All photos by Scott Killeen.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Ping Pong 4 Purpose Action, Part 2
Greinke And His Key Change
Old piece from Deadspin, but a great article on how Zack Greinke has changed his pitch repertoire and improved results:
This chart illustrates what's different. Notice the spike in the percentage of changeups Greinke has thrown in the last month:
In June, Greinke threw his changeup just 9.58 percent of the time. In July, that number ticked up slightly, to 10.50 percent. But in his five starts this month, fully one in five of his pitches (20.99 percent) has been a changeup. He's throwing it twice as frequently as he did last month; he hasn't used it this often in a full month at any point in his career.
In fact, per Brooks Baseball, Greinke has already thrown nearly as many changeups in five starts this month (115) as he did in 12 combined starts in June and July (125). He's also gotten hitters to swing at 55.65 percent of his changeups in August.
The chart below demonstrates how Greinke has thrown more changeups of late at the expense of his three power pitches: the four-seam fastball, sinker, and cutter. Hitters just haven't been able to catch up. All of a sudden, the $147 million contract the Dodgers signed Greinke to last winter looks like a perfectly reasonable investment.
Greinke has pitched past the sixth inning in all but four of his starts since then. He's allowed more than three earned runs just three times. His ERA has fallen all the way to 2.86. He has 77 strikeouts and just 24 walks in his last 13 starts—totals that include a seven-walk outing against the Rockies in early July, when L.A.'s offense bailed him out. Greinke is also inducing a lot more ground balls: 71 in his first nine starts, 133 in his last 13.
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Down in the comments of this article, our old friend MSTI also got some love, as Mike Petriello looked at pitch selection and found Greinke's decreasing reliance on his slider:
But without his slider, he’s not getting lit up — far from it. Really, the takeaway from this for me is that Greinke is even more impressive than I thought he was. How many pitchers can you think of who could simply stop using their most effective pitch and still keep runs off the board in the way he has? He may not pile up the strikeouts in the way that we’d hope, but he’s more than making up for it. Incredible.There’s more than a few recent studies that point to slider usage being a concern for elbow health, and as we know Greinke dealt with exactly that problem this spring. My guess here — and that’s all it is — is not that he’s still feeling pain and therefore can’t throw it, but that he’s attempting to head off any future issues by avoiding it. (Again, total speculation there.)
Greinke has indeed been an incredible pickup for us this season, and hopefully far beyond. Keep up the good work, Zack!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Ping Pong 4 Purpose Action, Part 1
All photos by Scott Killeen.
Clayton Kershaw's Ping Pong 4 Purpose: First Photos
Thanks to SoSG stringer Scott Killeen for the early snaps — more to come!
Keith Law Picks Kershaw, Puig for 2013 Awards
Keith Law apparently got aced out of the BBWAA voting this year due to an administrative malfunction. Scorned, he took his thinking public so he could announce for whom Law would be voting, had he gotten the opportunity (link insider only). And there are a couple of Dodgers which come up:
Clayton Kershaw is having a season for the ages, leading the NL in Baseball Reference's WAR (rWAR) so far, with an ERA (1.72) that would be the second-lowest for any ERA qualifier in a non-strike season since MLB lowered the mound in 1969, with only Dwight Gooden's 1.53 ERA in 1985 lower than Kershaw's.
His FanGraphs WAR (fWAR), derived from his FIP (fielding independent pitching) of 2.39, might do him a slight disservice, as Kershaw posted BABIPs below league average from 2009 through 2012 -- in the .262 to .275 range -- and that figure is down to .231 this year. If Kershaw is truly capable of keeping his batting average allowed on balls in play around .270 -- as opposed to the league average, which is closer to .300 -- then his FIP this year would be about 2.25, which would be the second-best mark in the NL.
The real debate this fall won't be over Kershaw's FIP or his rWAR, but between Kershaw and Andrew McCutchen, by far the best position player in the NL this year. He's third in the NL in OBP and 10th in slugging (with two of the top three playing in Colorado) while playing above-average defense in center. The Mets' David Wright might have had a chance to challenge McCutchen, but missing four or more weeks to a hamstring strain will create some separation between him and Cutch.
My pick: McCutchen / Who I think will win: McCutchen
NL Cy Young
Kershaw wins this in a rout -- he has been the most valuable by rWAR, near the top by fWAR, and didn't get to fatten up on bad NL East offenses all year. Adam Wainwright probably ends up taking second place over Matt Harvey (who is now out for the year), Jose Fernandez and the somewhat unheralded Mat Latos.
But really, if Kershaw finishes with a sub-2.00 ERA, I'll be shocked if he's anything short of unanimous.
My pick: Kershaw / Who I think will win: Kershaw
NL Rookie of the Year
Puig has the narrative here -- not only has he played extremely well, but the Dodgers started winning right around the time of his arrival. (That their run of success also started when Hanley Ramirez and Zack Greinke came off the DL will be conveniently ignored as it doesn't support the desired story.)
But Fernandez leads Puig comfortably in both flavors of WAR, and while he hasn't been seen as much by a national audience, he has been just as exciting, turning into a bona fide ace as a 20-year-old while playing for a team in his adopted home state. That this wonderful thing is happening to a team owned by Jeffrey Loria is a fact I will conveniently ignore.
Beyond those two, I'd probably follow up my ballot with Shelby Miller and Julio Teheran, giving them the edge over the much older Hyun-Jin Ryu.
My pick: Fernandez / Who I think will win: PuigNational League MVP
Post-Game 131 Thread: Greinke Digs Deep
Remember that hangover Gnomes was feeling back on Monday? Well the pain had infected most of us other Sons as well (save SoSG Stubbs, who is busy rehearsing for the Australia / New Zealand leg of the One Direction tour), so we didn't get around to this PGT, either. Nothing like an off-day to catch up on old business!
Meanwhile, keeping focused on the tasks at hand was Zack Greinke, who tried to get the CGSHO but fell just a bit short in his quest:
Mattingly finally obliged, even getting booed by Los Angeles Dodgers fans when he made a mound visit to Greinke late in the game against the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.
"Then I don't do the job," Greinke said after coming within one strike of his fifth career shutout in the Dodgers' 6-2 victory that ended their two-game skid.
Greinke got the first two outs of the ninth before running into trouble. Anthony Rizzo doubled, and then Greinke hit Nate Schierholtz. Greinke had a 3-2 count on Brian Bogusevic before he doubled to deep left to score Chicago's two runs.
"It was frustrating," Greinke said. "I made some good pitches. Rizzo had a nice hit. The pitch to Schierholtz was pretty close to where you want to throw it, and it hit him. I'm more frustrated I couldn't get him (Bogusevic) out. Did everything you could but just didn't happen."
Brian Wilson came in to strike out Donnie Murphy for the final out.
"I knew he really wanted to stay in the game," Mattingly said of Greinke. "I'm a little torn with it, honestly. I wanted to keep him at 115 (pitches, Greinke threw 122), but he's earned the right to go for it." Zack Greinke had been badgering manager Don Mattingly for a month to let him pitch deeper into games.
Look, 8.2 IP of 5 H, 2 ER ball (2 BB, 9 Ks) is nothing at which to slouch. Greinke did great, and it was more than enough to let Carl Crawford's 2 RBIs stand up, not to mention HRs from Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig (who went 3-for-5 on the evening). Nick Punto threw in an RBI, as did Greinke himself (scoring the first run of the game).
Good for Greinke to dig deep and get the win. I just hope the Dodgers win this series with the Cubs.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
I Was Afraid This Might Happen
Source: #Dodgers agree with Volquez on major-league deal, pending physical, other details. #Padres pay all but pro-rated min of his $5.725M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 29, 2013
UPDATE (10.27p) (Sax): From ESPN, Volquez is in discussions only because Capuano hasn't been able to get it done:
The Dodgers may be interested in Volquez as a possible replacement in the rotation for Chris Capuano, who has a 4.74 ERA in 20 games for the Dodgers this year.Volquez is 9-10 with a 6.01 ERA in 27 starts this season. He has struck out 116 and walked 69 in 142 1/3 innings.
If Woody had gone to the police, this would never have happened.
UPDATE 2 (8/29 4.56a) (Sax): More on Volquez, from Jim Caple's piece:
San Diego's Edinson Volquez, meanwhile, allowed the first eight batters to reach safely on Friday (2/3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP), didn't get out of the first inning and received a pink slip after the game.
Post-Game 130 Thread: An End To Streaking
Wait a minute, aren't we already streaking again? Well, it's not easy cleaning up dirty laundry around the SoSG bar, but the end of the Dodgers' 18-consecutive-series-without-a-loss streak seemed like it should be worth noting, even if it's a delinquent PGT. The Red Sox took the rubber game thanks to a complete game from Jake Peavy, who allowed one run and only three hits. Meanwhile, Boston got all over Chris Capuano (who took the loss; 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER) and Chris Withrow (2.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER). So, on national television, 19 didn't materialize.
Blecch. Shake it off, Dodgers, and let's start a new streak.
photo swiped from here (interesting accompanying story, as well)
Post-Game 133 Thread: Back Streaking Again
The Dodgers got back to their series-winning ways this afternoon, taking the rubber match with the Cubs behind solo shots from Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier, as well as a fifth-inning Cubs implosion ignited by a throwing error by Cubs pitcher Edwin Jackson, which lead to a two-run frame. Ricky Nolasco had another impressive performance, 8.0 IP of 3 H, 0 R ball (1 BB, 11 Ks), and Kenley Jansen closed it out in the ninth.
Not that this game wasn't without intrigue, however. First of all, it was hot as all get out at the Stadium. But besides that, Yasiel Puig, who started the game in right field, was pulled from the game in the fifth inning for "disciplinary reasons". It was unclear whether that was because Puig didn't go hard into second in the first inning, abdicating an attempt to break up the double play (which the Cubs pulled off); or whether his K in the 3rd was just too painful. Or, as ESPN suggests, but I didn't note, perhaps because Puig made some fly outs in right that appeared to be a little too cavalier. Either way, seeing Skip Schumaker in the fifth was odd. So let's hope this isn't anything serious, just a Puig blip.
To his credit, Puig was mature about his early dismissal:
"I wanted to finish the game, but I agreed with the explanation," Puig said. "The meeting went well. We talked about what every player needs to do to prepare for every pitch."
And here's Beto Duran:
Puig said meeting with Mattingly was good "he explained what I have to do. Give 100% dont matter if your tired"
— Beto Duran (@DuranSports) August 28, 2013
Dodgers rest up tomorrow before three with the Padres at home, starting Friday.
Game 133 Thread: August 28 vs. Cubs, 12n
Ricky Nolasco (5-1, 2.53) vs. Edwin Jackson (7-13, 5.00).
And another reason why I don't like this every-day-is-interleague-day crap (ushered in this year): this is the Dodgers' only businessperson's special game of the season. (I suppose "getaway game" is the new term to use, by some accounts.)
Nolasco's last outing was an eight-inning, two-hit masterstroke, matching his longest outing of the year and frustrating the Red Sox in the series opener (the one that the Dodgers actually won). Former Dodger Jackson, on the other hand, was given a six-run lead before he even touched the ball, but gave all six runs back by the time he had exited in the sixth inning, in a game that the Cubs eventually lost (for more Cubs tomfoolery, look here for the 8/25 Friday game, in which the Cubs notched the first run of the game in the 13th inning only when Nate Schierholtz slipped out of the box after hitting a grounder to first, and camo-clad Padres 1B Jesus Guzman came home with the throw but hit Schierholtz in the face with the throw instead, allowing the runner on third to score and Schierholtz to reach base safely. You have to see the video to believe it.).
The Cubs-Dodgers game today won't be as wacky as that Cubs-Padres game. But it is early. And the taps will be flowing.
And Sax will be there just to make sure those taps are flowing well! You should join me: gotta get away!
The Chicago Dodger Dog, Reviewed
The SoSG stringer who sent over the review of the Boston Dodger Dog had this to say about the new Chicago Dodger Dog available through today:
The Chicago Dodger Dog comes dressed in Kelly-green pickle relish, covered in diced onions, a couple of sliced tomato wedges and topped with a couple of yellow-ish chiles. It was just so-so; I liked the Boston Dodger Dog better.
Hmm. I'm going to have to be the judge of this, methinks.
Kershaw's Astronomical Performance Has Family Lineage
I'm a bit behind in my Sports Illustrated issues, but the August 12 2013 issue (Peyton Manning / Broncos cover) had this tidbit in the Extra Mustard section:
Who Knew...Clayton Kershaw's great uncle discovered Pluto?
In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh—who was just 24 and had abandoned his plans to go to college after a hailstorm decimated the family's crops—made the discovery while working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Tombaugh, whose brother's daughter is the mother of the Dodgers' ace, was an avid astronomer who had built his first telescope a few years earlier using the shaft from his father's 1910 Buick.
So that explains why Kershaw is otherworldly!
Roll Out the Red Carpet
In the most hotly contested battle of 2013, D.E.L.I.N.O will be representing the Glorious Sons of Steve Garvey at the LA Weekly Web Awards. Not since Homer Simpson won a Grammy for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word or Barbershop Album of the Year has such a collection of talent been found in one category.
Best Sports Blog
Clips Nation
Land O Lakers
Modern hiker
Nobody Hikes in LA
Grantland
Blogilates
Dodgers Nation
Dodger Thoughts
Sons of Steve Garvey
The Royal Half.
I would take this opportunity to belittle our competitors, but (aside from the Delovely Dodgers Nation and Dodgers Thoughts), I don't know who the F they are.
Hopefully our voters are from Illinois, and stuffed the ballot box with abandon.
I'd claim it's an honor to be nominated, but does history remember the fifth place Best Sports Blog from 2012. No sir. Give me victory, or give me death. Or at the very least, some apps and booze.
I'll represent SoSG Nation with pride, dignity and sobriety. And if we win, expect one or all of the following...
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Post-Game 132 Thread: Is The Magic Starting To Fade?
Is it just me, or does it seem like the Dodgers' run has lost a bit of its magic? After dropping the weekend series to the Red Sox, the Dodgers took care of business Monday but limped through tonight's game with some notable offensive absences: Adrian Gonzalez, 0-for-4 tonight and 0-for-9 in the series; Carl Crawford: 0-for-4 tonight and 1-for-8 in the series; Mark Ellis, 0-for-3 tonight and 0-for-6 in the series. The Dodgers went 2-for-7 with RISP tonight and left nine on base.
Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw lasted only (*for him, that is) six innings and gave up two runs, one of them earned, raising his ERA to 1.72. Ronald Belisario started to look like his early-season shaky self again, yielding another run to the Cubs in the seventh after two leadoff singles and a HBP put him in a hole early. Then Carlos Marmol came in for the ninth and was weak, made worse by Nick Punto's fielding error, but saved from damage by Paco Rodriguez.
Andre Ethier and Juan Uribe each had RBI singles. Excuse me, but that's not enough to get me celebrating, especially not when there could have been more--Skip Schumaker GIDPd with two on in the eighth to end the inning--and this is against the Cubs for pete's sake. We can do better. Let's get the series win tomorrow.
Game 132 Thread: Aug. 27 vs. Cubs, 7p
Clayton Kershaw (13-7, 1.72) vs. Travis Wood (7-10, 3.22).
After leaving Zack Greinke in yesterday's game for 122 pitches and the incomplete game victory, will Don Mattingly allow Kershaw to talk him into trying to go the distance tonight? With Matt Harvey's unfortunate injury fresh in our minds, it's not unreasonable to worry about arm health as the playoffs loom. But Mattingly's gotten us this far, so trust the skipper. Magic number = 23!
The Reign of Vin
Baseball Prospectus has a nice graphic depicting how the Dodgers franchise has evolved all while Vin has been in the press box. Narrative and commentary here.
Graphic: Baseball Prospectus
Monday, August 26, 2013
Game 131 Thread: August 26 vs. Cubs, 7p
Zack Greinke (12-3, 2.91) vs. Jake Arrieta (1-0, 3.71)
Ugh. Anyone else have a hangover? The last thing I remember was Friday night: a rousing 2-0 victory over the Red Sox, in which Ricky Nolasco pitched like an ace. Then, I must have blacked out. I have no memory of the rest of the weekend. All I know is I have a massive headache and I feel like puking.
While I don't know what happened, I do know the Cubs should be a good way shake this hangover. Right, @Dodgers?
The #ChicagoDog is available while the @Cubs are in town! Get to Dodger Stadium this week: http://t.co/eTWQcs0z5b pic.twitter.com/n2Dop9yB7v
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 26, 2013
Urp.
Can't We All Get Along
Isn't it strange that if you have Time Warner Cable, the only way to see CBS and KCAL channel 2 or 9 is actually AT Dodger stadium during a game? Its sad that the two companies can't get their act together and settle on a deal while their companies are both prominently displayed at the park.
Picture from last night's game vs Boston.
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