By Jon Weisman
Yasmani Grandal catches most Zack Greinke starts, as well as most games against right-handed pitching, but his ailing shoulder might keep him doing so Thursday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
Don Mattingly said that Grandal is able to play defensively, but it’s a question whether he can bat effectively, saying that Grandal is “a bit more on the 50-50 line” about whether he could start.
Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
In a reversal of 2014, Yasiel Puig will make his first postseason start in more than a year when the Dodgers play the Mets tonight in Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
Facing a left-handed starter (Steven Matz) for the only time in the NLDS, Don Mattingly has put right-handed hitting outfielders Puig and Justin Ruggiano in place of Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford, who have typically sat against southpaws in 2015.
Also back in today’s lineup is catcher A.J. Ellis, no surprise with a lefty pitching for the opposition, Clayton Kershaw pitching for the Dodgers and Yasmani Grandal appearing to have aggravated his problematic left shoulder in Monday’s 13-7 Game 3 loss.
Memorably, Mattingly substituted Ethier for Puig in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS, after Puig started the first three games. In each game, the Dodgers needed a win to stay alive in the playoffs. As Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. notes, the Dodgers have lost six straight elimination games on the road in the playoffs, last winning one in 1981.
[mlbvideo id=”479901783″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
During the day Monday, Adrian Gonzalez was named the Dodgers’ nominee for the 2015 Roberto Clemente Award, which honors “a player who best represents the game through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.”
Lately, Gonzalez has needed to display a great deal of sportsmanship alongside athleticism to come away foul balls. First there was the one in Chicago involving a Wrigley Field fan holding a baby. Then came Monday night’s fifth-inning foul ball, which Gonzalez caught despite a Boston-capped fan nearly tearing Gonzalez’s glove off.
Gonzalez not only came away triumphant on that play, he made a nifty defensive stab to record the final out of the Dodgers’ 4-1 victory over the Rockies.
Clayton Kershaw won the award in 2012, and Jimmy Rollins shared the honor with Paul Konerko in 2014.
Here are some other bits and bunts …
[mlbvideo id=”479743483″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
[mlbvideo id=”479778483″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
A quick note before we get to today’s lengthy health recap: Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta lowered his ERA to 1.99 this afternoon. If he and Zack Greinke stay below 2.00, they’ll be the first duo to do so in the same year since Dwight Gooden (1.53) and John Tudor (1.93) in 1985.
If Clayton Kershaw (2.15) joins them, we would have the first sub-2.00 trio since Luis Tiant (1.91), Gaylord Perry (1.92) and Gary Nolan (1.99) in 1972.
Kershaw, who is next scheduled to start Monday against the Rockies, most likely has four starts left in the 2015 regular season. If he pitched a total of 24 1/3 to 28 1/3 innings, he would need to allow no more than two earned runs (0.64 ERA) to get his ERA below 2.00. If he pitched 28 2/3 to 33 innings, he could allow three runs, and if he pitched at least 33 1/3, he could allow four runs.
And now, to the Web (Gem) MD report, via manager Don Mattingly to reporters:
By Jon Weisman
Given his many accomplishments and reputation as a workhorse, it’s hard to believe that Clayton Kershaw has never led the National League in innings pitched. The 2015 season could change all that.
Entering tonight’s start against the Angels, Kershaw has 194 innings to his name, with a chance to extend his slim lead over teammate Zack Greinke (192 2/3), Chicago’s Jake Arrieta (191), Washington’s Max Scherzer (190) and San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner (188 2/3).
In recent years, Kershaw has lost NL innings-pitched titles to Johnny Cueto (2014), Adam Wainwright (2013), R.A. Dickey (2012) and Chris Carpenter (2011). Kershaw never had a chance in 2014 after missing all of April with an injury, but he fell short the previous three years by six innings or less each time.
Kershaw needs at least seven innings tonight to take over the MLB lead in innings from Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, in what figures to be a game of leapfrog until the end of the season.
* * *
Yasmani Grandal just told reporters that his MRI “showed inflammation and fluid in his left shoulder,” that he would have to play with for the rest of the season, according to Bill Plunkett of the Register.
However, Grandal added that he hoped to return by this weekend’s series at Arizona.
With Angels lefty Andrew Heaney on the mound, the Dodgers are going with a right-handed-hitting outfield of Justin Ruggiano, Chris Heisey and Scott Van Slyke, along with Alex Guerrero at DH. Adrian Gonzalez and Corey Seager are the only lefties in the lineup, as Jimmy Rollins takes another day to nurse an injured knuckle on his right hand. X-rays were negative on the finger.
Dodger leadoff hitters in '15: Pederson (68 games), Rollins (52), Puig (7), Hernandez (5), Crawford (2), Turner, Heisey, Barney, Ruggiano.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) September 8, 2015
By Jon Weisman
Don Mattingly told reporters today that Yasmani Grandal’s shoulder is bothering him again, and that Jimmy Rollins is having X-rays on a finger on this throwing hand that was hurt in a slide during Sunday’s 5-1 victory over San Diego.
Grandal was originally in tonight’s starting lineup against the Angels before being scratched. He will be examined anew, and A.J. Ellis will start.
Results from Rollins’ X-rays are hoped for by tonight. Corey Seager, 5 for 15 with two doubles and a stolen base as a Dodger, will make his fourth Dodger start.
One piece of good injury news: Jose Peraza told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com that his hamstring was healed and he was able to play.
Mattingly also said that Mat Latos will start the third game of the series against the Angels, after Greinke tonight and Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday. Mike Bolsinger might get another start this weekend at Arizona.
The Dodgers enter tonight’s game with a season-high lead of eight games in the National League West, after San Francisco’s 6-1 loss at Arizona this afternoon.
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers are having Yasmani Grandal play out of his current slump.
An All-Star this season, Grandal had a .913 OPS on August 1. Since then, he is 3 for 52 with 10 walks. Since his last hit on August 16, Grandal is 0 for 30 with six walks and 15 strikeouts.
Don Mattingly has maintained that Grandal, while struggling, is healthy and that the team has confidence he can get on a roll at any time.
Joe Robbins/Getty Images
By Jon Weisman
Zack Greinke gave up five runs in his first inning of August. For the rest of the month, his ERA was 1.36.
Greinke improved those figures with seven shutout innings today at Cincinnati, and the Dodgers needed every one of them, hanging on for a 1-0 victory.
The Dodgers grounded into five double plays, tying a team record, including a franchise record-tying three by Yasmani Grandal — then wasted a bases-loaded, none-out opportunity in the ninth with a strikeout and two foulouts.
Fortunately for Los Angeles, the first GIDP scored a run in the second inning, and it held up, despite the offensive struggles and injuries to Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig.
Only in the fifth inning did trouble find Greinke: a first-and-third situation with one out and 22 pitches already thrown in the frame. But Greinke was able to use opposing pitcher Anthony DeSciafani and technically-the-leadoff-hitter Skip Schumaker as an escape hatch, striking out both.
Greinke now has a 3.46 ERA in the first inning this year, and a 1.29 ERA after the first inning. Throwing 109 pitches, Greinke struck out nine against six baserunners today. For the year, his ERA is 1.61.
With Kenley Jansen having pitched the first two games of the series, it was up to Chris Hatcher and Jim Johnson to close out the game. And with a shutout inning apiece, they did.
The Dodgers are 4-1 in games decided by a 1-0 score this season.
By Jon Weisman
Yasmani Grandal is back in the starting lineup for the first time since Saturday, but as Pedro Moura of the Register wrote, Grandal’s left shoulder isn’t 100 percent.
With A.J. Ellis three months into a hot streak off the bench, Grandal himself indicated that Ellis might play more than the typical one or two games per week as the season heads into September.
“A.J.’s doing a great job behind home plate,” Grandal told Moura. “Why not give him a shot at playing more games in a row, getting him a little more comfortable back there on back-to-back days? You never know what can happen.”
No one’s looking to put Grandal out to pasture, especially if he can heal up. According to Fangraphs, the 26-year-old is No. 4 among Major League catchers in wins above replacement and is tops among everyday catchers in offense. He has a .383 on-base percentage and .471 slugging percentage, despite going 3 for his last 30 (with five walks).
But after two seasons of injury-plagued decline, Ellis has been reborn at age 34. His .736 OPS in 2015 is his best since 2012, and from May 26 through August 26, he has a .435 OBP while slugging .521, including a homer, single and walk in Wednesday’s 7-4 win over the Reds.
“I don’t know if it was just health, or bad swing mechanics,” Ellis said in explaining his surge to Moura. “I was hitting a lot of ground balls to the left side of the infield on pitches I should have traditionally stayed up the middle on or hit the other way. I worked hard on staying up the middle.”
Given their side-by-side success, we should see the Dodgers be able to take advantage of Grandal and Ellis not only down the stretch but if they reach the playoffs, especially given how often in their friendly partnership Grandal has caught Zack Greinke while Ellis has caught Clayton Kershaw.
It doesn’t hurt that in his postseason career, Ellis is hitting .386/.481/.682 for a 1.163 OPS in 53 plate appearances (yes, small sample size warning). He has a 10-game hitting streak in the playoffs and has a hit in all but one of his 14 career playoff games.
Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Yasmani Grandal is not expected to start before Thursday at the earliest because of an ailing left shoulder, Don Mattingly told reporters today.
Grandal is third on the Dodgers with 140 weighted runs created (wRC+), but he is 3 for 30 with five walks and no extra-base hits in his past 35 plate appearances. Mattingly said there is worry the shoulder condition is altering Grandal’s swing.
The 26-year-old catcher isn’t expected to go on the disabled list, especially with rosters expanding one week from today. But it will mean more work than usual for A.J. Ellis, who is quietly posting his best averages at the plate (.356 on-base percentage, .360 slugging percentage) since 2012.
The Dodgers need improvement from several players as they look to win their first game since August 16. During the current five-game losing streak …
Rollins’ third-inning home run six days ago at Oakland is the Dodgers’ most recent four-base hit.
https://twitter.com/DodgerInsider/status/636271626946940928https://twitter.com/DodgerInsider/status/636274568764657664
Alex Wood, who takes the mound today for the Dodgers, has been charged with exactly three runs on five hits with three walks in each of his past three starts.
Mat Latos pitched a five-inning simulated game Monday, and is scheduled to start Saturday against the Cubs, with Brett Anderson, Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw taking the starts between now and then. Juan Nicasio, as noted Monday, has been activated from the disabled list.
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Juan Nicasio has been placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to Aug. 10) with a left abdominal strain by the Dodgers, who have activated Chris Hatcher from the 60-day DL.
Carlos Frias, out since July 1, has been moved to the 60-day disabled list.
Nicasio has allowed 62 baserunners in 47 innings this season while striking out 52. Since allowing three runs on July 5 and again on July 7, the right-hander, who turns 29 at the end of the month, has allowed two runs in 11 innings (with 13 strikeouts) and stranded all three inherited runners.
Hatcher has allowed 31 baserunners in his 18 1/3 Dodger innings with 19 strikeouts.
Some other quick notes …
“I just need to get back to pitching like me instead of trying to fool everybody, throw too many breaking pitches and so on and so forth,” Latos said. “Go look back at video and try to make some adjustments on how I used to pitch when I was getting outs.”
Latos could not say when that drift occurred and whether the change was in response to a gameplan devised by his new team, saying only that it has been “kind of like spring training all over again, trying to get used to a new team, get used to a new catcher.”
“I honestly can’t tell you,” he said. “I need to go back and look a couple years back when I was more fastball dominant, throwing more fastballs, locating better. I’ve gotten away from that and started throwing much more off-speed.
The next two days at Dodger Insider will be relatively quiet because of family events. Will catch up with you soon …
Yasmani Grandal has a .997 OPS since May 1. (Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
How’s this for a transformation?
Last year, Dodger catchers were 29th in the Major Leagues with a .544 OPS. This year, they’re first, with an .853 OPS.
For the most part, you can thank Yasmani Grandal, who leads all MLB starting catchers with a .928 OPS behind the plate. (His .401 on-base percentage also is No. 1, while his .527 slugging is best in the National League.)
In smaller doses, A.J. Ellis and Austin Barnes have chipped in.
Ellis, activated from the disabled list today, has a .429 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage in 57 plate appearances since May 26. Overall, his OPS behind the plate is .667 in 105 plate appearances.
Barnes, who is returning to Triple-A Oklahoma City, went 3 for 10 with a double, walk and a hit-by-pitch in his second Dodger stint, for a .817 OPS. His overall OPS for the Dodgers is .722 in 18 plate appearances.
Add in Grandal’s MLB-leading pitch-framing numbers, according to Baseball Prospectus, and the team’s above-average rate of throwing out would-be basestealers, and it’s clear how dramatically improved the Dodgers are behind the plate.
(In wins above replacement, Fangraphs lists the Dodgers as No. 2 in the big leagues behind the Giants, though this includes Buster Posey’s 91 plate appearances as a first baseman, in which he has a .429 OBP and .600 slugging. In any case, this is heady company to be in.)
By Jon Weisman
After making the NL All-Star team in his first year as a Dodger, Yasmani Grandal graces the cover of the August 2015 issue of Dodger Insider magazine (on sale beginning today). In the story, “Player To Be Famed Later,” we highlight Grandal’s journey from relative anonymity to becoming an All-Star and the most productive catcher in the National League this side of Buster Posey.
Dodger Insider’s biggest issue of the season to date also features Cary Osborne’s multifaceted, in-depth examination of Yasiel Puig and his effort to conquer baseball adversity, two years after making a smash big-league debut at age 22. We have charts and analysis from the intermingling scout and sabermetric branches of baseball, as well as introspective thoughts from Puig himself.
Another fun piece in the issue, in addition to all you see at right, is team historian Mark Langill’s look at some of the great unlikely heroes of past Dodger stretch runs. Also, Mike Petriello gives us more insight into how MLB’s Statcast helps fill in the blanks of our baseball comprehension.
In total, there are more than two dozen stories, plus all the usual great photos, games, tidbits and more. For $5 at the ballpark, it’s a bargain.
The August 2015 Dodger Insider magazine is available at all Dodger team stores. To subscribe, visit dodgers.com/magazine. Orders taken through August 7 will begin with the September issue.
[mlbvideo id=”281492483″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers wished upon their non-star, and Mike Bolsinger came through.
Beginning with his nine-pitch first inning, the undersung Bolsinger was at the top of his game for seven innings and 98 pitches, allowing only three hits and an unearned run in the Dodgers’ 3-1 daytime victory at Atlanta.
Austin Barnes and A.J. Ellis in the Dodger video room before Barnes’ MLB debut May 24. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
You might have seen Yasmani Grandal get clocked in the jaw by a foul ball Sunday, but he wasn’t the only Dodger catcher to come down wounded.
A.J. Ellis has right knee inflammation that has landed him on the 15-day disabled list.
It’s never a good time to lose a catcher, let alone two at once. And the injury to Ellis comes at a particularly unfortunate time, considering that the 34-year-old has had a .429 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage in 57 plate appearances since May 26.
Ellis has also thrown out six of 12 would-be basestealers in that time, with zero errors and one passed ball.
He was on the disabled list for 38 days last year because of surgery on his left knee in April, followed by a May trip to the disabled list after he sprained his ankle during the celebration of Josh Beckett’s no-hitter.
Dodger manager Don Mattingly told reporters today that Ellis could be ready to go before the week is out, but the Dodgers didn’t have the luxury of going with only one catcher while waiting. Ellis’ knee started getting tight on the plane ride to Atlanta and stiffened further in the middle of the night, according to Mattingly.
Grandal, of course, is six days removed from playing in the All-Star Game. He has a .399 OBP and .518 slugging percentage this season — .425/.594 since May 1. But he did not end up on the disabled list after all, and though he isn’t starting tonight, he is available, Mattingly said.
When Brandon Beachy makes his second MLB start of the season tonight, he’ll actually be throwing to the catcher who caught his last two minor-league rehab starts of 2015: Austin Barnes.
The 25-year-old Barnes, who went 1 for 5 with a walk while making his MLB debut with the Dodgers while Grandal was on the seven-day concussion disabled list, has a .385 OBP and .484 slugging percentage with Triple-A Oklahoma City, with 22 extra-base hits and 28 walks compared with 26 strikeouts.
Barnes was singled out for praise by another Dodger rejoining the team from Oklahoma City: Carl Crawford.
“I like him,” Crawford told Jacob Unruh of the Oklahoman. “He looked like a real good player. I think we’ll see him playing real good in the big leagues someday. They’ve got a lot of guys that can play, but he’s the guy that stood out the most to me.”
The expectation is that the Dodgers will activate Crawford from the 60-day disabled list Tuesday.
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
Thank You For Not ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén
