It's Come to This

 The last time there was any typing in here we were taking the San Diego Padres seriously.  Who would have expected the San Francisco Giants to be the best team in baseball.  

Well it's true.

Now The Dodgers and Giants are tied for first in the NL West and tied for the best record in all of MLB.  That's a pretty exciting detail going into the three game series this weekend.

So Dodger starters have an MLB best 2.83 ERA.  Giants starters are third best with a 3.39 ERA.  The Dodger bullpen has a 3.31 ERA while the Giants are at 3.14.

The Dodgers are hitting .242 with 1205 Ks.  The Giants are hitting .243 with 1228 Ks.

This is such an even matchup so it's going to be extra painful to watch Dave Roberts flush this down the toilet.

Dave Roberts thinks he is playing chess but what really is playing is Let's Flush This Game Down the Toilet.

Let's look at the last game.  

Max Scherzer threw six scoreless innings.  He gave up three hits, zero walks and 9 strikeouts.  He was ahead 2-0 and had thrown 76 pitches.  SEVENTY SIX PITCHES.  So Dave Roberts comes in with the hook and ten pitches later the game is tied.

There are plenty of examples of that kind of thing throughout the season.  He is too quick to pull his starters.  He makes all kinds of bad choices with his batting order.  For example, he keeps letting Cody Bellinger play.  

I know you want to get Cody going, but we are 262 ABs into his season.  Cody isn't going.  Have a seat.  Your hitting has been a bigger disaster than Joey Chestnut's 5th of July bowel movement.

5 Wins and 2 Losses

What have we learned so far?  

We have learned that Kenley Jansen is not the guy anymore.  If you can't hold the Oakland A's in check then the San Diego Padres are going to blow their shoulders out taking huge swings at your cutter.  Ok that was a cheap shot.

Sorry about that

We have learned to never give Corey Seager a day off.  He hit .667 with zero strikeouts in the first three games so Dave Roberts paid tribute to Joe Torre by giving him a day off to cool down.  He has hit .214 with 6 strikeouts in the three games since that day off so Dave Roberts knows what he has to do.  Eat your Wheaties Corey.  We need you!

We learned that Chris Taylor is OK but we are still worried about Cody Bellinger. 

Dodger hitting has been great.  The strikouts are too high but they are still hitting .310 as a team.  Starting pitching has been good.  Having a 3.02 ERA isn't good but starting the season with four games in Coors Field is going leave a lot of ERAs bloated.

The bullpen has been atrocious but every year the bullpen starts that way.  It just seems like until there are live bullets you don't really know what you have.  Who knows what to expect from David Price or Jimmy Nelson.  Hell who knows what to expect from Kenley Jansen.  The 6.11 ERA isn't going to stay that way.  Joe Kelly will be back and Bruiser Gatorade will be back.  

Overall this still looks like the best team in baseball

Well, the season is young but you could make a case for The Astros.  We'll see.  Hey that's another thing we learned.  We learned that Dusty Baker should shut up!  I hate to say anything bad about Dusty Baker but fans booing a team of cheaters that they didn't get to boo last year is right and fair.  You knew they were snakes when you picked them up Dusty so throw on an extra set of wrist bands and fill your entire mouth with tooth picks.  Fans don't want to hear it.

But I still love you #12 LF Dusty Baker