GAME SIX RECAP AND SOME RANDOM PLAYOFF THOUGHTS:
Elimination game, facing the Braves top pitcher, Max Fried, and the Dodgers, besides the obvious need to win, had several objectives: 1. get off to a good start; 2. run up Fried’s pitch count; 3. Keep Buehler’s pitch count down; 4. Keep the Braves off the bases; and 5. Score more runs than the Braves. The Dodgers were successful on four of the
Elimination game, facing the Braves top pitcher, Max Fried, and the Dodgers, besides the obvious need to win, had several objectives:
1. get off to a good start;
2. run up Fried’s pitch count;
3. Keep Buehler’s pitch count down;
4. Keep the Braves off the bases; and
5. Score more runs than the Braves.
The Dodgers were successful on four of the five. The Braves had 9 hits, but thankfully, Dodgers pitching did not issue any walks.
Because of work commitments, I followed the game on Gameday and have tried as best as I could to summarize the game.
1st inning
Buehler gets ‘em in order on 8 pitches. Nice start.
Corey Seager is having a very, very , very good series! He hits his 6th homerun of the series. Not to be out done, JT follows with a solo shot of his own. Then, after a walk to Muncy, a single by Smith, Bellinger follows with an RBI single. 3-0, and Fried has thrown 24 pitches. Good start, and the pitch count for Fried is up. Little did we know this would be the only inning the Dodgers would score.
2nd Inning:
Buehler, apparently not impressed by being spotted a lead, immediately reverts to his “let’s see how many runners I can let on base” ways; 3 consecutive singles to start the inning, Dodgers fans everywhere were starting to mutter, “oh no, here we go again”, under their collective breathes. Bloggers were trying to figure out how to blame it on Roberts. Not to worry though, Walker starts throwing some serious heat, reaching 100 mph (step aside Graterol and May), and strikes out Riley and Markakis and retires Pache on a grounder to short. After the bases were loaded, Buehler threw 11 fastballs that registered 98, 98, 99, 98, 98, 98, 99, 99, 100, 99, 98. Impressive! This may rank among Buehler’s most important innings ever pitched. He does get his pitch count up a bit.
In the bottom of the inning, Fried rights his ship, working around a single by Betts, with 2 strikeouts of his own and a ground out. It appears, after all, that Seager is human.
3rd Inning:
Buehler slows down the stress level, by retiring Acuna, Freeman and Ozuna in order.
The Mighty Muncy did not strike out, starting the bottom of the inning with a single. Will Smith, however, did strike out. Bellinger flied out and Pollock grounded into a force out. Fried is starting to settle down and has regained control of his pitch count. He and Buehler have thrown 47 and 46 pitches, respectively after 3.
4th Inning:
D’Arnaud starts with a single. How did we ever let this guy get away? Albies strikes out. Swanson then singles. Blister Boy bears down again by striking out Riley, and getting Markakis to hit a sharp grounder balk to the box. Buehler is up to 65 pitches, making it relatively certain he will not pitch a complete game shut-out.
Kike starts off the bottom of the inning determined to work the count, instead he swings at the 2nd pitch and grounds out to third. Barnes, however, does work the count full and then singles. Betts follows with a walk, and Seager grounds into a force-out, advancing Barnes to 3rd. Turner also works the count, but ends up grounding out to third. Pitch count for Fried is at 69. He too, will not pitch a complete game.
5th Inning:
Buehler quickly gets 2 outs, before Freeman rips a ball to right center, but is held to a single on a super nice play by Betts. Ozuna follows with a long fly to right on which Betts makes a great catch, causing him to do a happy dance back to the dugout. I think I’ll take a break to order a “Belli and the Ball” t-shirt for one grandson and “Mookie and the Ball” shirt for my other grandson. Takes Buehler only 9 pitches to get through this inning.
This time the Mighty Muncy did strike out. Will Smith follows with a fly out to Acuna. Belli walks and Pollock follows with a ground out to Fried. Fried up to 84 pitches.
6th Inning:
D’Arnaud starts with a strike out. Albies is out on a weird play at first, as Muncy fortuitously commits an error, but somehow the ball is picked up by Buehler, who tags out Albies as he’s heading back to the dugout. Paying attention is important in baseball. Swanson then singles, steals second and advances to third on a throwing error by Barnes. Riley helps us out by striking out for the 2nd time. Buehler up to 89 pitches, and this is his last inning. Buehler pitches 6 shutout innings, allowing 7 hits, no walks and 6 ks. The no walks was huge. This was as good an outing as we could have asked for from Buehler, particularly in light of his recent outings.
Fried is still pitching for the Braves in the bottom of the inning. Kike still hasn’t figured out how to work a count, choosing to ground out on the first pitch of the inning. Barnes again shows him how it’s done, and singles on the 5th pitch thrown to him. Unfortunately, Mookie grounds into a double play.
7th Inning:
Treinen is out for the 7th inning and promptly gives up a triple to Markakis on the first pitch. Once again, Dodgers fans are starting to get nervous. Pache follows with a ground out. Acuna, however, puts the Braves on the board with a double. Treinen strikes out Freeman and retires Ozuna on a fly out to Betts to end the inning. Big sighs everywhere.
Surprisingly, Fried comes back out for the bottom of the inning. He immediately shows why, as he retires Seager on one pitch. Turner follows with a walk, but on Fried’s 109th pitch, Muncy strikes out swinging, on a pitch that appeared to be out of the zone. Considering Fried’s start to this game, you have to applaud the young man’s effort. He is a very good young pitcher who, barring injury, will only get better. He may, in fact, be this year’s Cy Young winner. Darren O’ Day comes on to relieve Fried and gets Smith to ground into a force out.
8th Inning:
Baez comes on for the Dodgers(gulp), and pitches a typical “Petey” inning, throwing, what seems like a lot of pitches. But, he strikes out D’Arnaud; he then induces Albies to foul out to Seager and gets Swanson to fly out to Betts. Nothing to it!
Chris Martin comes on for the Braves to face Bellinger. Jansen is warming in the pen for the Dodgers (another gulp). Bellinger hangs tough, but ultimately flied out to Pache on a very nice catch. Joc pinch hits for A. J. and singles to center. Kike then chased a slider and flied out to left. Rios comes on to pinch-hit for Barnes, and draws a walk. But, Martin gets Betts to fly out to center to end the inning.
9th Inning:
Jansen comes on in the ninth for the save. There are nervous fans throughout the Dodgers community. On his first pitch, Riley lines out to left fielder Pederson, who makes a nice catch. On his second pitch, Jansen gets Markakis to fly out to Bellinger. Sandoval then lines out to Pederson. Game Over!
The Dodgers live to play another day! I don’t wish him any ill will, but I hope that Ian Anderson comes out and pitches like “Cross-eyed Mary” tomorrow and that the Dodgers Bungle in the Jungle. Bear will understand that reference.
Some Random Playoff Thoughts:
● Because I followed the game on Gameday, I wasn’t able to see how Jansen’s pitches were cutting. I was impressed with his effort on Friday. His pitches looked very crisp and he looked much more confidant. I’ll take that Jansen any day.
● I feel badly for Clayton Kershaw. He did not pitch his best game on Thursday, but he definitely deserved a little better from his fielders and the relievers that followed him. That said, I hope he gets to start one or two games in the WS and pitches absolute gems.
● The thought of the Houston Astros playing in the World Series, makes me want to vomit. I’m finishing this article just as the Rays and Astros game is starting. I’m cheering for the rays all the way.
● To borrow from the title of a children’s book, Max Muncy has had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year. That said, his walk in the 6th inning on Friday night was huge. Walks aren’t very sexy, but that one helped change the whole complexion of the game.
● It is nice to see some fans in the stands, but I haven’t warmed up at all to playing on a neutral site. But, then again, this is the weirdest of seasons.
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Discussion (126)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Couldn’t be prouder of how these guys have fought back. A very special team!
Keys to tomorrow’s game:
Pitching
Corey
Pitching
Mookie
Pitching
7th games are what it’s all about. It’s what Champions live for. Hope my ticker can handle it. Go Blue! This is your moment.
Well the Cheetos run has ended. TB ended their season with a 4-2 win. If the Dodgers make it to the series, TB will be a worthy foe. Jansen’s pitches were crisp. Although he induced 3 fly outs, none of them was particularly hit hard. The first one, off the bat of Riley was a sinking liner though and Joc made a nice rolling catch on the ball. The next two were just lazy fly balls. All hands on deck tomorrow. No starter for the Dodgers announced yet. Anderson for the Braves. It should be one hell of a finish.
My Playoff beard remains, almost shave after game 4 loss but did not!!
Kersh starts goes 2, then gonsolin for 2, Urias for 3
Gonzalez 2/3 to 1, Blake 1/3, Jansen and Graterol for 9th depending on matchups.
Dodgers win 4 to 1, Rios and Muncy homer, seager goes 1 for 2 with 2 walks and is mvp. On to Tampa.
They showed a lot of character yesterday. Jumping all over Fried in the first inning, before he could get going. was huge. Mookie’s catch, of course. Buehler’s blister-beater performance. Getting out of the second inning with no outs after giving up 3 straight singles. And the relief pitching held up, including KJ’s redeeming himself. He actually ended the game with a 94 mph pitch. Must be on dexamethasone! Who will pitch today is, of course, the big mystery. I liked Mark’s idea of Kersh pitching a few innings, followed by Urias and Gonsolin. Only thing is that Kersh sometimes gives up HRs in the first inning. Why not start with Bazooka as an opener? Show them 100 mph fastballs for an inning, then have to adjust to Kersh’s 75 mph curveballs. Keep them off balance. Hold on to your seats, boys and girls!
The more recent WS winners pulled off some improbable scenarios earning it. Cubs down 3-1 to Cleveland. Houston widely regarded as winning a year or two earlier than expected. Red Sox..well nothing storybook about their run and deserving champions, but so-so performers like Eovaldi, Kelly, and even David Price became un-hittable. Nationals winning as a wild card behind Soto’s storybook run. Coming into this series, there was nothing storybook about us. We’re supposed to win, and win easily like in rounds 1 and 2. It’s starting to feel storybook now, especially accompanied with Seager’s comeback, Jansen’s rebirth?, the blister. Maybe Kershaw is the hero in game 7 giving it the perfect ending?
Braves are forcing us to play our best baseball….or at least give our best effort, and we’re now one game from the most improbable and fantastic post season win since 88. I know a lot of you just got a championship with the Lakers last week, but none of my teams have won in 25 years. I really, really need this. I don’t have any predictions for game 7. They tend to boomerang on me anyway. Easy key would be to jump to a lead, but both teams have lost games in the series after scoring first. It’s looking like all hands on deck out of necessity. It will be interesting to see how quickly Roberts will pull guys at the first sign of trouble. Curious, if Gonsolin/May/Urias/bullpen can survive thru 6, does Roberts trot out Kershaw, Jansen, Buehler for the last three innings.
By the way, I had heard the attendance was expected to be 20,000 for the games, but it doesn’t seem that many. Kershaw clan must only be so big. Looks like you can still get tickets in any section. I’d love to hear genuine crowd reaction just once this post season.
There’s talk of starting Kershaw for a couple innings in game 7. But if Gonsolin is going to pitch ag all in that game why not start him and see how far he goes? Maybe he does well and we can save Kershaw, May and Urias for their next starts.
Doc says he’s going to talk to Kershaw and see how he feels. My stomach turns I read this. Stop me if you think that you’re heard this one before. No thank you, we don’t need Kershaw coming off a mediocre balky back performance to screw up this game. Please, nothing cute here. Gonsolin starts and goes as far as he can. Julio and May follow. Kelly, Treinen, Baez, Floro, Gonzolez, Graterol, McGee in no particular order. Pretty much anybody but Kershaw, Wood and Kolarek.
Put the best lineup out there. Mookie, Seager, Turner, Muncy, Smith, Belli, Pollock, Pederson, Kike or Taylor if healthy. As much as I like Rios, I use him later in the game after they bring in a lefty to face Pederson. Kike or Taylor hits for Pederson, then Rios replaces Kike or Taylor when they return to a righty.
Don’t overthink it with openers. Don’t F***this up by over managing.
Do not start Kershaw, in fact don’t consider using him at all. Go with a Gonsolin start and a piggyback BP with Urias as the first guy out of the BP. Ride that for as long as you can, but save Kersh for game #1 of the WS, if we get there. Enough of the speculation we cannot win without Kershaw having to pitch.
As much as we would like to see Kerhsaw exorcise his post season demons, at the same time Dodger nation and Kerhsaw himself cannot see another poor performance. Just say NO!
So proud of my Dodgers for the way they played especially the last two games. Corey Seager is my choice for MVP with a close second to Mookie. Very excited about our chances today. I think we have the talent and momentum to win.
Congrats to the Rays for making the World Series. One half of my prediction has come true. I am making my husband wear his Dodger shirt, and I in my worn out Dodger hat for the 3rd day in a row for good luck.
Nice break-down of the game, inning to inning, 2D2. Miss your parodies though.
I Kershaw feels good and wants to take the bump then he’s earned it way ahead of anybody who’s ever worn a uniform. But more importantly the offense needs to show more to support his efforts. Nobody has Kershaw’s number. I may be the lone wolf but I think it’s a shame Kershaw is not getting the chance to deal against Astros.
Would like to see the Dodgers score early and win this game by 4 or 5 runs. Hope Roberts is on top of his game today, manage with your head, not your heart.
Just checked odds at Vegas Insider. Dodgers are -135 and they list Kershaw as the starter. I don’t know what they think they know, but, there is that.
A game 7 start. That’s going to have the heartbeat up for anybody and maybe more for a 21 year old like Grateral. Need to stay away from walks. Kershaw throws strikes and could get the high pressure first inning out of the way. That said, I start Gonsolin and follow him with Urias.
Koufax started a WS game on 2 days rest with Drysdale warming up side by side him. Maybe the best use of Kershaw would be to have him warm up with Gonsolin and be ready to relieve him in the first inning.
I do not know how Roberts will employ his pitching staff tonight. I am not going to second guess his decisions because I don’t know how the staff feels physically and mentally. For example kershaws back, May ( did not look sharp at all) Urías how does his arm bounce back etc. Roberts has the best info.
From a uninformed standpoint: Gonsolin seems to go a few innings and just lose command all of a sudden. Sounds like he needs to be a reliever. He is lights out and then totally loses it. Wherever he pitches I would have him on a very short leash.
Kershaw I just would not go there unless we have a big lead and he is healthy. These are the kind of games that he has come up short. For the team and his sake let’s don’t feed the post-season narrative. He did throw 4 very good innings in the seventh game 2017 but no pressure the game was over. I will root for him no matter what but team first.
Wild man Kelly please no and if you have to early. Terrible signing it appears.
Floro early with the lower part of the lineup.
Wood no…..
McGhee not a good matchup with the rh Atlanta lineup kolarek same
The rest: May,Urias,treinen,Baez, Jansen,Gonzalez, graterol can be dominant and have pitched with confidence with the exception of May in his last start. Gonzalez has been a bit shaky with command but should be rested.
I trust the staff will pitch who they feel are the best matchups and they trust to rise to the occasion. Let’s go Dodgers!!
That would be McGee and check his splits.
We’ve got the pitching to get 9 innings without using Kershaw. I just hope we hit as a team. If we do we win this one.
Confirmed Kershaw is starting, love it, due for a good one, goes 2 1/3, hands the ball to Urias in third to face Ozuna with two runners on and punches him.
Then he proceeds to go 2 2/3. Then comes Gonsolin for 2. Then Gonzalez possibly Treinen for the 8th. Graterol and Jansen in 9th. It will be a 4 to 1 final. Bring on the rays, May starts game 1. We got this.
NorCalDodgerFan has it right on in my opinion
“Do not start Kershaw, in fact don’t consider using him at all. Go with a Gonsolin start and a piggyback BP with Urias as the first guy out of the BP. Ride that for as long as you can, but save Kersh for game #1 of the WS, if we get there. Enough of the speculation we cannot win without Kershaw having to pitch.”
Don’t put pitchers in unusual situations. We love our deep bullpen, so trust it. For me it’s Gonsolin for as long as he’s effective, then Urias and go from there with match ups. I don’t think CK should pitch in any role. Let’s not reinvent the line up either.
By the way my “love” for John Smoltz in the booth continues. I learn so much from his constant, white noise, babble. Last night, for example, I learned, tucked away in his verbal Diarrhea that:
“when you have a deceptive move to 1st, you have a better chance to pick off the runner.”
“the runner needs to get a bigger lead at 2nd so on a hit, he has a better chance to score.”
That’s brilliant.
This should be interesting. I hope that Doc continues to not make a glaring error that costs us. But, invariably, it’s the players who win win of lose this game.
I love our chances.
Andrew Simon, MLB writer quote:
“Clayton Kershaw, LHP: He’s made seven postseason relief appearances before, but the most recent (2019 NLDS Game 5) ended in disaster. Kershaw also was scratched from his Game 2 start due to back spasms and wasn’t all that sharp when he took the ball in Game 4. Yes, the future Hall of Famer theoretically is available for an inning or so, on two days’ rest. But Roberts may be better off steering clear this time around, especially if it means facing the Braves’ big right-handed bats.”
I would agree with his assessment.
May gets the start
AJ in left
Joc at DH
CT3 at second base
At Walker Buehler’s post game presser he stated, “This may sound odd, but I have never felt that calm in a baseball game, maybe in my career, especially in a spot like that. But Barnes steered me through it. The way he was able to guide me through that inning was about as good as I have ever seen.”
That is why baseball decision makers do not look at the back of baseball cards to decide who is on the roster and who is not. Not to mention that Barnes is 2-7 in the NLCS. For the 2020 playoffs, Austin is hitting .500/.538/.500/1.038 in 13 PA. So he is not exactly hurting the team offensively. But what he does as a receiver seems to go unnoticed by everyone except his pitchers (any obviously me).
Another player not considered worthy by many, Joc Pederson, has the third most hits for LAD in the NLCS with 6. In the NLCS, Joc is batting .375/.412/.563/.974. For the postseason, Joc is hitting .364/.391/.500/.891. Joc needs 5 more 2020 wins to solidify his Dodgers’ legacy. Chances are that he will not be a Dodger in 2021, but he has been outstanding for many playoff series. As Ian Anderson is a RHSP, Joc gets the start today. Joc… give us one more good NLCS game, and then give us a re-creation of your 2017 WS. This time without cheaters the Dodgers probably come out on top.
In the NLCS, Kike’ is batting .273/.333/.545/.879. That is a better OPS than Belli, Mookie, Fresh Prince, and Pollock, and only .03 less than JT. Kike’s is not hurting this team.
Teams need their stars, of course, but there are the role players, and they need to come through when called on. Joc and Kike’ have done it before in the playoffs, and are certainly not hurting the Dodgers this postseason. Today maybe it will be AJ or Rios, or maybe even Beaty with a PH off the bench to score a key run.
Unlike some who seem to know that Clayton Kershaw should not get close to the game, I will leave that decision to people who actually talk to him to know how he feels. I trust those decision makers know the right questions to ask CK to best interpret his answers. I do expect both teams’ pitching to be well prepared and confident and deep. Will the pitching be such that no batter will see the same pitcher more than once?
IMO it will be the bats that need to come through in key situations. It does not have to be the Big Fly that will win the game. A double, ground ball to the right side, and a sac fly does the same job. Or even a walk, stolen base, ground ball to the right side, and sac fly. The batters just need to know the game situation and react accordingly. LHH bunting to the left side when the situation calls for. Going to the opposite field with an outside pitch rather than trying to pull it and rolling over. I am not going to say that Belli needs to back off the plate, because he is not going to do it. He will have all offseason to see film and hopefully make the adjustments next year. But I would rather have a comfortable Belli at the plate knowing that he cannot hit the fastball on the upper inside quadrant of the K Zone, but knowing that he can obliterate a mistake. Maybe he K’s all previous PA today, but then kills a mistake for a walk-off. Right now that is who he is.
I have made comments on Muncy’s lack of swings, and yes it does bother me that a cleanup hitter has 15 walks in 49 postseason plate appearances. Maybe it is a bit of hyperbole, but when Smoltz states that Muncy is either going to walk, strikeout, or hit a HR, he is not that far off. If he wants to bat 8th or 9th, okay. But cleanup? Seager has 5 BB to 8 K, compared to Muncy’s 15 BB to 14K. Seager is aggressive and has 6 HRs and 15 RBIs compared to the far less aggressive cleanup hitter’s 2 HRs and 8 RBIs. Muncy is going to see strikes, so maybe today is the day that he should jump on them before he watches 2 strikes and then goes fishing on an outside pitch he is trying to pull. If Max gets two RBIs without a HR, I think the Dodgers win this game.
I know we all want it so I’m going to say it….WE WIN TONIGHT!!! . With that in mind my focus turns to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Tampa Bay Rays beat reporter states the team rather play the Braves than the Dodgers because of teh depth of the Dodgers and as a side note:
According to Bernie Wilson of the Associated Press “The innovative Rays led the AL with a 40-20 record. Known for their pitching and defense, they also introduced the concept of the starter and sometimes deploy a four-man outfield”.
Finally it also seems right that the teams with the two records in baseball should meet in the World Series.
I would go with Gonsolin and Urias. I would close with Buehler.
Here’s the complete lineup for today:
Betts, RF
Seager, SS
Turner, 3B
Muncy, 1B
Smith, C
Bellinger, CF
Pollock, LF
Pederson, DH
Taylor, 2B
May, P
The back spasms really come back (PUN) to bite the Dodgers.
Without them, I think Kershaw’s on regular rest going into this game. (Which, of course, presumes everything else would have happened the same way. Which it wouldn’t have. (BUT, starting pitching depth and how it was impacted by the spasms is my real point.))
Let’s hope the good guys get lucky and win.
I still do not like Muncy in the 4 hole. But that is where he has been all post season long. Maybe Mad Max runs into one. I don’t think May goes more than 2 innings at best. Urias and Gonsolin would be my first choices out of the pen. If Kersh pitches at all, I say no more than one inning. Buehler will not be available unless it were an extreme emergency. I don’t think Walker has ever pitched out of the pen.