Game 42, 2015

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Padres at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN, FSSD

Right-hander Mike Bolsinger tries to continue his early-season success (he’s 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings, all starts) against right-hander Ian Kennedy, who’s had a slow start. He’s 2-3 with a 6.75 ERA over 6 starts and a 2-1 K/BB ratio.

Grandal wasn’t scheduled to play today anyway, according to Mattingly, but now they’re going to monitor him for concussion and rest him at least until tomorrow. If it’s determined he has been concussed he’ll likely go on the 7-day DL, which was instituted in 2011 for just this kind of circumstance.

Of note to the strikeout-obsessed: “Pederson has struck out four times in his past 39 plate appearances (10.3 percent). Prior to that in 2015, he had struck out 43 times in 127 plate appearances (33.9 percent).”

Fun fact: There was some wondering about one-pitch winners and whether a reliever could win a game without throwing a pitch. It reminded me of Tippy Martinez of the Orioles, who picked off three runners in the tenth inning of a game against the Blue Jays in 1983. Infielder Lenn Sakata had been pressed into duty as the catcher because the Os had used both their starter and his backup in the rally in the ninth to tie the game. Sensibly, the Jays thought they could run on Sakata. The first three guys got on base, and Martinez picked off each one (see Roger Angell’s “Season Ticket” for another description). To make it even sweeter, Martinez got the win when Sakata homered in the bottom of the tenth.

Lineup when available.

115 thoughts on “Game 42, 2015”

  2. Pederson, CF

    Rollins, SS

    Kendrick, 2B

    Gonzalez, 1B

    Ethier, RF

    Guerrero, 3B

    Hernandez, LF

    Barnes, C

    Frias, P

    Kid catcher gets a start today, not surprisingly. Other than that, usual lineup. I wonder why Hernandez in left and Guerrero at third?

  4. Somebody asked about Bolsinger’s curveball. Eric Stephen has the answer: “Of his 92 pitches, a whopping 52 were curve balls, his best pitch, and 34 of those were strikes. Bolsinger otherwise topped out at 89.4 mph…”

  8. Still could’ve had some better hitting, but a win is a win . . . and ANOTHER great outing by Bolsinger!
    And KJ’s not too shabby, either.

    • Especially when the other offense doesn’t score many.
      But after three shutouts in a row and no more than 1 for four in a row, this is an offensive breakout!

  15. I hope we don’t regret pulling Bolsinger. He had totally gotten in their heads, including Bud Black.

  17. How crazy nerve-wracking/exciting would this game be if the lead off single never happened for the Padres?

    • Definitely!
      But still nervous . . .remember, this tailspin started after the bats got lots of runs, then the bullpen blew it.

  19. I think I figured out what’s wrong with Clayton Kershaw!

    He and Mike Bolsinger apparently switched bodies.

  20. No bottom of the 9th!
    Bats — how about turning this into a non-save situation . . . please?

  22. Mo just pointed out this started with 2 outs . . . that’s a great sign!

  23. Apparently Bundy made a clutch call to send A-Gon . . . talk about being rusty, he hasn’t had many visitors to 3rd!

  26. A-Gon’s HR & RBI freeze is comparable to Kersh’s struggle to get win #100.

  28. Bats — the pitchers are going to sue you for lack of support . . . how about doing something about that?!!!

  32. Joc a very strong ROY candidate if he maintains his level of play anywhere near his start.

    • If he hits 45+ home runs with close to 100 RBI’s that would be tough to beat.

  33. Those with eyes…..is his curve Ballslinger’s best pitch? DM has said he can “really spin a ball,” whatever that means.

  36. Hey Link – I recall watching (on CBC TV) that O’s vs Jay’s game you mention above in the lead. The Jays were close to first but really tailed off after that loss. Wasn’t a huge Toronto fan but I recall being frustrated watching them get picked of first base three times in a row.

    • So Matt hits for a higher batting average. Interesting to note. (Totally joking.)

  45. Kemp again hurts Dodgers with the glove.
    Tho it took a good play, they still failed to get a clutch hit with a RISP.
    But thankful for the run they DID get.

  49. Last night’s performance should prove once again — if such proof were needed — the worth of Greinke to the Dodgers.

  50. I don’t know what happened to last year’s bubble machine, but Kiké Hernandez has found a rally banana.

    I just saw Alanna Rizzo interview him. He’s a character. “I trust my teammates, but sometimes you need a little more, so I’ll get the banana then.”

  51. Jon also re-tells (at least I think I read this at Dodger Thoughts at one time or another) the Derrel Thomas emergency catcher story, which lasted 30+ innings while Yeager and Scioscia were both ailing.

  52. Most here may now be aware of this, but Ryu has pitched hurt thru this same injury his entire Dodger career. Jon W sums it succinctly:

    “Hyun-Jin Ryu spoke to reporters post-surgery Friday, and revealed that there was knowledge about his labrum tear two years and 344 innings of 3.17 ERA ago.”
    ——————————————–
    ”Ryu, his left arm in a sling during a Dodger Stadium news conference, said he was always able to pitch with it and figured he’d be able to again after it flared up in Spring Training,” wrote Gurnick.

    Yep, that means the Dodgers knew about it when they signed him. Different FO then, but Ned followed up his expensive and disastrous Jason Schmidt medical gamble with another on Ryu–but with light-years better results, even if Ryu is shelved for the rest of the year.

    Gurnick’s account: http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/126055742/dodgers-hyun-jin-ryu-had-shoulder-issue-since-2012

    • Ryu’s contract is far smaller than Schmidt’s, and he’s much younger. They’ve already gotten two him years out of him,and the chance of his returning to productivity is far greater than it ever was with Schmidt.

      • Could have been phrased better, edited. Wasn’t trying to say Ryu signing also was disastrous. Obviously it wasn’t, even if Ned did get lucky. You’d think he’d have been gunshy after ignoring clear serious medical issues with Schmidt and getting bit in the posterior.

        Ryu’s cost was $27.5 mil posting fee, then 6/$36. Schmidt was 3/$47. Ryu has worked out far better, even if he never pitches again for the team. Which won’t be known for a while. Pitchers coming back from labrum surgery have a mixed record, tho Ryu’s has been described more as a cleanup than something major. We can hope.

  53. AJE best in MLB at game calling:

    By Jon Weisman

    Dodger catcher A.J. Ellis — who was thrust into action midway through Friday’s 2-1 victory over San Diego after Yasmani Grandal was injured — has taken some grief in recent times for not being a strong pitch framer. However, according to a report by Harry Pavlidis for ESPN.com, Ellis ranks No. 1 in Major League Baseball in a new statistic measuring game calling: game-calling runs above average (GCAA).

    Here’s a fun task: Try quantifying something as ephemeral as game-calling. Well, after a decade of research, that’s just what we’ve managed to do — by crafting a statistical model that attempts to quantify the value of everything from stolen-base prevention and directing pace of play to identifying hitter tendencies like swing behavior in various game situations and knowing which batters expand hit zones in RBI opportunities. Sound complicated? Oh, it is. But based on these factors, and controlling for others, we can now quantify, in runs saved, how well catchers manage their pitchers. …

    … Ellis is the best game caller in the business, and now we can actually prove it. His game-calling alone saved the Dodgers 38 runs from 2012 to 2014, though he gave back 19 of those runs with everything else he did behind the plate (see below). Does it hurt to be Ellis? At times, perhaps. But at least now, when that ninth foul tip slaps his once-unheralded (but now-appreciated) inner thigh, it might not sting quite so much.

    There’s not a whole lot of detail in describing the methodology behind GCAA, so we’ll see how it stands up to scrutiny. Update: On his Twitter feed, Pavlidis has been adding to the discussion.

  54. After his hot start, Hanley has gone this entire month without an RBI, and is now hitting .255.

  57. It’s official.

    Los Angeles Dodgers
    ✔
    @Dodgers
    Today, the #Dodgers placed catcher Yasmani Grandal on the 7-day concussion DL and recalled catcher Austin Barnes from @okc_dodgers.

    4:47 PM – 23 May 2015

    • Did you look at the link under “game” above? That’s the box score; all those wonderful role players the Os had back then were in the game: Lowenstein, Roenicke, T-Bone Shelby, Rich Dauer, Al Bumbry, Danny Ford, some guy named Ripken and another one named Murray…

        • Ah, when DC didn’t have a team because the Senators moved to Texas in 1972. I saw that expansion team in the 60s at Griffith Stadium before they moved.