Here s Your Chance

Maeda is not a long reliever for this series. Roberts was not going to leave him in when he pitched the night before and will most likely be needed tomorrow. I was not a fan of bringing in Urias. The Nats are an excellent team against LH pitching and Urias threw 2 innings the night before. The only lefty I would have thought about there was Kershaw, but my choice would have been May or Stripling.

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The real issue was the offense though. I thought they would get to Scherzer. They didn’t do the little things early to add on. Seager not tagging on Beaty’s fly ball. I wasn’t a fan of Beaty swinging 3-0 his next time up. Their weakness is the pen. Make him throw pitches instead of bailing him out on a 3-0 pitch. I agree with those who have stated that Freese should have been hitting 3-0 not Taylor. Did Doc really think there was a more important AB to save him for later in the game? And how did Taylor miss that fat slider in the middle of the zone to strike out?

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Freese must start Game 5 at 1st base. Lux has looked overmatched on good breaking stuff. The Dodgers need professional AB’s against Strasberg. Pollock should sit too. I don’t really care for who. Taylor, Kike, Beaty. Anyone other than Pollock who has been a bust. I don’t want to hear how he had big AB’s and did well after the DL stint. He was brought in to be a big RH bat to upgrade over Puig. Puig the last two years was .870 OPS in the playoffs. AJ is zero so far. The team was significantly better with Vergugo than Pollock. He did nothing prior to his injury and didn’t play in a meaningful game after his injury. His postseason AB’s have been pathetic. If I’m AF, I’m doing everything I can to unload him in the off season. He’s a brittle player who’s game is in the decline.

So Hawk, you’re telling me that there’s a chance that Pollock can redeem this postseason! It’s tough to watch him struggle right now but I still think he’s a good player and I’d give him a chance next year.

Here’s Houston Mitchell of the times about how individual Dodger hitter have fared lifetime against Strasburg and the Nats have done against Buehler:

“In fact, let’s look at how the Dodgers have fared against Strasburg, including postseason games:

Matt Beaty, .667 (2 for 3), 1 double, 1 RBI

Russell Martin: .500 (3 for 6)

A.J. Pollock: .412 (7 for 17), 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 3 RBIs

Jedd Gyorko: .412 (7 for 17), 2 doubles, 1 homer

Justin Turner: .250 (4 for 16), 2 homers, 6 RBIs

Will Smith: .250 (1 for 4)

Kiké Hernandez: .222 (2 for 9), 2 homers

Joc Pederson: .143 (2 for 14), 1 double, 1 homer

Cody Bellinger: .118 (2 for 17), 1 double

David Freese: .091 (1 for 11)

Corey Seager: .071 (1 for 14), 1 homer

Chris Taylor: .063 (1 for 16)

Max Muncy: .000 (0 for 12)

Alex Verdugo: .000 (0 for 3)

Gavin Lux: .000 (0 for 2)

Team: .191/.276/.382, (33 for 173) 7 doubles, 1 triple, 8 homers, 4 walks, 66 strikeouts

And the Nationals vs. Walker Buehler

Brian Dozier: .600 (3 for 5), 1 double, 1 homer, 2 RBIs

Howie Kendrick: .500 (1 for 2), 1 walk

Victor Robles: .429 (3 for 7), 1 triple

Anthony Rendon: .375 (3 for 8), 2 doubles, 2 RBIs

Gerardo Parra: .235 (4 for 17), 1 homer, 1 RBI

Adam Eaton: .167 (1 for 6), 1 walk

Juan Soto: .143 (1 for 7), 1 walk

Kurt Suzuki: .143 (1 for 7), 1 double, 1 RBI

Trea Turner: .000 (0 for 8)

Matt Adams: .000 (0 for 4)

Yan Gomes: .000 (0 for 5)

Wilmer Difo: .000 (0 for 3)

Asdrubal Cabrera: .000 (0 for 2)

Team: .205/.278/.341 (18 for 88), 4 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers, 7 walks, 27 strikeouts”

Absolutely agree that Roberts should of left Maeda in and it was too early to pinch hit.

With some struggles with Bellinger in the 4 hole here would be my starting lineup for Wednesday game 5.

1. Bellinger CF

2. Seager SS

3. Muncy 2B

4. Turner 3B

5. Freese 1B

6. Pederson RF

7. Smith C

8. Taylor LF

9. Buehler P

Fight On! and beat the NATS

I’m playing Pollock. He and Turner have hit Strasburg well this year, pretty much no else has. If the shift is on, the lefties should drop bunts down the third base line. Need to put pressure on the Nationals. If they give you the third base side, take advantage. I don’t see Corbin coming in to relief. They tried that in game three and he got lit up. I have no expectations how the game will play out, one way or the other. But hitters must produce in the clutch, if the Dodgers are to win. Obviously, Walker Buehler needs to be on top of his game.

This game is all about us scoring early and often. J-Hair on Dodgertalk mentioned today that he would move up in the box on Strasburg and treat every pitch like he has two strikes. If he gets a good one, he puts his A swing on and PUTS THE BALL IN PLAY. He warned that the last thing you want to be with Strasburg is 0-2 or 1-2. Also, you gotta have Freese play the whole game, this is what we got him for. I would also take Martin over Will Smith. Martin is one of those guys who could struggle all night, then hit one either out or in the gap to win a game.

Verlander being thrown out there on short rest, and so far Tampa has lit him up in the first inning. 3-0 Rays and he threw like 33 pitches.

Rutt Row. Verlander getting tagged early. I wonder if the Astros fans ready to fire the manager and GM yet for starting him on short rest. RELAX EVERYODY!! Listen to Buehler today, saying you can spin it the other way and have fun with the pressure. No other pitcher on the staff that I would rather have in game 5 at Dodger Stadium than him. We just need to score abot 4 or 5 and we got this.

My starting line-up to win is:

1. LF C. Taylor

2. CF J. Pederson

3. RF C. Bellinger

4. 2B Max Muncy

5. 3B J. Turner

6. 1B D. Freese

7. SS C. Seager

8. C R. Martin

9. SP Walker Buehler

This line-up will win the game, I already simulated this game 10 times & this line-up won 9 out of 10 times, that’s a 90% chance to win. Courtesy of MLB 19 on my PlayStation 4. U wouldn’t believe me if i told u how accurate this whole season was. Every team made the postseason & some scores were exactly how it ended. Last thing, Lux Sux! He needs to go back to the minor leagues, he’s not ready for major league pitching! Manager Dave Roberts needs to stop being stupid in believing in this guy & stop starting him in the line-up, he’s just simply not major league material. Gavin Lux Sux!

Lux was only the minor league player of the year! He’s facing really good pitchers. It’s not like any of our other guys are lighting it up against Washington’s starters! I’d go with Beaty in left tomorrow. I thought he had some good ab’s against Scherzer and has some success against Strasburg.

We are going to see Scherzer if the Nationals are ahead late. He has amazing reservoirs of endurance. We cannot let Washington get ahead in this game, because we won’t be seeing much of their relief staff if they do. On the other side, I don’t know why we are talking about Buehler for 7, Kershaw for 2. I would not be excited to see Kershaw , not after all the recent games where he gave up runs in the first two innings We have to hope that we can score first, and that Buehler can go a great 7, and then we could use Maeda, Urias or Jansen. I do not expect that the last two innings are going to be anything but grueling for us Dodgers fans. We just don’t have a bullpen which can cleanly close out the 8th and 9th in a close game. We have to hope that Roberts has the right feel for which pitchers to use, unlike some of the playoff games in the last few years.

It must be tough being so “brilliant”!

Great win by Tampa. Gets me more motivated for tomorrow!

Astros just lose. Interisting two next baseball days.

I thought that I knew that game pretty well but apparently not. Can someone help me understand a move/non-move from the other night?

I think it was the 5th with Trea Turner on 2nd and Urias on the mound. 1 out I think but I could be mistaken……less that 2 anyways.

Rendon is up. Probably their best hitter. 1st base open.

They pitch to Rendon and even get 1-0 to him.

Why not IBB him?

That give you a matchup against a lesser hitter in Soto. Much less patient hitter in Soto.

Gives the Dodgers a L on L matchup against Soto, and put the double play in order with Rendon on 1st.

Of course Rendon ripped a long double to score Turner.

I just don’t understand why they didnt walk Rendon. Announcers didn’t even mention it as a possibility.

Again, I just don’t understand. Maybe I would have been a fool, but I walk Rendon every time in that spot.

I have read many good observations and I appreciate everyone’s insight. It all comes down to playing the game between the white lines – and you win by executing pitches and swings at key moments. I feel good about my Dodgers – go Blue, win tomorrow and then on to the NLCS! ⚾️

How do you live with yourself? lol, or anyone else for that matter?

BTW, I removed two comments that were spoofed to be me. They were not mine. We have hacker doing that and I catch most of them, but went to bed early, so I deleted them this morning. We are getting close to finding who it is.