Category Archives: Chris Capuano

Happy Anniversary, Dee Gordon

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One year ago today, Dee Gordon made his major league debut, appearing as a pinch-runner and scoring a run in Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. Gordon’s been through a lot since then – a slow start, a disabling shoulder injury, a fantastic September, an atrocious first third of 2012, and a “mental break” that wasn’t an outright demotion only due to injuries to others – yet for the second time this series, he’s directly contributed to a crucial Dodger victory. Tonight, he came up with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, down 4-3 and facing incoming Phillies lefty Raul Valdes.

I’ll admit that at the time, I privately questioned whether this was the right situation for Juan Rivera, reasoning that Gordon against the lefty almost certainly wouldn’t end well. I was wrong; Gordon smacked a single to right, driving in two, and giving the Dodgers a lead they would never relinquish. Yet Gordon wasn’t done there, for in the eighth, the Phillies put a man on against Scott Elbert as Hunter Pence strode to the plate. Pence grounded sharply up the middle, potentially putting men on the corners had it gone through, but Gordon made a fantastic play not only to get to the ball but to step on the bag and throw to first, completing the 6-3 double play and ending the inning. Don’t look now, but Gordon has hits in 13 of his last 15 games, though he still hasn’t been able to nudge his OBP within striking distance of .300.

Gordon wasn’t alone, of course, not on a night where Philadelphia walked seven Dodgers and even James Loney lucked into two hits and a bases-loaded walk. (And how about cult hero Elian Herrera, who walked twice and doubled, pushing his OBP up to .390 and into hearts of Dodger fans everywhere?) The contributions were more than welcome on a night where Chris Capuano‘s taterific road tendencies shone through and the 3-4 hitters in the lineup – Bobby Abreu, Juan Rivera (for one at-bat), and Andre Ethier – combined to go 0-9. Ethier in particular has been struggling lately, going hitless in his last seventeen at-bats.

The Dodgers, improbably, have taken the first three games of the four game set in Philadelphia, home of more than a few bad memories. Can we dare to dream that Aaron Harang outlasts Cole Hamels tomorrow for the sweep? With a three-game advantage, a matinee after a night game, and a cross-country trip to Seattle ahead without a day off, expect Don Mattingly to roll out the “house money” lineup. But hey, maybe we’ll finally get to see Shawn Tolleson, right? Kenley Jansen will almost certainly be unavailable after working tonight for the third night in a row and fourth in five – and making it uncomfortably interesting in finishing it off, needing 32 pitches and obviously laboring. Actually, tomorrow might not be enough. Let’s not see him again until Dodger Stadium, okay?

Dodgers Rocked in Colorado, Losing Streak at Five

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For a few days now, we’ve been talking about the Dodger offense plummeting back to earth as we sort of expected it would, having scored just eleven runs over their last five games – all losses. And with Ted Lilly‘s injury, Chad Billingsley‘s inconsistency, and the apparent pursuit of Roy Oswalt, there’s suddenly concern in some circles about the rotation depth.

But what we haven’t been talking about is the defense, which has been a surprising strength of the team, ranking as the best in baseball by certain measures. Tonight in Colorado, that defense failed the Dodgers spectacularly, making four errors as they fell 13-3 in a game which got increasingly uglier as the late innings droned on. Then again, if you take a closer look at those miscues, you start to wonder if they even should be charged to “the Dodgers”, considering how tattered this roster is right now. We saw three throwing errors in the first four innings, one of which came from backup catcher Matt Treanor (on a miscommunication with Ivan De Jesus), and one each coming from De Jesus & Jerry Hairston, oddly starting at third base & second base, respectively, rather than vice-versa.

Hairston made the fourth error of the day after a bizarre double-switch in a nightmarish sixth inning which saw the Rockies put four on the board. After Chris Capuano allowed a Todd Helton double and a Wilin Rosario homer – and he’d been relatively decent to that point, mainly getting killed by the BABIP gods taking their revenge – he walked DJ LeMahieu and got to a 2-2 count on opposing pitcher Adam Ottavino. In a move I don’t think I’ll ever understand, Don Mattingly removed Capuano for Jamey Wright in the middle of the at-bat, moving De Jesus to second, Hairston to short, and bringing in Elian Herrera (at third base) to replace Dee Gordon in the lineup.

Hairston, as you may remember, looked atrocious at shortstop in spring training, but because the immutable law of baseball is “guy who probably shouldn’t be at a position will absolutely get the first ball hit right to him”, he fielded a Dexter Fowler grounder and threw high, pulling Scott Van Slyke off the bag. (Which, it should be pointed out, was probably a ball James Loney might have had.) LeMahieu scored, Marco Scutaro then immediately drove in Fowler with a single, and the rout was on.

Of course, the poor defense is mainly just a fun sidenote, since Capuano wasn’t his usual effective self, Wright poured napalm onto the fire, Josh Lindblom allowed back-to-back homers, and the offense once again struggled to get anything going, scoring just three runs despite 14 baserunners. If there was any bright spot today, it was in some signs of offensive life from a few of the young bats. Van Slyke & Alex Castellanos each had two hits, including one for extra bases, with Castellanos throwing in a sacrifice fly for good measure; De Jesus had a run-scoring double as well.

It might not get any easier, though: the Dodgers are going to have to turn to Aaron Harang in Colorado to stop their five-game slide tomorrow.

Dodgers Finally Receive Good News From a Treanor

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We joke about there being a new hero every night, but this is just getting ridiculous. Tonight’s gold star just might have to go to Matt Treanor, probably the most forgotten man on the 25-man roster thanks to A.J. Ellis‘ breakout and his own general irrelevance. Treanor is the proud owner of just 16 homers and a .308 slugging percentage in nearly 1400 plate appearances over parts of nine seasons, yet after a Jerry Sands single to start the second, it was none other than Treanor who took a Patrick Corbin pitch deep to left field for a 2-0 lead that the Dodgers would never relinquish.

To merely focus on Treanor is to neglect Chris Capuano, of course, who was once again excellent in allowing just one run and five baserunners over six scoreless innings. There was some well-founded worry that he’d come back to earth once he was forced out of Dodger Stadium & Petco Park, and that may yet be the case since he’s outpitching his FIP by more than a run, but he was outstanding tonight and really has been all season. At 6-1, 2.25, it’s not entirely impossible to see him becoming an under-the-radar All-Star candidate, since that’s the sort of superficial stat line that makes a guy like Tony LaRussa quiver. Ronald Belisario – looking particularly nasty – Javy Guerra, & Jamey Wright finished with three scoreless innings as the Dodgers were never threatened.

Treanor’s blast may have been all Capuano needed, but it wasn’t all the Dodgers received. Andre Ethier added the third run by crushing his ninth homer of the year – off a lefty, no less! – and James Loney, clearly glowing from the rare praise which was heaped upon him earlier today, put an exclamation point on it with his second home run of 2012, coming off of Bryan Shaw in the 8th. (As Eric Stephen noted, Loney now has 10 homers in just 44 career games in Arizona, against just 25 homers in 420 games in Dodger Stadium. If he ever leaves the Dodgers, he’s going to be a star. Mark it down right now.) Though the additional offense may have seemed like merely icing on the cake, it unbelievably marks the fifth consecutive game in which the Dodgers have scored at least six runs. They managed to do that just once last year and not since 2004 before that, but the fact that they’re doing it without Matt Kemp and all the rest continues to be absolutely mind-blowing.

The true hero of the night, however, was clearly the poor soul at Fox Sports headquarters in Dallas who managed to break commercial capabilities across the entire Fox Sports network. Rather than being bombarded by the usual corporate shilling, we were treated to interviews & vignettes. It was, as I’m sure I don’t need to point out, a more than welcome change.

With the win, the Dodgers move to 29-13, the best record in baseball by two games over Baltimore’s 27-16. Lest anyone think that’s a total fluke, they’re earning it; their +50 run differential is the third best in baseball, behind only Texas & St. Louis. Aaron Harang tries to keep it going against Trevor Cahill tomorrow.

(hat tip to valued commenter ThtsaPaddlin for the excellently punny post title)

Dodger Rotation Exceeding Expectations

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Aaron Harang shut down San Diego for seven scoreless innings last night, allowing just four hits without a walk, and while there’s a pretty convincing argument to be made that “it was in Petco and against the terrible Padres,” Harang’s solid outing is yet another in a string of quality starting pitching from the Dodgers through the first quarter of the season. The five Dodger starters are currently second in baseball in ERA, batting average against, & OPS against, with only the outstanding Washington rotation fronted by Stephen Strasburg besting them in each of those areas.

While it’s fair to expect some regression, considering the Dodgers have spent most of the season playing either in the large parks of the NL West, against non-competitive offenses – and the fact that other than Harang, they’re all out-pitching their FIP by a considerable amount – it’s becoming clear that the Dodger rotation is looking a lot more effective than we expected it to be when Ned Colletti ended up with Harang & Chris Capuano rather than Hiroki Kuroda or someone else back in the offseason. Capuano, fully healthy for probably the first time in six years, has been very effective at the back of the rotation along with Harang, and despite Chad Billingsley‘s struggles, the only one I’m really worried about at the moment is Ted Lilly. Sure, 5-0 and 2.11 looks swell, but a decreased strikeout rate (5.17, which would be by far the lowest of his career), an increased walk rate (3.29, highest since 2006), and an absolutely unsustainable BABIP (.196) does concern me about what’s to come.

Still, on the whole the rotation has been great, even considering that we arguably haven’t seen Clayton Kershaw at his best yet, and that opens up a variety of options for the future. Though much has been made of the lack of depth in the minor league organization, if there’s anything the Dodgers have in spades, it’s young, right-handed starting pitching. We’ve already seen Nathan Eovaldi, who would already be in the bigs on many other teams, and Rubby De La Rosa, expected to make his way back from Tommy John surgery later this year. Coming behind them at Double-A Chattanooga (because let’s face it, Triple-A Albuquerque is no place for young pitching) are Allen Webster, Matt Magill, Chris Withrow, & Ethan Martin (plus lefties Chris Reed & Aaron Miller); behind them are Zach Lee, Garrett Gould, & Angel Sanchez. That’s in addition to a new ownership group expected to go out and spend where needed, putting free agents like Cole Hamels & Zack Greinke within reach for the first time in years – and don’t forget, the entire rotation is signed for next year as well.

While I just can’t imagine that we’re going to be speaking about these same five so favorably in May of 2013 – the odds of at least one of the older trio of Lilly, Capuano, & Harang either getting hurt or imploding performance-wise in the next year are astronomical – it’s a clear area of depth for the Dodgers to draw upon to fix more urgent needs, like first base. And third base. And possibly left field. And potentially shortstop. While we all get attached to our own prospects and envision them all in Dodger blue some day (hell, I still get regular questions from people wondering if the Dodgers can bring Blake DeWitt back) it’s important to be realistic and understand that not all of the guys I mentioned above are going to be on this team in the future; with the failure rate of pitching prospects, it’s probably likely that a majority will either not be successful major leaguers or not part of the Dodgers.

It’s here, of course, that I need to put out my regular reminder that I don’t mind trading prospects, as long as it’s in the right deal. People forget that the act of trading Carlos Santana alone wasn’t a mistake; trading him for a decent-but-not-great third baseman when the Indians were also selling C.C. Sabathia to Milwaukee for less was the mistake. Prospects exist to provide value. Sometimes that value is in being on your team, and sometimes it’s in being cashed out for other pieces.

Considering the threadbare offensive options on the free agent market next winter, with only Andre Ethier & Josh Hamilton real difference makers at the plate, the Dodgers are going to have to fill those needs through trade. Their deepest area as far as trade chips is clearly in starting pitching, so as the weeks go on and sellers become more clearly identified, it makes all the sense in the world to identify those opportunities. Maybe that’s Kevin Youkilis, or Paul Konerko, or Chase Headley, or Carlos Lee, or someone else. I know some fans will be turned off by the idea of sending a prospect for an older veteran like that, but as long as it’s someone productive – and dear lord, not someone like Aubrey Huff or Chone Figgins – it’s a move that makes all the sense in the world. Thanks, in no small part, to the surprisingly effective Dodger rotation.

Dodgertopes Shut Down In San Diego

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With a lineup like the one the injury-riddled Dodgers ran out today, you didn’t expect to see a lot of offense, and… well, I’m not sure how to end that sentence other than by saying, “and you didn’t”. They actually got off to a surprisingly quick start, as an Elian Herrera double (!) and an Andre Ethier sacrifice fly in the first inning staked Chris Capuano to a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, the Dodgers managed just three hits the rest of the way, as San Diego pitching set down 15 Dodgers in a row between Jerry Sands‘ fourth-inning double and Bobby Abreu‘s single with one out in the ninth. But then again, when you’re six weeks into the season and fielding a lineup that had exactly one Opening Day starter included, what did we really expect?

For a while, it looked like Capuano’s improbable run might continue, but Chase Headley, who I’m still hoping might be a future Dodger, had something to say about that. Headley put the first San Diego run on the board with a solo homer in the first and doubled two more in the sixth, and that was all the Padres would need as Clayton Richard, Andrew Cashner, & Dale Thayer struck out nine Dodgertopes while walking none; conversely, Dodger pitching issued six free passes. Against Thayer in the ninth, they did at least manage to get the tying run to the plate, but Don Mattingly chose to pinch-hit for Sands with James Loney – you know, James Loney – and the struggling first baseman popped out to third to end the game.

Aaron Harang faces Edinson Volquez tomorrow night to conclude the bizarre two-game road trip, before the Dodgers return to Los Angeles to face St. Louis for a weekend series.