Anderson, Puig Dinger Overcomes Dopey Baserunning

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The dodgers played a game in which Yasiel Puig hit a dinger, Brett Anderson was pumping 94-95 mile an hour fastballs to poor Phillies players, so you could say that it was a pretty good game.

You’ll note that the ground specialist has set an impossible standard for himself considering his 71%  ground ball percentage on the road this season Anderson, messed that up, only getting 64.7% of the Phillies to ground out in tonight’s game which also took a toll on his 66.4% GB%. Expect a designation soon.

The one run he gave up was started via the infield single which is his death. It makes sense considering his poor fielding ability mixed with his propensity for ground balls, and it bite him in the 3rd, but otherwise he did his job fairly well. 6 innings of 1 run ball with hella ground balls is something you take every time.

Old friend Aaron Harang started this game which is hilarious for a few reasons, he got Jimmy Rollins to pop up to begin the game, but after consecutive singles by Howard Kendrick and Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig totally crushed a Harang pitch to left field on an absolute bullet. He was a top 3 pitcher by fWAR in baseball in April so baseball is the best.

I’m not sure Joc Pederson will ever not walk for the rest of the season which is totally cool with me! Him and Puig breaking out is the most impactful outcome for this team. However Puig and Joc cannot continue being this horrid at running the bases (hell the entire team has to be better). Because someone on this club making a putrid baserunning error in a high leverage situation in the playoffs gives me the runs.

#BERT Callaspo left the bases loaded in the 4th inning (which started off strong considering they almost figured out how to score without being totally dependent on the home run haha), continuing the futility turned in by the dodgers 3b lately. If Justin Turner‘s injury lingers, it’s worth keeping an eye on Corey Seager who is playing 3b quite a bit with the newly acquired Jose Peraza in the fold.

Pedro Baez might be one of the most important pieces going forward, getting a classic setup man just in time for the stretch run is imperative to cover up the deficiencies this team has, so it was encouraging

Amplified because Jim Johnson have up an absolute 2 run bomb to Jeff Frenchyeoueoueoueour so the bullpen has some clear issues. Last night falls totally on Don Mattingly because of putrid bullpen managing (putting a terrible reliever in a high leverage situation) and lets face it there was no way [insert relief ace] would have been pitching in that 7th inning.

Tonight?

Welp, I said previously that overpaying for a reliever is the best thing the team can do prior to August 1st and the best they got was Jim Johnson, which is… meh? His FIP sits at 3.55 and his xFIP sits at 3.47, useful, but not the solution to the bridge to Kenley.

After the offense did basically nothing in the top half of the 9th, Kenley Jansen came in and absolutely shut down the Phillies batters, he was throwing fire, 95-96 MPH cutters with nasty movement is practically unfair to anyone, and a few outings like that would go a long way to making Dodger fans feel better about their chances.

I’ll take a win with a chance to take the series against the red hot (?) Phillies, Zack Greinke goes tomorrow against David Buchanan who owns an impressive 4.8 K/9 mixed with a 3.7 BB/9. Hopefully the Dodgers crush him with their 2nd ace going. Things are going okay!