Game 26, 2016

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Padres at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

Lefthander Drew Pomeranz (2-2, 2.86 ERA) v. lefthander Clayton Kershaw (2-1, 2.43 ERA). Both pitchers are strikeout artists: Kershaw’s strikeout-per-nine-innings ratio is 9.73, while Pomeranz’s is 12.68. The Padre pitcher has only made it into the sixth inning in two of his four starts this year, while Kershaw’s been his usual self, getting into or past the seventh inning in all five of his starts.

Lineup when available.

A vote of confidence for a slumping Puig? Maybe, but the way he’s hitting this looks like a black hole to lead off the game. As thousands have said before, though, you only lead off once in the entire game.

65 thoughts on “Game 26, 2016”

  2. Gnat Cueto got gnocked around by Cincy tonight. 105 pitches in five innings and he’s outta there, trailing 6-3.

    • Maeda at 11, Kershaw at 13, Grandal at 56 and Pederson at 63. Adrian’s not among the top 100? No Greinke? Hmm. On the other hand, “the 100 players who have been the best thus far in 2016 …” Well, maybe, then.

        • Subjective or not, it identifies players that are doing well so far and guesses which will move up, down, and out of the list by the end of the second month.

    • Impressionistic more than anything as it doesn’t look at underlying elements of performance (such as BABIP).

      • True, but then the underlying element of BABIP should include average speed of ball off the bat. The higher the speed, the higher the BABIP. A high BABIP is not solely indicative of luck associated with seeing eye ground balls and bloopers that fall in.

  5. Besides the good Dodgers news, here’s an interesting review of what looks like required reading for hard-core baseball fans: A Wronged Man. Ty Cobb was evidently not the racist SOB we’ve been told all our lives he was.

      • If you believe the review and the new (last year’s) bio, the original bio from 1961 was pretty accurate but didn’t sell well. The author then wrote another one 30 years later which had all the calumny in it, and that’s what was used as the base for the movie biopic. Much of what was written in that has since been discredited. See this SABR article (.pdf) by the (unrelated) William Cobb.

        This is fascinating stuff.

        • Cobb spent much of his later life in Atherton, one of the wealthiest towns in the Bay Area (founded by Chilean-American Faxon Atherton), also home to Willie Mays.

  8. Most significant win of the young season.
    Kershaw is a once-in-a-generation pitcher.

          • Don’t understand. Miss SVS (he is a righty), but we have plenty of outfielders.

          • I should have said “play against lefties.” You’re right. The other point about him was that he’s younger and could spell Crawford in left.

          • Quique is doing the platooning with CC at this point and has an OPS of 1.5something against lefties, so I see 1st base as the most dire need. When SVS comes back, I would imagine that Quique slides over to CF to platoon with Joc and Thompson being sent down.

          • Will Guerrero replace Culberson making Kike’ the backup at SS? When Ethier returns, will he platoon with Puig?

          • Quique seems too valuable to have in the line up only once a week.

          • Kike’ could be the Dodger 3rd baseman next year if Turner becomes a free agent. I think Kike’ has to play against lefties but he doesn’t look good against righties with good off speed pitches.

            Dodgers struggle against lefties. They need a stronger bat in LF and or for Puig to excel against lefties. Maybe Kike’ should play third against lefties as Turner has been doing better against righties.

          • For next year, Quique would seem to be the heir apparent at 2nd base (platooning with Johnson?) and I believe that the Dodgers either resign Justin or go outside the organization to fill third or even SS as an option. This year, SVS is the bigger bat for LF and with Thompson a candidate for the farm when Dre comes back, Quique likely return to spelling Joc in CF. Perhaps CC gets an occasional start after Dre comes back, but I think Dre should stay in LF and not platoon with Puig. Look forward to Justin getting it together this year, but less optimistic about Howie.

          • I think Turner wants to stay in LA but the Dodgers probably won’t go over a 3 year contract and probably would like to go no more than 2 years. Turner IMHO would accept a one year qualifying offer from the Dodgers and return for 2017, if offered to him.

            I don’t yet appreciate Johnson and therefore don’t see him at second next year. I agree about Kendrick.

          • Would think that Johnson is penciled in, but re-upping Chase is also an option.

          • QO would be about three times what he is making now, but at his age he is probably looking for at least three years and should be able to command such on the market at a level pretty close to the QO (now all he has to do is to start hitting!)

        • Toronto now has a dirt infield, however, and is in the process of changing to grass.

  11. Hey friends. Nice to be able to quickly look in and see the final score.

    We win! And Kershaw was clearly dealing.

    Glad that the losing streak has been broken, but still concerned about the hitting. Can’t win too often when scoring only 1 run!

  15. One more inning, Clayton….Our one through five hitters are 0-for-16 today with no walks.

  18. Pomeranz went from the Rox to the A’s back in 2013 for Brett Anderson.

  19. When I saw “In play, out(s),” I though the game was still very interesting through 5. I was fooled, but I will take the outcome of the inning.

  24. Vin says that Clayton’s ERA when he pitches following a Dodger loss is 2.34. Of course, his overall ERA is 2.43.

  28. From TBLA: Roberts has stressed patience and staying the course to his ball club, pointing out that dwelling on the negative gets you nowhere.

    “In baseball you can’t beat someone over the head. You can’t yell at them,” said Roberts. “As a hitter, you can’t get ‘more mad’ and do better. That doesn’t equate to being better. It actually works against you. For us, we’ve talked about routine, consistency, and that’s what the guys are doing.”

    So, what the average “fan” would do to try to shake a losing streak won’t work. Imagine that.

    • I like that. Sounds like he has the patience that is needed. The lack of same was what I disliked the most about Byron Scott, who was frequently criticizing his young players.

        • I am afraid that is what it was. But he didn’t need to frequently bad-mouth his younger players to the media.

          • It had that effect, anyway. If I’d been Scott I’d have quit after the first season, worried about my coaching reputation. If the Buss family wanted to waste $20M on an injured and fading superstar, fine, but they seem to have perpetrated a fraud on their fans in doing so. Everybody praises Kobe for his 60-point final game. Nonsense. It took him 50 shots to get to that number. Fifty!

          • I haven’t cared about the NBA for a long time, but I wouldn’t begrudge his going out in a blaze of pseudo-glory.

    • Plus, a couple days back he was talking about getting back to swinging at strikes and taking balls, pointing out that the team has been doing the opposite during the slump.