Dodger Thoughts

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

August 12 game chat

Dodgers at Marlins, 10:10 a.m.
Shane Victorino, LF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Rivera, 1B
Luis Cruz, 3B
Matt Treanor, C
Chris Capuano, P

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181 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    Good morning everybody.  Lets get the rubber game!
    And thanks for the photo Jon :)

  2. Anonymous

    Mornin’ Artieboy.

    Dodgers can’t lose a series to these Rocki…. uuuuuuh, Marlins, can they ??

  3. Anonymous

    These Fish unis are almost as ugly as the ones the Gnats wear on Fridays.

    Meanwhile, Mellis should have had a double on that.

    • KT

      while I agree he should have hustle to second base actually the inning should be over now

  4. KT

    That’s a nice break
     
    Morning all

  5. KT

    Good hit and hustle Hanley

  6. Anonymous

    If Mellis had hustled out a double – why didn’t Lyons or Collins call him out for it? – that would have been a run.

    • KT

      I wouldn’t know because I have Jeff Conine and somebody else talking to me

      • Anonymous

        I can confirm that neither of them said a word about it even though Ellis could have jogged into second. Hanley, on the other hand, really hustled himself into a double.

    • Anonymous

      Because Mellis is a gamer and he plays the game the right way. And he’s a hero because he faced death in the eye. 

      Please send more cliches to describe white infielders.

  7. Anonymous

    Oh boy – here we go again.

  8. Anonymous

    Thoughtful of Ozzie to give Stanton – the scariest hitter on his roster – the day off.

  9. KT

    Come on Matty

  10. KT

    Chasing….Ugh

  11. Anonymous

    Why does Mattingly arrange the order so Kemp comes up with the bases loaded and he strikes out again?

  12. KT

    Make him throw strikes Hanley

  13. KT

    Should be standing on 1st…now come on

  14. KT

    Come on Dre

  15. KT

    bases loade no out and only 1 run scores…hope it doesn’t bite us

  16. Anonymous

    Man, Ethier has been terrible lately.

  17. Anonymous

    Maximum opportunity, minimum production.

  18. Dear me. Bases loaded, none out, one run. Futility, thy name is the Dodgers’ offense.

    Did Kemp strike out on a slider low and away? Has he reverted to doing that again?

    • KT

      yes but it might have been a change low and away

      • Whatever. I can tell the difference between fastball and curve, but anything else I don’t even try. Thanks.

    • is there anything easier in the world than snarking a baseball player. matt kemp is batting, i don’t know, 356? geez beat on every dodger if you feel a need to but i think you should at least give matt kemp a break.

      • Anonymous

        Come on Matty.  Maybe next time you’ll put the ball in play!

      • I admire Kemp a lot, but if he’s started chasing those pitches again as he did earlier in his career, it can’t do anything but hurt him and the team. I’m sure he knows it.

    • Anonymous

       A lefty cannot throw him a slider low and away.

  19. Alex Chavez

    we’re a Juan Pierre-ish offense.  Singles, singles, singles, minimal damage.

    Marlins yesterday, DBacks before that – doubles, doubles, runs!

    • Anonymous

      Yeah, I don’t like the scipt the Dodgers seem to be working of a lot lately

    • Anonymous

      Yep, and station-to-station, take no extra-bases, no hit-and-run, no run-and-hit offense as well.
      Dodgers need to play more of the style Scioscia employs on the Angels – you know, the brand of baseball he learned coming up through the Dodgers organization – the “Dodgers way” as he has said.
      When Aybar scored from second the other day on a SACRAFICE FLY, I thought to myself, “no way that ever happens on the Dodgers.” Sad, really.

    • Anonymous

      But we have done better with the bases loaded today than we did yesterday.  So are improving!!!

  20. Cappy hasn’t been perfect but he sure has been interesting so far. ;)

  21. Anonymous

    Kearns’s caught stealing is Donnie’s vision of a hit-and-run. Better to wait for the GIDP.

    • Not sure what this means…?

      • Anonymous

        In Donnieworld, nothing good can come of a hit and run. Waiting for the GIDP is his homage to Earl Weaver.

        • Anonymous

          I think Mattingly has been worried about the Dodgers’ penchant for being caught stealing this year. They’ve been caught stealing 34 times, third most in the NL. They just have 77 steals. The DBacks are the worst, 65 steals and 40 times caught. The Pirates are 54 SB to 39 CS.

          The record for GIDPs in a season was set last year by the Cardinals. They turned out OK.

          • Anonymous

            With a guy like Loney, who makes good contact, it makes sense to try to open up a hole. Otherwise, it’s a made to order DP.

          • Anonymous

            Only four position players for the Dodgers don’t have a GIDP: Victorino, Sellers, Sands, and Castellanos. Gordon hit into five of them.

          • Anonymous

            Loney doesn’t make good contact, he just doesn’t strike out often which is what, I’m thinking, you meant.

        • Anonymous

          most of the Dodgers are slow

  22. Anonymous

    According to Gameday’s pitch Fx, Kemp struck out on a 4-seam fast ball the first team and on a changeup the 2nd time.

  23. Alex Chavez

    at least there’s hope that ownership will bring some bats in this off-season instead of the re-treads surrounding our home-grown talent.

    • They definitely will, though not like there’s a ton of obvious help in FA this next off-season. But I expect them to sign a big bat for 1st, 3rd or LF, at least  one of those.  Plus they will have HanRam back, which is nice. 

      And then only one more year after that for Puig, perhaps. :)

  24. I am feeling both nervous and excited now — though obviously wish Dodgers had a couple more runs so I could focus on enjoying Capuano more.

    •  LeBlanc hasn’t exactly been bad, wriggling off several hooks himself. Remember that in Koufax’s perfect game the opposing pitcher threw a one-hitter himself.

    • Anonymous

       Collins and Lyons ignore Rule No. 9.

  25. KT

    Nice hit Luis

  26. Just because a player has gotten better over time swinging at some down and away pitches does not mean that he will never make the mistake again. It’s baseball, not free-throw shooting.

    • Anonymous

       Even Calvin Murphy missed the occasional free throw.

    • Anonymous

      I could also mean reverting back to a bad habit.  Hopefully this isn’t the case.

  27. Rule 9 doesn’t apply to broadcasters.

  28. Anonymous

    I may have been a bit spoiled by the way the Dodgers started the season, but it just seems like they go long stretches without any hope of scoring runs lately.

  29. Anonymous

    Is giving the # of outs remaining a rule 9 violation?

  30. KT

    At least it was clean

  31. Poop. Now I can go back to worrying about just winning the game. 

  32. Anonymous

    What a fantastic performance by Capuano!!!!!

    • KT

      It’s not over yet

    • in some other dodger chatrooms the “fans” are probably saying stuff like he still sucks, he’ll regress to the frickin mean, oh now people we’ll say he’s good when he really sucks, and other trash rather than he’s pitched a great game. 

  33. KT

    Guillen just signed an autograph during the middle of the game…you don’t see that often

  34. KT

    Good Hustle Mark

  35. Alex Chavez

    looking at list of possible free agents, names that stood out were Adam LaRoche, Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds, Mike Napoli, Grady Sizemore, BJ Upton, and Nick Swisher.

    • Anonymous

       LaRoche, Napoli and perhaps Upton are worth consideration.

      • Alex Chavez

         Reynolds and Sizemore would be buy-low candidates that would still outproduce what we have right now.

        I would be giddy to get Stephen Drew at SS for his age-27 through 30s years.

        • Anonymous

          I’m not convinced of that. I like(d) Drew’s talent, but doubt he’ll ever a top-line player now after such a crippling injury.

    • Anonymous

      No love for Josh Hamilton? 

      • Alex Chavez

         I figure Hamilton, Cano, and Granderson don’t sniff FA.

    • Anonymous

      Napoli can play First.

  36. KT

    Nick hit Matty!
     
    Come on Hanley

  37. KT

    Clint Barmes .216 GS put Pirates up on SD

  38. KT

    Good Hit Hanley!!
     
    And excellent baserunning by Matty jumping over the SS

  39. Anonymous

    What’s with their organist playing bad background melodrama music?
    Ha! Manram!

  40. KT

    Dre!!
     
    Hanley running through the stop sign…pisses Eli off

    Hanley wasn’t even looking at Wallach

  41. Anonymous

    Offense! I am so happy for Capuano.

  42. Anonymous

    This is comforting.

  43. Rule 9 is the least mysterious of the site rules.  It’s exactly what it says it is.  People always have questions about it, and I’ve never once given an answer that wasn’t clear from the rule itself. 

  44. KT

    Luis!!!

  45. Anonymous

    Collins and Lyons are spouting some of the worst drivel I’ve ever heard from them, and that’s saying a lot.

  46. Anonymous

    Finally, a breakthrough inning.    I thought that donnie would pinch-hit Loney for Rivera against the righty.

    • I thought he would too, but otherwise can’t complain. Thank God, I was starting to sweat this 1-0 thing. But HanRam, Ethier and Cruz came through. 

  47. Anonymous

    KT:  I liked your “Eli” designation for our third-base coach.  Clever.

    • KT

      That was his actual nickname during playing days

      • Anonymous

        I did not know that.   Loved Eli Wallach in “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”  One of my favorite films.   He is a wonderful actor.

        • KT

          Love that film and all those other spagetti westerns he teamed up with Clint

  48. Thank you,  MLB Video for capturing Kemp’s hop over the shortstop. Funny funny stuff. I’ll bet that shows up on SportsCenter or BB Tonight.

    • KT

      yea it wasn’t a hurdle so I thought they were going to hold him at third

      • Alex Chavez

         I think you send him because that’s obstruction on the SS, so you get home one way or another if you send him.

        • KT

          even if the SS makes a play at the ball way before the runner is there?

          • Anonymous

            A fielder who isn’t making a play can’t get in the way of a runner even if he had tried to make one before. But it’s better to not wait for obstruction to be called because then you make it so the umpires have to figure it out.

          • KT

            Thanks BT thought it was a judgement call

  49. Anonymous

    What a wonderful dream!  Taking a page from Jon’s earlier post, I just wanted to “Skip” to the end of the game, so I took a quick nap . . . and now pleasantly surprised to see the 4-spot!

    It seems rare that Matt, Hanley, and Andre have hit in the same game, much less the same inning!

    Hopefully that inning is a preview of coming attractions . . . and not just another tease!

  50. Hat tip to Cappy, he pitched a whale of a game. One more inning to go but he was outstanding. Thankful for the insurance, too. If they win this and win the series, that really erases the sour taste left by yesterday.  Winning these tough road series this week will be huge, if they can stay within 1-2 games of SF in that period I’ll feel pretty good… 

    • Anonymous

      The Gnats have to play the Nats three or four times at The Phone Booth To Be Named Later this week. The Nats are my rational favorite (obviously not my sentimental favorite) to advance to the Series this year.

      • Yeah, that should be a great series. Nats have great pitching and Giants have trouble scoring at home. Would love to see Rox sneak away with a win vs Zito today and up the pressure on Gnats vs Nats. 

        • Anonymous

          I think Zito is due for a bad start today.  He’s been pitching better than he should lately.

  51. Anonymous

    Dodger RBI leaders since the All-Star game (including today) — Kemp 18, Ramirez 18, Cruz 15.

    • but scoolew you know RBIs mean absolutely nothing

      • Anonymous

        Just tell Hack Wilson that.  LOL.

      • Gordon has 17rbi in 301ab this season but I am sure that’s just a product of where they hit in the order ..since All Star Cruz has 87ab I believe. I thought that Gordon was gonna get a chance as soon as he is healthy but then I thinkwhy is Hanley at SS then? It seems so Donnie can mix and match at 3b as if he really isn’t counting on Dee for this season.

  52. KT

    Come on Matty

  53. Anonymous

    Sorry, but I’m greedy and want to see even more out of the middle of the order.

    Let’s give the Padres some plaudits for working over the Pirates’ pitchers this weekend.

  54. KT

    Good series win…now to go into Pittsburgh and do the same

    • Anonymous

      3 out of 4 from the Bucs would be fantastic. It would let us all consider the possibility that the Dodgers have “turned the corner”. I kept wanting to think the Dodgers had “turned the corner” – after those past few sweeps – only to find that there is another corner up ahead.

      • Anonymous

        Some of those corners have actually been walls.

  55. Alex Chavez

    Dan Haren has a $15 million club option this off-season.  Might be available, only 32 years old.

    • Anonymous

      he will be a free agent it seems

    • Anonymous

       Haren’s been inconsistent this year, at least on the face of it.

      • Anonymous

        Haren has had recurring back problems all year, which has been the root problem.

  56. Anonymous

    Any Baseball America subscribers who can give more details than this short piece:
     The Dodgers’ defending National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was named best NL pitcher in Baseball America’s “Tools Issue” survey of managers and front-office officials.Teammate Matt Kemp ranked third for best hitter and power hitter and second as the most exciting player. Dee Gordon was voted the second-fastest baserunner. James Loney was the third-best defensive first baseman and Chris Capuano had the second-best pickoff move.On the Minor League level, Tim Federowicz was named best defensive catcher in the Pacific Coast League; Garrett Gould had the best breaking pitch in the California League; C.J. Retherford was the best defensive third baseman in the California League; James Baldwin was named fastest baserunner in the Midwest League; and Albuquerque’s Lorenzo Bundy was the best managing prospect in the Pacific Coast League.

  57. Anonymous

    With Alex White having used almost half of Tracy’s pitch quota in gifting three runs to the Gnats in the first, it’s up to Zito to get the Dodgers back in a tie for the lead.

  58. Anonymous

    I see Zach Lee got his first win for Chattanooga yesterday.  Not a great performance, but an okay one, and good enough for the W.

    Anybody know why Yasiel Puig didn’t play yesterday?  The Arizona Dodgers play under the lights tonight, with the game starting at 7 pm in whatever time zone Arizona is in today.

    • Anonymous

      Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone. But they do not utilize Daylight Saving Time. So basically, in the summer time they are the same as California, Nevada, Oregon, etc..; But in the winter they are the same as Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, etc..

  59. Anonymous

    Zito is starting to give it back, and quickly.

    • Anonymous

      That’s the free game on MLB.TV today.

      • Anonymous

        Not in the East Bay, it isn’t, because the money-hungry Gnats black out everything they can.

        • Including Hawai’i. But the Dodgers game a few weeks back on ESPN also was blacked out for me. The teams and MLB are getting more aggressive/greedy, or that was an aberration. I hope the latter.

  60. Anonymous

    Castellanos just went yard for the ‘topes.  Which is one base more than his triple last night.  Last night he had ONLY two hits :) while teammates Sands, SVS, and Herrera all had three, including taters for Sands and SVS.

  61. Anonymous

    Zito has let the Rox tie it up, on a sac fly by pitcher Alex White, who it appears will be allowed to pitch the four despite 66 pitches through three.

  62. Anonymous

    Zito and gas-can reliever Kontos give away the lead to the Rox, including a go-ahead single by the Rox own gas-can Carlos Torres (who, unfortunately, will apparently pitch the bottom of the sixth).

  63. Anonymous

    it’s nice that Hanley Ramirez is “singling his way into our hearts” but that’s not the “roll” the Dodgers want him to play, they need him to hit for more power man!

    • Anonymous

       If he can keep getting two or three hits per game, the power will come.

    • Anonymous

      This thought applies equally to Kemp and Ethier, not to mention our first baseman, whoever he is…

    • Anonymous

      Singling his way into our hearts hasn’t worked for Loney, well, not for all of us.

  64. Anonymous

    Shoot – the pesky gnats just won again, coming back from 2 down on a Hunter Pence 3-run homer in the bottom of their 5-run eighth.

  65. Anonymous

    Pence with a big 3-run bomb in the 8th for the Gnats to win it.

  66. Anonymous

    All we can do is just keep winning and the standings will take care of themselves because surely the Gnats will lose more games than us

  67. Anonymous

    One game back is fine by me – the halos lost again to the last place Mariners today to fall 8 back of the Rangers – and a game and a half back of the 2nd-place Athletics.

  68. Anonymous

    So the Pirates for 4 huh?

    Anyone here imagine, after Dodgers swept the Bucs in their Home-opener series this year, that we’d be 2.5 games back of those same Bucs in the wild-card standings at the end of play Aug 12th?

    Naw, didn’t think so.

    • Anonymous

      The Pirates have been good, but the Padres made their ‘pen work a lot of innings the last few days.

      I honestly don’t care about the “wild card.” This is not horse racing. It should be first place or no place.

      • Anonymous

         Last year, the wild card ended in 1st place.

      • Anonymous

        I have discovered that the Netherlands is still a good place to go if you are in the windmill tilting business.

        Not many left in Andalucia anymore.

        • KT

          Along with the bull billboards they are few and far between

  69. Two intriguing Yasiel Puig-related tweets just now (I’d been wondering since he was not in the AZ Dodgers lineup yesterday):

    The first tweet is from a minor league person (can’t tell if player or scout):
    SL ‏@sp11ke #Dodgers Yasiel Puig is in the stands here at Rancho Cucamonga. I guess his 1.500 OPS in 9 AZL games was enough.

    Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS: Scout says little-seen cuban OF yasiel puig, who signed for $42M w/#dodgers, is a “huge talent”

    • Anonymous

      RC would be a jump of two levels for him (RC is Hi-A, Great Lakes is Lo-A).  So if that’s where he’s headed after 9 games, that would certainly be the fast track.

      • Yah, it is, though maybe not a huge surprise given the investment in him and where they see  his talent. Curious, too–the Midwest League is considered more of a pitcher’s league and the Cal League more of a hitter’s league so it’s more favorable for him in that sense, even if it is another level higher. Anyway, guess we’ll know more officially tomorrow. 

      • Anonymous

        3 levels counting Ogden
        Puig not in AZL Dodger line-up tonight. don’t forget he might be hurt or need a rest. He was taken out early in some lopsided games for example

    • Anonymous

      Even His Barriness needed to play over 100 before hitting the show.

      Price had to throw 144 innings. 

      Wonder what the fastest of the fast tracks is for Yasiel?  This time next year?

  70. Anonymous

    Not a good outing for Chris Reed today.  He’s getting stretched out, this time to 4 IP, but he allowed 6 H 2 BB 4 ER.

    I previously mentioned that Castellanos went yard. He ended up 3 for 5, a triple short of the cycle. And Jer-ry hit his 23rd tater.

  71. Anonymous

    Incidentally, old friend Trayvon Robinson (“We hardly knew ya”) was called up to the Mariners a couple of weeks ago after a so-so season in the PCL (.740 OPS).

  72. Anonymous

    So, the Bucs series has an added element of relevance.  We’re coming into it 2.5 back of them.  If we win the first 3, our destiny will theoretically be in our own hands, regardless of the Gs, in terms of a playoff spot.

    For whatever reason, BP likes the cards much more than the bucs for the postseason, despite them also being 2.5 back.

    • Anonymous

      ‘been there, done that’ I guess

      • Anonymous

        Yeah, no kidding.  The Bucs have been horrible since Barry left.  The idea of them and the Nats both in the playoffs would have blown minds just 18 months ago.

  73. Anonymous

    Yep  – the Bucs :
    Andrew McCutchen leads MLB with a .363 BA – named NL’s Player of the Month in June (.370 w/ 26 RBI) and again in July (.446 w/ 15 RBI). The first Pirate to be named twice in the same season since Bobby Bonilla in 1988. He has 23 HR, 78 Runs, 69 RBI’s and 14 SB’s for the season.

  74. Anonymous

    More Bucs :
    Neil Walker – 65 RBI ranks 2nd among MLB second-basemen.
    Rookie Starling Marte – 4 HR and 10 RBI since being called up 2 weeks ago.
    Burnett leads the rotation with a 3.32 and a 14-4 record – scheduled to pitch Thursday’s game.
    Old friend James McDonald from Long Beach (10-5) started strong but hasn’t won since July 18, allowing 20 earned runs in 21 1/3 innings over his last 4 starts.

  75. Anonymous

    And don’t be down late to the Pirates – Hanrahan leads the league in saves with 33.
    When the Pirates lead after 7 innings, their record is 54-1.

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for all information on the Pirates.  Should be a good series.

  76. Anonymous

    BUT – before the Bucs dropped 11 runs on the hapless Friars today, they were just 4-6 in thier last 10 games – so, the Dodgers could be catching them at a ripe time.

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