We as Los Angeles Dodgers fans are so lucky to be watching greatness every five to six days and on Tuesday night, Clayton Kershaw showed us exactly why.
Kershaw turned in a vintage performance for his 200th career win, going 7.0 scoreless innings, striking out nine and walking none. After Jason Heyward bobbled a line drive to right field, allowing the batter to reach third on the very first at bat of the game, Kershaw proceeded to strike out the next three, stranding that runner. He didn’t allow anyone else past second the rest of the game.
Over his illustrious career, now in its 16th season, Kershaw has the second lowest all time ERA. Of pitchers who have 200 wins or more, Kershaw has the winning percentage of them all. He is second to Randy Johnson in number of games with 9+ strikeouts and zero walks, with 41. The accomplishments and achievements just go on and on and we are indeed witnessing an All-Time Great.
Thankfully, the hit-or-miss Dodgers offense showed up for Kershaw to be able to get that 200th win at home. J.D. Martinez was the catalyst for most of the runs, hitting two homers and driving in four of the five runs.
The depth across the team is not great, but at this particular moment the fielding depth is incredibly thin. Mookie Betts is out on paternity leave; Will Smith is on concussion protocol; Miguel Rojas sustained an injury fielding a sharp grounder Tuesday night; Chris Taylor is dealing with an oblique strain.
The starting lineup put out on Wednesday for the matinee game facing Max Scherzer seems a little bleak, especially for the third highest payroll in baseball.
Luke Williams was promoted on Tuesday before the game, and the Dodgers signed Austin Wynns earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, Rojas was placed on the injured list with a hamstring strain, and Yonny Hernandez was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Taylor is feeling better, but still not sure when he’ll be able to return, but hoping by the weekend. Smith is able to come off of concussion protocol on Thursday, but most likely also won’t return until sometime over the weekend. Betts has one day left of paternity leave after Wednesday, and should be definitely back in the lineup by Friday.
Where Betts will be playing is another question. With Taylor and Rojas out, Betts is the next in line to cover shortstop. He is the back-back-backup scenario, and we will see how Luke Williams hands the position in the meantime.
Sitting at 9-9, there are still a lot of questions regarding this season’s Dodgers. Better to get these injuries and issues worked out earlier in the season, and it is a long season. Even at that record, they are second in the NL West, two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Still, fans are antsy, as they have witnessed so many great teams in the past decade. There is still plenty of time field that to be the case for this team too – it currently just happens to be making a more round-about path getting there.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I don’t understand why they brought Austin Wynns in when they have 3 catchers at AAA, two with MLB experience. I would think Feduccia deserved a shot with the way he hit in spring games and is hitting over .400 so far at OKC plus he hits Lefty.
Is his D that bad?
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I think this was all due to roster manipulation. They figure they only need Wynns (or whomever) for about a week. They will then DFA him.
Feduccia isn’t even on the 40-man so when Smith comes back they’d have to jettison someone else, assuming they wouldn’t remove Feduccia, even if they would send him back to OKC.
Wynns is an easy in and out. Only other 40-man catcher would have been Cartaya and he isn’t ready yet.
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You are right about Wynne for sure, but that is a little short sighted I think. There are at least 5 or 6 guys on the 40 man that will never make the big league roster so why not give Feducia a shot. He is hitting well and had a good spring training training and we may need him (or somebody) later this year.
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Right none of the catchers at AAA are on the 40 man and of course neither was Wynns. Given the injuries that catchers might experience thru the season, It makes little sense to carry only 2 catchers on the 40 while bogging it down with multiple pitchers that are injured and might pitch at some time during the season. Feduccia has been killing it offensively and has options. So they are going to catch Wynns a few times and dump him? They don’t need 4 catchers at OKC.
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This is in many ways a recharge year with Outman and Vargas. Why not bring up Busch as Dennis’s article stated he is ripping it up OKC.
This is a great time for Roberts to show he is a competent manager. This is his first time managing in the regular season with a team that isn’t considerably more talented than the competition. It’s like the playoffs as they are playing more teams that are at parity. And we know his record in the playoffs…
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The team is a hot mess right now. A lot of it is due to injuries. But AFs roster construction is also a big reason. Over the hill veterans and reclamation projects are not the way to construct a championship level team. And wasting money on injured relievers instead of getting reliable pieces is why the bullpen sucks. This team is not fun to watch right now.
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It’s a long season. No one is running away in the west. A lot depends on Thor improving and May becoming more consistent. Vargas will improve but I am not confident about Taylor or Muncy. And I believe signing Peralta was a huge mistake. The bullpen should stabilize. I am not too concerned as it’s early and I didn’t believe this team would win the WS this year. So while I still believe they will win 90 plus the lineup is not formidable all the way down.
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It’s either time for the Dodgers to admit that this year is all about saving money on the roster or if they plan to compete we need several moves. The only positions I feel good about are 1B, 3B, wherever Betts is playing and CF with Outman. The rest is terrible. CT3 is a great utility player but he’s not a starter on a contending team. Same with Miguel Rojas. Our left fielder is freaking David Peralta’s rotting corpse of his former self. Meanwhile Bellinger is hitting .300 with Chicago with his usual great defense. I can’t believe we didn’t bring him back at least on a one year deal like he signed with the Cubs. Instead we brought Jason Heyward back from the dead. Belly should be in CF with Outman in RF assuming Betts becomes the starting SS until Lux is back next year. Trayce, Peralta and Heyward have to be replaced or this team is screwed. I think Friedman got a little too cute with his analytics thinking everything he touches turns to gold and for the most part he has made great low salary role players/pitchers to perform well but it backfired on him this time. The first step needs to be calling Michael Busch up.
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The front office has made some bad decisions over the last few years. And injuries have played a big part in the slow start with backups like Taylor, Barnes, Thompson and Heyward not pulling their weight.
I know Seager is injured again but if resigned no need to trade Keibert Ruiz who could be backing up Smith at C and not needing Martinez. Smith and Busch could share DH. Bellinger? Well he’s maybe back to his old self and if so I agree it was a mistake letting him go.
IMO Jansen should still be a Dodger and is continuing to build HOF credentials as a top closer. Instead of continuing to throw away millions on broken pitchers they could still have Kenley.
Someone on here recently said Muncy was DONE and called Outman a career minor leaguer. Glad to call you out. LOL.
Anyway it’s still earl. Maybe the almost perfect game by Smyly set fire under the offense.
The bullpen needs to show last year’s performance was not a fluke.
Let’s bring the Bucs back to earth this week.
Go Dodgers!
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Go all in and bring up Busch and Stone. If this is a rebuild year bring up the farm guys and see if they have what it takes. Vargas will hit. Glad Muncy is back on track but not convinced Taylor will ever be better than he is currently. He is a strikeout waiting to happen with little power.
Have to wait out Smith’s concussion. And hope for the best in the bullpen. There are some young arms that could do bullpen duty instead of the rejects that AF spends money on. He does find gold like Almonte but others not so much.
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