Kershaw Grinds LAD to Victory in Game 5
What a difference a night makes. After last night’s game I commented that the Dodgers need to come out swinging in the 1st against Glasnow. Mookie Betts leads off with an 8 pitch double followed by a run-scoring Corey Seager single, two wild pitches and Seager gets to third. JT strikes out, Muncy walks, Smith K’s and Belli comes up and gets an infield single to score Seager. After a
What a difference a night makes. After last night’s game I commented that the Dodgers need to come out swinging in the 1st against Glasnow. Mookie Betts leads off with an 8 pitch double followed by a run-scoring Corey Seager single, two wild pitches and Seager gets to third. JT strikes out, Muncy walks, Smith K’s and Belli comes up and gets an infield single to score Seager. After a 34 pitch 1st inning, the Dodgers are up 2-0.
Joc leads off the 2nd inning and crushes a HR into the back of the left center field bullpen putting the Dodgers up 3-0 after two. Joc is an absolute beast when it comes to October. He is a money player. That was his 9th career postseason HR for LAD. I read that he is the 5th Dodger in franchise history to hit HRs in three different WS. By the time this blog post is published someone will identify the other four.
Last night was not vintage Clayton Kershaw, but more junkyard dog Kershaw. His slider was not sharp. Not nearly as many swing and miss on that slider as in Game 1. But he was tough when his back was against the wall. He did not fold when the situation got threatening as he has done in prior October outings. CK allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base in each of the first four innings. In the bottom of the 3rd down 3-0, Kiermaier gets 30 foot single between the pitcher and catcher. Kershaw struck out Mike Zunino. But Yandy Diaz gets his third hit off CK with a triple scoring Kiermaier. Randy Arozarena singles Diaz home tightening the score to 3-2. CK ends the inning with a strike out (Lowe) throw him out as Arozarena was caught running on the pitch (Barnes to CT3).
Things started to look a little ugly in the fourth. Margot walks, steals second and goes to third on the missed catch by CT3. Renfroe walks putting runners on 1st and 3rd and nobody out with Joey Wendle coming up. CK gets Wendle to pop up and strikes out Adames. One out away from getting out of the inning, but that out is Kevin Kiermaier who is having a fantastic WS. But Margot, on his own, tries to steal home. Muncy calls out immediately to Kershaw, CK steps off, and throws to Barnes to get Margot out at the plate on an extremely close play. For all intents and purposes that was the game.
It looks like Tyler Glasnow is settling down, but Max Muncy absolutely kills a 99 MPH 4-seamer that caught way too much of the middle of the plate, putting the Dodgers up 4-2, the eventual final score.
CK comes out and gets his first three up and three down inning in the fifth. In doing so, he strikes out Kiermaier for his postseason career strikeout number 206 moving past Justin Verlander for #1 in postseason career strikeout list. He gets Zunino for strikeout #207, and finally gets Yandy Diaz on a ground ball to SS.
Kersh comes out for the 6th. Apparently in the dugout between innings, Doc and CK agreed that Kersh would face Arozarena and Lowe. On the first pitch, Arozarena hits a 105.4 MPH screaming ground ball to JT who makes another good defensive play to throw him out. Lowe swings at the first pitch and pops him up. Having already made up his mind, and not relenting to the JT lobbying for one more batter, Doc brings in Dustin May.
Many of us said that May and Gonsolin would both be asked to produce in critical game situations. This was a different more confident Dustin May. Dustin strikes out Manuel Margot on a 101+ MPH 4-seamer. In the 7th, May goes back out and faces Austin Meadows who is PH for Renfroe and proceeds to strike him out. Wendle goes the other way and hits a good drive into LF that Joc got a great jump on to run it down for out #2. I still submit that Joc reads the ball on balls hit at him and goes back on a ball as well as anyone (not as fast). Joc’s problems with reading balls were those in the gap. May gets Adames for the 3rd out of the inning.
The Rays relievers easily dispatched the Dodger hitters over the last two innings. The drama is going to come from the Dodgers bullpen. Kike’ Hernandez enters to play 2B and bat 8th for Joc, and CT3 moves to LF. May comes back out for the 9th and Kiermaier gets a leadoff single. Yoshi Tsutsugo PH for Zunino, who is still hitless in the WS. May gets Tsutsugo to flyout to CT3 in LF. After Ji-Man Choi is called on to PH for Diaz, May has done his job and is done for the night. VGon comes in to face Mike Brosseau who PH for Choi. Brosseau works him hard and wins the battle with a 9 pitch walk. Now VGon is in trouble with Arozarena coming up with a speedy runner in scoring position. Being aggressive, Arozarena swung at the first pitch and hit a routine fly ball to CF. Two pitches later, Brandon Lowe hits a little blooper into CF that Belli easily runs down.
The Dodgers go quietly in the 9th with Barnes drawing a 2 out walk, but Mookie strikes out on a 78.4 MPH slider.
Blake Treinen pitched in Game 3 (14 pitches), Game 4 (16 pitches), and enters Game 5 in a save opportunity. Manuel Margot greets Blake with his second hit of the night. Blake buckles down and strikes out Austin Meadows on 4 pitches with a 98.4 four4-seamer. Gets Wendle to fly out to Belli for out #2. And for good measure, Blake strikes out Willy Adames for the Dodger victory.
Kershaw is now 4-1 in the 2020 postseason, and now has a career postseason record of 13-12. He won two WS games for the first time in his career. His postseason ERA is 2.93, WHIP 0.91, with 37 K and 5 walks in 30.2 IP. Clayton Kershaw had a fantastic postseason, and when the team needed him most, he was up to the challenge and brought his team home.
Austin Barnes once again guided his pitcher through some tough situations, and had zero compunction to walk out and talk to CK when it was called for. Somebody intimated that maybe Barnes was getting too much credit because he was catching the Dodgers two best pitchers. He got the bullpen through in Game 5. He made sure that everyone was on the same page when VGon walked Brosseau and Arozarena coming up.
There was an interesting interview with Will Smith on the fateful Pedro Baez pitch where he missed badly with a fastball to Brandon Lowe. Apparently, Smith called for a change which Baez throws to lefties with great success, but Baez brushed him off and wanted the fastball. Smith said it was the pitchers choice and Baez threw the fastball that Lowe crushed. I have no idea how Barnes would have handled that, but I agree with Smith, the pitcher has to believe in the pitch he is throwing. In hindsight, maybe Smith goes out to talk with Baez to make sure. But I am not about to second guess Smith in that spot.
I was hard on Doc after Game 4, and I am not backing off that response. But the faith he shows in his players is quite often rewarded. May and Gonsolin have had a tough go of it of late. But Doc thought that May was ready for tonight, and he was right. Doc left himself open for second guessing. Even the announcers thought so. But as I wrote a couple days back, Doc was investing in his young guns and he would get a great reward on that investment. Well May paid some dividend tonight. PLEASE NO MORE FAITH IN BAEZ OR JANSEN THIS WS. Doc’s blind faith in those two pitchers has been a travesty.
The other player that he stuck with was Max Muncy. How many of us said to move him out of that #4 spot. Well if it weren’t for Corey Seager, Max would be on the short list for MVP. He is having a tremendous WS. In 5 games, he is batting .389/.522/.611/1.133.
For the WS, Joc is batting .400/.455/.700/1.155, but in a small sample size of 11 PA. For his career, in 69 games and 169 PA, Joc is batting .272/.345/.503/.849. Joc comes to play in October.
We have an off day on Monday so Blake Treinen can rest up and be ready for Game 6. The Dodgers will be the home team and are planning on sending Tony Gonsolin to start against LHSP former CY winner Blake Snell. Since Snell is LHP, we will see the RH bats. I am guessing that AJ and Kike’ will start in place of Joc and Austin. I predicted the Dodgers in 6, so I am expecting the Dodgers to bring it home on Tuesday.
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Discussion (100)
Disagree, not disagreeable
As a player and coach I had the ability to focus on the task at hand and not get nervous. I could be emotionless as a coach just keeping clear headed on the next moves while all hell was breaking loose around me. As a fan last night I was nervous as hell from the pre-game to the last strikeout. I mean stressed! Game 5 is so impactful and I so much wanted a win for the team and especially Kershaw, I was tied in knots.
Some thoughts on last night:
* What will it take to finally get the monkey off CK’s back? I hope last night was it. Can the media put his overblown past struggles to bed now? It’s old news. He’s a HOF’er and leave it at that. No “yeah buts” anymore.
* That said, I do not want to see him in relief the rest of the way. We have things called “Relief Pitchers” who are conditioned and paid to do that job.
* Margot’s attempted steal of home was daring and exciting. It was also a bad play. I wouldn’t have taken the bat out of Kiermaier’s hands. He was 2 for 3 and the best hitter at the bottom of their line up. It was close at home but not worth the risk to me.
* You don’t see many straight steal attempts of home. Stealing home usually happens as a result of a runner at first stealing 2nd and the run scores beating the relay home. One of my favorite plays is run at the college level. I’ve seen Arkansas or So. Carolina run it to perfection. With a left-handed pitch and runners at 1st and 3rd, the runner at first early breaks like a steal to second. The runner at 3rd reads that break and breaks home. The hope is the pitcher throws a pick off to first giving the runner from 3rd a jump and the opportunity to steal home. It’s all timing and if pitchers haven’t practiced against it, it works every time.
* The Dodger pitchers only walked 3 guys on the night. They also dominated the 5-9 spots in the order which went 2 for 17 (both hits Kiermaier’s) with 8 K’s. It really helps when you dominate the bottom of the order and don’t turn it over.
* So I sat bewildered as Doc hooked CK after 2 pitches (and 85 total) in the 6th, after a clean 5th and retiring the last 7 on 20 pitches. I was amazed to see May. I again was stunned to see May pulled after 30 pitches in the 8th. I guess Doc was trying to burn Choi, but I wanted to see May finish the inning. So after the night before, these were bold decisions by the braintrust. I’m thinking “THIS BETTER WORK”. And unlike the night before. IT DID. Unconventional but Goat to Genius in 24 hours.
* To sum it up in a word, it’s “you-never-know”
Those two ab’s from Gonzalez to Arozarena and Lowe could have won the WS for us! Outstanding young man!
Baseball America picks Gonsolin as ROY
Open on www.dodgersnation.comhttps://www.dodgersnation.com/dodgers-baseball-america-picks-tony-gonsolin-as-their-rookie-of-the-year/2020/10/26/Congrats to the Catman on that honor. He did do some great work. But I doubt he gets the ROY from the writers. If the Dodgers have a lead of more than 3 runs tomorrow, I let Jansen have the 9th with pitchers up behind him. The 9th in that loss was not all on Jansen. And none of those hits was smoked. Granted, he is not the same guy he was even in 2017. But with a lead like that he can get 3 outs.
What a Rollercoaster Ride that one was. Think I’ve aged a bit this Post Season.
Gotta be honest – this season has been absolutely fantastic whatever the outcome. Some brilliant games, moving one way and then the other. It makes me realise why I love this game more than any other.
Max has gone mad. He has rounded into firm at just the right time. Props to Doc for sticking with him. Our 2,3,4 have been on fire.
Imagine being a Rays fan every time the top of our order comes up!
Will Smith is young – he will make mistakes, but he is gonna have a great career in the game hitting the way he does. There would be 29’ takers if he were on the trade market.
Very pleased for Dustin May. He showed a lot of guts in that situation having been less than stellar in his previous couple of outings. Again credit to Doc for trusting him. He also gonna be a cornerstone of our rotation for years to come.
When Tampa had 1st & 3rd with no outs against Kershaw I totally feared the worst. What happened next showed why he is an All Time Great.
That was gutsy.
And what about Victor Gonzalez?
Not many here could have seen him pitching in that high leverage situation before the season started.
Gotta also say that Blake Treinen has been a huge pick up in light of what has happened to Kenley.
I think we will soon be able to see if Gonzo is in for a long night quickly, because as Badger has said, he hasn’t had so much movement on his pitches the last twice, so I’m sensing a short leash.
So for the second time in 4 years we need to win one more game.
This time we will.
Very nice Watford, good points and comments. Hope you and family are well in sunny England.
Good to know Smith called the correct pitch on Lowe. Baez has to know why he was chosen to pitch to lefties. He’s never been the brightest bulb. I’m starting Smith with Gonsolin. They’ve come up together and know each other. Smith caught him all year when he was dealing. Facing Snell the Dodgers need a bat too. With a days rest, I think Smith gets back to hitting.
Love what if’s jeff, we would be champions if Gonzalez was inserted, and if Robert’s turned to anyone but Baez in game 5 we would be champions, insanity definitely.
Catman could get some votes for ROY, like the job he did,
Timmons and Bear you get the positivity, half glass full award. You are both better people then me.
I want to close it in six, but there is a side of me wants even more Walker and Kersh in game 7. Putting to rest the bull shit narrative about the living legend CK.
AJ Pollock needs a big game 6 to finish off a great year. Somebody at the bottom of the lineup of one of these teams will be the difference maker. Seems to happen a lot
Well it quit snowing, but it is supposed to be back tomorrow. And it is still cold. We will see if it changes over the next week or so. I just want this over ASAP.
One more.
This is for Watford or any other person who has been around here longer than I have and happens to know.
Is Watford an American living in England or an Englishman who happens to be a Dodger baseball fan? If the latter, I’d love to know how he became interested in baseball and the Dodgers in particular.
On Sunday, after the game, a lot of people were saying they felt the Dodgers were going to be adversely affected because of what happened. Well, they debunked that idea. And they turned the tables and put all the pressure back on Tampa. They are the ones in must win mode now. I think the Dodgers will be fine. So far they have rose to every challenge put in front of them, and they are on a mission. I think the mission gets accomplished tomorrow. I think they do not want it to go to seven any more than their fans do.
I’m keeping an eye on the skies and on the evacuation map. The Silverado Fire is within a few miles of us. So far the high winds have pushed it west, and we are south of it. Rams game about to start. Hope the wind dies down soon.
Watching a new Larry the Cable Guys special on Prime. That guy is still hilarious. Can’t wait for the game tomorrow.
From FiveThirtyEight:The Dodgers have dominated statistically
Head-to-head comparison in key metrics for the 2020 World Series
LOS ANGELES CATEGORY TAMPA BAY
.264 Batting average .228
.354 On-base % .288
.506 Slugging % .420
.859 On-base plus slugging .708
4.03 Earned run average 5.93
4.06 Fielding-independent pitching 5.83
71.3 Defensive efficiency % 69.3
75.4 Left-on-base %* 75.1
83% to 17% Dodgers win the WS
Those are some heavy odds.
We should be going for the jugular in game 6, start Walker and make Julio available. Do not like the laying down by Robert’s and crew and the talk of preparation for the most unpredictable game in sports World Series game 7’s. Go for the win, like William stated act like a dynasty not just a one year shot in the pan. Finally stating your plan, even more troublesome. Act like you belong and are far in away the best team, way to passive, Robert’s strikes again.
Absilve, so you think that starting Buehler on 3 days rest against the ace of the Tampa staff is going for the jugular, and that pitching him in a game 7 on normal 4 days rest against Charlie Morton is laying down. Everybody is entitled to their opinion.