Doc: “THIS IS OUR YEAR. THIS IS OUR YEAR”

The position by position comparison is now on MLB.com. Tampa has the edge in LF, 2nd base, starting and relief pitching according to the pundits. But most, 71%, think the Dodgers win in 6 games. The Dodgers have seen Morton and Glasnow. Granted, they are different pitchers now than when LA saw them. But Morton is a soft tosser. Not much of a fastball at all. Glasnow throws serious heat. What most of the polled writers felt is that the Dodger offense is unlike any they have seen. More patient and waiting on a mistake. They also feel that TB’s defense is pretty much superior to the Dodgers. Especially at SS and 3B. We hold the offensive edge at most of the positions. I believe the Dodgers will win it in 6. I just think their grinding out at bats will make the innings high stress for the TB pitchers.

Buehler to start Game 3.

Who goes in Game 2?

Bullpen game!

It appears that TB is poised to call up Wander Franco, 19-year-old SS. He is the #1 MLB Prospect.

Here’s his scouting report:

If you were to build a hitter from scratch using all of the physical attributes and skills that have come to define great hitters, he’d probably end up looking something like Franco. A switch-hitter with ridiculously strong wrists, blazing-fast bat speed and preternatural bat-to-ball skills, Franco absolutely punishes the baseball to all parts of the field from both sides, attacking pitches over the plate while also demonstrating tremendous discipline and rarely swinging and missing (4.3 percent swinging-strike rate in ’19). It’s why he’s recorded more walks (83) than strikeouts (54) across his first two pro seasons while compiling a .336 average. Power is the one part of Franco’s game that’s yet to emerge in earnest, but it’s easy to forecast plus power in his future as he learns to drive the ball in the air consistently and improves upon his 2019 ground-ball rate (48.8 percent). He shows more over-the-fence potential as a left-handed hitter and hit all but two of his 20 career homers from that side during his first two campaigns.

Defensively, Franco earns high marks from evaluators for his hands, range and actions as a shortstop, and he’s universally praised for the confidence and leadership he exudes at the position. Franco’s strong, compact build as well as the fact that he’s only a slightly above-average runner have prompted questions about his ability to stick at shortstop long term, but he’s passed every test early in his career, showing advanced feel for playing the position and plenty of arm strength. A shift over to second or possibly third base isn’t out of the question, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Rays were to start increasing Franco’s defensive versatility as they do with many of their young, athletic infielders. And while the Rays do have a history of patiently developing young talent, Franco, with his All-Star-caliber ceiling, could end up being an exception.

This could be interesting. The Rays are trying to catch “lightning-in-a-bottle.”

DAVE ROBERTS AND NLCS MVP COREY SEAGER TO HEADLINE DODGERS ZOOM PARTY TONIGHT AT 5 P.M. PST

Fans can sign up now at dodgers.com/zoomparty.

LOS ANGELES – The 2020 National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers will host a Zoom Party tonight at 5:00 p.m. PST to preview the World Series, which begins tomorrow evening. Hosted by Dodger announcers Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser, the Zoom Party will feature manager Dave Roberts, NLCS MVP Corey Seager, and other special guests. Fans can sign up now at Dodgers.com/ZoomParty http://dodgers.com/zoomparty> .

The World Series against the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays will be held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas starting tomorrow at 5:09 p.m. PT. The best-of-seven series continues with Game 2 on Wednesday and Games 3-5 Friday-Sunday. Games 6 and 7 (if necessary) would be on Tuesday, October 27 and Wednesday, October 28.

Hence the need to improve their sliders

Just wanted to also mention that our pitching for the most part was outstanding, Buehler, Urias, Treinen and the bullpen.

May and Graterol would make a dynamic closing duo. Both need to improve their sliders

Barring injury, May or Gonsolin will have to be in the pen next year with Price back. Gonsolin is more of a pitcher, but May has that 100+ stuff. Gonsolin can hit 100 -he did in the playoffs, but he doesn’t stay there. He has 4 pretty good pitches I’d like to see May in the pen for a year!

You don’t take a guy who has 4 pitches and #2 starter stuff, like Julio and make him a closer. Any manager or GM who did that would be instantly institutionalized!

Bazooka is the next Dodger closer and will slide into that role over the next year. Treinen might be back too.

The Rays have not seen Clayton, but I guarantee their Virtual Reality and 3D Simulators are rolling like crazy.

I think Clayton had better vary his pattern of always attacking. He should switch it up occasionally. When he gets into a little trouble, he does what lots of fighters do when they have been hit and staggered: He throws another strike. That’s when he needs to make them fish!

I like that the Rays have never really faced Kershaw or haven’t seen him much so if his slider has good depth they will have a tough time laying off. I also like that Buehler seems to be getting better each time out. The blister issue seems to be healing some. He still doesn’t have his usual command of his off-speed stuff, but it appeared he was more confident using his cutter.

I’ll say it again, Urias should be our closer.

Kershaw should start game 1.

Maxwell’s going to be bringing his silver hammer to the WS (watch).

Glasnow has a 0-0 record in his career against LA, but his ERA against them is 13.50 in 5 innings of work. He gave up 6 earned runs and 2 homers. Snell has pitched 2 innings against the Dodgers. He struck out 4, walked none and did not allow a hit.

Going to use a movie reference here. I do not know how many of you ever saw Demolition Man with Stallone, Snipes and Sandra Bullock. But they were in LA of the future, a place where all crime was eliminated. And their favorite tunes were old commercial jingles. If things were going ok, they would say, I am having happy joy joy thoughts! Well, that is me today. And it will be that way until game time tomorrow. Then the gut churning really begins. Glasnow named the starter for game one. Dodgers know him from his days in Pittsburgh. Snell will start game 2. Kersh for sure the game 1 guy.

I think we can all be thankful for baseball this crazy year. I know it has helped to keep me sane.

I think Doc may be evolving as a manager. During the 17 world series people commented how Hinch stuck with his hot relievers whereas Doc stuck to the analytics. That’s been one of the criticisms of Doc and some of it is justifiable. Last night Doc stuck with Treinen and Urias. Urias especially was getting outs without much stress. In the past Doc would have gone to Jansen in the 9th no matter what. If Urias has allowed and hit or walked someone in the 9th I have no doubt we would have seen Jansen. With the way he pitched in games 5 and 6 I would have been perfectly fine with that.

Urias for the final three innings was Roberts’ single best postseason decision ever.

Hopefully it helps to get us that ring and we can say everybody did their part.

Hats off to the Braves. They gave us everything we could handle and will be a force this decade.

Four more to glory.

The dreaded “contact play” failed twice last night, each in a big moment. The Dodgers doubling up Swanson and Riley on the contact play and throw to 3rd. It was a possible game changer in the 4th. The Dodgers did similar in the 6th putting on the “contact play” with CT3 at 3rd with 1 out and Seager hitting. The infield was way in and there was no way any caught ground ball would allow CT3 to score. But they ran the damn play anyway and CT3 was meat at home. All while JT could have been up next with CT3 on 3rd.

I’ve discussed the “contact play” before on this site. I hate the play and have argued with many new coaches, especially college coaches, over its use. It’s appropriate in one circumstance only. Runners on 1st and 3rd and 1 out. You run on contact to avoid the double play around the horn. The runner at 3rd gets ito a rundown hopefully long enough to allow the runner at 1st to advance to 3rd and the batter to get to 2nd. You give up the out to not give up the double play end up with runners at 3rd and 2nd with 2 outs.

That’s it for me using the “contact play” if the infield is “in” or half way. Growing up the coaching advice was “make the ball be through” the infield. I still think that’s the BEST way to play it instead of running into easy outs at the plate.

It was obvious that Doc’s plan was too somehow get to the 6th or 7th inning and Urias to finish the game. Lots of trust in this kid’s ability to slam the door. It worked to perfection with some bumps in the road. I still don’t understand starting May and not just start Gonsolin but it doesn’t matter. Those 2 were not sharp but Treinen righted the ship. Gator was nails too. Another masterful job getting to the guys they wanted to. Doc, as far as I’m concerned, has redeemed himself as a manager of the bullpen from previous blunders. I hope it continues and I have no reason to think he won’t.

But we know why it worked. The guys came through when called upon.

Incredible series and hats off to the Braves. Classy group and a really good team.

We must savor the victory in what was truly a series of highs and lows. There is no way to definitively say that if only this or that had or hadn’t happened, the result of any game or the series would have been different. But I think it is reasonable to say that without Betts making three great catches, we probably would not have won. In Game 5, facing elimination, we are down 3-0, Braves have no outs, men on first and third. If that ball drops in, it is 4-0, men on first and second, we probably lose. In Game 6, we might have won anyway, but the catch sure helped. And last night, we are down two runs if he doesn’t leap above the fence to save a homerun. Would we have rallied again from two runs down, given that the only batter who drove in a run on the basepaths all game was Smith? So despite the voted MVP, Betts saved the series. And Urias played a big part as well, stifling the Braves down the stretch.

I do think that Roberts is getting too much credit for simply leaving Urias in the last inning, that seemed obvious, though he has made the wrong decision there before. Pinch hitting Hernandez, was right, but we always make that move against lefthanded relief pitchers. As far as the pitching sequence, we started May, who seemed unsure, just like he did in Game 2; then went with Gonsolin, who was not too effective; we used Treinen, who made some good pitches, but also should have given up the homerun that Betts caught, plus benefited from the Braves’ baserunning mistake. Now, we did not have many choices, but it is not as if all the pitching decisions were brilliantly conceived. I think that people are so eager to support the Dodgers manager, whoever he is, that they are apt to give him credit for just doing a reasonable job in any game. But it is academic, Roberts will be here for another twenty years, if he wants. I still think that his decisions cost us the 2017 World Series, and the series with the Nationals last year, which is pretty expensive. This time, we barely beat a good Braves team, though we were supposed to be the better club.

However, the goal now is to win the World Series this time. And certainly making the Series three times in four years is a great achievement for the franchise. We must cash it in this time, since the Braves and Padres will be better next season than this one. I also want to say, that even given all the dreadful things that are going on, the season being curtailed because of them, games canceled; the playoffs have been very exciting, the TV coverage, particularly pregame and postgame, has been fun to watch. I had thought that even if we won it this year, it would go down as a fluke season, not a real one. But the way the games have been played, the intensity shown, and high level of play, I think that if we win it all, it will still be given almost all of the credit which has gone to any team which has won the title in a full regular season.

I think it has been mentioned previously, but I believe it bears repeating. The Dodger family runs deep. Both Rick Honeycutt and Charlie Hough noticed something with KJ and called him, sent pictures, and discussed what might be the problem. As it turns out, after the discussion, KJ goes back to back games and gets 3 up and down in both games, one a BIG save. It certainly appears that KJ really listens to Charlie Hough who was the one most involved in KJ’s transition from catcher to pitcher. Honey is an old school coach who relies on film to find the little nuances that make up a delivery, and gets the pitcher back to where he was successful. Honey is not necessarily a developmental guy, but a coach. He saw something, studied it, and contacted KJ. Here’s to hoping that the lessons carryover to the WS.

What mostly comes to my mind when playing recaps of effort was Turner leaping, tagging, landing then throwing his strike to Seager covering 3B. Just OUTSTANDING! And inspired the rest of the team to really pull this one off. Four more!! CHEERS!

Just curious what some of you thought about that crazy DP in the 4th inning. I saw Riley, who was out at 3rd, calling to his dugout to check the replay. But my question is about Turner’s tag on Swanson. I only saw replays from 2 different angles but I couldn’t tell conclusively that he made the tag. It would have had to have been on his butt or upper thigh from what I saw. Maybe I missed something. Did anyone see a view that showed that the tag was definitely made?

Interesting observation by Houston Mitchell of The Times:

“—Why did Dustin May start the game? First, keep in mind that Dave Roberts doesn’t decide who is going to start. He has input, yes, but the front office looks at all their flow charts, their crystal balls, their sabermetrics, their Tarot cards, their performance metrics, their Magic 8 Ball and decide who will start. The idea was that May would start, face Acuna-Freeman-Ozuna-d’Arnaud the top three or four in the lineup, then you bring Tony Gonsolin in and he can hopefully pitch five innings only facing those four once.”

The key with Tampa is the battle between their pitching and our hitting. Four runs should win us every game. Betts and Belly need to bring some thunder. And I’d bat Joc cleanup over Muncy for game one

Two biggest high points of the weekend. The Houston Astros didn’t make it the World Series and the Dodgers did.

Unless I missed it there wasn’t any mention of Will Smith’s 2-run single to tie the game 2-2. We had a lot of heroes last night with Mookie, Kiki, JT, Urias, and Bellinger but not Smith. He deserves mention also.