What a way to lose today's game, Chargois gives up a 3 run walkoff HR. Roberts should've given Alexander the chance to be the closer versus taking him out due to Arenado hitting a HR off of him earlier in the seasson. He then ironically leaves Chargois in against Mcmahon, who torched the team yesterday (and Chargois also has given up a .982 OPS against lefties). Roberts needs to reduce overmanaging the bullpen and playing matchups, it's going to cost us more games. His matchups also extend to left and right handed pitchers, there's no reason Austin Barnes should start anymore, he's a guaranteed out. At least the D-Backs lost again.
I think it will be his last go around if they don’t get a chip this year. It look so like he makes too many moves during a game. That is fun to watch for strategy talk, but it gives more to criticize if you don’t get the results.
Oh dear, now Floro chokes and walks the batter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning. Kenta as closer can't come soon enough. It's time to bench Kemp and let Verdugo start regularly. I doubt they will fire Doc considering everything that's happened so far. Extremely poor start at the beginning of the season coupled with injuries has turned this team from a extremely good team to a just a decent team. He also follows their computer metrics or whatever very well. The FO deserves blame for not getting a premium reliever at the non waiver trade deadline. I don't have faith that we'll have a deep playoff run again (if any), but anything can happen in baseball. It's a bad patch right now, but all it takes is a hot streak at the right time and this team definitely has the talent to do so.
They're fine and I'm not going to make any major batting changes yet. You're going to go through cold streaks. All it takes is a hot series and they're back feeling good again. This season was always going to be a patch over until next. They set the tone by demanding to stay under the luxury tax. Whatever happens is all cherry on top and they've put themselves in a great position for a deep playoff run. There's not a ton of great NL teams right now that I'm particularly worried about. They definitely needed the bullpen change though. Sucks for Maeda and Stripling, but we need it.
I haven't seen the Dodgers play live in over a dozen years. They come to Seattle. My biz partner and co-author gets me tickets to game 2 for my birthday. Great seats, great time... Balk to lose the game. Game one 11-1 and game three 12-1. Game two...balk to lose the game. BALK. What the hell. Still great game but damn. Wife says I can't go to the game again. lol.
Haa. That’s not good luck. If it’s any consolation, I was only able to view one of those three games, and yes, it was Game 2. Go figure...
^lol. The good part is my biz partner is hooked on Dodger blue now. She gave herself a headache getting into it. Here first live LA game. WE won the series. We need to get it back together they killing me with this rollercoaster crap
Things are slipping badly, 11 losses in 17 games with 35 games left remaining. So much talent on this team, yet the offense remains anemic.
This team doesn't smell right. They could easily MISS the playoffs with Machado, Dozier, Bellinger, and Turner in the lineup. Just horrifying. What was looking like a dream time for LA baseball is turning into a nightmare. These guys just don't have that fire when they come up to bat. When they need a hit, who has the fortitude to get it? I don't see it in any of them right now.
They better get the pitching worked out next year despite the roster ERA. Too many injury disruptions. They are going to have to get their chemistry back.
Every year I have had the same #1 complaint. These last few series have magnified that same complaint. We don't hit with men on. In our first 2 losses against SL the Dodger announcer said we had stranded nearly 40 runners. In the series it was over 45 runners left on base. Yes our pitching is giving us some fits too. Mainly the bullpen but they are still holding teams to an average of 4 runs in our last 11 loses. With this lineup we should be murdering 4 runs a game like its little league. They are too "front-runner" to me right now. Meaning that when its going good then everything is going good but when its not they don't spark themselves. We are getting no-hit into the late innings of games against guys who haven't shown any of that type of stuff before. It is like the Lakers letting the random scrub become a damn superstar against us. They better get that chemistry back and quick or we will be watching the playoffs from home with the rest of the fans.
Suggests weak fortitude to me. I know that is hard to say considering we almost won last year and have had a decent year this season. But I honestly knew we weren’t going to beat the Astros in game 7 for that reason, they don’t seem to have enough grit. That is hard to say to because we have come back in games, but it feels that way at least. It’s the same feeling I get when Kershaw pitches and we don’t score. That may partially be due to us going against the opposition’s ace, but still. I made the comment earlier that I thought they should focus on hitting singles, and the point was for them to focus on knowing how manufacture runs. It’s like a mental thing for them to move a man over. It’s mental for them with everything actually because they have the talent. That is why I also made the statement that I feel Dave Roberts might not make it beyond next year despite the success. Ironically when they hired Roberts, considering his gritty play as a player, I thought they wouldn’t have problems with the hit and run, and and scoring easy runs. I didn’t think they would be a Home run juggernaut. Maybe it takes another year to put it all together.
its hard to argue the fortitude comment at present. I will say they have shown grit (at times) though. I had the same thought about the small ball game. They don't seem to "shorten up" and get the hit to move the guy over or to put it in play. Additionally I think we are less aggressive than last year. They better figure it out. This team is loaded enough to make a stupid run to end the season. They are unstable enough to do it backwards too. I can see if they don't make the playoffs Roberts will be gone. This team should not be underperforming no matter what the injuries have been. He better get into these boys butts.
The only somewhat silver lining is that they are getting on base. They're getting the hits, they just can't get the effing runs in. That tells me if someone sparks a turnaround here, they can heat up REALLY fast. Still, they need to show some damn urgency and focus. There's not too many games left here and they're on the outside right now.
Yesterday was great for us, a big win and losses by the Dbacks and Rockies. Someone tried to make Verlander pay for what he did in the world series to us:
Zaidi should pick up the tab for getting Darvish instead of Ver. That was the WS Championship right there.
Nice sweep of the Padres this weekend. We're going to need to be nearly perfect vs. the sub .500 teams from now on. The bullpen still worries me a lot, they have not been trustworthy at all with a close lead. Kenley has blown the past 3 games he's been in. I think he might have been rushed back too early. On the other hand, JT is absolutely incredible at the moment. Was also great to see Manny and Max get their 30th HR's.
