Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers got put in a hole early but mounted a late comeback against the Rockies bullpen, and basically all of the offense came from one man: Yasmani Grandal. Grandal hit two homers (including a decisive grand slam), had a double, and also a single, driving in five runs himself and setting up another run, basically powering the Dodgers offense by himself to a 7-4 win over the Rockies.
Still, he didn’t hit a triple for the cycle, so he sucks!
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Brett Anderson came into today with an ERA for 24.75 and an FIP of 14.66, so I mean he basically had nowhere to go but up. And up he did go, technically at least, as his day ended with him having an ERA of 15.00 and an FIP of 9.58.
WOO!
That doesn’t really mean Anderson was good, but he was better, throwing five innings and allowing four runs on six hits and a walk. Again, not good, and definitely not what you want out of your #4 starter in the postseason, but mediocre enough at this stage to justify not risking ruining Brock Stewart. That said, I still don’t know why the wouldn’t go with Scott Kazmir today and Jose De Leon tomorrow since Anderson is not gonna work himself back into the playoff picture, but whatever at this point.
The Dodgers offense, meanwhile, struggled against a guy (Tyler Chatwood) with a 5.77 ERA since the break and a 4.46 DRA overall. No matter what his home/road splits say, he’s not a particular tough adversary and yet the Dodgers could only muster two runs in six innings.
Yasmani accounted for one of those runs in the second when he homered to left, which hopefully makes for a healthier elbow.
The second run came in the sixth, when with one out Adrian Gonzalez reached on an infield single and Grandal then drove one to the left-field corner for a double. Josh Reddick then scored a run on a grounder, but that was all for the rally.
In the seventh, Andre Ethier started things by doubling off Jordan Lyles, and then … uh, thankfully the Rockies brought in lefty reliever Boone Logan. Yes … thankfully. It’s the long con.
I wonder if this struggle against LHP has been a long con, because the #Dodgers have roughed up a couple lefties in back-to-back nights.
— Dustin Nosler (@DustinNosler) September 23, 2016
After getting Justin Turner to fly out, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager, and A-Gon worked three walks off Logan in a row. They earned those walks, and it was all eventually rewarded when Grandal came to the plate looking for his cycle and instead did himself one better by blasting a homer to center.
To quote Dave Roberts: “Oh shit! … That’s fucking gone! That’s fucking gone!”
All of a sudden the Dodgers were up 7-4. Thankfully, the bullpen was up to the task today and was flawless.
Josh Ravin and Luis Avilan followed Anderson, each pitching a perfect inning and striking out one. Joe Blanton then set the table, and while he got through his inning, it wasn’t exactly … neat. Blanton gave up a lead-off single and then got this, uh, gift to strikeout Nolan Arenado.
That eventually got both Arenado and Walt Weiss ejected, and it only snowballed when Carlos Gonzalez lined (sorta) into a double play when DJ LeMahieu had a brainfart or something.
Um … thanks?
Kenley Jansen then came in for the save in the ninth, struck out two and set the side down in order. Hey, remember when we were all worried about Jansen not missing enough bats? Welp, so much for that shit.
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Chase Utley did this.
UNREAL. pic.twitter.com/xWfFbaYz4L
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 23, 2016
I’m sorry to all those who are losing loved ones as he drains your children of blood so that he can sustain his youth, but hey, we all gotta make sacrifices, you know?
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The win gets the Dodgers to 21 games over .500 at 87-66 and an amazing 50-28 at home. The Giants beat the Padres today, which means the NL West lead is still 6 games, but the Magic Number does decrease to 4.
The Dodgers play the Rockies again tomorrow at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST on SportsNet LA. The pitching matchup will be Scott Kazmir (4.59 ERA/4.50 FIP/4.88 DRA) against Jon Gray (4.42 ERA/3.51 FIP/3.24 DRA).
