LAD – By the numbers 06/25/16
Dodgers six-game winning streak was snapped, but with Puig’s home run, the Dodgers have now homered in fourteen consecutive games. The last time the Dodgers hit fourteen consecutive home runs was in June of 2001. In June of 1977, the team hit home runs in fifteen consecutive games. That was the team that had four players hit thirty home runs (Garvey, Smith, Cey, Baker) in a season.
The Dodgers .352 average is tied with the Royals for the highest in baseball since June 14.
Cory Seager now boasts an eight-game hitting streak, and not a light one either. Over those eight games, Cory has eighteen hits, including five doubles, and one home run. Cory leads the team in just about every possible offensive category. The last rookie to lead his team in Hits, Home Runs, Doubles, and Runs was HOF shoo-in Albert Pujols in 2001. Hey, before that you have to go back to 1947 and Jackie Robinson.
Kenta Maeda is undefeated in his six starts on the road this year. Maeda is 4-0 with a 2.14 ERA. No June swoon for Kenta. Maeda is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA in his four June starts.
Dodgers are now seven games back of the Giants after the Giants scored four runs in the bottom of the 7th to wipe out a two-run deficit. Luckily the Dodgers have a 1/2 game lead over the Mets for the first of two wild card spots.
Brock Stewart and Imani Abdullah both fan 10 in minor league starts
While Nick Tepesch was proving why he was a one start nonsolution for the major league club, Brock Stewart was making sure they pay attention to him the next time they might need someone to fill the void in the rotation. Brock struck out ten for the second game in a row for the Oklahoma City Dodgers, but this time, he walked one. In his last two games at AAA, Brock has struck out 20, walked 1, and given up 3 runs in 13 innings. By my count, Brock has recorded 39 outs, and struck out over 1/2 of them, while walking just one. In the short period of three months, Brock has pitched at three levels, dominating each level before moving up. Is his next start going to mean another promotion?
Imani Abdullah does his work at the lower levels of the minor league system. The 19–year-old Imani pitches for the Great Lakes Loons in the A level midwest league. Imani struck out 10, walked none, gave up two runs in five innings. This was by far the best outing of the 2015 11th round draft pick.
Can anyone play LF against RHP?
The Dodgers have turned their season around with six straight wins, eight out of nine, and homered in thirteen straight games, but they still have a few issues that need to be addressed.
- They need to rectify that .500 road record
- Having to use a Nick Tepesch doesn’t signal that the starting pitching depth has worked out.
- Adrian Gonzalez has reached the 75th game with only six home runs
Plus the bugago about who is going to play left field when a right-hander is on the mound. If a left-hander takes the mound Doc Roberts has a plethora of options, and they are all good. Conversely, when a right-hander takes the mound he has four options and none of them appear to be satisfactory.
Howie Kendrick has become the defacto starter in left field against RHP since May 25h, and the results are not satisfying. Dodger notes point out that Howie has has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, batting .400 (10-for-25) with two doubles, a homer and two RBI since June 13. Yet as a starting left fielder, Howie is not getting it done. His overall OPS as a left fielder is a measly .509. He has been better of late but not enough to say he has earned the job. Since May 25th, as a starter in LF, Howie has a triple stat line of .186 / .263 / .302. Defensively I’ll grudgingly admit he has looked better you can’t convince he’s better out there than any of the other three options.
Trayce Thompson lit up the stat board in May and early June, so he looked to be the heir apparent to LF once Puig came back from the disabled list. Unfortunately as sometimes happens, when exposed to everyday pitching, the hot streak has turned cold as ice. Thompson has gone seven for forty-three over the past fourteen days turning his lock on a starting job into something much more nebulous.
Scott Van Slyke can certainly hit left-hand pitching, and he can certainly play a good defensive left field. He’s never answered the question about can he hit right hand pitching enough to be a full-time player. The splits say to me that at the least he could hit as much as Howie, and possibly even better.
Kiké Hernández is basically in the same boat as SVS. Someone who can torch left-hand pitching but hasn’t been able to put up much of a struggle against RHP. I personally think the Dodgers are doing him a disservice and that he’d be better served to get full time at bats in AAA. He’s great to have on the bench to face left-hand pitching, and filling in at both the infield / outfield spots. But with a team that also has Howie/Trayce/SVS it seems that Herandez is superfluous whose utility could be replaced by the recently acquired Chris Taylor while Kike works on his game in AAA.
As noted none of these four are good options, but I find it hard to imagine that Howie is the best choice. I’m not a big Scott Van Slyke fan, but if Doc Roberts isn’t going to ride out Thompson’s slump, he’d be my choice.
But Doc is the manager for a reason, so maybe his gut will prove correct with Howie leading the Dodgers to a victory tonight.
Oh look, Howie back in LF
Doc Roberts just loves his Howie Kendrick. Lots of interesting things with the Dodger/Pirates lineup tonight.
Howie Kendrick gets the nod in LF over Trayce Thompson. Of course he does. Not only does Howie get to start in LF he gets to bat fifth. Not bad for a guy who has hit .186 as the starting left fielder since May 25th. I do have to admit that Howie’s defense in LF has seemed to be getting better. Wednesday’s hero Puig finds himself batting eighth.
Gregory Polanco is going to sit this one out for the Pirates. Starling Marte is back in the starting lineup. Josh Harrison also takes a seat. Replacing Polanco will be Matt Joyce who enjoys hitting against right-hand pitchers. Sean Rodriquez will replace Josh Harrison at 2nd base.
Interesting pitching matchup with one of the Pirates top two prospects James Taillon taking the mound against journeyman Nick Tepesch
Pirates starter on Sunday up in air
One candidate is righty Chad Kuhl (6-2, 2.58), who is slated to pitch Saturday for Indianapolis. A more likely possibility is having Kyle Lobstein and A.J. Schugel piggyback each other.
Nicasio was in the rotation but had to leave to attend family matters, but has since returned to the team. He should be activated this weekend but will they let him start?
It would seem that Nicasio is the likely starter, since he’s been in the rotation all year and has missed only one turn, unless he’s being replaced in the rotation by Glasnow.
Pirates preview – June 24th, 2016
You can count on one thing, the LAD will probably see a bit of Sean Rodriquez who fills in everywhere. Sean has played at least one game at every position except catcher.
Earlier we talked about the Pirates June swoon. Now let’s focus on the actual team the Dodgers will be playing the next four games.
The Pirates still have a lot weapons but just about all of them are hitters. Eric Stephen broke down the pitching matchups, so let’s concentrate on the hitters.
Catcher – Starting catcher Francisco Cervelli went on the DL June 11th with a broken hamate bone in his left hand. The Pirates are 2 – 9 since he was put on the DL. Replacing Cervelli is long-time backup catcher Chris Stewart, the AJ Ellis of the Pirates. Backing up Stewart now is Eric Kratz who also fills in as a pitcher when asked.
1st Base – John Jaso has started fifty-five games for the Pirates. He never starts against LHP, which means his mediocre performance against RHP is not what the Pirates were hoping for. Jaso has always been a part-time player only eclipsing 400 plate appearance once, way back in 2010, but the Pirated decided he’s a semi full-time 1st baseman. Jaso has hit enough that the Pirates have made him the de facto leadoff hitter against RHP. If Jaso had hit like he had in any of his previous seasons this might have been an excellent plan, but as it is, Jaso is just middling along with a pedestrian Triple State Line of .278/ .352 / .408 and an OPS+ of 106. Jaso has slumped badly in June, and maybe in danger of losing at-bats to David Freeze who is having his best offensive season since he was an all-star with the Cardinals in 2012. In June, Freeze has an almost .900 OPS, and for the season is crushing LHP to the tune of a .988 OPS.
2nd Base – Josh Harrison was a one-time utility player who exploded into prominence with a full season OPS+ of 133 far above anything he’d done previously as a utility player. That performance netted him an all-star berth, and he even finished 9th in the MVP voting. The Pirates were misled and gave him the starting 3rd base job in 2015. That didn’t work out so well, so they doubled down and gave him the starting second base job in 2016. Josh started out OK but is having trouble hitting his weight in June. How bad? How about a .516 OPS in June.
ShortStop – Jody Mercer is actually hitting in June with a .762 OPS. Mercer has always earned his keep by crushing LHP, why that allows him to be a full-time SS I’m not sure, because he’s below average against RHP, and that is what he see’s most of the time.
Career against LHP – .879 / against RHP – .635
2016 against LHP – .959 / against RHP – .639
Clearly, baseball needs more left-handed hitting shortstops. The Dodgers should get on that.
3rd Base – Jung Ho Kang missed all of April, and the start of May recovering from the surgery that ended his 2015 season, but is now entrenched as the Pirate starting 3rd baseman. The Korean national has had little problem with major league pitching, now posting a career OPS+ of 133. Kang has a wRC+ of 138 which for context is actually one point better than Nolan Arenado four better than Kris Bryant.
Right Field – Gregory Polanco was supposed to be the next big thing back in the summer of 2014 but instead the then twenty-two struggled most of the season. His 2015 wasn’t much better but it was an improvement. Sometimes patience is rewarded, and in 2016 you could make an argument that so far in 2016, Polanco is the best RF in the National League. His wRC+ of 140 sits on top of everyone. The defense metrics suggest he’s an outstanding defensive right fielder. Left handed defensive star, power, speed, and on-base skills. Sign me the hell up.
Left Field – Much like Polanco, Starling Marte came into the league with a lot of ballyhoos. The difference is that it only took one year before Marte started living up to the hype. He’s already twenty-seven now and has been one of the better left fielders for four years. Marte is having his best season, but is a bit dinged up and his status for the series is up in the air. He did play against the Giants, but went hitless in the four-game series, and was relegated to pinch-hitting the last two games.
Center Field – for the past four years you could argue that Andrew McCutchen was the best player in the NL. He finished 3rd,1st, 3rd, and 5th in the last four years of MVP voting. That time may have passed. Andrew is only 29 but at this moment in time, he’s probably not even the best outfielder on his team. The plus .400 OBP is now .315. The plus .500 slug% is now .401. He is fighting injuries and paying the price. Strangest part of this is that now you are hearing rumors that with Pirates free falling they might trade the franchise. I’ll believe that when I see it.
OF – Reserve Matt Joyce has done an excellent job whenever called upon. He will usually feast upon right-hand pitching so Baez beware.
Lineup stats courtesy of baseball reference:
| Pos | Name | Age | PA | HR | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| C | Chris Stewart | 34 | 91 | 1 | 0.205 | 0.319 | 0.282 | 0.601 |
| 1B | John Jaso* | 32 | 251 | 4 | 0.278 | 0.352 | 0.408 | 0.76 |
| 2B | Josh Harrison | 28 | 271 | 3 | 0.287 | 0.315 | 0.394 | 0.709 |
| SS | Jordy Mercer | 29 | 280 | 3 | 0.273 | 0.355 | 0.355 | 0.71 |
| 3B | Jung Ho Kang | 29 | 146 | 10 | 0.267 | 0.329 | 0.557 | 0.886 |
| 1st/3rd | David Freese | 33 | 227 | 6 | 0.292 | 0.37 | 0.45 | 0.821 |
| LF | Starling Marte | 27 | 270 | 6 | 0.328 | 0.37 | 0.494 | 0.864 |
| CF | Andrew McCutchen | 29 | 308 | 10 | 0.238 | 0.315 | 0.401 | 0.716 |
| RF | Gregory Polanco* | 24 | 300 | 10 | 0.298 | 0.378 | 0.519 | 0.897 |
| UT | Sean Rodriguez | 31 | 147 | 6 | 0.25 | 0.322 | 0.47 | 0.792 |
| OF | Matthew Joyce* | 31 | 125 | 7 | 0.287 | 0.424 | 0.574 | 0.998 |
| C | Erik Kratz | 36 | 23 | 1 | 0.043 | 0.043 | 0.174 | 0.217 |
| C | Francisco Cervelli (15-day dl) | 30 | 201 | 0 | 0.257 | 0.373 | 0.293 | 0.667 |
Pirates – Talk about a June swoon
At the beginning of the year, it was felt that the Dodgers would need to win the National League West division for an unprecedented fourth time in a row to get into the 2016 postseason.
On June 24, that collective wisdom seems wanting. The teams that were expected to push for the play-in game were the Mets, Cardinals, and Pirates. Right now the Pirates are in such a disarray they have to decide if they are sellers or buyers in the next few weeks.
The Dodgers play the Pirates four games, and this series could be instrumental in helping the Pirates decide which way they go. The Pirates entered June with a 29 – 22 mark and in the lead for the play-in game. The Giants dismantled the Pirates this week giving the Pirates a 5 – 17 record in June pushing their overall record to 34 – 39. The Pirates now trail the Dodgers, Cardinals, Marlins, Mets, and even the Rockies for the two wild card spots. The Pirates could still right the ship but it will have to happen soon, and playing the two hottest teams in back to back four-game series makes that task even tougher. The second biggest problem for the Pirates is that the team has simply rolled over when they have played the Cub going 1 – 8 in head to head competition.
It is easy to see why the Pirates are in disarray, pitching pitching pitching. And Andrew McCutcheon hitting like Chris Heisey. The Pirates are near the bottom of just about every pitching category and it gets worse in June where they sit at the bottom.
I was wrong about this team, I felt they would compete with the Cubs, and at the very least be in the play-in game once again. The rotation was a concern, but with Taillon and Glasnow lurking, I felt they would join Cole/Liriano/Niese to form a decent enough rotation that would allow them to compete with the big boys. But when Cole went down and Liriano imploded the domino’s started falling, and they are still falling.
On Monday the Pirates inexplicably won 1 – 0 behind Jeff Locke who had given up eighteen runs in his prior two starts. That is not a misprint, eighteen runs. That was the last highlight for the Pirates as the Giants blew them out of the water the next three games. Crushing them in game two so much that the Pirates had to turn to their backup catcher Eric Kratz to finish the game on the mound. Kratz owns the dubious record of being a position player and pitching for two different teams in the same year. Kratz was the Houston back up catcher at the start of the year and also had to pitch for them in a blow out game on April 26th. The best part of this story is that Kratz had hit the home run to win the game on Monday for the Pirates. Talk about a weird two-game stretch for Kratz.
In game three they blew a six-run lead to lose 7 – 6. Game four they simply lost your basic 5 – 3 game.
The Giants were hot when they visited Pittsburgh, the Dodgers might be even hotter. I expect a brutal four games for the Pirates.
Michael Taylor goes from penthouse to doghouse in five days
Five days ago Michael Taylor destroyed the Padres with four hits, two home runs, one double, and was on top of his baseball world as the Nationals headed up to Chavez Ravine. Dusty Baker announced to the world that Taylor had earned all at-bats against left-hand pitching going forward.
Taylor however, got the short end of the stick, by having to face Clayton Kershaw on Monday and future Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday. Predictably Taylor didn’t get any hits against Kershaw and went hitless in all four of his at-bats. Yet, he did not strike out once against the major league strikeout leader. Baker like all managers backtracked on his statement and started Ben Revere against left-hander Kazmir. Revere went hitless so Taylor found himself back in the lineup on Wednesday Night.
Taylor struck out three times once so far this year before Wednesday.
His At bats:
- Urias strikes him out to start off game
- Urias strikes him out in the 3rd to end the 2nd after consecutive doubles, including one by the pitcher, Joe Ross. It was a pivotal moment with Werth and Harper due up.
- Urias strikes him out again in the fifth
- Casey Fien strikes him out with two on and two out in the 7th and fits him with a sombrero
- With two on and one out in the 9th, Pedro Baez strikes Taylor out for the fifth time
At this point. you can’t have had a worse game. The platinum sombrero, several in key moments, but he had to take solace in the fact his team was still winning 3 – 2. Yet even that solace was taken away when Puig rocketed a 108 MPH ground ball up the middle and through his glove. He watched Howie Kendrick scamper home with the tying run, he watched Puig scamper home with the winning run.
Michael Taylor did not hang his head as he left the diamond, he held his head high, took the questions, and like any ballplayer who has had a day like this, yearned for tomorrow, because the best thing about baseball, there is always a tomorrow.
Puig mad dash reminds long time fans of Kirk Gibson’s mad dash home in 88
As Puig belly-flopped across home plate with the winning run last night, long time fans couldn’t help but harken back to a pivotal game in 1988, when Kirk Gibson scored from second on a passed ball to score the winning run.
Ross Newhan of the LA Times recounts the action:
The count then was 1-and-1 on John Shelby when Gibson stole second. Hesketh’s next pitch was in the dirt and skipped past catcher Nelson Santovenia to the backstop screen.
Gibson raced to third, took a brief look and sped home, sliding in ahead of Santovenia’s wide throw to Hesketh, who was covering the plate and failed to make a tag as the ball popped out of his glove.
The best part of the LA Times link was that Ross used a word that would become synonymous with the 1988 World Champion Dodgers and Kirk Gibson in particular.
He singled to score the tying run in the ninth inning, then stole second base and scored all the way from second on the ensuing wild pitch to lift the Dodgers to an improbable 4-3 victory over the Montreal Expos before a crowd of 46,743 at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 