Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Category: Status report (Page 3 of 10)

#4peat! Dodgers win NL West again

nl-west-champs-2016-1024x576

By Jon Weisman

Fourmidable!

And for Vin Scully, unbelievable.

At Vin’s final day broadcasting at Dodger Stadium, as the shadows crept across the infield, Charlie Culberson homered — his first of the season — to give the Dodgers a 4-3 walkoff, 10-inning victory over the Colorado Rockies — and their fourth consecutive National League West title.

After going the life of the franchise without making the playoffs in three straight years until 2015, the Dodgers have extended their streak by one. Dave Roberts joined Tommy Lasorda as the only rookie managers ever to lead the Dodgers to a division title.

The victory sets up a National League Division Series matchup with the Washington Nationals, who clinched the NL East on Saturday. Game 1 of the NLDS will be October 7, with the Dodgers narrowly behind the Nationals in determining home-field advantage. The Dodgers own the tiebreaker if the teams finish with identical records.

In a season replete with resolve, the Dodgers rallied from two deficits — and won without leading until after the final pitch was thrown.

In his first MLB start since August 13, Brandon McCarthy made his longest appearance since July 22. Retiring the first six batters he faced on 25 pitches with four strikeouts, McCarthy then allowed two runs in the third inning, but recovered to face the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings.

For the day, McCarthy threw 79 pitches in 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts, and notably walked only one. It was his three consecutive starts walking a career-high five in early August that signaled his need to return to the disabled list.

Following a Howie Kendrick single and Justin Turner double to begin the third, the Dodgers cut the Rockies’ lead in half on Yasiel Puig’s sacrifice fly, but couldn’t convert any of their other eight baserunners in the first six innings into runs.

After Turner singled in the seventh, however, Corey Seager ripped a shot down the right-field line — his team-leading fifth triple — and suddenly the Dodgers were tied, at home, with a direct look at the promised land. Then came the final at-bat …

David Dahl’s ninth-inning home run off Kenley Jansen looked to deny the Dodgers their opportunity to win their way into the NL West title. The immediate consolation, as Dahl’s drive sailed over the fence in right-center, was that San Diego took a 4-3 lead over San Francisco in the bottom of the seventh, extending the possibility of a home clinch.

But with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Seager drilled a 112 mph shot off Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino (aiming to rebound from his five-run, ninth-inning meltdown August 31 against the Dodgers) to tie the game again.

Joc Pederson, batting for Yasiel Puig, walked against Boone Logan. Gonzalez came to the plate and hit a solid opposite-field drive but a can of corn nonetheless, and we would play on.

With two out in the bottom of the 10th, Culberson, who spent much of the season in the minors, no-doubted an 0-1 pitch over the fence in left, and the celebration began for the Dodgers — bot thanks to the Giants, but thanks to themselves.

Seemingly lost without Clayton Kershaw, the 2016 Dodgers found themselves

2016-hs11-cover

sans-kershaw-standingsBy Jon Weisman

On Wednesday, the Dodgers played what they hope will be their last game with Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list.

The standings (seen at right) for those 73 days without their incomparable star, at least on the surface, tell as unexpected a story as one has seen from the Dodgers since 1988 — a story equal to if not beyond their 2006 playoff push after going 1-13 to start the second half of the season, the Manny Ramirez-led charge to a division title in 2008 or the 42-8, last-to-first comeback in 2013.

That the Dodgers have gone from eight games behind the Giants in the National League West to five games ahead, without their best pitcher (or double handfuls of other injured players at given moments), speaks to something beyond magic, let alone the Giants collapse. Playing .613 ball, a winning percentage second in MLB only to the Cubs, has been a result of a level of talent and depth that few seemed to appreciate when Kershaw went down.

man-down

In the latest Dodger Insider cover story, we trace the evolution of the 2016 Dodgers from what was perceived to be a one-man team into an all-hands-on-deck, grinding contender.

“I would hope that it was going to come out all along,” Dave Roberts said. “But I do know that when your best player goes down, there was a concerted effort for us to do a little bit more each individually. So it’s hard to say, but the way we have responded with Clayton being down is a testament to our guys.”

Read the entire story by clicking here.

* * *

Beginning this year, the Dodgers merged their previously separate Playbill and Dodger Insider magazines into one publication (at least 80 pages per issue) with a new edition available each homestand plus one in October, 13 issues total. It is distributed at auto gates (one per vehicle) and via Fan Services for those who use alternate transportation. Dodger Insider magazine includes news, features, analysis, photos, games, stadium information and more. Fans who still wish to subscribe can do so at dodgers.com/magazine

In case you missed it: 29 games to go

Remaining schedule - September

By Jon Weisman

Two games in the National League West separate the Dodgers and Giants, who each have 29 games remaining in the regular season — six against each other — and nearly identical schedules.

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NL Westworld: Dodgers return to first

NL West standings after games of June 26.

NL West standings after games of June 26

By Jon Weisman

Eighty-five games after they last held the lead, 41 games after Clayton Kershaw last held the mound, the Dodgers have returned to first place in the National League West.

Three hours after the Dodgers pounded the Phillies, 15-5, San Francisco put runners on second and third with one out in the ninth inning but fell to Pittsburgh, 4-3, giving Los Angeles a view atop the division for the first time since May 10.

The bookends? Home runs by Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who hit two off Kenta Maeda on May 11 to knock the Dodgers into second place. Tonight in Arizona, Syndergaard hit his third homer of the year, heralding the Dodgers’ re-ascension.

Since June 26, the Dodgers have gone 25-16 (.610), while the Giants are 17-25 (.405).

The Dodgers have 44 games to play, and nine of them — more than 20 percent — against the Giants.

The Johnny Wholestaff Dodgers: Just get the outs

PIRATES VS DODGERS

By Jon Weisman

The 1916 National League champion Brooklyn Superbas used 10 pitchers to throw their 1,427 1/3 innings.

The 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers used 15 pitchers to throw 54 innings last week.

Some people — even those under the age of 100, have noticed the difference.

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The latest turn in Yasiel Puig’s story isn’t the last

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Let’s separate Yasiel Puig’s fate as a baseball player from his fate with the Dodgers for a moment.

It’s certainly a convenient time to do it, with Puig on his way to Triple-A for the first time. He is a Dodger, and yet not a Dodger, and to say the least the baseball world is still processing it.

First comes the blame. Some say Puig had this demotion coming. Some say the Dodgers have mishandled his development. It’s easy to throw stones when there’s a free pile of ’em lining both sides of the Internet. No one’s claiming to be perfect, but no one should think it was easy.

What seems relevant to me is that it has never been in anyone’s interest to see Puig be anything less than the best he can be. That remains the case.

Maybe Puig’s next Major League game will be in another uniform. Maybe it’ll be in familiar, cozy L.A. whites before the next homestand is over. Maybe his next chapter won’t be written until 2017.

Even then, the next chapter will only be a chapter.

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Live-blog: Farhan Zaidi talks post-deadline Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Farhan Zaidi is speaking to reporters today about the state of the Dodgers after today’s three trades that yielded Rich Hill and Josh Reddick, Jesse Chavez and Josh Fields, at the cost of Jharel Cotton, Grant Holmes, Frankie Montas, Mike Bolsinger and Yordan Alvarez. We’ll live-blog his comments as they come, beginning shortly after 3:30 p.m. …

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As 2006 reminds us, NL West race just getting started

Nomar Garciaparra Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants Saturday, May 13, 2006 in San Francisco,California. The Giants beat the Dodgers 6-5. © Jon SooHoo

In a season of downs and ups, Nomar Garciaparra stews after the Dodgers blew a 5-2, ninth-inning lead at San Francisco on May 13, 2006. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

By Jon Weisman

On this day 10 years ago, the 2006 National League West champion* Dodgers lost their eighth game in a row.

It’s a contradiction that, frankly, should provide comfort to the 2016 NL West-leading San Francisco Giants, who have lost eight of nine games since the All-Star Break, allowing the Dodgers to come with 2 1/2 games of first place for the first time since May 18.

But the larger point is that even with four months of baseball nearly in the books, nothing is decided.

Those 2006 Dodgers, man, were they a roller-coaster team. After starting the season 12-17 and falling into the division’s basement (remember, this was a team that had gone 71-91 the year before), they won 15 of their next 18 and ultimately moved into first place by early June.

But it was a tight, crazy-making race. On the first four days of July, Los Angeles finished the night in a different position in the division: second place on July 1, fourth place on July 2, third place on July 3, tied for first Independence Day.

Then came the All-Star Break, and a horror show worse than even the Giants have experienced. The Dodgers went from 46-42 to 47-55, losing 13 of 14 to fall back into last, 7 1/2 games behind the Padres. Jake Peavy, who pitched Monday for the Giants, was the winning pitcher for San Diego on July 26, 2006 in the completion of a three-game sweep that seemed to doom Los Angeles.

The next day, July 27, was an off day, and I published a column for SI.com in which I said the Dodgers shouldn’t feel stigmatized about being sellers at the trade deadline.

So what happened next? Oh, nothing much, except the Dodgers won their next 11 games and 17 out of 18, again moving all the way from last place to first. I got to write a whole new column for SI, one that began with a quote from Vin Scully.

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With or without Kershaw, no identity crisis for Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals

By Jon Weisman

When the Dodgers have struggled, particularly this year, it’s been said more than once that the problem is a team with no identity outside of Clayton Kershaw.

Fans and media do a lot of weird things when they are frustrated with a team. There’s probably no topping accusing a team of having no heart when it loses a game, no matter how close — this idea that if they didn’t win, they must not have been trying.

But in the ongoing need to psychoanalyze the absence of perfection, the “no identity” crisis is a fine runner-up.

“No identity” wins points because it’s just such an obscure idea to begin with. What player walks into the batter’s box and then stops short, wondering, “Wait. I don’t really know what defines us as a club. So how do I hit that slider? Should I even try? It’s just all so confusing!”

Team identity is make-believe, one of those retroactive rationalizations that insists on turning a game of bats and balls into a Beckett play. You’ve either got guys who can do the job or you don’t.

And so, the idea of the Dodgers having no identity outside of Kershaw was always ridiculously reductive. There’s no denying that Kershaw is the Dodgers’ most valuable, most talented, most everything player — that he has been the face of the franchise for some time now. But it doesn’t mean that the others on the team stop existing.

If there’s one positive that has come in the four weeks that have come since a disc herniation sidelined Kershaw, it’s that it has exposed the lie that the 2016 Dodgers were Kershaw and nothing else.

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Nine reasons not to give up on the Dodgers (for real)

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

So, something went awry Thursday with the Dodgers’ march to an 0-83 finish. They won.

Does that delay the inevitable? When the news came that Clayton Kershaw was going on the disabled list, that was the final straw on 2016 for some. Maybe many. Los Angeles Dodgers (2016-2016), RIP.

But yes, I’m here to remind you that there is reason not to give up. In fact, here are nine of them, one for every inning of this glorious, vexing game.

I offer these not because I’m blind to what can go wrong, but for those who are blind to what can go right.

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Dodgers carry streak of one-run games into reunion with Greinke

Zack Greinke on the mound against the Dodgers. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Zack Greinke on the mound against the Dodgers. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian González, 1B
Trayce Thompson, RF
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Scott Van Slyke, LF
Mike Bolsinger, P

By Jon Weisman

The more things change … the more things change.

Zack Greinke faces the Dodgers tonight for the first time since he came with the Milwaukee Brewers to Los Angeles on May 31, 2012. That night, the Dodgers offered this starting lineup:

Elian Herrera, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Bobby Abreu, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B
Adam Kennedy, 3B
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Dee Gordon, SS
Chad Billingsley, P

One of those Dodgers is in tonight’s starting lineup. Another is on the bench. A third is on the disabled list. That, plus Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen, is all that remains to link that Dodger team and this one, four years later.

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Andrew Friedman discusses Urias, Wood, Ryu, Bolsinger

[milbvideo id=”657718883″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

By Jon Weisman

Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman fielded questions on a conference call from New York late today, mainly on Julio Urias but also on the status of Mike Bolsinger, Alex Wood and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Here are Friedman’s comments (the questions are paraphrased):

When was the decision to promote Urias made?

We’ve had a lot of conversations in the last month about Julio, thinking through different ideas in terms how he can help us win games. It’s not just a case of assessing his talent and seeing if he could help us, it’s also about finishing off some development — also the workload and how to manage that going forward. When this (left triceps soreness) came up with Woody, it made it obviously much easier in that we needed someone who’d be able to go Friday.

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A Dodger fan’s state of mind

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodgers at Padres, 1:40 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Howie Kendrick, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Trayce Thompson, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasiel Puig, RF
A.J. Ellis, C
Kenta Maeda, P

By Jon Weisman

It has been, if one weren’t to mince words, an ugly time.

The Dodgers have lost four straight, six of their past seven, 16 of their past 25.

Since April 25, when they were 12-7, the Dodgers have played .360 ball and have lost eight games in the standings to the National League West-leading Giants, who are 17-8 in that span.

On Saturday, the Dodgers lost when Chin-hui Tsao threw 12 of his final 14 pitches of the game out of the strike zone, forcing in the game-winning run.

“We’re finding different ways to lose games and I haven’t seen this one,” Dave Roberts said afterward. “It’s a tough one and to try to defend it, having a hard time.”

The only thing harder to watch than the final score of the games has been the frustration of the fans, because that’s really whom the games are for.

I’ve been blogging about the Dodgers a long time now, coming up on 14 years. This is when I usually step up and make my attempt at “it’s always darkest before the dawn” arguments. I’ve hesitated, not because I believe any less in those arguments, but because I believe less that the audience for those arguments is willing to hear them.

Nonetheless, there are certain fundamental things I feel worth saying, however succinctly. You either buy in, or you don’t …

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Dave Roberts knows .500 isn’t good enough

LOS ANGELES DODGERS V NEW YORK METS

Mets at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasmani Grandal, C
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Alex Wood, P
Note: Alex Guerrero is beginning a rehab assignment tonight with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.

By Jon Weisman

If you’re wondering whether the Dodgers are content to be in first place in their division with a .500 record, the answer is no.

“We’re not playing great baseball,” Dave Roberts said this afternoon. “I think for the most part we’re catching the baseball, but for the pitching and hitting to sync up, we’re still waiting for that to happen.”

The debate about the Dodgers that’s happening right now around town and on social media is which of their two seemingly irreconcilable identities is true. Are they a first-place team, or are they a squad that loses at least as much as it wins?

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After solid opening fortnight, Dodgers arrive in Atlanta

San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Despite a MLB-high 10 players on the disabled list, the Dodgers still opened the season 8-5 — first in the National League West, third in the NL. They did it entirely within their division, with more than half the games against their likely top challenger, San Francisco (the Dodgers went 3-4). They lost four leads, and won 62 percent of their games anyway.

This week’s road trip takes the Dodgers to Atlanta, where hopes will be high for a sweep (however rare those are on the road against any team), and then to Colorado, which frequently can feel like a Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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