The Hard Way
I am not sure why, but it seems like this season the Dodgers have to do things the Hard Way. Now, that they are down 2-0 they are going to need to win 2-3 games in a row, and in typical Dodger fan fashion, the bitching and blaming has begun! You complain about Roberts taking…
I am not sure why, but it seems like this season the Dodgers have to do things the Hard Way. Now, that they are down 2-0 they are going to need to win 2-3 games in a row, and in typical Dodger fan fashion, the bitching and blaming has begun!
- You complain about Roberts taking Scherzer out of the game, even though it was obvious he had no fastball because you think Dave Roberts is just stupid, and wants to take out his ace for no good reason? From Max’s own mouth: “My arm was dead,” Scherzer said. “I could tell when I was warming up that it was still tired. … Usually in those situations, once you get past pitch 45, sometimes it loosens up, and you’re able to get deeper into a game. But after that third inning, it didn’t loosen up. It was still more tightening up. So I could tell that my pitch count was going to be limited.”
- You complain that Roberts brought in Urias. Personally, I did not like the move either, but it had been discussed earlier by the staff and Urias was ready. The fact that Julio gave up two runs was on him, not Doc. Blame the right person.
- You complain that Seager should have jumped in front of a 110 MPH line drive. I’ll just chalk that up to the fact thatyou may have never played the game and don’t realize how fast that is. I wish Seager had gotten that ball too, but you have one chance on a 110 MPH linedrive and it ain’t moving your feet! Maybe you should blame Doc: “Trea should have been at SS.” Yeah, that’s the ticket!
The problem with the Dodgers in these first two losses is that they have not hit like they are capable. In the first game, the Dodgers got 10 hits. Last night it was only 4… to go with 9 walks! Every player in the starting lineup has been an All-Star at one time or another, except for Gavin Lux. Max Scherzer is exhausted. Walker Buehler is tired. Julio is likely getting there too. The bullpen is doing their job in the playoffs. The hitters need to hit or this team is going home. It’s that simple! They are capable, but they just have to deliver. One good at-bat after another. It’s an easy solution that is hard to implement!
The Making of a Championship Bullpen
If it appears that I called people idiots for no reason yesterday, I apologize for that. What I was attempting to do was call out everyone who had called me an idiot for championing Dave Roberts, Cody Bellinger, and the Dodgers’ bullpen. I presumed that you would get the nuance of what I was doing. I only meant disrespect to three or four people… all of whom are gone… with their tails between their legs, I might add!
Doc Roberts – He really is not a “doctor” and I personally do not care for Dave Roberts, because he is just a “glad-handing politician,” but he is perfect for this team, AND frequently (just like most managers), his mistakes are simply because of a lack of execution by his players.
Cody Bellinger – I do like Cody Bellinger and thought it was very foolhardy to write him off so easily. This is a very hard game to play and Cody has played at a high level… until injury took over. At age 21, he was the ROY with 39 HR (.933 OPS). The sophomore jinx hit him the next year and he hit just 25 HR while dropping to .833 OPS (still a very good player). The next year (2019) he hit 47 HR and OPS’ed an otherworldly 1.035. However, he “slumped” to a .917 OPS in the second half, which is still SUPERSTAR STATUS. At that point, there was nothing bad that you could say about Cody Bellinger.
It is known that he has had several shoulder separations over a couple of years, and in 2020 (the Covid-19 season) he really slumped in 56 games to a .789 OPS. That’s Kike Hernandez territory. After surgery in that offseason, Cody returned this year, broke his leg, tore a hamstring, and broke a rib en route to what may be one of the worst performances in MLB History. That’s when many wanted to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Cody did not just go “Joe Charboneau” on everyone. He was injured and all of his problems can be attributed to that. Injury leads to favoring a body part and that leads to bad mechanics and patterns. All of his issues correspond to his injury and subsequent injuries. He still is not back. He is still compensating and adjusting and his power probably won’t return until next season. But, he has come to grips with who he is NOW. He has gotten some clutch hits and delivers Gold Glove Defense at either 1B or CF. Additionally, he is a huge threat when on base.
So, those who called me an IDIOT for sticking to my story about Cody Bellinger, deserve to be called “another one.” Cody is a big part of this team and will continue to be going forward. I would lock him up long-term if I were Andrew Friedman.
The Bullpen – I frequently agree with Dodgerpatch and while not totally disagreeing with what he said, I do want to address something. Patch wrote this:
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.
Yes, that was what the “evidence suggested”… if you were just using your eyes. Your eyes told you that Dustin May was lost for the year. Your eyes told you that Jimmy Nelson was gone for the year. Your eyes told you that Bazooka was gone for most of the year. Your eyes told you that David Price was not right. Your eyes told you that Corey Knebel would miss three months of the season. Your eyes told you that Scott Alexander was injured all year. Your eyes told you that the Catman would miss a large portion of the year. Your eyes told you that Clayton Kershaw was out most of the year and that Trevor Bauer would not return. That also impacted the bullpen.
But I don’t always trust my “Lyin Eyes.” Frequently, I have to trust my vision… and the vision of Andrew Friedman. Alex Vesia, Justin Bruihl, Mitch White, Garrett Cleavinger, then later Phil Bickford, and Joe Kelly intrigued me. I knew Treinen was solid and felt Kenley’s issues were “mechanical.” I said that the Bullpen you were seeing at the time would not be the bullpen you see at the end of the season.
However, the bullpen was not nearly as bad as implied. The Dodger finished just a few points behind the Giants for the best bullpen ERA in baseball, in spite of not being very good all year. They were better than most of you thought. You see, contrary to what many of you thought, Andrew Friedman does know how to build a championship bullpen. What he knows is that you generally cannot “buy” a championship bullpen. He doesn’t go for the “flavor of the week” guy because he knows that next week that guy might be chopped liver.
- Andrew Friedman got rid of Adam Kolarek who ended up being a trainreck, for Gus Varland (future reliever) and Sheldon Noisy.
- Andrew Friedman traded Dylan Floro for Alex Vesia and should be charged with theft.
- Andrew got Garrett Cleavinger in a three-way deal (he is a future high-leverage reliever).
- Andrew knew that Joe Kelly would likely recover from shoulder surgery.
- Andrew knew that Kenley Jansen’s issues were mechanical.
- Andrew trusted White, Bruihl, Jackson, and other young arms.
- Andrew saw something in Phil Bickford whom he acquired on waivers.
- Andrew was not afraid to pickup Sherfy, Phillips, Vasquez and others on waivers.
- Andrew brought the Bazooka along slowly.
Andrew Friedman built a bullpen that is full of very live, but very different arms. OK, I’ll give it to Patch, if the detractors of the Dodgers bullpen are not IDIOTS, then that must make me A GENIUS? 😉 You can’t have it both ways!
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Discussion (124)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Cue up Tony Bennett. I’m concerned the team may have left its heart in San Francisco after winning such a stressful, emotional series. Can’t really blame them.
The loss of Kike and Joc was huge. It weakened not only our bench decidedly but both are and were always clutch in the postseason. Going 2-18 in both games combined with RISP speaks volumes.
Anybody think we would be down 2-0 with Kike and Joc instead of Souza and whoever ?
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If the Dodgers don’t mount a comeback who is the “sacrificial lamb” for the offensive woes? Is RVS jettisoned off the coaching staff? Is Brant Brown let go? Every team adjusts their staff from year-to-year and I can see Doc and AF “tweaking” the hitting department to improve hitting w/ RISP and to get Pollock to hit an off speed pitch in the post season, because it’s painfully obvious he needs a “heart transplant” come October.
Really TM. It’s not even 6am here on the left coast and you felt it necessary to call out B & P for a non response. Even though he posts here each day, I’m sure he has other things to do besides responding to your posts. You criticize for posting and for not posting at your convenience. I’ve had issues with him in the past, but all is good in the end.
I know where he is coming from and he does well with me. Obviously, he can and has defended himself. Make your comments and move on. Just sayin’.
With last night’s game it was another offensive failure and a total team loss. I get removing Scherzer. If he says he’s done then he’s done. The guy is a warrior. But, for the life of me I don’t get the Urias move. I’m sure this was decided by the front office before the game started. They probably knew Scherzer wasn’t going to go far into the game and Urias was going to be used in relief come hell or high water. Even though it’s mentioned over and over again that Urias has never pitched anywhere near the amount of innings he has this year and that he has to be exhausted. So, to accommodate that line of thinking they have him relieve for the first time this year. He doesn’t get his normal starter time in the bullpen to warmup. He’s put into a tight game and fails. Our BP has for the most part been very effective the last few weeks of the season and has carried that on into the playoffs. So, why does the front office and Roberts feel the need to screw around and try to outsmart everyone? The relievers were effective in the first game (except Trenien) and none were stressed out. All were capable of pitching in game 2. The BP has been outstanding. There were still effective options available. But no, let’s bring in a starter that hasn’t pitched in relief all year. I don’t get it. Just like I don’t get using an opener. Like Scherzer commented that starters are built up a certain way to be successful and same with relievers. Trying to change that after a long season with apparently tired pitchers (Urias) doesn’t make sense. This was the second game of the series, not the seventh. How will this decision by the front office going to effective Urias’s next start? It might be a turning point in the series. We’ll see.
Carry on.
The sky is falling. It’s all doom and gloom. Nobody on this this team is any good if you look at the collective comments over the year. Forget that just about every starter has been an all star. We have multiple Cy Young winners, both in the past and in the current hunt. Multiple MVPs as well. We had the best bullpen in the league in the second half of the year, the half that immediately precedes the postseason.
Sorry, but I don’t buy all the doom and gloom and constant complaining. We lost two one run games against another post season team, by definition a very good team, in their yard. Yes, it will be a hard road ahead, but it isn’t impossible to get past an 0-2 hole in a best of 7 and I’m sure Bear or AC will be able to dig up the stats to show how it’s been done before. This is baseball.
As I’ve said before, I usually won’t comment much during the game or after. I wait for a new post the next morning to post a comment. This morning I woke up tired like a truck ran over my head. I don’t know if it was the mix of various strains I was hitting, or if the change in the weather is giving me a touch of hay fever. I digress.
TM, you are a whiny little B. You call me a Polly-Ann because I have the sense to support a 106 win team all season? Well you’re chicken little. You complain constantly about All-Star caliber players because of a bad streak and switch your support from one player to another based on their performance in a game or two. Both of these games were winnable. Mistakes cost us both times. We play clean baseball and we are at least 1-1 right now. I don’t freak out when someone slumps because this is baseball and that’s what baseball players do. Freddie Freeman is one of the best hitters in this generation of players and he K’d 6 times in a row before that merciful 8th inning oppo fly out last night. I think he’s 0’fer the series. I sure hope that continues, but I don’t think it will. Just like I don’t think the NL batting champ will continue to slump. I saw Trea’s deep fly to the wall last night and realize that a couple of more feet, it’s a homer. I realize the difference between that being an out and going over the fence is about 1/4 inch on the bat.
I was pretty disgusted with Doc’s moves last night, but I don’t want to comment on Doc. I’m sick of the irrational defence of some of his moves. The difference in the game came down to having Souza in RF instead of Betts and the throw to the plate where Rosaria scored by an inch or so. Betts throws him out, Souza almost threw him out. That’s how close this game was. If Doc kept Turner in the game after his pinch hit, Betts would have been in RF.
But, the thing that made me most livid was pulling Scherzer so early. We had to go to the pen early and often as a result. But, it turns out that Max is burned out. That’s not on Doc. He did what he had to do. Urias came in and wasn’t his dominant self. Again, not on Doc. Urias has been money in the past, there’s no explanation for this. It is what it is. Kenly finally faltered. I don’t trust Kenley after his July meltdown, but he’s been lights out since. So, can I blame anyone for him finally faltering? Logic says no, but emotionally little Karens might say yes.
I maintain that you have to win the low scoring games sometimes. We lost two in a row. Both one run games. Sometimes that’s just bad luck (Trea Turner missed going yard by the smallest of margins, Souza’s throw just a tad late). But, this also happens when none of your hitters are hot. Somebody needs to step up otherwise it’s going to end at the NLCS. That is obvious.
Back at home starting tomorrow. No crazy weather on the schedule. Need some home cooking and a home sweep. Let’s not go down 3-1 again.
There you go TM, happy?
Game 1 made me confident Dodgers would have no problems winning the pennant. Now I’m not so certain as Mad Max says he just didn’t have his stuff. I sure hope that isn’t catchy to others in our rotation. I do expect Dodgers to win all 3 home games and that TT isn’t an overpaid Dee Gordon in this post season. His speed ain’t worth so much if he’s unable to utilize it on the base paths. But it is awesome when he can. I guess that that’s true with all contributing talents. It sure ain’t cool knowing our team is the most talented when their talent goes unsung. And it won’t take that much more effort. It’s an attitude thing so rally now and get er done!
As I said, I did not like the Urias move, but players have to execute. He didn’t.
Can you imagine how fans would have been roasting Doc if he brought Bruihl in and he did the same as Julio?
The manager is always wrong after the fact.
As Badger says: “They hit – They win!”
We got a s— storm going here…
I’m sure Lion King will have more to share and Katy bar the door, because BP will start shooting out his daily Magna Cartas…
We are tired. Fly balls to the warning track. In the past these fly balls were HRs. Too many bull pen games. Where is Gonsolin? Doc was not able to rest his players before the play offs. Both Beuhler and Urias have pitched more innings this year than before. Scherzer said his arm is dead. I think many of the pitchers arms are dead. I do not see the Dodgers coming back from this 0-2 deficit. I hope I am wrong. I am not blaming anyone. Last year was a short season. Actually, trying to win the West, maybe a fatal mistake. Those September games were played under a lot of stress.
Well, Dodgers should have won that game 2 but did not come threw in the field or at the plate.
Tough to win when Max and Julio both not having their stuff . I did not like when Doc brought in Julio, would have gone with Bruihl against the two leftys to start the 8th. Bruihl got two outs in game 1 and that was exactly the spot he was put on the roster for.
Still we could have limited the damage with better defense. Pollack and Souza with weak outfield throws. Rosario should have been out at 2b or at home . Especially that throw from Pollack was not MLB caliber. Weak and off the line too. That walk off hit was smashed, but a play that can be made.
But it all does not matter if we would have hit with RISP. Other than CT3 nobody was able to come threw in that situaiton.
Well, now we got them were we want them. Down 0-2. Lets turn the tables. Must win in Game 3. Will WB have his A game ? We certainly need it big time.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoiler: we’re all idiots
4 for 31, 10 K’, 3 by TTurner, 2 by Pollock, 1 for 10 WRISP. We don’t hit we don’t win.
Urias was a mistake. The bullpen has come through time and again, stick with them.
Seager ole’d a ground ball that would have extended the game. No guarantees we would have won it, but no excuse for not knocking down that ball.
We need to hit.
This team looks tired, but, we win two at home we will be fine.
Well, at least the Atlanta fans went home happy. I could hear them shouting outside my window.
Those kids, Rosario and Albies, are pretty exciting to watch, especially the latter. I’d take him over Trea Turner any day of the week. One is a money player; the other is not. Can you guess which one is which? I wonder when he (Albies) becomes a FA? If he becomes a FA the same time Trea becomes a FA, give him your money and say goodbye to Trea.
WE NEED MORE OCTOBER PLAYERS after we let Kike and Joc go.
For the record, I was horrified seeing Urias come in to pitch knowing he is pitching game 4 and we had Graterol and Bickford to pitch the 8th and Jansen the 9th…..but I won’t jump on Doc for the move. But the tired arms of the Dodgers big three seems to not be affecting the Braves big three as much. Our lack of a 4th we can trust may be the main reason we lose…always having to pitch the big 3 in other games they are not starting in. Don’t forget, this year we had to play 162, not 60. HUGE DIFFERENCE!
Oh well, it’s much easier to speculate why things are the way they are. At least if we lose, we lose to my second favorite home team. I love the positive energy moving about here from the media and fans. This would help me get over the disappointment much easier.
TM
Still shaking my head in disbelief that we are 2 games down in this series.