Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers hit four homers in a 5-0 win over the Marlins to even the series!
WOO!
Everybody’s happy, right? Nothing else happened, right? No controversy tonight, right?
Wrong, it’s the Dodgers, so of course there’s some kind of mess going down. This time it’s about Rich Hill working out too well for his own good and throwing a perfect game … at least until Dave Roberts stepped in.
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Hill put in a masterclass of a pitching performance tonight. He struck out nine and threw just 88 pitches over seven innings of perfect ball.
Perfect.
His stuff? Here’s a solid indication of how it was going.
Hill did run into one obstacle, though.
With two down in the seventh inning, Martin Prado finally caught up to a curve from Hill and drilled one to left. Fortunately, Puig was out there in left and he made one of the better catches you’ll see this year considering the context.
Absolutely unreal.
Of course, what people are going to want to talk about is the fact that Roberts and his gigantic nuts took Hill out after the seventh inning.
Me? I wanted to see Hill get the opportunity to try.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/774779600039649281
But that’s also me as a Dodgers fan and a baseball fan, knowing how rare it is to see a perfect game and wanting Hill to get what I thought he deserved on the day. Roberts? His job is to try to win a World Series, and if they’re gonna do that, then they’re going to need Hill healthy.
As much as I would’ve liked to seen if Hill could induce a couple of quick innings just for the sake of history, I also understand that he’s making his third start off the DL, that he has chronic blister issues, and the reason he’s not signed somewhere for $200 million is because he’s historically been made of glass. Roberts will be harangued for the decision, but I do understand it from his point of view.
Doesn’t mean we have to like it, but saying it makes no sense simply isn’t dealing with reality here, especially given that many of the same people complaining about this were likely complaining about Hill basically missing all of August injured. Or that Hill had just been scratched from a start in Colorado because he threw a 30-pitch bullpen session and the blister got tender.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/774791458234564611
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/774791583308800000
[Update]
It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but it seems like it was one Roberts tried to make with his brain and not with his heart.
Dave Roberts looks on the verge of tears. "I feel sick to my stomach," he said.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 11, 2016
Though it seems like he wanted to go with the sentimental stuff.
At least the clubhouse seems okay on the surface.
The consensus from Dodgers players: This sucks, but we need Rich Hill to be healthy in October.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 11, 2016
Not surprising considering what they’ve been through this year.
Also, history!
Rich Hill: removed after 7 IP- longest perfect-game bid in modern era (since 1900) by a pitcher who was removed from game (via @EliasSports)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 11, 2016
Dodgers have been making the best history recently.
Anyway, back to the rest of the game. The offense was dominated by Tom Koehler through four innings, but thankfully the Dodgers started to catch on a bit. Joc Pederson broke the a scoreless deadlock in the fifth with a towering solo blast into the second deck in right field.
That was followed by double dongs in the sixth, with Corey Seager blasting a two-run shot to right…
…and Justin Turner going back-to-back with a homer of his own to right.
Then in the seventh, Joc hit another solo homer to take the game to its final score.
Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton, and Kenley Jansen finished the final two innings with scoreless ball for the win.
But honestly, it’s what gonna come after the game should be fun. The reaction is gonna be a mess.
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The Dodgers are now 80-61 on the year and 33-34 away from home. The Giants are beating the Diamondbacks, but they’re still playing, so for the moment the Dodgers are up 4.5 games in the NL West.
The finale of the series between the Dodgers and Marlins will be tomorrow afternoon at 7:10 AM HST/10:10 AM PST/1:10 PM EST. The pitchers on the mound will be Kenta Maeda (3.29 ERA/3.60 FIP/3.49 DRA) against Jose Urena (5.54 ERA/4.53 FIP/5.37 DRA).
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In injury news, um, Scott Kazmir is like dead or something.
Scott Kazmir has "thoracic spine inflammation," which sounds terrifying. No timetable for his return.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 10, 2016
Sounds like something where his body got cut in half and then set on fire.
