Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA
The Dodgers hope lefty Alex Wood (11-11, 3.60 ERA) can get them closer to clinching the division title. He’s alternated wins and losses in his last eight starts and lost the last one, so if you believe in patterns he should win today. His opponent will be lefty Chris Rusin, (5-9, 5.39 ERA), who walked four, gave up six runs on eight hits in just four innings in his last start last Tuesday.
Lineup when available.
Today's #Dodgers lineup:
Ruggiano LF
Rollins SS
Kendrick 2B
Van Slyke 1B
Ellis C
Guerrero 3B
Heisey RF
Pederson CF
Wood P #whiff
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 27, 2015
NPUT
Sound the alarm! The Dodgers division championship chances have withered to only 99.6 percent, and their World Series victory to just 16 percent, while Toronto’s has not changed.
Didn’t get any better I see
From Baseball Prospectus, here are the updated standings after today’s game. The Dodgers have merely a 99.9 percent chance of winning the division, and only a 16.5 chance of winning the Series (second to Toronto’s 24.3 percent chance). Distressing times, indeed.
So the Dodgers finally dropped down in terms of the WS %. I checked last week after they lost the first 2 games in the AZ series and they still had the highest % (20.something%).
A few holdouts may fret, but Jon puts things in perspective: http://dodgers.mlblogs.com/2015/09/27/keep-your-hat-on/
Well, yeah, but when your three starters not named Kershaw and Greinke failed horribly it’s a concern.
We can only hope these guys are ticked off and embarrassed at how badly they played and will come out firing on all cylinders tomorrow. If they give Zack one or two runs and shut down they’re ripe for losing.
Woof. That was a bad series.
On to the next one.
Another movie quotation: “Tomorrow is another day.” Scarlett O’Hara at the end of GWTW.
I think this is the worst we’ve played all year.
Agreed. But if Greinke wins tomorrow night, I think this stinken weekend will be forgotten. As John Madden says, “Winning is the best deodorant.”
It’s as if there was some sort of red super moon eclipse thingy happening that preemptively discombobulated the Dodgers this whole weekend.
Sorry. Make that eight. I hate baseball.
All we need is six runs. That’s three per out. Or something.
Two walks. Jim Johnson. Why not?
Maybe the A’s will have a walk off win in the bottom of the ninth. Sad when that’s all I can hope might happen today.
Nope.
However bad a game may be, it can only get worse with Steiner.
Being out of Dodger broadcast area, I don’t hear Steiner, but based on the season-long consensus opinion he must be awful.
So, you don’t watch or listen to Dodger games?
I don’t have the MLB package on TV I get a lot of nationally televised games on the MLB channel, Fox, ESPN and when the Dodgers play the Giants and (this year) the A’s. When the Dodgers have a night game on the West Coast, the MLB channel will often show the end of the game. On the Monterey Peninsula, I am pretty much out of range from the radio broadcasts, but sometimes I can pick up a bit here and there on AM-570.
We shut down Comcast some time ago, and I don’t miss it except when the Dodgers play the Gnats. I prefer gnot to pay to watch Gnatgames that don’t interest me.
And for those of you not scoring, Bolsinger, Anderson and Wood combined to pitch 13.1 innings in this series, allowing 28 hits, 18 earned runs, walking six and striking out four. That is an ERA of 11.95 and a WHIP of 2.55.
Greinke/Kershaw the equivalent of Spahn and Sain and pray for rain, huh? At least Koufax and Drysdale had Claude Osteen and/or Johnny Podres behind them.
I was thinking the same thing about Podres and Osteen behind Koufax and Drysdale. Also, in 1966, Sutton arrived as a rookie and helped win the pennant.
Behind Koufax and Drysdale in the pennant seasons of the 60s:
63 — Podres 14-12, ERA of 3.54; Miller 10-8. 2.89 (starter/reliever)
65 — Osteen 15-15, 2.79′ Podres 7-6, 3.43 (some relief appearances)
66 — Osteen 17-14, 3.48; Sutton 12-12, 2.99
It’s Colorado, Jake.
Yes, it’s Colorado. But in our first six games there this season, when we went 4-2, we gave up an average of 5.2 runs per game, not 8.0 as we have done thus far in this series. Colorado or not, this is bad starting pitching. Maybe when we get back to sea level in San Francisco, with Greinke and Kershaw starting the next two games, the starting pitching will be strong again. In any event, I am quite worried about our starting pitching in the playoffs beyond those two. Who’s Jake?
It’s a play on the movie Chinatown.
Last line of the movie, when injustice has won. “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown” means “you can’t fight the system, it’s stacked against you.”
Of course. Thanks. I had forgotten that. But I will never forget the final scene in the film.
To put things in perspective.
Heckuva catch by Heisey or more runs.
Dodgers have given up 85 billion bunt hits in the last 2 series. Figuratively.
Wood only made the one really costly bad pitch on the HR to Arenado. Goes out losing but still had fairly good form I thought.
Man! 3 more left on, too!
Oh how I wish that was Kiké batting there instead of Utley.
Why didn’t Wood score from third on Kendrick’s infield single?
When the ball hits the umpire, it’s dead.
Is that what happened? Okay, I give up. The Dodgers are not going to get a single break ever again.
How I feel.
It is time that one of ours puts one into the bleachers.
Joc’s got to be shaking his head as he struggles and the starting pitchers get 3 hits today. Wood looking good with the bat in this game.
Now 5-4 Giants in the sixth, As up, one on, none out.
Smooth on the d there Rollins. Dodgers can still get back into this one.
Jon at the old DT used to talk about loser’s dividend for teams who were eliminated from playoff contention and certain, small things to enjoy. Dodgers are paying out a lot to other teams and their fans so that they can enjoy their dividends.
Greinke and Kershaw could lead us to victory in a five-game series as they would get three starts but it would be difficult against the Mets and their top two pitchers. But when when we get to the No. 3 and No. 4 spots in the rotation, we would be at a distinct disadvantage.
and on that note, I’ll leave it with you all, as I have to go
Sorry it’s on a down note!
Lots of little ball in Denver today.
And then Arenado.
That part of our play worries me the most as we limp towards the playoffs, making the most of our opportunities with the bat
About to waste another leadoff double?
Yes they do indeed.
Can only stop in briefly today (other commitments). Shall we get back to focussing on the game? Thread today sounds a bit like Harper vs Papelbon
Noticing that Colorado’s Roserio looks like Matt Kemp (small beard version of MK). Maybe it’s just the eye-black that makes it so!
Our pitchers can’t stand prosperity, it seems. Get some runs, start putting guys on in the next inning. I am being driven crazy.
The ball’s really carrying at Coors this inning.
A walk and three hits and only one run so far. Man oh man.
Generous to call one of them a hit and the fellow had to hold up on Howie’s hit.
OK, now 3 runs on 3 hits.
Not Heisyesque by SVS, but a run!
Giants up 3-0 in the 3rd.
Now 5-0.
It doesn’t matter much. The Gnats are irrelevant.
SF with the early lead in Oak.
Papelbon assaults Bryce Harper:
Papelbon hasn’t had a good enough year to do that to Harper.
Good Wood (got a change up!).
Quite a dropoff for Andy Van Slyke’s son this year compared to 2014.
An array of minor ailments adds up.
And the absence of Wade Miley from the National League.
The Yanquis might pay a premium price for that.
Yeah, bats not there this year, but surprisingly he leads the team in dWAR with only 51 starts.
The Dodgers’ offense has never learned that “Waste Not Want Not” aphorism.
“Despite Mattingly’s earlier remarks…”
Calls to mind this recent tidbit from Gurnick: “After Mattingly told media Rollins still couldn’t throw, Rollins took grounders and threw to first base, where Mattingly took his throws.”
As if more evidence was needed of DM’s dissembling to media. He seems to think it’s part of his job not to be forthright, probably to try to keep opponents guessing about injuries. Doing this may make him look clueless and could come back to bite at some point. But DM gonna DM.
Related, I think it was Mike P of DoDi who said this: “Oh, and for the one millionth time: It’s not the job of the manager to tell you the truth. You might want it to be, you might wish it was, but it is not.”
Perhaps Mattingly tested Rollins, and found him wanting in this case. Mind you, you don’t want to reveal anything that will help your opponents.
That said, I’m not a Mattingly fan and wouldn’t miss him. The question is how much better his potential replacement might be – if at all.
Donnie certainly looks good compared to at least our past three or four managers. Pretty sure that Lasorda would drive us nuts as well in this day and age with his on field tactics.
I generally liked Lasorda, but dumping Pedro for DeShields was arguably the worst trade in Dodger history. I was appalled at the time, and now it looks far far worse than it did then.
Wait, Donnie took throws at first base! I that his back hurt.
Well, I might have misunderstood the timing: this tweet is from an hour ago.
Don’t know about that. What I posted was from a few days back and about Rollins. My comments were intended to be about DM not always being exactly, um, forthright, whatever his reasons, not AGon’s situation specifically.