Game 149, 2015

Point of fact: up until this Pirates series the Dodgers had won seven consecutive series. They’ve been playing very well. Sometimes we don’t realize it.

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

Brett Anderson is 9-8 with a 3.35 ERA and hunting win number 10. The lefty hasn’t won that many since his rookie year of 2009, thanks to injuries. He’s made four starts against the D-Backs this season, going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. His opponent will be Jhoulys Chacin, who’s 0-1 with a 2.95 ERA in the big leagues this season. He was signed to a minor league contract by the Diamondbacks in June. He pitched for the Rockies for six years amassing a record of 38-48 and an ERA of 3.78.

Lineup when available.

The grand experiment of putting Chase Utley at third base begins.

249 thoughts on “Game 149, 2015

  1. I think an interesting project for next year would be to keep a chart giving the hitters and the pitchers a score in each game. Only two grades, “P” for pass, and “F” for fail. The number is three. If the pitchers hold the opposition to three runs or less, they get a “P”. More than three is an “F”. The hitters get an “F” for scoring three runs or less, a “P” for four or more. I think the hitters this year would have a lot of “F”s, and the pitchers might have more “P”s than actual team wins because of all the low scoring games they have thrown.

        • I would call it average. Indeed, very average. The Dodger’s average is 4.1, which is also the NL average. It suggests two things. One, the importance of pitching, where LA is at 3.6. The Cards for example actually score less at 4.0, but their pitching (and defense because it measures run prevention) is at 3.2. If you look at the top seven teams in run prevention you will see StL, LAD, Pitt, SF, NYM and Cubs. It also suggests that a “good” offense as commonly measured by OPS+ does not necessarily translate into more scoring. I believe that Jon looked into at one point. The Dodger offense, as measured by OPS+ is and has been for much of the season the best in the NL. If I recall, he suggested that luck (bad) had something to do with it. But, it could be more fundamental. While we are first in OBP, we are next to last in number of hits. Our being second in BB shows that a BB is not always equal to a hit when it comes to scoring runs. We do make up for this a bit in that we are second in slugging, i.e., we get more out of our hits.

  2. Judging from the comments, everybody was frustrated all night long. I’m glad I was cooking, eating and cleaning up, I think, even if I did have to empty the dishwasher at 5:00PM since I forgot I’d turned it on yesterday.

  3. Bed time for me. I won’t be able to watch or listen until an hour or so into the game tomorrow. Go Dodgers!

    • good point, but some other options are “Something was missing”, ‘Maybe’ or “it’s the hard knock life’

  4. For those of you who remember this from two years ago, I may have to resort to painting my toenails blue again, and sooner rather than later.

  5. Anderson really didn’t get it done tonight. I sure hope Wood comes through tomorrow night again. DBacks playing really tough right now.

  6. Vin should have just prerecorded the phrase “little chopper to (insert infielder)”. It would have saved his vocal chords a lot of work.

  7. Vinny is also being funny, but even he isn’t making me laugh. I may need to stop posting, lest I violate further rules.

  8. After that bunt in the air fell untouched I would say that AZ has had all the breaks, but they were called out for running outside the baseline that cost them a run.

  9. Vinny: Diamondbacks eliminated and loose as a goose. Meanwhile Dodgers haunted by seven. Supposed to be a lucky number.

  10. Dodgers on a negative roll of scoring first and losing. Tonight would be the third game in a row and their last four losses. Statistically that means nothing but it is still a bit frustrating.

  11. Too bad it wasn’t Latos pitching. Then we could have really had something to collectively grumble about.

  12. Anderson is going to give up one more run before he leaves the game, that is his M.O. The question then becomes whether or not the Dodger offense can make up for that as well as any subsequent runs the bullpen allows. My guess is…Not tonight.

  13. Being killed for two straight games by solo homers which, I realize, are better than two-run homers, three-run homers and grand slams.

  14. Adrian has 87 RBI this year. He’s gone over 100 every year but one since 2007, and in the one he missed he had 99. That’s 1053 for his career. He’s 13th among active players.

    Top five:
    1.Alex Rodriguez
    2052

    2.Albert Pujols
    1688

    3.David Ortiz
    1631

    4.Adrian Beltre
    1446

    5.Miguel Cabrera
    1442

    Miggie’s only been in MLB 13 years.

  15. The cutoff man fell down catching the throw from the outfield. Ethier might have scored had they sent him.

  16. In the life is good category: I have the Dodger game with Vin announcing on tv. Lying on my couch and joining my favourite Dodger community online.
    And yes, I might have some ice cream later this evening.

  17. The Giants are idle today. We play Arizona. Starting tomorrow, the Dodgers and the Giants each play 13 straight days through the end of the regular season, Sunday, Oct. 4, including the four in San Francisco next Monday through Thursday.

  18. I have no problem with the Utley at third base experiment. Given his performance as a Dodger, however, I do have a problem with him continuing to bat near the top of the lineup. I’d rather see him batting sixth or lower.

  19. One dumb Mattingly move yesterday I still feel bad about. Don’t remember the inning but bases were loaded, one out, Pederson at bat. The Genius pinch hit for him with the kid catcher, Barnes. The way Joc is hitting, I can understand hitting for him…IF you have a better hitter available. I would even have understood using Greinke to hit for him, but not Barnes. Joc is just about the most likely player on the team to hit a homerun. Darn good chance he might strike out. But if he grounds out, he’s not as likely to be doubled up at first as Barnes. And a run would have scored. We were probably twice as likely to score somehow if Joc hits versus Barnes.

    • Yes, that really bothered me as well. Mattingly’s lefty-righty obsession sometimes causes him to check his common sense at the door.

    • I often disagree with Mattingly’s strategy, and probably would have left Joc in the game. It surprised me a little, though, that SVS could be healthy enough to start (and hit a dinger) Sunday, but unable to PH on Saturday.