Game 81, 2015

Mets at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN

This game marks the halfway point of the season. If anyone had told me back in spring training that Clayton Kershaw would have a losing record at this stage of the year I’d have laughed out loud. But Kershaw, who starts tonight, does indeed have a 5-6 record with a 3.20 ERA, mostly because his team has averaged 2.6 runs of support in his last five starts, and he’s gotten three runs of support or fewer in 11 of 16 outings this year.

He’ll face Mets’ rookie Noah Syndergaard, who gave up one run in eight innings in his last start. Overall he’s 3-4 with a 3.59 ERA.

Lineup when available.
Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Mets:
Pederson CF
Kendrick 2B
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Puig RF
Ethier LF
Grandal C
Rollins SS
Kershaw P

127 thoughts on “Game 81, 2015

  1. Gnats and BadGums trail Nats 4-0 in the sixth, but Strasburg has left with yet another injury.

  2. With Cabrera out (15-day to start but 30 day possible), Bengals may be looking for a righthanded bat (Martinez moves to 1st, Guerrero in as DH?). Unlikely to give up the fellow we might want, however, but for the right Price?

    • Guerrero’s contract still makes him almost unmovable, and the Tigres are not going to give up Price while they’re still in the wild card hunt.That’s just one pernicious aspect of the wild card, which needs to be abolished.

      • What I don’t understand is why he (apparently) isn’t trying to change it, to lose/modify that trade/free agent clause. Surely he must now realize there are greater opportunities for him with other clubs. Only thing I can think of is that it might affect his payroll. Lots of Guerrero information at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/alexander-guerrero

      • I am sure that the Dodgers could live with him as a pricey 5th outfielder and PH for the next several years, but it might be in their mutual interest to to renegotiate.

  3. Frustrating to be right about my prediction they would go 6-3 in their last nine games of the first half. Coulda, shoulda, woulda been 7-2.

    • I’m afraid those same words will be spoken in late September/early October . . . I hope I’m wrong.

      • Good for you on the prognosticating, Dave.

        If you ever get a REALLY strong feeling and want me to place a bet . . . Lol

        My gambling is limited to dime video poker — usually for a buck, 5 at the most. With sports, I invest my emotions.

      • Why so gloomy (I know, the quality team issue)? But apart from that, the current .556 rate gets us into the playoffs. Once there it only takes a .571 rate to get a WS crown.

        • I guess the gloom comes from potential and expectations.

          At the end of McCourt, getting into the playoffs was a great goal. But now going for a 3rd year in a row (apparently unprecedented for the franchise) and with a supposedly stronger team, just getting to the playoffs isn’t enough (not that I consider “WS crown or bust”).

          When the team started off soo well, it seemed like they could pull it off.

          But then the play in the 2nd quarter (May 13 thru last night) is the Hyde to the beginning’s Jekyll. The 3rd-best record in the NL would be average-to-mediocre if we counted only the games in that period, as would the individual and team stats which show this to be an offensive machine (“one of the National League’s best offenses” http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/134520474/mets-rally-to-beat-dodgers-behind-syndergaard).

          You’re correct about getting hot at the right moment, Bob, and I remember how the Dodgers were underdogs postseason ’88. I DON’T remember how I felt about the team, other than Orel’s great year and Gibson leading them in an aggressive style of play.
          But the energy and feeling of this year’s first quarter (anyone can be the hero, who will it be tonight?) is mostly gone.

          Yet I still approach each game as if THIS one will be the one to get them out of this funk. We know they CAN do it.

    • But of course, you predicted that in the short term (.667) they would be above the longer term trend (.556), so you were going out on a limb. But, as you say, the coulda, shoulda, woulda gone (.778).

      • Makes me think of how I swore I would never ever cheer for the Mets after they broke Hersheiser’s scoreless streak to win the first game of the 1988 NLCS.

  4. The good news: Tomorrow is July 4th. My wife and I are going to a picnic in the park, then to the beach and then, perhaps, a Pops Concert. The less significant good news: the Giants lost, Kershaw didn’t. Have a safe Fourth of July, all of you, and a belated Happy Canada Day to WinnipegDave.

  5. Amazing how a game started by Kershaw is no longer a given for the “W” column . . .

  6. I know he was juiced, but the ups and downs of the bullpen show what an incredible feat was Gagne’s streak — even the next one, the “clean” one, however many games that was.

  7. How deep was the fly to center that the runner on first could also tag up?

  8. I have been watching part of the game on ESPN (amongst doing other things). The batters seem to be pressing a bit too much

    • It’s rough when a whole team is struggling with that at the same time.

      • I watched Turner swing wildly for 2 strikes (kudos for turning that into a walk)

      • And the entire bullpen meltdown recently . . . but the woes of the “offense” have occurred much more frequently.

    • I don’t question your assessment, just wondering why that would be the case?

      They don’t have the 34-in-34 excuse . . . they didn’t get in at dawn after flying across the country . . . this isn’t their arch-rival . . . the only Cy Young winner in the game is their own guy . . .

      Maybe they realize how they’ve let Kersh down recently?

      • I think when the team is struggling, each batter up thinks, ‘well it better be up to me as no one else will do it’

        • It’s unfortunate that they are batting as poorly against Robles as they did against Syndergaard. Should be able to have better swings and more success against a middle reliever.

          • It’s that amazing talent they have to make any opposing pitcher look like a Cy Young & MVP winner.

      • Yes, I now have Foxtel (which I assume is like your cable) and one of the 10 or so sports channels is ESPN and ESPN 2

  9. So I get updates on my phone from MLB. Just saw a note that a TBay batter got attacked by a pigeon after a hit in NY. Can’t wait to see the video on that one.

  10. So I know that pitching wins are the temperamental child of baseball stats and very fickle to boot. However, just merely as a counting tool – how many do you think Kershaw ends up with this year? 10-13? 14-16? More? Less?

    My guess is 14.

  11. So clearly stolen bases are useless. Dodgers don’t score even when they are successful, and lose an out when they are not.

    • WinnipegDave: Are you familiar with a Canadian writer named Dave Margoshes? He lives in Saskatoon and is a former newspaper journalist.

      • I have heard of him. He was actually writer-in-residence in Winnipeg at the main library branch in the mid 90’s I believe. I haven’t read his stuff, but I recall his name from back then.

          • Yes, I have read much of his writing — he is mostly a novelist and a poet.
            I really like his stuff. He has won various honors in Canada. My favorites of his are Wiseman’s Wager and a Book of Great Worth. Dave and I are old friends. We worked together on a newspaper in California in the 1970s. I have visited him in Canada a few times.

          • I’ll see what I can track down at the library and do some reading on my vacation later this month.

          • Wiseman’s Wager is a novel; a Book of Great Worth is a collection of linked short stories. I’d be curious about what you think.

          • The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is referred to frequently in Wiseman’s Wager, so I looked in up on-line. Very interesting time in Canadian history.

  12. Please don’t ask me now how I feel about Puig, and how I have felt about him for some time.

    • It does seem like he should be producing more than he currently is.

      • He doesn’t seem to be familiar enough with the strike zone for someone now early in his third season.

  13. That’s 92 pitches for Kershaw through six innings. I don’t think he will go more than one more.

  14. Hey friends. Just wrapped up work for tonight. I see that the no-scoring Mets are tied with the low-scoring Dodgers and that Syndergaard is out pitching Kershaw (until Kershaw just now strikes out the 4,5, and 6 batters in the Mets lineup). Still, too many pitches for Kersh through only 6 innings.

  15. Rule No. 13 (see above to the right) should be no arguing about religion.

      • Is arguing different than discussing? And if yes, are neither allowed? I’m fine with whatever is decided, and have no intrinsic need to comment on religion. But I am curious as to what people’s tolerance/comfort with discussion on non-baseball topics are in general (whether it be religion, politics, pop culture or other issues).

          • Well put. Again, even though I have certain views about religion, I have no need to lay them out on a well run, inviting and friendly sports blog.

            This seems like an excellent time to thank you Link for setting up this Dodger watering hole for us to gather and drink our fill!

          • I don’t think this is the place to discuss/argue/debate the existence of God (or, for some of you, god).

      • Interesting — you’re not angry, but the discussion is about inflammatory comments about religion . . . and yet you continue to make one?

  16. With some occasional spasms of offense, we are hapless at the plate on a fairly regular basis. Very frustrating, particularly when we waste the pitching of Kershaw and Greinke. On the last road trip, we were 1-3 in their starts, 5-1 when Bolsinger, Frias and Anderson started.

    • Making it more frustrating is seeing that potential.
      But with soo many games where they can’t get more than a handful of hits . . .

  17. So much for the A team, at least so far.
    The situational hitting — especially a runner at 3rd with less than 2 outs — is not encouraging.
    Luckily the Giants are offensively-challenged as well.

      • Now that we have the expected WB reply out of the way . . .

        I probably disagree with Lasorda on more than this, but I’m sure God doesn’t bleed Dodger blue, nor care about any of the other teams. . . . And it seems that that trade was right for LA.

  18. Coming after an off-day, a conscious effort to give Kersh the A team? Most obvious — at least offensively — is Grandal in instead of AJ.

  19. The Nationals just beat the Giants, 2-1, on a two-run homer in the 7th inning by old (and short-lived) friend Clint Robinson after Buster Posey had hit a solo home run in the top of the 7th.

    • From a Gnatblog: “This is totally on Bochy. Why leave him in? Take what you got from Peavy and be happy. Dipshit move to leave him in UNTIL he gives up a bomb.”

      • I felt similarly watching yesterday’s Giants loss, not that I’m complaining. Cain, who hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since last July, took a 3-1 lead into the fifth. He gave up a leadoff homer to the opposing pitcher, Fernandez. Not a good sign. Bochy allowed him to stay in. He got a strikeout, then allowed a walk and a single. Bochy allowed him to stay in. He then gave up a three-run homer to Bour, giving the Marlins a 5-3 lead. Bochy allowed him to stay in. Cain allowed another single before ending the frame. His pitch count was 89. If Mattingly had done something similar we would be howling.

        • I didn’t watch the Gnatgame (blackout here), but the numbers suggest Peevy was very lucky despite the lack of scoring – high pitch count and poor ball/strike ratio.

          • I watched most of the game. Peavy looked pretty good (and ornery as always). He allowed a single and a double and kept pitching around Harper — walked him intentionally and then unintentionally. However, with the Giants ahead 1-0, he walked Harper leading off the 7th and Clint Robinson followed with the homer. Peavy issued only one other walk and struck out four in seven innings.

  20. What’s Turner’s status at the season’s end? If he’s arbitration eligible, or heaven forbid, a free agent, he’s going to cost some money.

    • He’s due a big raise, but he’s also under team control for several more years.