Showdown between the Rays top pitcher, Charlie Morton (Joe Buck will tell you over and over again that he’s absolutely great!) and Walker Buehler. As in most games, the Dodgers had several objectives:
- 1. get off to a good start;
- 2. run up Morton’s pitch count;
- 3. Keep Buehler’s pitch count down;
- 4. Keep the Rays off the bases; and
- 5. Score more runs than the Rays.
The Dodgers were successful in all five. Buehler flat out dominated, the Dodgers scored early, and often and the Rays hitters were effectively neutralized. One of the better Dodger wins, as they prevailed 6-2 and took a 2-1 lead in the series.
1st inning
Joe Buck let us know how great Charlie Morton is. While he is good and has had a nice post season, Justin Turner wasn’t all that impressed, as with 2 outs, he took Morton deep, giving the Dodgers the early lead. Muncy followed with a single, but Will Smith couldn’t figure out Morton’s frisbee curve and struck out.
Buehler retired the Rays in order on a ground out to first and two strike outs. He looked relaxed, in command and was throwing nice and easy.
2nd Inning:
Morton had a relatively easy inning, as he retired the Dodgers in order.
Buehler followed up his masterful 1st inning, with another dominant inning, striking out Choi and Margot and inducing Wendle to fly out to left. It was early, but he looked so good, that I found myself thinking that I may see a no-hitter tonight.
3rd Inning:
This was what has become a rather typical inning for the Dodgers. Barnes struck out looking, Betts struck out swinging and Buck reminded us again how great a pitcher Charlie Morton is. Seager then got hit by a pitch, which was followed by a double to left by JT. Muncy followed with a single to center which scored Seager and Turner. Will Smith ended the inning with a fly out to center field. 3-0 good guys at the end of three. Dodgers continue their masterful hitting with two outs. For those who think the Dodgers are not clutch, they have definitely shown themselves to be clutch in this series. I’m not sure this was the inning, but the announcers thought it important to remind us of how Morton shut the Dodgers down in the final game of the 2017 World Series. They even showed the Astros hoisting the WS trophy. Perhaps they forgot about the cheating scandal. In any event, it made me momentarily sick to my stomach.
In the bottom of the inning, Buehler allows his first base runner, with a one out walk to Kiermaier, who was then promptly erased on a double play grounder to third by Zunino. Turner made a great pick and throw to second on the play. Defense helps win games, and JT showed he still knows how to play a little 3rd base when needed.
4th Inning:
Bellinger starts off with a single to center. Taylor strikes out swinging, but Pederson singles down the right field line sending Bellinger to third. Apparently Pederson may have made it to second, but fell down rounding first. Other than what they told us, we don’t know what happened, because Fox doesn’t show us. Barnes then lays down a perfect safety squeeze, scoring Belli, with Joc advancing to second. Betts then singles to center, scoring Joc. Morton ends the inning by getting Seager to ground out to third. 5-0 Dodgers.
Buehler retire the side in order, with Meadows lining out to Bellinger, Lowe then, according to Buck, took a great swing but fouled the ball to the backstop. Apparently he didn’t learn anything from his great swing as he struck out swinging. Arozarena ended the inning by flying out to deep center. Buehler still looks very much in command.
5th Inning:
JT started with a strikeout, but Muncy worked a walk. That was it for Morton, as he was relieved by John Curtiss(who’s middle name happens to be Pickens). Will Smith follows with a fly out to right, and Bellinger strikes out swinging.
Buehler quickly disposes of Choi with a strikeout, but then Margot gets the first hit off Buehler with a double to left. Buehler then gets Wendle to strike out swinging. Unfortunately he hangs a slider to Adames, who also doubles to left, scoring Margot. The Rays are on the board. Kermaier follows with a grounder to Muncy to end the inning. Despite the run, Buehler still looks very much in command, although his pitch count is starting to rise.
6th Inning:
Curtiss is still pitching for the Rays. CT3 starts the inning by striking out. Joc hits a pop fly to third base. Then with two outs (naturally) Barnes gets the run back by hitting a homerun to left center. I read that it was the furthest ball that Barnes has hit all year (425 feet). Good for AB. The role player came up huge when needed. Betts singled to center, and stole second base. Seager walked, but JT ended the inning by lining out to center field.
Buehler allows a one out single to Meadows in the bottom of the inning, but he cooly strikes out the side, as Zunino, Lowe, and Arozarena all go down swinging. That’s how a shut down inning should look. Buehler’s night is finished. His final line 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 10 Ks. Just what the Doc ordered.
7th Inning:
Lefty Ryan Sherriff comes on to pitch for the rays. Other than a walk to Smith, he retires the Dodgers with no damage allowed.
Treinen is out for the 7th inning and retires the Rays with relative ease as he strikes two. His pitches looked as good as they have in a while.
8th Inning:
Ryan Thompson is on to pitch for the rays and he retires the Dodgers in order.
Graterol comes on to pitch the bottom of the 8th and he retires the Rays in order on 8 pitches. Nice stress free inning for the Bazooka.
9th Inning:
Shane McClanahan is on to pitch the 9th for the Rays. Seager greets him with single to left, but he is stranded as the next 3 Dodgers fly out. McClanahan is a young lefty that can throw 100 mph. Impressive.
Jansen comes on to pitch the ninth. Meadows strikes out swinging and Lowe is retired on a lazy fly out to Betts. Arozarena hits a 3-2 pitch left out over the plate a long ways for a home run, but Choi ends the game with a fly to left. Despite the homerun, Jansen looked very good. His velocity was up as high as it has been all year, his cutter cut, and he looked relaxed. Whatever Charlie Hough and Rick Honeycutt told him must have resonated as he looks a lot stronger. If only they would give a call to Joe Kelly. in the ninth for the save. There are nervous fans throughout the Dodgers community.
Two wins to go, and 1988 will be a distant memory!!
Some Random Playoff Thoughts:
● Listening to Joe Buck is insufferable.
● It’s my opinion that one day, JT will be a manager, and a good one at that. He’s a great communicator and has tremendous baseball knowledge. In addition, the players appear to respect his leadership qualities. Perhaps the Dodgers could bring him back as a player/coach.
● This is the year for George Lombard to get interviewed for vacant manager positions. While I would hate to see him go, I do hope that he gets th opportunity to manage and that he is a successful manager for many years to come.
● Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin appear to be suffering from nerves. Being on the big stage in the World Series will sometimes do that to you. Despite their minor struggles, I am not ready to give up on them. They both have a chance to be really, really good.
● I know that hitting a baseball is a very hard thing to do, but it frustrates me to no end to watch a hitter strike out looking in the 8th or 9th inning. Game two had me very frustrated as the Dodgers struck out looking several times in those innings. You can’t hit what you don’t swing at.
● The game two home plate umpire needs to go on a n exercise program to increase his flexibility. It did not appear that he could bend over enough to see the low strike. He missed quite a few in the strike zone.
My take on “Me and Julio” with apologies to Paul Simon. It was very quickly written, so not my best effort. Hopefully, it doesn’t jinx Julio for tonight’s game:
Doc named him to start game four
fully rested and part of the rotation
When the fans found out they began to shout
hoping to begin a celebration
would he beat the odds
would he beat the odds
What the hitters saw
It was against the law
Young Julio looked down and he spit on the ground
when he hit his spot and shut them down
Doc said “oh they’ll never get to that boy
he’s got too much spin and determination”
Well he’s on his way
The Rays don’t know what he’s throwing
He owns the Rays
it’s just a matter of time
as he strikes out nine
Goodbye Arozarena, as he goes down swinging
That’s our young Julio
Three down and keeping them from going deep
That’s our young Julio
he’s in command
Whoa, in a couple days Dodgers will hoist the trophy
and the fans will sing with joy
And when the last out was made
Julio will be praised
Julio was all on the cover of Baseball America
And he’s on his way
The Rays don’t where he’s throwing
He’s just a strike away
so he’s taking his time
as he strikes out nine
Goodbye Arozarena, as he goes down swinging
Seein’ my boy Julio
Jump into Will Smith’s arms
Seein’ my boy Julio
Jump into Smith’s arms
Jump into Will Smith’s arms
Jump into Smith’s arms
Does anyone still believe that Austin Barnes should not be playing? This is not a knock on Will Smith who is and should be the everyday catcher, but Barnes is getting raves about his game calling and receiving skills, and it is finally getting the recognition that I have been obnoxiously talking about. Per Austin, it is the catcher’s job to make sure the pitcher does the best he can do. Check. In addition, Barnes is hitting:
Austin Barnes – .350/.381/.500/.881
Will Smith – .207/.270/.362/.632
The above is with 22 PA for Barnes and 63 PA for Smith. Barnes is hitting 9th, and Smith is hitting 5th and driving in runs (13 – 2nd on team behind Seager). So again, this is not about moving Barnes to the starter role. But in a backup role and working with certain pitchers, Barnes is ideal for LAD. Smith and Barnes is the best catcher duo in MLB. They complement each other fantastically.
Does anyone still believe that Muncy should not be cleanup in these games. I think it was before the NLCS that I said that if Max can get two RBIs without a HR, the Dodgers would win. He got 2 RBIs game 1 and 2 RBIs game 3, both wins. Max is showing why Doc kept putting him in the cleanup spot while most fans wanted him out. Me included. I did not like the walks. But Doc stayed patient with him and he is now being rewarded for that patience.
JT is playing himself into a 3 year contract (okay a 2 year plus option). He may not be able to play 3rd 162 games, but he can still pick it with the best when he needs to. Clutch defense (again) and clutch offense (again). He has been solid for his entire Dodger career, and he deserves to retire as a Dodger. Or we fans deserve to see him retire as a Dodger.
I am partial to George Lombard getting his shot at managing. In 2004, he and my son were very close when Andy was in Pawtucket. George is one of the few players that he feels comfortable communicating with after his stroke.
Uh, his name is “Sam”. Chase told me so!
I forgot to add this – – – A fun read about the “historic” and weird aspects of last nights game by Jayson Stark:
https://theathletic.com/2158132/2020/10/24/stark-weird-and-wild-world-series-game-3/
Jeff, thanks for sharing that about your son and George Lombard. Now, even more than before, I too hope he gets his shot at managing.
I have no problem playing Barnes at all. He is a poor man’s AJ Ellis, and I loved AJ. Barnes’s bunt and HR was only the second time in World Series history that had ever happened, and the other player was Hector Lopez in 61 with the Yankees. Another one of those utility players no one cares about. Smith is the better power hitter, same as Grandal, and he does have a penchant for getting big hits at just the right moment. But as a duo, they are great. Strikeouts are still the one thing that bug me the most. And a strikeout looking? Well, that to me is just giving up without a fight. I would fine a player who just sat there and did not even try to foul the thing off. But that is me. And managers rarely fine players anymore. But they could do it in a kangaroo court like some teams used to have. I also agree that both May and Gonsolin have had that deer in the headlights look. Turner should finish his career in blue. He is far to valuable a player to just let him walk in free agency, and I believe he and probably Baez will be the two free agent’s to be that AF will have a huge interest in returning to the fold. I do not think they will pay Treinen 10 million plus again. I also think they might resign McGee, depending on the cost. But with Ferguson gone for a year at least, they could even use Wood in the same kind of role that Strip had, only from the left side. It all remains to be seen. I look for Urias to go at least 6. And as I said when this started, they needed to shut down Tampa’s hottest hitter, Arozarena, and they have. His homer last night meant nothing. Lombard recently interviewed for the Tigers job, and I read he also is in line for a couple of other interviews. LaRussa has also already interviewed for the White Sox position.
We are blessed to have the catching tandem that we have. Barnes look more comfortable in the box and this might be a result of having Mookie Betts. I read or watched somewhere recently about Mookie telling the guys about having a two strike approach instead of swinging for the fence in every situation. This guy has great confidence and doesn’t mind speaking out, perhaps even contradicting the cyber oriented hitting philosophy of past Dodgers teams. I am just so impressed with how smart and what a great leader Mookie is. His sure looks like the missing piece. He is much better that advertised.
I also like the squeeze plays, contact plays and stolen bases. The right way to play, the way that was developed over 100 years of trial and error, only to almost become mostly extinct by the analysts that try to make MLB play like a video game. I think that the Dodgers are blending old school and analytics very well right now. I’m glad to see more every day players and less platoons and demise of the one hitter pitcher.
Back to the catching tandem. It’s very surprising to see those batting lines. But, while watching the games, I see Will Smith constantly coming up with the big hit at the right time. Sometimes the stat lines are deceiving, especially considering the small sample size of the post season. I said recently that the Rays don’t do well against lefties and AC quickly pointed out that they are actually better against lefties than they are against righties. I was looking at their win/loss record when I made my claim. I guess we will see over the next couple of games how that works out.
The Rays are not really a good offensive team against RHP or LHP. They walk a lot and feast on mistakes, and they do that very well. They have the postseason record for most HRs. As indicated in the preview, LAD pitchers do not walk a lot of batters, thus keeping traffic lower. In a 6-1 game a solo HR with 2 outs in the 9th is not ideal, but it doesn’t hurt that much either. I suspect that Julio has been watching CK and Walker and sees the success they are getting by pounding the strike zone. Urias has been so much better at that part of pitching the second half of 2020, especially since the playoffs. One game, one batter, one pitch at a time.
2D2 and AC, you said it all and I agree with you, thanks for your input.
Just wanted to add my thoughts on some of the nice things about last night’s game.
Nice to see Austin Barnes have a great day at the plate with his bunt and home run.
Nice to see Justin Turner pass Duke Snider’s postseason home runs along with his defensive play on the double play ball.
Nice to see Mookie Betts get two stolen bases and two hits.
Nice to see Max Muncy show that Doc’s faith and decision to bat him cleanup was a good one.
Nice to see the bullpen pitchers, Blake Treinen, Bazooka Graterol, and Kenley Jansen pitch very well.
Guess that is all. Oh wait….terrific to see the tremendous performance by Walker Buehler.
Only two more wins. Go Blue.
He did not pass Duke, he tied him. Big difference in the amount of games played in playoffs. Also, all of Snider’s HR’s came in World Series play. All 11 of them. And Duke is the only player to hit 4 homers in two separate World Series. One reason I think all the post season stuff should be broken down into the periods of play it happened in. Mantle hit all of his post season homers in the World Series also. And I doubt any player ever comes close to matching Mantles 18 World Series jacks. It does a disservice to the guys who held those marks. Playoffs are tiered now, so the stats should be too.
You’re right. World Series records are a different set of records. I know they keep saying “post season” but most fans know better.
I guess I should have said “current player’s record”. I just wrote what was written elsewhere but made a mistake in saying the record was surpassed, not tied. In no way was I meaning to discount Snider’s accomplishments. After all, he was and still is one of my very first Dodger heroes. Sorry for the confusion.
No problem DBM with you or what you posted. I just do not think that World Series and playoff accomplishments should be lumped together.
It’s all good, Bear. No problems. I do agree with you on the unfair comparisons. It is kind of like a comparing Koufax and Kershaw. Different times in my opinion.
I was very interested in watching Shane McClanahan last night. I have been following him since before the 2018 draft. He was one of the potential LAD picks for the first round, but was projected by many to go in the top 20 and LAD picked 30. McClanahan goes undrafted for the first 29 picks and it is the Dodgers turn. I was looking forward to getting to see the hard throwing lefty from University of South Florida in a Dodger uni. NOPE!! Instead the Dodgers chose High School RHP J.T. Ginn (who did not sign), and the Rays drafted McClanahan with the very next pick.
Some thoughts on last night:
The Dodgers are played about a perfect baseball game last nigh in every element of the game.
* I absolutely love the safety squeeze and Barnes executed it perfectly. We have mentioned it many times here how it is impossible to defend. It is as effective as a suicide squeeze without the risk. Loved seeing Doc put it on. And then he homered. How cool is that?
* 2D2 mentioned the lack of flexibility by home plate umpires who can’t see the lower or outer portions of the plate. I would like to suggest that another way to get a better view of pitches is to scrap the “National League” positioning to the inside of the catcher based on the hitter where seeing the opposite corner and low and away is difficult. I would go back to the “American League” style when they had those balloon protectors and got directly over the catcher’s head. I think that give an umpire a way better view of the entire strike zone. When the ballon protector went away, so did that style. I’d bring it back.
* Mookie opened his stance last night a little bit. He’s usually very square.
* I love it when Buehler has his power stuff working. It’s “lets play a little good ole country hard ball, boys” and he dominates the top of the zone. See if you can hit it.
* Smoltz touched on Buehler’s longish stride to home for his height. Remember Tim Lincecum being a very long strider, like 7+ feet. That turns Walker’s 99 mph fastball into 102 in “perceived velocity”. For every foot of extension on the front side at release it equates to 3 mph to the hitter with less reaction time. 99 turns into 102 in perceived velocity. That’s why Tom House forever had pitchers doing towel drills to increase length on the front side.
* Smoltz commentates like every base hit is a mistake by the pitcher. He gives little credit to MLB hitters. Last night, the first hit off Walker was a double by Margot that was 2 baseballs inside. I don’t know how he kept it fair. While Walker missed his target it turned out to be a tough pitch to hit and typically taken. Plenty of great pitches are off missed location. Smoltz called it a pitcher’s mistake. I call it good hitting. Give MLB hitters some credit. They are there for a reason.
* Teams now run 100mph pitchers out to the mound like a Pez dispenser.
* Graterol’s lower half rivals Jerome Bettis. No doubt where that 100mph comes from.
* MLB is getting more and more like NASCAR with the logos and promotions. They cut back from the extra ads a nanosecond before the 1st pitch to a hitter. They sandwich the 15 second ads in wherever they can. They superimpose the ad on the backstop and now behind the pitching rubber. I waiting for the Pennzoil patch to start showing up on sleeves.
* Speaking of the area behind home plate, where the ads are now, used to have white lettering on the green paint that said “NO PEPPER”. Kids now would have no idea what the meant.
* I like the classiness of these 2 teams while they compete hard. I felt the same about the Braves. Last night Choi tagged Seager in the head on a play at first and hung around to ask and see that Cory was okay. That showed lots of class as opposed to the behavior of the Machao’s and the Tattis’ of the game who can’t stop celebrating and showing people up long enough to play the game the right way.
* Thanks to Joe Buck for doing his best Tim McCarver last night in explaining what that black shit was on Justin Turner’s back. You can’t see the T. I was so comforted to know that it’s actually pine tar and not something else. So, all those grandmother’s in the home who are watching their first game, won’t think it’s something else.
Great observations Phil.
Perfect safety squeeze but if a Rays fan I’d have to ask – why did you make it so easy for him? If it were me I would have put it on his fists. Oh well. Thank you.
Barnes is coming through in the clutch, but he’s still my #2 catcher.
I can’t believe kids aren’t taught pepper anymore. That is one of the best drills ever for bat control and sweet spot location. Try it with a tennis ball against the garage door. I did it for hours. Drove my mother nuts.
Smoltz is knowledgeable, and he often entertains and educates, but I think Buck is the wrong partner for him. Davis might be better.
Great piece 2d. Thanks.
Badger, I believe as you do that pepper was a fun, competitive game that taught contact skill and bat control. And I mean true pepper and not the “flip” version. If more players possessed those skills today you would see hitters beat the shifts and get them back in standard alignments.
I too wore out the siding on the house but for me fielding ground balls. I finally got the greatest invention ever for a kid who wanted to practice all day…..a Pitch Back.
I got one too, but honestly I threw too hard for it to work. I had a cinderblock fence that I threw against until I was 13. Then we moved and no more fence. I had to get a friend to catch me, I could throw a hundred every other day no problem. Tennis ball against the garage door was just for pick up and tracking drills.
I miss playing ball. I stayed in shape year round for decades just to play city league and tournament ball., Now, I know I gotta keep lifting and running, but, it’s not the same. No motivation
Meant to say Turner tied Snider’s record.
Disagree for the reason’s stated below. But that is just me.
We are on our way to Reno to watch my granddaughter as my son and daughter in law have tickets for games 5-7 of the WS and are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow AM. Yes, I am jealous. It’s great to know people with pull and money.
That’s awesome! I have tickets for a game 7, but I’m really really hoping we close this int before that!
“close this out before that”
Mixed feelings Bobby. I’m torn between “wish I was going with you” and “man I hope you don’t go”. We’ll blow that bridge up later.
But watching the granddaughter is a pretty good consolation prize
I am going to say this once more, and then I will not bring it up again. I do not think post season records should be lumped together. Players from the past are getting over looked for what they did when the only post season matchup, unless there was a tie for first, was the World Series. Manny Ramirez leads the list of post season homers with 29. 25 of those came in league champion or division champion series. Saying Turner tied Duke Snider’s record is ludicrous. On the biggest baseball stage, Turner is 9 BEHIND the Duke. Duke hit his in 133 at bats. Turner has 256. Ramirez is no where near Mantle or Snider in WS homers. I am not dissing what Turner has meant or done in post season play. Justin is a .250 hitter in series play, Snider was at .286. Snider drove in 26 runs in WS play, JT has 3. Granted, Snider played a lot more series games than JT. But it still does not mean that Turner is even close to being the hitter in the WS Duke was. Babe Ruth hit 15 WS homers, yet with all the brouhaha over post season stats he is almost regulated to an afterthought. Babe also hit .326 in WS play. It just gets my goat that they have stats and graphs and all these records lumped together. Seager has 7 homers so far in the post season this year. But the bulk of those came in the NLCS. That is where they need to be counted, not in total.
I agree.
We know better. World Series records are rarer, therefore giving Buck less to talk about, which we know is actually a good thing. Unfortunately he doesn’t realize that.
You hit that nail on the head. He should stick to football. I would rather listen to Davis.
I did not realize Manny had such good postseason numbers. Not that I’m surprised though.
Manny was a monster in post season play. He did very well against the Cubs in the LDS when he was a Dodger. And he helped the Sox win a few post season games also. But his Indians lost. # 2 on the post season list is Bernie Williams with 22. Then Jeter with 20, Pujols and Springer with 19. Jackson has 18. As does Mantle. Anyone think Springer is near the player Mantle was?
You know my answer to that question Bear.
Best Dodger game I have seen in years.
I agree, it was about as perfect a game as I have seen in quite a while. Good defense, clutch hitting and only 2 mistake pitches. I was also impressed with Choi’s defense over at 1st. He made 3 outstanding plays. Dodgers have scored 50 runs this post season with 2 outs. Yarborough pitching today as the opener for the Rays. He is a lefty, so Joc will probably sit and they run their RH lineup out there to start. Of course Muncy, Seager and Belli will still be in there.
Agree Bear on Choi. I watched the Rays a lot and he doesn’t look like much but he can really play. He can do the splits on that long stretch, pick it. throw accurately , and run well. He is way better than folks think. And he can hit. He’s a very talented player and seems to enjoy playing the game.
Choi reminds me of a hockey goalie with those splits. Are you sure the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t train him? Lol. He is a very good and limber first baseman.
I am fortunate to hear the games called by Matt Vasgersian and Buck Martinez. It is just very relaxing. Matt, in my opinion, is a top notch broadcaster and Buck doesn’t overly analyze everything. They certainly seem to be impartial.
A lot of people don’t like Matty V., but I happen to be a big fan. He’s got a great sense of humor and realizes he’s talking about a bunch of guys playing a game. I think your choice of the word “relaxing” was very apt.
Game 4 lineup:
Mookie
Seager
JT
Muncy
Smith (c)
Belli
Pollock (dh)
CT3
Kike
Thank you, Bobby.
I like Barnes catching and will smith in the lineup because:
Barnes has been a great receiver. Neither can throw anybody out
Smith has been lax at catching the ball just not sharp not Grandal but…
Pollock is an automatic out and a rally killer. Please beat my trash talk pollock
Barnes will c pitches and occasionally find one.
He can run the bases. I would have him in tonight over pollock
Barnes credited mookie with helping him.
Urias has been all u would want this post season. He really struggled his last start with command with 100+ pitches in 5 innings.
This is a Huge Huge game tonight obviously.
Taylor is a player I don’t understand. He swings the same place seemingly no matter where the ball is.
Doc u have been good so play Barnes instead of pollock
Pollock had one of the better seasons of his career. He also did pretty well the first couple of playoff series. He, like Taylor has been in a bit of a slump the last week or so, but he has been killing lefty’s all year. And Barnes cannot equal his power.
I believe that today’s game is more important than tomorrow’s game because if we win today and go up 3-1 there’s no way they will be us three straight.
If we lose today then both teams only 2 of the next 4 games to win. It’s the reason why I would’ve preferred Barnes to catch(with his ability to get close pitches called strikes) over Smith.
Just my opinion.
I sure hope it doesn’t come down to fooling an umpire.
Pollock is due. I see a good night from him. I can also see a pinch hitter for him.
Funny line about Taylor realten and I get it. Same swing every time. He runs into one about 27% of the time. I see him on base twice tonight.
Urias has a propensity to start slow. I’d like to see us get a lead early again.
Barnes uses his glove to give the pitcher a steady target. He is quieter than Smith behind the plate.
Smith doesn’t always use his glove to give the pitcher a steady target especially when he want a pitch below the strike zone. Smith has a much better arm.
Pitchers like to praise their catchers when they do well instead of bragging about how good a game they pitched. Buehler did that when talking about getting out of the bases loaded no out jam. He also was wise enough to add that Smith helps him as well.
I think the decision for Barnes catching Buehler was two pronged. One, he had just teamed up with Buehler with a good outcome and two, Doc felt Barnes might hit better than Pollock against a righty. Smith has teamed up with Urias more than Barnes has so with no advantage there, Pollock gets the nod over Barnes tonight.
Hopefully Urias is ready to go in the first inning.
That’s what I worry about. Maybe Urias needs an opener tonight!
I could live with that.
I never thought Id say this but I’d rather have Barnes’s bat over Pollock’s. Last chance for Pollock tonight. He is DUE! If Julio’s command is there and he can get through the first inning Dodgers up 3-1 with Kersh up to rewrite his and Dodgers October narrative! Can’t wait to see that!
I meant to say this earlier:
I would like to know how these mlb umpires are assigned. Game 2 is arguably the worst umpire available and yet they pick him on the biggest stage. He definitely made a difference in game 2 and the Rays benefitted. It is questionable as to whether the game would have turned out different.
Random thought:
I am so glad the ASStros did not get into the World Series. The team was basically given immunity to fire a couple of organizational leaders. The players did not receive any intended consequences and the rest very light consequences. The ASStros have one of the most arrogant bunch of players to play the game. Pads not far behind.
Do it and then do it again.
I’ve only made one comment not in favor of Dave Roberts and that was for the windy game two. Overall I think he does a fine job getting the team to follow a plan as was shown in game 3. He zagged while Rays stayed zigging. He didn’t do that in game 2. As a matter of fact zagging is rarely done anymore and it’s one of the things that make baseball most entertaining. It was one of the things Dodgers did that that became ‘ The Dodger Way’. with base stealing and squeeze plays with some smallball when needed. While the game becomes more saber it’ll prove to go the old way often and do those small things.
Julio gets tested tonight. This game is probably the most important game this series so GO DODGERS!!!!!
Bellinger DH’ing tonight, due to a stiff back, with Pollack taking his place in CF. Given the difference that both he and Mookie have made with their outfield play, this could be significant. All the more reason for the Dodgers to put runs on the board tonight. And hopefully it doesn’t adversely affect Belli at the plate.
“Smith has a much better arm”.
You hit it on the nose Bums.
Not cool. Muncy got pulled off the bag. The umps blew that one.
That play isn’t reviewable? Muncy was clearly pulled off of 2nd base.
Kind of quiet in here.
Intently watching!
… and I am really tired. 6 -1/2 hours in line to vote today in 40-degree temps!
That should not happen. Anywhere.
Not reviewable. Ridiculous.
That’s why I voted by mail.
Me too.
Ugh the bullpen has 4 innings left to pitch with currently a 1 run lead. Not good especially with what I’ve heard about their bullpen.
The Dodgers need some runs and their bullpen is apparently really good.
Well we added 1 run.
Even the best of the Dodgers bullpen allows runs.
Off-season priority number one rebuild the bullpen.
And the rays are not a good hitting team.
Thank God for our offense.
Don’t like going to Baez here with runners on and he being forced to face theee batters
Knew it roberts
Baez, throw the heater high and follow with a change up low. Big mistake.
You want to leave Treinen out there when he is missing the strike zone that much? Baez had two strikes on the guy. He hit a pitch that was on the outer part of the plate. Give the hitter some credit, he expanded his zone and boom. All 3 homers Lowe has hit in the series have come on pitches outside he has hit the other way. Pitch him inside and take that away.
Yeah, Doc threw that pitch!
That wasn’t Baez!
Walks will kill you. And that is more on Treinen than Baez. You cannot give up walks. No outs, 2 runners on. Puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher.
PB is not ready for prime time. Tossed up a cookie. Now we need to play catch up baseball. Go Blue!
He can’t hit high heat and change ups so Baez throws him a low fastball. Dogfight now!
Michael show me a time Baez has ever pitched well under pressure in the playoffs, horrible choice by Robert’s please do not defend it.
If no one was on, then no one would bitch. Treinen set that whole thing up. Another thing, how about getting on their 345 million dollar man who left 2 runners in scoring position the inning before by hitting a weak fly to center? Give me a break. You guys are real quick to criticize after the fact. And Baez has had some good outings before in playoffs and other wise. Betts is 0-4 this game. They have had chances to put some distance between them and the Rays. And missed. Turner and Seager about the only 2 doing anything tonight. Both just got their 3 hits of the night. Oh yeah, over 30 post season games Baez has only allowed 5 homers including that one, and he has a 3.67 ERA.
Absilve,
I am sure your mind is made up, so actual facts might confuse you, but Baez has a 2.45 ERA in the NLCS and a 3.18 ERA in the World Series.
Sorry to break your bubble!
You just cannot strike out there! Just can’t! Muncy!
Yes, he can and then the next guy has to pick him up. That’s how it works!
Ok. Mookie sucks too. Feel better?
Mookie does not suck, but he isn’t helping tonight. At least offensively. That catch he made was outstanding. But you are paying the guy to do both. Tonight it is the guys who were here before AF that are leading the way.
It’s all on Joc!
This is very interesting!
Treinen and Baez are the best we got. For once that wasn’t on Doc. Now taking out Urias too early and having the bullpen pitch too many innings may be on Doc.
Everything is Doc’s fault!
That’s the “go to.”
Mark I said that wasn’t on Doc for using Treinen and Baez. Those are our best relievers. Besides our starters.
BOO YAH!
Joctober!
JOCTOBER!!!!
Who sent Joc to pinch hit?
It wasn’t Doc – Remember EVERYTHING is his fault!
And look who came through!
Nice AB Joc. Not scoring those two guys would have really been bad. Another 2 out hit. 2 more 2 out runs…..Now just hold em.
Thank God for our offense hopefully bailing out our bullpen.
Now does anybody even want to argue that our bullpen is fine.
Keep in mind the rays offense during the regular season was below average.
I agree Eric, they have come back each time TB has scored and that is why the game is still close. But they also missed a couple of chances. Can’t do it every time, but it would be nice. I said keeping Arozarena off the bases would be huge. Tonight he has scored 2 of thier runs. And TB has a habit of comeback wins. That one there was all on Baez. Tie game. This will be Pedro’s last inning no doubt. Each Dodger pitcher has given up 2 runs. Can’t win doing that.
Stats are nice in hindsight. Fact is, Baez gave it up. Simple. Does two cookies in two innings convince you?
So what? Who cares? The fact is they win and lose as a team. Doc makes a decision and it is up to the pitcher or hitter to execute same. Some times they do, and others they do not. Does anyone on here think that the Rays are just gonna roll over and play dead because the name on the front of the jersey says Dodgers? They are in the Series for a reason. Now it comes down to who plays flawless baseball the next 2 innings. Both teams are really good at comebacks. Yeah, stats in hindsight are nice., But it is also easy to criticize after the fact also.
From Mike Petriello:
Here are the times in baseball history that intentionally walking the bases loaded has worked out:
Never. It has never worked out.
And a lovely follow-up from McCullough
The permanence of Pedro Baez is one of the more befuddling aspects of this Dodgers era.
Now it’s all about who has the worst bullpen!
Both bullpens are coughing it up tonight!
Baez strikes again
What a game!
0 to 0
Boy what a waste of a good Urias performance! Now which team has more grit to win this one! Mookie’s gonna win this thing!
Good? It was ok. He left with a 1 run lead and runners on base. And from what I was watching, his pitches were missing the strike zone. They needed 5 out of him at least and did not get it.
The guy pitching right now for the Rays has a plus 4 ERA this year. We have Taylor, Kike and Betts coming up, then the heart of the order…..Oh by the way, who do you think feels worse about the HR’s? Us, or Baez?
Us. Lol.
Yeah I would say some of us are probably pulling out our hair. Me, I will wait until it is all over. Nice double by Taylor. Lets just get him home. Mookie has a chance at some redemption. And he blows it. 0-5 in a close game. Our best hitter is up.
I was really hoping he would call that bunt off after the first pitch
Probably should have, but Seager just bailed him out.
Doc just went Mattingly on us. Yikes!
Doctober?LOL
They just keep on coming!
If you don’t strike out sometimes you get lucky!
You ever read Lasordas quote about that? He said, you win 33 percent, you lose 33 percent, and the other 33 are just luck. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. Joc’s hit barely made it over the 2nd basemans glove.
It’s ALWAYS better to be lucky than good.
He had one coming. He’s hit some missiles into the shift this year.
There is no QUIT in this team. 6 more outs is all we need.
Baez blew it. Mookie didn’t get a hit.
If you say so.
NO WALKS!!!!!!!!
Seager is now hitting .500. Turner is hitting .444.
Betts 0 for 5. We’ve left a collective 21 on base. Muncy, Smith and Taylor 4 a piece. I blame it on Roberts.
Kolarek makes me nervous
Why is not belli in centerfield?
Belli is the DH. He has a stiff back.
I’m not a Kolarek fan because of his lopsided splits but this was the perfect inning to use him with three straight left-handed batters.
Good move Doc. See if I see something Doc does good I say so.
Four outs to go. Keep it in the park!
I’m getting out in front. If graterol gets out of the 8th ahead keep pitching him until somebody gets on.
Depends on how this inning ends. Little blooper there for a hit, and now he has Renfroe who has damn good power. If he gets Renfroe, they have Zunino, Keirmiair and Wendle in the 9th, and he gets him.
Graterol or Jansen? What’s your call? Don’t complain later! I’m going Kenley!
Neither. Because our bullpen is not good.
You’re asking would you rather get shot or get stabbed.
I agree. Stay with him in the ninth. Go Blue!
Depends on how this inning ends. Little blooper there for a hit, and now he has Renfroe who has damn good power. If he gets Renfroe, they have Zunino, Keirmair and Wendle in the 9th, and he gets him.
Renfroe now the first baseman. Smith, Bellinger and Pederson due up.
That first pitch to Renfroe was a perfect argument for the electronic strike zone.
One more inning. Get some runs Dodgers.
I’ve got faith in Jansen. 3 outs. No sweat! Kershaw tomorrow!
Turner and Seager the first team mates in history with 4 hits and a HR in the same game. Uh, Joc is 2-2 tonight. And he has 2 RBI’s probably 2 of his biggest ever. Hold on to your hats..here we go, 1 run lead in the ninth and Kenley coming in. No walks Jansen. No walks.
Jansen makes me nervous.
So nervous!
It’s awesome.
But you gotta go with him, right? Graterol just doesn’t miss enough bats yet.
What a great game.
Here is Kenley’s chance at redemption or costing the Dodgers the game.
Whatever happens, this is on Kenley… not Doc!
This is going to be a magnificent win or an agonizing defeat!
I vote WIN!
Jansen tonight. Kersh tomorrow night. End the October curse!
Can’t say that Jansen doesn’t make me nervous. But so does Graterol.
That sucked!
Well that was not pretty.
That sucked.
Beat by two dying ducks and an unearned run.
Our bullpen sucks. I warned you.
What’s worse the Rays are not a good hitting team.
That wasn’t just on the pen.
TB’s pen sucked too!
Mark stop. The Dodgers scored seven runs. Urias allowed only 2 runs.
THE BULLPEN ALLOWED SIX RUNS.
Well, I didn’t see that one coming.
How do you survive that! If you can’t get Brett Phillips there you don’t deserve to win a WS! Unfreakin believable!
This was not on Jansen.
One strike away. Those walks will kill you. Just a bad 9th inning all the way around. Kershaw-Glasnow tomorrow.
You HAVE to talk Azorena there. Have to.
He did.
He had 2 strikes on him and he spiked a pitch in the ground. Had it been anywhere near the strike zone he might have offered at it. No, you do not have to walk the guy there. And a rookie with 2 strikes on him who is ofer in the series beats you because your CF kicks the ball, and the catcher misses a throw. That inning remind anyone of 2017?
That rookie beat them because Jansen was even in the game which he has proven over and over and over that he isn’t the guy. The manager keep trotting out the oldies with the same result. Crushing defeats.
Jansen got 1-2 and missed a pitch, which is normal these days. It was suppose to be up out of the zone and instead it was on a tee.
Ouch! Not quite good enough. Best 2 out of 3 but this one hurts big time. Guess we’ll see what they’re mad of. Go Blue!
Smith had his mask on??? Should have been flipped off immediately. I’ve seen him do that before.
Oh well, three games to prove we really are not cursed or poorly managed, Mark stop defending Robert’s, great communicator not a great strategist.
Baez in that spot with two runnners on horrible, even worse to bring his head case back for a second inning when he never pitches well in the second inning, ever,
Look at the history.
The momentum is now the side of Rays
This is a good example of throwing a game away. What a pity it had to end like this. Smith should have caught the ball in spite of Taylor’s fielding error. I feel bad for Urias and the team in blowing this game. The HR is the one thing you want to avoid giving up no matter who is pitching. Impossible to stop all of them, but 4 HRs is just too much.
So, who thinks Jansen should be our closer?
Jansen isn’t the pitcher he used to be, that is true. But the Rays did not hit the ball hard and it wasn’t his fault they scored the winning run. That last play was bungled by all three players that touched the ball. The game should be tied and in the 10th inning.
The bullpen sucked and in the end the defense let us down. We deserved to lose this one.
I think we will be the team that wins 2 out of three. We are better than those guys.
I think we’re clearly better as well and still think we’ll end up winning, but Rays seem to have some sort of anomalous factor aiding them. Can’t put my finger on it. Certainly, a high quality team, deserving team. Manifest destiny or something, for baseball terms.
That’s not the question Jeff.
The question who should be the closer or high-leverage pitcher?
Graterol doesn’t miss bats. Nor does Treinen. Floro wilts in high-leverage. McGee has one pitch.
Will Smith will not catch another WS game. He might be our DH, but with only three games left to play assuming it goes 7 and CK and WB don’t like pitching to Will. Mookie has to hit in the clutch and he did not tonight.
Baez is garbage, KJ has completely lost his game. 3-1 to 2-2 in a flash and now the match-up looks . It is on the player’s but Doc doesn’t survive this if they don’t win a WS this year.
If the players execute, Doc is not in the equation. I do agree with you, norcal. Graterol and Jansen are not sure things. One is developing, the other is disintegrating. It’s become an issue that needs attention next season. Too late to change things now. Baez is another guy you can’t depend upon. They need to develop relievers on the farm.
The bobbles by Taylor and Smith is not the problem. The Dodgers shouldn’t have been in that situation.
THE BULLPEN ALLOWED 6 RUNS.
You can’t expect perfection in every game. You can expect better execution, though.
And the OFFENSE left 22 men on base. Get real. Mookie, Smith, Muncy or Taylor get one more hit, and some of those runs score. Yeah, the bullpen gave up 6. But the offense even with the 2 out rally’s left a lot of men out there who would have changed the entire makeup of the game.
Seriously?
The offense scored 7 runs. You win with 7 runs unless your pitching sucks. Urias only allowed 2 runs.
THE BULLPEN ALLOWED 6 RUNS.
The bullpen sucks.
Players always win or lose a game but Doc sure makes a case for the manager playing a role. Whether he went with his gut or the math, it didn’t pan out. Yeah, the players win or lose but he made the wrong decision. This will be a hard one to swallow.
Doc has to go.
Leaving Baez in there
Why not stick with Graterol?
Same ol Jansen and Baez. Same ol Roberts using them in high leverage spots.
Totally Agree . Needs to go. Again the manager making the same dumb moves as always. Same happened to him in ws 2017 and 2018. Cannot handle the close games starts overmanaging and making changes when he is winning and Jansen cant close anymore he just doesnt have it anymore.
Wow. Speechless on that last play and best not to say much tonight. Dodgers could have made this easy and a lot of guys did their part. I guess I’m glad Urias will be available for game 7, although I prefer the alternative where he isn’t pulled and “imo” we win tonight and wrap up tomr. Rays are beating up our bullpen and might be time to stretch the starters again. Maybe the analytic charts will agree. This is a resilient, high character team and will need it for the final 3 games. Fairly confident it’s going 7 now.
No use crying over spillt milk now. Kershaw needs to pitch as good as he did last time out, and the offense needs to get to Glasnow again. So far it has been win, lose, win, lose. You give up 8 runs you usually lose. Your bullpen gives up the lead 3 times, you usually lose. You kick balls at inopportune moments in the game, you lose. All of those things happened tonight. And Jansen was a little unlucky. Keirmarirs hit was a broken bat that barely cleared Kike’s glove. Then he walks Arozarena after he gets Meadows out. 2 outs, 2 strikes on the hitter and every thing that could go wrong does. They cannot take that into tomorrows game. They had 15 hits, left 22 men on base. The game should not have even been that close. Mookie, Muncy, Smith and Taylor left 16 men on base between them. The pen gave up 6 runs over the last 4 innings. This teams Achilles heel is 1 run leads and games. They are not very good at either. Get up, 3 games to 2 and put the pressure on the Rays. Right now, game 6 would be a bullpen game. And the Rays will counter with Snell. Buehler could go if Kersh wins game 5. But then if it came to a game 7 it would be all hands on deck. I am not sure who Doc considers the closer, but I am not sure he has a lot of options. If Kersh really wants to put the bad memories and performances out of his mind, he needs a game 5 that is the exact opposite of what happened in 2017. To say he will be motivated is an understatement. And remember, they have an off day after tomorrows game.
It’s not as if Tampa was hitting screaming line drives. First runner on in the 9th was off a broken bat hit just out of Kike’s reach. And don’t think that that didn’t influence how they pitched to Arozarena. And it didn’t help that the Dodgers squandered opportunities to score runs.
I’ve always held that if the Dodgers broke their WS drought it wasn’t going to be easy. Tomorrow’s game is big. Just have to hope that Glasnow doesn’t bring his best game and that the Dodgers bring their bats. And it would certainly help if Kershaw is on top of his game.
I’ve seen a lot of them but this has to rank as the most painful loss ever. I still speechless 30 min. later.
In our history of these things in the last 30 years, this may be the worst. Rollins two-out double off Broxton. Blowing a 4-0 and 7-4 lead in Houston. Blowing a 4-1 lead against Boston. Blowing a 3-0 lead against Washington. Now Jansen cannot get the final out, and we botch up the play and we lose.
People will obviously stick to their preconceptions. Mine are that Roberts is a poor game manager. He never should have put Baez back out there for another inning. The Roberts fans will not blame Roberts for putting him out, and will not blame Baez for giving up the homeruns. Roberts should not have bunted with a man on second and none out, it is a terrible play, as we saw. Roberts of course went with Jansen, he was pretty much stuck, though Graterol would have been a safer bet, at least until he put a man on base. Jansen…let’s say he did not come through in the way that a great pitcher should, in his biggest spot ever. That last run was not his fault, but he’s got to get the batter out, and he did not. I will say that he handled the postgame questions with class and dignity, but it doesn’t make it much better. He is not a top closer, no matter how much some fans want to take a good outing or two and decide that he is over his problems. He could not throw the ball by anyone with two strikes, though the one pitch to Arozarrena, I think, was just outside, would have won the game if called a strike, but it was a ball.
We obviously still have a chance to win the series, but it doesn’t feel like it.. Our bullpen is shot. Jansen’s confidence likely is. The only thing that can save it is Kershaw pitching a complete game shutout, and then Buehler doing the same thing. We have no closer, we have no setup man, and Roberts has no idea whom to use, and the management left us in this position again. Well, maybe we’ll rise up and surprise us. It just keeps happening to us in key moments in big games. Maybe it is just bad luck? I feel bad for all the great Dodgers fans, and that includes me. It can happen to any team but our bullpen has let us down time and again, and we still don’t do the things necessary to make it one of the top bullpens in baseball, as it should be, we just do a little patchwork each season, not enough. This is not coincidence that we lose these games.
Brutal loss but it was one of the most tense incredible games I’ve ever watched! Win or go home tomorrow. It’s in Kersh’s hands now! Time for Mookie and Belly to step up and deliver offensively
Uh win or go home? Not yet. They have to win 4 and they only have 2. So we have 3 chances to win 2.
Agree William analytics had them pulling Urías, just like they pulled Hill in 2017. However when you have no pen, pulling starters who are rolling in the name of analytics gets you this. Loss is usually on the players but I blame our entire management team tonight.
Ok guys, let’s all not lose our collective Shitaki. Yes, classic Dodger heartbreak loss, but coming from a mid 70’s kid growing up with Vin and Jerry Doggett on the radio, WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED?? This is how we have always rolled, never a lock stock sure bet to win, always on the seat of your pants, butt hangin’ out the window Dodgers. I will never forget when we lost to the Assstros in the world series a few years ago, my then 16 year old son took off into his room after the last out. I knocked on his door about 10 minutes later, and there he was, in a total dark room crying his eyes out, saying, “Damn Pops, I totally thought we would win”. I gave him a heartfelt hug and told him “Welcome to being a Dodger fan”. Next day, He put on his prized Kershaw game jersey on and went to school filled with Giant fans, most of who were his buddies. The kid showed his Dodger balls, and despite what happened tonight, I will stand up and say, I love this team and quit second guessing would have, could have, should have, get behind this team and get this thing done! Yeah,the Rays stole one tonite, but we still have the hammer, and for God’s sake quit second guessin’ Doc. he believes in his guys to the end, it’s not his fault if they don’t execute. Kind of funny, he was a friggin bullpen genius Games 1 and 3, and now he suddenly sucks. Gonna be a long series guys, better buckle up buttercup.
Boy, I really, really hope we can pull this off but this is so reminiscent of the ‘17 WS when we blew a game we should have won. Very hard for a team to recover from a lose like tonight’s. All the momentum is with the Rays now. They played hard and came through and we didn’t when we has the series within our grasp. I’m hoping we can recover but I’ve seen this movie before.
I’m hoping but they have a lot of demons to exorcise.
You youngsters out there: always run out a ground ball, choke up with two strikes on you, eat your vegetables…
Roberts said Pedro Baez didn’t execute the pitch he needed to to Lowe. Roberts then takes blame for bringing him back out for the 7th. He initially told him he was done.
You can’t have a manager who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Can’t have it.
Not great but not over.
So they pay Kelly all that money to do what?
Would have been nice to have Belli in CF in the 9th. And we don’t know if his back affected his hitting tonight.
I woukd be shocked if the Dodgers had any hangover tomorrow from this game.
Evan you must be too young to have seen the Giants come from 4-2 behind to score 4 in the 9th and defeat the Dodgers in the final game of their 3 game playoff series in 1962. That’s my most painful Dodger loss. I was too young (5) in 1951 to be disappointed by Bobby Thompson’s HR.
Yes Brooklyn Dodger, you’re correct. I was too young to remember the ‘62 loss.
My son and I were texting back and forth and going into the 9th inning and I said, “This is what we feared going into the post season, game on the line and counting on Jansen to close it out. The moment of truth has arrived.”
This is such a gut punch. We’ll see what this team is made of. All those clutch hits with 2 outs and we come out on the losing end. It’s just a real, real blow to the psyche. A lot of guys will probably lose sleep tonight. I know the series is tied and it is far from over, but how do you get back in the mind set and put this behind you? This team is going to have to really prove they are a special bunch and overcome this because it truly feels like they lost the series tonight.
It bothers the sh*t out of me that Smith still had his mask on taking that throw from Muncy.
So no cakewalk, Dodgers still win tomorrow and win the series.
Well, here we are again. Bad breaks or not, Jansen can’t close out a game against a sub-.200 hitter. Now CK is faced, yet again, with the WS on his shoulders. This may well be his last chance to quiet all the critics and earn his place in baseball history. I know he is good enough but he’s been here before with disappointing results. If I could will him to win, I would but all I can do is hope. I am hopeful. Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic. We’ve been here before.
The pitch location was just terrible on that last pitch… Will was set up high and inside… but Kenley missed and left it middle in. The count was 1-2… that ball shouldn’t have been anywhere near the strike zone. He missed badly on the Kiermaier single… left it over the plate again. And Kenley shockingly left two over the middle of the plate to Arozarena too… but he looked at one and fouled the other off. He has done this so often over the last few years… it is beyond frustrating.
~
Watching the replays again… all the damage against us was done on pitches that caught way too much of the plate. A lot of this seemed to be bad execution by our pitchers… but I did also notice that our pitchers were shaking off Will’s signs a bit throughout the game… not sure if they do that as often with Austin.
~
I would definitely be in favor of having Austin catch the remaining games and Will DHing or pinch hitting. Btw… Will is batting .176 in this series, as of tonight.