Dodger Thoughts

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

Month: September 2015 (Page 6 of 6)

New folk hero Jose Peraza lifts Greinke, Dodgers

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By Jon Weisman

Jose Peraza isn’t purely a September callup. The 21-year-old second baseman-center fielder, the youngest Dodger position player since Adrian Beltre, had 13 plate appearances in four games for Los Angeles before today’s turn of the calendar.

But we’ll call him a late addition to the Dodgers, and what an addition so far.

The young sparkplug ignited and then all but sealed the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory over Giants ace Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants, moving Los Angeles to a 5 1/2 game lead in the National League West.

“He seemed to play fearless,” Don Mattingly said.

In the third inning, Peraza singled and soon after raced home from second base for the Dodgers’ first run off Bumgarner. And in the eighth inning, shortly after Joc Pederson’s homer off Bumgarner doubled the Dodger lead, Peraza made a spectacular play, backhanding a Brandon Belt grounder with the tying run on second base and glove-flipping to Jimmy Rollins to start an inning-ending double play.

“I was looking to get it over to Jimmy,” said Peraza, who said he practices glove-flips periodically. “Thank God it worked out.”

In doing so, Peraza saved a vintage Zack Greinke outing from the wastebasket. Greinke allowed no runs on two hits over his first seven innings, then gave up three singles for a run in the eighth, setting up the game’s most dramatic moment.

Luis Avilan, relieving Greinke, allowed a long foul ball on his first pitch and needed seven in all to get Belt, but thanks to the double play, retired his 11th batter in a row over the past six games.

Peraza dropped a second-inning pop-up for an error — so much for perfection. But that was soon a distant memory.

“Maybe I do,” said Peraza, about whether he feels the pressure of being thrust into a Giants-Dodgers pennant race in his fifth Major League game, “but it basically comes down to me doing my job, and thank God things turned out well.”

Dodgers recall Joe Wieland, increase active pitching staff to 16

In his only game with the Dodgers this season, Joe Wieland allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings May 6 at Milwaukee. (Mike McGinnis/Getty Images)

In his only game with the Dodgers this season, Joe Wieland allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings May 6 at Milwaukee. (Mike McGinnis/Getty Images)

By Jon Weisman

In the wake of Monday’s 14-inning game, the Dodgers added Joe Wieland to a September 1 recall list that already included Mike Bolsinger and Ian Thomas. Joel Peralta was also officially activated from the disabled list.

Wieland has a 4.59 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in Triple-A this season, but improved to 3.38 and 1.09 in August. With the Dodger bullpen throwing nine innings Monday and 17 1/3 innings since Saturday, Wieland provides another backup arm. Los Angeles has 16 pitchers on its active roster at present.

There are increasing indications that Mike Bolsinger will make a spot start for the Dodgers in their upcoming four-game series at San Diego, though nothing definitive has been stated.

In addition, to make room for Justin Ruggiano on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers recalled Josh Ravin (hernia) and placed him on the 60-day disabled list. Ravin has not pitched in a game since July 25.

Justin Ruggiano starts in Dodger debut

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Jose Peraza, 2B
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Scott Van Slyke, RF
Justin Ruggiano, LF
A.J. Ellis, C
Zack Greinke, P
Joc Pederson, CF

By Jon Weisman

Tonight, Justin Ruggiano plays his first game for the Dodgers, more than 11 years after they drafted him. His reward — a Los Angeles debut against Madison Bumgarner.

In trying to find a winning combination against Bumgarner, who is undefeated against the Dodgers this year, the outfield has been is a bit of a riddle. Though there has been occasional on-base success, no Dodger outfielder has a run or an RBI against the Giants ace in 2015:

  • Andre Ethier, 1 for 1
  • Alex Guerrero, 1 for 7
  • Chris Heisey, 0 for 2 with a walk
  • Kiké Hernandez, 2 for 4 (one double)
  • Joc Pederson, 1 for 6 (double)
  • Yasiel Puig, 1 for 3 with a walk
  • Scott Van Slyke, 3 for 10

Hernandez and Puig, of course, are on the disabled list. Guerrero did hit a two-run home run off Bumgarner as a pinch-hitter, but is 6 for 49 with no walks since July 1.

And while Ethier has emerged as the Dodgers most productive outfielder, that has become almost exclusively against right-handed pitching. He has a .515 OPS vs. lefties this year, and has not OPSed above .650 against southpaws since 2008.
Ruggiano milb
Will Ruggiano do any better? Well, hitting lefties is his calling card — an .835 OPS in 488 career plate appearances, including .823 for Seattle in 43 plate appearances this season.

In nearly the smallest of sample sizes, Ruggiano (pictured at right with the Dodgers’ Double-A team in Jacksonville in 2006) has thrived against Bumgarner, with a single, homer and two walks — along with one precious “reached on catcher’s interference” — in six plate appearances.

Another right-handed hitter Don Mattingly likes against Bumgarner? Zack Greinke. This is the second time this year that Mattingly is batting his starting pitcher eighth, but the first time that he means business with it. Yimi Garcia batted eighth July 6 in a game the Dodgers knew they would use a pinch-hitter for him.

Greinke is 0 for 2 lifetime against Bumgarner, and has a .629 lifetime OPS against lefties. Don’t expect miracles: As Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. noted, though this is a matchup of the past two Silver Slugger winners, neither has allowed a single hit to a pitcher in 2015.

If anything, the Dodgers need to worry about Bumgarner, who is also batting eighth. Bumgarner has five home runs and an .810 OPS in what is the greatest hitting season for a pitcher since Carlos Zambrano in 2011.

Dodgers turn to Greinke to vanquish Bumgarner

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Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

By Jon Weisman

I’m going to say that Madison Bumgarner has had the Dodgers’ number this year.

In fact, I’m going to say that Bumgarner got that number not here at Dodger Stadium in 2015, but in Kansas City on October 29, 2014, when he completed the postseason of the ages, the postseason so many of us thought Clayton Kershaw would have.

For so long, it was Kershaw who had the Giants’ number. Through 2014, Kershaw had a 1.43 ERA against the Giants in 180 career innings, with 191 strikeouts.

Not this year. The Giants have won all three Bumgarner starts against the Dodgers this season. All three of them against Kershaw. All three of them in the so-called “What’s wrong with Kershaw?” period, the last of them in a game so twisted that it may have hit the reset button for Kershaw’s season.

On April 22, Bumgarner and Kershaw neutralized each other, each allowing two runs in six (Kershaw) or 6 1/3 (Bumgarner) innings. Before opposing pitchers had figured out Alex Guerrero the way they now seem to have, the National League’s April Rookie of the Month hit a two-run, game-tying homer off the Giants lefty. The game came down to the bullpens, with San Francisco walking off against Chris Hatcher and J.P. Howell in the bottom of the ninth.

Six days later came more of a true pitchers’ duel. Buster Posey drove in runs in the first and fourth innings off Kershaw with a single and a homer, but the Dodgers scratched across a run in the bottom of the fourth to close the gap. But there was no scoring after that, with Bumgarner putting out threats in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Then came May 21, the throw-up (your hands) game, in which Bumgarner was in trouble (seven hits and two walks in six innings) but causing trouble (homering off Kershaw in the third inning). Once again, Bumgarner’s brand of trouble won.

Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers

Since that date, in 126 2/3 innings, Kershaw has a 1.28 ERA against all comers.

Tonight, Bumgarner faces Zack Greinke. And if there’s anyone that has anyone’s number, it’s Zack Greinke vs. the Giants. As a Dodger, Greinke has a 1.96 ERA in seven games (46 innings) against San Francisco, and has never lost.

Last September, Greinke faced off against Bumgarner on September 23, in arguably the biggest game of the season, and the Dodgers won. It was a game that all but ensured the Giants would be in the National League wild-card game, on the fringe of the postseason, nearly ending Bumgarner’s October before it began.

Look at Bumgarner now. Look at Greinke now. Somehow, someone’s number is up.

Dodger Insider magazine — September 2015 edition

September 2015 cover

September magazine sidebarBy Jon Weisman

He is a man of family. A man of faith. A man of baseball. And for Clayton Kershaw, the spirit he brings to one informs the spirit he brings to all.

That’s the approach we took to our special, 13-page photo essay in the September issue of Dodger Insider magazine that highlights numerous aspects of Kershaw’s love of the game.

September also presents a package of pieces on the Dodger bullpen — but don’t be nervous. There’s a fun feature on the unique, odd-couple relationship between Kenley Jansen and J.P. Howell, plus a 100-year history of the Dodger relief corps. Another story you should enjoy, written by Mark Langill, is what happens at Dodger Stadium after the final out to tuck our beloved ballpark in at night.

In all, there are more than two dozen stories in Dodger Insider magazine, plus all the usual great photos, games, tidbits and more. For $5 at the ballpark, it’s a bargain.

Dodger Insider magazine is available at all Dodger team stores.

Dodgers reacquire Chris Heisey for outfield depth

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

In addition to Justin Ruggiano, the Dodgers on Monday also reacquired minor-league outfielder Chris Heisey, in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Both players are right-handed bats that can give the Dodgers depth in the outfield, given the recent injuries to Yasiel Puig and Kiké Hernandez. Though neither is on the 40-man roster at this particular moment, both are postseason-eligible.

Heisey had been picked up by Toronto after being designated for assignment July 30 by the Dodgers. He has a .769 OPS in Triple-A this season, and also went 4 for 26 with eight walks in 17 games as a Dodger.

Marathon win a well-earned celebration for Chris Hatcher

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By Jon Weisman

Chris Hatcher, man.

Everyone killed Chris Hatcher this year. Practically from the day after his Opening Day save to the days after he came off the disabled list in August, the abuse this guy took. It’s not that he pitched great. But it was the condemnation, the notion that he was hopeless. Forget about the potential. “DFA him!” Or worse.

Then comes a night like tonight, and this is why I love baseball. For the redemption. For the Juan Uribes. For the Chris Hatchers.

It’s why I’m always so shocked that people are so quick to give up on a player. Because the redemption is all around you.

The season wasn’t on the line tonight. But the psyche was. And Chris Hatcher stepped up and threw three shutout innings, the longest outing of his career, and long enough to get the Dodgers to the bottom of the 14th, when Adrian Gonzalez followed a walk and two singles with a game-winning hit to left field, for a 5-4 Dodger victory.

It was a win for Hatcher, but less of a fluke than many fans would realize. Since returning to action August 15, Hatcher has thrown 8 1/3 innings and allowed one run on eight baserunners while striking out 11.

It was a win for the bullpen — admittedly, after Juan Nicasio did surrender a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning. But maybe not so much of a fluke either.

Bullpen 9-1

That’s just a week of work, but what a week: 26 innings with a 0.69 ERA (plus one additional inherited run allowed to score) and 9.35 strikeouts per nine innings. The walks are still too high — and it was a walk that set up Nicasio for the blown save — but if you can’t see the blue sky there, you must live for clouds.

Not for nothing, the maligned Jim Johnson pitched two shutout innings (despite hitting his fourth batter as a Dodger). Fellow former Brave reliever Luis Avilan pitched a perfect inning and has retired 10 batters in a row over his last five games, all in crucial situations. Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen also had shutout innings.

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Don’t let me leave Gonzalez out of this party. It was the slugging first baseman who, after Marlon Byrd’s unfathomable two-run infield single in the third inning gave the Giants the lead, tied this game in the sixth with a two-run home run, his 25th of the year. (One batter later, Andre Ethier’s home run put the Dodgers ahead.)

And it was Gonzalez who, rather than let the Giants start to think they might sneak out of their bases-loaded, none-out jam in the 15th, delivered the first-pitch, no-doubt game-winner.

Moments like Gonzalez’s are the reasons baseball thrills me. Moments like Hatcher’s are the reasons baseball makes me care.

So much, that I don’t even completely regret missing this …

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