Game 37, 2015

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Rockies at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Mike Bolsinger brings his 1-0 record and his 1.59 ERA to the hill for the Dodgers. His win came in his last turn when he went 5 2/3 innings against the Marlins, giving up one run and five hits. His opponent will be Kyle Kendrick, whose record doesn’t look very good (1-4, 7.65 ERA) but whose last outing was an improvement. He went seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits while walking none and striking out five.

Jon posted a scary story with a happy ending about Pedro Guerrero, slugger extraordinaire for the 1981 World Series winning team.

Lineup:


In light of the above, presumably this is Alex Guerrero playing left field, not Pedro.

88 thoughts on “Game 37, 2015”

    • This is not good news, but so far they’ve done well enough without him. Still, I expect they’ll pick up another starter by the deadline.

  3. Howie Kendrick is a fine baseball player, and seems like a great guy to have on any club….
    ….
    However…..
    If you watch the hi-lights from tonight’s Marlins / D-Backs game, take a good look at
    Dee Gordon. This guy is so incredibly athletic. So fast… Such great feet…. It’s almost ‘stupid’ just how entertaining and incredible he is at 2B.
    ….
    I’m calling my shots right now….
    1. Before it’s all said and done…. more people will have bought a ticket to watch Dee Gordon play than will ever have for Howie Kendrick.
    2. The Marlins will eventually trade him for young talent / prospects in a deal that will send him to a contender in a bigger market where his star will shine even brighter.
    3. I’ll always wonder why the Dodgers let him go….
    – Did they HAVE to throw him in to the deal (per Marlins request) in order for them to take
    Dan Haren?
    – You would only hope that any prospect would blossom as Dee Gordon has….
    – I’d have rather the Dodgers improve themselves with pitching rather than at 2B where
    they were set with Gordon. PS – The best P they got in the Gordon deal was dealt to the
    Angels for Howie Kendrick……

    • I believe that the FOhad targeted that particular P as what was needed to get Howie from the Angels as their 2nd baseman, so Dee had to be “thrown” in to avoid having to 2nd basemen. The FO bet that Dee’s second half last year was more representative of his future. Offense is one thing (Howie and Dee are not that far off with oWAR of 1.0 and 1.7, respectively, but Dee has a dWAR of 1.7 versus Howie’s -0.5 so this is where they have really mucked up so far in their stated effort to improve the Dodger defense. Of course there were other elements in the deal (we will see how the other prospects received pan out), but would have been nice to have Haren in the rotation right now. Lastly, we are paying both of their salaries!

      • It should be remembered that any baseball trade is a gamble and that Kendrick was/is envisioned as a one year fill in, the Dodgers have several infield candidates on their bench, in the minors, and on the way from Cuba.. Did Olivera ever get his physical? There was a news item several days ago (Saturday?) that he was arriving but no news since.

        • Pretty sure it’s Rollins who’s seen as the one-year stopgap with the jury out on Kendrick, who turns 32 in July. Rollins is 36 and may be showing that age.

      • Good Grief, Bob! …. Thanks for the info…
        …
        Yes. I knew that they received a few prospects in the deal…. with the lefty (who I thought was the top-rated pitcher in their system) going to the Halos for Howie.
        Only time will tell with regard to the others….
        …
        I think the new GM is from the A’s…. where he would have seen a lot of Howie.
        But, Dee Gordon looks like Michael Jordan (‘basketball MJ’… not ‘baseball MJ’) defensively…. IMHO.

      • In the Gordon/Haren deal, the Dodgers also obtained Quique Hernández (who’s shown a lot in a short time), a young and versatile catcher/infielder/outfielder in Austin Barnes, and a bullpen plus-arm in Chris Hatcher (who, despite a couple outlier bad outings, has looked very good to excellent most of the time).

        • Ah yes, of course, both Kike and Hatcher have already demonstrated some success in the Bigs.

      • I think the problem for Dee is that he currently is carrying a BABIP of .457, which is .110 higher than his previous best, and is very likely unsustainable for 162 games. He also wore down as the season progressed last year, and he still doesn’t walk much.

        Another way to look at this is to look at who they are replacing in the lineup. Dee has an OBP+ of 152, while Joc Pederson is at 154. Meanwhile, Howie has an OPS+ of 135 while Matt Kemp is at 92.

        I can’t second guess the moves because I was in favor of both when they happened.

        • Would certainly expect his offensive numbers to drop off, but what surprised me was the disparity on the defensive side.

          • Yeah, Dee’s was never a plus defender (although he improved each year), so his number is a little surprising.

    • Given the mess that is the Marlins, and given that the Dodgers are the top draw in the NL, it’s highly unlikely more people will buy tickets to see Dee than to see Kendrick.

  5. Stuff picked up here and there:

    –The Rockies struck out 54 times in their four-game series with the Dodgers. Walt Weiss says that’s too many. Imagine that. That’s only 18 full innings worth of Ks. Why be upset?

    –Grandal, who plated Sunday’s only run, was 1-for-2 with a walk, his 14th consecutive game reaching base via hit or walk. Over his last 12 games Grandal is 18-for-37 (.486). Since May 1, he’s 18 for 40 (.450) with 3 HR , 3 2B, and 15 RBIs. He has also thrown out 3 of 9 would be base stealers in May (33.3%) and has a .996 fielding percentage on the season.

    If he keeps up anything like that pace, the C spot shouldn’t be much of a concern. But that was a goshawful start.

  8. 1st win scoring less than 3 runs?
    Great return — of solid bullpen & Kloser Kenley!
    And how about Bolsinger?

    • Almost. We do have two other wins when scoring less than 3 (2-7), but our hitting has been the key to our record (3-13 when we score 4 runs or less!). Will be important that the pitching picks it up as we invariably drop down to more realistic runs per game (now at 5.1). Question is whether we can get it done with what we have or if the FO feels compelled to reinforce. Hard to imagine Frias and Bolsinger maintaining their current level of performance and Ryu comeback is looking dicey.

  9. Woo-HOO 2! I did listen to the last four innings, but was tapping and and couldn’t get here until now. Terrific performances by Bolsinger and the bullpen, and how great is it to have Kenley back?! Now we can go to SF with a win under our belt.

  16. After raising his average to the .200 level last night for the first time since April 28, Rollins is back down to .196. HIs four hits on Friday night were an aberration, I think.

  17. Very fine inning for Hatcher.

    Leaving shortly for dinner and a show up in Napa.

    • Didn’t hear it. I thought Vin didn’t even want a street named after him in LA. Hard to imagine him feeling comfortable with a whole town namesake.

      • There is a street or lane or something similar named after him in Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.

          • I just checked. It is “Vin Scully Way.” An AP story said he asked to have the sign after the Dodgers moved out of Vero Beach in 2008.

    • I know there was a story about a Little League ballpark named after him.

    • I agree. He was at 85 pitches and the 6th seemed like a strong one for him, If he gets through the 7th then go with Nicasio in the 8th and Jansen in the 9th.

    • Man, if a manager doesn’t keep making unnecessary changes, no one will know he is there and “appreciate” his brains”.

      • It’s possible Don knows something we don’t – maybe he told Don he was gassed.

  27. Big wheels keep on spinning . . . sure hope they get back on track soon!
    Meanwhile, hope the bullpen is back on track.

  33. Okay, bats — you’ve had the last 12 innings off, time to get into action!

  34. In case you missed it, Jon SooHoo posted a slew of pictures from yesterday’s Old Timers Day. I like the lunch shots when the men are in civvies better than the uniform shots. Sax still looks like that fresh-faced kid. Wally Moon has a big family with pretty daughters. And so on.

  35. Let me ask an off-topic question. A progressive bunch like this must have some readers in it, particularly e-readers. I decided to go modern and get an e-reader. Hours of research convinced me to buy a Nextbook instead of the Kindle or Nook. Versatility was the main reason, and the Nook app was already on it. I bought a bunch of e-books off Ebay. And now I find I can’t read them through the app. It, like the Nook itself is proprietary, meaning you can only read books you buy from Barnes & Noble and the don’t have the books or prices I like. I know I can read my books on my computer and Nextbook but it would be more convenient if I could download an e-book reader that would allow me to furnish my own books from my hard drive. Any one know of such a thing?

    • Check out Calibre. I’ve got it on my desktop as well as on my tablet. The Android tablet also has Nook and Kindle apps on it, both of which I use.

      I’ve downloaded books to the hard drive and then converted them from various generic formats to Calibre-readable ones.

      • But is the Android tablet a true e-reader?
        I like to walk and read (one of my work places, several restaurants, the library, 2nd-run theater, etc. are 1-2 miles from me) and my first attempt — on a tablet — did not work in sunlight . . . but I understand the Nook and other e-readers will.

        • No, it isn’t. This one is a Google gadget (Nexus 7) and does lots of things. It’s not principally meant to be a reader. I use it indoors at home. I find it’s a little big to carry with me when I go places unless I buy a man-bag, which would be a waste of money.

        • I wouldn’t give them too much credit until I tried them. The Android Tablets are a hundred times more complex and capable than Nooks and Kindles and I wouldn’t be comfortable betting against them. Besides, the latest Nooks and Kindles ARE tablets, with color screens etc…

    • Nobody’s watching so I’ll answer my own post. I think I have found one. It is The Ice Cream Reader. Seems to work equally well on Windows and Android, allows you to read books from your own hard drive.

  36. Condensed version of Eric Stephen’s account of Santos’ 4 Ks in the 8th, just the 7th Dodger to do so. But not near the same as Kenley doing the same the night before. That’s because Santos first allowed a 2-run HR in the 7th, widening the Colorado lead to 3-0.

    Then in the 8th, after a strikeout wild pitch, he gave up a 2B, followed by another 2-run HR to make the game 6-0. By the time the inning ended Santos had his 4K strikeout frame, giving him 5 on the night.

    “But it had roughly the same impact as giving Mrs. Lincoln a coupon for a free show on her next visit on her way out of Ford’s Theater.”

  38. From TBLA: Dodger relievers allowed one HR their first 92 innings, through Sunday. But this week, in 17 1/3 innings they’ve allowed 4.

    As noted earlier, their early overall performance wasn’t sustainable. But you could hope regression wouldn’t happen all at once.