Find Another Drum

All season, many readers here and Dodger fans, in general, have been beating the drum and chanting the mantra that the Dodgers’ bullpen is somehow inferior. Pedro Moura of The Athletic wrote this:

Despite their substandard start, despite fans’ continued frustration, despite the front office’s decision not to add much in July, Dodgers relievers finished the season among the best in baseball. Their 3.85 ERA was tied atop the National League. Their 2.94 September ERA stood alone as the NL’s best, second in MLB to the Tampa Bay Rays.

I think I have been telling you this all year. With Stripling, Hill, Maeda, May, and even Kershaw in the playoff bullpen, it is indeed a different animal in the playoffs.

I may be totally wrong on this but, why is it that everyone assumes that Adam Kolarek will make the playoff roster? With Rich Hill on it, I would leave off Adam and add Gonsolin or Ferguson. I can’t see wasting a roster spot for a guy who is only a LOOOGY and might pitch to 5 batters in 5 games. Even Kershaw can be a LOOOGTY if needed. Just say no to Kolarek. I would keep Gonsolin over him.

The rosters will be out later today, but here’s my pitching staff:

1. Buehler
2. Kershaw
3. Ryu
4. Hill
5. Maeda
6. Baez
7. May
8. Gonsolin
9. Stripling
10. Jansen
11. Kelly
12. Urias

Maybe they go with a LOOOGGGYYYY, but I doubt it. OTOH, maybe they don’t want another rookie in Gonsolin and Kolarek makes it. We shall see…

If there are key players who MUST be elite this series it is Striker Buehler and Corey Seager. Tonight’s game is the biggest of Striker’s career. The Nats are hot and confident. This could be a dogfight. Their Achilles Heel is their bullpen

By the way, if you read that article I posted above in The Athletic, you might be of the opinion that Mark Prior needs to be pitching coach next season with Honey taking a senior role. If it doesn’t happen now, the Dodgers will likely lose him to another team. Moura sums it up as follows:

The irony to his current position is that Prior never actually pitched out of the bullpen in the big leagues. He is one of nine retired pitchers to start at least 100 games and never once relieve. But, at some point soon, Honeycutt is expected to retire, and Prior would be a logical choice to replace him.

“I don’t necessarily know if he’s the guy to take over for Honeycutt,” Stripling said. “But I just know that if he did, everyone would like it.”
Two years in, Prior has created himself a niche in the Dodgers’ organization. He is the pitcher who was so spectacular and then so unspectacular. He is the coach who bridges gaps between relievers and starters and between Honeycutt’s feel-based techniques and the front office’s data-driven methods. He is the middleman.

“Dude, you know there’s some people in the world that transcend all generations?” [Dusty] Baker said. “That’s how I thought about myself, even though I got the rap of being old school. And that’s how I see Mark. He’s somewhere in between the new school sabermetrics and old school.”

Baker made the postseason in each of the final four seasons of his managerial career. He understands the pressure the territory presents, what it demands of its decision-makers. Maybe, in retrospect, he would’ve pulled Prior from that Wrigley Field nightmare. He has always felt awful about how his pupil’s career halted. But he made the decision he deemed best in that moment. Knowing what he knew then, there was little reason to think it would be the end.

And, out of the end, a valuable coach emerged. Prior has become a man suited for the stress of October.

“He’s both calculated and spontaneous at the same time,” Baker said. “The calculated part comes from being highly intelligent. The spontaneous part comes from being a ballplayer.”

As much as some fans increasingly desire every bit of managing to be calculated ahead of time, Baker said, it is not possible. Spontaneity will always be necessary. “No matter how good your game plan is, something’s gonna happen,” he said, “and you’re gonna have to react.”

Sixteen years ago, Baker reacted by leaving Prior in the game, and the Cubs lost. To win this year, Roberts and Prior must repeatedly make the right bullpen decisions.

Mark Prior will have a heavy say in how the Dodger Bullpen is utilized this Post-Season. I see the Dodger’s bullpen as a strength this Post-Season. I also see the Nationals bullpen as being a glaring weakness. MLB .com wrote this about the Nats pen:

Here comes the hard part for the Nationals. They cannot run Cy Young Award candidate after Cy Young Award candidate from the bullpen anymore like they did in the Wild Card Game. Now they will have to get by with their actual relievers, the ones who combined to post the second-worst ERA in the Majors this season. Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson have shared closing duties down the stretch. Fernando Rodney is likely to be Martinez’s next most-trusted reliever, with Tanner Rainey, Hunter Strickland and perhaps Wander Suero rounding out the bullpen. Maybe Austin Voth will be converted to a reliever and help.

I stay away from predictions, but I like the Dodger’s chances. If they are ready and execute, it should go very well.

I missed Tuesday and Wednesday as they were just Wild Rides for me… no time. It’s still busy today but here are both days report and it starts with the fact that they were shutout both days. The Dogs are now 3-9 and can’t jump out of a boat and hit water.

On Tuesday, Omar Estevez, Devin Mann and Jeren Kendall were 0-9. The only Dodger bright spot was, Marshall Kasowski who pitched 2 innings out of the bullpen and allowed 1 hit while walking 2 and striking out 4.

On Wednesday, it was more of the same as no Dodger hitters played. Brett de Gaeus pitched an inning and continued his mastery as his ERA is still at Triple Zeros.

After 12 games, here are the Dodgers stats:

• Justin Yurchak – .375 BA/1.069 OPS
• Omar Estevez – .313 BA/.697 OPS
• Jeren Kendall – .267 BA/.733 OPS (16 K’s in 30 AB)
• Devin Mann – .087 BA/.406 OPS
• Brett de Geus – 0.00 ERA/0.46 WHIP
• Gerardo Carillo – 2.53 ERA/1.03 WHIP
• Marshall Kasowski – 8.10 ERA/2.10 WHIO
• Mitch White – 27.00 ERA/7.50 WHIP

I guess they are “working on stuff.” Nothing to see here folks… move on.

The Dogs

So yesterday, my wife was out of town and I had the PHCC National Convention at the Indiana Convention Center, so we have a “Dog Walker” who will let the dogs out and do their thing. Well, they decided to make a jailbreak and we looked for them for over 3 hours until I found out that Animal Control took them to jail. I have to bail them out this morning. I’m sure that’s going to be costly. Dang little criminals! Well, they are no so little.