Hilo del Juego (5 de mayo) contra Padres, 4p

¡Hola, compañeros! Bueno, funcionó ayer, puede funcionar hoy. Si Karina escribe, los Doyers ganan. ¡Vamos a probar esto otra vez! -Stubbs

¡Sí, Señor!

Felicitaciones para Walker Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia y Adam Liberatore en su juego sin hits ni carreras. Brindaremos en su nombre todo el fin de semana, ¡gracias! y ¡salud!

Los Padres esperaban que sus influencias religiosas los ayudaran a vencer a los Doyers, pero no tomaron en cuenta que los Doyers son ateos este fin de semana. Pensaron enfrentar a un amateur y encontraron a un niño bomba, seguido de un bullpen con toda la clase y poder de Danny Trejo. Chris Taylor y Kike Hernandez trajeron dinamita en sus bates y los Doyers salieron victoriosos 4-0, en una noche inolvidable para la amplia historia de buen pitcheo de nuestro equipo.

Esperemos que los Padres sigan viendo sombras en el juego de hoy. ¡Fondo blanco!

*Imagen: Baby Says "No!", Alisa Coburn

Post-Game 46 Thread: Wood Holds Up Pretty Well

BRAVES 3, DODGERS 2

Zack Greinke on the mound should mean an automatic win for the Dodgers. But if the opponent can just hold out beyond Greinke (who had 97 pitches after six innings), then it's up to the bullpen...which didn't work for us this evening. Adam Liberatore allowed both runs, but the runners were put on by Chris Hatcher, who took the loss and dropped to 1-4. For the Braves, Alex Wood came back fro illness to go seven innings of one-run ball.

Alex Guerrero added a HR in the bottom of the ninth, and A.J. Ellis was on first with two out and only a run down--but Alberto "Collapso" Collaspo hit a pop fly to center to end the game.

Alberto Collaspo does not have a label yet on SoSG. I am going to keep it that way.

The Dodgers' Mighty Pen

Grantland's weekly baseball team "power ranking" equivalent, "The 30", focuses on strikeouts this week. And in the top tier, the Dodgers (the overall #2 team to the Cardinals) receive in-depth review from Jonah Keri, who analyzes the bullpen's improved strikeout rate:

Bullpen Bullets

The Dodgers turn to a high-strikeout bullpen in the hopes of avoiding another October disappointment.

3. Kansas City Royals (34-25, plus-45, LW: 4)
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (37-26, plus-60, LW: 2)
1. St. Louis Cardinals (41-21, plus-68, LW: 1)

As I wrote last week, it’s not fair to blame all of the 2014 Dodgers’ playoff failures on Don Mattingly — or Clayton Kershaw, for that matter. By allowing even the best starting pitchers to get the help they need when the game’s on the line, a loaded bullpen can make any manager look brilliant, but last year’s Dodgers didn’t have anything close to a loaded pen. Really, they didn’t have any consistently reliable options beyond closer Kenley Jansen. This year, though, the Dodgers do have that kind of strength and depth in their relief corps, and while they’re one of the elite teams in the majors, that improved pen bodes well for their postseason chances.

So far in 2015, Dodgers relievers have struck out more batters than any other bullpen in the National League — and more than any team in baseball, save for the Astros — flashing a 26.9 percent K rate. That’s up sharply from last year’s relief crew, who fanned 22.3 percent of the batters they faced, good for just 16th in MLB. A bit of that uptick is because of Jansen, who’s been absolutely spectacular since returning from an early-season injury, punching out 20 batters while allowing just four hits and no walks in 11 innings. But most of it is thanks to a group of no-names who’ve come up big in L.A., showcasing both the Dodgers’ scouting and player development chops, in addition to the franchise’s savvy in the trade market.

The best homegrown results come from two Dominican Republic signees. Yimi Garcia was signed back in 2009 and made his 10-inning debut with the Dodgers in 2014. This year, the 24-year-old right-hander has become a key part of the pen, making 29 appearances and striking out 38 batters in 26 innings. While Garcia has given up five homers already, the Dodgers can’t have too many complaints for a pitcher making the league minimum and just getting his feet wet. Then there’s Pedro Baez, who’s currently on the disabled list but has arguably been the club’s best reliever this year aside from Jansen. Signed in 2007, Baez has fanned 22 batters and allowed just three walks and one homer in 15.1 innings this season.

Meanwhile, the bullpen’s offseason imports are a diverse and eclectic group. Let’s take a look at the three who are averaging at least one strikeout per inning:

• Juan Nicasio, a 28-year-old righty, spent his entire pro career with the Rockies (mostly as a starter) before coming to L.A. in November for marginal outfield prospect Noel Cuevas. Nicasio’s command has wavered at times this year, as evidenced by his 13 walks in 26 innings, but he has helped to offset that with 29 strikeouts. A fastball-slider pitcher like Garcia, Nicasio has generated whiffs on 16 percent of the sliders he’s thrown.

• Adam Liberatore, a 28-year-old lefty, was drafted in the 21st round by the Rays back in 2010 when Andrew Friedman was running the show in Tampa Bay. One of Friedman’s first moves as Dodgers president of baseball ops was to grab the southpaw, seemingly as a throw-in on a four-player trade that brought Joel Peralta to Los Angeles last November. Instead, Liberatore, who has notched 20 K’s and allowed just 16 baserunners in 18.2 innings, has been the biggest catch of the four players involved in the deal.

• Chris Hatcher came to the Dodgers via the seven-player deal that shipped Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to Miami in December. The 30-year-old righty with an ugly 6.38 ERA hasn’t been as effective as his fellow bullpen acquisitions, but Hatcher has mostly been victimized by bad batted-ball luck. He’s struck out 19 batters and allowed just one home run in 18.1 innings of work, so expect that ERA to drop substantially as regression starts to work in his favor.

All of these relievers have established limited track records for success, but in what figures to be a fruitful trade market for relief pitchers (Jonathan Papelbon, Francisco Rodriguez, lots of setup men, and maybe even Aroldis Chapman), the Dodgers could still look to upgrade. If they do, though, it would be more of a want than a need — especially compared to the barren bullpen they carried last year. Whether they make any changes to the pen, the Dodgers will need stars like Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, and Joc Pederson to come through if they’re to finally get past the Cardinals come the postseason. But to break their 27-year World Series drought, they’ll likely need all of that plus strong support from a bullpen that finally looks like it might be capable of providing it.

Post-Game 61 Thread: A Messy Victory

DODGERS 4, PADRES 3

Clayton Kershaw got plunked in the lower back on a Justin Upton line drive with two out in the first inning. Kershaw continued on to strike out 11 over 6.2 IP and yielding only 1 ER (a unexpected HR from Clint Barmes in the seventh) against 3 BB. But we fought on.

Wil Myers then reached on a stupid fricking infield pop fly, which saw Justin Turner crash into Yimi Garcia (who relieved Kershaw) and the ball drop while Alberto Callaspo looked on like an idiot. (Turner had moved from first to third after Adrian Gonzalez, who had GIDP'd with rancho ardiendo in the top of the seventh, was ejected for (correctly) arguing shitty strike zone calls.) And then Derek Norris hit a HR to put the Padres in front 3-2 and ruin Kershaw's night.

Ugliness abounded, but at least the Dodgers pulled it together for the victory. Howie Kendrick led off the eighth with a double, advancing to third on a Matt Kemp throwing error. Justin Turner singled Kendrick home, and then later that inning, PH Alex Guerrero came through again with a line drive to center, scoring Andre Ethier (who had reached on a single and advanced on an AJ Ellis walk). LA led 4-3; Chris Hatcher and Adam Liberatore held the eighth and Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth for the victory.

Gonzalez and Ellis both had RBI earlier in the game.

Meanwhile, up north, Chase Anderson outdueled Ashley Madison and the Diamondbacks won 1-0 in SF. The Giants were no-hit through six; Bumgarner gave up 9 hits over 8 innings, and the Giants lost their sixth straight home game, to drop 2.5 games back of the Dodgers. It's messy. But I like it.

photo: Getty Images

Post-Game 57 Thread: Despair

CARDINALS 4, DODGERS 2

It is hours after Sunday's game has ended and I am still more frustrated (and angry) than a kid at junior high school cotillion. What a fucking disaster. Losing 4-2 after holding a 2-0 and 2-1 lead late is bad; dropping said game at home (and dropping a home series for the first time in over nine months), on national television is worse. But the absolute worst part about this game, which I watched almost end-to-end for the first time all season, was just evisceratingly horrible...because any Dodger fan knew we were destined to lose.

First off, there were so many missed opportunities. Even with a laboring Lance Lynn who could barely make it through five innings (and not without considerable concern from the entire ESPN broadcast booth, the St. Louis Cardinals trainers, and probably outside a 50-mile radius from Dodger Stadium--the Dodgers could not take advantage. Andre Ethier, who had three strikeouts and a walk today, had better not be mentioned as a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year any longer--certainly not after killing Dodger rallies with Ks in the first inning (Justin Turner with a two out double to score Yasiel Puig) as well as the third inning (Turner, again, singling home Zack Greinke from second). Ethier had a nice catch over the left field wall in the eighth inning, but the Cards had already taken a 3-2 lead by then and really, who the hell cares. Ethier was an abyss today. If you want comedy, watch him get tagged out at home in the bottom of the sixth off Rollins single to right; Ethier, his bone-creaking stride, and his walker were all out by a country mile.

The Dodgers' best chance to break the game open was in the fifth inning, with Lynn having labored through the fourth without any velocity of note, and having ceded a Greinke leadoff single followed by a Joc Pederson walk. Two on, none out: we got this, right? Nope, Puig flies weakly to center; Adrian Gonzalez (0-for-4 with 5 LOB) flied to left, and Justin Turner flied to right. Threat over; Metheny went to the bullpen and they held us in check from there.

Don't even get me started on Jimmy Rollins, 1-for-4 in the eight hole. What a waste J-Roll has been, relative to the potential that we had seen in seasons past. I know Rollins is a veteran and I harbor hope that he will provide leadership for this team. Meanwhile, however, Dee Gordon, of whom I admittedly was not always a fan, is now batting .372 for the Marlins and leading the NL in batting average and hits.

The Dodgers went 2-for-9 with RISP and pissed all over a great 6.2 IP outing from Greinke, who gave up a solo HR but struck out 8 with one walk. Juan Nicasio let three runs in late, including one charged to Adam Liberatore who had walked Matt Carpenter. Why Nicasio, you might ask? So did the LAT's Dylan Hernandez: To protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning Sunday night, the Dodgers turned to … Juan Nicasio?

And Greinke's outing goes for naught.

As I said earlier, though, the worst part of all of this was that any Dodger fan knew this was coming. Even with a 2-0 and 2-1 lead, you knew we couldn't hold this against a good team like the Cardinals. As cliched and sophomoric as the whole gritty grit grit narrative that St. Louis cultivates through a parroting media is...you look at our team, which sans Howie Kendrick (who is hurt with a knee injury, but Don Mattingly still had bat late in the game anyway, which makes no sense), is full of streaky hitters who can get just as cold as they can get hot. And if Pederson keeps whiffing (0-for-3 with 2 Ks, now batting .258) in the leadoff spot; Puig (2-for-4) remains unpredictable; Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal (0-for-4) both stay cold...we've got serious offensive problems (as indicated by our lack of runs the last two weeks).

On top of all that, can someone please explain: why Enrique Hernandez. 0-for-3 today, Hernandez looked totally overmatched at the plate to the point that you wonder if he belongs at the major league level at all. He is so bad, we don't even have a label for him yet on this blog (and I'm not initiating said label today). What is Hernandez doing in the lineup? In fact, what logic has Mattingly put into the lineup in the first place (see Saturday's GT for another head-scratcher)? Madness.

I have a friend who believes that Bruce Bochy is a genius for asking Mattingly to be on the All-Star Game coaching staff, as it is a deliberate ploy to promote the charade that Mattingly knows what he is doing. Not after a showing like Sunday, which was an absolute turd: the wrong lineup, the wrong relievers, the wrong in-game coaching decisions. It's a hot mess.

We've got sub-.500 Arizona coming into town, which might put lipstick on this pig. But it still ain't pretty. And I'm fucking pissed off about this team, who owe it to Dodger fans to deliver something better.

Post-Game 53 Thread: Hard Target

ROCKIES 7, DODGERS 6

Shouldn't have stopped the Van Damme references, obviously. With the Dodgers having clawed back from a 4-2 deficit to go up 6-4 into the ninth inning, Adam Liberatore couldn't get either of his two batters out; Yimi Garcia walked two people (and obviously walked a run in); J.P. Howell gave a passed ball to tie the game up, then ended up intentionally walking CarGo; and finally, Nolan Arenado sacrificed in the winning run. We got an out! We lost the game anyway!

Clearly, that ninth-inning strike zone was a hard target. A split at the hands of the Rockies is pretty mediocre, but luckily, the Giants' sweepage at the hand of the Pirates keeps us two games up in the West.

Oh, and Joc Pederson tied a Dodgers record by hitting a HR in his fifth straight game. Pederson joins Roy Campanella, Shawn Green, and some guy who plays for the Padres I think.

Post-Game 44 Thread: Backbone

DODGERS 6, BRAVES 3

As predicted by the GT, the Dodgers had trouble solving Williams Perez, particularly given our sleepy bats of late: six innings of Perez pitching afforded us only one run, a bases-loaded walk to Andre Ethier in the bottom of the first. The Braves got back ahead with a couple of runs, and when we had a good look at Braves reliever Luis Avilan in the seventh, with the bases loaded and one out, we were only able to eke out one run with an Adrian Gonzalez RBI comebacker preceding a Justin Turner ground out.

2-2 and going to the eighth, with Adam Liberatore performing well by dispatching the Braves in the top of the inning. Nick Masset came in for Atlanta, and we greeted him with a go-ahead HR from Ethier to start the inning, then a one-out two-run HR by Alex Guerrero, and a two-out home run by...Jimmy frickin' Rollins, ladies and gentlemen! Holy smokes, that is indeed amazing! In fact, let's break to a post-game conversation I had:

SoSG Sax: With that home run, Jimmy Rollins is finally back over .200 in batting average!

Non-Sax Dodger fan: Which is about half of Dee Gordon's batting average!

(Dee's average is actually down to .373, and Gordon has 0 HR to Rollins' five HR.)

The Dodgers took a 6-2 lead into the ninth, but Chris Hatcher looked shaky, heralding Kenley Jansen to come in and record the save. 6-3 final score. The Dodgers broke out some bats AND came back to win the game. This is the team that's been missing the past week or so. Let's go, boys!

Post-Game 30 Thread: Dodgers Flee Hoth With Two-Game Sweep

Coors Field dugout conditions were difficult today

DODGERS 9, ROCKIES 5

After a rain-shortened victory Friday and a full rainout Saturday, the Dodgers were fortunate to get in today's game in what the box score record generously labeled "41 degrees and cloudy." The Dodgers were not only dressed in ski-gear, but many of them had pink sleeves on just to try and radiate more warmth from the color alone (also honoring Mother's Day, not to mention Clara Gonzales in her fight with breast cancer).

Adrian Gonzalez led the way for the Dodgers, yet again, with a big game-tying blast in the fifth to clear the bases with a double down the right field line. That chased Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa, but the Dodgers could not score more in that frame despite having none out and A-Gon on second. Dramatically, the Dodgers waited until the top of the eighth inning to put the dagger in, a four-run frame led by a pinch-hit Justin Turner two-run HR.

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was once again...mortal, as he has been all year long. 5.2 IP, with 5 Ks and 4 BB and 5 ER; yet another unClayton-like line. Pedro Baez needed to save Kershaw's bacon in the sixth inning when Kershaw left with the bases loaded (Baez struck out Troy Tulowitzki, who ended the game 1-for-5). Baez (1-1) gets the win, and Adam Liberatore pitched a comfortable eighth plus one out in the ninth to maintain his 0.00 ERA. Yimi Garcia shut the door with the last two outs in the ninth.

Dodgers bring the belt back to much warmer climates in Los Angeles, starting with the Marlins tomorrow.

Credit to SoSG Gnomes for the PGT theme

Post-Game 10 Thread: First Place, Again

DODGERS 7, ROCKIES 3

Powered by a red-hot Adrian Gonzalez RBI double in the first, RBI double in the fifth; three runs and 3-for-4 on the day) and a two-run Howie Kendrick HR shot to left (also in the first), the Dodgers cruised to victory over the Rockies to assume a share of first place for the first time since Opening Day. Dodgers have a five-game win streak; Gonzalez has been on base twice in each of the ten games this season (if I heard Charley Steiner's stat correctly over the radio broadcast).

It got a little shaky in the fifth inning when Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run HR to make it 4-3 LA, but starter Clayton Kershaw went six innings and had 12 Ks to earn the win, his first of the year. Kershaw is giving up the long ball a little too much for my liking, across three games of 2015 now, and his 4.42 ERA shows it. Paco Rodriguez, Yimi Garcia, and new Dodger Adam Liberatore (MLB debut) each had a scoreless inning (Garcia was the only one to allow a baserunner), and the Dodgers added some cushion with another Kendrick RBI (double) as well as an Andre Ethier sac fly to left.

Slightly eariler game tomorrow: 6p start for Zack Greinke (vs. Jordan Lyles).

In other news, Giants lost 9-0 at home to the Diamondbacks; Jake Peavy (0-2) gave up 4 ER over 3.2 IP to put his ERA to 9.39.

On to Friday Night Fireworks!