Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
On this episode of Dugout Blues, Jared and I celebrate, kinda, after the Dodgers clinched their 5th-consecutive NL West division championship. Yay.
Clayton Kershaw pitched twice during the week. One game was good, the other not so much. He gave up his first career grand slam in Philadelphia en route to a Dodger loss. He hasn’t looked as sharp as normal since coming off the disabled list. He has one more regular season start before the postseason, so here’s hoping he’s his usual self in 11 days.
Pedro Baez is bad. He has effectively pitched his way off the postseason roster with a horrific month of September. He’s going to need a change of scenery in the winter.
Speaking of not good, Corey Seager has been that guy. It’s because of his injured elbow. His exit velocity is down significantly and this is just something that will need to be managed for the next month. The only thing likely to help is extended rest and/or surgery — neither of which is an option for him at this point.
Walker Buehler got his first MLB win. Good for him. He’s making a late push to be included on the postseason roster. I’m skeptical he gets there, but with Baez collapsing and Ross Stripling struggling, he might sneak in there.
Andre Ethier lives! Not only that, he might get some significant playing time in October, either in the form of some starts or some key pinch-hit opportunities. If he could come back and be the guy he looked like he was going to be the last two seasons, that could be a big boost to a struggling offense.
Hyun-Jin Ryu took a line drive off his arm. His postseason roster chances (NLDS, specifically) took a big hit with that.
Yasiel Puig did a dumb thing on Saturday. He was benched, but not completely in spite of that. Dave Roberts seems to be a little frustrated with Puig late in the season after a pretty quiet season off-the-field.
In the minors, Tulsa lost the Texas League championship after being up 2-0 in the series. Ogden won the Pioneer League championship. The Raptors join the DSL Dodgers 2 team as the only other minor-league affiliate to capture a league championship. Buehler was named the top prospect in the Texas League by Baseball America. Edwin Rios was recognized as the 8th-best, which is pretty high praise for a guy who had a “prove it” season in 2017.
To close, a solid Q&A session. Keep them coming.
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