Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a 16-inning marathon last night, the Dodgers ran out the most “I don’t even care” lineup of the year against the Rockies tonight, and of course they won thanks to an A.J. Ellis homer and Alex Wood doing the Maddux … or he would’ve if Don Mattingly didn’t take it away from him after he got through eight innings on 78 pitches.
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Ellis provided all the offense that was necessary in the second inning with a solo shot that made it 1-0.
A.J. Ellis started season 5-for-43, now hitting .233/.350/.393 on the year, .330 wOBA, His 111 wRC+ ranks 10th among 63 catchers w/100 PA
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) September 17, 2015
In the sixth, Corey Seager (who else?) provided insurance by singling home a run and making it 2-0.
Seager had two hits again, but did show he was somewhat human, striking out twice as well.
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But nobody else tonight was the story except the Dodgers starting pitcher.
Alex Wood took 62 pitches to get just five outs in his last outing, in which he gave up 10 baserunners, eight runs (six earned), and saw his ERA rise 0.3 points. Today, he was basically the opposite of whatever adjectives you could use to describe his last start.
Wood’s command was on for all three of his pitches, and his slider looked extremely sharp, leading to eight almost perfect innings of shutout ball. Wood required just 78 pitches to get those 24 outs thanks to five strikeouts, no walks, and allowing just a clean single to center.
Mattingly on Alex Wood's reaction when told he was done after 8 IP/78 P: "He looked at me kind of funny."
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) September 17, 2015
For whatever reason though, Wood was taken out after eight even though it was the Rockies 8-9-1 due up in the ninth. Confusing to even try and justify, as he could’ve at least gotten one baserunner with the way Wood was absolutely steamrolling the Rockies lineup.
It’s hard to complain about Kenley Jansen, who leads all qualified relievers in WHIP, but if there was one night basically nobody wanted to see him, it was tonight. Of course, he got the job done, but I think everybody wanted to see Wood try for an 85-pitch complete game shutout instead.
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Either way, the Dodgers won, which means their magic number is now 10, their division lead over the Giants is now eight games, and they lead the Mets for home-field advantage in the NLDS by 1.5 games. Currently, the Giants are leading the Reds, 4-2, however.
