Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Post-Game 27 Thread: Bullpen Meltdown

BREWERS 11, DODGERS 3

The winning-all-of-our-home-series streak is over (having dropped our second straight game to the Brewers). The Reed-Johnson-belongs-in-the-leadoff-spot discussion is (hopefully) over (Johnson went 0-for-5 with 1 K and 6 LOB). Shoot, with an 11-16 record putting us alone as the 15th-best team in the NL, 6 GB the Padres, it looks like our frickin' 2010 season is over as well.

Sax and Mrs. Sax were at the game tonight, with about 50 of our friends (attendance was really sparse; more on this in my at-game thread later). And we had to leave after the seventh inning to relieve the sitter at home. I had thought that the worst level my frustration could reach was in the bottom of the seventh, losing 4-3, seeing Russell Martin stranded at second with none out by Andre Ethier (K), Matt Kemp (K), an IBB to James Loney, and a Casey Blake ground out. But no, the Dodgers went on to yield seven more runs to the Brewers in the last two frames to lose by an embarrassing eight-run margin to another sub-.500 team.

Incompetence of this magnitude can't persist, right? Man, this is going to be a looooooong season.

set (skeleton): Orel; spike (words): Sax

22 comments:

Nostradamus said...

Fin.

NicJ said...

haha the little post game music video recap thing they do for prime ticket had only one dodger clip. The rest just looked like it was from the brewers network.

Steve Sax said...

comments added to the PGT

Good night everybody.

MR.F said...

We suck.

Dave said...

Everyone said last night that it was too early to give up on the season.

Is it okay now?

NicJ said...

I know its still early, but if you count spring training we have been playing terrible baseball for 2+ months now.

Ill reserve my quit for when we are all healthy, but that might not be till july when we are 15 games back.

Steve Sax said...

15 back?

Why so optimistic?

karina said...

It's not okay to give up on the Dodgers, even it is out of our hands and our pitchers don't seem to have a MLB level.

Maybe it's a matter of getting worse before it gets better

Josh S. said...

Tuesday: Starter gives up 7, bullpen gives up 4.
Wednesday: Starter gives up 4, bullpen gives up 7.

Symmetry, baby.

Mind-numbing, soul-crushing, beer-emptying symmetry.

Paul said...

I woke up not very excited for tonight's game. I can't remember having that feeling in a long time.

Still I maintain better to expose the obvious flaws that were on this team in April and May than August and September.

I don't think out Owner (who is our owner again?) will do much about them until this trial is done and with appeals and delays I don't know when that will be.

If Dodger Stadium becomes Florida empty maybe that will speed the process up.

LLCoolL said...

Who is our pitching coach? How can a staff that is made up of most of the same guys as last year fall apart so badly this year?

Steve Sax said...

Agreed, LLCoolL: last night people were calling for Honeycutt's head at the stadium

Wesley Vento said...

What else can go wrong? I guess Ethier and Kemp could go on extended slumps, Furcal could require another surgery, Manny could just flat out give up...

I think this is about as rock bottom as it gets.

I was not one to think that the McCourt divorce would really affect what happened on the field, but its growing more apparent that ownership is defunct, and will not take the steps necessary to right this ship. Letting Randy Wolf and O-Dogg walk was a huge mistake. I'd say its borderline a fireable offense by a GM, but you know that Ned was handcuffed in those proceedings.

Two words: mother fucker

Josh S. said...

Re: The pitching coach issue.

I wonder if the Dodgers blew a golden opportunity by not getting rid of Honeycutt after '08 and offering the job to Greg Maddux.

Kyle Baker said...

HLACK, I'm right with you. I started the season by saying that I didn't think the McCourt drama would spill onto the field. I think I was wrong. The ownership is clearly skimping on everything according to personal observations and bits and pieces that have come out in the media (ex.: the other day I was at the game and literally could not walk around and find an usher; in the recent past, there was an usher per aisle. And the article the other day about team development spending, or lack thereof, really has me spooked).

Make no mistake: this is a club in crisis. I'm not saying the ship can't still be righted by some great players we already have, but it worries me that continued mediocrity combined with lack of focus and energy in the front office will result in oour taking many steps backward from the progress the team made over the past few years.

Last night's attendance could well be a leading indicator of how the fans will react to such a situation.

And yeah, I'm not a big "Fire the coach and everything will be better" kind of guy, but Honeycutt may need to go. We have some of the most promising young pitchers out there in Kershaw and Bills, but they just have not progressed on the trajectory they should be. I don't expect them to be 25-game winning, Cy Young award sharing pitchers tomorrow, but something is clearly wrong. If pitching coach Duncan for St. Louis can spend 20 minutes with Bad Penny and turn his career around, then it's evident we need someone like that who can work better with pitchers' mechanics, including with veterans and with young talent.

Neeebs (The Original) said...

Funny, but I haven't been to a game yet all season. I'm usually good for at least two games in April.

It's just that this year, with all the ownership distractions, I did not feel motivated to support the McCourts' nonsense.

I have a list of tix available from my sources and I have put off selecting games because I'm not thrilled with the product. At least at home I can turn the channel. I'm a captive audience at the stadium.

I guess on May 22, I'll see if this ship is heading to sea or heading to port.

I just have one remaining question:

What would Henry II do?

Kyle Baker said...

Are you suggesting we should consolidate Scotland, Neeebs? Surely that would solve our pitching woes.

Neeebs (The Original) said...

We can just raid the northern heathens and take Timmy and Cain and leave behind Padilla and Sherrill.

Then we can do a banquet style feast.

Josh S. said...

I wonder when we can switch from thinking "this is a good team that's disappointing us" to "this is a bad team, let's just roll with it?"

Kyle Baker said...

@Josh

I think I just did that about an hour ago.

Neeebs (The Original) said...

If we can get the top end of our rotation back on track for a significant length of time, then things will turn.

If the second half and playoff Bills remains and Kershaw's development stifles, weeze beez in TROUBLE.

I'm not worried about the bats, but I am worried about the bench. I think Ned could have done a much better job filling the stunt squad.

Tally Ho.

karina said...

@Neeebs i think only Cain would do.