Enrique Hernandez went 4-for-4 with two homers and three RBI while Matt Beaty went 3-for-4 with a double and a homer of his own, but it still wasn’t enough to propel the Dodgers past the Phillies in the series finale in Philadelphia on Thursday.
In spite of the loss, the Dodgers went 4-3 on the roadtrip, which may be considered satisfactory in the eyes of many, especially when noting the types of difficult environments at Fenway and Citizens Bank Park.
As far as the season series went, though, the Dodgers took five games to the Phillies’ two, as Los Angeles swept Philadelphia in three games at Dodger Stadium back on May 31 through June 2.
Swing man Ross Stripling got the start for the Dodgers and was decent in Thursday afternoon’s finale. The righty surrendered two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts over an even five innings of work.
However, the Los Angeles bullpen was once again victimized in the later innings of another tight contest. Three Dodgers relievers couldn’t hold the Philllies at bay in the seventh frame. The trio allowed four runs as Philadelphia came from behind to win 7-6, securing the series split.
Caleb Ferguson, freshly recalled to the roster on Thursday morning, hit the first batter he faced with a pitch, then walked Roman Quinn in the subsequent AB. After the seventh innings was all said and done, Ferguson was charged with two earned runs while Dylan Floro and Joe Kelly were each tagged with one.
“We have a lot of belief and trust in Caleb,” skipper Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the OC Register. “In that situation, you can’t hit the lefty with a breaking ball and you can’t walk Quinn. That’s just the bottom line.”
Facing Floro after the Ferguson disaster, Bryce Harper tied the game with an RBI single, then Rhys Hoskins followed with a single of his own, driving in two more and giving Philadelphia the lead.
Even a cursory assessment of the Los Angeles relief crew reveals that the club is in dire need of bullpen help, particularly if the club hopes to head into the 2019 postseason with a full head of steam.
Alex Verdugo slugged his 12th home run of the year to bring the Dodgers within one run in the top of the ninth, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Ranger Suarez was credited with the win, his second of the year. Despite allowing the home run to Verdugo, Hector Neris notched his 18th save of the season.
Floro was credited with the loss.
Immediately after the game, the Dodgers hopped a flight Westbound. The team will begin a three-game series against the Marlins at home beginning on Friday.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Middle relief has been a problem that has plagued the blue crew for several years. We need to shore up that hole. Joe Kelly did well today but as for the others, not so much!
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Huh? Kelly did well tonight. Inherited 2 runners. Both scored! Plus one of his own, plus a wild pitch. What were you watching?
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No secret about what needs to be done. The secret is how we will go about doing it. It could be we get exactly what AF is known for… under the radar spinners. It could be this year he sends off top prospects for the proven stopper. It could be we accomplish two goals with one move – we use top prospects to get younger in our rotation and send one of our older starters to the bullpen.
As Bear noted, the safe bet is AF will not trade our best prospects. But it’s likely somebody will be willing to. We may watch as all the best relievers go elsewhere.
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Then we’ll once again watch someone else win a WS!
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Giants passed the Rockies and moved into 3rd place, 1 game under .500 and 15 back of the Dodgers. 63 games left for LA. Dodgers win 30, they will have 94 wins. To catch them the Giants would need to win 46 games. Arizona would need 45, and that is just to tie. Over their next 11 games, the Dodgers play the worst team in the majors, Miami, the Angels, who are 2 games over .500, DC, who has been playing better of late, but are without Scherzer right now, and the Rockies, who are in a huge tailspin. Then in August they play the Padres, Cardinals, D-Backs and Marlins again before facing the Braves. They can essentially put the Padres, D-Backs and Rockies out of any chance of catching them. The next couple of weeks will go a long way in showing how the Dodgers are going to either win going away, or limp into a division win. I think that the biggest thing going for this team is their approach. They are not striking out as much and they believe in each other. It does not matter what we fans think or want them to do. They believe they can beat anyone. There will be some tweaks, we all know that. But none of us has a clue just who AF is targeting. Most of the rumors I have read center around Diekman of the Royals, who would not cost a first line prospect. With 12 days to go until the deadline, we will all know the answer soon.
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The Dodgers end the season with 9 games in their division. 3 each with the Padres, Rockies and the Giants.
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The giants are playing better and to me it’s no surprise. I have said it before – I think Zaidi knows what he’s doing. I do not believe they are a threat to us. They will be sellers soon, so if they end up at .500 it would be quite an accomplishment.
The Dodgers struck out 40 times in the most recent series and 39 times in the 3 game series in Boston. I mentioned that they have been chasing again. Hopefully they clean that up.
And we wait…..
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Diekman makes me nervous. I think the most important aspect besides stuff for a reliever is to throw strikes and don’t give up free bases. Look at Ferguson last game and our defense. You can’t give away runs late in games. Make teams earn it! Diekman’s walk rate is too high and I don’t trust him. It will be interesting how many relievers AF gets and what the cost will be. I just don’t think you can stand pat and expect to beat the Astros or Yankees with their lineups against our pen. The rest of our team is good enough but not the pen. AF has delivered the past three years will he do it again. He says the bullpen keeps him up at night as it does all of us so go get a star so we can all get a good nights sleep!
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Well said Rich.
Pick a star. Any star. Then prepare to pay up.
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Rich, as of today, the Dodgers pitching staff is rated #1 in the entire MLB. The Astro’s are 5th and the Yankees 8th. The Yankee pen has more saves than the Dodgers, but the Astro’s have less. Astro’s have more K’s and a lower batting average against than the Dodgers, the Yankees have less K’s and a higher BA against. We know the Yankees will be looking to bolster their pitching, but their Achilles heel is their starters. They are not necessarily looking for bull pen help. We all know where the Dodgers are weakest, so the deadline depends on who AF feels will give the Dodgers the best chance to win. It will also depend on what players in the organization he is willing to deal. Bo matter who he trades, that trade does not guarantee that this team will win the WS. It is a crapshoot. Same for the Yanks and the Stro’s. This year with so many teams still in position to make the wild card, rentals are going to come at a high price. How high is Andy prepared to go? I have no clue, and I doubt anyone else does either. Nobody out there is a sure thing. A lot of deadline deals have fizzled. How much of the future is Friedman willing to let go. You look at his deadline trades since he got here. Not many of the players he traded away have made an impact on the team they were traded to. Calhoun, who left in the Darvish deal has yet to stick. He has no position really. Montas who went to the A’s made some impact there but now is injured. Now a Will Smith trade could be made, but Farhan is no dummy. He knows AF is not going to trade his top 3, or since Smith is #4, his top 4. Since he knows the system, and he knows that his player is a rental, he will most likely see who besides the Dodgers in interested. We know the Cardinals have already talked to the Giants about Smith. I believe AF will make a deal or maybe two. But if you have read his statements on the Dodger web page you know he is not going to make a deal he feels is not in the Dodgers best interest. A #4 prospect for a rental? Could happen, but I doubt it will.
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Here are the Dodgers top 30 prospects…who would you trade for a reliever or relievers? Ruiz, Lux, May, Smith, Gonsolin, Santana, Downs, White, Cartaya, Peters, Amaya, Rios, Wong, Grove, Kendall, Alvarez, Gray, Carrillo, Estevez, Uceta, Valera, Fisher, Rooney, Ortiz, Kasowski, Santana, Vargas, Willeman, Rincon, Thomas.. the ball is in your court. And do this without Vazquez in the equation since the Bucs have repeatedly said he is not going to be available. I will be interested to see the responses.
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I would not trade Lux, Smith, and May for anyone reasonably available.
Middle infielders who can hit are gold. The Dodgers don’t have a stud at 2B, and it looks like Seager (much as I love seeing him play) may have a Tulowitzki-type body. They need Lux.
Smith has shown he can hit at the major league level. A catcher who has a high probability of hitting well at the ML level is a great investment.
I have seen May pitch on a number of occasions. He won’t be Kershaw, but as his boyish body fills out, I think he will be the next best thing. Of course, pitchers can break at any time.
Others further down on your list have less established future value, so their evaluation is why we pay the guys behind the scenes to be smart.
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Couldn’t have said it better. And this is why Zaidi may be interested in some of our not Top 10 prospects. He can look deep into our system, a system he helped build, and know who, while not in our Top 10 now, will be in our Top 5 in 2-3 years.
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Dodgers announced that they want season ticket holders to pay for their 2020 tickets by August. And the prices are going up again. I never want to hear this ownership complain about the Tax or money. They are bleeding their fans dry. All this coinciding with the ALL STAR game in LA next year. They are also going to do some modifications to the Stadium this winter.
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Read MLB trade rumors story on the Giants plans for the deadline. Interesting.
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Good analysis Bearone. The question for management is: How much of future talent do you give up for the Chance to win the WS this year? Do you weaken your chances for longer term success by trading MiL talent now? Or do you help the chance of this seasons success by trading MiL talent now? My guess is that they don’t do anything to damage future success. If you don’t make moves and don’t succeed because of it, fans will be unhappy until spring training rolls around again. But if you make moves that weaken the team beyond this season, you have angry fans for a longer period of time. Even if the Dodgers did win the WS this year, fans will be just as grumpy next year and longer if the future has been mortgaged. I’m guessing the Dodger front office would rather have a team that is in the playoffs for a greater number of years, even if they don’t wine the WS, rather than one that wins the WS this year, but goes into decline because it mortgaged the future for one shining year. We’ll see.
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Phillies moving Pivetta to the pen. They signed Drew Smyly to a contract and he is stepping right into their rotation. KC’s beat writers are saying that the Dodgers have scouts following them. Mostly looking at Diekman it seems. Next 12 days are going to be interesting. Wonder how long it is before AF pulls the trigger on a deal. By the way, those of you so fired up to trade Smith, he is the only Dodger with 2 walkoff homers this year.
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Waldo, I wouldn’t be concerned about a trade that will damage future success. This organization will remain competitive for a long time. It’s my opinion that Friedman will keep enough top minor league talent to rotate a pitcher and a position player onto the 25 man every year. Combined with free agent signings, international scouting and signing, we will be the NL flagship organization in the foreseeable future.
Who’s “fired up” to trade Smith Bear? Some just don’t include him in the Top 3 untouchable list.
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I got my blogs mixed up. A couple here are ok with it, I am not. Sadler recalled, Floro to the IL. Dodgers have scouts in Detroit and Toronto following the Jays and Tigers.
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The Jays are in Detroit. What are the scouts doing in Toronto?
Giles and Greene don’t need to be scouted. Wait, maybe Giles does need scouting. He’s been out 2 weeks. Elbow inflammation. Hudson?
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