Fontastic
Wilmer Font completed his amazing regular season in AAA with a flourish, pitching six shutout innings. Font finished the game with six innings, three hits, zero runs, one walk, and eight strikeouts.
Font will surely be the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year finishing the year 2nd in ERA with those above 100 innings (3.24), first in strikeouts with 178, first in SO/9 at 11.9, first in SO/BB ratio with at least 100 innings (5.9), first in WHIP with at least 100 innings at 1.10.
Font did it all this year but could not break into the Dodger rotation. We have no idea what we have in Font but he’ll get a shot at the major leagues somewhere next year.
The Dodgers are gunning for a World Championship so may not have the roster space or the time to reward Font for his season with a few starts this Sept, that is understandable, but he deserves some kind of reward for having himself quite a season.
Can Stanton lead Marlins into the postseason?
Giancarlo Stanton for me epitomises what an MVP player is. He is taking a team that has no business having any postseason aspirations and placed them on his shoulders as he tries to carry a load that no mere mortal could handle.
Split PA HR RBI OBP SLG OPS April/March 100 7 16 .350 .529 .879 May 115 7 21 .348 .579 .927 June 112 7 13 .357 .516 .873 July 113 12 23 .407 .731 1.138 August 110 17 35 .482 1.000 1.482
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/28/2017.
Don Mattingly was trying to give credit to other members of the team such as Dee Gordon.
Gordon’s ability to reach has put teams in a tough spot, because it makes it more difficult to pitch around the slugger.
“Dee is the key to that,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Dee getting on base changes things. You have to pay a little bit of attention to him. G’s been able to take advantage of that.”
and for a second I bought into that. Until I checked the splits for Gordon for August. That OBP of .303 isn’t doing much setting up. But I will say the just about every time Dee does manage to get on on-base, he is scoring. Dee has reached base thirty times in August and scored twenty-three runs. For context, Chris Taylor has reached base thirty-six times in August and scored 50% of the time with eighteen runs.
Don Mattingly moved Stanton to the number two hole and the results speak for themselves.
Split PA HR RBI OBP SLG OPS Batting 2nd 364 39 78 .420 .751 1.171 Batting 4th 155 11 29 .335 .565 .901 Batting 5th 28 0 1 .321 .346 .668
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/28/2017.
Batting order may not mean much but for Giancarlo Stanton, they mean the difference between being an MVP and simply being great. For this move alone you could consider giving Don Mattingly the Manager of the Year award if the Marlins make the postseason.
Speaking about the postseason, at the break the Marlins were 41 – 46 and lost five of the first six after the break to put them at 42-50. Since that time they are 24 – 13 and with 66 wins are now 4.5 games back of the Rockies for the 2nd wild card. That is still a ways to go but they do have a soft schedule coming up. Still, the odds are high they will not make the postseason but for the first time in a long time, I would have no problem giving my MVP vote to a player on a team who did not make the postseason.
It isn’t just Stanton, but he is the biggest part of the Marlin resurgence. The Marlin outfield is playing like the best outfield in baseball. And when Dee Gordon does run, he has learned to pick his spots. Dee is 8 of 9 in SB in August and 46/10 for the season. Ex-Dodger AJ Ellis is having a nice August as All-Star Realmuto struggles, and Miguel Rojas has been the starting SS for most of the month.
Player Split Year HR PA OBP SLG OPS Giancarlo Stanton August 2017 17 110 .482 1.000 1.482 Christian Yelich August 2017 3 105 .381 .478 .859 Marcell Ozuna August 2017 7 103 .408 .575 .982 Dee Gordon August 2017 0 100 .303 .316 .619 J.T. Realmuto August 2017 4 96 .208 .360 .568 Derek Dietrich August 2017 3 95 .400 .506 .906 Miguel Rojas August 2017 0 88 .295 .278 .574 Tomas Telis August 2017 0 55 .273 .314 .586 Tyler Moore August 2017 0 49 .229 .267 .496 Mike Aviles August 2017 0 36 .353 .355 .708 A.J. Ellis August 2017 2 28 .357 .429 .786 Ichiro Suzuki August 2017 1 23 .391 .500 .891
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/28/2017.
Other crazy baseball notes.
Rhys Hoskins is eclipsing all of the records that Cody Bellinger set earlier in the year. Hoskins hit his 11th home run yesterday, in just his 18th game. For good measure, he started a triple play yesterday.
Hoskins has homered in eight of his last nine games. The only game in which he didn’t hit a home run came in the nightcap of a doubleheader, so he’s actually hit a home run in eight straight days that the Phillies have played a game.
For the rest of us under the age of 50, it may simply be enough to know that even if we’re having a particularly bad day, statistically speaking things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
Evidently, my happiness is supposed to be on the upswing.
The Chicken runs at midnight
The pressure to take over for one of the greatest voices in baseball history had to be daunting, I’m sure some would not even make the attempt, Dodger fans should consider themselves lucky that Joe Davis decided to uproot his Midwestern family and take them West.
This weekend has given Joe plenty of fodder to tell his stories, the same kind of stories that were a staple of Vin but I have to say, Joe’s sometimes go just a little bit deeper into the emotional bailiwick. By the time Joe finished with his “the chicken runs at midnight” story of Rich Donnelly / his daughter Amy / Craig Counsel, he had my complete attention. Which was pretty amazing given that I had been napping and woke up in the middle of the story and as he kept saying Rich, I thought he was talking about Rich Hill. When I realized it was not Rich Hill, I rewound the DVR to the beginning of the story. This was a long story, and I realized that Joe may have waited until Pedro Baez had taken the mound to tell the story so that he knew he’d have time to get it in.
I may have read or heard the story before, print but I had never heard it with such timing.
If I was going to attempt to tell that story, my voice would have choked up and given it all away, but Joe was able to keep his composure as he told a story that surely brought a tear to many of those who listened.
My wife loves Joe’s stories but she was taking a nap, so I put the game on pause so she could hear this one. When she hears it, I expect she will say to me once again, “that Joe Davis is really good”, and I’ll nod again in affirmation.
Thanks, Joe.
If you didn’t get to hear Joe tell his story, this ESPN story gives it quite a telling. I know many of you don’t click on the provided links, but you should click on this one.
Kershaw takes the mound in AAA
With many familiar faces taking the field with him.
Trayce Thompson is in CF
Andre Ethier is in LF
Rob Segedin is at 3B
Joc Pederson is at DH
Charlie Culberson is at SS
With only Andre doing rehab work it just shows how hard it is, to stay in the major leagues after you have made it. Even someone like Joc Pederson who thought he was done with AAA unless it was in a rehab situation is going to find it hard to find a place on the Dodger 25 man roster.
Andre seems guaranteed to make the team when the rosters are expanded in September, but who else will?
Is there any spot for last years Vin Scully game hero Charlie Culberson? Or do they simply reward him for being a good guy and sticking out the whole season at AAA?
Same could be said for Justin Masterson.
Hard to say Trayce Thompson has earned the right. Or Segedin.
Will be awkward for Joc given he not only lost his starting job but any job at all.
Weekend nickname uniforms
A few of my favorites:
Austin Barnes: “SAM”
“The guys sent me on a taco run last year, and when I got back with them, A.J. Ellis was kidding Chase Utley that he didn’t know my name and Utley joked, ‘Yeah, it’s Sam,’ and that’s the story,” Barnes said.
Kenley Jansen: “KENLEYFORNIA”
A fan sent Jansen a California state flag, edited to read “Kenleyfornia,” which Jansen hung above his locker, and it’s become his new motto. “It got me going,” he said.
Josh Ravin: “CUERVO”
“It means raven in Spanish,” said Ravin. “Maybe it will help people understand that you pronounce it raven and not ravine.”
Raven has to be thrilled he is even on the roster and gets to participate in this little shindig.
Chase Utley: “SILVER FOX”
“I asked Corey [Seager] to come up with a nickname for me. It’s all Corey,” Utley said.
Heck, we have been calling Chase the Silver Fox for months.
If you clicked on the link at the top you can tell that not all of the players are buying into this public relations branch.
Some updates
A few days ago I posted how Walker Buehler was performing as a relief pitcher and that he has long odds to make the Dodger postseason roster in that role. Tonight he got eight outs in relief, striking out four. He has to be on the Dodger roster before Sept 1st so expect to see him called up before next Friday.
I was wrong about the Sept 1st date, here from the comments is the actual status:
He just has to be in the organization prior to Sept. 1st to be eligible for the post-season roster. Player eligibility is anyone on the 25 man roster as well as anyone on the disabled list; those on the disabled list can be replaced by anyone else that is on the 40 man roster and was in the organization prior to Sept. 1st. So, Buehler only needs to be added to the 40 man, which will happen whenever they call him up, and then he can named to the post-season in place of someone on the DL.
Puig has walked three more times since I mentioned his walk rate in August giving him 18 for the month. That would be good for 3rd best for the Dodgers in August since Puig started playing in 2013.
Chris Taylor picked up three more hits tonight, making it ten times he has had three hits in a game this year, along with three times he has had four hits in a game. It was the second time in the four game series he had three hits. Taylor now has a .404 OBP in August, a .418 OBP since the all-star break, and a ridiculous .653 slug% since the all-star break.
Angel Sanchez finally makes his debut
When the Dodgers minor league system was horrible, Angel Sanchez was at least interesting. This little thread from TBLA back in the fall of 2012 shows what I mean. Brandon was conducting a vote for the 9th best Dodger prospect and this was what he had to work with:
Again, the candidates for this vote are:
James Baldwin – OF (20 years old)
Alfredo Silverio – OF (24.5 years old)
Angelo Songco – 1B (23 years old)
Jonathan Garcia – OF (20 years old)
Angel Sanchez – RHP (22 years old)
Alex Castellanos – OF (25.25 years old)
Griff Erickson – C (23.5 years old)
Scott Van Slyke – OF/1B (25.25 years old)
Tim Federowicz – C (24.25 years old)
The only player to even touch the majors were SVS and Tim Federowicz.
Until today. Angel Sanchez finally made his major league debut, but it was with the Pirates, not the Dodgers. Sanchez had been traded by the Dodgers on July 6th, 2013 for Rickey Nolasco.
Here is how he got to the Pirates. A feel good story as they say.
At first, Sanchez said, “I couldn’t talk.” In his mind, he retraced the seven years since signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010. He may have been a month away from a September promotion with the Pirates in 2015 before he underwent Tommy John surgery. With his aunt waiting on the other end of the line, Sanchez finally said, “I’m going to the big leagues.”
I was a fan of Angel Sanchez, he had signed late for a Dominican, seemed to have a good head on his shoulders but I had forgotten all about him until Eric Stephen tweeted that he used to be in the Dodger organization. It still didn’t click with me that this was the Angel Sanchez who I use to tout until I saw him pitch.
How about that. I had lost touch with him after he left the Dodgers and just assumed he was back on the Island, but no, at the age of 27 he finally made the show.
Good for him, and best of luck going forward. I doubt he’ll have fond memories of the bombs that Grandal and Granderson blasted off of him.
October Bullpen battle
Rich Hill pitched a complete game on Wednesday so no one pitched in the bullpen.
On Thursday Ryu pitched six strong innings, making both his case for a spot in the Dodger October rotation or the bullpen. The odds are against him in both cases but if he keeps pitching like that, he might not be denied. Right now I’d rather have Ryu on the roster instead of Tony Watson but that is fluid. Dave Roberts said today that if they are considering any of the rotation pieces for the bullpen in October they would get work in Sept in the bullpen to prepare them. Expect Ryu to get some of those games.
In a very close game, some pitchers came through big time, and one did not. Josh Fields got his first out on a comebacker but then gave up a ringing double. With the score 3 – 1 Tony Watson came in and got the first out before giving up a walk and single putting the score at 3 – 2 and being replaced by Pedro Baez. Pedro just had one of his worst outings of the year on Tuesday Night when he walked three batters. He was facing one of the hottest hitters in baseball in Andrew McCutchen with the tying run on 3rd base and the go ahead runner on 1st. Twitter did not take kindly to Baez being in the game but he turned those jeers to cheers when he struck out McCutchen to end the inning. Baez started the next inning and finished it after giving up a walk and hit batsman giving the Dodgers four key outs. Brandow Morrow finished the game with a flourish striking out Jose Osuna to end the game.
In other game notes, early in the game Adrian Gonzalez hit another long out and I was wondering if was just missing it, or if that was all he had. Turns out he was just missing it, as he crushed a long home run in the top of the 9th. That was good to see. His home run had followed an even longer home run by Grandal. The 3/4/5 hitters had come into the 9th hitless, but those back to back blasts gave the Dodgers a nice three run cushion for the bottom of the 9th.
Chris Taylor had two bloop hits, one barrel double, and another long out.
Justin Turner is in his first prolonged slump of the season.
Granderson put one into the Allegany river prompting my wife to ask me why they were called the Pirates. I said River Pirates and she scoffed saying there was no such thing. She googled it and found that there certainly were river Pirates, but the Pirates didn’t get their name from river Pirates they got it when they were accused of stealing a baseball player from another team and were called Pirates for the action, and they liked it so much they changed their name from the Pittsburgh Alleghenys to the Pittsburgh Pirates. I still prefer to think they are the Pirates because of the infamous Allegheny River Pirates but evidently, they never existed.
Stay tuned, this is the one battle that will make Sept interesting.
| Pitcher | Position | October | 8/21/2017 | 8/22/2017 | 8/24/2017 |
| Kenley Jansen | Closer | Locked | |||
| Brandon Morrow | RHSetup | Locked | +++ | +++ | |
| Luis Avilan | LHSetup | Locked | +++ | +++ | |
| Tony Watson | LHSetup | Locked | – | +++ | — |
| Tony Cingrani | LHSetup | Maybe | +++ | ||
| Josh Fields | RHSetup | Maybe | +++ | +++ | + |
| Javier Baez | RHSetup | Maybe | — | +++ | |
| Ross Stripling | RHSetup | Maybe | +++ | ||
| Brock Stewart | RHSetup | Maybe | — | ||
| Ryu | LHSetup | Maybe | +++ | ||
| McCarthy | RHSetup | Maybe | |||
| Kenta | RHSetup | Maybe | |||
| Josh Ravin | RHSetup | Maybe | ++ | ||
| Walker Buehler | RHSetup | Maybe |
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 