The Magic Carpet Ride

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1. Wow, what a game ! I just finished watching it on tape, took the day off and that was a good decision. 4,5 hours of pure drama. When TT hit into that DP with the bases loaded I had a bad feeling about this one. But the Dodgers bullpen was exceptional once again in a do or die game. Max did not have his A stuff but he battled and kept us in it.
   Hopefully he will be better in Game 3 of the NLDS on Monday. Dodgers need him .
   Glad Belli had a good game, key BB and SB before the CT3 walk off.

   DR managed a superb ballgame today. Have been critical about his in game moves at some times but today he managed a great game.

   Now bring on those Midgets ! cant wait!
   Will be interesting to see how the Dodgers set up their roster now. I can see Souza and McKinstry left off for 2 pitchers. Bruihl, Price and V-Gone the likely candidates to take those 2 spots.

   Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Sure managers take advantage of their situation. Joe Torre was a loser of a manager then went to the Yankees with those great players and he was great. Was he different or just had the players. Don Mattingly Dodgers vs Marlins

3. I have to admit, I had my doubts on bringing in Graterol and expressed those doubts to anyone who would listen to me…ask my wife. He has been getting shellacked a lot lately so I had no reason to believe he had overcome whatever problems were causing that….but OMG….only 5 pitches in one inning. Is that a record? Lol

   Again, I give Belli props. He didn’t hit a HR and he didn’t make any great plays in the OF, but he had self control at the plate and he has legs. We needed both! Thank you!

   Can’t believe we won…I was having nightmares all week of Wainwright’s curveball. But we got him out in the 6th inning, and prevailed over their pen.

   Still can’t believe that DP Turner hit on ball 4. It took me a while to recover from that disappointment, but I did and our boys did,

   On to SF….show time! Let’s settle this once and for all.

   TM

4. I’m still floating on air after that incredible game last night. CT3 has a knack for coming up big, especially off the bench as we’ve seen numerous times. Turner is always good for a big home run like he did to the Brewers a couple of years ago to change the direction of that series.

   Sure, there wasn’t a lot of scoring, but there sure was some action from the bats. Several balls were hit very hard and the Cards’ defense made some great plays. Others were hit deep into the outfield, just missed types that found a glove or just missed that optimal launch angle. Beaty’s and Albert’s fly balls come to mind. They did well putting the bat on the ball against some top notch pitchers. I’m really glad we don’t have to keep playing against that bullpen.

   Our pitching was incredible. Scherzer navigated through his 4+ innings without any command, but at least the movement on his pitches was there. He was better than his last two starts, making progress towards a longer postseason run. Waino pitched a great game and he lasted just one inning longer and gave up baserunners at about the same rate as a “bad” Scherzer start. When I think about the run that Scherzer had with us it makes Orel’s magical 88 that much more impressive. Then the bullpen came in a slammed the door shut with a very loud bang. Two hits and a walk over 5(ish) innings.

   The Cards have a great team with a good mix of youngsters and vets. They will be back to the postseason most likely as soon as next year. Enjoy that delightful walk off win and get ready for the biggest 5 game series in my lifetime…

   Just wow, a 107 win team against a 106 win team, and by the way, they are bitter and historic rivals how have never played a postseason against each other. This is better than a Dodgers v Yankees World Series! Too bad it’s only a best of five!!!

   I agree wholeheartedly with Mark. Like the Cardinals magical winning streak, all good things must come to an end, and it’s about to for the Gnats! You had a great run. You had a magical season, but this is where the wear the rubber meets the road and the Dodgers look up for the task. The Gnats get to face three Cy Young hopefuls in their first 3 postseason games. Giants fans better get their tickets for these next two games because it’s going to be while before they get that opportunity again. We just sent home one of the hottest teams in baseball and are about to do the same to our bitter rivals.

   It’s too bad that Muncy isn’t in the middle of this. I’m praying for a miracle recovery, but I can’t even optimistically hope that Max will be available anytime soon. Can Beaty step up and provide some magic, or should we just roll out Belli at 1B and Lux / CT3 CF?

   I’m sure a lot of people are going to go nuts waiting in anticipation for the next series to begin. I know I will. Sit back and savor this moment in time. It’s a special one. Dodgers v. Giants in the postseason. How lucky we are to live this!

   1. Don’t forget Uncle Albert to face their LHPs.

5. Best headline I saw this morning & there were A LOT of them.
   >>Shirtless Max Scherzer in postgame interview: ‘Can’t talk. I’m drunk’<<
   cheers
   pb+

6. What a unbelievable and thrilling finish to last night’s game. Roberts made the right calls with the BP moves. Maybe, Bellinger finally realizes he doesn’t need to hit 500′ HRs in order to contribute to the team’s success. Two walks, a single, and two SB was enough to keep the Cards from challenging him in CF as well. It was nice to see his success.

   Not as bad as the Cards, but we still had trouble hitting with runners in scoring position. When TT swung at a ball on a 3-2 count with the bases loaded and the result was a double play I got a bad vibe on the final outcome. But, St Louis continually had runners on base every inning and couldn’t get that one hit to put the game out of reach. I kept waiting for the hammer to fall by either team. Fortunately, we were the ones with the hammer.

   I think most of us in the past have criticized Roberts for his BP moves especially in the postseason. The first couple of years Roberts didn’t have a good BP choices which were compounded by some of his head scratching decisions. As the seasons went on AF provided better BP options. This year AF finally presented Roberts with a excellent staff at the start of the season. I was excited about the BP’s potential. But, injuries immediately hit the staff. Although the injuries were devastating at times it allowed dozens (37) of minor league prospects and free agents to be given an opportunity to show their stuff. Two gems emerged from the fray. Alex Vesia and Phil Bickford have become outstanding additions to the staff. And, play for minimum wage. It’s amazing how good Roberts can be with handling the BP when he has some real talent to work with and that talent executes when called upon. We all know that no manager can consistently win without talent. That being said I think the front office makes most of the pregame and many in game decisions for Roberts. Either way, if the BP doesn’t execute when called upon it doesn’t matter who is making the decisions or how much talent they have.

   A couple of final observations. The TBS announcers were just awful. You wonder if they’re actually watching the same game I am. So many untrue facts and misplaced thoughts. Is the play by play guy Brian Anderson? He kept saying every time a RH Dodger hitter would foul a pitch to the right stands or behind the plate that they were late on Wainwright’s 90 mph fastball. I know it’s not a big deal, but it was an example of his ignorance throughout the game. And Ron Darling just continues to add nothing to the broadcast. In fact, he takes away from it.
   Also, I thought Joe West did a decent good job behind the plate. He missed a few off the outside of the plate and kept his “look at me” act at bay. Good way to end his career.

   On to SF. Let’s see if we can bring them down to reality and continue our quest for another WS championship.

   1. I find that watching games with the mute button ‘on’ is more enjoyable and less irritating.

      1. I won’t mute the game when we are home. I want to feel the electricity and pulse of our fans.

         1. I turn down the TV volume and listen to the Dodgers radio team on my computer.

            1. The timing never seems to sync up for me. I was actually streaming the TBS broadcast & then checked same stream on cable & cable was almost 30sec ahead. Last time I was watching the Roc’s on cable & tried to listen to the Dodgers on radio broadcast, same thing, the Roc’s TV broadcast was at least 30-45 seconds ahead. You are a lucky one mr bear.
               cheers
               pb+

7. Still basking in the warm glow of that win last night.

   Couple of things

   Can someone explain the “cleans tables” or “tables” retorts that are being referenced? I have no idea!

   And can we get Paul MeadOws to post here regularly. I really enjoy his stuff.

   1. Are you referring to the safe signs when someone reaches base?

      I think its a nod to setting the table….like smooth out the table cloth, table is now set….

8. I agree with Ted about Joe West. I expected the worst, but it wasn’t half bad and he was consistent if anything. As I’ve said many times, maybe the pitch track system is making everyone crazy with the umpires. Maybe we don’t need robot umps, maybe we just need to get rid of the box on the TV screen.

   Players aren’t perfect. It’s reasonable to criticize players when they fail to make adjustments. Not so much to just nitpick a certain play. Case in point is Trea’s double play. Yes, it would have been great if he layed off that pitch and took a walk. But, with two strikes you have to protect the plate as well. Wainwright isn’t pitching into his 40’s because he has an electric fastball. He’s a 17 game winner because that curveball is one of the best in the game. Trea had to protect against it and hit it about as good as you can in that situation. The bat didn’t hold up. If it had, that’s probably a liner into the outfield for 2 runs.

   I also said a couple of days ago that Belli just needs to stay in the zone now. He did last night and it paid off. I know he didn’t drive in any runs, or score on 2 of his 3 times on base, but he provided what he needed to in order for CT3 to do his thing. Small things don’t show up in the box. Bellinger’s stolen base right there didn’t matter, but it did. It gave the pitcher something else to think about and he threw a cement mixer right down Broadway that CT3 planted in the stands.

   I really liked Belli’s aggressiveness on those stolen bases off the legend Yadi Molina. I hope they start turning the players loose a little bit and steal more bases going forward. We’re going to have to do something to generate office while we’re missing Muncy’s bit stick.

   1. That’s the first time I’ve heard someone blame a bat for hitting into a double play.

      1. It was all the bat’s fault for breaking. Turner swung at a pitch a good 6 inches or more off of the plate. Bad decision, but understandable with the situation and the score at the time. Just bad luck too as he could have fouled the ball off. They won. It is a moot point now.

   2. Totally agree on your Bellinger analysis. I think this game might convince him that it is “the small things” that can lead to big results. Very encouraging to see this happen with Cody. His play in this game might be something we look back on if the Dodgers continue on to a world title. Ditto with Taylor. If those two can be productive the rest of the postseason it might be a game changer for the Dodgers. We’ll see what happens. Exciting times ahead!

   3. As far as “getting rid of the box on the screen”. Never happen, the genie is out of the bottle & fans would get pissed & BE SURE the ump was wrong on every questionable call. Not a good marketing strategy.
      cheers
      pb+

9. A great win in a game which looked like we might well lose, since we maybe advanced one runner with a base hit, until Taylor’s home run. This game so much reminded me of playoff series we had lost to St. Louis in the recent past, where their bullpen just shut us down inning after inning. But we finally got the one big hit. And I will say that our bullpen, which I had criticized early in the year, has really become a strong point. And Roberts did a fine job of handling it, even the use of Graterol, who I did not want in there at all.

   I will note that there were two Roberts decisions which I did not like. First, he put Lux up, then pulled him for Pujols, thus making our bench virtually nonexistent. Then he gave Pujols the hit sign with a 3-0 count. Pujols, oractually whoever ran for him, would have been the winning run on base with no one out, if he walked. He could always swing at another pitch, but somehow it seemed as if Roberts had this vision of him hitting a home run against his old team, and everyone going wild. It was unaccountable to let him swing; unless he hit a home run, the best he was ever gong to do was to get to first base, and he gets that by walking.

   I am just glad that we did not lose the wild card game; most obviously, because we are still playing; and also because being knocked out by a team which won 16 less games, would have been the appalling result of the wild card rules.

   I think it is pretty obvious that the Giants have a great GM and manager combo. All of us have seen a lot of baseball, but what the Giants have done has been astounding. And you simply cannot do that with luck. Their front line starters are very good, and their bullpen, when McGee is healthy, has held on to leads from the sixth inning on, most of the time. And so many clutch hits. They really remind me of Bochy’s championship teams, which did not really seem that good on paper, but got many clutch hits, did not strike out very much, got men on base and advanced them in various ways. I would highly respect those 107 wins; and of course we do not have Muncy, whose absence was seen last night; not that Muncy would necessarily have done something great, but his presence in the lineup just makes it more of a threat. I will be very pleasantly surprised if we start scoring many runs in the playoffs.

   We’ve got to win one of the first two games. We have our starters set up well ; fortunately we did not have to use Urias, so we can go, Buehler, Urias, Scherzer, then, (gulp) Gonsolin, Buehler. We don’t want to face a game five in SF. Even if one thinks that the Giants have had a lot of luck this year, why would that magic suddenly stop now? They edged us 10-9 in the season series, they are confident they can beat us, and we do not have our best power hitter, although Belt being out for them equals that a bit. Our bullpen is going to have to be every bit as good as it was last night, and we cannot expect to come from behind against the GIants, as few teams were able to all year. As we saw from following the scoreboard, once the Giants took the lead in a game, they almost always kept it I still vividly remember of all those Sunday afternoon games in Candlestick Park where we lost leads late, though much of that was due to the wind.

   1. He pulled Lux because he does not hit lefty’s period. They still had Barnes, McKinstry and Souza on the bench. Albert swinging 3-0 is his choice, not Roberts. He has the green light if he sees a pitch he can handle. He hit the ball hard only right at the center fielder. You are nitpicking.

      1. Bear, I do realize that the “hit” sign does not mean you have to swing, but the “take” sign means that you must not. Three straight balls not very close to the plate would make it fairly likely that Pujols would be walked. Instead, he got the hit sign, swung, and flied out. Either Roberts had very little confidence in the batters behind Pujols driving him in, or he was going for the grand gesture. I think it was an important moment in the game, but of course completely eliminated by Taylor’s surprise and gratifying home run.

         1. He hit that pitch 107mph. That means he got a GREAT swing on that pitch.

            If you complain about a guy hitting a 107mph out, you really are searching for something to complain about.

            1. No one is complaining about Albert hitting the ball, just debating the rational for him even swinging at it. In my mind, I would like to have seen him take one at that point.

         2. Pujols does not need a hit sign. He has been on his own since he joined the team. He did not even look at the third base coach after ball three. If it was where he thought he could handle it, he was swinging. There are veterans on the team who do not need signs. Pujols is one of those guys. And you forget, Souza hit AFTER Pujols. He also had a three ball count, only his was full. I am pretty sure had that 3-0 pitch been outside, he would have let it go. But with a cookie like that, no hitter is not swinging. As I said, you are nitpicking.

         3. No manager in MLB would have put the take sign on a HOF hitter like Pujols. It was no grand gesture, and it had nothing to do with his lack of confidence in any of the batters to follow. As a manager, I am sure that Doc believed that Pujols would only swing if he thought he could hit it hard somewhere. Do not take the bat out of the hands of a HOF slugger. He hit the ball 107 MPH. How much harder does he have to hit it to satisfy you? People complain about Doc over-managing, and now you want him to put a take on. This is not LL. After reading what you wrote, I called my son and asked him about it. He laughed and said, in 9 years of professional ball, he never had the take on unless there was a running play on, and that was nevermore than a couple of times. Never on a 3-0 pitch.

10. What a fantastic game!
    Tension for nine innings and the Dodgers shut out the Cardinals for the last 8. Sherzer clearly did not have his best stuff, but he battled and limited damage to only one run. A truly professional effort by Max. He only allowed 3 singles, and two of those were broken bat flares. And Max did not have the best defense as Will had trouble blocking, and Corey made a first inning error that Max had to pitch around. I think we are a little harsh on Max to be critical of his gutsy performance.
    The bullpen was great and saved the day. I was very skeptical of taking out Max so early, and putting in Kelly and then Graterol with so many other options. But Dave Roberts deserves huge praise for his timely and effective bullpen moves. Great choices and great results all night. I have been critical of Robert’s bullpen moves in the past, but he made great decisions in this game. The manager can only give the player a chance, and the player has to perform.
    And the Dodgers battled through adversity throughout the game. Failing behind early with soft contact, and hitting into bases loaded DP on ball four added to the pressure. The Cardinals seemed to get a few lucky hits, while the Dodgers hit some line drives at people. Will Smith was robbed twice, Seager lined out, Pujols and Souza hit back to back lineouts. But through the pressure, Taylor and Bellinger managed to come through. Hopefully, this gives some confidence to both players who have been postseason heroes in the past for the Dodgers. Cody will be especially important in the first two games against RH starters and in CF in spacious ballpark in SF. Bellinger has so much talent that he can positively affect games even when he is not hitting well.

    It should be a great series with the Giants, and may the best team win.

11. 1. Talk about night & day. Max on the mound vs. Max not on the mound. Seems like one of the most gregarious guys around when not in the game.
       cheers
       pb+

       1. I was just thinking, that really needs to become a “Scherzer T Shirt”.

          1. Absolutely……would be an instant classic. I also liked him going over to old team mate, Juan Soto and slapping hands with him on the screen. How good would that guy look in a Dodger uni??

             1. I thought it was awesome that Soto showed up to the game to root on his old teammates. Class act.

12. My son and I were talking about the seeding of the playoffs the other day and he suggested the following format.
    Take the winners of the three divisions and the team with the best record from the remaining teams. Then let the team with the best win-loss percentage choose which team they want to play in the first round. If that were the case today the Giants probably wouldn’t choose to play the Dodgers. It is too bad to have the 2 best teams in baseball playing each other this early in the postseason. That would also set up an instant rivalry between the best team and the one they choose to play.
    This current format needs to be changed.

13. The TBS Experience is “Third World Country” Awful. The announcers are morons and usually wrong and their graphics, radar, etc. is horribly deployed.

    1. From my above post you couldn’t be more correct. Unprofessional and disrespectful to the teams and the fans of those teams. Maybe the producers were thinking TBS was still broadcasting the NBA. Absolutely no excuse for TBS.
       I have Spectrum cable and the picture was continually pixelating. With Spectrum TBS is broadcast on 2-3 different channels so I switched to another channel and got a better result with minimal interference. Spectrum or TBS? Who knows.

       1. I had the same problem and my ROKU kept buffering. Finally I switched networks on my computer and the picture stabilized.

14. I like the Giants.

    I like the way their platoons. I like how the bullpen is like the Dodgers, varied pitch-types and arm angles. I like how they went non-traditional at hitting coach, not settling for the anachronistic “you need to have played the game” trope.

    I also like the affirmation that comes from Friedman disciples doing well. It shows our Front Office is not only well-run, but hires the best people.

    If the Dodgers don’t win and the Sox don’t win it all, I’d root for the Giants. That said, I admit I don’t have Dodger fanhood “in my blood” as i do for the Sox. What I mean is that I could never, EVER root for the Yanks to win it all. Even when they were a ton of fun to watch. So, I can understand how others here may feel similarly about rooting for the Giants.

    A lot of self-import in that post. Yuck.

    1. The only way I root for the Giants is if they play the Asstros in the WS.

       1. If it’s the Astros v Giants? I’m not rooting for either. I’d probably watch curling, schedule a colonoscopy or something else more pleasant than the idea of either of those teams winning the WS.

15. Well if you have to play an elimination game right out of the shoot, why not make it a Classic. This game was awesome.
    * You have to tip your hat to the Cards. What a pitching performance by Wainwright and the bullpen. The difference in the game was 2 fat mistakes over the plate that JT and CT3 didn’t miss.
    * As Dabo Swinney would say this game was BYOG. “Bring Your Own Guts” especially Max Scherzer. It’s a little disturbing that for 3 consecutive starts he hadn’t been himself. Despite that, he found a way to limit the Cards to 1 run on a wild pitch. But he didn’t have Dick. He had no change or slider. The slider was either a back-up cement mixer or had a little roller with no snap. It was shaped like a cutter with no velo. But he just competes. He just just wills it.
    * I think it was funny that i never see hide-nor-hair of Prior when Max is on the mound. No visit to reset or to discuss hitters. He just stays away. It’s like the story I love about when Tim McCarver was signaled to go to the mound to talk to Bob Gibson. Oh he didn’t want to. You may remember how that short visit went.
    * I thought Doc (and the Wizard behind the Curtain) managed a great game as he has all year, navigating all the drama and injuries. Without Kapler, Doc should be Manager of the Year.
    * Doc certainly does things ‘his way”. The move to pull Max on the 5th took some huevos. I was surprised at the timing more than pulling him, but it was the prefect time. I figured Max would be on a short leash in the 5th but how short. After the single and walk, Max had his best sequence of the night against O’Neill with a rare great slider and perfectly placed fastballs for a big K. Oh, he’s finding it. And out pops Doc and takes the ball, going to Joseph.
    * I thought another interesting move was pulling Treinen for Knebel with 2 outs in the 8th. They must have has some analytics on that Bader match up. Hey. it all worked and the managing was great.
    * Doc has made his share of game management blunders in the past and all have been well documented. Had Kelly pooped the bed and not done the job, there would have been no end to the second-guessing and calling for Doc’s ass in a long off season. But as they say. if you do things to please the fans, it won’t be long until you’re sitting with them.
    * It seemed obvious that the plan all along was Max. Joe, Gator, Treinen, Knebel and KJ. No lefties. It would have been Urias in the 10th and I’m glad we didn’t need him.
    * What a turn around for KJ as we all see. Since the end of July he’s had 45 K’s and 4 earned runs with 18 saves and a win of two. Amazing what expanding his pitch selection has done for his effectiveness.
    * I couldn’t be happier for CT3. The first 1/2 he was our MVP. After his All-Star selection, he’s struggled at the plate big time. But he adds so much with his versatility. It’s nice to see him win one for us. He seems like a great teammate.
    * Same with Belli going 1 for 2 with 2 steals. Just play D big guy, impact the game even without a hit and run into one once in awhile. It could have been quite an ending before CT3’s walk off had either Albert or Belli walked it off in the 9th.
    * I thought both of Cody’s steals were green light specials. I felt the same thing with Trea Turner in the 6th and 8th but Doc chose not to sent him or he decided not to go on his own. Seemed odd for a guy with 32 bags. Belli and TT are a rapid 3.1 or 3.2 to second. Even with Molina back there, the Card pitchers in these opportunities were pedestrian 1.37 to 1.45 to home. With Molina’s pop-time of 1.89 the simple math tells you that the throw has to be dead-solid-perfect have any shot. TT has not gone a few times down the stretch where he could have been more aggressive. I don’t know why. He also has failed to tag and advance on some long flies they he could have made easily. That might be why Doc commented about TT being faster but Doc being a better baserunner.
    * I hope the umpires in NY had more and better angles on that retouch of second base by the retreating baserunner. We got 2 pitiful views.
    * There’s plenty to complain about with a one game elimination game to start the dance where a team with106 wins can go packing. The pressure of winning this game has to be maybe greater than a 5th or 7th game of a series. You just can’t lose this game and never get to the dance. Everybody knows the deal so whining won’t help. Just play.
    * But how do you fix this and make it 2 out of 3? The owners aren’t going back to 154 games. The Players don’t want to start earlier and no-one wants November baseball. So. I guess we’re stuck. The “simple” solution – Win the Division.
    * I think Brian Johnson and Ron Darling are great. Great insight, great knowledge, fair with a bit of humor. Very pleasant listen. I’ll take these two over Buck and Smoltz anytime. Smoltz has slipped lately IMO. Maybe needs to spent more time prepping and less time on the golf course.
    * I guess the was Joe West’s last game, which I not sorry to see. But if this was, it might have been one of his best games. For once, he didn’t make his presence noticed. His strike zone was tight but consistent and fair, neither pitcher nor hitter friendly. He was good on north and south pitches and only missed a couple off the plate, usually going to the veteran pitcher, as he does, to get the pitcher back in the count. But there were zero theatrical punch outs on pitches out of the zone (like Mookie and Smith have gotten too many times down the stretch.) Good swan-song Cowboy Joe. See ya down the trail.
    * Well now we are where we wanted to be after all the sweating, with the exception of being the visitors.
    I’m telling ya, we’re gonna win this thing.

    1. Really really well said.

       And a kudos for use a Dabo term. (Clemson grad here).

       To quote him again, The Best is Yet to Come!!

       1. Thanks Matt. I like Dabo. Boy the critics can be brutal. He loses a couple and it’s over for Clemson. Really?
          I should be catching on to this baseball thing. I’ve watched 178 Dodger games this year without missing a pitch. 15 at Spring Training and 163 regular season. Thanks to TeVo I never see a commercial or pitching change. My friends can’t call me to discuss a play because I’m always 2 hours behind. Sometimes it’s the next day but I stay off social media so I don’t see who won.

16. Hard game to watch if you have high blood pressure or a heart condition. Cardinals threw everything they had at the Dodgers, they stole 3 bases. But no really hard hit balls for hits. All singles. Edman scores on a wild pitch, otherwise it is a 1-0 game. I feared for Roberts life when he went out to pull Max. Just the glare from Max was frightening. But it turned out to be the right move. I saw them talking in the dugout immediately afterwards and boy would I have loved to have heard that conversation. What gets me is they win. But you look on Dodger blogs and there is a lot of negativity talking about things they did not do during the game, and not focusing on the fact that they won, and now face the Giants for the first time in the playoffs. Buehler gets the start in game one against Webb. Tough matchup for the Dodgers. He is 1-0 against them in 3 starts. But tough for the Giants also since Buehler has owned them in their own ball park. He is 7-1 in his career against the Giants. He is 6-1 at Oracle Park. Game 2 has Julio against Gausman. Gausman is 1-1 against LA this year. Both of those decisions came at Dodger Stadium. The one game he pitched against them in SF he got a no decision. All three homers he has allowed to them came in LA. Julio is 2-0 at Oracle Park this season. He is 0-1 against the Giants in LA. Buehler also has 2 wins this season in Oracle Park. To me, the biggest advantage the Dodgers have over the Giants, especially on the pitching side, is playoff experience. Webb has none. Neither does DeSclafani. Gausman has pitched in 4 playoff games including a loss to the Dodgers when he was with the Braves. Cueto, McGee, Watson, Littel, and Wood have playoff experience. Posey, Crawford, Longoria, Bryant, Casali and LaStella have experience in the playoffs too. Dodgers have Kelly, Jansen, Knebel, Treinen, Price, Gonzalez, Graterol, in the pen with playoff experience. Pujols, both Turners, Seager, Beaty, Bellinger, Taylor, Pollock, Barnes, Smith, Betts and Lux, who even has a post season homer, all are experienced in big games. I think, and have to believe that they will step up because they have been there before. Yeah, we lost Muncy, who owns the Giants and had 8 homers against them this season, but they are without their biggest homer guy in Belt. So things are even heading in. Lets win a historical meeting.

    1. Always enjoy reading your posts Bear….thanks…and keep them coming.

       PS….Phil, you too. Keep them coming. Actually, just about everyone here, except……… is enjoyable to read. Thanks to all….

       TM

17. I am ambivalent as far as the broadcasting crew. National teams are supposed to be neutral. But that is not always the case, Lauren Shehaddy, spelling? , is fairly knowledgeable about the game. She does a good job on her MLB morning show with Mark DeRosa, but her in game interviews added nothing to the contest except hearing Cards manager Schilt, drop a cojones bomb. Her post game interviews were terrible. She asks the most obvious and mundane questions. What were you feeling when you hit the ball Chris???? Huh?? He was happy as a clam that’s what he was feeling. Best postgame interview was Scherzer, shirt off drunker than Cooter Brown.

18. After Schilt dropped the cojones bomb Ron Darling asked Brian Johnson “can you say that on TV?” Johnson replied “You Can’t” .
    I don’t like TBS but i like that crew.
    Scherzer is so cool. His pregame mental prep where he visualizes without a ball in slow motion is just the start of his laser focus. But when the switch is off and after a while he’s back to just Max. I love the no shirt and the googles look.

20. Jerry Harrison says that Cody Bellinger won that game by working a walk, stealing 2B, and distracting the pitcher so he could serve up a gopher ball to CT3!

    1. Not bad for a player many wanted left off the roster, and some wanted traded. Maybe he falls back into the funk again, but for this game he was money. Keep playing him. He will find a way to win, with his bat, his glove or his legs.

21. Congratulations to all the bloggers in this chat for this harrowing, but spectacular triumph over the Cardinals, a great rival that since always had been our nemesis in the playoffs, a team with excellent players and well managed
    Now to beat San Francisco, it will not be easy, I hope we win them a game and finish them off in LA, by the way, the San Luis Cardinals inspire me more respect and class than SF Giants, it is still not clear to me what the resurgence of Crawford was due to.
    and Belt as competitive players this season, because they both sucked last year, will it be hitting another good contract?Maybe.
    And finally I agree with you Mark, a great deal of luck for San Francisco, but anyway they did a great job this year, will they be able to repeat the year 2022?

22. I say we fire Roberts right now! Some of his decisions last night could have gone wrong. And I’m sick of winning post season games! Kudo’s to Belli last night. He’s had a nightmare regular season but he was great last night. Playing small ball and stealing bases, he was a distraction to the pitchers. Hopefully this will get TT and Betts more aggressive on the base paths. Manufacturing runs is huge in the post season!

    1. Cody Bellinger is … A Ballplayer!

23. Great game yesterday. Lots of thrills and tension. Congrats to the Blue! Now on to the Giants!

    A couple of thoughts:
    1 – Roberts really did push all of the right buttons yesterday. I thought his decision to yank Scherzer was the right one. He didn’t have it and they were lucky to limit the damage.
    2 – The ‘pen pitched very well.
    3 – Neither team could get the big hit until Taylor’s bomb in the 9th. Cards 0 for 11 RISP; Dodgers 2 for 5 but couldn’t get the big hit.
    4 – Friends who watched the game agreed with me that the Dodgers seemed to take more swings out of the strike zone than usual. I think both teams were really tense.
    5 – Surprised that Trea Turner didn’t try to steal when he had the chance.
    6 – I read that the Giants would probably pitch DeSclafani in the 3rd game against the Cards but probably Alex Wood against the Dodgers.
    7 – I don’t see a single area where the Giants are better than the Dodgers this year. The issue is that the Giants are 31 – 17 in 1 run games and 10 – 9 in extra innings. The Dodgers were 24 – 24 in 1 run games and 6 – 13 in extras. IF the games are close, do the Giants really have an advantage given their regular season experience, or does it matter given the Dodgers’ superior personnel? (By the way, I have never been impressed with Gabe Kapler. He was horrible in Philly. How is he magically good now?)
    8 – TBS’ broadcast team was the WORST!. Not only was there the usual bias, they didn’t even do a good job with the game call.

    1. Because Managers have very little impact, positive or negative, on team performance?

    2. I just finished watching the game. Justin Turner, Kelly and especially Taylor were the most influential. Billinger took good turns and it’s good that he’s contributing but the hero was Taylor, he was the one who hit the ball. The bullpen was great, I wouldn’t have bet on Graterol, but it worked, Roberts manages better and better. because some of you want to put Cory in as a hero??, good turns at bat, I really hope he inproves. But the hero was Taylor!!! and no one else!!. give the man the credit!!

       Now the giants follow, I can be wrong but I think the Cardinals are better, I expect close games but in a confrontation of several games, the Dodgers are better. we will see

24. Dodger Lover

    What does “her jobs Tables” and “tables” mean??

    Enlighten me please

25. https://youtu.be/-ZBwPmla8QQ
    Here you go Watford I had to look it up myself

26. Joe West statistically had his best game of the year at 97% accurate. So, it’s not the box being gone. He actually did a better job than his usual 91%. Glad it was better but it doesn’t make it any less ridiculous that he was behind the plate.

    Kapler sure but I’m voting for the guy who somehow got Scherzer and Turner at the deadline for executive of the year.

    Verdugo’s beard looks stupid. It looks like he has fiery red pubic hair on his face.

    1. I have it on pretty good authority that Verdugo hates Boston.

27. Rays beating the Sox so far. White Sox looked overmatched against the Astros. Giants will not only be without Belt, but Tony Watson will be out too. Position by position ratings will be out tomorrow. Also the Dodgers NLDS roster. Webb has 20 straight games without a loss. He is due, Advantage, in my world, 1B Giants. Ruf and Wade have better stats than Beaty. 2B Dodgers, Trea Turner. Nuff said, SS Push. Crawford has had a great year, but Seager has been on fire and has the playoff pedigree. 3B. Dodgers. Turner over the rotation the Giants throw out there. LF, Dodgers. Although the Giants play Bryant there most nights now, Pollock has been solid all season and is better defensively than Bryant. CF. Defensively, the Dodgers have a huge edge with Belli. But the Giants tandem of players have better offensive stats. RF Dodgers. Betts over anyone the Giants run out there. C. Giants. You just cannot beat Posey’s positive affect in his pitching staff. SP, Dodgers. Webb is the Giants best starter and the one who keeps the opposition off the board. All the others are vulnerable lately. BP push. Giants have gotten a lot of mileage out of no name players and the pen is no exception, but the Dodger pen has WAY MORE EXPERIENCE in playoff baseball. Bench. I give the edge there to the Giants. Their retread players have had a knack for heroics. Dodger bench has been a problem most of the year. Prediction, Dodgers in 4. I think LA heads back to LA either 1-1 or 2-0. If they are 2-0, they might sweep with Scherzer pitching game 3. But they do not want agame 5 in SF..

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