The Bullpen Game Plan Was Perfect…
Unfortunately, the Dodger hitters did not execute. As good as Mookie Betts was in Game 5 of the NLDS, he stunk it up last night. Chris Taylor committed an unforgivable base-running blunder and I want to remind all the IDIOTS that wanted to get rid of Cody Bellinger that they are…
Unfortunately, the Dodger hitters did not execute.
As good as Mookie Betts was in Game 5 of the NLDS, he stunk it up last night. Chris Taylor committed an unforgivable base-running blunder and I want to remind all the IDIOTS that wanted to get rid of Cody Bellinger that they are just that: IDIOTS! See, I took a lot of flack from fans (some of whom have left this blog because they called me an idiot for defending Bellinger and Roberts). This is Payback for that! Mookie Betts leads the Dodgers in Post Season Batting Average at .380. Cody Bellinger is 2nd at .333 with a .400 OB%.
It does piss me off that you IDIOTS (and you know who you are) maligned Cody for his play and me for saying he would come back from his .165 hitting woes! Can you tell I am mad? Actually, this rant is mostly directed to some IDIOT called 48Hodges or some such thing. (Not to be confused with Hodges54) I am calling him an IDIOT because that is what he called me. OK, now I will stop. It’s a Good Morning and the Dodgers will be just fine.
Love it or hate it, the Bullpen game was effective. Everyone who pitched yesterday should be ready today. No pitcher is gassed.. and that includes ATL’s bullpen. The Dodgers bullpen struck out 14 and did not issue a walk! Man does it hurt to waste such a performance! I had thought that Doc might have used Kenley to pitch the 9th since he had only thrown 8 pitches in the 8th inning, but I think he was sticking to the the script, which was to make everyone available today. Blake Treinen doesn’t mess up much, but when he does… it hurts. Maybe once a month… OK – we have that out of the way. Do you remember when certain people on this blog lost their minds because “Andrew Friedman doesn’t know how to build a bullpen?” The only “bull” involved was on their side. I assured you it would be OK.. Settle Down! 😉
Ossie Albies stole second in the 9th inning with 1 out, which led to Riley’s game-ending hit. When CT3 walked, there were 2 outs, so unless you are someone faster than Chris Taylor, I do not believe it is wise to try and steal 2B with 2 outs in the 9th. You don’t want to be the last out of the game, caught stealing. Joc Pederson charged the ball and make a quick throw to 2B. I have watched the video three times and it is my opinion that a good relay throw from the second baseman would have gotten CT3 at 3B. Dino had the stop sign up as CT3 came around 2nd. He was just slow to recognize it. It was another nice hit by Cody Bellinger – he is getting his confidence back (which was obviously shattered) by just doing the “little things” right now.
Game over! Today is a must-win and the Dodgers face a righty in Ian Anderson. Lux and Belli will be in the lineup. I wonder if Barnes starts at Catcher? Now, they have to play at least 5 games, The Dodgers were behind the Braves in the series last year and came back – They will do it again.
P.S. Will Smith is the best catcher in the NL… maybe the best in baseball – Right Behind Yasmani Grandal 😉 (that was for Bear).
P.S. 2 – No IDIOTS were harmed in the production of this blog!
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Discussion (117)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Frustrating. Taylor in scoring position and they can’t score him.
Will Dodgers ever hit in crutch again? or what?
This is just a gagging offensive display. Again! By a group of all stars! Just shocking!!!!’
We have Betts on first with one out. The count is 3-2 on Turner. On deck is our most dangerous hitter, at least next to Betts, Smith. After him is Lux, who does not hit lefthanders very well. So Roberts has Betts run on two straight pitches. Turner fouls one off, then strikes out on a pitch a foot outside. Betts steals second. So Atlanta of course walks Smith, and then Lux hits an easy fly ball to left, and the inning is over.
Can anyone give me a good reason for that? Turner didn’t have to swing at the pitch? Okay, but then Betts is on second, anyway. The only value is if Turner doubled, and Betts would score. A single, Betts goes to third, and he would have likely gone there without running So what is the advantage? There is a tiny advantage, but the big disadvantage is that unless Turner gets a hit (a walk, sure, but then the running is irrelevant), Smith is taken out of the inning. This seems very obvious. This is the kind of thing that Roberts doesn’t figure out very well, even though some here think that he is the greatest manager of all time. Of such mistakes, games and even titles can be lost. It will get lost in the game analysis, though.
Is this one of those games where the Dodgers score early and then just STOP scoring? Happens all too often.
It’s frustrating that Minter was having trouble throwing strikes and yet our hitters helped him out by swinging at pitches out of the zone.
TT is just lost up there. Swinging at so many balls out of the zone!
As I said above we need to score 4 or 5 runs to win even with Scherzer. So the offense needs to get going and score a few more runs.
now the game looks so hard
Joc îs just money against the righties.
Just like Kike against the lefties!
Belli is sooooo close
Scherzer had a perfect game going into the 7th as I remember in the 2016 playoffs against the Dodgers and was leading 1 – 0 and then this happened:
Keep scoring runs Dodgers.
3 innings, 4 runners left on base. I hope it is not the same story as yesterday, because 2 runs are not enough
Why is Joc wearing a pearl necklace? Is that a promo for the roman sponsorship?
Walker Buehler
Julio Urias
Clayton Kershaw
Max Scherzer
Blake Treinen
Kenley Jansen
Trevor Bauer
Jimmy Nelson
David Price
Joe Kelly
Corey Knebel
Mitch White
Phil Bickford
Dustin May
Tony Gonsolin
Brusdar Graterol
Alex Vesia
Evan Phillips
Justin Bruihl
Andrew Vasquez
Victor Gonzalez
Edwin Uceta
Andre Jackson
Neftali Feliz
Conner Greene
Yefry Ramirez
Kevin Quackenbush
Justin Turner
Jake Reed
Scott Alexander
Andy Burns
Jimmie Sherfy
Mike Kickham
Dennis Santana
Shane Greene
Josiah Gray
Darien Nunez
Garrett Cleavinger
Nate Jones
I was actually shocked to look at the number of players who have pitched for the Dodgers this year. Jimmie Sherfy ? Who the hell is that? I don’t even remember that guy.
I’m glad that the Dodgers bullpen is rock solid. I give the front office credit for making it happen. However, any criticisms contributors on this blog had about the bullpen midseason wasn’t because we were “idiots,” but because the evidence in front of us suggested that, indeed, the bullpen wasn’t very good.
I don’t mind the Dodgers going through every pitcher they can find until they find a gem or two (Bickford), but is having extended tryouts until mid August the most efficient way to do it? Having a mediocre bullpen for 3/4 of the year – and it was mediocre – resulted in the Dodgers not winning the division. Now we’re playing the Braves on the road.
Bellinger has not been very good since the 2nd half of 2019. How many plate appearances is that? How many data points do we need to recognize that, indeed, he hasn’t been very good. Are we not supposed to point that out for some reason? Yes, I’m glad he’s gotten a couple of hits in the playoffs and I hope it continues, but the – “See! he got a hit! Forget the two years of suckage! You’re all IDIOTS!” – line of reasoning I find less than persuasive.
‘
From ESPN:
Open on www.espn.comhttps://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32419545/major-league-baseball-require-teams-provide-housing-minor-league-players-starting-2022-sources-sayOne of my favorite things about Taylor is his total honesty and taking responsibility of his mistakes. He said he made a bad decision stopping. I admire that about him, and no matter where he ends up, he has been a valuable asset to this team.
Given Bellinger’s big swings, a worrisome injury history, and his about $17M salary combined with all the other extensions and free agent decision, I was ready to trade Bellinger but only for a good return.
Bellinger finally found a swing, stance, and grip on the bat (choking up) that gives me hope that he will earn his salary.
If any other player struggled as much as Bellinger has there is a good chance that a few timely singles would make anybody say he was back.
My take on Taylor is that he rounded first thinking he could make it to third and then saw Joc closing the distance he would have to make his throw and changed his mind. I think Joc charged the ball and was set to make the throw to third and somewhere early in his throwing motion, after seeing Taylor stop, was able to make his throw go to second. A good heads up play that was not an easy one to make. A little Joctober in that play.
In reference to the question above, JT is sitting because he has a “stinger” (hadn’t heard that term before with regard to a neck problem) and can’t turn his head to the right. Started a couple days ago. Expected back in the lineup for Game 3.
Hopefully, the day off will help JT get on track. They need the captain to get back to providing some clutch hits. Taylor @ 3B?
Tonight’s winning lineup:
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Corey Seager L
2B Trea Turner R
C Will Smith R
CF Gavin Lux L
3B Chris Taylor R
1B C. Bellinger L
LF AJ Pollock R
P Max Scherzer R
Ballsy move by Doc to sit your team captain but it had to be done. Can’t wait for someone to break out of a slump in the post season as each and every AB in every inning is huge.
Our offense so far. Two big games and 3-0-0-2-2. Our WS hopes rests on their bats. Wake up or go home!
JT not in the line-up tonight. Has Doc seen enough of his poor offensive performance or is there an injury to be concerned about?
Sorry Badger, I wasn’t trying to be funny!! Just quoting BP…