Dodgers Dugout: You win some, you lose some

Table of Contents

Hello, and welcome to a different version of Dodgers Dugout. My identify is Houston Mitchell. The Dodgers have the fourth-best document in baseball. Sadly, two of the groups with higher data are in the identical division.

After that scintillating 8-0 begin, the Dodgers have gone 2-4, dropping sequence to the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. This has triggered nice consternation amongst a section of the fan base, as a result of, in any case, the Dodgers have solely 148 video games left to proper the ship and a 10-4 begin is simply brutal.

Let’s bear in mind final season. As a result of a few of the similar issues are cropping up this season. Whereas there’s a entire lot going proper, there are some issues that haven’t been working as nicely. Let’s have a look:

The underside of the lineup

The Nos. 7-9 hitters have been atrocious. Primarily due to the next (batting common/OB%/SLG %):

Max Muncy, .174/.224/.261
Kiké Hernández, .103/.163/.410
Andy Pages, .171/.306/.341
Miguel Rojas, .125/.160/.125
Austin Barnes, 0 for 10
Chris Taylor, 1 for 7

That’s not superb. Kiké Hernández has 4 hits, all residence runs, which accounts for his slugging proportion. Andy Pages has drawn six walks and hit two homers however has struck out 16 occasions. Miguel Rojas has one stroll, no extra-base hits, no runs and no RBIs. Max Muncy has struck out 21 occasions in 46 at-bats. And Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor have been, nicely, Barnes and Taylor.

Let’s check out how the 7-9 hitters rank as a gaggle by batting common in comparison with the opposite 29 groups:

1. Philadelphia, .299
2. Detroit, .284
3. Texas, .284
4. N.Y. Yankees, .277
5. San Diego, .271
6. Boston, .262
7. St. Louis, .257
8. Cincinnati, .248
9. Arizona, .242
10. San Francisco, .240

We’re a 3rd of the way in which via and haven’t gotten to the Dodgers but. Let’s skip forward.

26. Seattle, .192
27. Minnesota, .191
28. Cleveland, .177
29. N.Y. Mets, .153
30. Dodgers, .149

The Dodgers’ 7-9 hitters are 21 for 141 with six doubles, 5 homers, 11 RBIs, 13 walks and 43 strikeouts.

If you happen to bear in mind, this was an issue final season, with them rating at or close to the underside for a lot of the first half. They completed in seventeenth with a .232 common. They moved into the highest 10 in the event you ranked them by on-base or slugging proportion. However this yr they rank twenty ninth in OBP and twenty fourth in slugging.

This may enhance a bit when Freddie Freeman returns this weekend. That can permit Tommy Edman to maneuver decrease within the lineup, enhancing issues and giving fewer at-bats to the blokes dragging issues down. By the way in which, Edman is tied for the NL lead with 5 homers. Does anybody suppose he’ll lead the NL in homers this yr? Early season stats are wacky.

Is that this one thing to panic over? In fact not. Issues will steadiness out ultimately, and if not, the Dodgers will take steps to enhance issues. However 14 video games is much too quickly to make drastic adjustments, particularly when you find yourself 10-4. In the event that they have been 4-10, issues may look completely different.

Additionally understand that batting common can wildly fluctuate this early within the season. Taylor is hitting .143. He he goes two for 3 in his subsequent begin, he’ll be hitting .300. Michael Conforto is hitting .211. If he goes three for 4, he’s hitting .262. One particular person emailed me to say “Shohei Ohtani is immediately a simple out. Has the league figured him out?” On the time he had gone one for his final 11 and was hitting .268. Since then he has gone six for 13 and is hitting .315. So, placing an excessive amount of inventory in batting common till the top of this month is simply asking for an ulcer.

The protection

The Dodgers are a shade beneath the league common in fielding proportion at .985. They’re round common in lots of defensive metrics. Mookie Betts is a piece in progress at shortstop (however nonetheless higher than you’ll count on). Max Muncy isn’t precisely Graig Nettles at third base (sorry to convey up ugly reminiscences ). However the large concern is Andy Pages, who typically seems to be misplaced in heart subject, taking the mistaken routes and misplaying balls. For one instance, . He made a pleasant catch Wednesday (and likewise hit a key homer) so it hasn’t all been dangerous, however at occasions he makes Billy Ashley appear to be Willie Mays.

The beginning pitching

It didn’t take lengthy for Blake Snell to finish up on the IL. He was placed on with soreness in his pitching shoulder and received’t throw once more till Monday. So apparently he might be out a short while. Tyler Glasnow couldn’t deal with the damp situations and slippery mound in Philadelphia and needed to go away his begin early. And wanting to provide everybody an additional day of relaxation, the crew turned to Justin Wrobelski and Landon Knack, and taking their two begins collectively, they gave up 13 earned runs in 7-1/3 innings. And the Dodgers received a type of video games. Apart from that, the beginning pitching and bullpen have been fairly strong.

Talking of Wrobleski, a few of you have been upset that Dave Roberts left him on the market to surrender eight runs in 5 innings. Bear in mind, the times of Tommy Lasorda making managerial strikes to attempt to win each sport are over. There might be occasions when Roberts will go away a starter (or reliever) on the market to get hammered as a way to protect the bullpen. Heck, they let Brent Honeywell get hit onerous in a World Sequence sport as a way to protect the bullpen. It has labored for them; it’s not going to alter.

To sum up, it’s far too quickly to fret. In a 162-game season, there are all the time going to be areas of concern. The Dodgers are on tempo to win 116 video games. They received’t. The Padres are on tempo to win 125 video games. They received’t. The White Sox are on tempo to lose 133 video games. They really may. So, be glad you aren’t a White Sox fan.

An effective way to have a look at it’s this: Regardless of some flaws, the Dodgers are 10-4. Simply suppose how good they are going to be when these flaws are corrected.

Unhappy information

Former Dodgers reliever Octavio Dotel was killed when the roof of a nightclub within the Dominican Republic collapsed Tuesday. A minimum of 221 folks died, together with one other former main leaguer, Tony Blanco, and greater than 200 have been injured. Dotel pitched in 19 video games and had one save for the Dodgers in 2010. He pitched for 13 groups in his 15-season profession.

Former Boston star David Ortiz on Dotel: “He was an individual whom everybody cherished. It’s very onerous, very onerous, actually.” Ortiz mentioned how he spoke with Dotel virtually each day. “He was very humorous. Octavio was a man who was a fighter.”

Former Dodger Pedro Martinez mentioned on Instagram on Tuesday he has members of the family who have been buried within the rubble. In response to the Related Press, the federal government introduced late Wednesday that it was transferring right into a restoration part after rescue crews looked for survivors for greater than 24 hours. Officers mentioned earlier that they had rescued 145 folks.

You see issues like this occur, and immediately worrying in regards to the backside of the lineup appears very trivial certainly.

Torpedo away!

The brand new large factor in baseball to this point this season are torpedo bats, which appear to be this:

As you possibly can see, the barrel of a torpedo bat is bigger than that of an everyday bat. And sure, it’s authorized to make use of a torpedo bat. The Yankees have been the primary crew to make use of it this season and so they have hit 26 homers in 12 video games (the Dodgers have 28 in 14 video games). No different crew has greater than 20.

Jack Harris wrote at size about . A number of key takeaways:

—The fattest a part of the barrel is nearer to the deal with, with the thought of redistributing extra mass to an space the place some hitters make extra frequent contact. The remainder of the lumber is rounded right into a extra tapered form on the finish.

—Canadian bat firm B45 is the highest maker of the bats. The chief government of B45? Former Dodgers nearer Eric Gagne, who instructed Harris, “My job was to interrupt bats. Now my job is to ensure the bats don’t break anymore, ensure the ball goes farther. That was my enemy again within the day.”

—Greater than 50 of B45’s big-league hitters have positioned orders for torpedo bats. Max Muncy, who doesn’t get his bats from B45, was the primary Dodger to start out experimenting with them.

These names appear acquainted ballot

Yearly I do a section within the e-newsletter title “These names appear acquainted” and yearly I hear from a few of you that you just don’t prefer it as a result of it’s a wall of stats, exhibiting how former Dodgers are doing with their new crew. Being the fair-minded, all-around nice and humble man that I’m, I believed I might let the reader resolve whether or not to proceed it this season or drop it. So, whether or not you need it to proceed or not, . Thanks!

How will the Dodgers do?

We’re a few weeks into the season, so time for our annual ballot on the way you suppose the Dodgers will do. Will they win the World Sequence? Attain the NLCS and lose? .

Final season’s outcomes:

They’ll attain the NLCS however lose there, 42.6%
They’ll win the World Sequence, 29.3%
They’ll attain the NLDS however lose there, 16.2%
They’ll lose within the World Sequence, 9.6%
They’ll lose within the wild-card spherical, 2.1%
They won’t make the postseason, 0.2%