Sons of Steve Garvey

Dave Roberts says the Dodgers won't jump in the Chase Field pool if they win, but there's always this....

Yu Darvish vs Zack Greinke.

Yeah, we may be getting ahead of ourselves in dreaming of pool antics, but what a huge freakin relief it is to be in this position, up 2-0 in the NLDS, after getting shellacked in our last six regular-season games against the Snakes.

How did we do it? Above-average starting pitching — your turn, Yu Darvish. Offensive production from the top of the lineup in Game 1 and the bottom half in Game 2 — how about some Wonder Twin power uniting tonight, guys? Oh, and more defense like in Game 2 (zero errors) rather than Game 1 (2 errors).

Listen: Old friend Zack isn't going to roll over for his old team, so let's hope we take a page from the Rockies' playbook and chase him early. Nine more victories!

Tues, 6:40p: Kenta Maeda vs Zack Godley

Wed, 6:40p: Alex Wood vs Zack Greinke

Thurs, 6:40p: Yu Darvish vs Anthony Banda

Kershaw! Greinke! Pre-Paid Parking!

No Bread? No Beer? No Problem!

Thanks to Husker Do (Aka SOSG Todd - the auteur behind A Very Pleasant Good Evening) I'll be at the game, free of leavened products but full of excitement. If you know where to find Todd, you'll know where to find the Delino.

Yeah, you knew we were going to use this picture....

9/5, 5p: Kenta Maeda vs Zack Greinke
DODGERS 10, DIAMONDBACKS 2. AGon: 2-run HR; Joc HR, Seager 3-run HR, Turner HR, Grandal HR, all in 5th off Greinke; Maeda: 6.1 IP, 1 R, 8 K, 1 BB

9/6, 7p: Ross Stripling vs Shelby Miller
DODGERS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 2

9/7, 7p: Brock Stewart vs Robby Ray
DODGERS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 1. Dodgers' first sweep after the All-Star break

photo by @thkbleu

Yes, we've used this before.

DIAMONDBACKS 3, DODGERS 2

Sure, we can sweep the sucky teams. And if they're slightly better than that, we can maybe win one game.

But after failing to show any offense this weekend in San Francisco (where we could only win the Clayton Kershaw-started game), we sailed on to Arizona, and laid another offensive turd in the desert.

This marks the third straight game where we have out-hit the opponent, but lost the game. More evidence that the lineups aren't working, especially after going 0-for-11 with RISP in today's contest. Credit Corey Seager for a fifth-inning solo HR, but that's about it; Mike Bolsinger couldn't last five innings, and former Dodger Zack Greinke largely shut us down over seven frames. Now six games behind in the NL West, we look to be irrelevant by the All-Star Break.

Kenta Maeda (0-0, -.--) vs. Andrew Cashner (0-0, -.--)

After two games of excellent pitching to start the season -- two straight shutouts to be specific -- the Dodgers turn to Kenta Maeda to go for a sweep of the seemingly hapless Padres. Maeda of course is the much-ballyhooed off-season acquisition via Hiroshima Carp. Maeda had a terrific career in Japan, but the jury will be out as to whether or not he can be what at this point is the Dodgers' third starter. Time will, of course, tell, but hopefully he can be a key piece of the rotation looking to replace the loss of Zack Greinke not with one pitcher but with perhaps several.

Thus far the offense has been aggressive, confident, productive, consistent, and smart. Again, it's difficult to judge success against the shambles that is Padres, and it's a minuscule sample size, but from what we've seen so far, Seager seems to be picking up where he left off, Joc looks more comfortable and balanced at the plate, Puig exudes a new poise and patience, Turner is making solid contact, and Adrian gonna Adrian. Early days, but it beats the alternative - looking at you, Angels!

Programming Note: The start time is in the six o'clock hour, not seven o'clock.

Zack Greinke agrees to six-year deal with Arizona Diamondbacks, from @dylanohernandez: https://t.co/QVWMdKfCXk

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) December 5, 2015

photo: @thkbleu

Jim Bowden over at ESPN had ten bold predictions for December (link insider only), and two of them involved the Dodgers:

2. The Dodgers re-sign Zack Greinke

I feel the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants or Chicago Cubs have the best shot at signing Greinke to a long-term deal, in part because he likes to hit and thus prefers the National League. But in the end, I say he remains with the Dodgers. He enjoyed pitching at Dodger Stadium and established a very good working relationship with catcher Yasmani Grandal. Plus, the Dodgers allowed him to be in their draft room during the 2015 MLB draft, which might seem like a small thing, but for the cerebral Greinke, it was definitely appreciated. I can't see the Dodgers letting him get away, especially to the rival Giants.

9. The Dodgers trade Yasiel Puig to either the Rays or Indians

Many Dodgers players have had enough of Puig's antics and lack of focus; they're tired of waiting for him to figure it out. Meanwhile, the Dodgers are desperately in need of young, controllable starting pitching, and have to consider moving him if the offer is right. Los Angeles has the resources to replace Puig's talent either in free agency, trade or international signings, and replacing Puig production's is a lot easier than getting top-notch starting pitching. The Dodgers match up well with both the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians, as both teams have quality young starters to deal and both are in need of an affordable power bat.

I'd be okay with both of those moves.

Forever dreamy...
(Thanks again to @ThkBleu for capturing the defining image of this season.)
Donald Zachary "Spongeworthy" Greinke (19-3, 1.66) vs. Jacob "Cut yer hair, hippie!" deGrom (14-8, 2.54)

🎶 They're Greinke and deGrom, Yes, Greinke and deGrom, One is a genius, The other's deGrom! 🎶 https://t.co/Tr9qbfor73

— Sons of Steve Garvey (@sosgsosg) October 14, 2015

Well, everyone, we made it through Game 4. Rallying cries were answered, narratives were destroyed, pants were shat. But guess what? We get to do it allllll over again tonight.

Last time, we turned to The Bard for some inspiration. This time, we turn to the man who carries our hopes and dreams with him to the mound, Mr. Zack Greinke. I combed through Molly Knight's excellent tale of the last two Dodgers seasons, "The Best Team Money Can Buy", to find a moving and powerful quote from our beloved co-ace:

“Some of you guys have been doing the number two and not washing your hands. It’s not good. I noticed it even happening earlier today. So if you guys could just be better about it, that would be great.”

Thank you, sir! A more rousing speech has never been uttered anywhere. Victory is within our reach. Let's make sure we have clean hands when we grab it.

--

OK, OK, if you're in need of genuine inspiration, you might want to note that today is the 27th anniversary of something pretty good...



--

I'll end this GT with a brief personal aside. On Tuesday night, after the Dodgers survived to fight another day, my wife and I were listening to songs by the seminal '70s/'80s L.A. band Sparks. Their song "All You Ever Think About is Sex" came on, and I screamed when I heard the following verse:

Say, do you remember
The Dodgers and the Mets?
Fifty thousand people
Saw us and turned red

Dodgers and the Mets? 50,000 people? Turned red? Like Red Turn? Justin Turner? Huh? Huh?

I don't really believe in signs, but if I did...

DODGERS 5, METS 2

The evening started out, as in Game 1, glumly — as the Mets bashed solo homers against Zack Greinke to take a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead.

The Dodgers scored a run in the 4th on back-to-back doubles by Turner and Ethier. In the 7th, with the score still 2-1, the Dodgers finally managed to knock out Mets starter Noah Syndergaard after 115 pitches.

Then this happened:

Legal or illegal, clean or dirty, Chase Utley provided the spark the Dodgers needed to finally take a lead in this series. Not only did Hernandez score on the play, but Gonzalez and Turner followed with RBI doubles to give the Dodgers a 5-2 lead, which Jansen made stand up.

So: Thoughts to Ruben Tejada, who broke his leg when Utley slid into him. Props to the offense for finally waking up. And nervous looking forward to Game 3 on Monday...it won't be dull.

Jonah Keri over at Grantland gives the 2015 NL Cy Young to Clayton Kershaw, a man who seems to be less commonly mentioned of late than teammate Zack Greinke or the Cubs' Jake Arrieta. Keri leans heavily upon Baseball Prospectus' Deserved Run Average (DRA) as the determining veriable, but it's still worth a read:

Baseball Prospectus combines DRA with innings pitched to calculate which pitchers delivered the most raw value. That combined stat is then scaled to look like the various derivations of Wins Above Replacement, where a 25th man would deliver a score around zero, an average player around two, an All-Star four or higher, and an elite player six or higher. By this DRA-plus-innings measure, Clayton Kershaw was worth 7.9 wins, Zack Greinke 7.6, and Jake Arrieta 7.5. In other words, the difference between the three amounts to maybe a few hits over the course of a 162-game season.

If you believe that a pitcher who just posted the lowest ERA since peak Greg Maddux2 deserves the honor and that suppressing batting average on balls in play is an attainable skill for a select few genius pitchers, then Greinke’s 1.66 makes a great case for the title. For a different kind of historical performance, Jake Arrieta has smacked extra-base hits at the plate more frequently than he’s allowed them this year (and last year), and he also just set the record with an 0.75 ERA after the All-Star break.

Still, my vote is for Kershaw, because pitchers have more control over strikeouts than over whatever happens once a ball is put in play, and he just struck out 301 batters in 232.2 innings. That’s the highest single-season strikeout rate for any qualified starting pitcher in major league history not named Pedro Martinez or Randy Johnson. Plus, we can throw in that microscopic edge in DRA for good measure.

It’s exceedingly rare that you get three worthy candidates for one award. And really, any of these guys would be a deserving winner.

Keri also has Kershaw and Greinke 2-3 in the NL MVP race, to Bryce Harper.

As reported yesterday, the Dodgers finally announced their 2015 NLDS starters through Game 3.

The first three pitching matchups for the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are set.

The Dodgers announced their rotation Tuesday, hours after a team workout and days after the Mets announced theirs. There were no surprises. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom will pitch Game 1, Zack Greinke and Noah Syndergaard will pitch Saturday's Game 2, and Brett Anderson and Matt Harvey will pitch Monday's Game 3. The first two games are at Dodger Stadium before the series shifts to New York's Citi Field for Games 3 and, potentially, 4. [...]

The Dodgers have not committed to a Game 4 starter, but the debate is between using Kershaw on three days' rest and going with young lefty Alex Wood. Under a new front office led by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers are probably less likely to use Kershaw on short rest than the previous regime of Ned Colletti. Kershaw has done it twice in the postseason, with the Dodgers winning one of those starts, in Game 3 of the NLDS versus the Atlanta Braves, and losing the other in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Kershaw worked 12 innings combined in those starts with a 2.25 ERA.

"I think it at least presents the option," Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said Tuesday. "At the appropriate time, I'm sure we'll have more conversations about that."

In his final "The 30" column for the year, Jonah Keri of Grantland has the Dodgers fifth, and adds some insight into what makes Zack Greinke so good:

6. Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70, plus-72, LW: 5)

While we wait for the playoffs to start and for Zack Greinke to take the lowest starting-pitcher ERA in 20 years into the postseason, check out this piece by Eno Sarris at FanGraphs. In it, Greinke says he’s tried to avoid attacking hitters inside too often, because even though he feels he can induce weaker contact that way, he also found that hitters managed to bloop more balls for hits on inside pitches than on outside ones. As Sarris goes on to explain, Greinke’s suspicion turns out to be well-founded.

Over the years, many misguided writers have tried to argue that Greinke is a head case not fit for the big stage. But as Sarris, Molly Knight in her book The Best Team Money Can Buy, and Greinke himself demonstrate, the Dodgers right-hander isn’t only one of the best pitchers the game has seen in years. He’s also one of the smartest.

#6 is a little bit of a degradation from the prior week, but apparently we've been vaulted by the Royals. Go figure.

DODGERS 2, PADRES 1

Xack Greinke gave up one run over eight innings and held the Padres in check, allowing the Dodgers' two runs to hold up for the series-winning victory. What's more, with the Mets getting no-hit in the second game of a two-game, two-loss doubleheader, the Dodgers secured home-field advantage for the NLDS. At the start of the weekend, the Dodgers needed four of the six remaining outcomes to go our way in order to secure home field. We went 4-for-4, so tomorrow can be rest day before Friday's home playoff opener.

Justin Turner had a solo HR in the first, and Adrian Gonzalez GIDPd but scored Howie Kendrick from third (in the fourth inning). Kenley Jansen notched his 36th save with a one-hit ninth.

Yasiel Puig, activated from the DL, went 1-for-3 with a single in the second inning.

Rest up boys; you've earned it!

Once more with feeling!

Zack Greinke (18-3, 1.68) vs. Robbie Erlin (1-1, 6.30).

Penultimate regular-season game! Cy Young vs. American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (thanks, Wikipedia)! Dodgers gunning for home field advantage while the Mets, having just been shut out by the Phillies, are battling the weather and a doubleheader against the Nats. We're in a position to succeed...let's not fuck it up!

On a sadder note, longtime Dodger Stadium organist Nancy Bea Hefley announced her retirement yesterday. We'll dedicate a proper post to her soon, but wanted to recognize it here. We love you, Nancy Bea!

photo by @ThkBleu

(Thanks again to ThkBleu!)
Zack "Spongeworthy" Greinke (18-3, 1.65) vs. Jake "Skeevy" Peavy (7-6, 3.83)

So, it's come to this, huh? Despite plenty of chances to have this thing closed out before this series, the Dodgers roll into Frisco needing one win out of four to clinch the NL West. I'm certain we were all hoping this would be long done by now, but alas, it was not to be.

There are some upsides to this scenario, though. First, the Dodgers are throwing co-ace Greinke against a perfectly beatable Peavy tonight, meaning this might not drag on much longer. Second, Enrique Hernandez is back. That might not seem like that big of a deal, but it will be helpful to have the human rally banana around, should the Dodgers manage to fall behind. And last, but in no way least, when the Dodgers seal the deal in SF, Vin Scully will be there to call it.

OK kids, here we go. Cross your fingers, clench your cheeks, and pray to your relevant deities. This one's gonna be something!

We've secretly replaced Lucille Bluth's regular Zack Greinke with Curly Fries. Let's see if she notices.
Zack Greinke Carlos Frias (5-5, 4.27) vs. Chase Anderson (6-6, 4.52)

Jesus, what an awful week. After suffering through a four-game losing streak, Dodger fans got the news this morning that reliable stopper Zack Greinke has been scratched from tonight's start due to calf soreness. Sure, that doesn't sound all that serious, but coming on the heels of everything else that's happened, it feels like a good, solid kick to the nads. Curly Fries gets the spot start. Fun!

There will be FOUR Sons in attendance tonight (Sax, AC, Dusty, and yours truly). Second time this season we've managed to scrape that many of us together. Come say hi! We'll be the surly guys* double-fisting beers.

*Curly Fries...surly guys...there's something there, but I can't quite get to it.

Zack Greinke (17-3, 1.61) vs. Jeff Locke (8-10, 4.43).

Pittsburgh may have swept us in early August, but they've been on a recent streak of some tough Locke (not the first time I've used this pun) lately. They come into Dodger Stadium having dropped their last three games and wielding the edge in the NL Wild Card, but only by two games over the divisional rival Cubs. Adding injury to insult, the Cubs' Chris Coghlan took out SS Jung Ho Kang yesterday, breaking Kang's left leg and tearing his knee ligament. Brutal.

Locke has been characterized as promising this year, however this view is not only seen by many commentators as incomplete, but it carries a degree of rationalism that cannot be made consistent with our picture of Locke as the arch-empiricist of his period. So, there.

And anyway, we've got Cy Young hopeful Zack Greinke on the mound for us tonight. Let's keep whittling away at that magic number (now at 10) so we can let Don Mattingly get all of his crazy lineups out of his system, before the postseason begins.

It's a Spongeworthy day!

Zack Greinke (16-3, 1.68) vs Patrick Corbin (5-3, 3.32).

Presumptive Cy Young frontrunner and confirmed dreamboat Greinke vs. D'backs lefty homegrown product Corbin. Don't forget to occasionally switch from football to baseball today!