Although the Dodgers continue to hang right beside the Giants in a tightly contested NL West race, things are once again worsening for Los Angeles on the injury front.
For as good as Tuesday night’s victory was, the team had several injury scares, specifically in the form of two hit batsmen by opposing pitcher Alex Wood.
In the third inning, Wood nailed both Justin Turner and Max Muncy. Neither player exited the game immediately, but both were eventually removed. Turner was replaced in the sixth inning due to a bruise to his knee, while Max Muncy lasted until the seventh when he felt minor shoulder pain.
Manager Dave Roberts said after the win that Turner would sit out Wednesday’s third game but was unsure about Muncy. However, when Wednesday’s lineup was released, Muncy was listed in the two-hole playing second base.
Mookie Betts remains out of the lineup with hip issues. Turner is expected to return for the series finale on Thursday.
There was hope that shortstop Corey Seager would be activated before Wednesday’s game, but it appears as if the shortstop still isn’t ready for action.
Roberts was optimistic at the beginning of the week, but the skipper seemed to change course a bit when talking to reporters on Tuesday.
“Right now, I’m leaving it in the training staff’s hands,” Roberts said. “I just want the green light on the buildup, the hand, the soft tissue, feeling like when he gets out there, we can run him out there for six, seven days in a row. But ultimately, we’re just not there yet.”
In other news, the Dodgers made a deal with the Mets on Wednesday, perhaps signaling the beginning of a series of acquisitions before the summer trade deadline.
According to an official team announcement, the Dodgers acquired 26-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder Billy McKinney for 23-year-old righty-hitting outfielder Carlos Rincon.
McKinney has split the year between Milwaukee and New York, batting a combined .213 (39-for-183) with eight homers and 20 RBI in 79 games. In his 39 games with the Mets, he batted .220 (20-for-91) with five homers and 14 RBI. In parts of four major league seasons with four different teams, he has hit a combined .225 (125-for-556) with 26 homers and 61 RBI.
McKinney was originally selected in the first round of the 2013 MLB draft out of Plano West High School by the Oakland Athletics.
Rincon played in 63 games for Double-A Tulsa this year, batting .263 (61-for-232) with 12 homers and 48 RBI. He has been in the Los Angeles system for six seasons, batting a combined .244 (386-for-1579) with 84 homers and 259 RBI across multiple levels.
Rincon was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent in July 2015 out of the Dominican Republic.
To make room on the 40-man roster for McKinney, the team designated right-handed pitcher Jake Reed for assignment.
(Juan Dorado provided some information furnished in this report)
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Very excited about this acquisition. He is supposedly a good outfielder and his offensive stats (for example, his .213 batting average and his OPS) are better than former MVP Cody Bellinger.
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Apparently McKinney played a little shortstop in Legion Ball, so there’s that, too.
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Gonna be a tough decision for Doc as to whether to use Billy Mac or JoJo at short.
Apparently Seager isn’t an option.
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Sarcasm Jeff??? The guy strikes out a ton. He is supposedly pretty good defensively and has some pop, but he is in no way as good as Bellinger. 4th outfielder at best, and a better option than Reks, Raley or Souza. He is outhitting all 3 of them.
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You had to ask ???????
I always say, if someone has to ask you if your comment is meant to be sarcastic, you’d better go back and try it again.
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Yes, I understand he isn’t as good as Belli, but I’m not at all sure he’s a better option than Reks.
Reks will be sent down tomorrow to make room for McKinney but I would like to have seen what Reks would have looked like after a couple dozen at bats. I’m a Reks fan.
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Not sarcasm bear. Looks like a solid upgrade to me.
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Batting average 50 points higher, more power, more rbi.
Wait. Why am I defending you jeff?
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Yeah Gordon, you’re supposed to be the guy in here who keeps me in line.
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From Raley and Reks, yes. Jansen blows his second game in a row and they lose a golden chance to tie for first. Pitiful offense again. C’mon down Seager we need your bat badly.
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Neuse has been a disappointment offensively and defensively. Maybe he can get his act together but I doubt it. I hope both Neuse and Reks show they can stop striking out, move the man over and get some timely hits, especially with RISP? So far they have been worthless.
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That would be a good description of more than a few of our #”depth players” this year.
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Peters, Neuse, Raley, Reks have not been impressive at all. The thing that really bugs me is here is Reks the other night. He is called up and strikes out 3 times and fails to hit the ball with RISP. Baseball is a hard sport to master. But if you don’t have the skill set to put the ball in play and attempt to make a good impression you are unskilled or terminally stupid. As we have said, at the end of the day it’s pretty basic for a position player “Ya gotta hit the Ball” !!! That’s why I am intrigued with Vargas now at Tulsa. After adjusting to a league he has consistently hit the ball. He is now at Tulsa and playing well and he is young.
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Let me get this straight. You’re saying that because Reks failed to get a hit in his recent visit to the roster, that makes him stupid? He wasn’t smart enough to want to make a good impression? If he was that stupid, I’m assuming he also needed help to put his uniform on and find his way from the on deck circle to the batter’s box.
Yes, his brief trip up here was a total lack of success.
How about just saying he doesn’t have the skill? Or the pressure was too much for him.
Don’t call the guy stupid because he failed. And even there, it was a ridiculously small sample size. Mike Trout, whom many consider among the top 20 players of all time, had 3 hits in his first 24 at bats (.125 batting average).
You and I both like Vargas a lot, but he’s doing well at Tulsa. Reks was hitting well over .300 at AAA OKC. How can you be so sure Vargas won’t be just as bad as Reks when he gets here. If he goes 0 for 10 when he first comes up, I hope you won’t decide that makes him stupid.
OK, that’s it. End of rant.
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You are right I was unkind to Reks. But let me explain my thought process. Reks has been up to the Dodgers several times this year. While he has hit well at OKC he has been terrible offensively in the MLB. If you have had several chances and do not succeed at the MLB level shouldn’t he be smart enough to change his approach? How many chances do you get at the Show? He has skills I have seen him in some MILB games ( thank you for the tip Dennis). Most of these guys especially ones that are 300 hitters at the High Minor level have the skills to make contact if they change their approach. If you notice Pujos when he gets 2 strikes on him especially with men on he changes his approach as does Turner.
If you aren’t smart enough to take the chances you are given in life or this game even if it means changing your approach to help the team how many more chances do you get??? So yep in that aspect, he is not being very smart. Cmon when he gets his chance with RISP choke-up, change your approach and mindset, go with the pitch hit a Texas leaguer, or a soft line drive. Hit the Ball!!!
Bellinger is another one. I can almost draw up his box score. Pop-up, strikeout, pop-up, strikeout, etc…Bellinger is hitting .181 with an OBP of .282, SLG of 270 & OPS of 552 Barnes has an OPS of 552
It’s the same stupid mindset lunge at the ball and try to hit a HR every swing no matter the count or the situation with RISP or that your TEAM needs a simple hit even in many cases a fly ball to score a run. It’s sad
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I just have a hard time coming down too hard on Reks because he’s had so few at bats, albeit horrible results. I guarantee you that Mookie, Seager, etc. have had 10 at bat spots in their career where they couldn’t do anything right either.
Bellinger, on the other hand, frustrates me just as much as he does you. We aren’t talking just 10 at bats with him. He has excellent speed yet won’t put down a bunt, something he did do earlier in his career with great success. We may never know if Doc and the hitting coaches are telling him to do that and he’s ignoring them or if they haven’t even discussed bunting and/or slapping the ball to left field. If they’re telling him to do it and he isn’t, he needs to be benched immediately or sent to OKC. If no one has discussed this with him, they all need to be fired.
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This team won’t win against the better teams without the first team in there night after night. Mookie, Seager, Lux and Turner out and you could tell Muncy wasn’t right. And Bellinger. I keep waiting for the next strike to leave the yard and the same thing keeps happening – strike 3 or a ground out to the right side. It’s the same approach over and over. Blind squirrel.
MLB needs better umpires. That won’t happen.
Jansen. Two in a row. Bad command and 92 mph. What to do? Treinen? Probably not.
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This is where Roberts hurts the team. He is unwilling to make the hard decision and use someone besides Jansen. As I have said Roberts is a great guy and a horrible in-game manager. Plus he will never make the unpopular decision with his players.
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T, maybe it is not his decision to make. So Jansen blew a save on Sunday, now do not use him on Wednesday? Ridiculous, especially when you are paying Jansen 20 million reasons a year to CLOSE, not set up. When you have a one run lead, you put in the guy you expect to close the door. It is not Roberts fault Jansen blew the save. He missed his spots, gave up hits and they lost. End of story. He had been lights out for well over a month. He has a couple of hiccups and the entire fan base goes bonkers. Roberts is only responsible for putting players in a position to succeed. What they do after they enter the game is not on him.
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Bear you are right. Last night was not Robert’s fault. Jansen has been very good. I wonder though if they see he is barely able to hit 92 in the bullpen if that could tell them he is having issues? It seems every time his velocity tanks he has a bad outing. I wonder if he knows his velocity is down and then he overthrows and his control goes. As Jansen obviously will not tell his coaches if the coaches should monitor that very closely.
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Dave can’t see that, if Jansen is having a bad bullpen session, then the bullpen coach should tell Dave he does not think he looks good. He only gets 8 warmups once he reaches the mound. Hard to tell until you see him throw real pitches. I knew he was in trouble as soon as they pinch hit with Posey. Posey has been pretty good against Jansen, then with 2 strikes he hangs one right over the plate. Now I would have pulled him right after the next hitter got on base. That damn 3 hitter rule is a pain.
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Don’t get down on Bellinger. He had a couple of nice foul balls yesterday. I think he’s turned the corner.
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Yep, maybe he can get credit for how high some of them are LOL….
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Velocity is not Jansen only problem. He has had trouble with location all season and once in a while it catches up to him especially when he loses velocity. He’s had some very good outing this season but he’s lucked his way through a lot of innings.
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That is why I was saying as his velocity goes down he tends to overthrow and lose control. He has been walking that tightrope all year. If he can’t get the velocity in the bullpen they shouldn’t use him in the 9th with a 1 or 2 run lead. And that is Robert’s fault…
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It’s simple in my view. Never two nights in a row. Kelly and Bickford did not pitch the night before. If those guys can’t be trusted to protect a 2 run lead then why are they there?
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So many people can share the blame for last night.
Kenley for pitching badly.
Neuse for not stretching.
The first base ump for blowing the call.
But to me the major blame goes to Doc. I probably wouldn’t have used KJ last night, but I’m willing to put up with that decision. What I can’t abide, however, is the fact that he didn’t pull him much earlier. That was absolutely inexcusable. When Kenley took the mound, Doc should have warned him he was on a short leash, and then when things started to go badly he should have yanked him. Put Kelly in there and take your chances. You can’t let KJ go down in flames three straight times without trying to make a move to change the outcome.
I wonder if Doc lost some of the guys in the clubhouse with his decision last night. Maybe not. Maybe it’s just us fans who are going crazy with his moves. But, to me, this could have made a big difference in how his players feel about his managerial skills. This might be the straw……………………………………….etc. etc.
That said, we’re still only 3 games out with lots left to play. I definitely don’t think this will eliminate our chances of winning the division, and just maybe it made the players angry enough that they’ll go out there with some fire for the rest of the year.
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Exactly as I have said Doc is the worst manager for in-game pitching decisions I have ever seen. He is so caught up in backing the players he loses sight of what is good for the Team.
Not a Neuse fan.
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