Game 150, 2015

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

Alex Wood (11-10,3.63 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against Robbie Ray (4-12, 3.72 ERA) of the D-Backs. Wood’s last start was an eight-inning one-hitter against the Rockies. Ray’s last win was against the Dodgers on September 11, Wood’s worst outing of the year as a Dodger. That was the game in which he gave up eight runs in only 1 2/3 innings.

Goldsmith likes Wood’s pitching: He’s 4-for-7 lifetime off him with two home runs, including one in that Sept. 11 game.

Lineup:

Utley and Pederson sit to start, as does Ethier since Ray is left-handed.

140 thoughts on “Game 150, 2015”

  3. In a way this relates to my previous post. Enthusiasm. Effort. That is what is missing on much of the Dodger team. It went south to Padre Land with Matt Kemp. Granted he is not the player he was 5 years ago, at least most of his body isn’t. But his heart is. That hasn’t changed. He still wants to run down every line drive, crash every fence if there’s a ball near it. His soul is willing but his body is weak. No matter what he does in San Diego or wherever he goes, to me he’ll always be a Dodger. Whatever it is MCCutcheon has, he had to learn part of it from Matt Kemp.

  4. Too much time on my hands, so I’ll post a couple of topics to keep the Internet flowing… I hope they’re not too controversial, but you know WBBsAs is going to correct or disagree with me if I said the Sun rises in the East…so…
    Heaven help me, I’m starting to agree with the FO’s way of thinking. I accepted it logically months ago but I’m leaning more to accepting it emotionally. Their long term game plan is to develop or trade for young players, then trade them during their arbitration years for younger players to grow into major league players. There will be many less over-priced free-agents in our future. Of course we root for all our players but who do we cheer for loudest? Pederson. Seager. KiKi. Turner. SVS. Why? These players play with a youthful exuberance and enthusiasm that is missing in the older free agent millionaires like Agon, Crawford, Rollins, Ethier, et al. Yes, some of them do a decent job but I can’t help feeling they really could do a little more if they really wanted to, if they hadn’t already made their millions. Not many MCCutchins out there, is there? When Pederson, Seager et al near the end of their arbitration years, they will be traded for prospects. By then we will (hopefully) have their replacements coming up the chain, and hopefully it will be an endless chain. I might get to like this system.

    • I think you’re headed in the right direction, but that you overstate the case. The youngest players you mention will still be in their prime when free agency arrives, and I expect the FO will make every effort to keep them.

  5. Instead of spending much time on the flaws from most of the season which are stalling the Dodgers (bats & bullpen), I want to share something nice:

    Last week I was in San Diego and I took a tour of Petco Park (there were only four of us visitors, so it was especially nice). We went to Toyota Terrace, adjacent to the broadcast booth. ‘So we’re right next to where Vin Scully would sit when he came here?’ I asked. The guide brightened. ‘He is the nicest man ever,’ she said. ‘He greets everyone in an unpretentious manner. What a treasure.’

    Amen.

    • Something I’ve always wondered about that park… There is a building bordering left field or perhaps it’s the left field foul line, some kind of metals company. It looks like they have seats on their balconies and roof for people to watch the game, a lot of seats. Do they control the seats or do the Padres?

      • The Padres bought the building — it’s on the California historical list, so they couldn’t tear it down and had to build around it. (My first game there, I was down the left field line and didn’t realize the building was there until the Dodger LF was going for a ball and disappeared — I had to wait for the crowd’s response to know what happened.)
        There’s a restaurant inside the building and anyone with any type of ticket can go there during the game. They also have “balcony” seats there which can be purchased.

  6. Yogi Berra, probably the game’s best ever catcher, is dead at 90. He is also remembered for his memorable malaprops. Here are 35 of them from an article referenced in MLBTR:

    Yogi Berra, considered one of the best catchers in major league history, died of natural causes at the age of 90 Tuesday. The Yankees legend and Hall of Famer may be better known for the way he creatively butchered the English language, with what became known as Yogi-isms.

    Here are 35:

    1. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

    2. “It’s deja vu all over again.”

    3. “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”

    4. “Never answer an anonymous letter.”

    5. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

    6. “You can observe a lot by watching.”

    7. “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

    8. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

    9. “It gets late early out here.”

    10. “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”

    11. “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

    12. “Pair up in threes.”

    13. “Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”

    14. “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

    15. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”

    16. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”

    17. “Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.”

    18. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”

    19. “I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”

    20. “I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.”Modal TriggerJoe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra in 1955.

    21. “I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”

    22. “I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.”

    23. “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”

    24. “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”

    25. “I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”

    26. “I never said most of the things I said.”

    27. “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”

    28. “I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.”

    29. “I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.”

    30. “So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.”

    31. “Take it with a grin of salt.”

    32. (On the 1973 Mets) “We were overwhelming underdogs.”

    33. “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.”

    34. “You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”

    35. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

  7. Perhaps I was a little over-optimistic in predicting two wins this week. I’d like to be there on Dodger payday, all the “hitters” would have to be backing up to receive their check… One guy who certainly shouldn’t be there next year is Mark Maguire. Or is a “hitting coach” really supposed to teach people to hit or just be there?

    • Not my favorite pitcher, but in assessing “his” performance they may take into account the double play ball to Goldie that turned into a single because of the hit and run, the pop up single butchered by Guerrero and CC, and Saltalamacchi subsequently scoring on the passed ball.

      • Speaking of the hit and run, when was the last time Mattingly even attempted one? Even teams without accomplished base stealers can hit and run on occasion.

        • Seems to have attempted a couple of times since the call up, along with an initial spurt in the running game. Not really in his arsenal, however. Most of our batters are not really contact types.

  9. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day…
    It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing

    • Sure but just get it all out of their system tonight and start over tomorrow. I don’t care if they lose 8-0. Which seemed conservative about 30 seconds ago. Fine make it 12-0.

  28. Pads had the bases loaded w one out. Kemp popped out, and Upton grounded out. Still 1-0 Gnats. Insult to injury.

  29. I am suddenly reminded of 2009 when the Dodgers were needing just one
    more win to clinch the NL West. They led the Pirates 5-2 in Pittsburgh – but they
    Pirates scored 4 to come back and win 6-5. Then the Dodgers lost the next 4 games and were scoreless into the 7th at home against the Rockies. They finally broke through and scored 5 runs to win 5-0 and finally crack open the champagne that had been on ice for the last week.

      • And Colorado was the team that was chasing the Dodgers that year. In fact the 5th consecutive lose was the first game of the 3 game series against Colorado. If Colorado had swept Dodgers were out and Rockies in. So, it got a little tense to say the least.

        • Recall that very well. Saw them in DC right before they went on the Pitt. At that point we were 6 up with 9 left to play.

  44. Perhaps it is good RBI is not here yet. She would be exploding with the Dodgers not scoring! Of course if she was here, maybe they would have scored at least once or twice by now…

  46. Legit pondering about HFA and the pitching rotation. With Wood pitching so much better at home than on the road, would you ever consider having him pitch in Dodger Stadium even if it meant dropping Greinke or Kershaw back in the rotation?

  47. Perhaps it is good they gave up the first run? They had lost 3 or 4 in a row when scoring first!

    • Those were a couple of productive outs by the Snakes. Elias has a measure for that. In the NL the average success rate is 30%. Dodgers are at 27%.and ranked 10th. Success in this area, however, does not seem to correlate with winning. The four team less successful than the Dodgers are the NYM, StL, SFG and Cubs. Fish are first at 37%.

      • That is fascinating (I’m being serious). I’m sure that no one is suggesting that there is a reverse correlation between success of productive outs and lack of overall success in winning games. But perhaps it does show outs are not good to make regardless of productive or not? My question mark means I don’t know if that what it shows or not.

        • It certainly better to get your runs over or in by something other than an out. That said, I should look at runs scored rather than winning (because that involves run prevention as well).

          • Or maybe I should look at hitting? If your team can’t hit you may be more willing to use your outs in a productive manner (to the extent that you can control this).

          • I’m guessing that speed may play a factor as well. Perhaps speed would help with – hmm I don’t know now how speed would tie in to all this.

  48. Fun fact via Vin: Wood has retired 27 of the last 28 batters he has faced over this game and last.

    Okay, now 27 out of 29 after that smash by Ahmed.

  49. Can we talk about the game, please, and not the Front Office? Package despises it, we all know that, but there’s no need to bait him with it. It’s really getting tiresome on all sides.

  51. The Dodgers have recalled Adam Liberatore (or Lipitor, as Steiner would say). I’m a bit surprised they hadn’t done so yet, as he had some success earlier in the season. Another lefty out of the pen.

  52. Hey, fellow fans. Win this one without me. I am off to Yom Kippur services and a 24-hour fast. Go Dodgers!

        • Thanks for sharing that. Pederson’s mother is Jewish, his father is not. I wonder if that has anything to do with him not starting tonight.

      • I was a huge fan of Sandy Koufax while I was growing up, but Duke Snider was was my favorite. Coincidentally, my wife’s name is Sandy — we’ve been married 35 years. I never dated a girl with the name of Duke.

  53. News I missed: “Jaime Jarrin has agreed to return for at least three more seasons. A
    member of the Hall of Fame, Jarrin, 79, has been broadcasting Dodgers
    games since the year after they moved to Los Angeles in 1958.”

    Good news for all those who habla espanol.

    • I find it remarkable that, coming from a country where baseball is insignificant, Jaime could immerse himself in it so quickly. He has even worked to promote baseball in Ecuador (though he could probably use help from Colombia and, especially, Venezuela.

  54. Boy, we sure ruminate over these line ups. I don’t see all that much to chew on. This appears to be the typical righty stack against a lefty, which we have all seen countless times before, with three subs, because of injuries to Puig, Justin and Rollins (though not sure that the latter will ever claim his starting slot again). Other than that, we have Joc not starting. Like, big deal.

  55. Jim Johnson off to watch as his wife has a kid. Best of luck! Since the debacle in Pitt he has an ERA of 3.38 in 13 innings. But, not for the faint of heart with a WHIP of almost 1.6 during that period.

  56. I think the FO dislikes Mattingly as much as we do and would love to replace him. But as long as he keeps winning the Division (thanks to the players they give him), they don’t dare fire him.

    • I am not a Mattingly fan, but managing is not a simple job. Strategic shortcomings apart, it takes great people skills to handle 25 massive and highly paid egos. When I managed a slow-pitch team, handling a dozen or so sensitive egos was tough enough. It wouldn’t bother me if Mattingly left, but I wouldn’t assume his replacement would necessarily be an improvement.

      • You may not find logic in this but it is how I feel. I know Mattingly’s replacement will make mistakes and I will dislike him. I remember Dodger managers all the way back to Alston’s first year, and I never liked any of them. I don’t expect to like the next 10 or 12 managers they hire… And the FO… I don’t like them either but I think they have done a good job. Maybe I just don’t like things.

      • Are you perchance related to Retired Sergeant-Major Higgins of Robin Master’s Estate and Magnum PI?

  57. Where is the logic in starting Heisey over Pederson in centerfield tonight?
    Ray, Arizona’s staring pitcher, is a southpaw. Here is how Heisey and Pederson have done against left-handed pitching this year:
    Heisey, in 44 plate appearances: .118/.273/.176/.449.
    Pederson, in 121 plate appearances: .211/.289/.376/.665.
    And Pederson is our best defensive centerfielder.
    Sometimes (actually, more often than that), I can’t figure Mattingly out.

    • It’s been a long up and then down season for Joc. He has appeared in 142 of the 149 games. I believe that Donnie is willing to sacrifice something here in order to try to get Joc back on the upswing as he slowly builds himself out of the hole that was July. There are some benefits to having a seven game lead. Might as well use them.

  58. I wonder how many different Dodgers have been the clean-up batter in the starting lineup this season. Better yet, how many have not?

    • By my count nine players have started at cleanup: Agon, 58; Howie, 35; Justin, 25; Dre, 12; Grandal, 9; SVS, 6; Puig, 2; Utley, 1; and Seager, 1.