WINNING UGLY, LOSING UGLY WHO CARES?

Who the heck were those players wearing Dodger uniforms in the Rockies’ and D-backs’ series?   Whoever they were, they certainly did not perform like a playoff caliber team.   They struggled with pitching, struggled with hitting, and couldn’t play defense.  My, my, my, that’s typically a recipe for baseball disaster!!   Heaven forbid that team should have to play the mighty Padres in the playoffs.   The Dodgers may as well go home now if that were to happen, as they would stand little, to no chance, for advancing past the vaunted Padres.   Clearly the Padres have the better team!   Don’t they?    If I understood some of the comments last week, even though the Dodgers had, at the time, won 7 of the last 10 games they had played, even though they have the best record in baseball and have the greatest positive run differential of any team(apparently this statistic doesn’t mean much), they’re really not that good, or are classic under achievers.   To some, the only reason they have any success is because they are playing inferior teams, they are lucky, and the opposition has routinely “given” the Dodgers their victories.  

The Dodgers are winning ugly and they are losing ugly and, to that I say, so what?   In baseball there are no points given for style.  The ultimate, and only, arbiter is the final score.   If, when the final out of the game is recorded, the Dodgers have more runs than the opposition, they win.  Frankly, I could care less if the Dodgers didn’t look good in victory, they were “lucky” or, if the other team “gave” them the victory.  To me that is absolutely meaningless.   They won.   Successful teams have a unique capacity to win ugly.  Moreover, a teams’ performance today is not a guarantee that is how they are going to perform in the future.       

In addition, if the Dodgers win the last game of the baseball playoffs, they win the World Series.  End of story.  Doesn’t matter to me if they look like the Keystone Cops getting there.   It only matters that they get there, and that they win that last game.  Do I believe they can do it this year?   Yes, I do.  Will the ball have to bounce their way at times?  No doubt.   With that said, do I have concerns about this team?  Yes, I do.   But then again, I don’t know that I have ever watched a single year of Dodger baseball when I didn’t have a concern or two about the team.  This year is no different.  Frankly, it would be nice if Muncy, Bellinger, Kike’ and Joc would remember how to hit consistently.  I would also love to see the “minor league player of the year” version of Gavin Lux, instead of the imposter who is pretending to be him currently.   However, despite their hitting woes, I’m here to tell you, should any of these players get a dramatic winning hit in the Series, all will be forgiven.   The slumps will be but a distant memory.  Moreover, I don’t care if each of their wins in the playoffs was an “ugly” win, as long as they win.  

As to the pitching, I don’t know why, but every time Jansen comes into a game, he makes me nervous.  Even though he makes me nervous, his statistics (prior to the game with the Astros) tell me he is doing well.  I know, I know, for some of you he just doesn’t pass the eye test.   Granted that may be true.   But the Dodgers have Josh Bard and Steve Cilladi in the bullpen.   Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness on the bench.   Surely, one of these professionals can see if something is seriously amiss.   The Astro game aside, if he saves 10 out of 10 games in the playoffs, I will love me some Kenley!! 

I also fret over our starting pitching.   Kershaw has recaptured some of his mojo but, as we all remind each other, over and over again, his legacy in the playoffs is spells certain doom and failure.  Will he ever overcome that legacy?   It’s possible.   What about Buehler?   Doggone it, he is supposed to be our ace and can’t seem to throw 5 innings.   How long are we going to mess around with his blister?   Then there is Julio Urias.  At times he seems like the real deal, other times not so much.   May and Gonsolin can look absolutely unhittable at times.  But the question on many minds is, can the Dodgers rely on them, when they are so young?  

The bullpen has looked good, that is, until they don’t.  But isn’t that what bullpens do?   One day it’s chicken the next day it’s feathers.  Just ask Adam Ottavino, who has been one of the more reliable relievers for the Yankees, yet the other night he gave up 6 runs without recording an out.   Move over Kenley, you have company.   Ottavino has been philosophical about his slumps in the past, such as the one he had during the playoffs last year, “The good news is,” he said, “I can’t be this bad forever.”   Sunday night the bullpen looked really good.   Graterol was absolutely lights out, and Sborz, Gonzales, McGee, Wood, Floro, Ferguson and Jansen (it was a chicken day for him) were each very good.  

It’s been 32 years since the last World Series championship for the Dodgers.   That’s a long time ago.   We’re all anxious for another downtown parade.   While I’m not the man now that I was then and, admittedly, I sometimes struggle with my memory, I do, however, seem to recall that the Dodgers were not the best team in baseball in 1988.   That distinction went to the A’s or the Mets.   Not only did those teams have the best records, they had the best players on offense, defense and, arguably they had the best pitching,  Outside of Kirk Gibson, the Dodgers did not have much going offensively that year.   No player hit over .300, no player had more than 25 home runs, no player had more than 82 RBI.   Only 3 regulars hit over .275.   Only Gibson had an OPS over .800.   An offensive juggernaut that team was not.   They relied on their “Stuntmen” to come off the bench and provide key hits.   Pitching was another story.   They had the ability to pitch well, and did at the right time.  Hershiser had an amazing year.   Tim Leary and Tim Belcher were solid.   The rest of the starters were just so-so.   John Tudor was the big mid-season acquisition (he was the Mike Clevinger of the time), however, he hurt his arm, and was a non-factor in the playoffs.   The bullpen, anchored by Jay Howell, Alejandro Pena, Jesse Orosco and the unheralded and under-appreciated (at least for that year) Brian Holton, was fairly strong and consistent.  The Dodgers often won ugly that year, but at the end, they were the last team standing!   

I initially wrote this article on Saturday afternoon, just before the game with the Astros was about to begin.   I had planned to write a much longer article on why teams need to be able to win ugly and that slumps regularly happen in baseball.  Unfortunately, the demands of my work schedule got away from me and I had to devote some much needed attention to making a living.   By the time I finished the initial draft of the article, the game had started, and I followed the first couple of innings on Gameday.   Julio Urias’ performance epitomized the up and down angst I can sometimes experience with this team.  He gave up a run in the first and, in my opinion, threw a few too many pitches.   This caused me to feel some frustration.   An inning later, when I e-mailed the article to Jeff, the Dodgers hit a couple of homeruns in the bottom of the second, to turn the tide. 

Because of the scheduling of the articles, I had the opportunity to slightly up date this article and, as we all now know, Urias pitched really well for the remainder of the game.   It was a game, the Dodgers should have won, but they lost in a very ugly fashion.   It was a total feather day for Jansen.

I revised this article slightly on Monday morning.   Tonight, the Dodgers start their series with the Padres.  Obviously, I’m hoping they win, and I give a rat’s rear end if they win ugly!!!!

I’ll leave you with a song by the Rolling Stones called “Winning Ugly”   Not their best song by any means, but it is on point.  Perhaps the Stones were trying to drive home my point by “singing ugly.”