Game 78, 2015

Dodger at D-Backs, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Dodgers’ Bolsinger (4-2, 2.95 ERA) versus the Diamondbacks’ Webster (1-1, 6.46 ERA). Each pitcher was originally signed by his opponent today, Bolsinger by the D-Backs in the 15th round in 2010 and Webster by the Dodgers in the 18th round in 2008.

Lineups later.

Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup vs. D-backs:
Pederson CF
Kendrick 2B
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Puig RF
Ethier LF
Grandal C
Rollins SS
Bolsinger P

167 thoughts on “Game 78, 2015

  1. Today’s subject is… Dave Stewart. Honestly, prior to it’s happening, how many of you said to yourself, “I wonder why Dave Stewart isn’t a GM?”. I could not have been more surprised by it (rumors disregarded). I liked Stewart as a ballplayer. I had nothing against him as an agent. (He repped Matt Kemp among others) He wasn’t Scott Boras but he wasn’t some of the dingalings who have become agents lately either. But with no experience, why would anyone hire him as a GM? Especially Phoenix. If it were Oakland or some large city with a large black population, I could see it as a fan connection. But why Phoenix? I bet they have White, Mexican, and Indian populations larger than Black. Some of his trades and signings have been real head-scratchers. So I’m stumped. If you know, please explain.

  2. This 33 games in 34 days started way back on May 29 with the road trip to StL, with the current trip the longest of the three during this period. The first two were terrible. Hope we can salvage the last two games in this series to end on a winning note and just above .500 for June. Still, the question will remain on whether we are weathering a bad stretch or this is the way it is going to be. The upcoming homestand should offer some respite with the welcoming of the cellar dwellers of the East (Fillies) and Central (Brewers), but also the revitalized Metropolitans. Then back on the road to meet the best that the East has to offer, including the Nats here in DC!

    • Unfortunately, I won’t be seeing the Dodgers in DC — I could’ve gotten away for the Sunday game, but my brother has tickets for Friday (guess my memory was on wishful thinking) . . . . I will still visit muggy VA/DC, just not then.

      • Sorry to hear. We are going to need all the help we can get against these Nats!

  3. Good night, my friends. Misery loves company. Tomorrow is another day. Make lemonade out of lemons… (I am using every cliche in my personal bullpen. Who am I missing?)

  4. The best part of the last 4 innings has definitely been everyone’s comments. As the Dodgers tanked, we got better and better (IMHO).

    • Is it 1:30 by you, Dave?
      That just adds to the yuck-factor of this game.

      • Only 12:30. But it was worth it to converse with all of you fine people.

  5. This must feel so gratifying for AZ fans. Because it feels pretty lousy to me.

  6. Okay. This is my fault. I should have been more specific when I said I hoped the DBacks didn’t score 2 runs for the 4th straight inning. I was meaning no runs not four or more.

  7. Remember when the Dodgers had the bases loaded and no one out in the 1st inning. The D’Backs have made a mockery of that here.

    • These times are getting longer and longer . . . gotta give ’em credit, tho — they’re finding different ways to lose.

    • For some reason, these games don’t bother me. The dodgers aren’t this bad and have beaten AZ 7 straight times. It may “embarrass”*or “make them mad”* so that they turn it around the next night.

      *Im not sure pro teams actually feel like this or just roll with the ups and downs of a long season. But it seems like a good narrative for fans like me to believe in.

        • I’m pretty sure Dante mentioned a certain level of Hell was having listen to that chant throughout all eternity.

          • Or there was a level of Hell that those who chanted it would end up in.

  8. I’d like to be able to blame Don for this, but I can’t. Everybody in the pen has imploded so far.

  9. Not our bullpen’s night so far. More holes than Swiss cheese (does that even make sense?)

    • Swiss cheese is really tasty with ham. It’s the peanut butter and jam of the cheese and meat world.

  10. It would be great if the D’Backs didn’t score 2 runs for the 4th straight inning.

  11. Feel a little less confident about this game, then I did at 4-4. Especially now that Joc popped out on a 3-1 pitch.

  12. D’backs achieved over 20% of Dodgers season total of stolen bases that inning.

  13. The jokes on the Diamondbacks. That triple meant the double steal was meaningless.

  14. I blame the announcers, who have been talking nonstop about how good our bullpen has been lately.

  15. Dear Dodgers
    It might be good to get out of this inning before Goldschmidt comes to bat. Respectfully,
    WinnipegDave

  16. Of Pederson’s 20 homers, 17 have been with the bases empty, and yet Mattingly insists on batting him leadoff.

    • Probably at a loss on who to put there. Rollins had to be shifted down in the line up. He has tried Puig there at times, but he has only a OBP of 333 in those stints. Quique gets an occasional start there as well. Howie perhaps?

    • Perhaps because he’s the best OBP guy on the team, and one of the best in the league…

      You get him more ABs that way also.

    • I don’t see how JT didn’t get the call the other day, but Thomas got this one.

  17. I guess it only takes 2 – 2 run home runs to get to 4. Lead cut in half.

  18. Good thing Greinke pitched deep yesterday. Bullpen will get used today – and likely tomorrow as well with Frias starting.

  19. Ballslinger quite a trooper going out there tonight (and then doing his job).

  20. So, if I’m counting correctly, that makes 6 Dodgers that have at least 10 home runs.

    • Thought about this a bit. I guess the chances become better the more you hit. Especially at the back end of back to back (etc) HR’s.

  21. Pedersons’s last 38 plate appearances: 9 walks, 14 strikeouts in 29 at bats. 2 doubles, 2 homers.

  22. That first inning says volumes about the Dodgers’ failures in the last six weeks. Webster couldn’t find home plate with a map, a team of guides and a search dog and Gonzalez hits into a DP on a 2-0 pitch after he misses on 11 of his first 12 pitches.

    • I just checked in and disappointed to see that recap. I sure hope that was AGon’s perfect pitch that he just didn’t hit; you would expect more discipline from a veteran.

        • You’re right, Scoop — that sums up what’s been bad since May 13th: big wheels keep on spinning . . .
          Hopefully they”ll be more productive tonight.

          • Thanks for taking my mind off the game and making me remember when I saw Creedence Clearwater in concert in San Francisco 46 years ago. Very memorable. Concert included Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and the Elvin Bishop Group at Winterland in San Francisco. It was a fund-raiser to raise bail for people who had been arrested in a big clash in Berkeley, where I was a student, over a piece of land called People’s Park.

  23. Results released today show that the number of Royals leading for All-Star Game positions is now down to five, still far too many based on the seasons that they are having. I wonder if new Commissioner Rob Manfred will be as pro-active as Commissioner Ford Frick was in 1957 when Cincinnati Reds’ fans stuffed the ballot boxes and voted seven Reds (and Stan Musial) into the starting lineup. Frick replaced Cincinnati’s Gus Bell and Wally Post with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Fans were stripped of the right to pick the starters after that season and weren’t allowed to do so again until 1970.

    • It’s time to let the players pick again. That said, the ASG been a total joke since the last good game in 1994, and I don’t even bother with it any more. I consider it a three-day break, as most of the players do.

  24. It’s a nice quiet, nothing kind of day, might as well post something that has been on my mind of late. Batting coaches. When did teams start having batting coaches? I don’t remember hearing of them 40 or 50 years ago. I’m thinking, right or wrong, that they have had a lot to do with the lowering of batting averages and the ascendancy of the pitcher. Mark Maguire has honest credentials as a hitter but many of his cohorts don’t. A lot of them had little more than a cup of coffee in the majors and not even a sterling performance in the minors. The main requirement for the job seems to be having a friendship with the Manager or GM. I blame them for making batters take the first pitch, which is often the best he will see. Also the dreaded called third strike. Obviously the hitter was expecting something other than what was thrown, he has been taught “If this pitch is here (A high fastball for example) then the next will be there. (A curve low and away) This from guys who averaged .240 in their MILB career. No stats, just an opinion, have at it.

    • If hitting ability and teaching ability were the same, there would be a bidding war for Garry Sheffield.

      • Good point, which brings up the question, Can anyone teach someone else to hit? Seems to me the great hitters of history had nothing in common as far as methods. I think hitting coaches do more harm than good.

        • I haven’t played much baseball in recent years but, in my more extensive experience in slow-pitch, I know what I have to do – but somehow that knowledge does not result in a 1.000 batting average.

          • I think hitting a baseball, or pitching it, or even throwing a football, is a purely instinctive thing, requiring judgement from the brain, coordination of the muscles to visual stimuli, that no one can teach or help you with…

          • I think there are limits to what a coach can do – correcting truly awful practices, such as swinging from the heels, but not a lot more.

    • Unless they are Charlie Lau, doubt that many hitting coaches try to promote any specific model. At the very least it is having another pair of (outside) eyes focused on one’s own mechanics. Most hitter have a stockpile of video of when they were doing well at the plate that a hitting coach can refer to at the least compare the mechanics and let the hitter know where he may have deviated. So an eye for detail and good communication skills would be important. If they get there, the best ball that most hitters will see is 0-3, but tradition imposes a red light on 99% of them.