Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
On this episode of “Dugout Blues,” Jared Massey (Dodger Blue) and come to you on Memorial Day. And after a nice week of Dodger baseball.
Julio Urias made his MLB debut on Friday in New York … no pressure, kid. It wasn’t the pressure that got to him, but he lasted just 2 2/3 innings and made 81 pitches. There were a couple of good moments, but he had 20-grade command/control of his pitches. Chalk that up to nerves. He’s already back with Oklahoma City, but he’ll be back at some point this season.
On the other hand, Clayton Kershaw was, once again, really good, even if a managerial decision put a bit of a damper on his outing. He struck out 10 Mets and didn’t walk any. He has a 21:1 strikeout-to-walk-ratio. It’s hard to do that in a video game, let alone the highest level of professional baseball.
The decision I’m referring to is pulling Kershaw with two outs in the eighth inning with a man at first base. Pulling him in that situation is perfectly fine — but you don’t pull him for Adam Liberatore. That spot should have been reserved for Kenley Jansen only. Liberatore allowed the tying run to score, but the Dodgers picked him up in the ninth inning. Still, the decision-making process by manager Dave Roberts has been questionable at best so far this season.
Since we’re doing this podcast Pulp Fiction-style, we hit the second game of the Met series third — and what a game it was. Noah Syndergaard was ejected for throwing behind Chase Utley. Utley had already struck out in his first at-bat and ended up striking out in his second. Then, as only Utley could, he homered to send Mets’ fans into a tizzy. If that weren’t bad enough, he showed why he was class valedictorian of Troll So Hard, Univeristy, by hitting a grand slam in his next at-bat. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.
Scott Kazmir pitched well against the Reds earlier in the week and will get the Cubs later today. Here’s hoping, again, for the good Kazmir.
Hyun-Jin Ryu had his scheduled rehab start canceled after he felt some discomfort in his shoulder. That’s not exactly good, but also not unexpected for a guy who hadn’t thrown a pitch in a professional game since the 2014 NLDS (before his current rehab assignment). Brandon McCarthy, apparently, threw a bullpen session at some point … maybe.
On the minor-league side, Willie Calhoun and Cody Bellinger had great weeks with Tulsa, while Edwin Rios and Ariel Sandoval were quite good for Great Lakes. Jharel Cotton won the PCL Pitcher of the Week award with two 5-inning outings in his return to the OKC rotation. Brock Stewart is continuing to dominate the Texas League and is looking like a real-life pitching prospect.
Finally, we have a decent Q&A session. Please keep the questions coming.
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Look for new episodes of “Dugout Blues” every Monday. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and review us on iTunes. We want to make this the best podcast we can so we’re always looking for suggestions and ways to improve.
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