Logan Forsythe is picking a great time to peak! Check!
The Dodgers 5, 6, 7 and 8 hitters did most of the damage last night. Check, Check, Check, Check!
Yu Darvish looked to be the equal of Clayton Kershaw and with six games to play. Check!
El Gasoline makes me nervous. Chhhhhheeeeecccccckkkkkk!
Segedin might be making a case to be on the roster! Check!
100 wins! Check!
The Dodgers are two games ahead of the Indians with six games to play. Double Check!
Has the switch been flipped? Check Mate!
I think Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com absolutely nailed it:
Maybe it’s that preoccupation of preparing for October that made clinching so difficult in September, the unintended consequences of taking the collective eye off the ball while winnowing a deep roster.
It’s a good read, with Five Questions up for determination:
- Will Walker Buehler be on the playoff roster?
- Who makes it among Fields, Baez, McCarthy and Maeda?
- Will Avilan, Cincrani and Watson all make the cut?
- Will Farmer or Segedin or Culberson make it?
- Who makes the roster – Ethier or Gonzo?
Let’s see if Rich Hill can keep up the momentum! For the record, I think it’s a bad Idea to start A-Gon tonight.
Discussion (44)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Cody is just an athlete. Since he is left handed he can only play the three outfield positions and first base. He can play anywhere and be good.
No I don’t really think that Cody should be coming out of the pen. I left out the smiley face.
Don’t think Cody is wasted at all at 1B. Strong arm at 1B is valuable for the 1-6-3 DP, on throws across the diamond to 3B, and on throws to the plate on ground balls, bunts, and when he takes a cut-off throw. Also a very talented defensive first baseman is the anchor of the infield, saving countless errors from the rest of the infield. And his being a lefthanded thrower enables him to better cover the right side of the infield on ground balls, and is an advantage on pick-off throws. And having a speedy first baseman adds to the overall speed of the team, since whoever plays the outfield instead of him is likely to have more speed than the average first baseman.
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Sorry if this a bit long winded, but I’m typing it on my phone while having lunch in a diner.
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Finally, maybe Cody should be one our lefthanders out of the pen, given his 98.6 mph throw last night.
It was a thing of beauty.
It is just to bad that Agone wasn’t as healthy as he was last year, because he would be a really good bat, at the back of our order!
I will say it again, Cody’s athleticism and wheels, are wasted at first base, and a pretty good arm, is wasted at first too!
I would have never tagged Cody to be a first basemen, especially when he was young, but it is to late now!
Vegas that is life at Dodger stadium, once the weather switches early, before September is over.
Not many balls, are hit way out, during the night, and especially not to much farther then just over the wall, unless of course, the balls are hit down by the foul, I made, fair pole!
It looks like Seager is starting to hit again. Taylor had a hit the other night and a fly ball to the warning track. Forsythe is hitting. We are getting good starting pitching. Play offs are a crap shoot anyway. I think we are in as good a shape as possible.
Home field for NL playoffs and they gain on Cleveland too.
Nothing like getting the Madres at home to get us feeling all warm and fuzzy! The team appears to be getting it’s swagger back. I have never seen so many balls barely get out in one game, by both teams.
Grandal did have a pretty good at bat for him there, so I have to give him credit, when credit is due!
And that’s why!
Quas – hope life is good.
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Didn’t think AGon had anything left in the tank – that was impressive.
Think Farmer might get a spot to allow Barnes to PH.
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Things are looking better for Corey too.
A good night.
Greetings my friend across the pond. Thank you. Life is better than fair (if it was just I probably wouldn’t be alive) but I’ll be meeting up with the SOB before too long.
I think we’ll need all our vets at hand for the post season. AGon certainly more than earned his bones and he’s easy to trust. It’s been a lot of fun seeing the success of some the ‘up an comers’ but not so much when the pressure was peeking. Our ROY will be fine and does a great job outfield so having AGon makes for more versatility.
Nice! I didn’t think Adrian had any oppo power left.
I definitely want AGon on the post roster. Ethier as well.
Hell, I’d prefer Ethier start in LF. Andre is on the NLDS roster. Gonzalez may depend on whether or not they want a 3rd catcher.
The Squirrel found a nut.
Maybe he can find it twice off this soft tosser.
Nope. That was a bad AB
Hawkeye
Roberts confidence with Grandal, paid off!
Maybe the tides are changing, with this team!
He’s looking better but a tad bit lucky too. For those who don’t believe in pitch framing, the Padres catcher may have cost them strike 3 on the 2-2 count. Grandal chased strike one and strike two. Missed them both by a foot. Glad to see he knew what to do with that hanger.
Interesting lineup tonight:
Utley-2B
Seager-SS
Turner-3B
Bellinger-CF
Grandal-C
Puig-RF
Gonzalez-1B
Ethier-LF
Wood
Roberts just can’t help himself. Whenever Grandal has a couple decent games he has to move back to 5th where he has no business hitting. Oh well, hope he stays hot.
Hawkeye
I agree Grandal strikes out to much, especially when runners are on base, to hit him sixth.
I think I would hit Ethier sixth in this line up, because Agone hasn’t been healthy enough, to get enough at bats in, to really be able to hit.
And actually I think I would hit Grandal eighth, to make him have an even better eye, when it comes to his pitches.
I’d hit Gonzalez 8th if he wasn’t so slow. I’m afraid that he can’t get to second on a bunt by the pitcher.
Puig should hit in front of Grandal but he’s still half in and half out of the doghouse. This is one of the slower lineups in recent memory with Agon, Grandal and Ethier. Curtis sits because his playoff spot is secure?
Friedman pretty much verified that it would most likely be 14/11 again or 13/12 for NLDS. Ryu’s injury made it easier for them to tell him that he won’t be on the NLDS roster.
IN: Kershaw, Darvish, Wood, Hill, Jansen, Morrow, Avilan, Watson, Maeda, Fields
Belly, Forsythe, Seager, JT, Granderson, Taylor, Puig, Either, Barnes, Utley, Kike, Grandal,
Bubble: Farmer, Gonzalez
Baez, Buehler, Cingrani
That’s 3 open spots. Despite what I saw from Baez last night I don’t want to see him on the roster. I think Cingrani is on, but I’ve seen some wacky decisions on NLDS rosters like the year they went with one lefty out of the pen. Cingrani is the closest thing they have to a true LOOGY. Buehler is filthy. Farmer allows them to use Barnes as needed. Gonzo would be experience and loyalty.
The baseball Gods will humble you. Cleveland is on the same kind of streak the Dodgers were on. The Dodgers were humbled. Cleveland will be humbled. I think that right about now, it’s going to be tough being an Indian fan.
No to Gonzo on the roster – got to be Ethier.
Yes to Ferris.
Watford
I agree with your analysis, because Agone has not been healthy enough, to hit like he has, in the past.
And if Ethier would have been given a better chance, to be able to play out in the field, almost everyday, after he showed he could hit, Ethier might be our starting leftfielder, instead of just being on, the post season roster!
Regardless of if we won 115 games, or if we at least didn’t go 1-16 (or whatever it was) in late Aug-early Sept, this would still have been in intense and difficult playoff run. Regardless of how well we finished up the season, I think we all knew AZ wouldn’t be a easy out, and we all knew that the NLCS would be one of a super talented Wash team (who would’ve won their first ever playoff series and thus had way more confidence), or the defending champs (who are getting hot at the right time and know what it takes to win).
Playoffs are a crapshoot. My confidence going into game 1 wouldn’t have changed if we had set the all time records for wins or not. Because I’ve gone thru this in 2008-2009, and for the last 4 years. Kersh in a game 1 is NOT money, and it won’t be any difference because of our little crapfest for the last few weeks.
Good luck to all of our blood pressures starting Oct 6
Regarding home field advantage Eric Stephen makes it very clear.
“In the race for home field advantage in the postseason, the Dodgers’ magic number over the Nationals is two, for the top seed in the National League. The Dodgers’ magic number over the Astros is three, and over the Indians is four, should they reach the World Series.”
I don’t think I’ll be anymore nervous going into the playoffs than I would have been had the Dodgers never slumped, and ended up with 116 wins. Playoffs are a whole new season, and as Mark has said before on numerous occasions, it’s all about how you FINISH.
Brooklyn
I was thinking the same, at least now we will keep ourselves, a little more honest, then we would have, if we never took that nose dive!
What am I saying, we will always have that terrible feeling in our guts, in every inning, in every game, in the post season!
That is what it truly means, to be a Dodger fan!
Wow – the “switch has been flipped”? Based on 1 game against the Padres?
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The Dodgers lost 3 of 4 to the Phillies who had the worst record in the NL when the Dodgers came to town. They then scored a total of 7 runs in 3 games against a Giants team who now have the worst record in the league. One of the pitchers that the Dodgers faced in Philly had the worst ERA in baseball – he held the Dodgers to 2 runs in 6 innings.
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It’s great to see Kershaw pitching better, but he wasn’t the Kershaw of old. He gave up a lot of hits and had more double plays behind him (4) than at any time in his career – and only 6 K’s in 8 IP. Darvish has looked much improved.
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Seager has no power – probably due to injury. Taylor hasn’t hit well since August. Turner still dinged up; Puig back in the Dodger Doghouse.
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A strong finish would make me feel a whole lot better, but really, they are 9 – 16 in September. What have you done for me lately?
He gave up 8 hits and 0 walks or a WHIP of 1.00 and I believe multiple hits that didn’t leave the infield. I will take it. People are talking about Darvish’s last 3 starts. You could actually see it the prior start against Colorado where he was filthy for 4 1/3 and then ran into a bunch of seeing eye singles.
“For the record” I believe we are currently 1.5 games up on Cleveland.
Cleve has 1 more loss than we do. That’s the column to look at. In the event of a tie, we get home field as we beat Cleve 2-3 earlier this year. So technically, we’re 2 losses better than them for home field.
I am so happy to see Forsythe finally waking up! He will be starting Game 1 vs. Ray, ad it’d be great to see the protection from the bottom of the lineup start to take off. He and Barnes could really make a difference!
57 is two loses better than 58? The potential is six of one and loses are half a dozen of the other.
yes, it is 2 losses better because of the event of a tied record, in which case we own the tie breaker. Not sure how that wasn’t clear above
Okay, but just for the ‘record’ we are one game up on Cleveland. When I started typing that I didn’t know a tie was already predetermined for breaker. I got it firstly answered wrong listening to MLBN and then MLBN corrected their error all during constructing my post. I guess I can see how my post wasn’t clear. lol
did you and i just waste 5 posts saying the same thing? I think its time for a drink!
Let’s win today
Actually Dodgers are only one game up on Cleveland as they have a potential of 104 and Dodgers potential is 105. And MLBN just informed me Cleveland takes the tie BUT that has been corrected and Dodgers get HFA in tie.