Boston Still Needs to Win One More

I love the Dodgers, but I sincerely believe we are looking at Boston as the best team in baseball versus L.A. as the 4th best team, in MLB. I think it’s time to look forward to the offseason and possible improvements to the team.

There’s no telling what the free agent results will be, but I would target Bryce Harper, D.J. LeMahieu and Patrick Corbin. With the Dodgers below the luxury tax threshold, they should go all in for these guys. Corbin is important because I think Kershaw exercises his option.

The next thing I’d do is work out a trade with Miami for J.T. Realmuto and let Yasmani walk. I think a deal involving Puig, Will Smith and Dennis Santana may be enough to entice Jeter.

The rest of the offseason would be spent building a bullpen from free agents, trades and spare parts. One of FAZ’s Muncy type finds would be great. Perhaps spending more to get one of the solid relievers on the market would also be worth it.

The basic roster would then look something like this:

1B – Muncy

2B – LeMahieu

SS – Seager

3B – Turner

C – Realmuto

LF – Verdugo

CF – Bellinger

RF – Harper

SP – Beuhler

SP – Corbin

SP – Ryu or Kershaw (If one of them doesn’t go anywhere)

SP – Hill or Wood

SP – Urias

On a different note, who’s ready for some sports in LA today? Your options?

Kings at Staples Center at 12:30pm

Rams at the Coleseum 1:15pm

Galaxy at Stubhub Center 1:30pm

Ducks at the Pond at 5pm

Dodgers at Dodger Stadium 5pm

Clippers at Staples Center 6:30pm

Phil Collins at the Forum at 8pm (That is where I”ll be!)

From Houston Mitchell (LA Times) – Link to full article below

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It’s one thing if the Dodgers get beat because the other team outplays them. It’s an entirely different matter for the Dodgers to get beat because the manager and the front office can’t lift their heads out of their laptops long enough to pay attention to what is going on.

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I love analytics. They are extremely useful and I would rely on them heavily if I was running a team. But you have to wake up and pay attention. Madson himself said his pitches weren’t behaving like they should. The computer doesn’t know that. But a manager should. He should pay close attention to what the numbers tell him, but he should also pay some attention to what his own pitchers tell him.

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I don’t blame him for bringing Jansen in for the eighth. He’s your closer, and though he has been erratic, he is still a top closer. And even if Baez came into the game in the eighth, that just means Jansen probably gives up the homer in the ninth.

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This game, and yes, probably this series, was lost with the indefensible decision to remove Rich Hill. Just like Game 2 in last year’s World Series.

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But here’s the thing for everyone calling for Roberts to be fired immediately. Roberts gets a lot of his marching orders from the front office. A lot of “Here’s what should be done in this scenario, and in this scenario …” A new manager is not going to change things that much. So please direct some of your anger to Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi.

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They can all share the blame for the Game 4 loss. Maybe their computers can tell them what percentage blame each person should receive.

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By the way, after the game even the Red Sox were saying how relieved they were that Hill was removed.

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While I totally disagree with Doc making the early move to get Hill, I didn’t realize that Baez and Urias were not available because of the night before. That really limits Roberts options in that situation. The no brainer would be Baez, but with that bullet burned the night before, you either have Floro or Madsen. Pick your poison. Let’s not forget, this is the same bullpen that went 8 scoreless innings the night before, and outpitched the Brewers. If any of those guys does his job last night, we are looking at a 2-2 series. Like I have posted before, and they have said time and time again, both J Hair and Nomah have stressed that there is no excuses in the World Series, you have to make that pitch and throw strikes right out of the gate when you are a reliever. We haven’t for some reason, in the keyest of situations, and it is killing us. Also, win or lose, FAZ aren’t arrogant or dumbasses, they tend to learn a little bit every year. I would bet my bottom dollar you will see more contact hitters in the line up next year along with some bona fide relievers. With that said, there is still a season to salvage. Let’s put our Dodger colors on and root for Kershaw to get it done tonight, one inning at time, one game at a time. We ain’t done yet.

They key line from what Mitchell wrote is essentially what I have posted:

“But here’s the thing for everyone calling for Roberts to be fired immediately. Roberts gets a lot of his marching orders from the front office. A lot of “Here’s what should be done in this scenario, and in this scenario …” A new manager is not going to change things that much. So please direct some of your anger to Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi.”

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Roberts does what the Braintrust wants him to, so why would they fire him?

I hope Mark Walter sees the light and makes the appropriate changes, what ever those may be.

I hope Mark Walter (perennial bridesmaid) is shown the door.

OK, a lot of what I read is total BS and opinion. But here is what we do know:

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1. Last night’s game was a must win game and the Dodgers were in a position to win.

2. Rich Hill seldom pitches into the 7th inning.

3. Rich Hill can lose it quickly! That’s a fact

4. Rich Hill was tiring – he told Doc that. How long he could go was debatable, 6? 7? Maybe. Maybe not!

5. I would have absolutely taken Hill out…. at the end of the 6th inning and brought in Clayton to pitch the 7th and 8th.

6. Clayton was going to pitch today, so he could pitch two innings last night.

7. We know that Kenley likes to give up a long ball or two, so save him for the 9th and the Dodgers win game 4 by a 4-1 or 4-2 margin.

8. Worry about the game in front of you, which was last night. Then pitch Ryu tonight – he’s better in Dodger stadium anyway.

9. Kershaw goes in game 6. That makes the most sense!

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That’s what should have happend. Alexander, Baez (not available), Madson, Wood, Maeda, Flora and all that – NO! They would have all been ready tonight in a tied series. The mistake was taking out Hill too late!

The peeps that are part of the Hedge Fund that own the team. It’s their frikin money and that is what runs this organization. Note I didn’t say team. $$$$ is what is running this organization.

We can complain about FAZ, hitters approach these days, etc. but the fact of the matter is this-Dave Roberts lost that game tonight. Those who complain about his over managing have done it all year long. This isn’t a hindsight deal. Pulling Hill last year was debatable but if Kenley hits his target against Gonzalez it doesn’t matter. The Dodgers win the WS last year. There is really nothing to debate last night. He pulled a pitcher rolling and who is left-handed to bring in another lefty to pitch to a left-handed batter. It’s dumber than anything I’ve ever seen. If you felt Hill was tiring the you let him pitch to Holt then get him out. There is absolutely nothing defensible about what took place last night.

I didn’t get home from the game until early this morning and I just got home from church so this is the first opportunity that I have had to post some observation from the game.

-Beautiful night, great crowd, lots of Boston fans, place was rocking, $60 to park, park is beautiful, good seats, Dodger dogs…. The game—No one around us could figure out Robert’s moves. Lots of complaining about the “stupid” things he did. Hill was going great and didn’t appear to want to be removed even tho he told Roberts to “watch me”. Why take out a left hander who had given up only one hit to bring in a (unreliable) left hander to face a left hander????

On the radio show after the game that was the big question and Roberts didn’t answer it very well. Alexander did what he seems to have done often lately – 4 balls and none close. Then comes Madson who had said that he felt tired and his arm was worn out. He has pitched in almost all of our postseason games

You should have seen Puig when the home run sailed over his head. You could tell he was mad by his posture and hands on hips. Then when the inning was over, he slowly walked to the dugout while everyone else ran off the field. He was, by far, the last to the dugout and didn’t look happy.

Jansen was the only one warming up in the bullpen and when we saw that, and that it was only the 8th, we were really worried as was everyone around us.

No one could understand why Baez and Uries were unavailable when they both threw fewer pitches on Friday that Jansen did. When Jansen came in we all said we were expecting bad things to happen. I can understand not wanting to pitch Uries, but holding Baez back in a must win game didn’t seem to make sense. Seems like it should have Baez in 8th and Jansen in 9th.

As we were walking out of the stadium there was only one topic of conversation, Robert’s strange decisions. As Mark said, we also talked about every one of Robert’s decisions backfired, nothing went right and the difficult thing is that they were all questionable decisions anyway. On the post-game talk show all of the callers complained about the pitching changes. Roberts had weak explanations about what he did, and when they asked Hill about the decision he avoided answering the question.

We came to the conclusion that if this were the first time that something like this happened, Roberts gets the benefit of the doubt, but this has happened over and over, last year too, and he needs to be held responsible.

Still numb. Did I really witness that debacle last night.

That will go down as one of the worst defeats of all time.

Instead of looking forward to a massive game tonight, the whole thing has gone flat.

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MJ

You have had this team and management nailed for a long time, like others on here, and I feel your pain.

It makes it doubly hard because you havnt second guessed this.

Freeze

Turner

Kike

Manny

Muncy

Puig

Taylor

Barnes

Kershaw

In my opinion, the Dodgers are already the big winners this year even if they don’t win the world series… since they accomplished their main goal of staying under the Luxury Tax Threshold.

I hope they have t-shirts printed up to acknowledge this fact so I can pick one up at my local Dick’s Sporting Goods.

I do not think Doc will be fired either. The Dodgers only have one way to score. There should be many ways to score. Do not put all of your eggs in one basket. We do not run and hit, we do not steal any bases, we do not move runners over from second, we do not take what the other team will give us. It is a HR, walk or a SO.

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Doc loves some balllayers more than others. Doc loves Joc. He gave him three years to make it. Finally this year he has been pretty good. Still cannot hit left handlers, but he has never been given a chance. He likes Dozier and he should not even be on this team. Doc does not appreciate Freese, Hill, Verdugo or Toles.

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I absolutely hate his righty lefty line ups. Strictly metrics. Soc does not see what is in front of his eyes. In my opinion, Bellinger, Muncey and Puig shoul be in the line up every day

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I think FAZ has done a lot of good things. However, they certainly do not value a good bull pen. They certainly do not value good contact hitters. They certainly do not value small ball. It is sad, but if FAZ and Doc do not make changes in the way they do things, we will have the same problem next year.

Since August 1st, what Dodger has the highest batting average?

I don’t agree Baez was unavailable. You pitch madden every game but Baez couldn’t pitch. Bull, you got Boston starters pitching or warming in every game. Urias wasn’t available which is why he shouldn’t have been on the roster. Where in the he.. was stripling? Was he hurt? I know he finished bad but he has relieved and could have pitched multiple innings. There must be some explanation why you leave Ferguson, stripling off the roster. I have a similar view as mark in one respect. I would have put Kershaw in to pitch to the lefty. Then, if he got him quickly start the 8th then bring Jansen in. Rodriguez was starting after pitching the night before. Kershaw may or may not have started today but ryu probably could have pitched 5 and the bullpen would have been rested. Whatever, questionable roster construction, Roberts his typical dumbs.. moves, and a gutless, weak bullpen. I am amazed at the concern over pitching daily in a 7 game series and 2 days off. You would think this is your chance of a lifetime so embrace it don’t run from it. I know they are not robots but when you see the desire and effort of a guy like evoldi the Dodgers just look like whimps whining about pitching 2 days in a row.

Hopefully Madson won’t be available tonight.

Do you know why Cora left Rodriguez in to pitch to Puig?

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He was following what sabermetrics told him: Puig can’t hit LH P!

I think it was sabermetrics but it was more than that. I think Cora felt that Rodriguez should have been out of the inning until the bad throw by the catcher. However, the first baseman made a bad throw to the catcher and my experience is that when you make the first bad throw the second will follow. So, I think Cora was thinking the pitcher should have been out of it, Puig doesn’t hit lefties leave him in. My daughter and I were watching the game and when the count got 3-1 I said to her that if ever a guy should be sitting on a pitch this is the time. Euphoria until Roberts decided to get in the game.

Watching the line up . I can say that kike is son of roberts definitely. Ok whatever…lets go Dodgers ..I can tired to baseball so far so a want more games

I’ll say it again… if we play the way we did in Game 5 of the NLCS, we give ourselves a great shot of winning the game.

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If our batters decide that they want to all be heroes and swing for the fences once again… it could be another long painful night.

I have a ton of opinions, and likely a lot are interpreted as bull shit by orhers. So I will talk less going forward but one opinion I will not shut up about is that Robert’s/FO have completely mismanaged two consecutive World Series. They are the smartest guys in the room, and therefore don’t have to be contrite or transparent. They true don’t owe us average fans that. However they do need to win and when they fail to do so they derseeved to be criticized. When they make the same mistakes on the biggest stage two years in a row they need be held accountable. :).

Go Blue, 2% miracle finish incoming starting tonight.

I have an idea: Once the game starts tie Roberts up and stuff him in a locker in the clubhouse and let Utley manage the team from the bench through Geren. I guarantee a win!

Maybe stuff Kershaw in the locker next door!