Game 133, 2015

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

The Dodgers send out Mat Latos, who’s 4-9 with a 4.76 ERA overall and 0-2 with a 6.05 ERA since coming over to the Dodgers. Worse, he hasn’t made it past the fifth inning in any of his last three starts. I think it’s fair to say he has not performed to their expectations. He’ll be opposed by Colin Rea of the Padres, who’s 2-2 with a 5.95 ERA in his rookie season.

The Dodgers have an 8-4 lead in the season series and the Padres lost three players to injury during Tuesday’s game: starting first baseman Yonder Alonso (back tightness), catcher Derek Norris (hyperextension of left shoulder and elbow) and reliever Shawn Kelley (right forearm tightness).

Lineup when available.

Check out the Dodgers’ repostings of tweets sent out by Brandon McCarthy, Kiké Hernandez and Brett Anderson, all reflecting on Kershaw’s performance last night.

146 thoughts on “Game 133, 2015

  1. Counter-factual history is a risky endeavor, but I think there’s a reasonable case to be made that the missed call at second was all the difference in the game. If Báez gets through the sixth unscored upon, the Dodgers still have a three-run lead and the Pads are at a different spot in the batting order when Howell comes out to pitch the seventh (if indeed it’s Howell at all, with Norris due up). That doesn’t excuse the bullpen from what ensued in the actual game, but it makes the circumstances vastly different.

    What I find perplexing is that Conroy appears to have said that the play at second was automatically safe – there was apparently no way for Utley to get an out, whether he was near the base or on it. The call was at least as bad as Jim Joyce’s imperfect game blunder, or the Todd Helton play in Colorado.

  2. I posted about “the neighbourhood play” several months ago and predicted it would hurt some team in a critical situation. Last night wasn’t a critical situation, but the Dodgers, and every other team should force reviews until the umps start calling the plays right. I don’t care whether they allow it or not, but if they do, they should amend the rule book and call it the same for every team in every situation. Makes more sense to me to not allow it, the fielder actually touches the base or the runner is safe. But the call must be consistent.

    • Last night was sort of a Catch-22. Neighborhood plays are not supposed to be reviewable. This ump appeared to make a bad call, but NY didn’t think that there was enough evidence to overturn his call. My understanding is that they were not judging on whether it should have been a neighborhood play.

    • Hard to imagine that MLB would do away with the neighborhood play, given the injury risks. Witness the recent Posey Rule.

    • Nice to know the SD announcers knew he was safe even before the replay was done.
      Homers.

        • An inch! Compared to most double plays? And to me, his foot is grazing the length of the base. According to Mattingly, the ump “doesn’t believe in the neighborhood play.” So I could understand if there was any visible gap whatsoever, even though this ump is deciding things on his own here. But not on that play.

  3. Looking at the box score, Latos threw strikes (40 of 54 pitches), but they were almost TOO good, seems like. 8 hits and four runs in four innings. Peralta, Baez, Howell and Avilan did okay, but Johnson (again) did not. Neither did Nicasio.

    • So you are saying there is a bit of a drop off in quality from strike throwing Kershaw to strike throwing Latos.

      • SI Best and Worst 2015 trade deadline deals.

        Latos and Johnson both make the “Worst” category. Here’s the blurb on Latos:

        However, since turning in a quality start in his Los Angeles debut on
        Aug. 2, he has been awful, failing to complete the fifth inning in any
        of his last four starts and posting a 8.31 ERA over that quartet, three
        of them Dodgers defeats.

        Latos has had abysmal luck on balls in play over those four starts,
        but he has also seen his velocity decline once again, dropping back down
        below 92 mph on his average fastball, which is his worst showing in
        that department since before his disabled list stint earlier this
        season.

  4. Jerry Hairston Jr. is on the postgame and he is LIVID. He thinks the ump who made that safe call at 2nd in the 6th should be relieved of his duties. Judging from the replays I’ve seen on the tube, Upton was clearly out, so I don’t blame him for being angry.

  5. I found this game so frustrating, even with Seager doing so well. Why are we still using Latos? Why is our bullpen so uneven?

  6. Woulda, shoulda, coulda but didn’t. However to me, it was the one game in this series that looked most like a loss going in. Let down from the sweep plus starting pitcher.

  7. I think it’s important we get at least one back in the ninth, just for the sake of morale. Four would be even better.

  8. Nomar was making the point that the blown call really broke our momentum. Should have been a quick clean inning. Instead…

  9. Re: Seager. You know you are hustling to make plays when you have both the green grass stains and the brown dirt smeared across your jersey!

    • Norm Larker was the first L.A. Dodger to wear #5. He barely lost the 1960 batting crown to Dick Groat, .325 to .323. Groat was the MVP that season, Larker finished 15th, just behind Warren Spahn and ahead of Stan Musial. Other L.A. Dodgers to have worn #5 include Jim Lefebvre, Mike Marshall (the non-pitcher), Dave Hansen, manager Davey Johnson, Hee-Seop Choi and Nomar Garciaparra. Sandy Amoros and Carl Furillo each wore it for one season in Brooklyn, Cookie Lavagetto for many years.

  10. I’m satisfied. First fielding chance, first hit (extra base hit), and first run for Seager.

  11. Amazing how blissfully unconcerned I am with this game. Thanks Colorado for beating up on SF.