Old thread here.
It’s June, and the Dodgers have decided to stop hitting to give the dog-ass Giants hope, before crushing them into the dust in July, August and September.
I hope.
This game can be very stressful, can’t it?
What’s the weather forecast in Denver the next couple days? Hopefully the Dodgers get treated to the same kind of warm welcome that the Giants got last weekend: a Saturday doubleheader that took a total of 9 hours and 2 minutes (including two rain delays lasting a total of 3:13), and a game Sunday that was finally played after a 2 hour and 20 minute rain delay during which no rain actually fell from the sky.
I got to go to Wrigley yesterday to see the Royals play. The game was a snoozer - light on offense, light on strategy, light on warmth (it was 52 degrees with bitter cold wind blowing in). The Royals Yosted themselves. Ventura had a great game, but really struggled against Coghlan. With Herrera warming up in the pen with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 7th, Ventura walks Montero, then wild pitches him to 2nd. He gets past Soler, and by this time, Herrera should have had plenty of time warming up. Nope - Yost leaves Ventura in to give up the tying run. I get it - Ventura was having a good night, and Coghlan was the only one with multiple hits against him. But they had the night off the night before because of the rain suspension, and today’s a travel day - why not just send Herrera/Davis/Holland in for the 7-8-9?
Other than that, it was fun to be at Wrigley for the game. I’d been there plenty before, but not for KC. I thought the scoreboards were well done, and they seem to at least try to keep the flash and commercials to a minimum. Should make for an even cozier feel to the cozy confines when they finish the rest of the stands.
Chance of thunderstorms for the next week in Denver, and with the Dodgers playing a double-header on Wednesday. Oy.
At least the Rockies are generous enough to be spreading the joy around the division. 
It has only been two years since the Mets/Rockies series was snowed out in Denver in May. But overall, this year seems to be worse for trying to play games out there.
Edited the title as you asked.
Then kyou!
Suburban Plankton asked in the May thread:
The fans are ready to cut bait on Panda. He hasn’t been hitting and his defense has cost them games, including his error that led to a game winner in Texas just the other day.
I think most Red Sox fans, like myself, didn’t like his huge deal in the first place because he’s a slightly better than average hitting 3B who happened to get hot at the right times for SF.
The Marlins send Steve Cishek to their AA team. Closers really are very streaky, it seems Cishek just lost ‘it.’ Not sure how he’s going to react to the demotion, but the way the Marlins are playing , there won’t be many save opportunities anyway, especially if they’re trade deadline sellers.
Still a big step up from Middlebrooks.
Panda’s October performance levels don’t matter if you don’t get to play in October. He’s not the (sole) problem by any means; *none *of the players are performing consistently.
Well, the Dodgers bats got hot. I hope they didn’t blow a series worth of hits in one game. Especially with a double-header today.
WMB sucked mightily last year, no question. But so far this year:
WMB: OPS .689, OPS+ 94
Panda: OPS .688, OPS+ 92
Could have let Brock Holt play 3rd (or SS and swap with Xander) and figure out the OF. Holt and Pedroia are the only guys coming close to earning their paycheck in Boston.
It doesn’t get mentioned much, but they are depending on some very young talent up the middle - Swihart, Bogaerts, and Betts are all only 22 or so. They’re doing their best but maybe got rushed up to the bigs, and they’re all in critical positions - Swihart especially, due to the top 2 catchers getting hurt, and he’s had to learn the toughest position on the fly. Also, Farrell may be too much of a veterans’ manager for what is actually a rebuilding team. He’s resorted to holding meetings with a handful of vets to figure out why they’re all sucking, but maybe he needs to ask the guy in the mirror too.
Firing the pitching coach sure fixed those problems, didn’t it?
Seems like the Cubs certainly came out the winners in the “Anthony Rizzo for Andrew Cashner” trade.
I swear, the Dodgers are going to give me a heart attack some year. Talk about your come up off the mat clutch hits! They blew the day game, though, so the day was a wash standings-wise.
Loving the Astros, not only winning but winning with the Earl Weaver-iest team that ever weaved an earl (but with more team speed).
Dodgers pitching completely falls apart in the 9th. Jansen should have saved it, but he was nowhere to be found. Even the announcers had no idea where he was, stating that all they knew was that he was on the bus before the game.
Baffled and pissed.
I know I take a lot of shots at Josh Hamilton, but now he’s out for 4 weeks with a hamstring strain. He’s obviously made of glass, but I wonder if this type of injury is due to not taking conditioning seriously?
Is it July yet?
Go, Pirates! 