Monday, June 15, 2015

Post-Game 64 Thread: Adrian Gonzalez Should Not Be A DH

RANGERS 4, DODGERS 1

Not sure what the hell Don Mattingly was thinking here, but putting in Adrian Gonzalez as a DH (in order to wedge Alberto Callaspo into the lineup, for some bizarre reason) was absolutely not the right move.

Gonzalez is a career .293/.365/.501 batter. He's .295/.369/.506 as a 1B, where he has played in roughly 95% of his plate appearances. As a DH, Gonzalez is a woeful .248/.285/.418--all numbers which stand to further degrade after today's 0-for-4, 4 LOB, 1 GIDP play. Why Mattingly thought this was a good idea for Gonzalez at DH is beyond me.

But wait, a NL team uses the DH to sneak in another potent bat, right? So into the lineup went Callaspo--batting ninth with his .224 average, no less. Callaspo went 0-for-1 with 2 walks and a K, but had the almost-TOOTBLAN moment of failing to tag up from second and advance to third, on a long fly ball over Shin-Soo Choo's head (which Choo misplayed but finally caught). The Dodgers went from no outs to one out in the top of the sixth in a still scoreless game; Gonzalez did his aforementioned GIDP, and then the Rangers came out in the bottom of the sixth and bloodied Carlos Frias and Adam Liberatore for their four runs.

Why wasn't Alex Guerrero playing? Guerrero's OWAR is +0.9. Callaspo's OWAR is -0.3, which is the absolute worst on the whole Dodger team (i.e., below Mike Bolsinger's -0.2--and he's a pitcher).

Criminy.

The Dodgers got one back in the top of the eighth on a leadoff Yasmani Grandal HR.

Andre Ethier grounded into two double plays, which is only three fewer than the Giants had all game yesterday.

5 comments:

Steve Sax said...

SEA 1, @ SF 1, B4

Steve Sax said...

M's up 2-1 in the fifth

Steve Sax said...

3-1 and I don't understand the play:

"Austin Jackson pops into a force out, second baseman Joe Panik to shortstop Brandon Crawford. Mike Zunino scores. Logan Morrison out at 2nd. Austin Jackson to 1st." ???

Well it's 3-1 anyway, now two out with Nelson Cruz up and two on

spank said...

Perhaps Muttingly wanted to give Guerrero some extra rest? nah. Mutt's an idiot.

Steve Sax said...

Giants lost 5-1. Lead stays at 3.5 games.

Giants' home loss streak of nine is the longest since moving to SF.