2016 Regular Season Thread

[Ranma]

Despite giving up the 2-run homer, I think Kazmir pitched a fine game. The guy just didn't have much juice left with 2 outs in the 9th inning. I don't even blame Dave for giving the vet a chance to close out the game. Props to him for a gutty performance tonight. He made 120 pitches in the game.

[Quake Griffin]

Dammit Kaz....it had to be a homer?

Tell me not to be nervous about his last out.
One walk and one swing = tie game.

[Ranma]

I'm not worried. Jansen is on the mound...and he just punched out the last batter on 3 pitches.

[Quake Griffin]

Somebody else step up and get a save or close a non save situation *cough Blanton*

I feel like we're using him all the time.

edit:
and let's get the sweep tomorrow.
Mike Leake is one of the most overpaid overrated pitchers in the game.

My goodness if Kaz and Wood throw back to back solid games, I think the locker room is going to be feeling much better than it did 2 weeks ago.

[Quake Griffin]

I'm not worried. Jansen is on the mound...and he just punched out the last batter on 3 pitches.

I didn't see him warming up.

I thought it was Hatcher. I wouldn't have been worried if I knew it was him coming out.

[Neddy]

Despite giving up the 2-run homer, I think Kazmir pitched a fine game. The guy just didn't have much juice left with 2 outs in the 9th inning. I don't even blame Dave for giving the vet a chance to close out the game. Props to him for a gutty performance tonight. He made 120 pitches in the game.

I agree about Kazmir, but I don't know if i can agree about Dave. I probably have been a much stauncher fan of Dave as our manager than anynoe else around here, but Kazmir has pitched well past 100 pitch count for the last 4 or 5 starts now. regardless of him being a vet or not, you don't let a guy who has struggled for so long to start the season walk away with a sense of defeat when you are up 4 runs to go into the 9th with 3 more outs to go when you have 7 guys in the pen ready to go. even with a runner or two score runs, Jensen is ready for a save, then any one of the 6 other guys to get an out or two with a run or two to spare, Kazmir should have not come out to close the 9th when he already had exceeded 100 pitches leading into the situation.

[Ranma]

I didn't see him warming up.

I thought it was Hatcher. I wouldn't have been worried if I knew it was him coming out.

I saw Hatcher warming up earlier as well and I thought he was going to come in for the 8th inning with a 4-run lead, which I thought would be the right call for Dave Roberts, but then Kazmir kept on going into the 9th, which is when I noticed Jansen in the pen. The only point I was worried was when Kazmir was struggling a bit to overcome Seager's error in the top of the 5th inning, but the Dodgers offense opened up in the bottom of the 5th to put us in control of the game and Kazmir cruising most of the rest of the way.

[Ranma]

I agree about Kazmir, but I don't know if i can agree about Dave. I probably have been a much stauncher fan of Dave as our manager than anynoe else around here, but Kazmir has pitched well past 100 pitch count for the last 4 or 5 starts now. regardless of him being a vet or not, you don't let a guy who has struggled for so long to start the season walk away with a sense of defeat when you are up 4 runs to go into the 9th with 3 more outs to go when you have 7 guys in the pen ready to go. even with a runner or two score runs, Jensen is ready for a save, then any one of the 6 other guys to get an out or two with a run or two to spare, Kazmir should have not come out to close the 9th when he already had exceeded 100 pitches leading into the situation.

I can't disagree with you there, Neddy, since I had similar concerns with his pitch count at that point. However, Kazmir was still in control, but was obviously showing signs of wear and fatigue as he was beginning to throw 93-mph fastballs instead of pitching them. His tendency to revert back to thrower instead of pitcher has been a concern with him, but he seemed to get back to form in short order.

Obviously, it probably would have been wiser to pull him rather than risk injury, but I didn't mind giving Kazmir the chance to finish what he started as a matter of pride. It's easy to second-guess that stance, but the fan in me wanted to see him complete his gritty performance.

[Quake Griffin]

Stolen signs? Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was irritated in the fifth inning when he was not granted time by home-plate umpire Adam Hamari while Martinez battled against Seager with the bases loaded. The reason? Molina suspected that Kazmir, who was standing on second, was relaying the signs to Seager. Hamari did not grant the request, and Martinez went on to throw a changeup, which Seager lined for an RBI single. Martinez said afterward that the unsuccessful stoppage of play caused him to "lose some concentration."

From the wrap up on our game.

edit:
gotta say that I understand protecting the psyche of young pitchers or even pitchers who have struggled in certain situations (Kershaw in the playoffs).

But you gotta let Kaz go get em there. No beef with Dave letting him go and see what he has.
I wish Yas would have just walked to the mound once to switch it up and give him a breather, particularly when he was up 0-2 to Gyorko (i think thats who singled off him there). The whole word could see he was tired and just hurling the ball up there.

[Neddy]

Stolen signs? Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was irritated in the fifth inning when he was not granted time by home-plate umpire Adam Hamari while Martinez battled against Seager with the bases loaded. The reason? Molina suspected that Kazmir, who was standing on second, was relaying the signs to Seager. Hamari did not grant the request, and Martinez went on to throw a changeup, which Seager lined for an RBI single. Martinez said afterward that the unsuccessful stoppage of play caused him to "lose some concentration."

From the wrap up on our game.

edit:
gotta say that I understand protecting the psyche of young pitchers or even pitchers who have struggled in certain situations (Kershaw in the playoffs).

But you gotta let Kaz go get em there. No beef with Dave letting him go and see what he has.
I wish Yas would have just walked to the mound once to switch it up and give him a breather, particularly when he was up 0-2 to Gyorko (i think thats who singled off him there). The whole word could see he was tired and just hurling the ball up there.

that's just it tho, it is still early in the season, Kazmir is publicly known to have some minor injuries he is dealing with, and having his first real good performance since the first game as a dodger more than a month ago, and he is visibly tired out there and guys get injured when they are tired and who more injury prone on our active roster than Kazmir right now? in 12 years in the majors, he has pitched more than 200 innings only once, more than 190 innings only twice, and pitched 160 innings or less due to various injuries 6 seasons.
also, when you look at Kazmir's splits per inning over his career, he has total of only 3.1 innings in span of 6 games where he pitched into the 9th. and his ERA and BAagainst during those stints are, 9.82 and .474. career wise, Scott's second worst inning over his 12 years in the big league? 8th inning with only 22 games for 16.2 innings he reached.

Im happy we won, and the in-game risk for losing it at the time was rather low. I understand that, but I would like to have a healthy and wildly successful Scott Kazmir going into the post season and have him opt out, rather than risk him getting injured as Ryu, McCarthy are about to make thier come backs and have him squat around for two more seasons in dodger blue.

[Neddy]

oh and LMAO at Bob Geren our bench coach for giving Scott a "bat too heavy to swing" , a 36 inches long and 34 ounced piece of log that gave the bunt single to spark the offensive 5th inning that won him the game because he didn't want an injured pitcher swinging a bat and get hurt.

[Quake Griffin]

What makes you call him injury prone?

He's been on the DL once since coming back to the Indians in 2013.
I don't know of him to have a significant elbow or shoulder injury either.
His innings seem like a function of how good he is aka he doesnt get to 200 because he's not good enough to consistently go deep into games.

[Neddy]

What makes you call him injury prone?

He's been on the DL once since coming back to the Indians in 2013.
I don't know of him to have a significant elbow or shoulder injury either.
His innings seem like a function of how good he is aka he doesnt get to 200 because he's not good enough to consistently go deep into games.

www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-demise-of-scott-kazmir/

only time in his career he has been relatively injury free is exactly from 2013.

[Neddy]

I'll leave it to Ranma for more indepth report, but Ryu threw 2 scoreless innings today, little past 20 total pitch count then had a bullpen session afterwards. his fastball sat around 85 mph average with 87 being the top speed. Ryu stated he felt good, and when a korean reporter expressed any concerns of his velocity, Ryu stated that it is more important right now to be pain free than throwing in the 90s, and he was only exerting about 70% today.


good news?

[Ranma]

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxUi-bJkGOA[/youtube]

[Quake Griffin]

Seager the Super Star.

Shut the **** up Quake.

hehehehe

[Ranma]

I'll leave it to Ranma for more indepth report, but Ryu threw 2 scoreless innings today, little past 20 total pitch count then had a bullpen session afterwards. his fastball sat around 85 mph average with 87 being the top speed. Ryu stated he felt good, and when a korean reporter expressed any concerns of his velocity, Ryu stated that it is more important right now to be pain free than throwing in the 90s, and he was only exerting about 70% today.


good news?

Obviously, I'm no pitching coach, but I have to be encouraged that he's able to effectively pitch at 85-87 mph throwing at 60-70% given all the setbacks he experienced prior to this. Of the 22 pitches he threw today, 19 were strikes and he still got 2 strikeouts. He also threw 10 more pitches in a bullpen session. I know it's only Class A, but for a guy to come back from injury and still be effective against live competition going at about half-speed is promising in the sense that nothing went wrong.

I'm not throwing a party or anything yet, but my main concern is whether he is experiencing discomfort and how much. I know they're not the same players nor did they share the same circumstances, but Kazmir started Spring Training going at low velocity before ramping it up, so I view Hyun-Jin Ryu's approach in similar fashion. I'm more relieved than happy at this point, but there's still quite a bit of road ahead before we can count on him in the starting rotation.

[Neddy]

I'll leave it to Ranma for more indepth report, but Ryu threw 2 scoreless innings today, little past 20 total pitch count then had a bullpen session afterwards. his fastball sat around 85 mph average with 87 being the top speed. Ryu stated he felt good, and when a korean reporter expressed any concerns of his velocity, Ryu stated that it is more important right now to be pain free than throwing in the 90s, and he was only exerting about 70% today.


good news?

Obviously, I'm no pitching coach, but I have be encouraged that he's able to effectively pitch at 85-87 mph throwing at 60-70% given all the setbacks he experienced prior to this. Of the 22 pitches he threw today, 19 were strikes and he still got 2 strikeouts. He also threw 10 more pitches in a bullpen session. I know it's only Class A, but for a guy to come back from injury and still be effective against live competition going at about half-speed is promising in the sense that nothing went wrong.

I'm not throwing a party or anything yet, but my main concern is whether he is experiencing discomfort and how much. I know they're not the same players nor did they share the same circumstances, but Kazmir started Spring Training going at low velocity before ramping it up, so I view Hyun-Jin Ryu's approach in similar fashion. I'm more relieved than happy at this point, but there's still quite a bit of road ahead before we can count on him in the starting rotation.

from everything I have been reading from south korean media is that Ryu is expriencing zero pain as of late, and that is still Ryu's #1 focus at this point.

[Quake Griffin]

I wouldn't leave him in there.

crossing my fingers

[Quake Griffin]

my goodness, Wood gets the double play and might get out of this.