The Dodgers fresh of scoring 21 runs and splitting a series with Brewers last night. Tonight was Andre Ethier retirement night. The Dodgers welcomed the defending champions Houston Astros to the ravine. Alex Wood had to take on Justin Verlander. In the bottom of the first, Joc Pederson hit a solo shot and the Dodgers had a 1-0 lead. Joc picking up where he left off during last years World Series. That would be the only score of the night for the Dodgers as Justin Verlander would dominate after that.
The Astros would strike back quickly after that. Martin Maldonado walked with one out in top of the 2nd. Jake Marisnick then singled. George Springer who tormented the Dodgers last year then hit a single which turned into a double because of an error by Cody Bellinger. The double scored two runs and the Astros took the lead 2-1.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts said Alex Wood was having some cramping in left hamstring again. Wanted him to face Verlander only in 7th but didn't like what he saw as Wood warmed up for seventh so went to Floro
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 4, 2018
The game was pretty quiet after that as Alex Wood settled down. Justin Verlander was throwing fast-balls past most of the Dodgers. Yasiel Puig and Brian Dozier were on the bench after having good hitting games yesterday. Chris Taylor has two hits off Justin Verlander. Cody Bellinger also singled off Verlander. Justin Verlander had 14 strikeouts. The Dodgers should’ve put Dozier and Puig in the line-up. The Dbacks won and the Rockies lost. The Dodgers are tied for first with the snakes. Tomorrow Kenta Maeda will face Lance McCullers Jr.
Most of the fans have left Dodger Stadium, but there were a few just now behind the 3B dugout who serenaded Andre Ethier and his family with a "Thank you, Andre" chant
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) August 4, 2018
The Dodgers are supposed to be able hit fastball pitchers but they sure couldn’t hit Verlander. McCullers and Gerrit Cole are lurking. Carlos Correa should play the rest of the series. George Springer played today after missing a few games.
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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Do we really need 2 recaps of the game? You guys should coordinate your columns.
3-7 in the lineup with 13 Ks. You don’t see that often. Muncy looked completely overmatched, as did Kemp and Grandal. Heck they all did. 0 for 1 WRISP. 0 for 1? Complete yak job by a team of squirrels.
This who we are. World beaters one day, the Bad News Bears the next.
Seeing Verlander pitch last night all I could do was think “what could have been and what should have been”
Good job Dodgers Brass, Good Job!
Also, I told you that Roberts had the skills to cool off his hitters, Good Job Davey, you chilled out the offense by resting Puig and NotShyte, Good Job!
One more thing, Scott, as of yesterday I now have to always re-sign in with name and email, has something changed or have you put Brutus in charge of moderating?
No, either you’re using a different email address, IP address or you need to clear your browser cache on your computer.
It’s happening to me to. Cache got nothing to do with it. And there is no “check here to stay signed in”.
And you’re on a bleeping cell phone toy, not a real computer….
Scott, I just noticed I’m having the same problem, there is no “stay checked in” box. Your software has changed…
Too many cooks????
The software is still the same. WordPress has issued an update though so maybe that’s it. I did clear the spam filter cache and the cache for the site as well. If it’s happening to everyone try and save your login details via the broswer. I’ll keep looking to see if there is something else causing it.
And also to put a check mark in the little box under your sign in data, the one that says,”Check here to stay signed in”. Not being a wise-ass, I’ve run afoul of that box myself a few times. When you run a cleaning program on your computer, it erases all your sign in data and box checks, you have to re-do it.
Jonah
Do not have a box to check to keep me signed in?
Scott,
I am also experiencing that same problem as the others today. Something is wrong with your site’s setup.
That may be the cause of it Jonah. It could have to to do with the recent wordpress update. Anyways sorry. Thanks for being patient. We’ll figure it out.
Didn’t watch but followed on Twitter, seems like Astros were a little better.
Sounds about right.
Also sounds like the home plate ump wasn’t to blame, but didn’t help.
Astros didn’t strike out 16 times. Our guys were WAY behind Verlander’s 97 mph fastball. The most they could do with itwas a weak foul. That’s what will happen with such long swings. They won’t change either. All or nothing. Hope they aren’t teaching this to the kids. I suspect they are. Raising squirrels.
Agree. Not a huge fan of this type of baseball. Hopefully the pendulum swings back.
The ump was picky but he was actually the same with Verlander, so both pitchers had to adjust, to this ump’s strike zone.
But that did make Wood have a high pitch count, early.
Changing mail address Scott.
Maybe auto fill will work now?
Badger
Did it work?
Me too Scott, don’t know why.
Not until Guggenheim kicks FAZ’s dumb ass out of here…
But….. you don’t think they’re geniuses?
They are a one-trick pony. I know how they’re trying to do it and I like the economics of it. But any system will only get you so far and then you have to change horses. You can never sit on one thing, the world changes and you must change with it. If they would allow Roberts to run the team the way his experience probably tells him, I’m sure they would be more successful. It is like a family with too much inbreeding (sorry, Bluto) new thoughts and ideas should be incorporated. Life moves on…
?
Finally remembered that movie that reminds me of you:
The great Philip Kaufman
Who else you know coulda brung you this entourage at a.550 clip,
and hot for a wild card, for a measly billion and change?
I think Badger is right, it wouldn’t have mattered, who was in this line up.
I don’t see Puig or Dozier getting many hits off Verlander, and actually Dozier did get one at bat.
And I know that is not the same as four at bats, and starting a game.
And Taylor who started at second, had two hits.
I just don’t think a team should only have one way to score runs, and I think all of these players could do the things, to make the offense more productive.
But if they are not encouraged to do that.
Like I said to many times, even these lite utility players that use to be on baseball teams, back when, could do what was needed to make the offense more productive.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-mlb-shaikin-20180804-story.html
Ned Colletti traded 71 players. How many prospects came back to haunt the Dodgers? One. At the trade deadline, the “prospect” hype has grown far beyond rational.
Something is screwed up on you end Scott, everyone is having the same issue.
This is just a test.
So is this.
Still no auto fill here.
Received
The DL door is spinning.
Badger
Kike is playing and starting over Cody.
I know Cody had trouble with this pitcher in the series, but I think it would be better to let Cody go against him here, he might learn something, or surprise us, because he has to face pitchers like this.
And we know Kike has not hit much since June, and he is not close to the defensive first baseman Cody is, although Kike has hit righties better then lefties this year, but like I said, he hasn’t hit much at all, since June.
And he is not a good off speed hitter either.
test
Package
See, you are not the only one that doesn’t like the line up at times.
And I don’t care when you voice your views!
McCullers might have reverse splits, but that doesn’t help a hitter, that doesn’t hit off speed pitches well.
Axford looks like a keeper
Still have to fill the empty boxes each time I post.
Yeah, not a great intro, but on the 2-1 to third batter (White?), he makes a great
pitcher’s pitch, just a smidgen of the low/outside corner, and the ump misses it.
Changes the whole at bat (though, to his credit, he threw a few more good pitches
before the walk).
Bring on the Rectangle!
PATHETIC.