Game 129, 2015

Cubs at Dodgers, 5:08PM PT, TV: ESPN

The Cubs send Jake Arrieta to the mound to try to salvage one game of the series. He seems to be the guy to do it, since he’s 16-6 with a 2.22 ERA on the season and an even better 5-0 with a 0.54 ERA for August. Facing him will be the Dodgers’ Alex Wood, who’s 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA for the Dodgers and 9-8 with a 3.70 ERA for his overall 2015. MLB has determined that

Alex Wood will be making his sixth start since joining the Dodgers and he’s looking to last longer in games. He’s exited four straight starts without throwing more than 91 pitches or lasting longer than 6 1/3 innings. He’s had just one quality start in five outings with Los Angeles.

Carl Crawford has done pretty well against Arrieta, but he’s one of only two Dodger regulars who have had more than ten at-bats against him. None of the Cubs have had more than five at-bats against Wood.

Lineup when available.

Here’s some “Awwww” for a Sunday: The Greensboro Grasshoppers held a retirement ceremony for their balldog.

Here’s Miss Babe Ruth at work:
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136 thoughts on “Game 129, 2015

  1. Package, Happy Anniversary! Have a Nice Day=http://dodgersdigest.com/2015/08/31/a-j-ellis-picking-up-the-slack-for-yasmani-grandal/

  2. What year was it we had the streaky team? Pardon my memory but I seem to remember 10 game losing streaks followed by 10 game winning streaks, followed by… Good runs like 18 out of 20 etc. I think we ended up making the playoffs…

      • No, last 5 or 6 years. Kemp was here. Don’t remember if it was Torre or Torre Jr.

        • 2006. Coming out of the all star break the team lost 13 out of 14 and then won 17 out of 18. Finished tied with the Padres 88-74, but ended in second and got swept by the Mets in NLDS.
          In 2008 starting in mid August they lost 8 in a row and 10 out of 11 and then won 8 in a row and 14 out of 16. Finished in first, 84-78 and ended up losing to the Phillies in the NSLC.

    • Except for the overrated BadGums – he’d only be a No. 4 starter on the Dodgers if Ryu were not injured – the Gnats have a weak rotation.

        • The NL is weak this year in offense, with an average OPS+ of 94. The Dodgers are tied for first with 105.

          • And still possible no matter their past performance or performance rest of league. Actually very likely considering recent woes…

          • Performance fluctuates and anything can happen, but not sure what you mean by recent woes. We averaged 8.5 H/G (and never less than 6) in between the no-nos.

          • You want to quote statistics, how many no-hitters have we suffered in the last 8 games? What does that average out? Statistics can be meaningless. I think a better judgement might be on what odds Vegas is posting against the Dodgers being no-hit in the next month versus the odds against the Giants or some other team.

      • Oh, now, you’re letting your heart get ahead of your head. He’s an excellent pitcher who had a spectacular hot streak (kinda like Orel in ’88, really).

        • When BadGums comes close to matching Orel’s sustained excellence and durability, we can talk. He’s a very good pitcher, but not in the class of Kershaw, Greinke, Price, Cueto, Félix etc.

    • I think that scorers like to make sure that the first hit in a game is clearly one. Too awkward to go back and change it the other way, In any other circumstance, I think it is scored as a hit.

  3. Bad news is that Quique came out the game with an injury. Hopefully it is not DL serious, but even then we will be short handed, with Peraza as our only infielder on the bench (well, other than Alex) and carrying only 12 pitchers.

  4. Dodgers set NL Record with two no-hitters in 9 days, old record 20 days by 2 teams. ML Record, Chicago White Sox consecutive days, May 5 and 6, 1917. Info courtesy Dodger Digest. There’s always a certain amount of luck involved in no-hitters, but the “offense” should be ashamed to take their grossly overpaid paychecks this year.

    • Well, we do lead the NL in OPS+ at 105. League average is only 94, so NL “hitters” should pass their salaries to the pitchers.

  5. Anthony Witrado at ESPN:

    Scarier for the Dodgers than being no-hit twice this month is that this
    is not a surprise blip on their radar. This is the kind of offense they
    have produced since the All-Star break, clocking in as the second-lowest
    scoring team in the National League in the second half. Their 151 runs
    are tied with the Miami Marlins for second fewest, ahead of the Atlanta Braves’ 128.

    I didn’t realize it was that low. This is a bad sign.

    • Seasons have there ups and downs. Not sure this is a sign, unless you think that our offense is as bad as the Marlin offense. The good news is that despite this we have put up a .531 winning percentage during this period (which is the giants (sic) percentage for the whole season).

      • The bad news is that winning percentage makes them only the 5th best NL team, record-wise.

        • Not sure what you are looking at, but out overall .558 makes us the fourth best. In any event, seasons are full of ups and downs. During this particular downside for the offense, we have still managed to play <.500 ball.

          • I’m basing on your .531 % . . . that’s the team they are now; the hot beginning weeks were the anomaly (and tease).

            If they make the postseason, those early weeks don’t come into play at all — it’s literally and seriously ‘What have you done for me lately?’

            That said, “lately” DID include 5 wins in a row. Even tho they’ve still lost 6 of the last 11, a winning streak can start at any time . . . tho the postseason is guaranteed not to have any teams 20 games under .500.

          • No team wins 107 games (which was the early season pace of .666), but not sure why you would subtract those games from our overall record and project us as a .531 team? Seasons are full of ups and downs and you are projecting the down, but if it makes you happy.

          • Vin often makes the same point I’m making — since May 13, they are basically a .500 team.

            Way back when this slump began, we were asking in this forum which was the real team — the hot one or the erratic one. Now that we’ve seen the latter for almost three times the length we saw the hot one, the answer seems to be clear.

            No, it doesn’t make me happy and each game I’m hoping for a win. But I think it makes me more realistic of what to expect from them — NOT that team where all areas were clicking at the same time and there was a different hero each night.

          • You claim to be realistic, yet you use the .666 as some sort of standard and have finally realized that wasn’t sustainable?

          • .666 to .500 is night and day — great and average.
            I would be happy splitting the difference.
            I would even be happIER if they managed .500 against winning teams.

  6. The good news is LA will still be in 1st after this upcoming series, no matter what happens.

    The other good news is a quality start for Woods and another non-inflammatory bullpen outing.

  7. So nine nights from now the Dodgers play LAA. Wonder who will pitch a no hitter for them that night? Another 9 nights brings us to a off day for the Dodgers so I’m guessing that will break streak right there.

    • Last time that team from Anaheim threw a no-no against us we beat them. So there is that.

  8. Arrieta’s just a journeyman. The Dodgers only won five of the last six and increased their lead to 3-1/2. It’s all Joc’s fault.

    • Yes, two no-hitters in two weeks is strange.
      But it’s not surprising that this offense can turn itself off soo quickly — I would venture to say this is closing in on 10 times this season they have come up with 5 or less hits in a game. (That being said, Arrieta is apparently the real deal, giving Zack a run for the CYA.)

  9. Lost in all of this is the fact that Wood actually pitched pretty well. He made one regrettable pitch.

  10. Seeing how Arrieta’s pitched to this point, I’m reminded of Yogi after seeing Koufax pitch in the ’63 WS: “I can see how he won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five…”

  11. Um, this is quite an interesting game Mr. Arrieta is throwing so far. In case the bickering with package has distracted everyone. It has me. 😉

  12. Joc who is struggling has the third highest WAR for position players with the Dodgers at 2.5. Matt Kemp has a WAR of 0.7

    • Especially this inning. Will at least pitch into the 5th which wasn’t a given in the 2nd inning.

  13. I’m not writing this game off, but the Gnatloss is letting me be more philosophical about it. Still, I’d like to see Wood show greater command and efficiency.

  14. Wood is not long for this game. 53 pitches through 2 innings. Hoping he can do 40 pitches for the next 3.

    • Last time, Mattingly took him out when he was cruising and could have gone deeper into the game. Tonight he’ll probably let him throw 150 pitches.

  15. Wood’s thrown 52 pitches and there are only two outs in the 2nd inning? Holy cow!

    Addendum: 53 to get through two innings. Good grief. I hope the bullpen is well-rested.

  16. I think that dumb white box ESPN have up on their tv feed as the strike zone is really going to annoy me this evening.
    Actually, it is annoying me already.

  17. Dodgers are going to need to score some runs tonight against a very tough pitcher.