Pumpkin Nights or NLCS Game 6
Pumpkin Nights vs. Dodgers Baseball. That was my choice last night. Do I go with the family to see a festival of lights made from carved out pumpkins with various themes or do I stay home and watch Game 6? Well today they have a mechanism that allows you to record television shows, so you can watch them later. So, as you can see by the picture, I chose to
Pumpkin Nights vs. Dodgers Baseball. That was my choice last night. Do I go with the family to see a festival of lights made from carved out pumpkins with various themes or do I stay home and watch Game 6? Well today they have a mechanism that allows you to record television shows, so you can watch them later. So, as you can see by the picture, I chose to record the game and go spend quality time with my wife, daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons, and come back after the event and watch the game.
Unfortunately for me, I kept getting alerts during the evening advising me of all of the bad things going on in the game. It was not fun watching the game knowing how the game ends. But I needed to press on.
Before I left for Pumpkin Nights, I got to watch the Dodgers half of the 1st inning live. The game got off to a positive start with leadoff hitter David Freese hitting a HR for a 1-0 lead. Then I left and the Brewers teed off on Hyun -jin Ryu. They batted around to score 4 runs on 5 hits in the bottom of the 1st. So, after 1, the Dodgers were down 4-1 with a nemesis, Wade Miley, pitching against them. The Dodgers had a look in the 5th after a Freese double scored Brian Dozier for his 2nd RBI on the night, making the score 5-2. As it turns out, Freese was the only one with a RBI on the night. After a walk to Muncy, the Dodgers brought the tying run to the plate…twice. Neither Justin Turner or Manny Machado could continue the rally, and for all practical purposes the game was over after the top of the 5th. Jesus Aguilar had a 3 hit – 3 RBI night. Maybe Machado should worry more about making contact than hitting Aguilar’s leg at 1B. It seems to have awoken a sleeping giant.
Ryu could only go 3 innings, so it was left to the bullpen to keep the Dodgers in the game. Urias, Wood, Floro, and Ferguson were very good. Not so much Maeda or Hill. The Brewers only used 3 relievers and Josh Hader was not one of them. They did not need him as the Dodgers did not get another hit after the 5th. Only one baserunner on a HBP. The Dodgers had 5 hits and 9 strikeouts. This was not a good night for the Dodgers. But it is only 1 game, and neither the Dodgers or Brewers have done anything yet except get to a Game 7.
The season has now come down to one game. Game 163 deja vu? It is a repeat of Game 3…Buehler vs Chacin. It is very hard to predict which Chacin the Dodgers will face. Will it be the pitcher the Dodgers trounced 21-5 or the pitcher who beat LAD in Game 3? Will Buehler be the pitcher in Game 163 or the pitcher in NLCS Game 3. I am comfortable in believing that Buehler will pitch a memorable game and the Dodgers will prevail. I am going to hold on to that thought until Game 7 starts and watch the Dodgers beat the Brewers at their yard.
Tonight I have another dilemma. Both the NLCS Game 7 and the USC game is on at 5:00 PM. But I will not tape the LAD game. That did not work out too well for Game 6. It looks like I will be recording the Trojans for a later viewing, after watching a Dodger champagne bath.
Let’s go to Boston.
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Discussion (173)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Totally agree with Mark on the Jeckyll and Hyde thing. This team has been so unpredictable this season, it’s been like a box of damn chocolates. While this line up doesnt really turn me on much, and I still wish Freese was in there, we could turn around and score 7 runs in the first 3 innings, or have Chacin pitch a complete game shutout. We are somewhere in the middle of that. Probably the most difficult Dodger team to read in years for me. Nothing makes sense this year, either good or bad. I have no idea what to expect, except the usual Joe Buck irritation. Really like Smoltz, he is right down the middle. He would be great paired with Joe Davis. Buck just makes me want to vomit sometimes.
JUST WIN
I assume that since he’s in the lineup, that Joc’s wrist is OK.
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Smoltz has mentioned it numerous times, I’ve noticed it, and so probably has just about everyone in this site. And that is that JT has been uncharacteristically going outside the strike zone and swinging and missing high fastballs. And although I don’t recall hearing anything about it, it appears to me that Muncy has been seeing a heavier diet of braking pitches.
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Definitely would like to see the Dodgers’ hitters hitting away from the shift, especially with runners on. Do enough of that and sooner or later you will probably see some pitches in your wheel-house.
Lineup is out:
Joc
Muncy
JT
Manny
Belly
Puig
CT3 (2b)
Barnes
Buehler
Apparently Dave Roberts doesn’t believe in other things long considered to be ‘sound baseball’
I am never going to give up on JT or Machado. For all the negative press he has been getting, Machado is still a lethal offensive weapon. I would prefer Freese to Max.
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Thinking of Joc’s HBP last night, and JT’s and others earlier in the series, when was the last time a Dodger pitcher “retaliated”?
Well it’s come down to this.
Certainly after the disappointment of last night, it feels like momentum and home field is certainly against us.
However, if I had to chose a Starter it would be Beuhler, and Baseball has a funny habit of biting you in the arse, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Hader gave up the winning hit.
JT, Manny & Max has some horrid ABs last night, I fancy them to turn things around.
I don’t care as much that they lost game 6… it was more the way they lost it. Regardless of what happened with Ryu… the approach at the plate from most of the players for most of the game was just awful.
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And maybe it’s true that they only had the “single them to death” mentality in game 5 because of the time of day of the game and the shadows that they were going to have to deal with on the field. But however they got there… they should have realized right then that that was the best approach moving forward against this team and any other team they might face in the future.
Hopefully they’ll take that same approach tonight that they did in game 5… I think it’s the only way to win a game 7 on the road against the type of pitchers that they have lined up.
Victor Victor Mesa, Victor Mesa Jr. Expected To Sign With Marlins
J-Hair was livid last night on the Dodger post game show that we took Freese out after he hit a bomb and a double. I agree with Hairston, you gotta leave that guy in the WHOLE game this time. He has been there, he can handle the pressure. Also, if you read some of the articles on ESPN and MLB, we may as well pack it up and clean the clubhouse out, because they all got the Brewers and their 8 time Cy Young reliever Hader winning tonight. All of a sudden the Brewers offense is a powerhouse and Counsell is a crafty manager. Amazing what one victory will do to the media harlots. I would love for us to smoke these guys tonight and have Joc or Kike hit one of their postseason bombs off of Hader to shut the media and the cheeseheads up.
At least hopefully tonight, Turner will be hitting second like he normally does.
I know both Turner and Manny didn’t get that big hit when runners were in scoring position last night, but it is hard to keep Turner down that long.
I looked at Muncy’s numbers in this series, and he has struck out 10 times in 18 at bats, so he has not been getting it done, either.
When we have Turner and Manny hitting back to back, a pitcher can pitch around them, much easier.
And the way Muncy is striking out in this series, he is not providing much protection for Turner and Manny, and he shouldn’t be hitting second, either.
And Cody is not being patient enough, to provide that protection on the other side of Turner and Manny.
It is to bad the Dodgers refuse to have Freeze hit against righties, because I think he can be patient enough with Chacin, to not give him any easy out.
Because hitters have to be more patient, when it comes to Chacin.
And Freeze had even splits against both righties and lefties, before he was traded to the Dodgers, and unlike many on this team, Freeze will hit the ball the other way.
And Adam, I don’t want to hear that Ryu was tipping pitches after we are eliminated, so we have to win this one tonight.
I suspect that whether or not Joc is in the lineup tonight will depend on whether or not he develops any stiffness or whatever as a result of getting hit on the wrist last night. Not saying that this is going to happen, but if the wrist got considerably worse overnight, could he be disabled and replaced, for example, by Verdugo?
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Given that for the most part Austin Barnes has not hit, I wonder if we might see Grandal in tonight’s staring lineup given that a righthander is starting.
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Otherwise I’ll just hope for the best. I don’t have a clue as to which Dodger team will show up tonight.
It sure looked like the Brewers hitters knew what Ryu was going to throw in the 1st inning. I don’t now if he was tipping pitches, but they sure were ready for it.
JT, Machdo and Muncy have to produce tonight. Not expecting much out of Joc, Bellinger, Barnes et al, but JT, Machado and Muncy will have their RBI opportunities and MUST come through. If they don’t win tonight we get a start on the off season which will include the purging of the roster and coaching staff to include all or a combination of Grandal, Machado, Ryu, Puig, Turner Ward and probably Honeycutt.
I think Doc survives unless he is frustrated with the much speculated FO line-up machinations and decides he’s had enough. Some fans expect the FO to fire Doc but no manager is getting fired after taking the team to the NLCS three years in a row. If he’s gone it’s because he has decided to leave.
Lets win game #7, win the WS and let that roster stuff sort itself out in December. We got this!!!!!!!
Let’s face it, we have some big holes in our lineup. The catcher position, Taylor, Belli, and the pitcher’s spot. Right now they are not producing consistantly and it is hard to win with only 5 batters out of 9.
I will be keeping an eye on both USC and the Dodgers just like you Mark. My daughter is even worse, she used to work at Oregon and they are all on at the same time so she has to choose between three.
I have confidence that the kid will throw a dandy, not so much in the Dodger bats showing up. Those bats (showing up or not showing up) have been the story of the season.
The Dodgers do not do anything easy this year. From the beginning of the year when they fell nearly ten games back, to needing a weekend sweep of the Giants just for a chance at a NL West Championship, and then Game 163. Each time the team had their backs against the wall, they somehow found a way to fight through to play another game. The last “must” win game was Game 163 and Doc turned to the new Kid…this one named Buehler. It worked for Game 163 so I have a lot of confidence that he persevere yet again and throw a dandy. I also just do not see Chacin getting as wide a strike zone as he got for Game 3, and this time the Dodgers bats will jump on him. This Game 7 is going to end up a Dodger victory.
AC – no choice between Pumpkin Nights and Dodger Baseball. I would choose Pumpkin nights every time! I love the Dodgers, I love watching a Dodger game, but there is no replacement for family time. That’s an experience and memory that will keep on giving. In fact, I don’t ever recall having a family time where we discussed meaningful memories, where we discussed sitting around and watching a Dodger game. However, Pumpkin nights and the like come up all the time.
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One game to go – we rely on a rookie pitcher in an extremely hostile environment. We have an offense that’s running 2 cylinders, and other than that we’re good to go. Things are looking good for the boys in blue.
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After watching the last 6 innings of last nights game, I have to say that Dodger fans are blessed to have Joe Davis announce their games. At times I think I would rather have a root canal without novacaine than have to listen to Joe Buck drone on and on about how good the Brewers are, how smart Greg Counsell is and that the Brewers are going to win game seven simply because they didn’t have to us Hader in game 6. The man, and his cohorts are insufferable!
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Final note about last night, I thought Urias looked very strong and composed in his one inning. I understood the situation, but I would have liked to see him go another inning or two.
We all know anything’s possible with this team. Win big. Lose a close, frustrating one. Nothing will shock me.
Win or win not. There is no try.
Nothing to say about game 6, let’s play game 7.
The Dodgers are Dr. Jekyll and they are getting under my Hyde!
Two things:
Does Buehler pitch the gem he is capable of, or a stinker?
What bats show up; The ones who produce, or the swing and miss little leaguers?
Not a lot of confidence either way with Jekyll & Hyde
Got to keep Brewers from having any inning as bad as the 1st inning was for Dodgers in game 6. I hope if things start looking bad there’s a mind get Kershaw in there. All hands on deck! When Brewers bring in Hader Dodgers should bring in Jansen. Or so is the current thought inside this skull. I admit I haven’t thought that through very deep and I’ll have many other thoughts due to the panicking I’m suffering following last night’s loss. I hope I fall in love all over again with baseball tonight. At this moment it’s killing me.
David Freeze or Max Muncy?, David Freeze or Max Muncy.?…. I just can’t make up my mind! Oh, there was so much wrong with the Dodgers last night I can’t really pick on any one individual. But that question keep rattling around in my brain….David Freeze or Max Muncy?