After winning 12 straight games in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally had a clunker, losing 4-0 to the Kansas City Royals.
Now the Dodgers turn their sights on the Milwaukee Brewers, heading to American Family Field for a four game set against the Brew Crew.
The Brewers sit at 61-52, second in the NL Central. They have the second lowest positive run differential in the national league, at +35.
Before the game, catcher Austin Barnes was reinstated from the family emergency list. His replacement, catcher Tony Wolters, was DFA’d.
But the big news before the series opener is that the Dodgers are going to be without Walker Buehler for the foreseeable future. On Monday, the team announced that Buehler would be undergoing elbow surgery on Aug 23rd, with Dr Neil ElAttrache.
Buehler has been on the 15-day IL since June 11, dealing with a right flexor tendon strain. He then decided to have surgery to remove bone spurs, as his recovery was expected to take awhile. That surgery was not expected to be a detriment to his overall return timetable.
Buehler has started a throwing program last month, and the Dodgers were cautiously optimistic about Buehler’s return to the rotation before the postseason. But the righty had been having discomfort in his most recent throwing sessions, and Dr ElAttrache could not find any conclusions from Buehler’s MRI. The doctor recommended surgery, and they will know more after the procedure.
Walker has already had Tommy John surgery once in his career, shortly after he was selected as the 24th pick in the 2015 amateur draft.
As such, the timing couldn’t be better for Dustin May’s return to the starting rotation. May had been rehabilitating from his own Tommy John surgery, which occurred in the spring of the 2021 season.
On Monday, the Dodgers announced that May will make his first start of the 2022 season on Saturday against the Miami Marlins at home at Dodger Stadium.
In his last rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Oklahoma City, May went 5.0 innings, allowing one run, walking one, and striking out 10. In the whole of his five rehab starts, May posted a 1.89 ERA with 33 strikeouts over 19 innings.
As May is not replacing Buehler in the rotation, the current rotation can keep its regular schedule, with May sliding into the spot currently being her by Ryan Pepiot.
An early look at the possible postseason rotation would see Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Anderson, May, and Clayton Kershaw if he is back in time. Time will tell who exactly would be the top three, and who if anyone could piggyback, or possibly move to the bullpen like Urías did in 2020.
Blake Treinen is also nearing his return to the bullpen. In his most recent rehab outing, also for Oklahoma City, he pitched a scoreless inning. His sinker was averaging 95.7 mph, topping out at 97.4 mph. It will be interesting to watch it Craig Kimbrel keeps his closer roll once Treinen returns, and if Kimbrel keeps flailing. The whole pitching situation will be something to keep an eye on over the next fews weeks of the season.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I’d like to see Treinen and Phillips used in high leverage situations (7th/8th innings) with Caleb Ferguson as the new closer. He’s got a closer’s mentality, has pitched very well since coming back from injury and Kimbrel is just not getting the job done.
I doubt the Buehler news from today had any influence on this but the Dodgers have moved Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone from Tulsa to OKC and Nick Nastrini from Great Lakes to Tulsa. Our better pitching prospects are getting ever closer to Chavez Ravine.
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If he recovers I like Almonte also. I watched Miller he was electric for 7 innings.
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Forgot about Almonte. Another good arm that hopefully will be available for the post season. And, assuming Bazooka remains effective, another one.
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Almost 24 year olds in double A?? Urias, May and Buehler were established major leaguers at that age. Stone is a late bloomer and has been spectacular playing 2 levels ( and now 3). Miller 2 years in double A and still struggling?? He now looks like another White. Remember the gordon rules. Lol.
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There is no comparison between White’s “stuff” and Miller’s. Miller’s problem is control/command. His stuff is electric. That doesn’t mean he’ll ever master his command, but it does mean the Dodger brass will give him a very long leash before they cut him loose. I’d say he’s safe until he’s about 40.
Now let’s see, what was that Gordon Rule? Oh yes, now I remember, “I before E except after C”. Or was it “Age is only a number”?
Good news, my friend, there is a retirement home about 5 minutes from my house. I checked and they told me they’d take any Dodger farmhand who hasn’t made the big club by the time he’s 26, so at least we know what to do with them once we release them. 🙂
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Losing Buehler is really not a big deal as he has not contributed much all year. Dodgers have already coped with his loss. Now, if he had been one of our best starters and a workhorse to this point in the season, his loss would have been devastating.
I am ready to move on from Kimbrel. There are too many better options on this team.
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Serious? Just name 10 better option on this team than Kimbrel.
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You mean other than Hanser Alberto?
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Almonte, Ferguson, Graterol, Heaney, Martin, Pepiot, Phillips, Price, Treinen, Vesia. If Kimbrel is on the playoff roster he should not see any high leverage innings.
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I believe Gordon may have been being facetious since our bullpen only has 8 guys in it to begin with.
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Kimbrel is going nowhere until after the season is over. Now, just what his role will be 48 games from now remains to be seen. I have seen pitchers turn their season around in a snap. Kimbrel is the active saves leader in the majors right now. He is a victim as much of bad luck as bad pitching. He has fewer blown saves than Jansen. Has he been the old Kimbrel? No, and expecting that kind of performance is a little far-fetched. We all know how bad his second half was after the trade to the White Sox. He hasn’t been totally terrible since he has 20 saves. His problem at this point is his control, which he seems to lose at the most inopportune times. He has 55 Ks in 41 innings, but he also has 17 walks. He has allowed 2 homers so far. Neither of which has cost the Dodgers a game. He rarely has a clean inning. His main problem it seems is giving Dodger fans ulcer’s watching him pitch the 9th. The way this team has been scoring, he has not had many save opps lately. So when he comes in with a big lead and coughs up a run or two, everyone goes bonkers and loses their minds.
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Kimbrel has the velocity and movement but has lacked control as Bear states. He has grooved some pitches very frustrating for all of us.
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Jansen has more saves simply because he has had more opportunities with the second place Braves than Kimbrel has with LA. In my years of watching the game, a relief pitcher can find it just as fast as he can lose it. Kimbrel might do the same. Of course, it is a waiting game, and he has to have more opportunities than he has to have enough work in real games. That is why Roberts runs him out there in blow outs. The guy needs to pitch. You get better by throwing in real games, not bullpen sessions.
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Somewhere, deep in a corner of the Atlanta clubhouse, Kenley is chuckling.
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Well spoken bear, you hit the nail on the head, plus we all know that Doc likes to give veterans like him a lot of leeway, at least until the end of the regular season.
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Gordon, don’t forget that all of the minor leaguers lost a season, from Covid, so it stands to reason that they would be a little later coming up than some of the guys right before them.
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Keith and tmax, it’s Double A!! That’s where they bury them. Even the dodgers couldn’t get him out of double a because they were clobbering him down there. Kind of like Pepoit. Now we’ll see. 4.6 Era in double A is like a safeway bagger. We’ll let’s give him another year.
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Tmax, after you post about Miller I checked his numbers from his last game, 7.1 IP 0 Rs 9 Ks that is the Bobby Miller that I think all of the Miller fans expected most of the season.
Hope he can keep pitching like that.
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Thanks to Dennis’s tip I bought a highly discounted MiLB subscription. Watching Miller last night he continued to throw 98-99 in the 6th and 7th innings! He has a big 6 foot 5 frame and generates a lot of power. They have had him working at his secondary pitches this year his fastball has good movement. Stone has almost come out of nowhere and risen fast. he has control and swing and miss pitches. Both should play well at the MLB level. One scout from a different team said this spring he saw Miller face a team and throw one of the most impressive innings he has seen by a minor league pitcher touching 100 mph and good secondary pitches.
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Well the Dodgers lost in extra innings tonight as the broke the new Kimbrel rule. Never bring him in with less than a 3 run lead!
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Being a glass half full guy, I’d like to think that this outcome was good for two reasons:
1) Brewers gained a game on the Pads in the Wild Card race. I’d prefer if SD did not make the playoffs.
2) Kimbrel proved once again that he probably shouldn’t be on the playoff roster. Of course there are plenty of games left for him to regain their trust since tonight won’t be enough for them to just say good-bye, but it’s another piece of evidence that he’s not the guy they should depend on.
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