Meet Me In St. Louis

                        The Dodgers arrived in St. Louis on Thursday evening, coming off of two losses in games they felt they should have won. Walker Buehler had started Wednesday’s game, and it became quite obvious early that Buehler is still not all the way back. After the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, Buehler walked the first three hitters he faced in the bottom of the inning. 

                             The next hitter, Contreras, hit a shot to center field that Kiermaier caught and then fired a strike to Barnes for a double play. He then struck out Adames to end the inning. Then in the bottom of the second, he gave up a homer to Bauer leading off the inning. Mitchell struck out; Frelich then reached on an error by Ahmed. Ortiz grounded out to Freeman and Frelich went to second. Turang tripled Frelich home. Chourio then singled Turang in and the game was tied. 

                             Buehler got through the third unscathed, but in the bottom of the 4th, he allowed his 4th walk. Mitchell then stole second and went to third on a ground out to Frelich. Ortiz then grounded to Kike who made an error allowing Mitchell to score. Buehler was through after 3.1 innings. Meanwhile the Dodger offense, like it has so many times over the last few weeks, could not score after taking an early lead. 

                              Finally in the top of the 7th, they got something going. Ohtani, who for almost 4 weeks now has been slumping, struck out. Betts singled and Freeman singled him to third. Teo struck out and Rojas came up to pinch hit for Lux. With 2 strikes he lined a single to right to score Mookie. Then, as it all to often has happened lately, Kike popped out to end the threat. That was the Dodgers last gasp. 

                           Brent Honeywell, in his second full inning of work, hit Ortiz with a pitch. Turang then sacrificed him to second. Phillips came in to relived Honeywell and allowed a single to Chourio. Betts over ran the ball as Ortiz scored. Phillips got out of the inning without any more damage. 

                         But the Dodgers went 1-2-3 in the 8th. After retiring the Brewers in order in the bottom of the 8th the Dodgers had the top of the order coming up in the 9th. Brewers closer, Devin Williams made short work of LA in the 9th as Ohtani flied out, Betts struck out and Freeman grounded out to end the game. 

                       Obviously Buehler is not really ready to resume his status as an elite starter. His stuff looks good enough to retire hitters, but there is very little swing and miss. Montas started that game for the Brewers.  Over his career, the Dodgers were hitting over .300 against the guy but couldn’t do anything against him after the first inning. It is games like this that really frustrate the fan base. 

                     They would lose the next day in equally frustrating fashion after falling behind 3-0, fighting back to take a 4-3 lead, only to see the bullpen, specifically Daniel Hudson, who for most of the season has been very efficient, implode. 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th for the Brewers and then Willams shuts down LA again.

                    The flight to St. Louis could not have been a happy one. Rookie left-hander, Justin Wrobleski was called up to make the start after the Dodgers put Glasnow on the IL with elbow tendonitis. Coming into this series, I felt they needed to win at least 2 of the 3 games. A sweep would have been great. 

                     After the Dodgers could only muster a single in the first, Wrobleski walked the first hitter he faced. Contreras struck out and Winn was caught stealing, the 23rd of the year for Will Smith. Pham flied out to end the inning. The very hot Gavin Lux led off with a homer to put LA up, 1-0. After an out, Rojas doubled and the Kiermaier, who has been much better with the bat of late, singled him home. 

                    Wrobleski gave those runs right back by walking Arenado, and then surrendering a homer to Goldschmidt. St. Louis would score single runs in the 3rd and 5th innings on homers by Winn and Pages. In the top of the 6th, Mookie homered leading off and it was 4-3. Freeman and Teo made outs. Then Lux, Smith and Rojas singled to tie the score. Smith was on third and Miggy on first, then Miggy stole second. Kiermaier then hit his first Dodger homer, a 3-run shot to right center. LA up 7-4. 

                   Grove came in to pitch the bottom of the 6th and immediately got into trouble. He walked Pham, got Arenado out and walked Goldschmidt. Banda relieved him and wasn’t much better. Donovan singled, scoring Pham. Walker struck out for the second out. Pages then singled scoring Goldschmidt. 7-6 LA. Banda managed to get the last out and the damage was stopped. 

                  Other than a Freeman single in the 7th, and Betts’s double in the 9th, LA could not do a thing against the Cardinal bullpen. But the Cardinals were stymied by the Dodger pen the last three innings also as Phillips, Kelly and Kopech allowed just two walks between them for the win. Kopech got his first save. Mikolas took the loss for the Cardinals. 

                    Many were looking forward to Miller’s return to the rotation with some hope he might find the same magic he had earlier in the year when he shut down St. Louis with 10 Ks. But this is not the same guy. He doesn’t even look like the pitcher he was that day, or last season for that matter. Despite scoring first again, the Dodgers never really mounted a threat against Andre Pallante. He pitched a very good game and kept the Dodger hitters off balance. With the Padres win over the Rockies, the lead dipped to 2 games. Az lost to the Rays, so they remained 3 games back. 

                   We all watched today’s game with some trepidation. Most of us remember the dominant pitcher Kershaw has been for most of his career. But he himself has admitted that his stuff is not what it used to be. But I must say, what we saw of Kersh for six innings today should be shown to every person who believes that Max velocity and spin are the best ways to win. 

                     What we saw was a pitching clinic. A 37-year-old future Hall of Famer showed everybody he is not finished. I have read many posts on here, especially after his first couple of starts that said, we have seen the end of Kershaw. I have always said, you don’t need to throw a ball through the wall to win. Great pitchers can win without great stuff. He threw 70 pitches over 6 innings. He only struck out 2, he walked 1 and gave up 4 hits. His only really stressful inning was the 6th. 

                       I knew when he walked off of the mound after the last out, that he would not be coming out for the 7th. And naturally, there were posters almost immediately saying, why did Doc take him out??? He was only at 70 pitches! Well, my friends, after having driven cross country for so many years, and having spent many days in St. Louis and other cities in the month of August when the heat and HUMIDITY, can be stifling, I know exactly why he was pulled. 

                      The humidity was at 70% plus. That is like walking into a sauna wearing all your winter clothes. It is hard to breathe, and exerting energy like a pitcher does, it can be exhausting. Especially after a high leverage inning like Kersh had. The good is they won a second 1 run game against the Cardinals, and they headed home on a high note. 

                         Both the D-Backs and the Padres lost. Arizona’s third straight loss, and 2nd walk off loss in two days. Tampa was down to no bench players and used 7 pitchers to win in 12 innings. Former Dodger, Edwin Uceta got the win. Arizona had two runners thrown out at the plate in extra innings. The Rockies meanwhile beat San Diego, 3-2. Machado’s 8th inning bomb made it close, but Colorado held on to take 2 of 3. Dodgers lead over the Padres is now 3. They lead Az by 4.

                      The Dodgers Freddie Freeman will have an MRI tomorrow on his middle finger. Dodger fans should get their first look at Tommy Edman as he will be activated tomorrow. Max Muncy might also be activated a day early depending on what the MRI says about Freeman’s finger. Max was supposed to take some ground balls at first before his game at Las Vegas this evening. If so, they will have to make at least 2 roster moves tomorrow. I would not want to speculate just who goes, but I do feel the most vulnerable position player would have to be Nick Ahmed.

                    They could opt to send Andy Pages to AAA so he could play every day and then recall him come the 1st of September. The roster crunch we all expected is happening. By the way, the Reds picked up Amed Rosario off waivers. We have a nine game homestand coming up against three teams with winning record. The Mariners are in second place in the AL West, just 4 games back of Houston. The Rays after their win today, are sitting at 62-61. Out of the Wild Card chase it would seem, and then they get the Orioles. The O’s have the same record as the Dodgers, 73-52 and are tied for the lead in the AL East with the Yankees. Of course, that could change by the time they play on a week from Tuesday.    

                     I believe this is about the most important home-stand the Dodgers have had this year. The good thing is that they have 2 off days in the next 11. But they have to win more than they lose on this homestand. 6-3 would be good. Anything less than that, well, you are just opening the door for the Diamondbacks and Padres. The Padres are in a stretch where they are playing 18 straight games. They play the Twins and Mets at home, go on the road for 4 in St. Louis, and three with the Rays. They then fly home from Tampa to play Detroit on Labor Day before finally getting a day off on the 3rd of September.

                       St. Louis and Detroit are under .500 but not by much. And Detroit has been playing very good baseball. So, their schedule is not that soft. The D-Backs have it a lot softer. They play Miami 3 in Miami, then go to Boston for three. They come home for a 7-game homestand against the Mets and then the Dodgers for a four-game wrap around series.

                     The Dodgers over the next two weeks need to play some of their best baseball. Pitching will be the key. Stone starts the first game with the Mariners on Monday against Woo, who is 5-1 with an ERA just above 2. Stoney is going to have to pitch as well as he ever has. 

                                                                                    Minor League Scores

                         Rancho lost to Visalia, 8-1. The Quakes could muster only 4 hits, all singles. Six Quakes pitchers allowed 11 hits and 10 walks in the loss. 

                          Great Lakes had both of their games in Lake County cancelled because of rain. No makeup date announced. 

                           Midland beat Tulsa 8-4. The Drillers outhit Midland, 14-10 but could not overcome 4 Midland homers. Lockwood-Powell, 2, Miller, 3, Young,2 and Allyne, 2, had multiple hits. Harris took the loss. 

                             OKC is leading Las Vegas, 6-3 in the top of the 8th inning. Neither Max Muncy nor Tommy Edman are playing tonight. Chris Taylor played LF and went 2-4. He is hitting .364 in his re-hab. Outman hit an inside the park homer in the top of the 8th inning. Lipcius, who had singled, scored also on the homer. The homer was Outman’s second of the game. Gamboa started but only went 3 innings. The OTHER Max Muncy is 0-2 so far. Tanner Dodson is now pitching for OKC.