Rant & Rave Sunday
The Dodgers will play the Brewers in Milwaukee on Monday, and change is in the air: The Brewers were 6-0 against the Dodgers this year. The Dodgers want revenge and are motivated to win back-to-back World Series titles and become the first team to do so since the Yankees won…
- The Dodgers will play the Brewers in Milwaukee on Monday, and change is in the air:
- The Brewers were 6-0 against the Dodgers this year. The Dodgers want revenge and are motivated to win back-to-back World Series titles and become the first team to do so since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000. Next year, they will try to equal that record.
- It’s possible they only keep two catchers – which two? Or maybe they keep all three?
- Will they keep Dean and Kim? Kim can be a weapon, and Dean can play CF. Kike is evidently dealing with an injury that prevents him from playing CF, and Alex Call has little experience there.
- Tommy Edman is nursing a gimpy ankle, further complicating the situation.
- They say they are going to add a pitcher (they can carry 13 + Ohtani). I think that would be wise. What pitchers? Scott is not an option. My guess: 1. Snell 2. Yamamoto 3. Glasnow 4. Sheehan 5. Banda 6. Dreyer 7. Vesia 8. Wrobleski 9. Casparius 10. Henriquez or Klein 11. Treinen 12. Casparius 13. Sasaki – I left Clayton off! They likely will include him.
- Is Kopech or Yates healthy?
- The Arizona Fall League is underway, and the Dodgers are represented by Josue DePaula, Nico Perez, Logan Wagner, Jesus Galiz, Jakob Wright, Justin Chambers, Payton Martin, Alex Makarewich, and Hyun-Seok Jang. They have had two games postponed by rain.
- MLB rated the Top 5 starting pitchers of the four remaining playoff teams as follows: 1. Snell, 2. Ohtani, 3. Gilbert, 4. Yamamoto, 5. Yesavage
- MLB Playoff Power Rankings: #1 DODGERS: “The Dodgers, you might not remember now, were actually the No. 3 seed in the National League heading into these playoffs. Their start-and-stop regular season, which never seemed to get in a groove, may finally be nestling into one now. That’s in large part because they finally have their pitching lined up. The rotation is healthy (and often dominant), the lineup has all its key pieces in place now that Will Smith is back, and the bullpen now features Roki Sasaki, the sort of high-leverage weapon that wins teams championships. This is the team the Dodgers have been waiting for all year.”
- Reason For Concern: Whenever the Dodgers lineup would struggle this year, it could always count on Shohei Ohtani to be consistently transcendent. Well, Ohtani has picked the worst possible time to have his worst slump of the season. He was 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts in the NLDS and spent an inordinate amount of time shaking his head and muttering to himself on the way back to the dugout. The Phillies and all of their tough left-handers provided a uniquely difficult matchup, but still, Ohtani didn’t look like himself. The Dodgers, fair to say, need him to change that.
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Discussion (78)
Disagree, not disagreeable
that performance by Blake Snell was one of the best performances of our lifetimes! thank goodness the bullpen didn’t screw it completely up!! Snell has the best stuff in baseball! A few others throw harder, but nobody has the complete array of pitches Snell has . So all the so called experts who screamed the dodgers wasted a boat load of money on him, Stick it! The Dodgers got exactly what they wanted last night. ….. Give Andy Pages a little credit. That bunt was critical last night! I’m for giving Teo a break on that play. It was an impossible read. i guess maybe he should have stayed on the base and tagged, but who knows? …. Trienan finally got a big out last night! Thank goodness turan struck out on a pitch out of the strike zone, if the count had gone full?
Snell was the first pitcher in playoff history to face the minimum of 24 batters through eight innings since Don larson’s 1956 perfect world series game. And by the way, he said he felt he could have gone out for the 9th but he trusted Roberts to know what he was doing.
Teo definitely messed up. Considering where that ball was hit, with less than 2 outs, the runner on 3base should be tagging up, ready to advance the moment the ball touches the glove. You could also make a case for the runner at 2base, but one could justify the runner on 2base wanting to take a lead in hopes of scoring another run if the ball is in play.
The Brewers got lucky on that play, but this is playoff baseball; hence, the crapshoot element of the equation.
Go Dodgers!
Teo running down the third base line and then going BACK to third base apparently really threw Will Smith for a loop at second base.
I am a little surprised at Teo on 3rd with that bases loaded fiasco. He should know that when a fly ball hits a fielder’s glove you immediately take off for home. It doesn’t matter if the ball comes out and goes back into his glove or not. The Dodgers should have had that 1 run, if not more. Oh well, let’s hope tomorrow’s game is not a nail biter. Hope the Dodgers win by a big margin!
Go Dodgers!!
Snells 8 innings were effortless to watch.
In the 9th every pitch was a fatiguing experience
Blake wins. Blake saves.
Brewers hitters are 11 for their last 90 at the plate (.122)
Not the ideal time to start slumping.
Dave Roberts, on removing Snell, said potentially starting on regular rest his next time out was a factor.
Dave Roberts felt good going to Roki Sasaki in the 9th inning tonight, but it was a tough decision to pull Blake Snell after the 8th inning and it was 50/50:
“2-run lead, I felt good with Roki there… He was off a little bit, stuff was still good but just missing. Just kind of getting on how he’s saying he feels and the coaches.”
“Offensively we were very good tonight, took good AB’s, obviously there were some crazy things that happened. To see Blake come in and close it out, that’s big for his confidence.”
On Snell, overall:
“This was as good as I can remember him in the postseason… you’re not going to see too many performances like that, this was special.”
On Milwakee:
“That team is going to fight, we know what we’re up against. You got to give credit to those guys, they took the walks, ultimately we had to put the ball over the plate.”
Happiest guy on the the planet right now is “Roberts”:)
Whew….
I don’t know if Snell told Roberts that he was sore and wanted to come out. But I doubt it.
If a starting pitcher is dominating the competition, keep in there until the cracks show.
Snell had 10 Ks and zero walks while allowing just one hit in 8 innings.
And the Dodgers nearly blew the game in the 9th.
I hated putting Sasaki in. I hated taking him out but it worked out. Game 1 to the good guys.
The Big Dodger in the Sky did this!
Tommy and Vin were in on this!
No other explanation.
Gosh, I’m an optimistic fan, but I really don’t love going with Treinen.
OMG, I need a doctor!
Oh wow…. Treinen .
Yes, I guess baseball is like rolling the dice.
Gosh, I’m an optimistic fan, but I don’t love going with Treinen here.
Too hot for Roki
Well, fuck…
Snell was dominating and had issued ZERO walks.
There is no rule against having a pitcher throw a complete game.
Now the Dodgers could be a swing away from losing.
Sasaki has never faced this…
We will see what he is made of.
My view:
Nice bunt by Pages!
Agreed
If they don’t win it would be Robert’s damn it you do or if you don’t
I might bring him out in the 9th with Sasaki warming up.
Leave him in or take him out – there is no right answer!
I missed the play while picking up my wife at the airport, but I was listening on the radio, and the announcers seemed utterly baffled by what happened.
It was only when they viewed the replay that they figured out what happened.
I don’t want to see Snell coming out of this game without a good reason. As I write this, he has a one-hitter over 5 innings with six Ks…. Only 65 pitches thrown…. and Freddie just homered.
As my 16-year-old son would say, “Let him cook.”
Well Teo is a disaster except with hopefully his bat.
Should have scored twice in that inning!