Dodger Talk

Discussion in 'Other Sports Discussion' started by TIME, Oct 1, 2014.

  1. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    and this type of nonsense that is killing us... Top of the inning Taylor goes for the ball, traps it on the hop, glove gets stuck under him and ball flips out scoring another run for rockies to put em up by two. We lead off the inning with a homer to cut it into 1. Then joc k's, Grandy K's. Then Taylor is up that 2nd strike was damn near in the dirt. He swings at the next close pitch to ground out to end the game. The little f'n things that are killing us right now.
     
  2. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    and now im losing faith in these boys right now. Can't even argue with Real's assertion they have lost pride in what they are doin. Still time but we are facing teams in our division that hate us and would enjoy nothing more than watching us crumble. Getting blanked after losing by 1 run games twice in a row. They are spiraling with what seems like no idea how to stop it.
     
  3. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    Turner called them to worst team in baseball and I agree. I've stopped watching games. For months I caught almost every minute because at any moment something magical was going to happen. Now? They aren't paying attention, why should we? There's just no sense at all that this team might want to win a title. Right now it looks more like they want to go home.

    At some point they're going to get their focus back. They better hope it's in time. They're dangerously close to losing their "insurmountable" lead.
     
  4. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    That is the crazy part. 21 games up with like 11 to clinch and now we are like 9 up on the Dbacks and 5 on the Nats for overall. Their only saving graces are that lead was huge and that hot streaks can happen in a blink and overall they are a great team. We weren't winning on flukes and luck earlier. We have lost a few games on some fluke plays but its just not been great baseball by us at any facet. Im hoping they figure it out soon cause this is getting ugly..no this is ugly
     
  5. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I agree. The team just needs to buckle down and get back to it, but it seems like they're not all there. They're in their own heads. They need someone on the team to relax them and just let them play ball, but instead they're letting things just continue to go wrong. This is one of those moments when you need someone in the locker room to do something stupid to get the guys laughing and relaxed. Usually that's Kike, but his home island is being blown away by multiple hurricanes right now. Someone else needs to just get these guys relaxed and refocused. Losing isn't the end of the world, just come back the next game. They've forgotten all that.

    I do think that having vets like Granderson, Ethier, and Gonzalez all there when they're not great anymore is a bummer for the young guys. The old guys know this could be their last shot and they're probably stressed and anxious and that's going to rub off on the others too. Especially the young call ups.
     
  6. Bryant

    Bryant - Lakers 6th Man -

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    I agree. I think it's also to okay for the team to vent and get angry. Doc needs to protest those BS strike calls more, get tossed, and fire this team up.

    Also agreed about the vets, I think it's screwed up the team a bit, we've become mediocre once Adrian and Granderson joined the team. We weren't that good when Adrian was with the team at the beginning of the season. I hope that they get a reduced role in the upcoming weeks; we have young players like Verdugo showing a bit of promise with his home run yesterday.
     
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  7. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    Granderson was tremendous for the first week he was here and then has been just awful since then, every bit as bad as Joc was but much worse defensively.

    I think Gonzalez is likely done as a big leaguer. His back has given out, it won't improve, and that robs him of his power. Without power, he's not quick or fast enough to run the bases effectively. The best he could be is a decent at-bat to get a runner on and then sub someone else onto the base (Barnes probably), but is that really a priority? Does A-Gon understand that's his limit?

    I probably wouldn't include him on the playoff roster at this point.
     
  8. Savory Griddles

    Savory Griddles Moderator Staff Member

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    With the way things are going, the Dodgers won't make the postseason. :Magic Brows:
     
  9. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    it would be totally fitting that the Giants be the one's to jump start us back on track. Biggest and most hated rivals with our biggest losing streak in dozens and dozens of years. Oh and Nats clinched tonight. If we don't get up for this rain delayed game then we really are killing ourselves
     
  10. Bryant

    Bryant - Lakers 6th Man -

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    I'm starting to think that Baez has something on Roberts. It beggars belief how he still gets to pitch in high leverage situations.
     
  11. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    holyhell we won.... Left a million guys on base but found a win for Kershaw. Lets start a streak
     
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  12. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    What a stressful game. :D

    Hopefully this gets the monkey off their back, but I've got a feeling we're not out of the woods yet. I'm excited to see what happens with Darvish coming up today. The funny part is the bats have been waking up the last week or so, now it's on the pitching.
     
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  13. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    I think this team is like a lot of football teams in that its starts with the offense (batting) and then D (in this case our pitching). When we are putting up runs early we don't lose a lot of games. With the way the balls are flying this year it doesn't take much of a mistake by a pitcher/catcher to be costly. Getting our bats going, getting those RISP across home early will do wonders for the psyche of the pitchers IMO. How much pressure do you think the pitching staff has put on themselves knowing we can't score runs? The bullpen needs to pull its head out of its butt though.
     
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  14. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I agree completely. It's all in conjunction with each other. The bats slowed down which stressed the starters. The bullpen starts getting a ton of work with a lot more pressure and now they're faltering which in turn puts more pressure on the bats and starters. The bats are feeling their pressure which leads to errors and misplays in the field. It all collapsed together in amazing fashion. The bats are coming around which means the pitching should soon follow.

    By the way, the big buzz is Otani is coming over from Japan this winter... The kid is a unicorn as the children say these days on social media. A pitcher who can crank up to 100 on a fastball and yet he can also hit .250 with 25 homeruns. Just incredible. The international signing rules limit what we can offer, but if the Dodgers can rope him in, we've got a bonafide star.
     
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  15. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    2 in a row? What the hell. They figured out how to win again.

    Funny fact,no one seemed to realize that we clinched a playoff birth with Kershaw's win. Gotta love a huge lead that lets you drop like 19 of 20 of something like that and STILL be at the top. Now just keep it going.
     
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  16. Bryant

    Bryant - Lakers 6th Man -

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    We should thank the Giants for helping us regain that mojo back. Glad the last game was relatively stress free, and it must've been a big confidence booster for Yu. It was his best start since he debuted with us. It's not a coincidence that this performance came when Granderson and Grandal were benched.
     
  17. puffyusaf#2

    puffyusaf#2 - Lakers Starter -

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    I don't think Yu has had bad games overall. He has trouble locating his pitches at times and has paid for them. Overall though i thought he pitched pretty solid games just not great ones. Granderson won't be a playoff starter but he will be a guy off the bench. I would never discount the veteran ability of guys like Granderson, Agon and utley. Andre I don't trust in the big moments at all.We will ride our young guys but history has shown that its the veterans that keep those guys right when it matter most.
     
  18. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    Quiet story line building as well: Walker Buehler has looked good. He's had one rocky appearance, but his stuff looks great. He has a natural fastball in the 96-98 range, but can power all the way down to the 80s for his curve ball. He could end up being a great bullpen piece for us in this home stretch.

    Verdugo has been underwhelming. I was hoping he'd come in and at least post a really good on-base percentage, but it just hasn't been there.

    As for Yu, these Giants were exactly what he needed. I don't know if you guys noticed as well, but he took something off his power to work on placement yesterday. @puffyusaf#2 is right 100%, Yu has 1000 different pitches and he tends to spray them everywhere. Yesterday his fastball was sitting at 94 instead of 97 which I think is the right move for him. He's got some of the just nastiest pitches when he's placing them. Yesterday I saw him throw what I assume is a two-seam fastball at 95 with movement on it. Just insane. Pence somehow fouled it off, but it's incredible what the man can do when he's dealing.
     
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  19. Bryant

    Bryant - Lakers 6th Man -

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    I think his batting average is higher than that Real! He's hit .322 and 22 HR's in 2016.



    Looks like we will be a big threat for him. Orel and Friedman were there to watch Otani in person last month.
     
  20. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm saying in the MLB I'm not sure he is going to hit over .300. It's possible he does, but I'm not counting on it. I think the best you hope for is a Puig-ish bat: big power, but a lot of strikeouts too. Otani is a smarter hitter though too so he can go opposite field to get the ball in play if/when he has to.

    I'm desperate for him. I'd give up a lot to get this kid, he's going to be amazing.
     

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