Dodgers have plenty to worry about
It is only five games but here are some concerns.
Kenley Jansen – not only has Kenley been ineffective, his skills don’t look good, and possibly worst of all, no one wants to see a pitcher rubbing their pitching shoulder for as long as Kenley was doing the other night. The velocity is down, that can tick back up. The cutter, however, isn’t doing much. Mechanics? Our Kenley strikes our everyone and walks no one. This Kenley is walking everyone and striking out no one. Kenley went at his own pace this spring and hopefully, he just did a terrible job in getting himself ready and none of this has to do with a sore shoulder. This one would worry more if I didn’t remember that Jansen hasn’t been the best in April for just about all of his career. The baseball-reference split tool bears this out showing his April OPS being the highest of any month over his career. As long as he’s not hurt, I’m not worried. But damn man, stop rubbing your shoulder.
Split PA H HR BB SO SO/W OPS April/March 322 61 10 26 116 4.46 .632 May 255 42 6 17 98 5.76 .557 June 294 45 4 12 119 9.92 .452 July 322 47 8 22 120 5.45 .482 August 310 44 4 23 144 6.26 .453 Sept/Oct 355 53 5 28 144 5.14 .482
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/5/2018.
Clayton Kershaw – Clayton has been brilliant when he hasn’t faced lousy hitting left hand hitters. We have seen this before where Clayton gets taken deep by the dregs of baseball but those folk were normally right-handed dregs. If the Dodgers had scored a few runs in his starts this would just be a funny tagline, but they didn’t and those dregs put two losses on the Dodgers. This one does not worry me, though I do think this is the year that Clayton stops getting better every year.
The Dodger Offense – other than Yaz the man Grandal and Austin Barnes the offense has been basically non-existent. Seager can’t hit. Bellinger can’t hit. Forsythe can’t hit. Can we blame all this on Justin Turner? Sure, go ahead. This does not worry me. Really.
I can be positive. Two one-run losses on explicable home runs. Well, I guess the second home run was not that inexplicable given what we saw Jansen throwing Monday night. Which brings us to the other loss, blowing a 3-run lead in the 9th. Right now that looks like a 4 – 3 record.
But, the real record is what counts and this Diamondback team looks very good. We finally might have a horse race this September.
That would be cool.
As Dodgers regroup Walker Buehler makes his 2018 minor league debut
While the Dodgers get a travel day to figure out their offense and why they can’t win when the two best pitchers pitch, the minor league schedule opens with Walker Buehler highlighting the schedule.
Buehler is the odds-on favorite to get the first call when the Dodgers need a starter. Heck if Kenley Jansen has to hit the DL, they might even consider using him in the bullpen. If it was something they seriously thought about last Sept for October, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t consider it if they were to lose their best arm in the bullpen.
AAA Opening Day Notes:
Helping out Buehler in AAA will be Andrew Toles and Alex Verdugo as they jockey to be the first outfielder recalled if/when the Dodgers give up or an injury hits Matt Kemp. Following Buehler in the rotation will be Manny Banuelos and Brock Stewart. You would expect Buehler to be second on the depth chart behind Buehler. In the bullpen, Pat Venditte, Adam Liberatore, and Edwardo Paredes will all be trying to impress enough to get back to the major leagues. The dual throwing Venditte was fantastic this spring but has had only moderate major league success. Back in 2016, Adam Liberatore was one of the best left-handed relief pitchers in the National League but injuries set him back in 2017. Edwardo Paredes gave the team a big lift in 2017 but was unable to crack the major league roster this spring.
1st/3rd baseman Edwin Rios who tore up spring training is not in the starting lineup nor is he listed on the roster. They say he is in extended spring training which I don’t quite understand given he played all spring. Matt Beaty is also not on the roster so I guess he’s also in extended spring training.
With both Will Smith and Keibert Ruiz in AA, the catching depth in AAA consists of Rocky Gale. Hopefully, he’ll never be needed. Jake Peter, Tim Locastro, and Rob Segedin all have the talent to be fringe major league utility players and provide the Dodgers some depth in case of short-term injuries.
| # | Name | Pos | MLB 40-man | DOB |
| 4 | Walker Buehler | P | Yes | 07-28-1994 |
| Jesen Therrien | P | No | 03-18-1993 | |
| 23 | Brock Stewart | P | Yes | 10-03-1991 |
| 20 | Manny Banuelos | P | No | 03-13-1991 |
| 30 | Joe Broussard | P | No | 01-28-1991 |
| 22 | Daniel Corcino | P | No | 08-26-1990 |
| 25 | Brian Moran | P | No | 09-30-1988 |
| 36 | Adam Liberatore | P | Yes | 05-12-1987 |
| 12 | C.C. Lee | P | No | 10-21-1986 |
| 14 | Edward Paredes | P | Yes | 09-30-1986 |
| 47 | Brian Schlitter | P | No | 12-21-1985 |
| 5 | Pat Venditte | P | No | 06-30-1985 |
| 55 | Guillermo Moscoso | P | No | 11-14-1983 |
| Position Players | ||||
| # | Name | Pos | MLB 40-man | DOB |
| 16 | Cael Brockmeyer | C | No | 10-08-1991 |
| 10 | Alex Burg | C | No | 08-09-1987 |
| 7 | Rocky Gale | C | No | 02-22-1988 |
| # | Name | Pos | MLB 40-man | DOB |
| 3 | Jake Peter | 2B | No | 04-05-1993 |
| 8 | Tim Locastro | 2B | Yes | 07-14-1992 |
| 2 | Breyvic Valera | 2B | Yes | 01-08-1992 |
| 13 | Max Muncy | 3B | No | 08-25-1990 |
| 26 | Rob Segedin | 3B | Yes | 11-10-1988 |
| 11 | Donovan Solano | 2B | No | 12-17-1987 |
| # | Name | Pos | MLB 40-man | DOB |
| 27 | Alex Verdugo | CF | Yes | 05-15-1996 |
| 6 | Andrew Toles | LF | Yes | 05-24-1992 |
| 17 | Henry Ramos | RF | No | 04-15-1992 |
| 18 | Travis Taijeron | RF | No | 01-20-1989 |
Fontastic
Wilmer Font couldn’t keep the Dodgers from losing last night but he gave it his best effort. The 27-year-old is mostly looked upon by Dodger fans as simply keeping the spot warm until Kimi Garcia or Tom Koehler are ready and they may be right, but for one night the big hard-throwing righty showed why he deserves a spot on the Dodger 25-man roster.
Facing down Goldschmidt/Pollock twice through the order would be impressive for a starter, for someone like Font it was fontastic.
The Dodgers have had 38 relief pitchers this century get at least thirteen outs but few of them were required to throw over 70 pitches to do it.
The list below is like a journey down memory lane.
If you blinked in 2006 you would have missed Jae Weong Seo.
I don’t remember Rodney Myers, do you?
Player Date Tm Rslt IP H ER BB SO Pit Wilmer Font 2018-04-02 LAD L 7-8 4.1 5 2 1 4 74 Kenta Maeda 2017-06-09 LAD W 7-2 4.0 3 1 0 6 60 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-25 LAD W 7-3 4.0 2 0 1 2 51 Ross Stripling 2016-09-18 LAD L 9-10 4.0 4 1 3 4 64 Carlos Frias 2016-07-07 LAD L 0-6 4.0 2 0 1 3 52 Carlos Frias 2014-08-17 LAD L 2-7 4.0 1 1 0 2 41 Travis Schlichting 2010-06-02 LAD W 1-0 4.0 3 0 1 1 60 Ramon Ortiz 2010-05-08 LAD L 0-8 5.0 6 2 2 4 82 Charlie Haeger 2010-05-04 LAD L 6-11 4.0 5 1 1 3 67 Jeff Weaver 2009-07-17 LAD L 1-8 4.1 4 2 1 2 58 Jeff Weaver 2009-04-30 LAD W 8-5 4.0 4 0 1 4 59 Ramon Troncoso 2009-04-25 LAD W 6-5 4.0 1 0 0 1 45 Jason Johnson 2008-07-22 LAD L 1-10 4.0 2 1 2 2 47 Hung-Chih Kuo 2008-06-01 LAD L 1-6 4.1 3 0 1 2 63 Hung-Chih Kuo 2008-05-17 LAD W 6-3 4.0 3 0 0 4 53 Esteban Loaiza 2008-04-15 LAD W 11-2 5.0 3 1 0 2 55 Mark Hendrickson 2007-09-29 LAD W 6-5 4.2 2 1 0 1 49 Mark Hendrickson 2007-04-14 LAD L 2-7 5.0 2 1 1 4 58 Mark Hendrickson 2006-09-16 LAD L 2-11 4.0 1 0 0 8 55 Jae Weong Seo 2006-06-23 LAD W 10-4 4.0 5 4 0 4 60 Odalis Perez 2006-06-18 LAD L 2-5 4.0 5 0 0 4 58 D.J. Houlton 2005-07-14 LAD L 3-4 4.0 6 1 1 0 59 Wilson Alvarez 2005-05-20 LAD L 0-9 4.1 1 0 0 2 48 Giovanni Carrara 2004-08-08 LAD L 1-4 4.1 1 0 1 4 67 Brian Falkenborg 2004-05-28 LAD L 3-6 4.0 4 3 1 5 72 Jose Lima 2004-05-13 LAD L 3-7 5.2 7 0 1 3 75 Rodney Myers 2003-09-26 LAD L 1-10 4.0 5 2 0 2 63 Wilson Alvarez 2003-06-14 LAD W 5-2 4.0 1 0 2 6 61 Wilson Alvarez 2003-06-07 LAD L 1-4 5.0 6 2 0 5 74 Kevin Brown 2002-08-25 LAD L 5-7 4.0 4 2 2 9 84 Giovanni Carrara 2002-05-07 LAD W 6-5 5.0 2 0 1 2 52 Matt Herges 2000-09-10 LAD W 12-1 4.0 3 0 0 0 47 Matt Herges 2000-08-31 LAD L 2-8 4.0 4 1 0 3 53 Carlos Perez 2000-08-06 LAD L 6-9 5.2 3 0 1 3 77 Jamie Arnold 2000-07-08 LAD L 0-11 4.2 3 3 5 2 75 Carlos Perez 2000-06-26 LAD L 5-9 4.1 2 0 1 0 39 Carlos Perez 2000-06-24 LAD L 1-6 4.1 2 1 0 2 51 Alan Mills 2000-04-22 LAD W 16-2 4.0 4 1 1 1 52
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/3/2018.
As losses go this one was fabulous
Much like game five of the World Series, the Dodgers blew two huge leads but this time the leads were only six runs combined instead of seven, and they didn’t have the best pitcher in baseball on the mound, only the best closer.
The Dodgers staked Ryu to a three-run lead but even with the humidor that lead seemed tenuous and it didn’t take long before the Dbacks tied up the game with single runs in the first, third, and fourth.
The Dodger bullpen entered in the bottom of the 4th and shut the door while the team built back up a three-run lead. Leading 6 – 3, hand the ball to Kenley Jansen and get ready for game two with a nice three game winning streak.
Didn’t happen.
Everyone was watching Kenley’s velocity and while it did seem to tick up, his impeccable command was gone. He got two outs but walked the next two hitters and threw a cookie to Owens who tied the game with a dramatic three-run home run on as straight a pitch as you’ve ever seen Kenley throw.
When Kenley is right he is the best closer in baseball but right now he is not right. The velocity is off, the command is off, and he is looking more like Fernando Rodney. When a three-run lead isn’t safe, you have closer issues.
The rest of the bullpen has been fantastic. Until Wilmer Font gave up a run in the 15th inning the bullpen sans Jansen had yet to give up a run in twenty innings.
Wilmer Font saved the team for as long as he could but in the end, not even Wilmer Font could keep the Dodgers from losing this game.
Roberts blew through his relief pitchers so fast he made Gabe Kapler look like the white boy in a 100-yard dash set in Jamaica. Roberts has an eight-man bullpen to work with and by the 10th inning he had already used seven of them leaving Font to carry the load for as long as he could. Of course, when you have a lead and Jansen you feel comfortable using everyone to protect the lead until you hand the ball to Jansen. With Jansen not being able to secure those leads, that thinking may need to be re-visited.
If Font had options left he’d be sent down to AAA for a fresh arm but they Dodgers don’t have that luxury.
Even though we lost, I loved the game.
Puig showed why I think he is our Roberto Clemente
Puiggy pic.twitter.com/8gLdaKUniN
— Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) April 3, 2018
Matt Kemp made a fantastic catch
Great catch by Matt Kemp pic.twitter.com/Iz9UrtNlRW
— Joseph Kim (@blackwings2011) April 3, 2018
Grandal got on base the first five times he was up. Where was this guy last October. What a difference maker that would have been. Joc Pederson showed up and played a nice CF while getting the offense off to a nice start Chase Utley had the big go-ahead hit, for half an inning scoring Cody Bellinger who needed every bit of his speed to score that run. Don’t normally like a headfirst slide into home but this time I jumped up and down when his hands hit the plate.
Chase pic.twitter.com/xHrjRpXZwX
— Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) April 3, 2018
J.T Chargois looks like a steal.
And finally Wilmer Font. What a performance, spitting right in the face of his roomful of detractors who felt he had no business being on the 25-man roster. I’ll have more on that later.
The GB&U Game Four
Dodgers win 9 – 0. Record now 2 – 2.
The Dodger offense came alive on Sunday Night while the pitching continued to throw up zeroes. With two games in the book, the talk was all about the Dodgers inability to score any runs but two games later the story is all about the incredible pitching and or the anemic Giant offense. The question today is “Is the Dodger pitching that good or are the Giants that bad?”. As always the answer probably lies in somewhere in the middle. The Dodgers are going to have great pitching but not that great, and the Giants may struggle to score runs but not that bad.
How many times outside of October has Clayton Kershaw had the worst game score of any four Dodger starts?
Player Date IP H ER BB SO GSc Alex Wood 2018-03-30 8.0 1 0 0 5 85 Kenta Maeda 2018-03-31 5.0 5 0 1 10 66 Rich Hill 2018-04-01 6.0 5 0 3 5 64 Clayton Kershaw 2018-03-29 6.0 8 1 2 7 57
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/2/2018.
The Good:
Rich Hill continues to baffle major league hitters holding the Giants scoreless for his six innings.
Every hitter except Seager from 1 – 6 collected at least two hits with Puig picking up three.
Puig was speeding with his hits ranging from 108 – 111 MPH
Cody Bellinger hit his first home run of the season, a real wall scraper to left field.
Dodger bullpen threw three more scoreless innings from three different pitchers. One of those was Wilmer Font who made his 2018 debut. It took a 9 – 0 lead to get Font into the game. Font got help with when Kiké made an outstanding catch in CF to take an extra base hit away from Brandon Belt. Over the four game series, the bullpen outside of Jansen pitched ten scoreless innings.
The Bad:
Have to reach here because it was mostly all good. Only negative was Joc Pederson who drew the collar.
The Ugly:
The Giant offense which only scored two runs in four games and both came on solo home runs by Joe Panik. Longoria went four games without a hit.
The GB&U Game Three
Dodgers score some runs, the pitching continues to keep all Panikless Giants off the board and the Dodgers get their first win 5 – 0 moving their record to 1 – 2.
The Good:
Kenta Maeda was dominant for five innings. That might be all they get from him this year but if he can continue to pitch like that for five innings, we will take it. Kenta struck out ten and gave up a few soft hits.
Kyle Farmer made his first start of the year at 3rd base and on his first play made a web gem to take a hit away from Evan Longoria. Farmer dove to his right caught the ball on one hop and threw a strike to Bellinger.
In the 7th, Logan Forsythe ranged past second base and pegged a strike to take a hit away from Cutch.
Chris Taylor got the offense going with a walk and triple scoring two runs.
The bullpen was once again flawless with Ross Stripling / Pedro Baez / Scott Alexander putting up zeroes. The only relief pitcher to give up a run this year has been Kenley Jansen. Go figure..
The Bad:
Puig/Bellinger/Forsythe still without a hit in 2018.
The Ugly:
Having a ring ceremony for a National League Pennant.
The Ryan Braun / Matt Kemp rumors just before game time.
The GB&U Game two
Dodgers lose again 1 – 0 making them 0 – 2 for the season. The Giants win the first two games of the year 1 – 0 on solo home runs by Joe Panik. Until someone proves me wrong, I’m going with the idea that this has rarely happened in baseball. Rare enough to lose games back to back 1 – 0, but to have the runs both be solo home runs by the same player. Seems like it would a unique event.
The Good:
Kirk Gibson popped into the TV booth in the bottom of the 3rd and for me, the standout part was his description of the thirty-year-old bat that was the tool for his game-winning home run. It was a 31-ounce bat instead of his normal 33-35 ounce bats, it has the ink from his foul balls, the mark on the sweet spot where he connected to send the ball soaring into the RF bleachers, and the cleat marks from everyone stepping on the bat during the celebration. Then he talked about the raised grain from using it in batting practice giving it some backspin when squared up.
Alex Wood was as good tonight as he’s ever been. No shadows, just great pitching. Even as his team kept putting runners on base, he kept leaving them on base.
Matt Kemp made a play that wasn’t special but it was a play I didn’t think he was going to make, he went a very long way to catch the fly ball in front of the field box in the top of the 8th.
The Bad:
Dodger infield defense led by Logan Forsythe who made three errors. Corey Seager let one go right through his legs. None of the errors impacted the game.
The Ugly:
Dodger offense. Everyone is on ice right now.
The GB&U Game one edition
Dodger record is 0 – 1. Last year the Dodgers scored fourteen runs on opening day and were shutout in game two. A reversal of that would be cool.
The Good:
Clayton Kershaw gave up only one run. He wasn’t as sharp as he had been this spring but he did his job with runners all over the place to keep the score 1 – 0 when he left. He also picked up two of the Dodger six hits.
Yazmani Grandal hitting right-handed looked good at the plate and blocked numerous pitches in the dirt with runners on base.
J.T. Chargois looked great. Really great.
The Dodger bullpen was great with Chargois, Fields, and Cingrani combining for three perfect innings, striking out four.
The Dodgers managed five walks but walks don’t drive in runs and without a key hit from the top and bottom of the lineup, nobody touched home plate.
The Bad:
The Dodger offense combined (not including Kershaw) for only four hits against a quintet of pitchers who don’t strike fear into anyone.
The Giants pitched their fourth starter against the Dodger ace and came away with a 1- 0 win.
The Giants didn’t even have their closer available and still walked away with a one-run victory.
The Ugly:
The top five hitters in the lineup – Taylor/Seager/Puig/Hernandez/Bellinger combined to go zero for fourteen, with three walks. None of them hit the ball hard.
Chris Taylor and Logan Forsythe combined to leave ten runners on base.
Dodgers open 2018 different than 2017
Dodger Opening Day Roster Notes:
New Dodgers compared to 2017 opening day roster – Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor, Wilmer Font, J.T. Chargois, Josh Fields, Tony Cingrani, Scott Alexander, Kyle Farmer, Matt Kemp
First time on an opening day roster – Wilmer Font, J.T. Chargois, Kyle Farmer
Matt Kemp on the Dodger opening day roster for the first time since 2014
Dodger Stadium opening day memories
I’ve been to many opening days but four really stick out in my memory.
April 7th, 1977 – Don Sutton gave up a leadoff home run to Gary Thomansson and deflated many of the 51, 000 fans in attendance. Not to fear the HOF didn’t give up a run the rest of the game, only three other hits, and cruised to a 4 – 1 victory. It would be the first of many victories for the 1977 team as they went on to win 98 games and were as good a team as any LAD in history. They didn’t win a World Championship but they could have if not for Craig Nettles and his magic glove.
April 1st 2013 – Clayton Kershaw gave one of the great opening day performances in LAD history. Matching up against Matt Cain both pitchers threw zeros for six innings. Clayton shut out the Giants in the 7th, and Cain was replaced by George Kontos to start the 7th. Cain had struck out the last two Dodgers on 3rd call strikes but all that got him was a seat in the dugout. With the score 0 – 0 in the bottom of the 7th the Dodgers let Kershaw hit, and he crushed a home run to center field to give the Dodgers a 1 – 0 lead. For me the Dodgers won that game 1 – 0 but history shows they scored three more times and won 4 – 0. Fuck history, I like my memory better.
April 12th 2005 – The Dodgers opened on the road for six games so they didn’t have their home opener until the 7th game on April 12. The Giants scored five runs in the 1st inning as Jeff Weaver was knocked around. It was a strange first inning as the Giants scored those five runs without the benefit of an extra-base hit. They collected six singles, five in a row at one point. Imagine going through all the trouble to get to opening day only to be down 5 – 0 in the first inning. Not to fear, the powerful Jason Repko blasted a two-run home run off of Kirk Rueter and the Dodgers were back in the game. In the second the googled Jason Philips drove in Norihiro Nakamura (I bet you forgot those names) to cut the lead to 5 – 3. Jeff Weaver decided the game was too close and gave up three more runs in the 4th putting the Dodgers in an 8 – 3 hole in only the 4th inning. The Dodgers scored two more runs in the sixth when Tomato Olmedo Saenz hit a double to RF putting runners on 2nd / 3rd. The aforementioned Nakamura and Philips stranded both runners so the score now stood at 8 – 5. The Dodger bullpen was excellent on this day, not giving the Giants another run after relieving Weaver in the 4th. The Giants big time closer Armando Benitez was brought in to close the door in the 9th but things got crazy. Jason Ellison was brought in to play LF for defensive purposes. Philips grounds out. Rickey Ledee pinch hit a double and Izzy followed that with a single putting runners at 2nd / 3rd. Jose Valentin pinch hits, and pops up. Two outs, two on, down three runs. JD Drew drew a walk bringing up Jeff Kent as the go ahead run. Kent walks, and the score is now 8 -6 with the bases still loaded and Milton Bradley up. Milton hit a single to LF and Ellison in a hurry to pick up the ball and try to make a play at home on the tying run let the ball go right through his legs and everyone scampered home and the Dodgers won 9 – 8. All this happened right in front of me because my seats were in Loge next to Dodger bullpen in LF. The crowd went crazy.
April 5th, 2004 – The game itself was no big deal but this was a big day for me as a Dodger fan. As a fan I’d never been in the position to have season tickets but when Frank McCourt bought the team in 2004 and brought in Paul DePodesta to be the GM I wanted to be a part of the experience. I talked to my brothers and we decided to take advantage of the new buy two get two free Loge seats. When I arrived for the game we got their extra early and as I walked around the stadium with her hand in my hand, I was just beaming at the idea that I was now a season ticket holder in the greatest baseball stadium in baseball. I can’t describe the feeling but the smile it put on my face couldn’t be erased by a mere loss on opening day.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 