Win Three or Go Home

The Dodgers were in this same position last year. They were down 3-1 to the Braves and won three straight games. I was confident that they could do that… LAST YEAR! I do not think they can do it THIS YEAR! If you have a great team, The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts. We have often heard that, but what does it really mean? The meaning of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is that when one single thing is grouped by a collection of individual parts and properties, it will be much better or more perfect than any of the parts would be on their own. It’s saying that individually, certain systems and things aren’t all that great, but when combined, it turns them into something excellent that has to be reckoned with.

So far, the Braves as a whole are greater than the sum of their parts. Conversely, the Dodgers parts add up to being greater than the whole, but they have not. The Whole is Much Less than the sum of the parts.Simply put, the Dodgers are playing like they won 88 gams this season and the Braves are playing like they won 106. Both teams have serious injuries. The Braves are without Ozuna and Acuna. The Dodgers are without Muncy and J-Turner. JT is done for this series. Shoot, the Dodgers may be done for this series. The fact that they are in this same position again and forced not to lose another game makes it highly improbable that they will win this series.

Last night, they really only had three problems:

1. They couldn’t hit;
2. They couldn’t field; and
3. They couldn’t pitch.

If they fix all three of those things, they have a chance. I will be rooting for them, but my confidence level is low. I hope they can dig down deep and pull it out, but they look gassed! Some of you are blaming Roberts on Urias drop in velocity over his average fastball velocity. He was less than 2 MPH slower than his “AVERAGE” fastball velocity for the season, but last night was pretty typical of his fastball velo in the last three weeks. He is gasssed. Scherzer is gassed. Buehler is gassed. The bullpen is not so gased. Treinen, Knebel, Bazooka and Jansen can probably each go 2 innings today, if they pitch efficiently.

I am not going to say that “I told you so.” because if the Dodgers had rested their pitchers, they could have lost momentum. The Braves ending the season with an 8-2 record in the last 10 games. The Dodgers were 9-1. I said at the time, I would have rested some pitchers, but realistically how do you do that? The Indianapolis Colts rested their regulars inn a end of season game and lost all momentum. We will never know what would have happened here if the Dodgers had done that.

Julio Urias has the right mindset. “We’re a good team with great players, great talent. So the mentality stays the same. Tomorrow we need to come in and try to win, then go to Atlanta and do that there, too. We did it last year, why not this year?” Yep. Makes sense, but it’s time to stop talking and just do it!

The fat lady ain’t singing…. but she is humming!

Dodger News

• Gavin Lux is very raw in CF, but I think that is his future. Give him an entire Spring Training there and he will excell. Cody is a wizard at 1B and JT needs to be the DH. Max Muncy made himself into a very good first-baseman, and will do the same at 3B. I think he can be the equal of JT there.
• Jacob Amaya was 1-2 with a walk for the Desert Dogs last night (.375 BA/1.365 OPS). He is a defensive wizard and if he can hit, look out!
• McKinstry will likely get the call up, as he can play 3B. Lux will sit against Fried (I would assume). The only question is does Cody play CF with Albert at 1B?
• Trea Turner is the NL Batting Champion. Would you trade him even up for Eddie Rosario?