The Los Angeles Dodgers almost had gotten it all back together. They won five straight games, including sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates at home and taking the first two in Milwaukee before losing in very unappealing fashion the last two games.
Jack Flaherty struggled for the first time in his Dodgers career, allowing three runs in the first inning Thursday. The Dodgers battled back to tie 3-3, even going ahead 4-3, but in the end the bullpen once again failed. This outing was Daniel Hudson, who allowed another three runs in 0.2 innings.
This was on the heels of a tough outing by Walker Buehler on Wednesday, in which he made his second return to the team. He only lasted 3.1 innings, putting pressure on the bullpen again. The offense scored three runs in the first and then went back to sleep, before plating one more run in the seventh, but ultimately losing 5-4.
Now the Dodgers are in St Louis to take on the Cardinals, who currently sit at 60-61. The Dodgers took three-of-four from the Cardinals at home at the beginning of the season.
With Mookie Betts rejoining the team on Monday, the team started to look offensively like Dodger fans had been hoping in Spring Training. Only Mookie could not do any rehab and pick up right where he left off, several months prior.
But more good news is on the way. Tommy Edman and Max Muncy will be entering the lineup, Monday and Tuesday respectively.
When Edman joins, it will be for the first time as a Los Angeles Dodger, after he was acquired at the trade deadline. He had been out all season with two issues. Edman should be primarily playing second base and centerfield.
Muncy will be returning from an oblique injury, and many fans thought he might not return at all this season. He will resume his spot at third, a position that has been a revolving door of defense. Kiké Hernández lately has been doing most of the work at the hot corner, and has been doing pretty well.
Muncy especially will add more length and power to the lineup which has struggled once it’s gotten past the top four. He will rehab through the weekend, have Monday off, and rejoin the lineup on Tuesday.
Justin Wrobleski will start Friday night for the Dodgers, followed by Tyler Glasnow on Saturday, and Clayton Kershaw on Sunday. The Dodgers are hoping for more innings out of their starters, as the aforementioned bullpen is tried.
Bobby Miller was pulled from his start at Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday night, to join the taxi squad in case the Dodgers need to use him in some capacity.
Hopefully the Dodgers will rebound in the offense department, as the lead in the NL West has dwindled to two games, over both the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The Padres are playing in Colorado, and the Diamondbacks are in Tampa Bay, seemingly easy series for both teams to take. This division will probably be in play for the rest of the season, stay tuned.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
The lineup will definitely look a lot more dangerous with Max and Edman added. The only question is whether that lineup will actually produce the way it should. We’ll know soon enough.
I find it fascinating that the front office keeps on hoping that Buehler and Miller will pitch well enough to be of some use in the post season, when Knack, who has pitched far better than either of them is kicked to the curb every time they need a roster spot.
In limited pitching time, Knack has a bWAR of +1.2 this year while Miller and Buehler are both negative (in the -0.8 to -0.9 vicinity). Knack has become the Rodney Dangerfield of the 2024 Dodgers.
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Give it time! Apparently Glasnow might go on IL 🙄
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Elbow tendinitis at this time of the season is not good. I just hope we get him back for October. If we don’t have Glasnow or Yamamoto we are screwed anyway.
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Bobby Miller has the most hittable 97 mph fastball in MLB. The kid has no confidence in himself. I hope he can shake it off and pitch like he can when he’s on.
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I don’t see how they can continue to run both Buehler and Miller out there for 2 out of every 5 starts and still hope to win the division.
Bring back Knack! Send Miller out to OKC to work on his mechanics.
Buehler has no options remaining so if they’re going to keep only one of those two guys for now it should probably be Buehler.
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I would demote Miller and give his spot to Knack but right now we are running out of options. losing River Ryan was a huge blow. Kershaw is somehow pushing back on Father Time and giving the Dodgers quality innings when they need it most. Buehler has to take the ball every 5th day and hope he can figure it out. If he was smart he would be picking Kershaw’s brain about how he learned to adapt after he lost his fastball. He’s still got 95 in the tank so it’s not like he’s throwing Barry Zito fastballs. He’s got to locate his fastball better to set up his breaking ball. Reaching back for 99 mph is over. There’s a lot of pressure on Wrobleski and Knack but they are going to have to learn by being thrown in the fire until we can get Yamamoto and Glasnow back. Any other team would have folded with our injuries so it’s a testament to how good we develop our young pitchers.
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I think Buehler and Miller are both suffering from the same problem, lack of command. I think their stuff is OK but they can’t locate it on a regular basis.
It’s all well and good to keep letting them pitch to try to work through it, but when you have a 2 game lead with less than 40 remaining, that’s taking a very big chance.
Bad enough to do it with one pitcher, but two out of five is really asking for trouble. Along with Miller’s command problems he also seems to have a head problem. Seems like he’s just waiting for the roof to cave in every time he goes out there. This is stuff that is better worked on at AAA. Knack deserves to have his spot in the rotation for now.
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I like Knack a lot. He’s got that Chad Billingsley build and he can locate his fastball. Unlike Miller, Knack’s also seems to have some movement to it. His 95 is far better than Miller’s 97. I hope Yamamoto will be able to get on the field but shoulder injuries tend to linger. If he ends up needing surgery and we waited this long to do it then we lose him all next year as well. Hopefully he keeps progressing. I think he’s facing live hitters this week then off to a rehab start. I can’t help but wonder why Julio Urias had to be such a piece of shit because the Dodgers would have paid him and he would be of great use right now.
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