Total Lack of Focus
Never underestimate the power of focus. Conversely, never underestimate what happens when you lack focus. Case in point: Yasmani Grandal: For whatever reason, Grandal is at home with his wife (again) at least in his mind. Three passed balls, 2 errors. Strikeouts, can t advance runners. His head is somewhere else. There are no excuses you do or you don t do. I ll talk about what I think the Dodgers should
Never underestimate the power of focus. Conversely, never underestimate what happens when you lack focus.
Case in point: Yasmani Grandal: For whatever reason, Grandal is at home with his wife (again)… at least in his mind.
Three passed balls, 2 errors. Strikeouts, can’t advance runners. His head is somewhere else. There are no excuses – you do or you don’t do.
I’ll talk about what I think the Dodgers should do at Catcher next year, but right about now, there’s still a series to win…. and it is still winnable! However, it’s not winnable if the Dodgers keep playing like this.
Chacin was focused. Buehler was cocky! Chacin knew he had to pitch the game of his life. Buehler thought all he had to do was show up. The Dodger hitters lacked focus as Chacin fed them table scraps and hid the meat and potatoes. The Brewers were focused while the Dodgers just made you “cuss.”
Maybe they are still focused on getting to the World Series, when they have to win the NLCS first. Maybe I am wrong, but it feels (to me) like the Dodgers are not nearly as focused as the Brewers. Chacin knows how to pitch with similar “stuff” as Kershaw, but Clayton still is focused on what he did when he was 27. His focus is wrong!
The Dodgers are in trouble unless Rich Hill can focus today and get a few of the troops to focus behind him. Kike Hernandez hit the nail on the head (I’m surprised he didn’t miss it too). From Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:
“We sucked. That’s why we lost,” said Enrique Hernandez. “I think as a team we were a little bit flat tonight and it showed on the offensive side. The playoffs, you’ve got to want it. Today it just wasn’t our day. We had no energy. The stadium had no energy. The fans had no energy. So overall it was a pretty bad day for everybody that calls themselves Dodgers. Tomorrow is another game.”
Hernandez clarified, emphasizing that it was the players who set the listless tone, not the fans.
“I don’t have an explanation for why some days we just don’t have it as a team, like energy or whatever it is,” he said. “But sometimes we can feed off the crowd. The fans here do a great job of showing up and packing the stadium every night and have a lot of passion for the game. But tonight for whatever reason I guess as contagious as energy can be from the fans to the players, it was from the players to the fans tonight.”
Well, he nailed the explanation – too bad he can’t nail a baseball like that! I feel bad for Yasmani Grandal – he’s a stand-up guy and well respected by his teammates, but he is killing the team with his bat (or lack of it) and his defense (total lack of it). He needs to sit the rest of the series. Kike, Cody, Dozier, Muncy, Puig and Freese have all had cold bats. Bellinger is making contact – he only has 1 strikeout in 10 AB’s, but he needs to get his focus back.
Every player as an individual, is responsible for their own focus, but Dave Roberts is the “gatekeeper of team focus” and he needs to do his job better. Yes, theese are grown men. Yes, they are responsible, but as the manager you can certainly inject some focus into the lineup. It just seems to me that their focus ALL YEAR has been on the World Series, but they have to win NOW to get there. Somehow, Doc has to get them TOTALLY focused on today’s game. Rich Hill should be focused and that can be contagious. Let’s hope so, because it will be hard to climb out of a 3-1 hole.
- It’s THIS game
- It’s THIS at-bat
- It’s THIS pitch
- It’s THIS moment
Nothing else matters – focus on what is in front of you THIS second or THIS series is over! Bring it, Rich!
More from Dodger Talk
Dodgers Food Trailer
I did this interview a couple of weeks ago with Chef Mike, who runs the Dodgers Food Trailer for the Great Lakes Loons. They are there for every home and road regular season and playoff game. They prepare three meals a day for approximately 50 people (players and coaches). Since games end late most evenings, they do not prepare breakfast. Many of their hotels have a complimentary breakfast anyway. However,…
Meet LAD 2026 Draft Picks 1-12
3 picks were High School players (2 SS and 1 OF). There was a college OF, college catcher, college SS, and 10 college pitchers. Of all the talk for a need for a catcher, the only catcher the Dodgers selected was Luke Bard, son of LAD bullpen coach Josh Bard. Bard was a 4th year senior from Houston Christian University. He is not a prospect, so the Dodgers are still…
Interview with Paul Beachy – Team Bus Driver For The Great Lakes Loons (LA Dodgers Minor League Team)
It’s been a few days since I did this interview. We have evidently been working my son-in-law (the video guy) like a rented mule at US Water Systems. However, I am taking him to London with me in a few days, so maybe Watford will buy him a pint as a tip, but he’s a dang Red Sox fan, so there is that! I thought that it would be interesting…
Thanks for Your Service: Chris Taylor
I was going to do this post when Chris announced he was retiring, then he changed his mind, but since the chances of him ever playing for the Dodgers again are slim and non-existent, I will go ahead with this post. He unretired, went on the IL, then decided to call it quits on May 24th. Taylor was born in Virginia Beach VA on August 29th, 1990. He attended Great…
Discussion (192)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Sometimes the irony of life (baseball) is the guy you were most anxious about pitching, is the guy who you must rely on to right the ship! So, I’ll contribute my focus, positive karma wise on Rich Hill to be the best he can be! Do or die here boys. Time to let Grandal watch some and Austin can step up. Go D. Mountain!!!
Right on time, The Athletic profiles Rich Hill and the importance of Being Where You Are! I call it “Bloom Where You Are Planted!”
–
If you don’t subscribe to The Athletic, you are missing some really great stuff.
–
Open on theathletic.comhttps://theathletic.com/591703/2018/10/16/you-dont-rise-to-the-occasion-the-occasion-rises-to-you-the-mysticism-of-rich-hill/This series is definitely not over. As I watched early on (1-0 in a 1-1 series) I had the feeling these teams were very closely matched and destined to play 6-7 games. Which means we had to lose at some point. Maybe again.
*
I still have faith, otherwise why be a fan? But if we lose I’ll acknowledge they were better. All we need is to win a baseball game tonight and all is well (although mil will still have home field advantage).
*
Also, I think I’m ready to admit defeat on the DH issue. I dont like all these pitching changes and the NL plays into that. I think I’m resigned to it. Won’t ever be a fan of it but it makes game sense. No way its next year though.
This is the NLCS, Kike’!!! You should not need the fans to get you jacked up for the game. Dodger Stadium is not Yankee Stadium. Never has been, never will be. That is not a knock on Dodger fans, but if a player is expecting a Yankee crowd, then they are on the wrong coast. I have been at Yankee Stadium and Fenway. Those fans do not sit. They are into the game from pitch 1. But if you do not think that the fans Boo their own players….WRONG!! Dodger fans love their Dodgers, they are just not as FANATIC. Maybe that can be a problem in the dog days of summer, but not at the NLCS. If a player cannot get up for a NLCS game, then they need to tell the manager to play someone else.
.
Chacin is a wily veteran PITCHER, while Buehler is a hard THROWER. I agree that Kershaw can learn a lot by watching Chacin and Miley pitching to the batters’ weaknesses. Chacin got the benefit of a wide strike zone, but that happens, and he had pin point command to take full advantage. But this is a different game if Grandal gets the bat on the ball with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out and the infield back. He did not need a hit or a fly ball. He needed to put bat to ball to get the run in. Instead he does the one thing he cannot do…he struck out. Really that is where the game was lost.
.
0 for 10 RISP. 14 strikeouts. Cannot win too many games with those lines.
.
Hill v Gio. Hopefully Kike’ and the team can find their energy tonight.
You can’t give Bellinger a pass because of him making contact with his hitting into what would likely be a double play aside from him beating the throw to 1st. He’d of done a lot more good advancing the runner with a sacrifice bunt. Either way it’s not what rallies are made of. Last night’s game said this team isn’t so interested to bring the championship to LA. If they don’t show us a change of heart they can take it to their graves of being a pretty good team. Just not quite good enough. Brewers didn’t look all that tough, but tough enough wasn’t too high of a hurdle.Well if they can and do turn it around and win a crown THIS year it’d really of been worth it for us fans to been put through this suffering. I could go on and on like last night’s game up to the 9th inning but that’s where I quit viewing. It just wasn’t good enough to watch any more. Kinda like game 7 last year. Is this team built to lose life long fans? You tell us Dodgers!
A lack of focus in the playoffs,if that’s the reason then the Dodgers will lose to the Brewers a team that looks focused and is playing to win. Maybe Roberts and the Dodgers better get focused and fast.
I don’t think some are giving the Brewers enough credit. They won the most games of any team in the NL and they overtook the Cubs who led all the way.
Most experts predicted a 7 game series. So that means we have to lose 3. Great, we get to lose one more!! But we also can tie this up tonight and make it an awesome 3 game series.
Nobody here will be surprised if , at 9:30pm tonight, we’d have lost 5-1 with 15 runners left no base, or won 9-2 with 4 home runs. Who the hell knows, but as Roger said in the last thread, asking this team to come in and change who they are and sweep Milwaukee was asinine! Expect the same, which is expect anything.
I think we take today, with some better AB’s early and a LOUD crowd.
Agree with Bobby, good AB’s early and a loud crowd plus Hill spinning his magic equals a Dodger win tonight.
–
Vegas odds makers agree, they are big favorites to win and go over 7.5 runs. Even though the Brewers have won 14 of 15 games with an average total (both teams) of 5.8 runs in their last 6.
–
Tough choice to start Freese or Muncy against Gio at 1B but both give you good AB’s. IMO Cody has to sit, put Taylor in CF and Kike at 2B. I keep Puig in RF and put Kemp in LF, Matt has the only HR’s against Gio this season. Barnes is already announced as tonight’s C.
–
1) CT3…..CF
2) JT………3B
3) Max….1B
4) MM…..SS
5) Kemp..LF
6) Puig….RF
7) Kike…2B
8) AB…….C
9) Hill……P
I’m not one to come on here and cry about the need for small ball. The Dodgers need to play fundamental, smart baseball. Grandal was facing a guy who pitches to contact and all he had to do was let him. I had hope for him this series due to success against Milwaukee but he’s mentally broken. Each spring we hear about a diet, an injury, or his spouse’s very real pregnancy but until he proves differently he can’t handle October. The Mendoza line would look great for him.
~
Unlike Yasmani, Bellinger is a kid and I feel like he’s getting close but at some point you have to produce. I still wish he would drop a bunt down here and there. He was good at it in the past and they’re giving it to him. I don’t recall him doing it since the dumb bunt on a 3-0 count. Sometimes a little success from something like that it is contagious
In his playoff career, Grandal has 30k in 68ab. I”m sure it’s mostly mental, as he looks to be pressing. But whatever the reason, he’s not helping the team and he’s not helped the team in any October he’s been in. Barnes at least proved last October he wasn’t afraid of the moment. Let him play.
Hawk, agree about the bunt. Cody is hitting the ball hard at times, but right to guys. Much like the smart Yelich yesterday, and Zobrist in Game 4 2016, some of our guys need to bunt to get on base and get everyone excited. Bunts and suicide squeeze plays rally team and crowd almost as much as home runs sometimes.
Finally, I find that Puig is rather useless when coming up with guys on base. He presses and flails at crap pitches. Maybe lead him off? Maybe just tryin to get on base is easier for him than driving guys in?
Need to find a spot for Freese in the lineup for his professional ABs, and Taylor because he’s finally hot. We played him enough when he wasn’t, surely we can fit him in now he’s hitting?
Bobby, you are of course right about Grandal. I think we may have seen him for the last time Starting in Dodger Blue.
The Dodgers are playing this series the way that they have played all season. I don’t know why it surprises anyone. Not hitting with RISP; striking out too much; not scoring if they don’t hit HR; defensive mistakes.
–
Lest we forget, Pythagoras had the Dodgers winning 10 more games than they did solely based on run differential. They have won the blowouts and lost a lot of close games. The Dodgers were 31 – 10 in blowouts and 22 – 22 in one run games; 8 – 7 in extra innings.
–
Why would you expect the Dodgers to play differently in the post-season than they played all year?
I would hate to see Grandal have a drug test right now. It is not physical with him, it is mental. The Brewers were willing to give us a run with runners on second and third. The only thing he could do to hurt the Dodgers was to strike out, and he did. Please do not play Grandal anymore this year.
–
Machado-please do not sign him. He will not hustle. Last night there was no need to put his hand on the second baseman. That is dumb. Maybe that mistake killed a rally. Who knows. Instead of one out and one on, we now have two outs and nobody on.
–
Why major league players and Dodgers will not bunt against the shift, is baffling. Again, take what they will give you. A hit is a hit.
–
Doc-I liked Doc in the beginning, but not anymore. He will not defend his players. I do not remember him being kicked out of one game this year. I still beleave the eight best players need to play. Pretty hard to get in a groove when you play half the time.
–
I hope the Dodgers win it all this year. I just do not think it will happen. You have to play smart baseball this time of the year, and we do not.
Not sure about all of you, but I think John Smoltz was on point so many times yesterday. He kept harping that Grandal needed to just hit a weak ground ball and get that runner home. It changes the dynamic and momentum of the game where Buehler was pitching great. We failed.
Then in the 6th, when Grandal led off with that bloop double, Smoltz said the same thing. Kike worst case had to get the runner over. He didn’t. When Buehler was up, he said to at least bunt Grandal over to 3rd. When a guy is on 3rd, so many fluky things can happen to get him in (wild pitch, pass ball, error by an infielder, slow dribbler for a infield single, etc). For some idiotic reason, Doc didn’t have him bunt. A dead cow could have stood up there and taken strike 3. At least swing the bat!! And if you’re not going to swing, bunt the damn ball!!! Do something! And what happens? We don’t score, and the very next inning they go out and get a wild pitch with a guy on 3rd to get their 2nd run. The game dynamics change when the home team ties it up; it puts so much more pressure on the visiting team and our guy was pitching great.
I get waiting for the 3 run hr, because we have a powerful team so that 3 run hr can come anytime. But when guys are on 2nd , common sense says also get a run here or there until that 3 run hr comes. It’s like an NFL team saying screw the field goal each time, and go for touchdowns only. Field goals add up as well.
Maybe starting a vet like Dozier would help play some smart ball today; I don’t know.
I think Rich Hill is one of the few players that I trust on this team right now. From a purely technical pitching standpoint… he has the least impressive stuff out of the 4 remaining starting pitchers. But Rich is a fighter and he’s always going to give you 100%… I’m glad he’s on the mound tonight.
–
As for the hitters… besides JT, Manny, and Freese who can you trust right now to come through with a key hit w/ RISP?
Besides those 3… I think you have to stick with the hotter bats and keep CT3 and Joc in the starting lineup and keep them in no matter who’s pitching.
And Kike, like Yaz needs to sit tonight. I think he’s too much in his own head… as evidenced by his statements last night.
I would start Barnes for the remaining games and Dozier at least for tonight at 2nd… I’d like to see how he responds and maybe he can provide a spark.
–
The relievers for the most part, have been great. And I can’t believe that I’m actually about to write this… but I now almost have a sense of calm when Baez enters the game. I would love for Doc to hold back Wood… just in case the game goes into extras and you need length. Otherwise, I would not really recommend using him in relief unless the team is up by 6+ runs.
Somebody just reminded me that Roberts brought in Morrow to pitch the 8th inning of Game 3 of the NLCS last year with a 5-run lead. Oof. He REALLY wanted to make it to the World Series.
Wishlist for tonight:
1. Rich Hill doesn’t get a blister
2. Manny Machado hustles
3. Grandal gets the entire night off
4. Bellinger doesn’t strike out
5. Dozier preens on the top step after a pinch-hit HR
6. Jansen strikes out the side in the 9th
7. Kemps legs out a double and claps loudly at 2b
8. Roberts waves at a fan after the last out
9. Turner doesn’t get any balls called strikes
10. Nobody has to pitch 1/3 of an inning.
Lineup:
CT3
JT
Freeze
Manny
Dozier
Kike
Puig
Barnes
Hill
I would’ve given comeback poy award to markakis
We’re gonna see what this team is really made of tonight. If they win tonight, I think we’ll win the series. If we lose tonight… I just don’t see it happening.
–
I hate that this team doesn’t show much grit until their backs against the wall… but that’s what we got.
–
The veterans on this team are going to have to lead by example. I’m hoping for (expecting) big games from Hill, JT, Freese, and Machado. And maybe… just maybe a 3 run blast by Dozier.
Let’s see what happens tonight.
This is a better lineup……Please Doc, let’s hit Freese at least once against some right, do not take him out of the game after just one damn turn at bat!
1. Chris Taylor, LF
2. Justin Turner, 3B
3. David Freese, 1B
4. Manny Machado, SS
5. Brian Dozier, 2B
6. Enrique Hernandez, CF
7. Yasiel Puig, RF
8. Austin Barnes, C
9. Rich Hill, P
Pro tip: wine makes the ALCS more enjoyable.
So due to fan apathy, the Dodgers sent us all an email, stating they are selling tickets for tomorrow’s crucial game 5 for $22. Yes, “$22 to see #22 pitch” (perhaps one last time?)
I’m thinking if we’re down 7-0 in the 4th, we’ll get another email that says “$3 to see #3 hit”?