Dodgers still hold a one game lead over the Indians for best record and 4.5 over the Nationals for the NL best record. The Dodgers will open up a three game series against the Padres tomorrow.
James Moya
Hi I’m James Moya. I am an avid Dodgers fan. I graduated Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelors in Communications. I used to freelance at the San Bernardino Sun. I’m excited about this opportunity to write for LA Dodger Report to gain experience. I’m a straight shooter on my opinions and I hope to get some good conversations going. My dream has always been to report on the Dodgers because Baseball is the National Past-time. I hope you enjoy the ride with me.
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Yeah, like Oscar said before – Baez just as good as Kerhsaw
Hi Dodgerrick. Nice of you to drop in!
The gang here are not thrilled with the lack of hitting and the bad baseball overall. I think right now we look like the 4th best team in the league. Home field for the entirety of the playoffs down to only 1 game.
Darvish up next against the Padres at Dodgers stadium. Has Darvish righted himself? I am not sold on him (but I have never been a fan of his in the first place – I wanted Verlander instead and boy a lot of people questioned my sanity at the time …,).
Never questioned your sanity. I wanted Verlander the pitcher over Yu the pitcher. But that $28 per year for the next 2 year would really screw us hard. I’m sure management saw it that way too.
But man, Verlander has been insane for Houston so far!
Hi Bobby, I had wanted to package prospects with some salary to get under the cap. We have loads of salary and a number of prospects that are blocked.
Hope Darvish can get right.
Baseball does not have a cap per se. They have a number that if a team goes over they get taxed. That being said, I think it was more the fact that Verlander still has time on his contract that they did not want to absorb.
100% correct.
Of course. I was using the word cap, as in a soft cap, which is what a luxury tax regime is often called. Regardless, you can get under it this year and next by packaging prospects and contracts. I think the FAZ simply thought getting Darvish was better.
This is fine. It was not a bad call – I am simply saying I did propose something that was workable and I did that before the fact.
My main problem with the FAZ was that, after Darvish, they stopped looking at the rest of the market – which allowed Houston to steal Verlander. There are many good FOs out there and FAZ isn’t outsmarting or fooling anyone by any stretch of the imagination.
Verlander was traded on the 31’st of August with cash and a player to be named later for 3 prospects. I am sure the cash was to offset some of the financial for Houston. But not sure they would have done the same for LA since they are considered a cash cow, He had to go through waivers in order to be traded and I am pretty sure nobody else was considering claiming him. He of course has been nails since joining the Astros. Darvish has shown flashes, but has been nothing close to Verlander.
Verlander was not traded until just before the Sept deadline, not the July deadline. The Dodgers had an entire month that they could have traded for him. But they had just started their swoon when he was traded. And they would have been taking on money, not getting rid of it unless they could have packaged guys like Kazmir and McCarthy in the deal.
Interesting article on ESPN.com
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Here’s an excerpt:
“Taken individually, considering the Dodgers’ place in the division and the historic pace they were then on, each move could be defended as measured and well-considered. Cumulatively, though, they amounted to a backfire caught in a shifting wind; it created something it was intended to prevent, and something they were powerless to stop. As the losses accumulated, my mind went back to something Roberts said in Detroit: “We’ve turned over every stone looking for a potential weakness.” As one player described it, “It wasn’t broke, but we fixed it anyway.””
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http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/20765887/inside-los-angeles-dodgers-clubhouse-where-two-streaks-define-
That was an excellent article, DR, thanks! It is a reporter’s look at what we’ve been watching and suspecting from the outside.
By the way, that Oscar reverse-jinx about Kershaw pitching after 6 days’ rest worked like a charm! Good job Oscar! I see the crew is testing and sharpening up their mojo for the playoffs!
I do have to say, though, that it is obvious what set off the slide. It was the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. We started playing poorly after that. And this ESPN article, some of it very low and under-handed, may right the karma again – somewhat ironically I might add (if you read the article to the end – the ESPN reporter Tim Keown writes about karmic balance). Certainly there is much less gloating these days after wins, and a lot more appreciation of Vinny’s old saying, that the Dodgers never do anything easy.
YF
I am one that never wants to tempt fate, so even when we had that enormous lead, I still said if we make it to the post season!
Bobby is talking about staying under the luxury tax.
I have always liked Verlander, and I knew he should have really won the Cy Young last year.
And I was surprised when some said, he was washed up, in so many words.
I also knew he only had a couple of bad years, because be had a oblique problem, and then an obique surgery later.
And he has always pitched well in the post season.
I thought he may help Kershaw to pitch better in the post season, too.
But I didn’t think our front office would go for him, with two years left on his contract, because they are trying to stay under the luxury tax, like Bobby mentioned.
Good to hear from you DR. Don’t be a stranger. We have pitching depth, offensive depth, catching depth and yet we are 9-21 over our last 30 games. We have a SS with a bad elbow, a 3B with a bad wrist, a RF in the dog house, a catcher who can’t block the ball, a RP who can’t get batters out, and LF by committee.
Can’t be that bad right? After all, SF does have 95 losses.
Artieboy
We will all find out soon!
Kershaw looked like Kershaw. The offense did just enough even though the Giants had more hits. 1 solid inning from Morrow. Not a bad game. But a winning streak right now would be nice. Hoping Darvish is on his game tomorrow. Great article. It about says what a lot of us have said over the stressful month that has been September. It wasn’t broke. But the tweaks they made seem to have upset the balance. Will they work out in the long run? No one knows. It seems as if Roberts has already made a decision about Granderson. He will be on the playoff roster. Charlie and Orel were talking about that today. I still think Roberts line up tinkering has a down side. And I also think that right now, this team can in no way be considered a lock to make it past the first round. I am hoping someone other than the Rockies makes it to the wild card round so at least they have a shot to beat AZ in a 1 game playoff. The Rocks have offense, but no real ace. You know the D-Backs will go to either Greinke or Ray. I think both St Louis and Milwaukee have better pitchers they can throw at AZ than the Rocks do. By next weekend we will know who AZ has to beat to make it in. And a week from Friday, round one begins.
It’s going to be a grueling playoffs. Every NL team other than the Rockies are well balanced. Don’t look now but Hendricks has been excellent for about a month and a half. Right now the Cubs, the Nationals and the DBacks look better than us. Yes a lot can change in two weeks but I think this year’s playoffs will be way tougher than last year.
I don’t know why some our blaming Roberts, or even thinking it is Roberts decision who makes the post season roster, because that isn’t Roberts decision, Just like the writer at the LA Times already mentioned, in his column.
And the stuff Roberts was doing since the end of August, was not him either.
Those were not moves from a former major league player.
Roberts and his coaches, collaborate with the guys in the front office.
And all of those guys in the front office are mainly numbers guys, and anyone who is in to numbers heavily, saw our lead, as so insurmountable, that their trials and the other things they were doing, didn’t seem like it would be a problem, to the team down the line.
We will find out if all of that is true soon.
And the Rockies do have a couple of starting pitchers, that have very good stuff, and they pitch us tough!
These play off games are hard to guess about, because this is a totally new season, for every team in the post season.
Let’s see if all of the rest they gave our starters, will make them better in the post season.
I think since they started giving this rest to our starters, from the very beginning of the season, they didn’t need to continue to give them so much rest like they have, especially when they were pitching five innings most of the time.
I think they should have rested our pen, toward the end of the season, instead of just our starters.
YF
Who are playoffsgoing to be grueling on, the players, or us fans?
I have been saying it for the last month, “it is going to be very very difficult”. Is it impossible, no, is it unlikely, yes. Once Mo leaves the building and is told that he has outworn his welcome, he ain’t too comfortable returning for a long while. ” Damn that Dodgers front yard used to look so pretty, that lawn job just screwed up the whole scene. Running over the Dodger Dog as you left town was too cruel, damn you Mo!”
True
That is your take, and your sticking with that!
And we will find out if you are right, very soon.
At least you know that this is more about the front office then Roberts, because the front office is all about the numbers!
Your damn right MJ, I am sticking to it, every day all day long.
I don’t know who is most responsible, Roberts with heavy influence from the FO or the FO with heavy influence from Roberts. No one really knows unless you are one that is inside the inner workinngs of the machine
True
I am just looking at the different power, that Roberts possesses, as compared, to the front office.
Basically, who works for who?
•At 8-16 this month, the Dodgers are having the worst September for any MLB playoff team ever.
To date, the worst September finish for a team that made the postseason is 9-15 (.375) by the 1998 Padres.
hey, they got to the world series! I’d take that haha
Bobby
Good point!
See you still have your sense of humor, that is probably the best approach, at this point!
Rockies starters..Gray 9-4 3.62 ERA 107 K’s .267 BAA Freeland 11-10 4.03 107 .279 Marquez 11-7 4.38 145 .274 Chatwood 8-13 4.56 115 .249 Senzatela 10-5 4.63 100 .255 Anderson 5-6 5.24 76 .276 team ERA 4.66 with 171 HR’s allowed……..D-Backs starters…..Ray 14-5 2.95 212 .201 Greinke 17-6 3.18 211 .226 Godley 8-8 3.20 158 .217 Walker 9-9 3.54 140 .249 Corbin 14-13 4.09 176 .277 Team ERA 3.65 HR allowed 143…….who would you rather face? Point being, the Rockies will probably be fighting for their playoff lives this weekend. So they will be no push over. Dodgers could channel the revenge factor in since they were thoroughly embarrassed the last time the teams met. Rocks need to win at least 5 of their next 6 games to clinch a spot. St Loo and the Brewers right on their tail.
The point is, you can throw all of those numbers out, anything can happen, in the post season!
And Kershaw is the best example of a pitcher, that has pitched differently in the post season.
Here is a little tidbit which some may find interesting. The Dodgers have a winning record against only 2 of the teams currently still in the playoff picture. They are 4-2 against the Cubs and 4-3 against the Cardinals. The Rockies and D-Backs have winning records against the Dodgers. Washington and Milwaukee are 3-3 against the blue. If the Dodgers sweep Colorado this weekend they would wind up 10-9 against them. The Dodgers are 2-1 against the Indians.
Tonight’s line up…..oh, you are gonna love this……Taylor CF Seager SS Hernandez RF Bellinger LF Forsythe 3B Barnes 2B Grandal C Segedin 1B Darvish P………..now tell me, even against the sad sack Padres, who beat us 3 of 4 last time out, does that look like a winning combination to you? Are they trying to throw home field down the tubes? Yeah, the Padres pitcher has an ERA north of 6, but considering the way this team has been playing, other than Turner who is still suffering from the flu, I have my regulars in there. This past month has been a joke. Champions do not play like this. A .207 hitter in the 3 hole? Dumb.
Sededin? What is that all about? Roberts must be trying to twist Cody’s ankle again. Oh well, Roberts is not that smart. Love your flag!
Thanks Package.
Roberts is letting Puig get to him. This won’t end well for Puig.
Stupid time to F up what Puig has been contributing. Yes, Puig can be a pain, but he can also be a atomic bomb to the opposition, maybe Roberts is sending a message or maybe he is fed up. I don’t know, but what I do know is the Dodgers are going to need Puig in the line up and his head right. Don’t F things up Roberts, more than you have already in September. I think Roberts has managed himself out of Manager of the Year and possibly into the manager that goes home after Round 1.
Puig’s base running gaff, and showing up late today was the last straw for DR evidently. Puig’s locker is empty and Roberts said he sent him to Vegas to clear his head. He will rejoin the team in Denver. These last two things do not bode well for Yasiel and he might have destroyed all the good he did during this season. I agree with you Blue. Roberts constant tinkering with the lineup has been frustrating all year long. What I do not get is sending him to Vegas to clear his mind?????? That’s a party town for pro athletes. Maybe he just wants him to get away from it all for a few days. What ever the reason, an IMPORTANT part of the offense is not going to be playing in the SD series.
We are obviously facing a leftie tonight.
And both Cody and Kike hit lefties, much better then Granderson and Puig!
Also Turner is out, and Forsythe hits lefties better, so he is at third.
And Barnes hits lefties better then Chase.
The way he hits lefty’s has nothing to do with why Puig is not in the line up. He showed up late for the team workout today and Roberts sent him packing to clear his head. Story is all over Twitter. Turner is still sick. I agree that Kike hits lefty’s pretty good, but he is no 3 hole hitter.
That may be true, but it is a fact that Puig is hitting below the Mendoza line, against lefties this year.
I don’t know what he has done, but this isn’t only about that one steal, that is for sure!
Because Grandal made the last out, at third last night.
In that article that Dodger rick posted, the writer followed the team through August, to the first week in September.
In that article, the writer said , that he didn’t know if Puig was part of the team, or that Puig was just being tolerated.
That writer must have picked up on something then.
Maybe Roberts is trying to scare Puig straight, since that seemed to work for Puig last year.
The AAA season is over, maybe that is the only place the Dodgers have something going on.
It is true. He was sent home. The stealing of the base was just part of it. Puig is an enigma, and some what of a primma donna. But his talent cannot be denied. And they will miss his defense in RF. He was doing a lot better this year. Guess something must have gotten to him. What he is hitting against lefty’s is irrelevant to why he is not there.
And Kiki isn’t hitting 207 against lefties either.
He is sluggling in the high 500 against lefties, and his OPS is in the 900s.
If Puig had a reason, Roberts wouldn’t be acting like that!
The Dodgers will never give him a multi year contract, that is for sure now!
By coincidence, I just had to send one of my favorite guys on a 3 day break too, due to an incident at the office. He almost got himself fired.
YF
The truth is maybe Robert is doing what is best for Puig, just like you did, for your employee.
Puig didn’t get sent to Vegas!