Dodgers Lose to Pirates Pitcher Who Hasn’t Won an MLB Game Since July 2010

Ross Ohlendorf has had a span during his career where he went 16 consecutive starts without getting a win. In fact his last MLB win came on July 2nd 2010 against the Phillies. 

On that night he went 7 shutout innings and it turned out to be his only win in 21 starts during the 2010 season. Well you all know how the Dodgers season has gone this year, the perfect recipe for a struggling pitcher with an ERA over 8, in 6 starts this year, a match-up against the Dodgers.

Not only did Ohlendorf  scattered just 4 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings on the mound tonight, he has also provided all the offense the Pirates need thus far, by hitting his first career HR, a 3-run shot off of 2 start wonder Dana Eveland. Seriously just when you think you’ve seen everything awful imaginable happen to the Dodgers this year, a night like tonight happens that reminds us just how tortured we all are to be Dodgers fans these days.

On a positive note rookie catching prospect Tim Federowicz got his first career hit, a sharp single to center, and also threw out Andrew McCutchen trying to steal. Remember FedEx is the guy Ned Colletti had such a man crush on that he dealt the Dodgers most talented all around hitting prospect, Trayvon Robinson, to obtain him.

FedEx is also supposedly one of the best defensive catching prospects in baseball, however he allowed a passed ball on a pitch that was about head high. So I’ll hold off on posting the FedEx future gold glove catcher blogs for awhile.

One other low-light was another awful outing by the Dodgers $12 million dollar soft-tossing overused middle reliever, Matt Guerrier, who gave up 2 runs on 3 hits in an inning of work. His ERA now matches his annual salary in millions of dollars at 4. With the work of youngsters like Josh Lindblom, Javy Guerra, etc… let’s hope Neddy doesn’t decide to spend another $12 million on another soft tosser.

I’ve been criticized by members of the Dodgers front office for the negative tone of my blog so I’ll end on a positive note. Congratulations to Scott Van Slyke and Shawn Tolleson for being named the Dodgers minor league hitter and pitcher of the year. MLB.com has the full story here.

Tolleson struck out a ridiculous 105 hitters in only 69 IP, while Van Slyke, son of former major leaguer Andy Van Slyke, had a breakout year in AA. Van Slyke won the Southern League batting title hitting .348. He had 45 doubles, 20 HR a ridiculous .427 OBP and and even more ridiculous OPS of 1.022.

At 25 years old there’s hope the Dodgers would give him a shot at a roster spot next year, but something tells me Juan Rivera will get paid $5 million to hit .250 for the Dodgers next year, cause he’s had a good stretch since he became a Dodger.

Meanwhile Van Slyke will put up even more ridiculous numbers at AAA Albuquerque next year as the Dodgers  field a lineup similar to this years. With the success of the young pitchers the Dodgers have had this year it would be fun as a fan to see Gordon, Sands, Van Slyke, FedEx etc… thrown into the fire with Kemp and Ethier.

However, Ned Colletti has already said the Dodgers aren’t that far away from contending, seriously Ned, and that he won’t overhaul the roster very much next year. Just what every Dodgers fan wants to hear. Anyone who’s watched this team clearly knows the team isn’t close to contending, except for the GM of course, and unfortunately he’s the guy who makes the key decisions. Thanks to Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness for the Colletti article.

Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times also has a great article on Colletti’s curious comments about the lack of needed roster changes.

BTW Eugenio Velez is now 0-for-32 on the season, yet for some reason he’s on the Dodgers roster and Ivan DeJesus Jr isn’t, go figure.