Post-Game 157 Thread: Missed Opportunities

GIANTS 5, DODGERS 2 (13)

Kevin Correia sucks. That much is clear.

But the only reason why we had to see Kevin Correia in the first place is because we wasted an opportunity in the 11th inning when Matt Kemp GIDPd, and then another in the 12th inning when Juan Uribe GIDPd. You bring in Kevin Correia, after walking a tightrope with Brandon League for two innings, and you are playing not only with fire but also with gasoline and lighter fluid and a bunch of other flammable items that would terrify me otherwise. Maybe Donnie had no other moves; maybe he just loves playing Russian Roulette to begin with. What a fucking disaster.

The worst part was, in watching this game, I saw Dodger after Dodger swing for the fences in extra innings, instead of trying to score like we scored all game--getting some runners on base and trying to move them over on the occasional XBH. And as a result, we looked idiotic flying out to Hunter Pence and such. Whatever.

Lead shrinks to three and a half; magic number sticks at 3. The Giants are still alive. They outhit us 12 to 4, and we had three errors to boot, so we didn't deserve to win this game. But damn, we should have won. We should be embarrassed.

Post-Game 147 Thread: Well, That Wasn't Good

GIANTS 9, DODGERS 0

Chris Perez' sighting in the second inning evidenced Don Mattingly knew from the start this game was going to be a loss. Watching Hyun-Jin Ryu have the Giants bat around in the first before being lifted with shoulder irritation; Hanley Ramirez' limited defensive range; Yasiel Puig continuing to make throwing miscues; the Dodgers stranding a leadoff double; Kevin Correia continuing to look horrible--this was a shitshow of ultimate proportions. Well done, Donnie.

Post-Game 145 Thread: Roberto Hernandez Is Not The Answer

PADRES 6, DODGERS 3

And I don't even know what the question is. But Roberto Hernandez came out tonight and gave up five runs in the first three innings, ending his night early as he handed the ball over to Yimi Garcia (two innings, no runs), Kevin Correia (two innings, no runs), Jamey Wright (okay, there was a run here; but hey, it's Jamey Wright), Brandon League and Chris Perez (split an inning of work with no runs). Take away Hernandez' bed shitting, and we would have won. Yeah, but if Woody had gone to the police, this would never have happened.

Look, I don't know where this PGT is going, as I'm still drunk. But if not for the fact that the end of the four-game win streak also coincided with the Giants' beating the venomless Diamondbacks, I might be okay with this loss. Clearly, Don Mattingly was, as he didn't go to the bullpen until after we were in a 5-0 hole.

We had our opportunities, none more poignant than two on, one out, in the bottom of the ninth (down by three, mind you): Dee Gordon Ks and Hanley Ramirez (who also had two errors in his 0-for-4 evening) flies out to center. 3-for-12 with RISP isn't good, nor is a loss to the sub-.500 Padres. But at least we took the game yesterday, which keeps us 2.5 games up on SF with 17 to play. One more with the Padres tomorrow...and then, it's showdown in SF.

Boy, I'd feel better about going into Phone Park with more than a three-game lead.

Oh, and Yasiel Puig got a hit, a leadoff infield single in the seventh. Whoop de frickin' doo.

Post-Game 135/136 Thread: Serious Friars

That's a serious fryer.
PADRES 3, DODGERS 2 (12)
PADRES 2, DODGERS 1 (10)

We may have entered Petco Park like a lion (having beaten the Snakes twice in Arizona), but we're looking like a bag of dog food after two Padres extra-inning, walk-off victories (as opposed to those home extra-inning, non-walk-off victories, I suppose). Tonight's disaster felt a little bit more painful than last night's, as Alexi Amarista's one-out single off of Jamey Wright in the tenth not only wasted a great effort from Zack Greinke (8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER 2 BB and 8 Ks), but it also came after the Dodgers wasted scoring opportunities in the eighth (first and third, two out; Carl Crawford lines to second), the ninth (one-out man on first, and Andre Ethier forces Drew Butera, and Dee Gordon (now 0-for-11 in the series) lined to left), and the tenth (two-out Matt Kemp double, but Yasiel Puig strands him). Meanwhile, on defense, we were getting very lucky: Butera and Hanley Ramirez pulled out a sweet pickoff play at second in the eighth; and in the ninth, J.P. Howell escaped a jam by spearing a comebacker and doubling off the runner at second.

And yet, we can't beat the damn Padres. Not Saturday, nor on Friday, when Kevin Correia shit the bed in the twelfth inning by allowing a leadoff single and two one-out walks; he got a gift force at home but then gave up the walkoff single to right. The Dodgers are a combined 1-for-15 with RISP in the two games, and the Giants' five-game win streak has them only 2.5 GB. It's sphincter-tightening time, boys and girls--time to wake this lineup up. Don't make me pour a vat of boiling hot oil on you.

Post-Game 132 Thread: Overpowering Colon

METS 11, DODGERS 3

Two short days after LOLMets, it was LOLDodgers. Down 7-2 in the sixth inning, the Dodgers had just scored a run (Dee Gordon) off a leadoff single, Yasiel Puig walk (Puig had lost track of the count in that AB, btw; more on Puig's spaciness later), and Adrian Gonzalez RBI single. We were poised for a comeback: David Wright had already left the game due to neck spasms*; Mets starter Bartolo Colon had been effective through five but was laboring at the end of his audition for other teams; and Dodgers reliever Carlos Frias (who had entered the game relieving the ineffective Kevin Correia: 7 R in 3.0 IP, with 1 K and 3 HR) had just retired nine Mets in a row.

And then the bottom fell out (not that there was much bottom left in a 7-2 deficit, but hang with me). Matt Kemp hit into a 5-4-3 double play, which then became a TRIPLE play when Puig ran right through Dodgers third base coach Lorenzo Bundy's stop sign, and was thrown out at home by about 25 miles. The Dodgers should make Puig drink all the liquid in the dugout bubble machine, because that was a piece of shit baserunning exhibition by Puigster. If Bundy needs to wield a Jeff Gillooly crowbar at third base when Puig is rounding third (to be fair, Kemp ran through a stop sign recently but made it home safely; what happened to respect for authority here?!), then so be it. Inexcusable.

Frias then came out the next inning and melted down, allowing three more runs, and the Dodgers were pummeled 11-3 (Dee Gordon added a run in the eighth on an RBI triple). In good news, Gonzalez went 3-for-3 with and a run scored; Andre Ethier, with a rare start in the six-hole, went 2-for-4. In bad news, the reactivated Hanley Ramirez, along with Justin Turner and offensive abyss A.J. Ellis, all 0-fered. And then there's that Correia guy, who falls to 2-1 as a Dodger.

But this wasn't the only pummeling in the National League today: the Giants lost 14-6 to the Nationals, who scored 12 unanswered runs in their last three frames to take the lead and squish the Giants. All five Giants pitchers ceded at least one ER today. So there's that.

On the other hand, we host Washington in a week's time, and face Gio Gonzalez, Doug Fister, and Jordan Zimmerman. Hoo, boy.

Note: (*) Quote of the GT from Fred's Brim: "Wright is out for some reason. I am out because we are playing like assholes today"

Colletti's Investments Give Positive (Very) Early Returns

Shockingly, after standing pat at the July 31 trade deadline, Ned Colletti's snags of Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia seem...actually pretty good. So far. I mean, it's only one start for each new acquisition. But these early results bring fine praise from ESPN.com's Mark Saxon:

So far, Colletti’s two post-deadline moves, fine-print transactions though they were, have achieved exactly what he was looking to do: They’ve made everybody less freaked out about the Nos. 4 and 5 spots in the rotation. Correia pitched six strong innings in the Dodgers' 6-2 win over the Atlanta Braves Monday night, three days after Colletti's other acquisition, Roberto Hernandez, pitched six strong innings in a loss at Milwaukee.

And don't think the people in the Dodgers clubhouse didn’t notice when the trade deadline came and went without any action. Getting a couple of veterans in the ensuing week was, to quote manager Don Mattingly, a "shot in the arm," particularly when both performed well, suggesting a change in scenery to a winning team could suit both players. Hernandez played on another last-place team, the Philadelphia Phillies. Colletti also added utility infielder Darwin Barney, who made his Dodgers debut Monday as a pinch hitter, rapping a sharply hit grounder to the left side that was gobbled up nicely by Chris Johnson for an out.

"Right now, we'll take whatever comes our way and roll with it," Carl Crawford said.

The plan is to leave Hernandez in the rotation as the fill-in for injured Josh Beckett, but Mattingly said Correia, once he recovers from Monday's start, will pitch out of the bullpen moving forward. That is a vote of confidence in veteran Dan Haren, who had one of his finest outings of the year last week in Anaheim, California. But Correia hasn't made a relief appearance in two years, and, while the Dodgers won't say it publicly, he's their safety net if Haren reverts to the form of his previous five starts, in which he had a 10.03 ERA.

Together, Hernandez and Correia will cost the Dodgers about $3 million for the remainder of this season. Both are free agents in November. For a team that spends as lavishly as the Dodgers, that seems a reasonable sum to fix what was clearly the team's most glaring hole.

Also, given they are both waiver wire moves, it's odd that the San Francisco Giants haven't blocked either one of the Dodgers' waiver wire acquisitions. The Giants' big deadline push for Jake Peavy has yet to yield returns; he's 0-3 so far as a Giant, with his next start Wednesday against the White Sox, vs. Jose Quintana.

Post-Game 120 Thread: Kevin Correia, Juggernaut?

DODGERS 6, BRAVES 2

Kevin Correia is tied for the AL lead (actually, the major league lead) in losses. But he's undefeated in the National League, having led the Dodgers to a 6-2 victory in the opening game of a four-game series in Atlanta. Wow, what a surprise! And not only did Correia pitch pretty well in his Dodgers debut (6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 Ks and 1 BB), he also went 2-for-2 with a run scored. Quite a powerhouse debut, Kevin! Well done.

Adrian Gonzalez has become an RBI machine, knocking in his 80th of the year with a sixth-inning single to tie the game at 1. Carl Crawford and Justin Turner added RBI that frame to make it 3-1. Then in the eighth inning, the Dodgers took advantage of shoddy Braves (wild) pitching and defending (A.J. Ellis had what seemed like a GIDP but the shortstop threw it away, forcing only one out and scoring two) to add three more runs. Carlos Frias allowed a run in the ninth, but other than that, a relatively easy victory for the Dodgers, which I wasn't expecting given the conditions.

Oh, and Darwin Barney made his Dodgers debut as well, PH in the seventh. He saw two pitches and grounded out to third. We will see if his Dodgers career evolves from here.

First-place lead stretches to five games over the idle Giants. Keep it up, boys!

Game 120 Thread: August 11 @ Braves, 4p

Kevin Correia (5-13, 4.94) vs. Julio Teheran (10-8, 2.92).

According to the Dodgers' hanbok on our new starting pitcher (who makes his Dodgers debut tonight), Kevin Correia leads the league in...losses, with 13. Not the most promising statistic, but the man was an All-Star once (2011, with the Pirates), but he hasn't had a positive ERA+ since 2007, with the Giants. I'm not sure Hwaseong with Correia now, whether it's an unrevealed injury, or just old age catching up to him; in any event, the Twins got 14 wins and 26 losses for their two-year, $10M investment.

And now we're just asking Correia to solidify the back-end of the rotation of the best team in the National League, starting with his debut against the wild card-hunting Braves (now 2.0 games out of the WC). Golly kimchi willikers, that's a lot of expectations. I don't know how Correia's chaebol is, but if his K-ball is on target tonight, we should get the win.

As for the Dodgers' batsmen, be careful walking up to the plate. You're being watched.

I suppose I should write something about the opposing starter this evening, but it would take too long for me Teheran the numbers.

Thank you, Seoul! Good night!

Correia, Our Wayward Son?

The Dodgers just picked up Kevin Correia from the Twins, for cash or a PTBNL:

MILWAUKEE -- The Dodgers acquired former All-Star right-hander Kevin Correia from the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night for a player to be named or cash.

Correia, 33, is 5-13 with a 4.94 ERA in 23 starts this season. He has spent parts of 12 years in the Major Leagues, the last seven almost exclusively as a starter.

General manager Ned Colletti said he was looking for a swing man to replace Paul Maholm, who is out for the year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. [...]

"Kevin gives us an additional option as a starter or long reliever," said Colletti. "He also supplies us with more veteran pitching depth for the stretch drive."

Sorry the link isn't much of a video highlight (all I could find on short notice). Matter of fact, that might fit Correia completely...but at least Ned is trying, I suppose.