Instant Karma

New look Lakers are 0-6 in the preseason. They are scoring just under 104 points a game and giving up 118. Not too impressive so far. 9 of the 16 players on the roster right now are over 30. But so far, the big 3, James, Davis and Westbrook have only been on the court together once. Dodgers playoff roster should be announced by noon.

Asterisks pulled it out, 5-4. Altuve and Correa again. Kike set a record for hits in the first 5 games in playoffs. He had a very good night and made some fine defensive plays in CF.

I sure would love to have Joc and Kike instead of Souza and McKinstry.

Go dodgers!

Love Kike!

My only predictions are this, both Turners and Corey Seager have much better series against the Braves. Seager will have another monster NLCS against their pitching,.

Castronivice of ESPN says the Braves will win the NL pennant because the Dodgers will be on an emotional high and not play to a higher level after the emotional series against the Giants. He is nuts and obviously has not watched this team very much. They will approach the Braves series with a lot of intensity. They are on a mission to get back to the series. And win it in a full season for the first time since 88. He also says Joc Pederson is going to reek havoc on the Dodgers as revenge. What a croc.

Picks:

Boston in 7

Dodgers in 5 [Betts MVP]

Dodgers in 4 [Smith MVP]

Why do the Braves get home-field advantage? Dodgers have the best record!

Can someone comment on this ? Where was mr Price 16 million man or what is his role on this team. Will he pitch next round. I dont see any confidence by FO or Roberts on him to be anything more than a mopup or inning filler. Will he picth again this year ? I mean i would put him on . Is he hurt. Does he simply has nothing left ? Why dont use him for a few innings. He does have experience

I apologize if this has been reported here, but did you know Wilmer Flores, the dude who struck out to end the game is 0-17 lifetime against Scherzer, with 8 Ks.

Everybody crying about the call….so what? He struck out one pitch early. Sheesh!

TM

We have all discussed how the Giants were a perfect combination of resilient and lucky. The luck turned to the Dodgers last night. The balls Ruff and Posey hit in the first inning were gone pretty much anywhere else in baseball. The narrative about the opener would be much different today if those balls had left the park. 6-0 in elimination games. The Dodgers resiliency showed up as well.

Players aren’t robots. Throughout baseball history postseason performance has been a crapshoot. Some of the game’s legends have fallen on their faces while a Scott Brocius or a Bucky Dent has their moment in the sun. A 5 or 7 game stretch gets magnified out of proportion. I read concern about Trea Turner being 3 for 22 the last 5 games and JT being 2 for 24.

Trea Turner since coming to the Dodgers on August 6 had only 6 games where he failed to get a hit. Only 2 back to back games. He had a 4 game stretch in September where he was 2 for 17 and nobody noticed. Justin Turner went 2 for 29 in Mid May. Did anybody notice?

For the season, TT hit .338 / .950 as a Dodger. JT hit .278 / .832. Nobody is trying to underperform. Shit happens. It’s just how the game goes. Winning teams pick each other up. I’m not worried one bit about Trea Turner or Justin Turner.

Last nights win was sweet. No better feeling than beating the Giants. And they did it playing small ball. I loved that Bellinger got the game winning hit. I also loved Lux’s at bat and single. But Turner getting hit on the first pitch was key. Doval has some nasty stuff, and his slider is particularly nasty, but he threw it once too often. I was surprised Taylor tried to bunt and then did not pull the bat back because there was no way he was getting that pitch down. I really like Matt Beaty. He usually comes up clutch when it counts the most. But last night, that was the worst at bat I have even seen Beaty have. He took two pitches right down central and swung at the next 3, all of which were balls finally hitting a weak grounder to first. He would have easily walked because none of those pitches was anywhere close to the strike zone. It ended up not mattering. No way I use an opener in game one. I go with Max. He made 13 pitches on a day he would usually throw anyway. He will be ready.

Who do I want in the World Series? Easy, Houston. I would like for the Dodgers to beat the crap out of the cheaters. When the Red Sox beat LA they were clearly the best team in the majors and they proved it. Beating Boston might be sweet revenge for that, but I would rather beat the cheaters. The reason is simple. They have never stood up, not once and admitted what they did was wrong. They have all been holier than thou and feigned innocence while their GM and manager got punished. The only player who lost anything was Carlos Beltran who lost a managerial gig due to the scandal. Their are guys on that team I despise. Correa, Altuve, Bregman, and a few others.

Bobby MIller goes today in the Arizona fall league.

Over at the great TrueBlue site, they have a nice overview of the Dodgers prospects in Arizona;

https://www.truebluela.com/2021/10/14/22725476/bobby-miller-landon-knack-arizona-fall-league-dodgers

I cannot feel sorry for the Giants and their fans, though they certainly now have a great organization which we will have to contend with. The Giants beat us in 1951, because they stole signs from centerfield. They beat us in 1962 because Alvin Dark had the groundskeeper turn the field into a lake so that Wills could not steal bases, and they swept us in a three-game series late in the year. They beat us in 1971. Joe Morgan hit a homerun another year to cost us a potential pennant which the Giants’ couldn’t win, but their fans were understandably thrilled to knock us out, as we were in another year when we knocked them out the same way. So this time we beat the Giants in a playoff series, and they will have to accept that. Now, if we can win the title, we will have two in the last twenty years to go with their three, much closer than when we had none, an d they mocked us.

I was irritated, but not enough to spoil anything, at the national broadcast team going on and on about the checked swing. One said that it will be talked about for years. Two outs, man on first, 1-2 count; if it is a ball, what rare the chances of the Giants winning the game? Not zero, not with that team, but certainly not enough for the broadcasters to act like it was a devastating call. We see many games which end with a questionable strike three calls, it is not uncommon.

I don’t think the squeeze play was a good call. Before the new pitcher came in, I said, he’s going to call a squeeze on the first pitch, don’t do it! But he did. It just seemed too obvious, though that’s not why it failed. I wanted to see Taylor have a a chance to hit a fly ball to score the very fast Lux. Besides, we might have scored two more runs in that inning. I was worried that the failure to get the extra run might well cost us the game The squeeze should only be used when there is a real element of surprise, or a great bunter. Fortunately, we won, anyway.

It was a courageous series played by the Dodgers. No Muncy, no Kershaw. W e won two games in San Francisco. After the first game of the series, we held them to six runs in four games. It was a series which will be long remembered–and not for a questionable check swing decision on the last pitch.

The Dodgers are favored over the Braves, but of course they have home field, just beat the Brewers in four, have been playing very well for a month. And our starters have had to be overworked. And Fried has been phenomenal of late. So it will not be easy, and who would expect it to be?

I was touched to hear that Vin Scully had sent a text to Dave Roberts before the game, saying that this was the most important Dodgers-Giants series ever. When asked if he were nervous going into the game, Roberts said,no, but after he got the text, he was!

Give me your vote for game 1 of the NLCS:

Max after his game 5 heroics without normal rest or a combo of TG/ DP to shoulder the bulk innings?

My vote goes to TG/DP , I think we do better with our big three for games 2-4 all rested up. However if we chose to go with Max we would make sure all 3 guys would get two games if the series goes 7.

Tough decision.

Go dodgers!

My last word on luck. Baseball is a game played by humans, umpired by humans, rosters constructed/developed by humans, and coached/managed by humans. Humans make mistakes. It is not by design or luck. Umpires make bad calls. Sometimes it is for the benefit of your team, and sometimes it is for the benefit for the opponent. Sometimes the wind comes up for your team, and sometimes it comes up for your opponents. It was not lucky the Dodgers pitchers just shoved it to the Giants, and it was not luck that Logan Webb shoved it to the Dodgers. It was not luck that Alex Wood shut out the Dodgers, just like it wasn’t luck when he was doing the same thing for LAD in the playoffs in 2017 and 2020. It wasn’t luck that Belli got four straight sliders and left #4 over the plate to line into right-center for an RBI single. It wasn’t luck that Mookie got a great break on the pitch to steal 2B. It was not luck that Seager hit a good changeup breaking away into LF for a run scoring double. It was not luck that he did not try to pull the pitch. It wasn’t luck that Ruf hit Urias for the HR. It wasn’t luck that Scherzer got the call from the 1st base umpire on a Wilmer Flores checked swing. It is baseball. A beautiful game played by, umpired by, managed by, and built/developed by humans. If it makes people feel better to say the Giants were lucky, I am not going to try and dissuade you. You just cannot convince me that they won 107 games and shut out LAD in two NLDS games by luck. I prefer to believe that the Dodgers beat a good team; the second best team in MLB.

I have seen more than a couple of dozen Giants fans this AM at Starbucks and everyone of them have been smiling and congratulatory. Most every SFG fan I encounter up here in the Sacramento foothills have been great. Not all, but a vast majority. They love their team, and I am sure detest LAD, just like LAD fans love their Dodgers and hate the Giants. I am wearing my Bellinger jersey, and I get a lot of laughing…”You have to rub it in?” Most say good luck, but I know they do not mean it. I grew up hating the Giants, but Giants fans are not nearly as horrid and obnoxious and NYY fans. I have grown to hate SD and their fans more than SF.

How many times have the fans on this site complained that the Dodgers do not bunt enough. They complain about the lack of a squeeze when the batter swings and misses at a 3rd strike trying to lift it out deep in the OF (if not over the fence). Now they complain about the bunt that did not work. It was not bad strategy, but bad execution. If it had worked, how many would have come on and said that they disagreed with the call.

Now the person who has banged on Lux, Belli, and KJ all year wants to bang on Trea Turner. To your specific question…No I am not worried about TT. I fully expect TT to be a huge plus for the Dodgers in the NLCS and WS. Yes I am counting on the WS. Just like I was not worried about a game 5 in the NLDS, I comfortable that the Dodgers will beat Atlanta to get to the WS.

I too have concerns about the lack of LHRP against the likes of Freeman, Joc, and Rosario. Even RHB Duvall is horrible against LHP. The downside is that Switch-hitting Albies is much more productive against LHP. However, during the season, the Braves were better against RHP than LHP. Against RHP (#6 OPS) – .245/.321/.440/.762. Against LHP (#20 OPS) – .239/.314/.418/.732. The Dodgers were #7 against RHP – .245/.334/.425/.759 and #9 against LHP – .243/.319/.439/.757. The Dodgers splits are fairly equal vs RHP and LHP, while Atlanta is better against RHP. So it does seem to be a consideration for more LHP against Atlanta. But I would rather have good RHRP rather than mediocre LHRP. So for me, it is the pitcher more than the matchup.

Finally for today, Mike Petriello (a fine MLB analyst) did his player matchups for LAD and ATL. He gives the advantage to Atlanta for 1B (Freeman over whomever), 3B (Riley over JT), LF (ATL platoon over LAD platoon), and starting pitching. While he gives LAD the advantage at Catcher (Smith over D’Arnaud), 2B (TT over Albies), SS (Seager over Swanson), CF (Belli over ???), RF (Betts over Joc), and RP. He did not rate the benches, but neither bench has a clear advantage. If the Braves start two LHP (Anderson and Smyly) that puts Pujols in the starting lineup and he is a clear advantage. Also, Soler may not be available for Atlanta. Joc and Duvall power bats can give Atlanta a plus over Beaty and CT3. Barnes is a better backup catcher than is Contreras. All are MLB players and are capable of a big game.

However Petriello does condition the Braves SP with the advantage due to being able to setup their rotation and the LAD as unknown. While he does acknowledge that the Dodgers trio of Scherzer, Buehler, and Urias are better than Atlanta’s trio of Fried, Anderson, and Morton, he opines that it will be a Gonsolin bullpen game for Game #1. I doubt that will be the case as Scherzer should be just fine as Game 1 starter, followed by Buehler and Urias. Throwing 13 pitches between starts is normal. Maybe more high leverage than a bullpen outing, but 13 pitches are not going to keep Max out as Game #1 starter. However, the Braves do hit Max pretty well in the past. The Dodgers have hit Fried much harder than the Braves have hit Scherzer. The Dodgers have also hit both Morton and Anderson much better than the Braves have hit Buehler or Urias. It actually is not close. I think that I would give Starting Pitching advantage to LAD.

GO BLUE – BEAT ATLANTA!!!!

So the baseball Gods are sitting up there laughing their asses off. They just love to screw with your emotions. They convinced the Giants they were a team of destiny only to shatter that dream at the last minute.

We’ve all been around the game long enough to know the path to a Championship usually takes a break or 2 to go your way. It seemed like the Giants had more than their share of breaks. But weren’t we all taught that “It All Evens Out?” Players say that just to keep them hopeful. But last night, it did all even out.

It’s remarkable how this year went so similar between the Dodgers and the Giants and it was only fitting it came down to the last inning of the last game.

I’m actually sad it ended on that call. But not that sad.

Maybe it does all even out after all, if you just keep believing.

I’ve said all along, We’re going to win this thing.

Wow! What a great win for the Dodgers. Although it would be easier on my nerves if they scored 6 or 7 runs. 🙂

I guess you could call Belli the hero of the game. But he wouldn’t have had the opportunity if Lux didn’t get that base hit that put Turner in scoring position. It’s great to see the team manufacture a run. Way to go team!

If we can beat the Giants we can beat anyone.

If we hit we win and even if we can’t hit that good, we can still win because of our great pitching.

Great article @theAthletic by McCullough about the process that led to the Dodgers going with an opener and then Graterol.

It’s an interesting indirect look at what the team’s Front Office thinks of how the Giants exceeded expectations and how the Dodgers could emulate even though both team are constructed differently.

Highly recommended.

Sobre la baja en bateo de Trea y Justin, creo que se enfocaron a estudiarlos especialmente en los 2 y su pitcheo ejecotó bien, sin embargo deberán despertar de manera inmediata.

We’re going to need Gonsolin to eat some innings this series.

Concerned about Trea Turner? Not really.

Was the safety squeeze a bad idea? Not really, just executed poorly. But I did think they should have waited to do it allowing Bellinger to steal second, easy to do with the first baseman crashing so early.

The Dodgers used the Giants strategy of match-up hitters against them, forced their hand early. Never really liked the strategy. Sooner or later going to bite you. But the Giants did well with it. Andrew Friedman outsmarted Farhan Zaidi this time around.

After a long and difficult season, Cody Bellinger came through again against the Giants. Biggest win in the history of the rivalry.

Loved today’s musical selection. That was a fun video. Great job Mark.

.Good morning to all the colleagues of this great blog, congratulations on this great triumph over the Giants, by the way a worthy rival for whom we must not skimp on respect. Now about the Atlanta Braves.

On B and P’s observation on Taylor’s bunt I totally agree, Taylor was seeing pitches pretty well and could have brought in one more run. No matter how much data Doc or the central office has, those kinds of plays don’t make sense, I hope nobody bothers, it’s just my opinion.

Mark was right when he said that Bellinger could be the MVP, and he is, although not officially, and also to the bullpen who did an excellent job!

Looking at the batting averages of both Turners, Seager , Taylor and missing Muncy it is a miracle we won this series. A great performance by our pitching staff made this possible.

For the Braves series and their tough lefhanded hitters I would add another LH reliever. If you do not intend to use Tony Gonsolin leave him out and go with V-Gone or Bruihl.

yes, when JT made that error I had visions of many of those Giants late inning comeback they had this season.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!

Question for the blog:

Anyone else concerned about Trea Turner? I believe he is 1-22 with RISP in his playoff career. And last night, he just looked like a deer in headlights.

I was also surprised by the other Turner’s no show. He had previously hit Webb this year so I was hoping he would rise up again. Not to mention his error that gave us all a huge scare (how many were thinking two run HR to end it?).

Congratulations to the Dodgers for a exciting and memorable series. This game had drama in it right from the first pitch. To have both teams play 162 games, both win over 100 games, be one game apart, play five games in a playoff series, and be tied one run apiece through eight innings is unbelievable. It can’t get any closer than that!

It was a total team win. Almost everyone contributed in some aspect to the victory. In the ninth Cody came through like he is capable of doing. I love the choke up on the bat with two strikes and concentrating on making contact. I hope his results prove to him that you don’t have to hit HRs to be an MVP. I was yelling at him to just make contact and a single would be all the was needed. I think he mentally wiped the regular out of his mind and looked at the playoffs as a time to start anew. Ron Darling kept mentioning that throughout the series.

Speaking of Darling I think he and Brian Anderson did a good job overall. I was critical after the first game, but as the series continued I grew to enjoy their commentary. They didn’t favor one team over another and showed enthusiasm for both teams when warranted. Overall, good work by them.

Now, on to Atlanta and another tough team to face. If successful against Atlanta I would like to see the Dodgers play Boston. With the Verdugo and Kiki aspect and playing in a historic park with rabid fans would be a classic.

I think not enough said about Mookie’s stolen base. i know not a popular strategy any more, but when runs are hard to get maybe you have to try to manufacture something instead of just standing there and waiting for the big hit that was certainly not there up till then

Which cheaters would you rather play in the WS? I want the Red Sox, the Asterisks are dead to me.

Man oh man, what a game!What a game!Just finished watching the tape, just too late a start time here in central Europe and a lot of work this morning.

Isn´t it ironic how this game ends on a check swing that probably wasn´t ? And a fitting end after that check swing non call earlier in the year on Ruf.

On to Atlanta, though I dont know how many more games like this one my heart and overall health can take. Never easy with our Dodgers.

On to Atlanta!!!!

Who will start game 1? Max or will we go with a combination of TG and DP plus bullpen ? That would set up Walker for game 2 , Julio game 3 and Max game 4.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to Dick’s this morning right at 9am to see if they have that shirt in. I need a momento to signify and remember beating the Giants in this series.

Scherzer is the greatest. Give him a blank check to return.

AC, to answer your question about luck. It was lucky that we got that check swing call. But, really it was a big fat dose of Karma. Wilmer Flores can’t hit Scherzer anyway, so it didn’t make too much of a difference. The baseball Gods thought it more appropriate to end it the way they did. Sweet revenge.

Well Mark, I thought Doc has been doing much better lately. The opener thing was a bit of overmanaging IMO, but the Taylor sac bunt was stupid and I doubt CT3 decided to do it on his own.

Wow, how awesome is our bullpen? I still get very nervous when Kenley gets on the bump, but he’s been lights out. BTW-Knebel scares me as well.

We Dodgers fans can all agree that the better team won. I’ll top my cap the dirty stinking Giants, they were a worthy opponent ever if they we the luckiest team since the 88 Dodgers. Logan Webb is a stud as are Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey. I still think Crawford has been hanging out with Barry Bonds. Kris Bryant was a great deadline pickup for them and Longoria is a useful piece with another great glove.

I must say, the opener thing worked to our advantage in the end. They didn’t have anyone available to hit for Flores because they used LaStella and Yas early on against Knebel. Live by the platoon, die by it. Farhan should have learned that lesson from all those years with the Dodgers. Flores is horrible against Scherzer and it all lined up perfectly.

How appropriate was it that the team that finished just one game better during the regular season lost the series by not just one game, but just one run? How much sweeter was that Champagne when it popped in the Giants yard?

Advancing to the next postseason series is always a great feeling. Ending the Giants season is almost as sweet. To do both on the same night is ecstasy. The Giants are losing a lot of key players next year, but they also have a lot of money to work with. They still have Posey available on a club option and they just re-upped Crawford. Both of them are Giants greats, so I don’t think there’s any chance they don’t retire as Giants. That team makes the people who post here look like a bunch of Sophomores so they’ll be battling father time next year. One more last hurrah, or was this it? It will be interesting to see what Farhan can do next year. AF rebuilt this team while also competing every year. Can Farhan do the same?

Well, we finally got a Giants v Dodgers postseason series and it was as wonderful as it could be imagined. It worked out to be the right outcome. AF built a superteam and the Giants caught lightening in a bottle. They were a worthy opponent and now they can RIP. See you next year. Hopefully, the guys that make the schedule don’t screw things up like they did this year. They better play in April and have a home and road series in September.

Now it’s time to prepare for the Braves. Sherzer and Bueller are slated to open the series on the road, but Gonso’s going to have to pitch next series at some point in time. Urias lines up for regular rest next Tuesday at home, which also sets him up for a game 7, who else would you rather have? It looks like the Gonso / Price / Bullpen game will be be on Wednesday at home with Scherzer to follow on Thursday. Bueller and Urias are lined up to close out the series in Atlanta if necessary.

Atlanta has a very solid rotation with two righties and two lefties. They only needed to use three starters in the DS so they’ll be in a similar situation as our Dodgers. Morton, Fried, Anderson, Morton is how they lined up for the last series, so we’ll mostly likely get lefty Fried to start, followed by Anderson. Morton lines up for game 3, or they could pivot and insert Smyly to go LRLR.

There’s a rumor that Muncy might be ready for this series. That might help against lefties, or he’ll suck being rushed back too soon. I would imagine that Doc goes into platoon mode, which I don’t fully support. I would platoon LF with Lux against righties and leave Belli in CF against righties and lefties assuming Muncy is ready to play.

Congratulations to the Dodgers, all of the faithful on this site and all you negative Nancy’s that just can’t help but to keep up your constant complaining. Cheers!

Ironically enough, Ruf was asked about the way the Giants season ended after the game.

“Obviously being able to see the replay – it didn’t look like he went but a checked swing earlier in the year helped us out too. It’s kind of funny how it comes down to these two events.”

Respect to him for admitting it.

Now on to the next one!

Wow, I’m still numb over that game. I’m sure the media will want to talk more about that last called strike than they do the game, but even though it looked like it was not the right call, I think the ump put Flores out of his misery by ending it on that pitch.

Big high fives to the following:

1. Julio Urias…..for someone so young, you have ice in your veins

2. Our bullpen- Jansen, Graterol, Knebel, Treinen….wow, all 4 of you lit it up allowing no runs. I’m not surprised because you have been doing such practically all year long.

3. Mookie Betts- 4 for 4…..what more can I say that those numbers already speak loudly

4. Cody Bellinger- Dovall gave you one too many sliders/curveball to look at and you punished him for it. Driving in the winning run is HUGE

5. Corey Seager- certainly not vintage Corey but you did knock in a huge run against a guy only Mookie could hit.

6. Gavin Lux- your big hit in the 9th set the table for Cody to be the hero. You did it with two strikes too…and no flaws in the OF.

7. Max Scherzer- you wanted the ball, you got it and with only 13 pitches, you ended it. Had JT not made an error you would have done it in 9. That is efficiency.

8. Doc- you pushed all the right buttons. Starting Knebel was brilliant. You got rid of two potential pinch hitters quickly. Nice job

What a series. Hats off to SF….they were great all year. I’m sure you are hurting but you deserve major high fives for the season you had.

On to Atlanta….my hometown! No I won’t be going to any games, but I just got a new 75” TV installed so I should feel like I’m there.

Have a great day fellows. Let’s enjoy the day off.

TM

Great win! Now who pitches Game 1 tomorrow night? It looks like a bullpen game , I would drop Price off the roster and add Mitchell White.

Dodgers: Jacob Amaya, SS (No. 14), Glendale Desert Dogs

Amaya rounds out a trio of Glendale batters that put on a show. The shortstop had one of the biggest hits of the game, a three-run homer in the fifth inning that put the Desert Dogs up 7-4. Amaya added a second hit, two walks and three runs scored to his day. The 23-year-old struggled in 113 games in Double-A this year, hitting just .216, but his performance on Thursday was an encouraging sign.Outman also homered.

Congrats to Bellinger from an idiot Belli basher! I’m so happy for the young man. It was a tough year! We need a Joctober from him to win this thing. Get er done Cody! I thought a key to last night was Jansen’s shutdown eighth inning. We were all pretty down after Seager and TT didn’t deliver in our half and just had the feeling the Giants would weave their late inning magic again. But Kenley blew them away in the bottom half and you could just feel the energy return back to the boys in blue. What an epic game and series! Congrats again to Belli!

What a great way to start the day. On to the NLCS baby. Unbelievable how the check swing call comes around and goes around. Couldn’t have ended any better!

I started watching the game when TT missed with two men on base. It was a great game and it was a not only because the Dodgers won but because of how it was played. I am very happy for Bellinger, he was the hero and had a great five games, but also Knebel, Urias, Jensen, Betts, Lux Treiner, Sherzer including Graterol and Seagel … the whole team in general.

Giants is a great team, it had a great season, with unforgiving comebacks and great season from many players, they shut out the Dodgers twice in these five games. But the Dodgers also had a great season and thanks to God the Blues won that serie.

Bellinger had a horrible hitting season but now he’s a hero and he deserves it. maybe his problem was not the shoulder but something mental, now comes Atlanta …. By the way it is very easy to talk after the game, but the truth is that no one was sure who would win the game.