Dodgers’ Bobby Miller Struggles in Triple-A Tuneup

YES, WE KNOW IT’S JUST ANOTHER LOSS IN A 162 GAME SCHEDULE, BUT LAST NIGHT’S LOSS TO HOUSTON WAS ANOTHER LOSS THAT MIGHT’VE BEEN PREVENTED IF THE DODGERS’ MANAGER DIDN’T KEEP MAKING THE SAME QUESTIONABLE, COSTLY, LOSING DECISIONS HE’S CONSTANTLY MADE OVER THE PAST 9 YEARS. LAST NIGHT PROVED THAT DAVE ROBERTS HAS HAD PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE SMART, WINNING DECISIONS, BUT HASN’T, AND HIS DECISION TO REMOVE JUSTIN WROBLESKI LAST NIGHT, CONTINUED HIS POOR DECISION-MAKING, WHICH HAVE MOSTLY ENDED IN LOSSES. DODGERS NATION, HAVEN’T YOU SEEN ENOUGH? WE HAVE, AND IT’S TIME FOR ROBERTS TO GO!

WHY? FOR ONE, BECAUSE REPLACING A PITCHER WHO WAS SHUTTING THE ASTROS OUT, 5-0 IN THE 6TH, WITH 2 OUTS, AND HAVING ONLY THROWN 70 PLUS PITCHES, WAS JUST ANOTHER REASON ‘WHY!’ DAVE “SCOUTMASTER” ROBERTS DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE WHEN IT COMES TO HANDLING PITCHERS. HE LACKS INTANGIBLES THAT MOST GREAT MANAGERS HAVE, THEYRE IN SYNC WITH THE GAME’S EVERYDAY CHANGING NUANCES; THEY’RE KNOWLEDGEABLE, AND HAVE AN EXPERIENCED BASEBALL SENSE, THAT KNOWS INSTINCTIVELY WHAT THE RIGHT DECISION IS TO MAKE, ESPECIALLY WITH A PITCHING STAFF!
NEVER FORGET, IT WAS ROBERTS WHO BLEW THE 2017 WORLD SERIES V HOUSTON WHEN HE PANICKED IN THE 2ND GAME IN LA, WITH LA UP 1-0, AND BROUGHT IN KENLEY JANSEN FOR A 2 INNING SAVE…WHICH BACKFIRED WHEN THE ASTROS TIED THE SCORE, AND WON THE GAME IN EXTRA INNINGS! LA ULTIMATELY LOST THE SERIES, 4-3.

ROBERTS’ INEXPERIENCE, TAKING JANSEN OUT OF HIS ‘CLOSER’ ROLE & PUTTING HIM IN TO CLOSE THE GAME IN THE 8TH AND 9TH, ARGUABLY COST LA THE SERIES. IT PROVED WHAT WAS TO BECOME A REGULAR OCCURRENCE OVER THE PAST 9 YEARS; HE SIMPLY DOESN’T HAVE THE CORRECT ‘FEEL’ IN THE DECISIONS HE MAKES WITH PITCHERS. WE WITNESSED IT AGAIN LAST NIGHT, ‘JUMPING THE GUN’ BY REMOVING A PITCHER WHO HAD SHARP STUFF, & WAS ON HIS GAME, EERILY AGAIN VS HOUSTON!

THROUGHOUT HIS 9 YEARS AS MANAGER OF THE DODGERS, HE’S BEEN GIVEN EXCELLENT TALENT, YET, HE’S ONLY PRODUCED A LUCKY 2020, COVID SHORTENED, WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP. IMAGINE WHAT HIS RECORD WOULD BE AS A MANAGER IF HE WAS MANAGING A TEAM WITH MUCH LESSER TALENT? THE FACT REMAINS, THE DODGERS ARE A GLOBAL BRAND, WITH MAJOR, HIGH VISIBILITY TALENT, BUT THE SCOUTMASTER HAS MISMANAGED THIS TALEN. BASICALLY, HE ROLLS THE BALL OUT ON THE FIELD, AND LETS THE PLAYERS PLAY…EXCEPT WHEN IT’S NECESSARY TO MAKE CRITICAL, STRATEGIC DECISIONS, MOSTLY WITH HIS PITCHING STAFF. REMEMBER, ROBERTS WAS A MARGINAL MLB PLAYER, AND STUCK IN MLB BECAUSE HE WAS AN EXCELLENT BASE-STEALER, AND UTILITY OUTFIELDER. HE HAD NO REAL MANAGING EXPERIENCE, AND WAS ‘GIVEN’ A DODGERS TEAM TO MANAGE THAT HAD SUPERSTAR TALENT. HOWEVER, OVER THE PAST 9 YEARS, HIS INABILITY TO EQUATE THAT TALENT WITH MULTIPLE WORLD SERIES APPEARANCES AND CHAMPIONSHIPS, HAS SHOWN HE’S BEEN A DIMINISHING RETURN RELATIVE TO HIS INABILITY TO SUCCESSFULLY MANAGE ONE OF MLB’S PREMIER FRANCHISES. HE ’S A NICE GUY, WITH A “MR. ROGERS” PERSONALITY, WHO FREEZES UNDER STRATEGIC, HIGH PRESSURE BASEBALL GAME SITUATIONS, AND DECISIONS, AGAIN, MOSTLY WITH HIS PITCHING STAFF.

YESTERDAY’S LOSS WAS ANOTHER RESULT OF HIS POOR DECISION-MAKING, ONE OF NUMEROUS BAD MANAGING DECISIONS OVER HIS 9 YEARS AS THE DODGERS’ SKIPPER. EXAMPLE: BY NOT ALLOWING JUSTIN WROBLESKI TO GET THE 3RD OUT IN THE 6TH WITH LA AHEAD 5-0, IT CHANGED THE MOMENTUM OF THE GAME, AND WAS ANOTHER ILL-ADVISED, HUGE DAVE ROBERTS BLUNDER! WROBLESKI WAS PITCHING GREAT, AND HAD JUST JAMMED YORDAN ALVAREZ ON A WEAK FLY TO LEFT. YET, MR. HUNCH, AKA “SCOUTMASTER DAVE,” DECIDED TO MAKE A CHANGE, AND REMOVE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A TREMENDOUS CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR WROBLESKI. BY BRINGING IN EVAN MILLER, WHO’S BEEN LIT UP IN HIS LAST FEW RELIEF APPEARANCES, WE ALL SAW THE RESLT OF ROBERTS’ DECISION; MILLER IMPLODED, AND THE ASTROS ULTIMATELY WON, 7-6. ONCE AGAIN, IT CLEARLY SHOWED WHY ROBERTS’ MANAGERIAL TALENT WILL NEVER BE RTEMOTELY CLOSE TO MATCHING HIS TEAM’S TALENT, WHICH IS KEY TO BE ABLE TO WORK HAND IN HAND WTH THE PLAYERS IN ORDER TO WIN TITLES.

POINTEDLY, DAVE ROBERTS JUST DOESN’T HAVE “IT!” WE’VE SEEN HIM FOR YEARS ON THE END OF THE BENCH, EATING SOMETHING, WATCHING LIKE A FAN, CHEERLEADING, HUGGING A RELIEF PITCHER ON THE MOUND WHO NEVER BELONGED ON A BIG LEAGUE ROSTER IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHILE HARDLY EVER SEEING HIM FLASHING SIGNS, OR ARGUING ON BEHALF OF HIS PLAYERS…OR EVEN GETTING ANGRY, AND BEING THROWN OUT OF A GAME!

AS A MANAGER, HE’S A DUD, IN OVER HIS HEAD, AND THE DODGERS MUST WISE UP AND REALIZE HE’S NOT THE RIGHT “VOICE” FOR A GLOBAL BRAND TEAM, FULL OF HIGH-PRICED, SUPERSTAR TALENT THAT NEEDS TO BE MATCHED BY MANAGEMENT WITH EQUALLY TALENTEDM SMART, MANAGERIAL DECISIONS THAT ARE OFTEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINNING OR LOSING GAMES.

YESTERDAY’S DECISON BY DAVE ROBERTS TO REMOVE HIS PITCHER IN THE 6TH INNING, WITH A LOW PITCH COUNT, AN OVER-WORKED, INJURY-RIDDEN BULLPEN, AND A PITCHER STILL WITH HIS ‘STUFF.’ HE WAS STILL “ON,” AND STILL SHARP, AND THE ROBERTS DECISION TO REMOVE HIM WAS COSTLY TO THE DODGERS ON MANY LEVELS. ROBERTS HAS DONE THIS MANY TIMES, AND IT TAKES AN EXPERIENCED MANAGER , NOT ONE WHO SHOOTS FROM THE HIP, CONTRADICTS HIMSELF, AND MAKES EXCUSES FOR LOSSES, USING INJURIES AS ONE EXPLANATION, NEVER POINTING TO HIMSELF AND HIS DECISIONS! KEEPING A TEAM’S CONFIDENCE LEVEL HIGH AND STEADY WHILE AWAITING INJURED PLAYERS TO RETURN IS WHAT REALLY GOOD MANAGERS DO. HOWEVER, LAST NIGHT’S LOSS AT HOUSTON SHOWED THE OPPOSITE. ROBERTS FLAT OUT BLEW THE GAME WITH ANOTHER OF HIS CONTINUOSLY QUESTIONABLE DECISIONS. SCOUTMASTER DAVE CANNOT BE CONSIDERED A TOP RATED MANAGER, NO MATTER HIS RECORD, WHICH HAS BEEN COMPLILED BECAUSE OF THEPERFORMANCES OF THE TALENTED PLAYERS HE’S HAD! AGAIN, DON’T BE FOOLED. HE IS NOT THE REASON FOR THIS RECORD. THE HIGH END TALENT HE’S BEEN GIVEN OVER THE 9 YEARS IS THE TRUEREASON!

P.S. THIS INCOMPETENCE SHOWED UP AGAIN TODAY. HE JUST DID THE SAME THING HE DID LAST NIGHT! ROBERTS PULLED RIVER RYAN IN THE 6TH, WITH 2 OUTS, AND A RUNNER ON SECOND, WITH A RIGHT. HANDED HITTER UP. HE INSERTED ALEX VESIA, WHO’S ALSO BEEN LIT UP RECENTLY, AND YANIER DIAZ HITS IT OUT AND THE SCORE IS NOW 3-2! SO ANOTHER BAD BASEBALL DECISION FROM A STRATEGICALLY BAD DECISION-MAKER/MANAGER WHO MUST BE FIRED OR THE SHEVES IN DODGER STADIUM WILL CONTINUE TO LAY BARE FOR YEARS WITHOUT CHAMPIONSHIP HARDWARE!

WERE HOPEFUL A NEW COMPETENT BASEBALL “VOICE” WILL REPLACE DAVE “SCOUTMASTER” ROBERTS. WE BEIEVE IT’S INEVITABLE!