Dodgers at Padres, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD, MLBN (out-of-market only)
Starting for the Dodgers today is lefty Alex Wood (1-3, 4.17 ERA), who has been pretty successful recently: in his last four starts he’s gone 24 1/3 innings, striking out 30 and posting a 2.59 ERA. The Padres send out righthander Cesar Vargas, who’s 0-2 with a 3.55 ERA and may be pitching to stay in the big leagues, as Andrew Cashner will come off the DL this week and the Padres will have to make room for him.
Adrian Gonzalez is expected to return to the Dodgers’ starting lineup tonight after several days off with back tightness. Matt Kemp has made trouble for Wood in the past, going 5-for-9 with a home run and double against him.
Lineup when available.
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Thompson LF
Pederson CF
Puig RF
Grandal C
Wood P— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 21, 2016
NPUT
This season is frustrating, for sure. It reminds me of years ago, maybe 1970 or so, Wes Parker, Billy Grabarkiewicz…team was better than .500 but never really went anywhere. And any team with Billy G batting cleanup just was never going far. Just seems we don’t have all the pieces or at least they are all out of sync.
We seem to be at that midpoint between a veteran team and the youth movement, where at the moment we are neither.
Turner has been great, but now he is sporadic, Puig is an enigma, Gonzo is on the backside of his career as is Kendrick, CC is still on the team, Utley has been one of the best on the team…what does that tell you…plus several youngsters that are just finding their way. A recipe for a lost season IMO.
I know I know, we have guys returning from the DL shortly (hopefully), but really…Ethier, McCarthy, Van Slyke, et al…these guys are going to right the ship?
Thankfully I have DirecTV. Unfortunately, this is the team Vinny goes out with.
I have been feeling much the same. Add in Roberts’ failures to manage pitchers and, unfortunately, I agree with your overall assessment. Grabarkewitz, Parker, Wills and Lefebvre were all gone from the club after 1972, Haller and Sudakis a year earlier, clearing the way for the emergency and development of Garvey, Cey, Lopes, Russell, Yeager and others who formed the nucleus of a team that won pennants in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1981 and, finally, a World Series in 1981. Along the way, Baker, Monday and Reggie Smith arrived along with some strong pitching. I liken this year’s team to that of 1972. I don’t expect much this season, but we have a nucleus plus some very good players in the minors. Here is to a better future.
Grandal left with a swollen right foot after fouling a ball off it in the 7th inning. He hung in till the 10th when he got on base. X-Rays were negative.
Four games back of the Giants is no big thing in May, but it’s not where we or Friedman et. al. thought we’d be. Injuries, yes, but other teams have had those too.
It’s their style of play or lack of execution that is most worrying. They can’t seem to play well together as a team. Too many players not getting it done batting and pitching.
This team is so lost right now.
If there’s a Dodgers call-in show after this I can imagine the rage from the fans. Keep that 7-second pause button handy, radio guy.
Tsao: 26 pitches, 9 strikes. In an extra-inning situation, you can’t let that happen.
Terrible managing. What wasRoberts thinking?
Probably that he wanted to save Jansen for the save after the Dodgers took the lead.
Completely on Roberts. You have to pull Tsao after the walk to Norris.
Can’t Honeycut or someone else say something to DR?
Roberts getting schooled big-time right now.
Absolutely. He appears to be so lost when it comes to handling pitchers. He doesn’t seem to have a hot clue.
Yup. Just found another way to lose. The batter wasn’t even in the batter’s box for that last ball.
That was so obvious. So dumb.
Not good Roberts. Not good.
Fer cryin’ out loud, Roberts.
Sigh. This is not going to end well.
This guy’s hitting .333 and you get behind to him too?
Pull him. No more room for walking batters. Bring in Jansen now.
Tsao lives dangerously behind in the count.
Throwing more balls than strikes is not a good way to make a living.
No. Especially when you load the bases in the 10th inning.
At. The. Wall!
There. The Pads just missed a HR too.
That 22 K game in 1972 ended with the Reds winning 2-1 on a pinch-hit single.
Tsao has a very entertaining delivery.
The Padres have now struck out 19 times and the Dodgers 13. Futility, thy name is the NL West.
Another Tsao sighting!
One foot in front of the wall for JT.
I give up. That was a rocket shot for extra bases but for Solarte’s insane play.
Dodger’s pitching needs to keep holding on until the Dodgers scratch out another run. Not going to be east. Tsao in now.
AJ in, Grandal out. Something not right with him tonight…
And likely more than just tonight. He has been off for a while now.
They sent him to the training room down below.
Oh. Gottcha.
Losing steam here. And hope.
Yeah. And who knows how long this will go on for. It could go another 3-5 innings.
Apparently the Dodger record for K’s is 22 in a 19 inning 2-1 loss to Cincinnati in 1972.
Wow.
Joc’s strike two was more of a flail.
But works out a walk!
Go Dodgers! Get some runs!
The Padres are mocking me. The deal last night was to play 10 innings tonight – if we ended last night’s game after the 8th inning.
Coleman you slacker. Couldn’t even strike out the one batter you faced.
And now another weird out from our side.
That’s it for me. I will learn the result tomorrow morning. Good luck to the Dodgers and my fellow bloggers.
We may or may not be in third place.
Once again, we make a bad team look good.
Right now, we’re the bad team.
Good point.
So maddening.
It is, but it shouldn’t be anymore. This is where this club is right now. With a man on first and none out, when I see “In play, out(s)” with Gonzalez up I assumed it was a GIDP.
Very difficult play from their side, though. Not routine.
We have struck out 16 Padres through 8 innings. Dodger pitching record for most strikeouts in a 9-inning game is 18, done five times. I know Koufax did it at least once and I think Ramon Martinez did it once. Not sure about the others.
I recall the game that Aaron Harang started and struck out 9 in a row in the first 3 innings. They ended up with 18 in that game – and won when the Padres gave up 4 straight walks in the bottom of the 9th. That was in 2012.
Hernandez and Grandal are mostly clueless at the plate. Hernandez is a utility player, which makes his woes less troubling. But how long can Grandal remain the No. 1 catcher? Meanwhile, several other Dodgers are finding only occasional clues lately. Dodgers management needs to take action before we lose contact with the Giants, but I have virtually no confidence in Friedman/Zaidi.
Ethier, Van Slyke, and possibly Guerrero can not get healthy any too soon.
I have pretty good confidence in Ethier, a bit in SVS, none in Guerrero.
Yeah that sounds about right. I was grasping at flimsy straws with mentioning Guerrero.
So many strike outs this game. So little hitting.
No joy in Mudville.
Can’t believe it is tied at 2. Really thought it would end 1-0 or 2-1.
I can’t believe Wood won’t get the W. He did a great job.
We are going through a distressing phase — and I hope that it is only a phase — in which we seem to generally find a way to lose, even in unexpected ways, such as last night. The exception is when Kershaw pitches.
We can’t hit a lick, and when we do hit well, the ball finds the other team’s mitts.
What is wrong with Grandal? He can’t hit a lick anymore. Bring back Austin Barnes.
Forget hitting. His catching has been bizarrely bad this game.
Catcher’s interference and a passed ball in the same inning. I wonder how often that happens.
Plus double clutch to allow the steal. Plus he almost fell down, tripping on his own feet. Same inning.
Wow. You may me glad that I am not watching.
Does Wood get to pitch one more inning or does Roberts pull him? Probably stays because he didn’t bat last inning.
Good. Call them out and the Dodgers respond.
13 strikeouts for Wood. But of course he gave up a sac fly so he will probably be pulled as the losing pitcher.
Dodgers aren’t going to score tonight, are they? They will lose this amazing game that Wood is pitching, 1-0.
You can just feel it.
I really hope Dodgers score first because runs are at a premium tonight.
What in the name of Clayton Kershaw is going on with Wood tonight? 11 strikeouts through 5 innings.
Innings going by more quickly than yesterday’s game.
Wood strikes out the side. It seems like he is taking the lead as the Dodgers second best pitcher since Maeda has fallen off a bit. Kershaw, Wood, Maeda, Stripling, Kazmir.
CI by Grandal. Again.
But no harm done.
I like this lineup… when it actually hits effectively.
I like this lineup.
Veterans and youth balanced.
Well, what will happen tonight? I think Dodgers turn things around from last night’s stunner and win today’s game.
Live music tonight in BA, starting early – around 11 p.m.
In about twenty minutes, then. BA is 7 hrs ahead of Hawai’i, so 4 ahead of LA.
Been meaning to ask – what time do things get going in the mornings in BA? Hopefully the late nights are balanced out by late rising mornings!