dream rotation: • glasnow • yamamoto • ohtani • buehler • may/kershaw/gonsolin reality: • glasnow • yamamoto • stone/knack/hurt/paxton/grove
Either ball after ball after ball on top and out of the zone, or spikes it into the ground 5 feet in front of the plate.
Loved how the Dodgers kept adding on. Hate watching Paxton walk the world. Might have been worse if not for some borderline calls which went his way. Love watching Pages develop. Looking like he belongs. Needs to be a little more assertive in CF. Looked like that double in right-center could have been caught had Pages taken charge. Lower part of the lineup starting to contribute.
I keep reading that more and.more people think Ohtani will never really pitch again, or if he does, not in the starters role he previously did. And if not a starter, how do you manipulate his spot in the lineup then ? Now he hits the ball as far as anyone, and certainly as hard or harder than anyone I've ever seen. Won't go into his clutch ineffectiveness (which I just did). But if he doesn't come around and his injury prevents him eventually pitching as a rotational starter, then he will be, even though a very good DH, one of the bigges overpays in bb history.
I just wish James Outman was more a part of it all, but you can't deny Pages and his contact, which James is not even close to. And he's not the kind of player that can start once every 3 days andget his Ks fixed, I don't think. And when you think of the 7, 8 and 9 spots, where does James fit in then ? Should James start hitting, maybe Pages in LF ? I think James is better defensively, right now anyway, but Pages bat can't be sat, imo.
I wish that Roberts would commit for two or three months to an every day outfield of Outman, Pages, and THernandez (with the OCCASIONAL rest day thrown in). Kike would be the sub, Heyward stays on the IL, and Taylor is sent to pasture. I'm not saying I fully believe that Outman is the long term answer, but give him a real chance to show he either is or isn't. I do believe he's been striking out less, but how does any young player get into a groove when he's been jerked around by the manager so much? If after that amount of time James can't demonstrate that he's an every day player, work Heyward back into the mix and next year go a different direction.
Yeah...some might say it's a good problem to have . The embarrassment of riches bullshit. I do not think it's good. Pages is a bb fan's joy to behold, but as soon as James gets some solid squaring up, Robots sits him the next day. I know I'm prejudiced for James, and really want to see him do well. You can't help liking a certain kid out there. It all remains to be seen, as we all know. Baseball is a great and cruel game.
If your last name was Alston or Lasorda, this post would make perfect sense. But if you're an Okinawa-born mediocrity with Afro-Asian blood .... weeeeeel ...