Moving On!

                     Moving on to another subject, strength of schedule. The Dodgers have a brutal schedule in August. The A’s are the only team they face who at this point in time, have a losing record. The Phillies, Brewers, Mariners and Orioles, are all either leading their division, or are close to it. The Pirates, Cardinals, Rays and D-Backs are all over .500.  Arizona is a very hot team right now and they are only 5 games back as of today. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games while the Dodgers are 5-5. Padres are 9-1 but the Dodgers do not see them again until the 24-26th of September, their last three home games.

                        They will face some pretty good pitching over the next four weeks. Believe it or not, the A’s have the fourth best staff in the majors right now, even better than the Phillies. Baltimore is ranked #1. This is definitely going to be a make or break stretch for the team. After the Phillies they get Pittsburgh, who has given them a lot of trouble over the last couple of years. LA fans might a look at Paul Skenes. The Pirates wunderkind. Then when they head to Milwaukee. The Brewers staff is ranked 6th in the majors. They do give up a lot of homers, but that is more about their ballpark than the pitchers. 

                       The Dodgers are probably going to have their roughest August in years. If, and only if, they can get some of their superstar players back sooner rather than later, they might be able to hold off the charge of the Padres and D-Backs. The Dodgers’ vaunted depth is really being challenged this year. I have to believe that to avoid the same type of thing next year, a few things need to be addressed.

                     Conditioning. Obviously, something has to be done about all of the arm injuries to pitchers. So many have gone down this season, and it seems to be an epidemic in the majors. I do not know much about the Dodgers trainers, and I am sure all are vetted before they are hired. But something is rotten in Denmark. There has to be a reason. There are more pulled hammy’s, calf strains, abductor pulls, oblique strains. sore arms, and other ailments than I have ever seen. Mike Trout hasn’t been Mike Trout in years. Rendon missed the better part of three seasons since signing with the Angels. 

                    Over the last couple of years, Muncy has missed close to 30 games a year with some sort of ailment. He has been out since May, and he only played 11 games in May. Broken bones when hit by a pitch you have no control over. But maybe a little more padding on those low walls at Dodger Stadium, especially where the concrete is exposed at the bottom of the padding, would be a good idea. Prevention always is a good idea. Remember Judge was out a few weeks with a fractured toe after crashing through the gate in right field. 

                     Many of us have watched this team and game for many years. I remember well Duke Snider straining his arm trying to throw a ball out of the coliseum. Duke had elbow problems the rest of his career. It is doubtful that modern medicine would have helped Koufax continue his career. His arthritis was debilitating. Drysdale on the other hand, could have pitched more because now they can repair the rotator cuff. Back then, not a chance. 

                   The roster they have right now is going to be altered a bunch in the next couple of weeks. But, unless the pitching drastically improves from where it has been the last few weeks, they are going to be on the outside looking in. Feels strange saying that. But facts are facts. Since Betts, and also Yamamoto went down, this team is around a .500. They had their first losing month since 2018. They went 11-14 in April that year, one of the reasons they were tied with the Rockies at the end of 162 games. Granted, they were only 2 games under at 11-13. But they are only 2 games over .500 on the road. They are 14 over at home. 

                In my humble opinion, the next two weeks are going to be very critical for this team. They have some tough teams coming in, and the schedule does not get any easier. Players who are on the roster are going to have to up their game as long as they are in the lineup. One thing is for sure, they need to strikeout a lot less than they are right now. Will Smith is in a HUGE slump. Give him a blow and let Barnes play. He is at least hitting. Something we have not been able to say very much. They are the Dodgers, but this version, not one single team in the league fears playing. 

               The Dodgers got a huge boost this evening with a fine performance by Jack Flaherty. Six shutout innings and he got out of a bases loaded jam without Doc going to the bullpen. Up 2-0, the offense finally really got untracked over the last two innings scoring 8 runs. They got 14 hits, none of which left the ballpark.

                                                                                            Minor League Report

            Ben Casparius went 2/3rds of an inning. He was touched for 5 runs, 4 earned on one hit, and 3 walks. He left down 2-0 with 2 outs and the bases loaded. Rooney relieved him. He gave up a 2-run single, then he walked a batter, and the 5th run scored on a passed ball by Cartaya. OKC got 2 back on Cartaya’s 3rd homer in the top of the second. They scored another in the top of the fifth, but El Paso answered with 3 in the bottom of the fifth, and that ended the scoring. Final: El Paso 8 OKC 3. Gauthier and Davis were both 2-4.

            In Tulsa, Kendall Williams went 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits, no walks and he had 5 strikeouts. He allowed 2 home runs. The 4 runs were more than enough for Springfield who cruised to a 8-2 win. Rushing hit his 15th homer and Freeland his 11th. Rushing was the only Driller with 2 hits. They had 5 total. 

             Great Lakes scored 6 runs in the top of the third and cruised to a 6-1 win over Cedar Rapids. All 6 runs were earned. Mongelli and Miller had 2 hits each. Rodriguez and Newell drove in 2 runs each. There were no home runs. Heubeck went 4.2 innings, and Cabrera got the win with 2 scoreless innings of relief. 

             Rancho got a walk-off 10 inning win, 7-6 over San Jose. Hope was 2-4, he is now hitting .327. Rojas was 2-4 with and RBI, he is now hitting .306. Munoz was 2-5 with a homer, his 3rd and 3 RBIs. Cabrera got the win after pitching a scoreless top of the 10th.