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It Ain't Over!

Walker Buehler deserved better! He no longer has the ability to put hitters away like he used to, but the Padres dinked and dunked him and the Dodgers’ defense to death in the second inning when they scored six runs. If he was really lucky, he would’ve gotten out of the inning…

By Mark Timmons2 min readJump to 63 comments

Walker Buehler deserved better! He no longer has the ability to put hitters away like he used to, but the Padres dinked and dunked him and the Dodgers’ defense to death in the second inning when they scored six runs. If he was really lucky, he would’ve gotten out of the inning with 1 or 2 runs… but he wasn’t! Tho of the most reliable defensive players for the Dodgers let him down as well. Walker and Dave Roberts had guts… it just wasn’t enough. There are no excuses… it is what it is, and the Dodgers have to win today. PURE AND SIMPLE – WIN AND KEEP PLAYING OR LOSE AND GO HOME! It’s all down to one game.

The Phillies are in the same boat—sinking. Like the Dodgers, they have the ability to come back. Already, Milwaukee has been eliminated, and if the Dodgers and Phillies are eliminated, it means that all the Division Winners are out. But not so fast. It ain’t over. I love Walker’s grit… his stuff is another thing. Today, it will likely be an opener (Ryan Brasier) and Landon Knack. Hopefully, he will bring his A-Game, but the Dodgers are going to have to bring out their big sticks.

If the Dodgers are to continue, Legends will be made in these next two games. That is the beauty of postseason baseball. Mookie showed signs of life. Freddie is playing on one foot, and Rojas is likely done. The only players they could call up are James Outman or Kevin Kiermaier to take Miggy’s place on the roster. That means Edman stays at SS. Next man up!

Shohei summed it all up:

https://twitter.com/LAtweets22/status/1843306612213285308

Discussion (63)

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  1. DavidOctober 9, 2024

    People have commented on Muncy’s approach. Well part of it is not swinging at pitches out of the zone ( which I guess is everyones idea). Of course in playoffs you are facing guys who throw more strikes. So that presents a problem for him.

  2. dodgerrickOctober 9, 2024

    Many past Dodger world series winners had pitching heroes. 1955 had Johnny Podres, ’59 was Larry Sherry, ’63 and ’65 were Koufax, 1988 was Orel. I don’t see a pitching hero on this team.

  3. DanoOctober 9, 2024

    The Dodgers have come back from the dead before. Why not now! Suck it up Boys.

    Book em

  4. 4-GensOctober 9, 2024

    The Dodgers absolutely build the team to win the regular season. They prioritize quality positional depth (Kike, Rojas, Taylor, …) which overcome injuries that every team faces over the course of the long season. Unfortunately, depth does not pay dividends in the playoffs bc these players are on the bench. The alternative strategy is to sacrifice high quality depth for players who can perform in the playoffs.

    — we’re getting no power or clutch hitting from 3/4 infielders: Lux, Muncy, and Rojas.

  5. WoodyinVTOctober 9, 2024

    Hey, Claude Osteen! We could sure use Claude Osteen right about now. I will always remember how he came through in game 3 of the ’65 series after Don and Sandy got beaten in games 1 and 2.

    I was also thinking about how we were down to the Braves 3-1 in the ’20 NLCS and came back to beat them. Of course, that was the covid year and games were played in the bubble.

    It’s not impossible, but…

  6. Mark TimmonsOctober 9, 2024

    The Dodgers have only three problems so far:

    1. They can’t hit;

    2. They can’t pitch; and

    3. They can’t field.

    Other than that, all is fine!

  7. Claude OsteenOctober 9, 2024

    The Padres seem to have built a roster to make them better for the crapshoot’ how is that possible? Friedman plays chess while Preller plays checkers. Hope we can pull one off the next two but does look grim. We are enjoying the best Dodger baseball ever.

  8. Claude OsteenOctober 9, 2024

    Since it is just a crapshoot, maybe Roberts just fired them up for the wrong game. I know he is very inspiring. Thought all in all Walker pitched pretty well, just poor defensive decisions killed him . Muncy’s 3 outcomes aren’t working.

  9. JimboOctober 9, 2024

    It seems like Muncy and Smith need to adjust but are unwilling or unable to do so. Muncy has hit some balls hard but they’ve been right at a fielder but most of the time it feels like you can predict how the at bat will go. He looks at strike one, misses the next pitch and then they go up the ladder on him. It feels similar to when Puig was on the team and would have two strikes – here come the sliders away. Smith seems to be trying to pull everything. Until he tries to go the other way or up the middle the pitchers won’t have to adjust. I was impressed by Pages second at bat. He fought off pitches. Too few of the Dodger hitters seem to do so. Walker definitely deserved better. He didn’t miss many bats and needs to find a new pitch or something but his defense didn’t help him. Hopefully the team can jump on Cease early. If they get the win tonight the Padres will need to start another pitcher on short rest or pitch a guy they didn’t want to pitch tonight.

  10. Jorge ValenzuelaOctober 9, 2024

    It’s not that I don’t have faith in the Dodgers, but how can I have faith in a team that seems defeated even before the start of the game?

    Plus, with so many injuries, it’s giving too much of an advantage to a team that not only seeks and needs to win, but also wants to humiliate and they do so in every turn at bat and in every out they get…

    The Dodgers have too many delicate pussycats, when what they need is a fucking lion!

    I’m sick of so many smiles, hugs and kisses to every player from the opposing team that reaches base.

    It’s still possible, remember when they were down 1-3 against Atlanta, and they ended up winning the World Series!

    It doesn’t matter if Machado ran inside or wherever he wants, they still lost, enough with the stupid excuses!

  11. MrfOctober 9, 2024

    I missed the fact that Machado got into the running path, which was obviously done on purpose. The commentators and cameraman were so focused on Freddy, trying to field the ball off his knees that they can completely missed the fact that Machado was running on the grass and was doing so on purpose. That should’ve been something argued by the Dodgers at that time.

    I’d like to see a little grit on the field tonight. There needs to be some elbow thrown as far as I’m concerned and some determination that they actually want to win this thing.

  12. Brian PerkinsOctober 9, 2024

    I’m not panicked; you’re panicked.

  13. DanoOctober 9, 2024

    I know I sound like a broken record, but I am confident that the Dodgers will win tonight. I am also confident I’ll be saying wait till next year if they lose. I’m going to enjoy tonight because tomorrow may never come. I’m a big Knack fan. He is raw and inexperienced, but we need him to be a beast. Now, who wants to step up and be a hero?

    Book em

  14. DavidOctober 9, 2024

    Maybe let Barnes start today?

  15. MattOctober 9, 2024

    Win tonight and game 5 ANYTHING can happen.

    We were snakebit in that 2nd inning….DAMN

    Keep the faith. If Brasier can pass the ball to Knack putting up 1 or 2 zeroes I like our chances….

    Then you got Yamamoto at home for Game 5….

    We’ve done well vs Cease…

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