Dodgers Game 69 Notes 6/15/23

Here we are on a cloudy Thursday night in southern California as I transition from some end-of-day U.S. Open viewing (in my opinion, golf's best and most entertaining major year over year) to the Blue Boys playing the Chicago White Sox in a rubber match. As I write this in the Top of the 1st inning, it would be really nice to get this interleague series win before hosting the pesky Giants. Interleague series alwa

Tale of the Tape:

Los Angeles Dodgers, 38-30 2nd NL West

Michael Grove, 0-2 8.28 ERA

Chicago White Sox, 30-39 3rd AL Central

Dylan Cease, 3-3 4.38 ERA

Top 1st

- Welp I cutoff the introduction as Luis Robert continues to show the league he's for real. True 5-tool guy. Solo HR for Robert

- not finishing the intro screw it

- it is interesting to me that the White Sox players wear red accessories

- Eloy Jimenez HR fuck

Bot 1st

-Mookie Betts K on check swing - atrocious call, not even borderline. Dave Roberts is on homicide watch

Top 2nd

- Watching Michael Grove for the first full time and it's blatantly apparent that he's out of his element. The current patchwork 4-man rotation the Dodgers of Kershaw, Gonsolin, Bobby Miller, and Michael Grove while important for me to mention doesn't change the reality that Grove can't be a long term solution for this team even in a 5-man rotation based on how he looks tonight. Also these stats aren't great 👇

Grove's 2023 stats

Top 3rd

-Tim Anderson single against his future team in a month and change

- Jessica Mendoza has been doing color commentary tonight - Orel Hershiser has been out this entire series - she is as hard to listen to as when she started

Bot 3rd

- Strikeout Chris Taylor 1 out, strikeout Miguel Rojas 2 outs

- Cease has 6 Ks in 8 outs recorded

-Jessica Mendoza talks about players like she's reading their fun facts off a Wheaties box

Top 4th

-Jake Burger smashes a HR over left center field on an overthrown 95 mph FB by Grove 3-0 CHW

-Andrew Vaughn smashes a HR over left field on another overthrown 94 mph FB by Grove 4-0 CHW

-both balls fucking WALLOPED over the wall

-Outings like this from Michael Grove is what gives other arms like Shelby Miller opportunities

-Yasmani Grandal smashes a line drive, 2-for-2 now today against Grove. 3 straight hits. Rare audible boos ringing from Dodger Stadium and the crowd is still filling up. Not good

Bot 5th - to quote the great Frank "The Tank" Fleming: these Dodgers ABs are feeble tonight

Top 6th

-Shelby Miller in the game with a (borderline fake) SHOCKING 2.57 ERA

- Jessica Mendoza: Dodgers are 'thrilled' to get him back in the bullpen. Does she have any fucking clue about baseball .? Does she watch?

Bot 6th

- Miguel Vargas, runners on 1b/2b with Reynaldo Lopez entering the game, takes a first pitch FB 97mph down the dick; these are things the Astros and Braves sell out on and why they stack wins from decisive hits coming at the bottom of their lineup throughout a season. hm

-James Outman single to CF, loads bases c'mon

-Outman is so likable

-If Statcast tracks check swings, Chris Taylor has to be Top-10 in the league. Worth a check swing everyat bat

- CHRISSY CHRIS GRAND SLAM PLAY THAT MF'ing BATMAN MUSIC BANDMAN !!!

*Turn the volume up in the tweet video below and you can hear the Batman music while Taylor is rounding the bases. Elite Grand Slam song. Awesome.

-Miguel Rojas infield single, World Series is again in play

-Mookie flies out, end 6th. We have a game

Top 7th

- Chris Taylor HELL OF A PLAY. His game

Bot 7th

- Jason Heyward, the Dodgers' #4 hitter, strikes out on a pitch in the dirt

- 4-4 end 8

- Almost seems inevitable that this game will be won or lost depending on Mookie's next AB in 8th or 9th

Top 8th

-Yency Almonte 6.75 ERA in

-10 Ks for Dodgers pitchers = Free Jumbo Jacks tomorrow

Bot 8th

- Chris Taylor coming up with 2 outs nobody on. I'm typing this in 0-1 count expecting a HR I've seen this movie before.

- flyout to RF

Top 9th

- Joe Davis 🔥stat: "Dodgers are trying to win a game, in which they gave up four HRs for the first time in two years. They've lost the last 10 times they've given up four HRs in a game."

- Two years without giving up four HRs in a game is quite impressive fwiw

Bot 9th

-Rojas seeing eye single

-Mookie fielder's choice, Rojas out at 2b

- White Sox trying to pick Mookie; Mookie not a SB threat unless he wants to, i.e. Mookie gives tells when he might want to run and the White Sox have picked up on that tell

-Fred walk 1b/2b 1 out

- result of Kendall Graveman committing to being quick to home to stifle possible Mookie steal which he loves to run with Freddie up

-Will Smith swings thru a FB on 3-2 pitch, 2 outs

-Now THIS is why Jason Heyward SHOULD NOT be hitting 4th. prove me wrong jhey plz

- 3 pitches K

- 4-4 going to extra innings

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OVER 8.5 BETTORS

Top 10th

- Another Joe Davis 🔥stat: "28 strikeouts between the two teams and all eight runs have scored via the homer"

- Evan Phillips gets a gift looking K from ump on Luis Robert, 2 outs

Bot 10th

- Aaron Bummer (7.27 ERA) in

- Johnny DeLuca swinging bunt to move free runner to third, 1 out c'mon now

-Vargas pops out to catcher in short foul territory. 🤮

- Outman IBB

- White Sox IBB to get to the player with a Grand Slam tonight lol what could go wrong

-JD Martinez pinch running at 1b for Outman?? Actually a stellar move by Roberts in the event it wraps around back to get JD an AB, but man oh man does Dave Roberts continue to have irrational trust in this bullpen.

-Taylor swings at a shit pitch we move on to 11

Top 11th

- Wait where is JD Martinez playing in the field?

- so i guess you can move a DH from the DH spot to the OF now? Martinez isn't in the field and Heyward moved from DH to LF while Martinez's spot was replaced by Caleb Ferguson coming in to pitch? so perhaps Dave Roberts just sacrificed the DH spot?

Bot 11th

- wild pitch, runner on 3rd no outs, make your Grandal jokes now

- Miguel Rojas gets walked, Grandal says "NO NO he foul tipped that!!"

- replay shows clear as day Rojas did tip it into Grandal's glove on 3-2, but non-reviewable. Dodgers must win that's a christmas present. no outs 1b/3b

- Mookie subsequently at-bat in the exact scenario I said would decide the game earlier on ^^

- Mookie 12 pitch AB ends in a walk, Fred comes up with no outs bases loaded.

- there's no player in all of MLB that I'd rather have up to get in one run with the bases loaded after an 0-for-4 game than Freddie Freeman tbh

-Freddie high fly ball over the head of a conceding Luis Robert Jr in CF, Dodgers W ✅

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One series down of tracking these game notes and I absolutely love doing it 👍literally just typing out my thoughts while watching the game is all it is yet it feels so much more rewarding and my retention improvement afterwards is noticeable. I encourage all baseball fans to try this out while watching at home, at least for one night; even if you never intend to publicize your game notes you'll always have a scribed memory of that game. Being able to look back to your thoughts on a random game you watched 10 years from now makes it an invaluable activity if you enjoy the process of it, in my opinion.

Good night and Good luck

Go Dodgers