Dodgers' Pitching, Offense Strong In Victory by Tyler Monroy | Dodgers Nation — 45 minutes ago With the temperature in the high-90s, the Los Angeles Dodgers faced the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. David Huff made his fifth appearance and third start of the spring. Matt Shoemaker made his fourth start for the Angels. After a Justin Turner flyout, Alex Guerrero hit a ball deep, to the 420-foot sign in center field, and Mike Trout made an outstanding leaping catch against the wall. Ethier then grounded out to first baseman Albert Pujols to end the top of the first. Kole Calhoun flew out to left field start the bottom of the first which was followed by a groundout by Trout. After Huff issued a walk to Pujols, C.J. Cron grounded into a fielders’ choice to Guerrero at third, who threw Pujols out at second base. The Dodgers first baserunner came by way of a walk to Scott Van Slyke. The very next batter, Joc Pederson, followed the walk with his fifth home run of the spring, a no-doubter to center field, which gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. The inning ended after a popout and a strike out. The first batter of the bottom of the second inning, Eric Aybar, hit a home run on a full count to reduce the Dodgers lead to 2-1. Left fielder Matt Joyce followed the home run with a double to right field. After a popout to Van Slyke, Kyle Kubitza drove a ball to left field, but it was tracked down by Chris Heisey and Joyce tagged up and advanced to third. However, the threat was diminished after Taylor Featherston grounded out to the shortstop, Turner. Darwin Barney’s first at-bat of the day resulted in a fly out to right field for the first out of the top of the third.After a groundout, Guerrero unloaded on a low fastball for his third home run of the spring to make it 3-1. After two flyouts to Pederson in center, Pujols drilled a line drive to left despite the infield shift put on by the Dodgers. A line drive by Cron sent Kiké Hernandez crashing into the wall, but he recovered in time to stop Pujols at third. Aybar then flew out to Hernandez to end the inning. Yasmani Grandal began the top of the fourth with a drive into the right-center field gap, but Calhoun tracked it down, making a nice running catch. After a single by Van Slyke, Pederson grounded to second base, which looked to be a double play, but the center fielder hustled down the line and beat the throw for the fielders’ choice. With Pederson running on the next pitch, the Angels threw a pitch out and cut down the would-be base stealer for the third out. The Angels started the bottom of the fourth inning with two straight singles. After a sacrifice bunt, the Angels had runners on second and third with one out. Huff was then taken out of the game and replaced by Pedro Baez and promptly struck out Featherston on three pitches. On the very next pitch, Calhoun flew out to Pederson to end the inning an the threat. Shoemaker ended the inning quickly, three up and three down. Dustin McGowan replaced Baez in the bottom of the fifth.On his second pitch of the inning, Trout blasted a home run to center field. However, McGowan retired the next three batters to end the inning. Turner led off the top of the sixth with a double down the left field line, and was replaced by a pinch-runner. Guerrero worked the count full, but grounded out to third base, leaving the pinch runner at second. Ethier popped out to the shortstop for the second out. Grandal grounded out to Pujols to end the inning. Adam Liberatore relieved McGowan. After a walk to the second batter, Liberatore induced a ground ball to cut down the runner going to second base. A ground ball to the shortstop ended the inning. Van Slyke started the seventh inning with a single up the middle, which ended Shoemaker’s day. Jose Alvarez came in in relief. Pederson flew out on the first pitch for the first out of the inning. Heisey promptly blasted a line drive off of the left field wall to score Van Slyke and extend the Dodgers lead to 4-2. Jeremy Hazelbaker then replaced Heisey as a pinch runner. However, the next batter grounded out to end the inning. Many changes came along with the bottom of the seventh, including Josh Ravin on the mound. An easy inning ensued and the Dodgers returned to the dugout after three batters. Guerrero singled up the middle to start the inning and was pinch run for, ending his day 2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI. After two outs, the next batter doubled to right, scoring one run and bumping the lead up to 5-2. B.J. Rosenberg was brought in to pitch the bottom half of the inning. He was unable to toss a scoreless inning, as he gave up a triple and an RBI single. The right-hander was able to finish the inning without any more damage. In the top of the ninth, the Dodgers were able to put two runners on base; however, they weren’t able to score. Ryan Buchter came in to close it out. He allowed a leadoff double, threw a wild pitch and gave up a run with a sacrifice fly. The left-hander was able to close out the game as the Dodgers won 5-4.
The offense is really suffering. It is hard believe they traded the Great Chinchilla. What will they do?anic:
LF- Crawford/SVS strict platoon; CF- Pederson; RF- Puig... sounds good to me. Hernandez does need to make the team on the bench, GTFO Barney.
FIFY that 5th spot on the bench is gonna go to Ethier so long as he's around and that's pretty fucked up..Hernandez is ballin and obviously brings more youth to the table. SVS, Turner, Guerrero, and Ellis are pretty much locks..have to say that Ethier is a lock too unless of course they move him. or could they go with 6 in the pen to start the year and open an extra spot on the bench? Peralta, Paco, Howell, Yimi, Hatcher, Nicasio? 1 short on middle relief..
Joc just keeps on blasting. Irrelevance and all, but I don't think I've seen us have a more successful spring training in terms of wins.
i don't care that it's spring training... i never like losing to these fkags Pitchers struggle as Dodgers fall to Giants by Juan Velez | Dodgers Nation — 23 minutes ago The Los Angeles Dodgers were facing the rival San Francisco Giants for the second time in three days. Young pitcher Carlos Frias got the starting nod, and he would be going against Matt Cain. This game was one of the two split-squad matches Sunday afternoon. Joc Pederson got things going with a hard-hit grounder that Brandon Belt couldn’t come up with. Pederson tried to steal second but was thrown out. Justin Turner hit a double to right field, and Yasiel Puig followed suit with a ground-rule double to right, scoring Turner. A 1-0 lead had been quickly established. Yasmani Grandal flied out, and Andre Ethier went down swinging for the third out. Puig flashed his defensive skill with a diving catch, robbing Nori Aoki of a hit. Frias then gave a up a double to Joe Panik, and a single to Angel Pagan. Buster Posey hit a bloop single to right, scoring Panik and tying the game at one. Despite a mound visit, Frias gave up another hit, this time to Brandon Belt, and Pagan scored as the Giants took a the lead. Frias finally got out of the inning by striking out Travis Ishikawa and getting Brandon Crawford to ground out. After one, the Giants were up 2-1. The Dodgers went down quickly in the second. A short fly out, and two ground outs retired the side in order. In the bottom of the frame, Frias continued to struggle. He issued a walk to the lead off batter. He struck out opposing pitcher Matt Cain, but gave up a base hit to Aoki. He issued another walk to Joe Panik and loaded the bases. Pagan hit a grounder but the double play could not be turned and another run scored. The inning was over when Grandal threw out Pagan on an attempted steal. After two, the Giants were leading 3-1. In the third, after Frias struck out, Pederson cut the lead down to one with a line drive solo shot to right field. Turner lined out, but Puig got his second hit of the night to extend the inning. Grandal smoked a double to right, and Puig scored to tie the game. The rally continued as Ethier was walked, but Guerrero hit a nubber back to Cain and the inning was over with the game tied 3-3. The bottom of the inning was much better for Frias. A ground out, was followed by a hit from Belt. But Ishikawa struck out and Grandal nailed Belt at second on another attempted steal. The offense didn’t produce in the fourth, as the Dodgers went down 1-2-3. The Giants continued to give Frias a hard time as he gave up two straight singles to start the bottom of the fourth. An out came via pop out, but Frias’ day was done. He was replaced by Juan Nicasio. A line out and a tag at first made for a confusing double play, but the inning was over nonetheless. Pederson popped out, Turner grounded out, and Puig lined out to left for another fast inning. Nicasio gave up a lead off double to Panik to start the bottom of the fifth. Pagan struck out, but Posey hit a fly ball and Panik tagged up. Belt reached base for the third time in the game on a walk, and pitcher Ryan Vogelsong singled to drive in a run. Nicasio then issued a walk to Crawford and the bases were loaded. Matt Duffy singled and two runs scored. After surrendering the single, Nicasio’s day was done. Sergio Santos was the new Dodgers pitcher and got Justin Maxwell to fly out on his first pitch. After five frames, the Giants led 6-3. The sixth inning started well with Grandal hitting a double and Ethier driving him in on a single. But Guerrero grounded into a tough double play with good defense from Crawford. Kiké Hernandez struck out looking, but the deficit was reduced to two, 6-4. Santos issued a lead-off walk and gave up a single to Panik to start the inning. Pagan also got a hit, and drove in Aoki. Posey then hit a ground-rule double to tack on another run. With no outs there were runners on second and third. A walk to Belt loaded the bases. Santos finally got an out by striking out Vogelsong, but his day was done. Jeremy Horst came on and put out the fire. A force out at home and a fly out to left and the inning was done. After six frames, the Dodgers were losing 4-8. Darwin Barney singled to start the seventh and Brian Burgamy walked to put two on with no outs. Travis Witherspoon went down swinging and Vogelsong’s day was done. Javier Lopez came on in relief and gave up a single to Lars Anderson, Barney was able to score. Lopez got the double play and got out of the jam. The Dodgers added a run, and were down 8-5. New Dodgers pitcher Ben Rowen was received with three straight singles and a run in the bottom of the seventh. But he managed to settle down to strike out one and get the next two batters to fly out. After seven frames, the Giants led 9-5. In the eighth, an infield single and a walk out put two with one out on for Hernandez, who hit his fourth home run of the spring and the Dodgers made it 9-8. Barney kept the bats hot with a double. Though he was erased when he tried to take third on a grounder. A strikeout wrapped up the inning, but the deficit was cut to one. The bottom half didn’t go so well for new pitcher, Jacob Rhame. He allowed four straight hits and three runs scored to make it 11-8. Offensively, the Dodgers were able to score a run, but that wouldn’t be enough and they lost to the Giants.
i don't know if i'd call mehcarthy pitching to a 4.76 ERA solid, but it was just one bad inning nice game by britton though McCarthy, offense solid in win vs Rangers by Daniel Starkand | Dodgers Nation — 90 minutes ago Half of the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the Texas Rangers Sunday afternoon at Camelback Ranch in their last split-squad action of the Spring. Brandon McCarthy made his fourth start of the spring. He was opposed by right-hander Nick Tepesch. Leonys Martin hit a lead-off double to center to begin the game, followed by a walk to Shin-Soo Choo, but McCarthy was able to work around a couple of base runners to throw a scoreless inning. Tepesch retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom half of the first, striking out two. McCarthy followed suit with a quick inning of his own in the second, getting two fly outs and a ground out. The Rangers struck first in the top of the third. With on out Martin walked and stole second. Choo then singled to bring him home, followed by a double by Adrian Beltre to score Choo. With two outs Ryan Rua then hit an infield single to second that scored Beltre to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead midway through three. The Dodgers answered back in the bottom half of the inning though. Buck Britton led off with a single to right to start the inning. Then with two outs the Dodger bats came alive. Five consecutive hits starting with a Jimmy Rollins ground-rule double, followed by RBI hits by Chris Heisey, Adrian Gonzalez, Howie Kendrick and Scott Van Slyke, and the Dodgers took a 5-3 lead after three. After McCarthy retired the Rangers in order in the fourth, Carl Crawford singled and then stole second to start to bottom of the fourth. Britton then hit a two-run homer to right to give the Dodgers a 7-3 lead. McCarthy gave up a two-out double to Beltre, but nothing else in the top of the fifth. Despite back-to-back singles by Kendrick and Van Slyke the Dodgers were unable to add to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. After striking out the first two hitters of the sixth, McCarthy gave up a triple to Elvis Andrus. That marked the end of McCarthy’s day. He threw 5.2 innings, gave up seven hits and three runs. Joel Peralta came in and got a ground out to end the inning without giving up a run. After the Dodgers were unable to score in the bottom of the sixth, Peralta gave up a lead off double to Thomas Fields. Fields later scored on a ground out, and the Dodgers lead was cut to 7-4 midway through seven. After Cody Bellinger tripled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, Matt Carson hit a one-out single to score him. With two out Britton doubled home Carson. Devan Ahart then singled Britton home and the Dodgers led 10-4 after seven. J.P. Howell took over for the Dodgers in the top of the eighth. He gave up a two-out home run to Mitch Moreland to cut the deficit to 10-5. The offense failed to get anything going in the bottom half. In the top of the ninth, Chris Hatcher took over to close out the game. He worked around an infield single to get the Dodgers the victory.
You act like Ethier hasn't done shit. going with six in the pen would be a major mistake with Ryu out or a while.
as far as his role with the Dodgers goes, Ethier's ST performance doesn't really do anything for me. he's a long time vet now and an aging one..we know what he is, he wants to be a starter, and there are already 4 outfielders ahead of him that are better suited for starting roles. Hernandez is obviously much younger and he can play every position except pitcher and catcher ( most importantly, shortstop)..he can give Rollins rest late in games that are decided and they won't lose much, if anything at all, defensively. and then of course Hernandez would also have 5th OFer duties as well ( what will probably be Ethier's role if he stays), so Hernandez checks that box as well. Ethier holding Hernandez back is a negative in terms of team structure at this point. Turner and Guerrero aren't what you want behind Rollins. will they option Hernandez off to AAA? maybe because they can, but i have to assume that the front office would rather have the younger/more versatile guy in Hernandez who knows his role.
Not really much of a debate for three of the four (Puig, Joc and SVS). CC is iffy in this debate, but that is it.
I think CC is clearer then SVS, and mostly cause it's not crazy to imagine a scenario where SVS doesn't come close to his 2015 numbers in an everyday role and facing off against righties 70% of the time instead of getting to face mostly lefties which he's excelled at. Ethier is on the obvious decline and doesn't seem to have much left, but again, I think it's at least debatable with good arguments for both sides to argue Ethier vs. SVS. Simply looking at 2014 and saying that's the predictor then you gotta take SVS but theres enough doubt in there where it wouldn't be the end of the world to have Ethier get more at bats in LF then SVS
