Keep The Faith
I don’t know how to react to last night’s game. There was so much bad that happened and a lot of good. It is easy to concentrate on the 2-out walk to the pitcher followed by a grand slam HR. However, Buehler followed that by retiring the next 10 batters, including 4 strikeouts. It is entirely plausible that without that walk to Newcomb, the Dodgers shutout the Braves for third
I don’t know how to react to last night’s game. There was so much bad that happened and a lot of good. It is easy to concentrate on the 2-out walk to the pitcher followed by a grand slam HR. However, Buehler followed that by retiring the next 10 batters, including 4 strikeouts. It is entirely plausible that without that walk to Newcomb, the Dodgers shutout the Braves for third straight game. It would be very understandable that Buehler was still thinking of the walk to a pitcher when he squared off against Acuna Jr. Nobody knows what was in his head at the time.
The offense did not stop working with a two out two run single by JT in the 3rd. CT3 hits a two run HR and then Max Muncy hits a solo to tie the score.
The key inning was the 6th with Matt Kemp starting it with a ground rule double. Bellinger does his job by getting Kemp to 3rd with less than 2 outs. Unfortunately, Kike’ hits a ground ball right to Charlie Culberson who made a perfect throw to the plate and nailed Kemp. That did not take the wind out of the Dodgers sail, but that year-long problem by not getting key hits with RISP was ever present.
What was also ever present was that the bullpen did not come through when they needed to. Freddie Freeman hits a HR on the first pitch he sees from Alex Wood, and the Braves get that 6-5 lead they do not give up. I am not going to make excuses that Alex is not a reliever, he just made a bad pitch to a good hitter who happens to hit LHP very well. Madson, Baez, and Alexander followed and did pitch well. Hopefully that will better play out as the playoffs progress.
Brian Dozier gets a pinch hit single in the 8th and gets to second on a wild pitch, was stranded when Puig grounded out. Joc Pederson leads off the ninth and wins a great battle against Arodys Vizcaino with a 10 pitch AB that ended in a rocket single to RF. The question was did he hit it too hard. That issue went away with a walk to JT. Max Muncy comes up and goes 3-0 before striking out, and Manny Machado strikes out on a couple of bad pitches. Dozier then followed suit with a strikeout to end the game.
All in all, the Dodgers had runners in scoring position in the 6th, 8th, and 9th and could not get them home. They were 1-9 overall with RISP. I choose not to get too wrapped up in that scenario during the playoffs. There will be plenty of time to discuss this after the downtown parade in LA.
Most, if not everyone, knows that I am a huge Alex Wood fan, and it hurts that he gave up the HR. Would the Dodgers have been better off with Josh Fields as a reliever? I do not know. Woods did not give up many HRs, and generally pitched to soft contact. But he got hit hard in this game. Will Wood get the ball again in a high leverage situation? I doubt it. The playoffs is not the time to build up confidence.
Machado and Bellinger had horrible nights, but then again, both will have other opportunities and one of their next ABs may be a game winner.
Atlanta is going to throw Foltynewicz in Game 4, and since he only threw 50 pitches in Game 1, he should be sufficiently rested. The Dodgers counter with Rich Hill. Hill is a different pitcher once Chase Utley advised him as to how he was tipping his pitches. The Braves had problems hitting off-speed pitches in Games 1 and 2, and Hill seems to be a good counter to Foltynewicz.
Let’s hold off on the negatives. We can all come up with a bucket load. Let’s keep positive thoughts and hope they get all the way to Atlanta; Hill pitches 7 scoreless, Jansen closes out the 9th, and the Dodgers head to the NLCS for the third straight year. This team is resilient. When it looks the most bleak, that is when this team kicks it into gear. GO BLUE!!
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Discussion (127)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Another positive is that the Dodgers have had very good results with pinch hitters lately.
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Cody’s error and resulting throw to third base were big in that inning but Buehler will just have to settle in and bail his fielders out as they bail him and all pitchers out.
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His work after that inning was definitely a good sign. If it didn’t bother him that tomahawk chop forces me to turn the volume down or off. It is absolutely the most annoying thing in all of baseball for me.
I think or at least hope Bellinger works on his stance over the winter. The erect stance worked for him in his rookie year and that probably has made him cling to it.
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Taylor is swinging way too hard and is upper cutting too much. Yes he did hit a home run but the pitcher put the ball in maybe the only location that Taylor could hit the ball. He is a low ball hitter as is Puig.
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Manny is also over swinging. He is still young and this is the first time he is experiencing playoff intensity. He still has time to have a big post season.
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Wood, Stripling, and Stewart lost something and were not as good as they are capable of being. Hopefully it is only a temporary ailment and not something that would require major surgery. All three can be awesome. Every pitcher has given up a home run in relief. The game was lost when Newcomb was walked.
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With Joc stranded on third base, his streak of 8 consecutive playoff games with a hit and a run came to an end.
9 wins to go and 7 teams left. Could see both numbers reduced today. Dodgers need to come out sharp. Perfect guy on the mound. The comeback showed heart last night. Good to taste some blood in the mouth.
Courtesy of The Athletic:
“Without men on base in the regular season, the Dodgers were baseball’s best offense. Their .791 OPS was 52 points better than the National League’s next-best team: the Brewers, their NLCS opponent if they can advance. But with men in scoring position, their OPS fell to .760, 14th in baseball, 53 points behind the NL-best Braves.
The playoffs are a new, smaller sample with the same results. The Dodgers have three hits in 23 NLDS at-bats with runners in scoring position.”
I have heard a few fans blaming Dave Roberts for the Dodgers’ loss last night and I am going to have to say that is some really dumb $hit! I watched about a minute of a video blaming Roberts for the loss which has to be one of the most moronic things I have ever seen. What a waste of bandwidth!
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Buehler could have went another inning… maybe… but what if Doc had left him in and he game up a HR? Bringing Alex Wood in made prefect sense, even though it didn’t work. Let me list the reasons:
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1. Two LH Batter were up in a row and in case you don’t know, Wood is LH’ed!
2. The last time Wood faced Freeman, he struck him out.
3. Alex Wood had not given up a HR to a LH hitter all year… until last night, when he hung a curve.
4. In 170 Plate Appearances, LH batters have only gotten 8 extra base hits off Wood (all doubles).
5. Alexander was the other option, but he tends to walk a few hitters. Wood was the best option.
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It made perfect sense… but it didn’t work. Alex didn’t execute like he normally does. That’s not on Doc.
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That said, Vizcaino was filthy last night. He is so wild, that you have no idea where the ball is going, and he’s going to walk a lot of batters, but he’s very hard to hit. Hopefully, he won’t be effective tonight after about 30- pitches last night.
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The good thing is that the Dodgers pen should be fresh. This is a MUST win, Rich Hill!
The way we battled back after being down 5-0 bodes really well for today. We come into today not with the feeling of “Atl beat us’, but “we should’ve won that game”.
I like our chances today (I liked them yesterday as well, but oh well). Let’s finish this. I trust our guys.
Mark, I saw comments about blaming Doc on the other site and then I saw there as a video; I didn’t even bother because I didn’t care to know “why Doc was at fault.”
However, yes, Wood did strike out Freeman last time, but in his career Freeman is hitting over. 400 against Wood. Either way, it didn’t work. Let’s get it today.
And Watford, re your post on the last thread, you are correct. Bellinger looks clueless out there. so far.
Normally, Cody would bat against a RHP, but he is only 1-6 against Mike Foltynewicz and he could use a breather, I think. It’s a tough call, because he can break out at any time and he’s an elite base runner, and a plus defender, error aside.
i love day baseball but i think it’s ridiculous that the two best baseball days recently have both been Monday early games. there’s something wrong with the scheduling if we come out of a weekend and now immediately play two games [featuring both of last year’s WS combatants] before most people are even done with work. /rant
First, I mentioned that I would have kept Buehler in the game longer, but I never put any blame on anyone.
Because when Buelher was taken out, there was already two outs.
All year, we have had problems when runners are in scoring position, and our numbers in these situations when there is 2 outs is even worse, so I didn’t think that was a good enough situation, to take Buehler out of this game.
Because Buehler was pitching well, and had control of this game at that time, and I didn’t think the odds were good for us to get a hit, in that situation.
And I don’t know how anyone is blaming Roberts or Wood, when this team was only 1-9, when runners were in scoring position, last night.
The Braves were actually 1-1 in these situations last night, and that is a compliment to Buehler and our pitchers, that the Braves didn’t have many chances, like we did.
This is not Manny’s first time in the post season, the Orioles were in the play offs when Manny first came up to be the Orioles third baseman, and they were in the play offs, not to long ago.
Remember when the Oriole’s manager never used the best piece the Oriole’s had in the bullpen Britton, a couple years ago.
That was the season some were considering Britton in the Cy Young talk, that year.
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I think Cody’s error was the key to the game last night. If he doesn’t make that error or if he doesn’t compond it by throwing to third and letting the other runner get to second it changes everything. We would have pitched to Culberson because there would have been a runner on first. Even if we walk him (as we did the pitcher) the bases would have been full with the pitcher up. Throwing to the correct base is so important, ask Puig.
On the large sample size my 3 favorite Dodger heroes are probably the main reasons Dodgers made it to the post season for most of this last decade but I’ve read some things downright insulting to those players who gave us most hope. 1stly of that large sample is Clayton Kershaw who’s likely to be inducted the 1st round into HOF. But some at this site have expressed they don’t even want him with Dodgers the following seasons! Geez! 2ndly is Kenly Jansen who has the record for most Dodgers saves in the history of the franchise but somehow some voice how he can’t be trusted The 3rd would be Justin Turner, though he’s quieted those who just didn’t like his red hair or whatever but didn’t even want him given a chance while he blazed to elite status. However far we will get in these post seasons I credit those 3 the most. They’re not my only heroes on the team, just the ones I’ve defended the most. Nobody’s perfect and nobody ever did their best as there’s ALWAYS room for improvement.
Ugh. Grandal back in the 5 hole today. Now there is some to complain about when it comes to Roberts.
Pederson
Turner
Muncy
Machado
Yaz
Kike
Bellinger
Puig
Hill
Before last night’s game I expected the Dodgers to sweep. I an surprised that Buehler lost his mechanics and his release point. After what he did in Game 163 I figured he had ice water in his veins, but he was cranking his fastball in at 99 and not the 95 – 97 we usually see, so he was overthrowing. I was surprised after he walked the pitcher with the bases loaded that they didn’t make more of an effort to slow him down. After throwing 2 more fastballs high and away at 99 to Acuna, I figured he’d groove one and he did. This is part of his learning curve and it was one of the things that cost the Dodgers the game.
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The Dodgers were 1 for 9 RISP last night with 2 GIDP. They had 7 hits and 9 walks. Machado looks really horrible up there – he swings at a lot of bad balls. So does Puig.
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In Game 2 they had 5 hits, 3 walks and were 1 for 6 RISP. In Game 1 they had 5 hits and 8 walks and were 1 for 7 RISP.
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The fact is that they can’t expect to shut out the opposition every night. Someone has to start to hit with runners on base, but this is the team that they have had all season and it is folly I suppose to expect them to employ situational hitting in the postseason. It’s been interesting to listen to John Smoltz. It’s plain he doesn’t enjoy the all or nothing approach employed by most of the Dodgers but he really likes watching Turner hit. Turner is the only guy who seems to understand the need to change the swing with 2 strikes, with 2 outs or with RISP.
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By the way, I guess this makes me a naysayer too but as John Adams observed, “facts are stubborn things”.
Hawk, while I agree about Grandal batting 5, who else can we put there? Bellinger looks lost. Puig cant ever deliver with a big hit. And Kike has like 1 hit this series himself. Let’s hope 1 of them can get a big 2 run hit today.
I am not a Roberts fan, I think he is a poor game day manager,( actually his last 4 games have been really good) but last night was not on Roberts.
Career Win-Loss Percentage
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Walter Alston – .558
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Tommy Lasorda – .526
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Jim Tracy – .527
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Joe Torre – .533
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Don Mattingly – .551
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Dave Roberts – .589
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I’m just sayin’ he’s not bad for a poor game manager!
It was definitely not Roberts or Wood’s fault last night. If Walker gets the pitcher out and/or if we go just 2-9 WRISP… we win that game.
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I would have loved for WB to stay in there until the 7th… but it’s the right call to pinch hit for him in that spot, it just didn’t work out for us.
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Machado and Bellinger are a huge concern right now… both need to be in there, but both have looked terrible at the plate this series.
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Definitely not a fan of Grandal hitting 5th… mostly because it’s a spot in the lineup where you’ll have one or two guys on and two outs a lot of the time and he just strikes out too often. But like Bobby said… who else can we put there right now? I think Kemp is probably the best option there… but he’s not in the starting lineup.
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Hoping they can take care of business today… the rotation would be set up perfectly for the next series if they do.
My big fear re today, if it’s a close game, is a too-well-rested Maeda and Kenley coming in. They’ve not worked in a while!
OK, this home plate ump is already crap. WTF
Rick,
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Cummuative at-bats are if the Dodgers load the bases with no outs and Bellinger, Machado and Turner all strand them there, it’s 9 runners stranded (3 x 3), but in reality, it’s only 3! Not 9.
hill for 6, maeda for 1, ferguson for 1, jansen to close?
starting to think the score might hold
after a crummy day, advancing to the next round would be a nice elixir
Bellinger took the bat out of Puig’s hands.
Suzuki, of all people, gets a 2 out hit. Joc couldn’t. Hill wasn’t expected to. Difference in the game.