Dodgers Dugout: Here’s why Dave Roberts was wrong to remove Ross Stripling

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and I think that wet stuff coming from the sky is the collective tears of heaven, saddened that even they don't have the ability to watch the Dodgers this season.

The almost no-hitter

A lot of controversy on Friday when Dave Roberts removed rookie starter Ross Stripling with one out in the eighth inning while Stripling was pitching a no-hitter. Stripling is coming off Tommy John surgery and had just made his 100th pitch when Roberts removed him with one out and one on and the Dodgers leading, 2-0.

About half of the email and Tweets I received said Roberts did the right thing, and half said he did the wrong thing. I believe Roberts should have left him in, and here's my rebuttal to those who think Roberts did the right thing.

1. "Stripling is coming off Tommy John surgery, so you need to protect his arm."

One hundred pitches is a completely arbitrary number. It's not a magic number where his arm will fall off if he makes a 101st pitch.

2. "Yeah, but he still had to get five outs for the no-hitter. He would have had to make a lot more pitches." You don't know that. Maybe the next five batters would have swung at the first pitch and made an out.

3. Also keep in mind this: The Dodgers are off Monday, so they can skip Stripling's next turn, meaning he would be able to rest his arm for the next nine days or so.

4. I don't believe people who say he had to be removed after 100 pitches really believe it. If there were two out in the ninth and he had a no-hitter, would you have removed him? No way. What if there were two out in the ninth and he walked the next batter, would you remove him then? No way. That sort of wrecks the 100-pitch theory.

5. "Stripling and Stripling's dad said it was the right decision." Well, first, I wouldn't expect a rookie pitcher to publicly disagree with his manager. As for his dad, a dad's job is to protect his children. And if you are going to do what Stripling's dad says, you might as well fire Roberts and let the parents come into the dugout to run the team.

6. Another reason I would have left him in: He had a chance to do something that had never been done in modern baseball history. Pitch a no-hitter in his first game. He will never have that chance again. You can't take that away from him because of an arbitrary pitch count.

Of course, I could also be totally wrong. Maybe he would have blown out his arm if he pitched to one more batter. Roberts had to make a very tough call, and I respect him for standing behind it even after the Dodgers lost the game. Part of the beauty of baseball is fans get to second guess the manager. But we all need to realize it's easy to second guess. Roberts has to first guess, and that is a lot more difficult.

The rest of the series

Guess what folks! The Dodgers have an erratic bullpen again, other than Kenley Jansen. J.P. Howell has apparently lost the ability to get anyone out and the relievers gave up 12 runs in 10.2 innings against the Giants, who won three of four and outscored the Dodgers, 26-17. 

Of course, we can't hold the front office responsible, after all, they have only had 18 months to work on it. 

Please do me a favor and let me know who exactly Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi have acquired that has helped the team.

Kiké Hernandez? Sure, but they gave up Dee Gordon to get him. 

Yasmani Grandal? When was the last time he was healthy?

Alex Wood? Not exactly setting the league on fire.

Chase Utley? Hit .202 for the Dodgers last season. I'd rather have Gordon back.

Trayce Thompson and Micah Johnson? They look like they may be OK, but it's too soon to tell.

Kenta Maeda? Looked good in his one start. I think he will be a good acquisition.

That's not such a great record. The Dodgers keep touting the young players in the farm system and on the team such as Corey Seager, Joc Pederson, Julio Urias and Jose DeLeon, but those guys were drafted before Friedman and Zaidi came aboard.

Meanwhile, the bullpen, which every Dodgers fan will tell you has been the team's Achilles' heel, continues to founder. It's like going to the doctor because you have severe chest pains and he ignores that and takes care of an ingrown toenail instead. Then, after you die of a heart attack, the doctor points out to everyone how great your feet look.

The magic number

Each week I will look at a uniform number a current Dodger is wearing and go through the history of that number with the Dodgers. When I was a kid and went to games, I was always curious as to who else wore the number of my favorite players. Then again, I was a strange kid.

We will go in numerical order, meaning first up is:

No. 5 (Corey Seager)

Best players to wear No. 5 with the Dodgers: Cookie Lavagetto (1937-47), Jim Lefebvre (1965-72), Mike Marshall (1981-89), Nomar Garciaparra (2006-08)

Other who wore No. 5: Tony Cuccinello (1932-33), Johnny Cooney (1935), Jack Radtke (1936), Ben Geraghty (1936), Arky Vaughan (1942-43), Clancy Smyres (1944), Ben Chapman (1944-45), Johnny Peacock (1945), Carl Furillo (1946), Tommy Brown (1948-51), Sandy Amoros (1952), Wayne Belardi (1953-54), Chuck Kress (1954), Norm Larker (1958-61), Dick Nen (1963), Ken McMullen (1973-75), Ted Sizemore (1976), Johnny Oates (1977-79), Stan Javier (1990-92), Dave Hansen (1994-96), Chip Hale (1997), Gary Sheffield (1998), Jose Vizcaino (1998-99), Tyler Houston (2002), Jason Romano (2003), Hee-Seop Choi (2004-05), Mark Loretta (2009), Reed Johnson (2010), Juan Uribe (2011-15), Alberto Callaspo (2015).

Zack to the future

Zack Greinke, who only lost three games last season, is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA with Arizona. Just wanted to point that out.

And finally

Here's a shock: The Dodgers put Carl Crawford on the disabled list. In other news, the sky is blue and water is wet.

Have a comment or something you'd like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me and follow me on Twitter: @latimeshouston