Random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans. With occasional comments on baseball, entertainment, pop culture, and life in general.
Showing posts with label Teoscar Hernandez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teoscar Hernandez. Show all posts
Blake Snell (2-1, 2.42) vs. Jackson Kent (1-2, 5.59).
I'm aware that blogger wouldn't let comments publish on last night's Game Thread. I happened to be listening while on a nighttime run, and it was driving me nuts as I heard us squandering scoring opportunities (we only scored our first run on a wild pitch, and ended the game 1-for-9 with RISP) all over the place.
Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 3.02) v. Framber Valdez (8-9, 4.39).
Perhaps the Dodgers should give the hitters (rather than their pitchers) most of the season off. Because with Kyle Tucker (-0.2 WAR) and Teoscar Hernandez (-0.1 WAR) stinking up their respective spots in the lineup, the Dodgers don't have a chance to score any runs.
I'm done with these guys. We're out of time, you idiots.
Or maybe we just pray for Andy Pages and Will Smith to return.
You see what happens when you try and extend a Game Thread theme into a second GT? Havoc ensues.
Anakin goes from awakening from a nightmare to descending into evil. And just like that, the Dodgers' bats shifted from a single promising game to reverting back to sleep in Houston, leaving starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani hung out to dry on two cheapie solo home runs, only notching one run from a Kyle Tucker RBI.
Teoscar Hernandez left at least 427 people on base today thanks to his 0-for-4, 2K night. And for the second game this season, Dave Roberts sent Santiago Espinal up to pinch hit, only to watch Espinal K on three straight pitches.
We need Mookie Betts back, fast. And if Hernandez is going to be as much of an offensive liability as he already is defensively, it's time for him to take a seat.
The last two games the Dodgers played in the Rogers Centre were nailbiters. Tonight's game, the first game since the Dodgers' victorious 2025 World Series Game 7, was an all-out romp.
There were signs of worry before the first pitch, though. Will Smith took the game off (Dave Roberts gave him a rest day), with Dalton Rushing getting the start. Mookie Betts is injured. And Justin Wrobleski was making his first start of the season, after just one other appearance (four innings against the Guardians, in which he gave up three ER, thereby entering today's game with a 6.75 ERA).
And yet, the Dodgers thoroughly dominated the Blue Jays from the get-go. Teoscar Hernandez had a two-run homer in the first inning. And even though Wrobo-Cop gave back a run in the bottom of that frame, the Dodgers got additional home runs from Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and a pair of home runs from Rushing (who went 4-for-4). Andy Pages added a two-run double; Kyle Tucker got a RBI; and the Dodgers' middle infield of Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland made some great defensive plays to squelch the Blue Jays' offense.
The Toronto crowd was completely muzzled for the game, especially after seeing Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer only last two innings (he apparently left with a forearm tendonitis issue). The crowd got excited in the ninth inning when Blue Jays position player Tyler Heineman took the mound (Miguel Rojas pitched the ninth for the Dodgers, and gave up a run). But that was it.
The Dodgers have now scored double-digit runs in three of their last four contests (all road games). Let's keep this rolling!
And Miles to go, before we...party? Miles Mikolas gave up a Nationals record 11 earned runs today, including four home runs (Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman). Not a good home opener for Washington, especially when the topper came in the seventh inning, when even Kyle Tucker got on the board with his first home run of the year.
Teoscar Hernandez also went 3-for-4 to raise his team-leading batting average to .320; and Pages (also 3-for-4 today) has an OPS of 1.260 right now. With Emmet Sheehan going a respectable 5.2 IP (7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB and 2 Ks), the Dodgers coasted to victory in our first road game of the year.
Nice to see the offense finally open up, after a largely sleepy first homestand!
Dave Roberts tried to introduce basepaths in Thursday's practice, something the team had not experienced for the last two games.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Kevin Gausman.
The Dodgers' 2025 season is poised to end tonight, and even with Blake Snell's crappy start throwing batting practice at the beginning of Game 5, or Teoscar Hernandez' continual misadventures in right field, or failed double play attempts in the infield, it wasn't those mistakes that ultimately derailed the Dodgers' 2025 World Series bid.
It was the hitting. Or lack thereof.
In a particularly awful time for everyone in the starting lineup to get cold, we've got Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Tommy Edman, Max Muncy, and Andy Pages all flailing at the plate. The Game 5 lineup--which thankfully did not include Pages--amassed 15 strikeouts and too many first-pitch infield flies to give the Blue Jays any pressure.
So the Dodgers all got out to Rogers Centre today and took batting practice--which the LAT reported that Roberts took as an exciting positive (whoop dee frickin' doo!)--rather than moping in their hotel rooms, I imagine.
There will be plenty of time for moping if our offense continues to be lost tonight.
Let's frickin' go, Dodgers! Show us a treat, not a trick.
They stop serving beers in the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium, in order to make sure that a stadium surrounded by expansive parking lots filled with a sea of cars won't have a slew of inebriated drivers behind the wheels of their vehicles.
In last night's game, however, Dodger Stadium probably could have kept serving beers for a couple more innings. We didn't go home until after Freddie Freeman won the game in the bottom of the 18th inning, in what is now tied for the longest game in World Series history.
That said, I was at Game 3 last night, and I indulged in a full-throttled, 25-ounce beer following Freddie Freeman's amazing walk-off home run. It was glorious, about as much so as a semi-cold Michelob Ultra beer could be.
And this is its own story.
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Ms. Sax and I got to the game at 4p, about an hour before first pitch, which was a controversy in itself. I would have gotten there at 2p when the gates opened; however, she thought that was nuts. She was probably right; traffic was bad, but not horrible, getting into the Stadium; and we were comfortably in our seats by 4.20p. And it was worth it to have not aggravated Ms. Sax further on this one; this was her first World Series game, and although I was familiar with the majesty of the first World Series home game pre-game show and wanted to see all of it, I didn't want her to be angry going into this one.
(Little did we know that we would be at the Stadium for eight hours!)
Along the way, we stopped at the Home Plate Bar where we splurged on overpriced cocktails: a spicy habanero mule that came smothered in tajin that got all over the place (what a mess!), as well as a spicy margarita. Both were pretty tasty though a little light on the Svedka Vodka. (We now own these two collectible plastic receptacles that I'm sure will sit unused in the back of our bar for a decade or so.)
Cocktails in hand, the pre-game ceremonies were awesome (as always). The fireworks during the starting lineup introduction. The unveiling of the huge flag on the outfield grass. The perfectly-timed flyover, even with the inclusion of the Canadian National Anthem as part of the pre-game routine.
I was happy. Ms. Sax was happy. Let the games begin.
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I got my first beer after the second inning, following the Dodgers having taken the one-run lead on Teoscar Hernandez' solo home run. When Shohei Ohtani added his own solo shot in the third, we were rocking, despite Freeman getting thrown out by a mile to end that frame.
There was an idiot in our section wearing a George Springer Toronto Blue Jays jersey, and we were riding him (and his namesake player) all game long. Boos, yells of "cheater!", and consistent mocking probably got to both of the people in the Stadium with this unfortunate sartorial choice--Springer was 0-for-3 with 2 Ks before removing himself from the game, mid-AB, in the seventh inning--but this guy was soaking up the vitriol pretty well. And then, following Alejandro Kirk's home run, the fan turned around to our section and held his finger to his mouth, telling us to be quiet. Andres Gimenez added a fourth run, and the Dodgers were suddenly down 4-2. This started the feeling of tension that would not abate for another five hours or so.
We got two runs back in the fifth inning, off a Shohei Ohtani RBI double and a Freeman RBI single, to tie the game. The Blue Jays took the lead again in the seventh inning on a Bo Bichette single to right that Teoscar Hernandez lollygagged (yet again), allowing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to score all the way from first. Tension, again.
And then Ohtani came back and powered "a center-cut fastball" (as Joe Davis put it), depositing it in the Left Field Pavilion to tie the game at five:
It should be noted that Ms. Sax has not been the biggest fan of Ohtani, mostly because he hasn't done much at the games that we happen to attend together. Tonight flipped that script. That second home run, Ms. Sax lost her mind--I think it was the first pitch of the AB--and Ms. Sax could not believe it. Ohtani reached base nine times last night, with four extra base hits (for only the second time even in a World Series game)? I think she's an Ohtani fan now.
And then, the tension began, for the next 11 innings.
So, about that beer....
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Like any smart Dodger fan, I went back up to the concourse after the top of the seventh, knowing that they would be cutting off alcohol sales soon. After hitting the restroom (and washing my hands, thank you!), I grabbed my second Michelob Ultra can of the night.
When I got back down to our seats, Ms. Sax did not look happy.
"Did you see my text?"
I gulped. "No."
I looked at my phone. She had asked me if I could please not get another beer--a fair ask given I was driving in what I thought would be the next hour (ha!); she knows I love beer; and yeah, it's probably good overall to be drinking less of this wonderful nectar in general, given the obvious health factors.
However, it was too late. I had the beer in hand. So I said I was sorry, and I put the beer in the cupholder in front of me. And there it sat.
Now, Ms. Sax had quickly forgotten about this beer, thanks to the well-timed Ohtani home run. But she was right there with me with the tension and all the missed opportunities that played out in the innings ahead of us.
Roki Sasaki having to come in in the eighth, in a jam, to bail out Jack Dreyer's two-on, one-out situation. Tommy Edman, in one of his many defensive highlights this game (despite an error as well), nailing Isiah Kiner-Falefa at third to preserve a scoreless ninth. Ohtani IBBd in the ninth, only to be caught stealing in front of Mookie Betts (who continued his postseason malaise with a 1-for-8 showing last night, squandering multiple game-winning opportunities).
Davis Schneider thrown out at home in the tenth with a perfect throw by Edman and tag by Will Smith. Clayton Kershaw coming in with the bases loaded to relieve Emmet Sheehan (an admirable 2.2 IP with 2 Ks), to get a clutch ground out (Edman!) in the top of the 11th inning. (This was an especially gut-wrenching moment, as I was pretty certain the baseball gods were going to be cruel to Kershaw once again in the postseason, and yet we amazingly survived.)
And the Dodgers had so many chances that just didn't work out. Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez, even Freeman himself all hit deep fly balls that died on the warning track due to the thick marine layer that you could feel like a soup, even from the stands. Said Max Muncy in The Athletic:
But as Game 3 went on, Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy noticed dew on the grass and moisture on top of the dugout railing. After eight seasons with the Dodgers, Muncy knew what that meant. A marine layer had descended on Dodger Stadium, and good luck trying to hit the ball out.
“Nighttime here is really hard to hit,” Muncy said. “I’ve seen it so many times. Balls just die in the night.”
Freeman thought he possibly hit a homer in the 13th, but his 103.9-mph shot fell short of the 395-foot wall in center. He hit another ball to center 104.4 mph at a lower launch angle in the 15th, and got the same outcome.
Other Dodgers experienced similar frustration. Smith dropped his bat as if he hit a homer in the 14th, but his 101.5-mph drive got knocked down. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thought Teoscar Hernández’s 101.4-mph blow had a chance in the 16th, but no, that one didn’t go out either.
Leading off the 18th, Freeman got another chance. And when Little left a 3-2 sinker in the heart of the plate, he connected again to center. This time, he hit the ball 107.4 mph at a 34-degree launch angle, the right combination to finally unlock a homer.
Did Freeman think it was gone?
“I was not sure,” he told me in his postgame interview on Fox. “Just because of the other couple. My swings were getting better and better as the game was going on. I’m just glad I was able to get the opportunity again.”
Throughout all these moments, I was just staring at that beer, convinced that if I took one sip, it was going to cost the Dodgers the game. Every time we escaped the top of the inning scoreless--the Dodgers relievers pitched 13.1 scoreless innings following Tyler Glasnow's start--I knew that it was the right choice to abstain. And every time we failed to capitalize on an opportunity to win the game, I stared at that can of Michelob Ultra and wondered how much my jitters would have settled with a swig.
"You ever see the sun rise at Dodger Stadium?", I asked Ms. Sax.
She did not find that very funny. She kept imploring the Dodgers to win it, screaming "I want to go home!". But I did ask (politely, albeit a bit disingenuously) if she wanted to leave early, and there was no way she was going to leave early.
"I'm too invested at this stage," she said. "Let's win this."
Will Klein, the last Dodger pitcher available, entered the game in the top of the 15th inning. This is a guy who wasn't even on any of the other postseason rosters for the Dodgers this year. But we had no other options.
And Will Klein was the man last night.
With every inning that of the four he pitched (72 pitches total, which was twice what he had ever thrown in any major league appearance of his life), more and more of the Dodgers' relief corps were up on the top step of the bullpen, cheering him on and giving him strength. Klein gave up a two-out single to Guerrero in the 15th, then had clean 16th and 17th innings (including a sweet comebacker off of Davis Schneider to end the 17th). And then in the 18th inning, Klein got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out backup catcher Tyler Heineman, to preserve the scoreless frame.
The beer taunted me, throughout Klein's labors.
I resisted.
And then, finally, came the Freeman home run, in the bottom of the 18th inning. Freeman was the first batter of this inning. And I have to say, when he hit it, it looked like it had a shot to win the game--but so had so many of the other fly balls that game, so who knows? Only when Daulton Varsho started climbing the wall in center did I realize that this one was going to clear the fence by enough.
The Dodgers WIN.
The place went nuts. Freeman, in extras, in the World Series, again. The only man to have multiple walkoff home runs in the World Series, ever.
I hugged Ms. Sax. We slapped hands with everyone around us. We watched Freddie stomp on home plate and the team explode. Pandemonium ensued.
And then I grabbed that can of semi-cold Michelob Ultra and drank all 25 ounces in one bacchanalian quaff.
What an amazing ending.
What an amazing game.
What an amazing beer. (And who ever said that about Michelob Ultra?!)
Blake Snell pitched eight innings of no-run ball yesterday? No problem, said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who went the complete game, giving up only one run (off his first pitch, a leadoff HR from Jackson Chourio), with an impressive line of his own: 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 7 Ks.
That was Yamamoto's first career MLB CG. And a fine time to break out that performance. It was the first Dodgers postseason complete game since Jose Lima in 2004 (NLDS G3 vs. St. Louis), which was so long ago, this blog wasn't even around then!
The Dodgers have solved their bullpen woes by simply not ever going to the bullpen. Amazing.
Teoscar Hernandez had a key home run to strike back after Chourio's blast, and then Andy Pages knocked in Kiké Hernandez (who doubled) to give the Dodgers a quick 2-1 lead.
And though the Dodgers had many other chances in this game, we simply weren't great--2-for-11 with RISP, and 10 LOB--but we continued to just chip away and extend the lead with a trio of fenceposts in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. A 2-1 lead stretched to 5-1; the Brewers had to use five pitches after Freddy Peralta, two of them picking up ER on their own pitching lines, and the Dodgers got another win on the road.
Sloppiness still abounds for the Dodgers. Max Muncy (who also homered in the game--making him the Dodger with the most postseason homeruns, all-time) had his second error of the postseason. And Teoscar Hernandez and Mookie Betts both GIDPd, the latter for the second time this series.
We still aren't firing on all cylinders offensively. But luckily, our starting rotation certainly is.
For a team that couldn't win one game against Milwaukee all regular season, it's remarkable for the Dodgers to get two wins on the road to start out this series.
Credit our starting pitchers, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. If we never have to go to the bullpen, we might actually stand a chance this postseason.
Let's take the Brewers' NLCS Game 1 pitching lineup as an anomaly. The good news is, we've now gotten a good look at six of Milwaukee's relievers, especially Quinn Priester, who pitched innings two through five. And we did get some hits and walks off them (7 H and 8 BB, respectfully), against only 4 Ks, showing better plate discipline than we had against the Phillies in the NLCS.
But today's Game 2 features an actual starting pitcher for the Brewers, Freddy Peralta, and he's a pretty good one at that. Peralta's 5.5 WAR and 2.70 ERA this year ranked him seventh in the majors. Peralta also shut us down in the first of two starts against the Dodgers this year (July 7: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB and 7 Ks), and he earned the win (but was less effective) in his second start against us (July 19: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB and 4 Ks). Perhaps that bodes well for the Dodgers, as he's at least trending in a favorable direction.
(Peralta also started twice in the 2025 NLDS against the Cubs: winning NLDS G1 (5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB and 9 Ks), but losing NLDS G4 (4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB and 6 Ks). Again, trending in a favorable direction.)
But let's not get distracted from some glaring issues with our own lineup. Shohei Ohtani, 0-for-2 (albeit with 3 BBs) yesterday, is now batting .138 in the leadoff spot. Mookie Betts was 0-for-4 and Teoscar Hernadez 0-for-3 yesterday.
Without those three hitting, we barely eked out the two runs we needed to win Game 1--but let's remember, we've scored two runs or fewer against the Brewers in five of seven games this season, and last night's game was the only time we came out with a win.
And Andy Pages, 0-for-3 yesterday, is now batting .037 in the postseason. I mean, I don't hope for Michael Conforto (who thankfully is not on the NLCS roster). But even he can hit better than .037.
Not to mention, Teoscar fricking' TOOTBLANned yesterday, as well.
If the best highlight the Brewers get from the 2025 NLCS is this absurd double play, I'd be thrilled. Unfortunately, I think they'll have many more highlights in this series. Hopefully, just not any Brewers highlights tonight.
Blake Snell (5-4, 2.35) vs. Jesus Luzardo (15-7, 3.92).
Fellow SoSGers, I confess that I missed NLDS Game 1.
Car trouble and an overly-ambitious schedule during the day thwarted my efforts to actually watch Game 1. I was stuck on the side of a road waiting for a tow truck to come. And it was difficult, because all I had was radio. Though to be honest, I don't think I could have had the emotional strength to make it through a live viewing of that game.
I would have fallen into despair when Shohei Ohtani got rattled in the second inning, understandbly so while watching Teoscar Hernandez run practice jog routes out in right field rather than bend down and try and stop a ball.
I would have screamed at the television watching Andy Pages flail at the plate for another game, looking totally overmatched.
I would have chewed through t-shirt watching Max Muncy make another fielding error at third base.
And I would have had nothing left in the tank to cheer when the Dodgers showed a level of mettle I did not know or even believe that they had, ultimately prevailing in Game 1, 5-3.
Here's Fangraphs' win probability. That is nuts.
Ohtani not only settled down after that second inning, he didn't allow another run in four more innings of work, shutting the Phillies down (especially their top three formidable bats). And that wasn't easy, given how Philadelphia fans were jeering him all game. Teoscar Hernandez hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh that was totally unlikely given his play this year, but maybe not so given his postseason resume.
Speaking of postseason resumes, Kiké Hernandez, a woeful .203 batter in the 2025 season, is up to his same clutch self: batting .417 with a 1.000 OPS this postseason. His two-RBI double in the sixth put us on the board and created some tension in a game where the Phillies seemed to be rolling. It makes no sense that Kiké is so clutch in October, but so it happens every year.
And even Andy Pages scored a run and had a hit in this one (he's now 1-for-13 in this postseason).
During yesterday's off-day, I watched the condensed game highlights of Game 1, and Rick Monday (on his radio call) was spot-on--Citizens Bank Park turned as silent as a library after Teo's HR. It was amazing.
From the LA Times, "When you can hear a pin drop in the stadium, that’s the ultimate feeling in baseball,” Max Muncy said of the home run. “I felt like the people in the upper deck could hear us cheering in the dugout.”
And so today, we try to steal another game from the Phillies in NLDS Game 2, a game I do plan to watch. Blake Snell was great in 2025 NLWC Game 1 for us, and given Dave Roberts' new "all-starters, all the time" strategic approach and/or necessity (Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki got 26 of the 27 outs in Game 1), we again will need Snell to go long.
I've mocked Snellzilla for most of this year. It would be great to see him breathe fire in Game 2.
The other Wild Card series today were pure chaos. Cleveland rose from the dead, scoring five in the bottom of the eighth inning, to tie their series 1-1. San Diego punched back in Chicago, with Manny Machado hitting a key two-run HR in the fifth, to tie their series 1-1. And then Jazz Chisholm's speed saved the Yankees' bacon, with New York downing Boston 4-3, to tie their series 1-1.
That left the Dodgers/Reds series, with the Dodgers up 1-0 in the series. It sure looked like the baseball gods wanted another WC series tie, when Teoscar Hernandez boffed a lazy fly ball in the first inning to put the Reds up 2-0 and drive Yoshinobu Yamamoto's pitch count up by almost double.
But the Dodgers battled back to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth, and then opened up for four runs in the sixth to make it 7-2 Los Angeles. In the seventh inning, Mookie Betts doubled in another run; Betts went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI and was the player of the game. Betts batted .667 with a 1.700 OPS in this NL Wild Card series, which is just unreal, even with the small sample size.
Meanwhile, despite being behind from the start, Yamamoto perservered and had an outstanding outing: 113 pitches, 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB and 9 Ks. The 113 pitches was his season high.
Leave it to the Dodgers to crumble in the eighth--again!--with Emmet Sheehan getting only one out and giving up two ER (and two walks), before Alex Vesia (who was hopeless last night) came in mid-AB and got a one-pitch striekout before striking out TJ Friedl (the tying run!) to escape a bases loaded jam.
I think I heard Rick Monday say that the Dodgers used 100 pitches to get through the two eighth innings in this NLWC series. That is just not going to cut it.
Roki Sasaki had a clean ninth inning to close out the game, which is a good sign. The Dodgers had three errors in this game: Teosscar Hernandez' error, then Kiké Hernandez and Ben Rortvedt joined the sloppy parade.
That lousy bullpen and lazy fielding ain't gonna cut it in Philadelphia. We need to regroup, fast.
And I'm not even going to talk about Andy Pages being 0-for-9 with 2 Ks this series.
For the second straight outing, Blake Snell's seven solid innings (7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 Ks) should be the story. But it's not, because our bullpen is a disaster--and actually let the Reds back into this game because of their absolute ineptitude.
Alex Vesia entered the game in the eighth. 22 pitches, 13 strikes. He saw three batters and got one out. Both of his runners scored.
Edgardo Henriquez came into the game, and was even worse. He saw three batters and got no outs, walking in two runs.
Jack Dreyer came into the game, and barely escaped. He saw three batters, walking in a run on his own, and got a strikeout and then a pop out to first, to escape the jam.
That's three pitchers, 59 pitches, and three runs yielded--all in one inning. This bullpen is pathetic.
During that eighth inning, we had to rush Emmet Sheehan to get warm in the bullpen, given the implosion that was happening on the field. Thankfully, we had scored 10 runs by then: three RBI from two Shohei Ohtani HRs; four RBI from two Teoscar Hernandez HR; a solo shot from Tommy Edman; and an RBI from Ben Rortvedt. (An Alex Call single with a two-run error from Noelvi Marte led to the other run, but no RBI was awarded.)
So we went to the ninth inning up 10-5, with Blake Treinen in for the ninth. He got two Ks, then gave up a single to Gavin Lux, but got Miguel Andujar for the final out. Whew.
If our starters can't go eight innings, we don't stand a chance, not with this leaky pen. We should be happy with a series-opening 10-5 win. But this isn't good.
I'm not even going to dwell on Andy Pages' 0-for-5.
Last night, we lost in extra innings, despite heroics from Emmet Sheehan, Mookie Betts, and Andy Pages, mostly because our bullpen repeatedly failed us and gave up leads in multiple innings.
But the other disaster (and unfortunately, this one could have been avoided) was batting Teoscar Hernandez third in the lineup. Teo, who has been lost for most of the season and basically all of the second half, went 0-for-4 with 2 Ks, and squashed Dodgers rallies in the second, fifth, and seventh innings (making the third and final out in all four of his plate appearances).
I love Teoscar's energy and enthusiasm, his sunflower seed showers, and his unwavering support of teammates. I wouldn't sit him, as we need him to get his swing back. But I sure as hell wouldn't bat him third, either.
Two runs was the difference in this game, so it's fitting that we call out Teoscar Hernandez for letting this two-run double by Tommy Pham ruin the Dodgers' hopes at victory Tuesday (not to mention, probably rattle Clayton Kershaw, who settled back into a groove after that four-run first inning). Watching Hernandez in right field has been awful all season, but on this one he looked like an old man, getting to the ball late with a weak slide and then letting the ball roll past him into the corner, allowing two Pirates to score.
Teoscar Hernandez' Fielding Run Value, according to Baseball Savant, is -9 RPG (3rd percentile). That isn't far off from where he was in 2024, but it's a far cry from his above-average performance in 2023. At this stage of the season, though, we just can't afford to have this defensive liability bumbling around in right.
The misadventures in right field remind me a lot of watching the right-field escapades of Juan Soto, to whom the Mets are tethered for the next 15 years. Soto is also an awful fielder (as we saw plainly in the 2024 World Series). However, Soto has a 161 OPS+, driving his WAR to 5.5. Hernandez has a 102 OPS+, which is right at league average, and his WAR is 0.9. In 2025, Hernandez is only batting .247 (he batted .272 last year, and had a 135 OPS+).
All the sunflower seed showers in the world, as well as Hernandez' radiant smile and value-additive cheerleading, aren't going to make his play in right field any prettier.
The logical solution would be to move Teoscar back to left field, where he might have a chance at throwing runners out at third. We could either move Andy Pages over to right once Tommy Edman returns; or finally succumb to bringing back Mookie Betts to right field and slot Hyeseong Kim and the resurgent Miguel Rojas in the infield.
That of course leaves no place for Michael Conforto, whose own year-long experiment has been another unmitigated disaster. Conforto has a -0.6 WAR this season and a 75 OPS+, and yet we keep trotting him out there in the hopes that something might change? It's ridiculous.
Conforto was 0-for-3 in yesterday's loss. You can't spell C0nf0rt0 without three 0s.
We've got to stop both these players and move them from their current roles, before they doom our postseason chances.
Five hits, and two runs, across two games against a division rival. That is not going to get it done.
The Dodgers slipped back into second place with yesterday's 5-1 loss, and look to slip further if we drop today's game. We are looking up at the Padres now. What a train wreck.
Teoscar Hernandez is 0-for-7 with 5 Ks in this series, and playing defense like an old man out there in right field. He's hurt. But there's no time for sympathy.
We can boo Machado, but he's so good, it's a matter of time before he goes off.
Blake Snell (3-1, 1.80) vs. Yu Darvish (2-3, 5.97).
Sounds familiar: home team comes into a three-game series one game behind in the standings, with a visiting rival squad that has something to prove. And though this worked out well for the Dodgers last weekend, the Dodgers' pathetic series split in Denver against the Rockies demonstrates that we are far from firing on all cylinders (not to mention, Teoscar Hernandez' defense in right field sometimes looks like he's up on cinder blocks in the driveway).
And don't get me started on why the hell Michael Conforto keeps playing (he is 0-for-his-last-13 and sports a .186 batting average and .612 OPS this year, with 63 hits on the year and 93 Ks). We keep trotting out lineups like this, and we're expecting to lose.
Continuing with the Two-Face theme, the Dodgers have split the first two games of this series so far, with one really bad loss folowed by one really good romp. I have no idea which team will show up tonight in Denver. Hopefully at least Teoscar Hernandez will have some wheels.
With 2024 Home Run Derby winner Teoscar Hernandez not in this year's field, I probably won't be watching this one.
I will say, given his adductor injury earlier this year and his slowed offensive production since, I'm kind of glad he's not participating this year. That said, I was certain that last year's incredible HRD performance was going to impair his ability to mash for the rest of the year--and Teoscar ended up being fine in the second half of 2024 (and it all ended well, right?). But this year, Teoscar could probably use the extra rest.
With the pre-game news that Freddie Freman was out for this game due to a weekend mishap slipping in the shower (keep your imaginations out of the gutter, Dodger fans!), the Dodgers entered with a little bit of concern, maybe? But to be fair, the Braves found out over the weekend that the Braves would be without new signing Jurickson Profar for 80 games, maybe we caught the Braves at the right time. And even with Freeman out, the Dodgers rolled to a 6-1 victory that was never in doubt.
Teoscar Hernandez opened up with a first-inning two-run HR. Michael Conforto had a RBI double and Tommy Edman added a sacrifice fly in the second, to make it 4-0. Will Smith added a RBI single in the fourth, and then Kiké Hernandez hit a solo shot in the fifth to make it 6-0 LA.
Sure, Tanner Scott gave up a solo HR to Michael Harris III in the eighth to lose the shutout. But that was all the damage Atlanta could do tonight.
3/27 vs. AZ (W, 6-4): AC
4/11 vs. TEX (W, 8-7): Sax
5/11 vs. SF (L, 3-9): Sax
5/25 vs. COL (W, 5-3): Sax
6/11 @ PIT (W, 8-6): Sax
6/15 vs. TB (W, 4-3): Nomo
7/4 vs. SD (W, 3-0): Orel, Sax
