Easy schedule coming up
As we noted a few days ago, the Dodgers first half record is one of the best in franchise history and if the Dodgers can take advantage of an easy schedule coming out of the break they could make a real run a winning 100 games plus this year.
Only one time from now until the end of the year do the Dodgers play two good teams in a row. It is crazy just how weak this schedule looks right now.
They don’t play a winning team until July 24th, and by that time the Twins could even be in a tailspin given what they are working with.
Finally, on Aug 8th, the Dodgers get to meet the Diamondbacks again. We should know by then if they are real contenders for the West or simply playing for the wild card. Or neither.
On Aug 25th, the Dodgers start a series against the 1st place Brewers, followed by the Diamondbacks. Let that sink in. Using the current records, the two best teams the Dodgers will face from now until Sept are the Brewers and Diamondbacks and what are the odds that both those teams would still be playing well by then?
The only two teams left that you could say right now are good teams are the Rockies and Nationals.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an easier schedule. Maybe I should knock on wood but it would not be hard for me to see the Dodgers win 110 games this year.
Gm# Date Tm Opp 91 Friday Jul 14 preview LAD MIA 92 Saturday Jul 15 preview LAD MIA 93 Sunday Jul 16 preview LAD MIA 94 Tuesday Jul 18 preview LAD CHW 95 Wednesday Jul 19 preview LAD CHW 96 Thursday Jul 20 preview LAD ATL 97 Friday Jul 21 preview LAD ATL 98 Saturday Jul 22 preview LAD ATL 99 Sunday Jul 23 preview LAD ATL 100 Monday Jul 24 preview LAD MIN 101 Tuesday Jul 25 preview LAD MIN 102 Wednesday Jul 26 preview LAD MIN 103 Friday Jul 28 preview LAD SFG 104 Saturday Jul 29 preview LAD SFG 105 Sunday Jul 30 preview LAD SFG 106 Tuesday Aug 1 preview LAD ATL 107 Wednesday Aug 2 preview LAD ATL 108 Thursday Aug 3 preview LAD ATL 109 Friday Aug 4 preview LAD NYM 110 Saturday Aug 5 preview LAD NYM 111 Sunday Aug 6 preview LAD NYM 112 Tuesday Aug 8 preview LAD ARI 113 Wednesday Aug 9 preview LAD ARI 114 Thursday Aug 10 preview LAD ARI 115 Friday Aug 11 preview LAD SDP 116 Saturday Aug 12 preview LAD SDP 117 Sunday Aug 13 preview LAD SDP 118 Tuesday Aug 15 preview LAD CHW 119 Wednesday Aug 16 preview LAD CHW 120 Friday Aug 18 preview LAD DET 121 Saturday Aug 19 preview LAD DET 122 Sunday Aug 20 preview LAD DET 123 Monday Aug 21 preview LAD PIT 124 Tuesday Aug 22 preview LAD PIT 125 Wednesday Aug 23 preview LAD PIT 126 Thursday Aug 24 preview LAD PIT 127 Friday Aug 25 preview LAD MIL 128 Saturday Aug 26 preview LAD MIL 129 Sunday Aug 27 preview LAD MIL 130 Tuesday Aug 29 preview LAD ARI 131 Wednesday Aug 30 preview LAD ARI 132 Thursday Aug 31 preview LAD ARI 133 Friday Sep 1 preview LAD SDP 134 Saturday Sep 2 preview LAD SDP 135 Saturday Sep 2 preview LAD SDP 136 Sunday Sep 3 preview LAD SDP 137 Monday Sep 4 preview LAD ARI 138 Tuesday Sep 5 preview LAD ARI 139 Wednesday Sep 6 preview LAD ARI 140 Thursday Sep 7 preview LAD COL 141 Friday Sep 8 preview LAD COL 142 Saturday Sep 9 preview LAD COL 143 Sunday Sep 10 preview LAD COL 144 Monday Sep 11 preview LAD SFG 145 Tuesday Sep 12 preview LAD SFG 146 Wednesday Sep 13 preview LAD SFG 147 Friday Sep 15 preview LAD WSN 148 Saturday Sep 16 preview LAD WSN 149 Sunday Sep 17 preview LAD WSN 150 Monday Sep 18 preview LAD PHI 151 Tuesday Sep 19 preview LAD PHI 152 Wednesday Sep 20 preview LAD PHI 153 Thursday Sep 21 preview LAD PHI 154 Friday Sep 22 preview LAD SFG 155 Saturday Sep 23 preview LAD SFG 156 Sunday Sep 24 preview LAD SFG 157 Monday Sep 25 preview LAD SDP 158 Tuesday Sep 26 preview LAD SDP 159 Wednesday Sep 27 preview LAD SDP 160 Friday Sep 29 preview LAD COL 161 Saturday Sep 30 preview LAD COL 162 Sunday Oct 1 preview LAD COL
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/13/2017.
Re-visiting the Rotational guesses
On Feb 17th we made our first guesses on how the rotational starts might be distributed in 2017. When spring training ended we did it again since the information had changed.
How did we do?
Kershaw has been the rock we expected, never missing a start.
Urias ended up being the only casualty in the first half going down in flames, both medically and production.
Alex Wood stepped right into the Urias breach and has arguably been the Dodgers best pitcher which is strange to type.
Using the new 10 day DL the Dodgers have managed to keep a six-man rotation in good shape doling out at least 10 starts to Hill/Ryu/McCarty/Kenta.
The exercise back in Feb was to show the Dodgers had plenty of pitching and indeed they have, even with Kazmir providing zero starts so far, and Urias having season-ending surgery.
They have not needed to tap into Brock Stewart and instead have been able to utilize him as a very effective setup man. Same with Ross Stripling.
All this while Masterson and Font have shown in AAA they are ready for 2017 starts if anything should come up. As has Trevor Oaks.
This shows that the Dodgers have plenty of pitching, the question the Dodgers have to be asking themselves are these the pitchers we want in October? They have two weeks to answer that question.
| Pitcher | 17-Feb | March 31st | Actual | PossStartsLeft |
| Kershaw | 30 | 31 | 19 | 14 |
| Maeda | 26 | 25 | 14 | 11 |
| Urias | 20 | 12 | 5 | 0 |
| Hill | 19 | 25 | 12 | 10 |
| McCarthy | 19 | 22 | 14 | 11 |
| Wood | 18 | 10 | 13 | 11 |
| Stewart | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Kazmir | 9 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Ryu | 8 | 25 | 13 | 10 |
| Stripling | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 90 | 72 |
LAD July offense stat update
Some surprises here for me.
I thought Puig was doing better in July than he is.
Corey Seager is hitting but his walk/k rate is strange for him. Thirteen strikeouts in only 32 plate appearances with only two walks. That is not the Seager we know.
Kiké Hernandez has been terrible in July. I’m truly surprised to see this. I guess when you win just about every game you don’t notice failure as much.
Other notes:
Cody was bolstered by his big day on Sunday, otherwise, his July would not look good for an everyday cleanup hitter.
Justin Turner is a monster
Looks like it is time to let Chase sit a bit more and get Logan more starts.
The Grandal/Barnes combo might be the best the Dodgers have ever had. Will need to do some research on this but having a hard time remembering both the starting catcher and backup catcher being this good. Yeager and Fergy were a great combo but that was because was a defensive whiz and the other was an offensive force.
Nice to see Chris Taylor bouncing back strong in July, though one walk has to be concerning.
Joc be banging, and he’s not whiffing. A new type of Joc? Of course, this is not just SSS but SSSS.
Player Split Year PA HR BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Justin Turner July 2017 33 4 8 4 .261 .455 .826 1.281 Chris Taylor July 2017 33 1 1 9 .344 .364 .531 .895 Corey Seager July 2017 32 1 2 13 .333 .375 .533 .908 Cody Bellinger July 2017 31 1 6 8 .200 .355 .360 .715 Logan Forsythe July 2017 29 1 5 8 .375 .483 .625 1.108 Yasiel Puig July 2017 24 1 0 7 .250 .250 .375 .625 Yasmani Grandal July 2017 20 1 1 6 .316 .350 .632 .982 Enrique Hernandez July 2017 20 0 4 6 .063 .250 .063 .313 Chase Utley July 2017 17 0 1 3 .200 .294 .267 .561 Joc Pederson July 2017 16 1 2 2 .308 .438 .615 1.053 Austin Barnes July 2017 13 1 1 3 .273 .385 .545 .930 Trayce Thompson July 2017 12 0 1 6 .091 .167 .273 .439
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/12/2017.
Cody chasing Piazza/Green/McGwire on July 12th
For the first time since we started doing this series, Cody Bellinger lost ground to everyone. Especially McGwire and Green, but even Piazza picked up some ground.
No longer does it look like a lock that Cody will break the long-standing rookie home run record by Piazza though he is still in great shape. He is way behind McGwire right now as Big Mac hit around 11 home runs in two weeks starting on June 27th.
Cody is still in front of the Shawn Green pace, but Green would hit five home runs in the next two weeks. If you look at the Green chart you will notice he needs to hit 29 home runs over his next 280 plate appearances. In other words, Shawn Green is about to go ballistic, and I don’t see any chance of Cody keeping pace.
That is what happens when you only hit one home run in 50 plate appearances after averaging a home run every 10.
With two more home runs, he will pass Joc and Corey, and they will drop from this list. Hopefully by next Sunday.
| Player | Year | PA | HR | HR/PA | Total HR Thru July 12th | Total |
| Mike Piazza | 1993 | 467 | 25 | 18.68 | 18 | 35 |
| Joc Pederson | 2015 | 533 | 25 | 21.32 | 20 | 26 |
| Corey Seager | 2016 | 596 | 25 | 23.84 | 17 | 26 |
| Shawn Green | 2001 | 427 | 25 | 17.08 | 20 | 49 |
| Mark McGwire | 1987 | 271 | 25 | 10.84 | 33 | 49 |
| Cody Bellinger | 2017 | 292 | 25 | 11.68 | 25 | ??? |
If this confusing here is a quick legend.
PA – this is the number of plate appearances it took for each player to reach 25 home runs. We used 25 home runs because that is where Bellinger is right now. This would be within 4 PA of accuracy as I didn’t check the game log for the specific plate appearance they hit the home run.
HR – This is a marker showing you 25 home runs.
HR/PA – this is the home runs per plate appearance pace when they each hit their 25th home run.
Total HR by July 12th
Total – season home run total
Updated LAD All-Star History
The greatest baseball franchise has a rich history in the all-star game, with multiple MVP winners. You’d be hard pressed to find a Dodger pitcher who was scored upon in 58 years of Dodger all-star appearances. Don Drysdale holds the all-star record with 19 strikeouts and won back to back games in 1967 and 1968, and for good measure also collected a save in 1963. Steve Garvey was one of the greatest all-star performers winning both the 1974 and 1978 All-Star MVP awards. Maury Wills won the 1962 All-Star MVP award and drove in the winning run in the 1966 All-Star game in his last all-star at bat. Mike Piazza slugged home runs in back to back all-star games.
The links below will give you why each player was selected and what they did once they were selected.
Every Los Angeles Dodger All-Star
LAD All-Stars, 1958 – 1961, the beginning
LAD All-Stars, 1962 – 1969, Koufax, Drysdale, and Wills era
LAD All-Stars, 1970 – 1979, Garvey – Russell – Lopes – Cey era
LAD All-Stars 1980 – 1989, the Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser decade
LAD All-Stars 1990 – 1999, the Mike Piazza era
LAD All-Stars 2000 – 2018, the Clayton Kershaw era
LAD All-Star Home Runs:
| Date | Batter | Pitcher | Score | Inn |
| 8/3/1959 | Jim Gilliam | Billy O’Dell | down 4-2 | b7 |
| 7/15/1975 | Jim Wynn | Vida Blue | ahead 0-1 | t2 |
| 7/30/1962 | John Roseboro | Milt Pappas | down 9-3 | b9 |
| 7/9/1996 | Mike Piazza | Charles Nagy | ahead 0-1 | b2 |
| 7/11/1995 | Mike Piazza | Kenny Rogers | down 2-1 | t7 |
| 7/19/1977 | Steve Garvey | Jim Palmer | ahead 0-4 | t3 |
| 7/15/1975 | Steve Garvey | Vida Blue | tied 0-0 | t2 |
| 7/24/1973 | Willie Davis | Nolan Ryan | ahead 1-5 | t6 |
Keibert Ruiz is moving up
My favorite prospect just got promoted from the MWL Loons to the California League Rancho Cucamonga Quakes making him the youngest player in the league.
These things happen all the time in minor league ball. Will Smith, the number one pick last year was promoted from Rancho to AA Tulsa which left me wondering who was going to be the primary catcher for Rancho going forward.
18=year-old Keibert Ruiz is who.
Why is this a big deal?
Can you tell me the last time an 18-year-old position prospect was playing for Rancho? Alex Verdugo had already turned 19 by the time he joined Rancho in late summer of 2015. Cody Bellinger was 19 when he started and 20 when he ended. Corey Seager might be the closest comp as he was 18 when he started the year with the Loons and turned 19 while with Rancho just as Keibert will be doing but Seager turned 19 in April while Ruiz won’t turn 19 until later this month. Seager also didn’t join the Quakes until Aug 3rd.
At only 18 it is hard to tell what kind of hitting tool that Ruiz will have but he has already shown nice contact skills to go with his growing patience. This Dodger front office has not been shy about pushing the elite prospects, and with Keibert headed to Rancho, I think we can safely add Keibert to the list.
Harold Uhlman of ThinkBlueLA has more:
What can Rancho Cucamonga Quakes fans look forward to with the young catcher in the lineup? First, he can hit and is a contact hitter not prone to striking out. Contact and driving the ball are his trademarks as a hitter. As a testament to his consistency, he hit safely in 33 of his last 40 games with the Loons. Power, at this point, is perhaps in short supply for Ruiz but MLB.com feels it will be more than adequate as his hitting skills continue to improve and he fills out his 6’0” frame.
MLB.com concludes: “Ruiz shows more pop from the left side and a more contact-oriented approach from the right side. He has precocious feel to hit and makes consistent contact rather than trying to do too much. As he gets stronger, he could develop double-digit home run power.”
Behind the plate is where the young catcher really stands out. He displays great footwork and has no real flaws defensively, which is extremely impressive for an 18-year old catcher. The one thing that Ruiz still needs to improve upon is his arm, which grades about average right now. However, at only 18, there is plenty of time for Ruiz to work on his arm strength. His speed is catcher ranked speed.
LAD First half leaderboard – Strikeouts
The Koufax and Kershaw show with a ringer named Singer. You have to fully expect Koufax to dominate this list but when you consider that Kershaw is getting about eight starts less per year than the pitchers from 1958 – 1982 it is amazing that he can get on the leaderboard using a cutoff of 150 strikeouts.
I missed the Bill Singer season in that I didn’t arrive in Los Angeles until 1970. That didn’t keep Singer from being my favorite pitcher in 1969 until he was traded to the Angels.
Player Split Year SO W L W-L% ERA IP Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1962 202 13 4 .765 2.15 167.2 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1965 195 15 3 .833 2.13 169.0 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1966 165 15 4 .789 1.60 168.1 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2015 160 6 6 .500 2.85 123.0 Bill Singer 1st Half 1969 159 13 7 .650 1.98 186.2 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2017 159 14 2 .875 2.18 132.1 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1963 150 14 3 .824 1.73 156.1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
Yusniel Diaz makes BA June Prospect Team of the Month
Yusniel Diaz had a tough start to the 2017 season and made my list as the most disappointing prospect by the end of May. Since his dreadful May, Diaz has turned his season around and Baseball America named him to their June Prospect Team of the Month.
OF Yusniel Diaz • Dodgers
High Class A Rancho Cucamonga (California)Diaz may be repeating the California League this season, but he still is just 20 years old and is in just his second season in the U.S. after leaving Cuba. He turned his season around in June, when he eliminated the pre-pitch movement in his setup, and began producing for average and power.
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG RAA 101 20 40 9 2 5 17 9 15 2 4 .396 .438 .673 11.5
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-team-month-june/#PSrWZzPwtfrilKcX.99
Inside the Baseball America story we find another story that might be the reason for his turnaround.
Since then he has been on a tear. Most notably Diaz has quieted his stance and pre-pitch movement—which previously featured gratuitous bat waving, hip swaying and a big leg kick—and gone full-time into what used to be his two-strike stance, with significantly less moving parts.
“I’ve been working a lot in the cages trying to get my mechanics better,” Diaz said through a translator. “I feel really good now. I was making a lot of movement before. Now I feel more relaxed and more concentrated at the plate.”
Added Saylor: “Sometimes when guys have those real noisy hands they don’t go down into a good launch position and then all the sudden they’re trying to make up distance. Where he has it now it’s quieter and easier for him to get on plane early and stay through and get a bigger area of success on the pitch plane.”
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/yusniel-diaz-starts-make-noise-cal-league/#oTKZdPpo4OWiFhaV.99
Keibert Ruiz and DJ Peters make MLB prospect team of the week
Keibert Ruiz was named to the MLB Prospect team of the week for the week of June 26th – July 2nd. Readers will remember that Ruiz was my June Prospect of the Month, and the Weekly Farm Factory Award winner for June 26th – July 2nd. A few days ago, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus came out with their midseason prospect rankings, and our 18-year-old switch-hitting catcher tearing up the MWL was nowhere to be found. A few years from now they will wonder how this happened. Evidently, they aren’t paying attention to his monthly growth.
C: Keibert Ruiz, Great Lakes Loons (Class A)
Dodgers No. 12 prospect
6 G, .455/.520/.773, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BBThe 18-year-old Venezuelan had four multi-hit games, but his biggest performance came when he went 1-for-3 on Wednesday. The one hit? A grand slam in the ninth to turn a 0-0 tie into a 4-0 lead. Ruiz is now fifth in the Midwest League with his .321 average.
DJ Peters was named to the MLB Prospect team of the week for the week of July 3rd – July 9th.
OF: DJ Peters, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Class A Advanced)
(Dodgers’ No. 18 prospect)
7 G, .448/.500/.966, 7 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 7 RBIs, 1 BB, 7 K, 2 HBPPeters made headlines on Wednesday when he became the first player ever to hit two home runs in the same inning against a rehabbing Madison Bumgarner. What’s more, he hit in each of his seven games to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, during which he’s hitting .429 with a 1.386 OPS and six home runs. Overall, Peters leads the California League with 19 homers.
LAD first half leadersboards – sOPS+ against
If you thought Alex Wood was having a season that could be used in the same breath as Sandy Koufax and Clayton you are correct.
12 LAD seasons from a pitcher with a first half sOPS+ against of 50 or less. Kershaw and Koufax have had six of them. Alex Wood joins Jerry Reuss as the only other left-hander on the list besides the statues.
Player Split Year sOPS+ W L W-L% ERA GS IP Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2016 28 11 2 .846 1.79 16 121.0 Alex Wood 1st Half 2017 30 10 0 1.000 1.67 13 80.2 Jerry Reuss 1st Half 1980 37 9 2 .818 1.96 11 105.2 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1963 38 14 3 .824 1.73 20 156.1 Hideo Nomo 1st Half 1995 38 6 1 .857 1.99 13 90.1 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1964 42 12 4 .750 1.73 18 140.2 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2013 43 8 6 .571 1.98 20 145.1 Zack Greinke 1st Half 2015 43 8 2 .800 1.39 18 123.1 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1962 44 13 4 .765 2.15 21 167.2 Don Sutton 1st Half 1972 45 12 5 .706 1.90 19 156.0 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2014 45 11 2 .846 1.78 14 96.1 Kevin Brown 1st Half 2000 46 8 2 .800 2.38 17 125.0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 