Game 111, 2015

Dodgers at Pirates, 5:00PM PT, TV: ESPN

Alex Wood (7-7, 3.65 ERA) makes his second start for the Dodgers. He went six innings in his first game, then balked (video) with two men on. He walked the next guy to load the bases and was relieved by Peralta, who then gave up a grand slam to Maikel Franco. Wood was saddled with the loss.

He’ll face Charlie Morton (7-4, 4.19 ERA), who was 6-1 through June, lost three in a row in July, and won his last outing in August. This will be his second career start against the Dodgers; the first was five years ago.

Lineup when available.

175 thoughts on “Game 111, 2015

  1. Last night’s ESPN blackout ended up being something of a blessing until I turned Gameday off but, out of morbid curiosity, I just checked the box score for Johnson’s pitch count. It said 33, but it felt like 330.

  2. This team has some serious problems. Last year it was blamed on Matt Kemp. Who will be the designated goat this year? I still say you have to change the manager, whether it’s his fault or not, you have to shake things up. I’d consider bringing in Bud Black, he certainly should know something about pitchers.
    Now some positives. Unfortunately they don’t concern the Dodgers. Andrew McCutchen (?) is one Hell of a player. Not the biggest, not the most athletic nor most talented player in the game, just maybe the best. Because he gets 110% of his ability, he tries harder. And his efforts put some potentially better players in his rear view mirror. Mr. Puig for example. I don’t care where Pittsburgh ends up, but he certainly should get consideration for MVP.
    Second thing: The Pittsburgh Fans. If the Dodgers don’t get there, I’m pulling for the Pirates. The team deserves it and the fans deserve it. Whatever success the club has, the fans get a lot of credit in helping them. Did you see the game last night? Every fan was there till the end. In contrast the last Dodger home game I saw, in the 9th inning the stands were virtually deserted. But everybody expects that, don’t they? No Holier-Than-Thou here, years ago when I went to a game, I bailed out in the 7th inning. I wouldn’t even consider going to a game now, you can see it much better on TV. I wonder if better fan support would improve team performance…

  3. I was wondering when we were going to hear them pipe in some .. “We Are Family”…..
    ….
    The Bucs haven’t looked this magical since the Chuck Tanner, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker days.

    Here’s to hoping Howie has a speedy recovery.

    • “The Bucs haven’t looked this magical . . . ”
      Sad to say their magic owes a lot to the Blue Bullpen.

      • Yep, Bob!
        …..
        Seems our pen has been an unwilling accomplice to 3 L’s in Pittsburgh…
        …..
        PS – Has anybody uttered the phrase, “This is the Pitts!” so far this series?
        Just wondering…. Because I’d certainly never say such a thing… 🙂

        • Pen is bad and surely is culpable for this loss, but they had help from Clayton giving up four runs and the 3-6 hitters going 0-20 in the first game. In the second game, all 6 runs were given up by the starter.

          • Yes…. Yes…. Dog Days of Summer!

            They’ll pull it together. Feels wierd seeing Kid-K as semi-human, yah?

  4. Dodgers bullpen is having a summer love affair with the long ball. Every night they just can’t wait to see each other. #forbiddenlove

  5. Dodgers about to go 0-2 in games in Pittsburgh when Hernandez homers. #stats

  6. I’m over this. Bye bye until tomorrow when I get to go to the game with my son, whose birthday is on Tuesday. Nice job, Mattingly. (Yes, sarcasm again.)

    • Perhaps one or more of the following:
      “Well, he wasn’t missing by much.”
      “I have full confidence in him.”
      “Some of those balls weren’t hit that hard. He got some tough breaks.”
      “He has a proven track record.”

      Or, if Donnie gets angry:
      “You think he wasn’t trying!”
      “It’s easy to second-guess.”

  7. I’ve been following the Dodgers but haven’t had time to stop in here, but feel compelled.

    While the offense has come alive of late, they are finding ways to lose (primarily the bullpen, but also errors mental and otherwise), especially to teams they will face in postseason, IF they make it there.

    This entire series, but especially tonight, have done nothing to make me feel confident of any postseason prospects.

    And — as seems to happen — they put on such a terrible show for a national audience (tho it would be terrible enough if it were just for us.)

  8. A question for the statisticians at Elias: When was the last time a reliever (or any pitcher for that matter) faced the same batter twice in the same inning as was the case with Johnson vs. Ramirez tonight?

  9. At this point I would have left Johnson in the game. Let him pitch 60 pitches. Just let him take his lumps and save the rest of the pen.

  10. Mattingly wouldn’t be qualified to be the assistant manager of a Woolworth’s. Johnson should be the soda jerk.

  11. Why was Wood pulled so soon. Should have used him one more inning. Than start the drudge of the bullpen for a shorter stint.

    • Precisely. We have no one reliable to bridge the 7th and 8th innings to Jansen. Throwing the 6th inning into the mix makes winning this game, any game, that much more difficult.

  12. A few times each year the frustration of being a Dodgers fan simply becomes too much. Tonight is one of those games — ridiculous baserunning, Johnson’s pitching, Puig’s fielding, Pederson’s batting. I am over the top. Painful. Painful.

  13. Dirty words. If nothing else this will stop Johnson from being used for anything but mop up.

  14. Johnson has nothing. Feels more like a Ned guy with 50 saves from years ago.

    • Colletti and now Friedman seem to feel that if a guy was once a solid closer he can still be quite good. How many times have the Dodgers made this same mistake?

  15. Nicasio has used up his quota of luck for this game. I don’t know who’s next, Avilan or Johnson or Peralta (shudder) or Howell, but I hope he’s got as much as Nicasio did.

  16. My 6-3, 6-4 prediction is scary to get to, if that’s where this game ends up.

  17. Alberto was looking to run (he got the memo!), but has only 22 steals in his ten year career.

  18. Thinking about the 3rd base. Everyone waiting for Turner to come back which will be great. But if I was GM not sure I wouldn’t have valued a Uribe, Oliveria (once he came up) and Guerrero combination over a Turner, Callaspo, and Guerrero trio. Turner is a better, younger batter than Uribe but Uribe has a better glove. Other than that I would have loved to see Oliveria’s bat first and glove second in play – more than Callaspo’s glove first and bat second. Guerrero is untradable so he is around in both scenarios.

    I love picking up the 2 pitchers and a highly ranked AAA infielder for Oliveria, Paco and a few other pieces. Great trade. I just wish they hadn’t traded 2 third basemen this season.

    • Turner is the same age as Olivera, and quite a bit younger than Uribe. He’s also a bargain for the level of his production.

      • So you guys think Turner could be the Dodgers third baseman for the next year or two? Til Seager eventually slides over there?

  19. Unusual to have Dre batting cleanup, but makes sense now that CC is back in the line up against righties.

  20. Puig looks disspirited at the plate and can’t seem to hit the high fastball or lay off outside pitches.

    • He seemed to be coming out of it a couple of weeks ago, but yes, he got a bad called yesterday. which seemed to greatly discomfort him during one PA at least. K rate not an unreasonable 20%, but when he connects he is getting a lot of dribblers and popups. BABIP of .167 over the past couple of weeks.

  21. Cubs beat the Giants, 2-0. San Francisco loaded the bases with none out in the 9th on a Belt single, Crawford double and Adrianza hit by pitch. Rondon, who had allowed the three hits, then struck out Sanchez, Pagan and, on a 3-2 pitch, Blanco.

  22. A little graveyard humor… Who will be the goat today, Starting Pitcher, Bullpen, or AWOL Offense? I’m thinking 3 runs so the hitters (?) will get the blame.

  23. Rollins, SS
    Kendrick, 2B
    Gonzalez, 1B
    Ethier, RF
    Grandal, C
    Crawford, LF
    Callaspo, 3B
    Pederson, CF
    Wood, P

    • I still can recall the great excitement and novelty of Monday Night Football. During the first year in 1970, Keith Jackson was in the booth with Meredith and Cosell. I was working in a resort in upstate New York as a dishwasher immediately after graduating college and completing a summer job in the federal anti-poverty program. The car I had purchased broke down just after I bought it and I needed a place to work and live while I tried to convince the dealer to fix it. I got the dishwasher job — three meals a day, seven days a week — and Monday nights were one of the few highlights of the week. I stayed there about two months.

      • Yeah, for a long time it was appointment TV for me. In Hawai’i it was tape-delayed until 6:30pm so people who worked during the day would have time to get home to watch. That changed when it switched from ABC (network) to ESPN (cable) in 2006. Now it comes on at 3:30PM Monday afternoon and I don’t think too many people care. ESPN (or maybe the local cable company has control. Dunno which) even rebroadcasts it right after the live game ends.

        • MNF used o be an occasion to gather at someone’s home, consume beer and pizza and have a loud, great time. But for many years now it has been little more than afterthought what with games on Sunday and Thursday nights and pro football filling the airwaves on Sunday morning and afternoon Growing up in L.A. in the 50’s and 60’s, there would be one pro football game on on Sunday — either a Rams’ away game or another game. Things expanded when the AFL started.

          • Your post reminded me of some of the great players the Rams had in the late 60s. One who came to mind was Billy Truax, who was traded to the Cowboys for Lance Rentzel. I’m sure you remember why Rentzel was traded…

          • Billy Truax, now there’s a name I haven’t recalled in many years. Do you remember Eddie Meador, Dick Bass (The Scooter), Bucky Pope (The Catawba Clay), Jack Snow, Les Richter, Pervis Atkins and so many more? I remember when the Rams, horse racing and UCLA and USC football dominated the sports market in L.A. Then came the Dodgers, the Lakers, the Angels, the NHL, etc. We used to take public transportation to the Coliseum to see the Rams on Sunday afternoon — the bus on Olympic to the trolley on Vermont. Yes, I remember the Rentzel saga.

          • I remember all of them, and Roman Gabriel, Merlin Olson, Lamar lundy and on and on. Guess you can tell I was a Rams fan and a Minnesota Viking Hater. Hard to understand Rentzel with a beautiful wife like Joey Heatherton….

          • I remember when George Allen was Coach/GM of the Washington Redskins. The owner said he gave him an unlimited budget… and he overspent it. Remember his slogan, “The Future Is Now”?

          • I remember when the Rams players rose up as one to oppose the owner, Dan Reeves, when he planned to fire head coach George Allen. Allen was retained.

          • And of course the Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.

    • I’m old enough to remember when even NBA games were worth watching and the players were admirable…