Post-Game 84 Thread: Dodgers Win By Touchdown in Extra Time

DODGERS 14, GIANTS 7 (11)

The Dodgers typically don't perform very well on nationally-televised games, and this afternoon's matchup with the Giants seemed to be more of the same. In a seesaw affair, the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead, then went down 5-2, before clawing back to tie the game at 6-6 and go to extra innings.

In extras, the Dodgers went up 7-6 in the tenth, only to see that lead evaporate and the Giants have bases loaded with one out on the bottom of the tenth. However, Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson settled down and struck out Patrick Bailey and then induced a pop foulout on Matt Chapman (who started the game 3-for-3, so this was no small feat), to end the threat.

To be clear, with one out in the bottom of the tenth, the Giants had a 82.9% chance to win the game. And they couldn't seal the deal.

In the top of the 11th, facing a second inning from Giants reliever Sean Hjelle (whom Giants manager Bob Melvin had to leave in the game, against his judgment, given the Giants' injury-plagued rotation and bullpen), the Dodgers opened up a seven-run can of whupass that buried the Giants:

Seven runs from the Dodgers in the top of the eleventh inning put this game away. The Dodgers earn a split from the first two of this series--meaningful, since the red-hot Padres trounced the Red Sox on Friday and Saturday, and are now five games over .500 (and 7.5 games behind the Dodgers).

Also meaningful:

• Will Smith (3-for-6, 3 RBI) looks like he might have emerged from his recent slump;
• the Dodgers' bottom of the order largely contributed to the victory today (which is aberrant, given they are in the bottom third batting in the majors this year), save the black hole batting ninth that is Cavan Biggio (0-for-2 with lame fielding) plus Kiké Hernandez (0-for-4 with a fielding error)--please get well soon Max Muncy!;
• and Shohei Ohtani hit his NL-leading 26th home run in the third inning.

The Dodgers go for the series victory tomorrow. LFG!

Games 83-85 Thread: June 28-30 @ Giants

Fri 6.28 7.15p: Knack vs. Webb
Sat 6.29 4.15p: Glasnow vs. TBD
Sun 630 1p: Paxton vs. TBD

Lots of injuries on the rosters of these two rivals. While we try to push through losses to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts, Walker Buehler, and Max Muncy (not to mention Clayton Kershaw, Michael Grove, and Joe Kelly), the Giants are suffering through injuries to Jung Hoo Lee, Blake Snell, Keaton Winn, Mike Yastrzemski, and Kyle Harrison.

San Francisco might get Lamonte Wade Jr. back for this weekend series, though. I haven't heard of any returning Dodgers scheduled for this weekend (though I expect we'll have Will "Slappy" Smith back in the lineup, sitting recently due to a slump at the plate).

Which means we'll probably see more Cavan Biggio, Chris Taylor, and Austin Barnes this weekend, I reckon.

And that makes me the stick figure in the middle of the above picture.

Post-Game 82 Thread: Raise A Glass (of, for) Stone

DODGERS 4, WHITE SOX 0

Dodgers earn the series sweep on the back of Gavin Stone: 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 Ks.

That was the Dodgers' first complete game shutout since Walker Buehler did it against the Diamondbacks on April 25, 2022.

Also:

Stone's shutout was the first by a Dodgers rookie since Hyun Jin Ryu threw one against the Angels on May 28, 2013. It was the Dodgers' first shutout since Walker Buehler's against the D-backs on April 25, 2022.

Shohei Ohtani's heroics earlier in the game, in which his leadoff home run set the franchise record for games with a consecutive RBI (10), were almost overshadowed by Stone's incredible pitching performance. But Ohtani's exploits were also overshadowed by the Dodgers' batboy, who made an incredible barehand save:

Hilarious, looking at interpreter Will Ireton in the background of that shot, as he is totally agape.

Also, note that Austin Barnes (in the on-deck circle) was still very late on his swing. Just like his ABs.

Games 80-82 Thread: June 24-26 @ White Sox

Garrett Crochet and family

Mon 6.24: TBD vs. Crochet
Tue 6.25: TBD vs. Flexen
Wed 6.26: TBD vs. Fedde
All games 5p

With the White Sox comfortably positioned as the worst team in the majors all season long (the White Sox start Monday 30 games out of first place in the AL Central), there has been a lot of talk about Garrett Crochet (6-6 in 16 starts with a 3.25 ERA, 124 Ks and a 0.95 WHIP) as being prime trade bait. I'm not here to spin that yarn, but I am thinking that these three games at old Comiskey Park might be the perfect place for Chicago to start Flexen their power with a series win over the Dodgers (who haven't even named starting pitchers as of Monday morning).

Ready? Fedde? Go.

MLB Screws The Dodgers Out Of Weekend Game Revenue

SoSG reader karen has been complaining about this for weeks now, and I share her annoyance that the Dodgers don't have a game today (Sunday), a highly uncommon scheduling quirk.

What's worse, though, is that I realize now that the Dodgers may be the only MLB team cheated out of a Sunday home game. The Yankees play every Sunday in 2024. And the Giants. And the Braves.

I didn't research all the other teams, but what the hell, MLB? Why stick it to the Dodgers to have them idle on a Sunday?

Games 78-79 Thread: June 21-22 vs. Angels

Fri 6.21 7p: Knack vs. Sandoval
Sat 6.22 7p: Glasnow vs. TBD

As SoSG regular karen points out, this upcoming "weekend" series makes no sense. A by-product of the horrible "balanced" schedule (in its second year), the Dodgers now face their crosstown rivals for only four games a season--which, in addition to sharply reducing the number of games against divisional rivals, allows the Dodgers to smush in games against the other 10 AL teams we wouldn't have seen that year (as the interleague divisional play rotated).

I hate this. And I'm not even a fan of having to play the Angels.

I mean, it's great that the Dodgers play the teams like YankMes in every season. But not playing the Giants in the last two months of the season makes no sense--and nor does the Sunday off-day that we'll have this weekend.

(If the Dodgers played 13 games against the NL West; plus 6 games against the rest of the NL; plus 6 games against the Angels; plus 3 games against each of the rest of the AL teams: --> I think that comes out to 160 games. That leaves two more games we could play against the Giants. And then we can put the last three weeks of the season roped off only for inter-divisional play.

The east coast teams might be more vulnerable to September weather issues, but that's their problem. This also avoids the stupid two-game stints littered across the schedule.

Honestly, this isn't so difficult.)

One's only remedy is to take matters into one's own hands, start the bender early Friday morning, and then watch Friday's game drunk and Saturday's game hungover, so one sleeps through Sunday altogether. I might have to give this a try.

Games 74-77 Thread: June 17-20 @ Rockies

Mon 6.17 5.40p: Paxton vs. Quantrill
Tue 6.18 5.40p: Buehler vs. Gomber
Wed 6.19 5.40p: Miller vs. Feltner
Thu 6.20 12p: TBD vs. Blach

Not much great things to say after losing a weekend series against the Royals that we actually won. We took two out of three games, but lost two key pieces of our lineup (Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts). So now we play four in Denver and really, I am not emotionally ready for this series. Neither are the Dodgers.

Post-Game 73 Thread: Screw The Royals

MLB.com: Betts facing lengthy absence after HBP fractures left hand

I'm without words right now. Except that I'm really angry at Dan Altavilla.

Hoping Mookie is okay.

Games 71-73 Thread: June 14-16 vs. Royals

Here's another time we had royals at Dodger Stadium.

Fri 6.14 7p: Stone vs. Ragans
Sat 6.15 6p: Yamamoto vs. Lugo
Sun 6.16 1p: Glasnow vs. Singer

Putting up a quick Game Thread as I'll be traveling this weekend. It's really disappointing to have dropped that series to Texas after opening of can of whupass in Game 1, only to watch the bats go incredibly silent for the last two games.

Cavan Biggio is not the answer, by the way.

Post-Game 69 Thread: Blowing Through Stop Sign, Pages Loses Game

RANGERS 3, DODGERS 2

Watching the play in isolation, it was maddening to see Dodgers rookie Andy Pages blow right through Coach Dino Ebel's stop sign and try to score from first on the bottom-nine Jason Heyward double to right-center.

Heyward laced a shot to the gap that was misplayed by the center fielder, scoring Will Smith from second base to make it 3-2 Texas. But it didn't look deep enough to justify the baserunning boldness of Pages, and when Pages was thrown out at the plate by a good distance, it seemed like a pretty stupid decision to try and stretch his run by 90 feet. It wasn't very close at home, and Pages cost us the game.

That said, it could be argued that Pages had already overachieved by even earning the two-out walk to get on base in the first place, so maybe we were playing with house money.

And with the nine-hole coming up next, it wasn't like Cavan Biggio, let alone any others in our expansive cast of shitty utility player benchwarmers, was going to get a game-tying RBI single after that point. But at least we would have still been alive.

At the end of the day, Pages should have known better than to take it upon himself to chance it, especially after making another baserunning blunder against the Yankees last weekend. He can't turn into the next Yasiel Puig on the basepaths.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shielded Pages from criticism, but here's hoping he took Pages aside and told him this can't happen again.

At least I left the game early, so I didn't have to see this mess in person.

Dodgers Address Bottom-of-Lineup Woes By Picking Up .200 BA, .614 OPS Hitter

Welcome back stateside, Cavan!

The Dodgers just dealt double-A reliever Braydon Fisher to the Blue Jays, to pick up Toronto castoff Cavan Biggio.

Biggio was recently designated for assignment by the Blue Jays, a surprising move, even considering his numbers. The 29-year-old, drafted by the Blue Jays back in 2016, was batting .200 with a .614 OPS, and some redundancy had developed with the Blue Jays’ roster depth. In L.A., Biggio will have a great opportunity to re-establish himself as a versatile bench piece to support a stacked lineup. [...]

Coming up as a prospect, Biggio was paired alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, a trio of second-generation players who carried the hopes of a fan base. Some of these expectations were unfairly hoisted upon Biggio, which is the nature of having a famous last name, but Biggio has handled the good and bad days admirably. Throughout his tenure in Toronto, Biggio earned respect throughout the organization, making the past week’s decisions difficult for those involved.

I know Biggio is a left-handed bat (and, apparently, the last Blue Jay to hit for they cycle, in September 2019). But picking up a 80 OPS+ guy (career 101 OPS+, so basically average) doesn't seem like it would be a huge benefit to solve that issue. Unless we're looking at Chris Taylor, still struggling with a negaitve OPS+ (-9 this season; Taylor is also right on average with a career 102 OPS+).

Games 68-70 Thread: June 11-13 vs. Rangers

Dan Hurley, also not in the running to be new Dodgers manager

Tue 6.11 Paxton vs. TBD Dunning
Wed 6.12 Buehler vs. TBD
Thu 6.13 Yamamoto vs. TBD
All games 7p

Winning two out of three over the YankMes on the road should be cause for celebration, I suppose. But let's remember that we didn't see Juan Soto in their lineup, nor did we see Gerrit Cole in their rotation. So I'm not going to get too excited here.

I might get excited if we can dispatch the defending World Champion Rangers, even if they're 5.5 games behind the AL West-leading Mariners (Dodgers still have a 7.5-game lead over the .500 Padres), and they're a sub-.500 team this year.

I'm going to the game Wednesday night, probably to see another shaky start from Walker Buehler, who is clearly still finding his form. Hey, at least we've named our three pitchers for this series by now.

UPDATE 6/12 11p: Yamamoto's start pushed back a couple of days.

photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images

Games 65-67 Thread: June 7-9 @ Yankees

Fri 6.7 4p: Yamamoto vs. Poteet
Sat 6.8 4.30p: Stone vs. Cortes
Sun 6.9 4p: Glasnow vs. Gil

Baseball royalty will be on stage this weekend, with arguably two of the top three teams in the majors this year, battling it out in the Bronx. The Yankees enter the series with an eight-game win streak, but might be without the services of slugger Juan Soto, who exited Thursday's game with forearm discomfort.

The Dodgers have plenty of discomfort of their own, what with hordes of players on the injured list, not to mention smarting from two shutdown losses in Pittsburgh to start out this road trip. Sure, Thursday's 11-7 victory was nice, but what should have been a coast to an easy victory (the Dodgers were up 3-0 after three batters, thanks to a Freddie Freeman HR) instead got precarious, thanks to another shaky start by Walker Buehler, an uncharacteristic three runs allowed by Evan Phillips, and yet another Chris Taylor hitless day (to be fair, Taylor thankfully didn't start the game).

So I'm not feeling very good about entering the lions' den here this weekend. The way we're playing, I think we only take one of the three games.

Games 62-64 Thread: June 4-6 @ Pirates

Tues 6.4: Glasnow vs. Jones
Wed 6.5: Paxton vs. Skenes
Thu 6.6: Buehler vs. Falter
All games 3.40p

Paul Skenes is the hottest young prospect in baseball today, with a wicked 100 mph fastball that has the young Pirates pitcher referenced to Stephen Strasburg. And Skenes, from Fullerton CA, is worthy of the hype: after a late call-up likely due to service time manipulation, Skenes has gone 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA and has 30Ks in 22 innings.

And seriously, when you watch these highlights of Skenes shutting down the Cubs at Wrigley Field with some wicked movement, it's pretty impressive (from May 17, 2024):

It's too bad we won't have Max Muncy in the lineup, as Muncy is one of the few guys in the Dodgers' lineup who hunts fastballs. We'll see if the rest of the guys can keep up, but I'm guessing the bottom of our order goes pretty quickly.

Skenes is also known for being boyfriend to LSU gymnast (and NCAA champion) Olivia Dunne, who has a large social media following on multiple platforms. I'm sure this Wednesday game against the Dodgers will get the requisite amount of hype. We'll see how James Paxton (still undefeated at 5-0, with a 3.29 ERA) holds up under the pressure.

Oh yeah, and there are two other games bookending the Skenes showdown.

photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images

Checking In On James Outman

The Dodgers' 2024 Opening Day center fielder was demoted to the minors on May 17. And since then, happy to say, Tarzan has been bringing his moribund bat back to life.

Outman, now playing for AAA Oklahoma City, is 15-for-42 with two doubles and three home runs, batting .357 with an OPS of 1.161. That is awesome news, especially given the bottom of the Dodgers' order is still challenged. Here's a recent tweet from OKC:

OKC got it done both at the plate and on the mound as they won in Albuquerque, 11-1, Thursday night!

James Outman went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, while Kody Hoese went 4-for-4. Starting pitcher Landon Knack delivered five scoreless innings.

Recap: https://t.co/Ir1P3DfZN2 pic.twitter.com/LWni47pC4n

— Oklahoma City Baseball Club (@okc_baseball) May 31, 2024

Here's some of the highlights:

Congrats to Outman, and maybe we can see him back up with the Dodgers soon. And perhaps Chris Taylor would consider a OKC stint to get his own bat back in order?

The Pablo Sandoval Cake GIF

Pablo Sandoval Running Fail GIFfrom Pablo Sandoval GIFs

I don't know why, but I just thought of this classic gif tonight. Man, this thing still cracks me up.

Scoreboard Watching (June 3, 2024): Other NL West Games

Reds' Abbott @ Rockies' Feltner, 5.40p
Padres' Waldron vs. Angels' Andreson, 6.38p
Giants' TBD vs. D'backs' Nelson, 6.40p

The Dodgers enter Monday with a 6.5-game lead on the Padres, a 8.5-game lead on the Giants, and a 10-game lead on the Snakes. Oh, and a 15.5-game lead on the Rockies.

But even though the Dodgers are the only idle NL West team today, it's always good to keep an eye out on the rest of the NL West, even if they're all in the rear view mirror. (There are some other good games on tap tomorrow, including Brewers @ Phillies (TBD vs. Wheeler, 3.40p) and Orioles @ Blue Jays (Rodriguez vs. Gausman, 4p).

My Mom Got The Tyler Glasnow Bobblehead, And Apparently, Glasnow Is Into Graffiti Art

I mean, I get the whole manga box art on the Shohei Ohtani bobblehead. But this just seems a little weird.