Dodgers Dugout: Who was that man on the mound?

Los Angeles Times

4 hours ago

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. The Dodgers have a new pitcher who looks exactly like Shohei Ohtani. They could be twins. It's uncanny.
The Dodgers have played seven games against the Padres and Giants in the last week, and went 5-2 in those games. Let's take a quick look at some important things that happened.
We'll start with Ohtani pitching again. In a surprise, the Dodgers announced Sunday that he would start Monday against the Padres, though he would pitch only one inning. He had been pitching live batting practice and, well, let's have Dave Roberts explain:
'Just kind of talking to [pitching coach Mark Prior] and [president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman] and the doctors and medical and just kind of saying, 'OK, we've done the three-inning live, it's a little taxing or more taxing on my body.' You're at a point of, I don't know if it's diminishing returns. But he's ready to pitch in a major league game. He let us know that.'
In his start, Ohtani reached 100 mph on his fastball and gave up one run and two soft singles. He wasn't sharp with his command, which is to be expected. Of course, he was also the DH in that game and went two for four with a double and an RBI.
If you haven't followed baseball long, it's hard to impress upon you just how incredible what he is doing and has done is. To hit and pitch at a high level is very, very rare. In 2022 with the Angels, he hit .273/.356/.519 with 30 doubles, 34 homers and 95 RBIs at the plate and went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings on the mound, striking out 219. He finished second in MVP voting and fourth in Cy Young voting. In 2023, he went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA on the mound in 132 innings before he needed Tommy John surgery. At the plate he hit .304/.412/.654 with 26 doubles, 44 homers and 95 RBIs in 135 games. He led the league in homers, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He won the MVP award.
As Max Muncy said, 'I always understood how hard it was to pitch and then come in and hit, but seeing him come off the mound and go to the dugout — I don't know, it kinda hit a little different seeing it from our side. He didn't even get a drink of water. Just put his helmet on, went right to the batter's box. That's really hard to do.'
It is expected that Ohtani will pitch about once a week, going an inning longer each time. Coming off of Tommy John surgery is always difficult, so don't expect miracles. Then again, with Ohtani, miracles seem possible.
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The Dodgers won two of three from a scrappy Giants team. But the big news took place off the field. The Giants pulled off a trade with the Boston Red Sox, acquiring Rafael Devers, who had grown unhappy in Boston.
Devers was unhappy that the Red Sox were asking him to change positions (from third base to DH to first base). The Red Sox were unhappy that he was unhappy, seeing as how they were paying him $313.5 million over 10 years. So the Red Sox unloaded him for four players.
Devers immediately said he would play any position the Giants wanted. Which really endeared him to Red Sox fans. But he happens to be one of the best hitters in the game, and immediately makes the Giants better and gives them that superstar they were missing (compared to the Padres and Dodgers). It also shows that Giants GM Buster Posey is going to do whatever it takes to make the Giants win.
Devers is a career .279/.349/.510 hitter and has 40-homer potential (his career high is 38). You can peruse his career numbers here. While you never know what will happen when a new player joins a team, it certainly seems safe to predict that it just got harder to win the NL West.
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The Padres series was interesting because the Padres continue to reinforce their reputation as a bunch of whiny babies.
Monday night, Andy Pages was hit by a pitch from Padres starter Dylan Cease. Pages glared at Cease from the batter's box, prompting Padres manager Mike Shildt to yell at Pages, saying, 'Who the f— do you think you are?' It seemed unlikely that Cease was throwing at Pages, but Pages just stared and Shildt escalated things.
On Tuesday, Dodgers reliever Lou Trivino hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch in the third inning. There was a runner in scoring position, so Trivino is not throwing at Tatis in that situation. A couple of innings later, Padres starter Randy Vásquez threw a fastball inside and low to Ohtani, causing Ohtani to jump out of the way. The next pitch was another fastball inside, and it hit Ohtani in the leg. That was much more suspect. The umpires got together and gave a warning to both sides about throwing at hitters. This bothered Roberts, who came out to ask why the Dodgers were being warned when they didn't throw at anyone. The umpire threw him out of the game before he could get two words out, despite letting Shildt ask about the situation. Roberts then got about as mad as you've ever seen him and argued for a while to the delight of the crowd.
Wednesday's game was relatively quiet, but Thursday's game heated up in the ninth after Tatis was hit by a pitch (the third time he had been hit this series). This caused Shildt to complain, which brought Roberts out. Shildt said something to Roberts, who didn't like whatever was said. The two got in each other's faces, which caused the benches to empty. Cooler heads prevailed. Ohtani was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the inning. He waved off his teammates from coming out of the dugout, but Padres pitcher Robert Suarez was ejected from the game.
In all, eight batters were hit by pitch in the series. It's probably safe to say not all of those were accidents. The teams don't play each other again until August, so there's plenty of time for emotions to cool.
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It is only one start, so I don't want to get over of my skis here, but Emmet Sheehan looked sharp Wednesday in his first start since missing all of last season because of Tommy John surgery. He could be the boost the rotation has been looking for. However, the Dodgers sent him to the minors Thursday to make room for reliever Jack Little.
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Thanks to their strong play the last week, the Dodgers now lead the NL West by 3.5 games over the Giants, and five games over the Padres. Arizona is eight back and Colorado 28.5 back.
Some bad news on the Roki Sasaki front. He still feels discomfort when he throws, and it looks unlikely that he will return this season. If that's the case, it's one of the more disappointing rookie seasons in Dodgers history. Hopefully, he recovers and reaches his potential, but at this point, all you can do is hope.
There was a point a few weeks ago when many people, including me, were wondering how much longer the Dodgers could stick with Andy Pages. He was not hitting well and was struggling defensively as well. The Dodgers are always very patient with players, especially on offense, and kept sending Pages out there.
And in June, here's what he is doing:
.361/.364/.705, six doubles, five homers, 14 RBIs in 61 at-bats. Overall he's hitting .290/.330/.509 with 12 doubles and 15 homers. He could very well make the All-Star team.
And one reason for that improvement? Teammate Teoscar Hernández. Pages told Times reporter Kevin Baxter: 'He's played in the major leagues for a long time now. He's been through a lot of bad times. I went through that at the beginning of the season, for example, and last year too. And he's given me advice that's helped me a lot to get through that time.'
Pages' family is still in Cuba, and Hernández has become a big brother, taking him out for dinner on off days or just getting together to play video games.
You can read more about Pages here.
Another person the Dodgers were patient with is Max Muncy, who got off to a brutal start before he started wearing glasses. Since wearing glasses, here are his numbers:
.279/.414/.537, four doubles, nine homers, 34 RBIs, 32 walks, 30 strikeouts in 136 at-bats.
Maybe every Dodger should get his eyes checked. Speaking of which....
Michael Conforto had a brief surge in May when he started hitting better and it seemed he had turned a corner. But no.
In June, he is six for 40, a .150 batting average. It's like having a non-Ohtani pitcher hitting in your lineup again.
The question I get asked more than any other is 'Why do the Dodgers continue to play Conforto?'
Well, there are several reasons. They are paying him $17 million and don't want to waste that investment. Conforto has a track record of success and being patient has worked out twice already this season (see Pages, Andy and Muncy, Max). They have the best offense in the NL already and can afford to be patient with him, especially since they are in first place. The pitching is more of a problem than the hitting right now.
It's probably a combination of all of those things. A Conforto who can hit is a great advantage to the Dodgers come October, and the Dodgers always play the long game, while the fans are more interested in winning every game.
At some point, you have to figure the Dodgers move on and give more playing time to Hyeseong Kim. If it were me, I'd do it now. But I've managed the Dodgers to the same number of victories you have, plus, all the decisions I make on my couch work 100% of the time. So, this is a good way for all of us to learn about patience, and see what happens.
But there was good news Wednesday when Roberts said Kim had earned more playing time.
Hey, maybe Conforto should start wearing glasses.
Some unmarked white vans and SUVs were at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, sparking speculation about immigration enforcement at the stadium. The Dodgers refused to allow the vehicles into the stadium parking lots.
Five agents, armed with pistols, stood next to the vehicles. They did not wear identifying items or badges. When asked by a Times reporter which agency they were with, they said 'DHS' and declined to comment further.
The Dodgers released this statement: 'This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight's game will be played as scheduled.'
But the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they weren't at Dodger Stadium, instead saying it was Customs and Border Protection agents.
So, why did they identify themselves as DHS? Why did they leave when police arrived? There are more questions than answers at the moment.
There have been protests about ICE in downtown Los Angeles, and the Dodgers had been criticized by some of their fans for not making any public statements in support of the people targeted by immigration raids.
The team said Wednesday that it had solidified plans to work with immigration groups and would make an announcement Thursday. However, what happened Thursday delayed that announcement.
Team president Stan Kasten released a statement saying, 'Because of the events earlier today, we continue to work with groups that were involved with our programs. But we are going to have to delay today's announcement while we firm up some more details. We'll get back to you soon with the timing.'
Who are your top 10 Dodgers first basemen of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to [e-mail] and let me know.
Many of you have asked for a list of players to consider for each position. Here are the strongest second baseman candidates, in alphabetical order.
Hub Collins, Álex Cora, Tony Cuccinello, George Cutshaw, Tom Daly, Delino DeShields, Mark Ellis, Jim Gilliam, Mark Grudzielanek, Billy Herman, Orlando Hudson, Jon Hummel, Jim Lefebvre, Howie Kendrick, Jeff Kent, Pete Kilduff, Lee Lacy, Davey Lopes, Gavin Lux, Bill McLellan, Charlie Neal, Willie Randolph, Jody Reed, Jackie Robinson, Juan Samuel, Steve Sax, Ted Sizemore, Eddie Stanky, Chase Utley, John Ward, Eric Young.
A reminder that players are listed at the position in which they played the most games for the Dodgers, which is why Gilliam and Robinson are listed here and not at other positions they played.
Friday: Washington (*MacKenzie Gore, 3-6, 2.89 ERA) at Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 2-0, 3.25 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Saturday: Washington (Jake Irvin, 5-3, 4.23 ERA) at Dodgers (Dustin May, 4-4, 4.46 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Sunday: Washington (Michael Soroka, 3-5, 5.06 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 0-0, 9.00 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
*-left-hander
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