Right Back In!
I watched every painful pitch yesterday and was certain that the Baseball Gods were frowning on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Every missed call went for the Braves and even weak contact resulted in a hit for them. I was about ready to concede that the Big Dodger in the Sky was…
I watched every painful pitch yesterday and was certain that the Baseball Gods were frowning on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Every missed call went for the Braves and even weak contact resulted in a hit for them. I was about ready to concede that the Big Dodger in the Sky was punishing Dodger fans for berating his beloved manager… until the bottom of the eighth inning! Little did I know that the Big Dodger in the Sky had a plan. That plan involved the two most reviled Dodger players: Cody Bellinger and Kenley Jansen. Earlier in the season, most Dodger fans wanted Kenley sent back to Curacao and even more recently most fans wanted Cody Bellinger left off the post-season roster and traded to the Marlins.
The Big Dodger in the Sky decided not to punish all Dodger fans by letting them lose the game, He just decided to punish all the dumb ones who wanted this team to be rid of Jansen and Bellinger. Trailing 5-2 with two runners on, Cody hit one of his patented Belli Bombs, and then in the top of the 9th inning, Kenley Jansen came in and absolutely smoked the Braves hitters, striking out the side! “Take that“, the Big Dodger said!
Buehler didn’t have his best stuff. I am sure it was because Dave Roberts caused it. Roberts is a bad manager > Buehler didn’t have his best stuff > Roberts is s bad manager. Rest assured that if Julio does not have his best stuff tonight, you will blame Doc, so be consistent and blame him for last night as well! Actually, you have to blame the organization, because they made the decision to fight to win the NL West Championship and they fought like hell, but still fell short. Many pitchers on the Dodgers are running on fumes, which is why I felt the Dodgers should have rested their pitchers the last two weeks of the season and be content with the Wild Card, which they ended up with anyway.
That was my opinion, but if I wanted to be like many of you, I would say it was stupid for them to do that and that proves they are bad managers or GM’s. IT IS AN OPINION! It was not right or wrong. IT IS AN OPINION! The same is true with bringing in Urias to pitch in game 2. I did not like it either, but it proves nothing, except that you have something against Dave Roberts and use every opportunity to exploit it. The problem is not Doc – the problem is that you need a Doc! OK, I am going to quit beating that Donkey, but you need to take a closer look at yourselves, not Doc.
Doc never lost faith in Jansen and Bellinger and that is part of the reason the Dodgers won last night. Kenley Jansen will blow more saves (hopefully not this offseason) and Bellinger will strikeout, but last night we saw what they can be. Personally, I want both of them to be on my team. I have heard that Kenley has a “fragile psyche.” How do you know that? He has fragile mechanics, but a fragile psyche? Ha Ha! To have been through what he has, the man has a psyche of Kevlar coated stainless steel! Again, the fan with the 30,000-foot view has it wrong.
Make no mistake about it: This team is tired! This team is banged up! They are just going to have to suck it up. No one took BP on the field last night… and that was for the best! It is going to take some steely resolve to win this. Hopefully, Julio can do what he thinks he can do. He wanted to come into Game 2 and he did strike out his last two hitters. Buehler was not sharp last night and that is not on Doc. If Urias is not sharp tonight are you going to put all the blame on Dave Roberts, or could it just be that everyone is wearing down to some degree?
If you happen to be a Roberts Hater, we know what you will do, no matter what the facts may be. The Dodgers miss Max Muncy, but he ain’t coming back. The Braves are missing Acuna, Soler, and Ozuna! They have to play the hand they are delt and they were missing Freedy Freeman… until last night. He got well on Walker Buehler. I do not believe the Dodgers can pitch their way out of this. They are going to have to hit and run their way out.
The Braves pitchers are getting tired as well and the more the Dodgers see them, the better they will hit them. That also works the same way with the Braves hitters. Of the four teams left in the postseason, the Dodgers have scored the fewest runs in the LCS – 12. They need to crank it up! They are running at will on d’Arnaud and have not been caught in 8 attempts. Here are the Dodgers Top Hitters this post-season, by batting average
- Betts – .412
- Taylor – .320
- Smith – .313
- Bellinger – .292
- Lux – .250
- Seager – .222
- Pollock – .208
- Pujols – .200
- T-Turner – .200
- Souza – .167
- Beaty – .111
- J-Turner – .097
It’s pretty clear who needs to step up. They need to do it right about now. Tonight is a bullpen game for the Braves. I can sense an offensive explosion is imminent!
- Carson Taylor is hitting .500 with a HRv in 4 AB’s.
- Kody Hoese is batting .375
- Jacob Amaya is hitting .333
- James Outman is at .182
It’s very early in the season.
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Discussion (153)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Headline: DODGERS LOSE UGLY — Braves Scalp Uninspired Dodgers – Questions remain about Urias’s relief appearance.
Giants fan here.
Getting a bit tight around the neck I imagine, eh? Another choke job coming up? I think so!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Who knew that Rosario was the pickup of the year at the deadline!! Props to Anthopoulos
Betts 0-4. That’s a problem. In a HUGE game like tonight.
I wouldn’t have believed they could play that bad IN THEIR OWN HOUSE after the HUGE momentum of yesterday’s comeback win.
I doubt a 14 pitch one inning outing had anything to do with how bad he was tonight. He left way too many pitches up in the zone and the Braves hammered them.
Match the player with the following NLCS post season offensive stats:
.214 avg, .389 OBP, .286 SLG
.167 avg, .167OBP, .167 SLG
.000 avg, .286 OBP, .000 SLG
.200 avg, .333 OBP, .200 SLG
All you need to know about why the Dodgers are down 3-1 is right there. We can debate the use of Urias in game #2, some of Doc’s decisions, the 4.2 inning start by Scherzer, the BP game in game #1 or any other reason why we’re down 3-1, but the reason we are is Betts, Trea Turner, Lux, and JT are doing very little in either getting on base or coming up with a big hit when most needed.
Dodgers were down to three very good starters, no fourth starter at all. And all three of them are worn out and overworked. Maybe it was not avoidable, but so far we have used Scherzer in relief in an understandable situation, and he said his arm was dead even when they gave him an extra day off. Urias substantially lost speed on his fastball in both the very unnecessary relief appearance, and then coming back to start three days later. Buehler is just tired, has tailed off the last month, though did pitch very well in the last regular season game.
In retrospect, while I did not want us to concede the division to the Giants, maybe they should not have used Buehler then, because the odds were high that the Giants would win, making our game irrelevant. And even if they lost, we would still have to go up there for a playoff game, and if we lost that, then a Wildcard game against St. Louis. Having Buehler get that game off would have helped all our pitchers, And we could have won it anyway.
I felt, and I was not the only one, that once Kershaw went out (and he was having problems his last few weeks pitching), we did not have enough starters. Koufax, Drysdale and Osteen did it in 1965, and Koufax, Drysdale and Podres in 1963. But these starters cannot do it. And Gonsolin, the default starter, is not very good at this point in his career. And we certainly did not want to use Urias, who was already overworked, in relief. If we had left Treinen in for Game 2, and gotten the win, then Urias would have had extra rest, and just maybe we could have won both those games and been up 3-2. It is not at all inconceivable.
Atlanta’s up 3-1. What could go wrong?
JT is out of the playoffs with a grade 2 strain of his hammy/ Not sure who will replace him on the roster. but ,most likely s McKinstry Dodgers sent P Zack Wilemann to the Royals completing the Duffy trade
William in 1965 and 1963 two teams played in the World Series. In 2021 10 teams are in the playoffs. Apples and oranges.