10 to go

Asking for a friend….why did we start CK and not Ryu? CK coming up small again on the big stage.

A big WTF were you smoking to those who expected this year’s Kershaw to actually show up this October.

As if all of the sudden he’d become Bumgarner when it mattered most

That is one very strange lineup against a very tough right hander. Why are Seager (who is very hot) and Lux (who homered last night) hitting 7th and 8th while Pollock who hasn’t hit right handers well this year is batting 3rd and Smith who usually bats 7th or 8th is batting 6th.

Today’s lineup:

Joc (RF)

JT (3b)

Pollock (LF)

Belly (CF)

Muncy (1b)

Smith (C)

Seager (SS)

Lux (2b)

Kersh

Haven’t checked the stats but by my not so great memory Ryu is something of a homer. And I do remember Kersh giving Washington fits in Washington in the past. Oh well, can’t get everything you want all the time.

Also check out Kershaw’s playoff splits between home and away! Enough said!

Why go with Ryu in game 3? Here’s why:

It allows the Dodgers to bring Kershaw back in relief in Game 5 if necessary, plus, Ryu is very effective when he gets more than five days of rest (a Game 3 start would be on seven days’ rest). On six-plus days of rest, Ryu is 4-1 with a 1.18 ERA in eight starts.

That’s why!

Things went about as well as anyone could want in game 1. Hitters had some trouble recognizing the sliders from fastballs with Corbin. The strikes and balls were a little inconsistent with the umpire. Dodger pitching was tough, real tough. All in all a great game for the Dodgers and the fans. Starting out hot. Now the ticket is to stay hot. GO DODGERS.

The comments gave a good summary of the game and the only thing not mentioned was Joc’s foul ball that came close to leaving the stadium somewhere between first and the foul pole. There are only a few players that have hit one out of the stadium. Would a foul ball count as hitting one out?

Since we need Buehler to win four more games for a Championship, I’d rather not see him bunting needlessly and end up with a broken body part. I know pitchers need to bunt and some are ok doing it.

IMO it wasn’t necessary and I don’t like the risk of injury to an ace that we likely can’t win without. At least not in game #1.

But what a great game.

“When the players execute, Dave Roberts is a genius – when they don’t, he’s an idiot! Are you starting to figure out that it’s the players, not Doc?”

Not true for me. There are times he makes what I think are the right calls but it doesn’t work out.

As far as last night goes, Roberts played the OPS splits with the bullpen in the 7th and 8th innings. Which is what I would do. By the time Roberts brought in Kelly (who I’m not sold on) the Dodgers were up 6-0. Also Roberts started the right 8 position players vs lefty Corbin. Also I haven’t said this all year because I believed I would get blow back for saying it, but Buehler is the Dodgers ace not Ryu not Kershaw and again Roberts made the right call starting Buehler game 1.

* Baseball heaven today for sure.

* I loved last night’s line up and the way Doc managed the entire game. Gotta love a 2 hit shutout.

* Umpire Will Little’s strike zone lived up to his name last night (until it got bigger in the 7th) I hate umpires who don’t want to call strikes. There are 2 philosophies back there. Little exemplifed “the pitch is a ball until it’s a strike” mentality so all the close fringe pitches were called balls. I like the the approach that the “pitch is a strike until it’s a ball”. Big difference. Tight zones, to me, wreck the game. 10 walks speaks to the strike zone.

* TBS just pisses me off and I’m forced to watch it. When will networks figure out that baseball games don’t take 3 hours? For back-to-back games you’re forced to switch to another network at the 3 hour mark. If you don’t you misses a lot of the 2nd game. If it goes extras you’re super screwed. I was forced to watch until almost the end of the Cards – Braves game yesterday. I kept looking for little ticker tape about the start of the Dodger game being on another channel and finally saw it was on TNT. When I switched over I’d missed the top of the 1st. If you record both games you’re toast. (Today isn’t a problem thankfully)

Schedule more time than 3 hours for a game!

* Ernie Johnson last night was lobbing softballs to his partner in the booth trying to understand how hitters could ever hit a pitch that starts in the strike zone and ends up out. Like it’s blind luck or magic. Obviously, hitting is tremendously difficult. What went unsaid was how skilled hitters are in 2 areas; knowing the strike zone and pitch recognition. The Dodgers plate discipline depends on these skills. I bet the new visual reality systems are a terrific aid in this area. A hitter needs to recognize the release of the different pitches out of the hand and the spin of the ball almost instantly. Fingers behind the ball – fastball (4 seamers, 2 seamers, cutters have to be adjusted to), sliders and curves spin with a different distinct rotation with some curves coming out of hand with a little “hump”. Good sliders have a “dime” spin. To me the change up is the hardest to recognize because good ones look just like a fastball but lack speed and may sink or screw. Splitters don’t rotate much, like a tumbling knuckleball. Now add all that information to be processed instantly and add 100 mph with run. That’s what its like to hit a Kelly or a May runner on your knuckles. And despite seeing and recognizing the pitch you have to hit it! Get you pitch and not miss it. The TBS announcers failed to mention any of this, like guys just swing and hope it hits the bat. Hitting is a tremendous skill.

* Great match up tonight. Can’t wait.

And Hill is a big game pitcher. I’m totally comfortable with him in game 4! Hopefully the rust got knocked off Turner, Freese and Pollock last night. We need those bats. And we need Belly to hit like an MVP. Striking out with a runner on third with one out last night won’t get it done. Big matchup with him and Strasbourg tonight. We need to get his pitch count up and get back into that bullpen. It will,be interesting if we get him out in 5th or 6th inning if Nats bring in Sanchez. The battle will be Stasburg wanting and needing to get ahead in the count and us trying to run up his pitch count. Look for a lot of first pitch fastballs for strikes. Load up on that first one Joc!!!!!!!!

If you only go with 3, the game 1 starter pitches on 3 days rest, in game 4.

This is not a criticism or negativity just a curiosity question. It has been said you only need 3 starters in a 5 game series but with Hill we now have 4. So wondered why?

Very solid win. Today is the crucial game. Win this, and we are guaranteed at worst a 5th game at home, though we certainly wouldn’t want it to stretch out that far. If we lose, it’s 1-1 and we face Scherzer in Game 3, and it’s not impossible that we see Corbin in Game 4 against Hill, and Strasburg in Game 5, or to close Game 4 if that wins it all for them. We certainly don’t want to be down 2-1, having to win the fourth game there.

Last night, we left a lot of runners on base, even in scoring position with less than two outs. It took an error for our second run, and then finally we got a key hit, from Muncy with the bases loaded. It is not likely that we will get as many men on base tonight against Strasburg, so we need to capitalize.

It’s not important now, but the one semi-objection I had to the managing last night was Roberts having Buehler try to bunt three times with men on first and third and one out and a 1-0 lead. I would have liked to have let him swing, and it is not impossible that he could have hit a slow ground ball like he did earlier, or even a fly ball, such things happen. As it was, he struck out, no one advanced, and then Pollock made a quick out. Trying to have your pitcher bunt with one out and a man on third, just to maybe move one runner to second, seems ultraconservative.

I thought for the most part, that home plate umpire was right on with his balls and strikes. If we are to judge ball/strike by that box, then way more often than not (and way more often than most umps we saw this year), he was correct in his calls.

Acuna is a very good baseball player, but a lot to learn about being a major league baseball player. He obviously did not learn from his mistake this summer. Neither the players or manager was protecting him. When they find out what he said in his interview , they are all going to be upset. He took no ownwesip of his two baseball running mistakes.

Someone may have talked about this last night but does anyone know why the umpire walked the ball out to Buehler last night in the first inning? Did he quick pitch a batter or was it for another reason?

I thought that was one of our best games of the year! All phases played well. The homers only generated 2 runs and we grinded the other 4 which you have to be capable of in the playoffs. The offensive stars didn’t hit all that great and we still scored 6 times. Taylor, Smith, really everybody put together good at bats. Beautiful baseball imo.

Three shutouts in a row! Four of the last five games! Pitching is on spot right now! Buehler decision looks great in aftermath and it probably was a wise decision to start him at home. I don’t really see the logic of starting Kershaw over Ryu, but maybe it’s a respect thing starting Kershaw. Whatever, they both should perform well in their starts regardless.

Soto got the only hit off Walker, a single, nothing special. 😉 Walker allowed 1 hit in back to back playoff games, special.

Brooklyn, here is the article you mentioned….

If Walker isn’t anything special, Why didn’t they score last night? I was at the game and will be going back again tonight. I could only see a few red shirts in the crowd so the Stadium was a rocking Blue wave. Go Dodgers……..

Buehler did his job last night, now let´s see if Kershaw can make it 2-0.

Welcome to the high pressure playoffs Mr Lux.