My advice is “Don’t be one!” In case you don’t know, hammers are dumb. Hammers have never had an original thought. Hammers can be loud, at times, but they are really stupid! They can’t think. But then when you go to the hammer store and pick up a bag of hammers, you really have a bag of dumb, thus the saying “Dumber than a bag of hammers!”
Don’t be that guy! It seems like this site runs in intervals wherein a certain player is in a bad stretch and some of the hammers, ‘er fans, believe that player is trash and they want him thrown out. Believe it or not, some hammers said that Julio Urias could not be a starter, that Max Muncy should be traded, that AJ Pollock was a choke artist, that Kenley Jansen was through, the same with Clayton Kershaw, that the Giants organization is better than the Dodgers, that Andrew Friedman could not build a bullpen, and the biggest lastest one: Cody Bellinger is a dirty rotten scoundrel or something to that effect.
While I am not going to pronounce that Cody Bellinger is back to his MVP Status (although I think he will be bu=y next year), let me remind you that the Dodgers may not have won last night without Cody who had a big hit and a key catch in RF, and that he was also a key component in the Wild Card Victory. Some hammers wanted his left off the playoff roster.
While I am at it, I would also suggest that some of you refrain from posting during the game. It’s OK to cheer, but when you boo because a player struck out with the bases loaded, or a runner made a mistake or a pitcher gave up a HR, you are always going to look like a hammer. The Dodgers have won 107 games this year, but some of you hammers like to focus on their 1408 strikeouts or the fact that they made 4,374 outs (ll teams did), or that the pitchers walked 486 batters and gave up 1107 hits and 161 HR.
Some of the in-game comments have HAMMER written all over them. You can be real. For example, yesterday, I wrote that Farhan Zaidi had one-upped Andrew Friedman, because, well, he had! But last night, the Dodgers coaches had drilled down on the players to stick with the plan. They did and it worked. The Dodgers chased a lot on Friday night… not so much last night.
The Dodgers will try and finish this in LA, but a lot hinges upon Max Scherzer. His last three outings have not been good. Is this a blip or a pattern? Is he tired or is it just a mechanical issue? Is he injured or is it just a temporary thing? How Max goes will determine how the Dodgers go. I imagine we will see the Catman on Tuesday, but who knows… maybe it will be a bullpen game. I like Alex Wood, but I hope the Dodgers lay the wood to Alex on Monday.
On Clayton Kershaw…
If you believe that words from the Dodgers have their real, actual meaning… well you might be delusional. Case-in-point: “Clayton Kershaw does not need Tommy John Surgery.” Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times reported that Kershaw has been ruled out for the playoffs due to a forearm injury but isn’t dealing with any ligament damage. The southpaw is hoping he’ll be able to avoid surgery during the offseason and said that he expects to be ready for the start of spring training in 2022.
But, then we hear this from Jorge Castillo, who tweeted this:
Clayton Kershaw said he was given a PRP injection in his left flexor tendon recently. He said that will be the only treatment he should need and won’t undergo surgery. He said he expects to be ready for spring training. Oh, and Kershaw declined to discuss his future.
Platelets rich plasma or PRP injections stimulate healing by providing important concentrated growth factors from your blood to the site of injury. The concentrated dose of growth factors facilitates the action of your stem cells as they work to repair damaged tissue. It is not clear to me what significance the injection into the flexor tendon might be versus the UCL. At any rate, Clayton that he WON’T UNDERGO SURGERY and HE WON’T DISCUSS THE FUTURE.
My takeaway is that at this stage of his career, he does not want to undergo surgery and is going to give this a try. I think he will sign an incentive-laden contract with the Dodgers and be there in the Spring. That’s about it.
Big, Big Win last night. Dodgers now have home field advantage and can close it out at DS. Will be tough though.Giants won’t roll over.
Pitching match ups over the next two games favor the Dodgers but only if Max has his good stuff going.
Urias was rolling again and gave up only one run to the home plate ump. Julio had Flores struck out twice during the at bat and got squeezed badly both times on 2-2 ans 3-2. I almost threw something at my Tv.
Good to see Belli getting that huge double.
Now the two Turners have to get it going at the plate, both are ice old on a combined .147 with only one hit between them.
Go Dodgers!
How does game 4 pitching match up favor the Dodgers?
Gonsolin v Who? I’m not sure the Giants have announced who would be theirs. In fact, I’m not even sure the Dodgers have made it official that it will be Gonsolin. I’m sure they don’t trust him as much as I do if the boys are down 2-1. Do you trust Gonsolin, down 2-1? And I don’t trust Price even more.
I take a combo of Max and Gonsolin ( with Walker possibly being in the mix for some kind of role) over Wood and most likely Disclafani every time.
I can see them going with Webb in game 4 if they lose game 3 but then what do they go with in game 5?
I like our options at starting pitching better than theirs.no guarantee that we advance though.
I think getting to their relievers yesterday was big too. Showing them we can hit them. Planting some doubt in their mind.
Go dodgers!
I agree about hitting two of their top relievers last night-Deleon and Littell. Take that….
Mike Hammer was pretty smart. He always seemed to figure it out.
If we hit we win. Pretty simple really. We tend to take nights off now and then.
I’ve had PRP in my shoulder a few times. Quite spendy for not a lot of results. I still believe the problem will continue until he has surgery. I have no reason to say that other than the divinations that frequently visit. Well, that and the calibrated Butterworth elbow valgus torque load micro tears generated on a previously damaged UCL that will no doubt return to previously scarred tissue. Yeah, I made most of that up, not sure where the Butterworth reference came from, an article I read in college maybe. Truth is it’s just a gut feeling. I think that ligament needs to be repaired.
Pass the pancakes. You must be hungry
“ The Dodgers have won 107 games this year, but some of you….”. Uh the Dodgers have won 108 games. What a bag of hammers (sorry Mark, couldn’t help myself).
5 out of 4 people struggle with math. 😉
Both the Giants and the Dodgers have won 108 games. Dodgers won 106 in the regular season, the wild card game and last nights game. The Giants won 107 in the regular season and game one. So they are even for the season.
Last night was a great win. A good ole fashioned ass beating is just what the doctor ordered. Put those pretenders in their place…
The Dodgers did what they do best. They passed the baton when needed and stayed inside the zone for the most part. It was a great team win, both on offense and on defense. That catch by Bellinging was a thing of beauty. With all those big hits, my favorite was Julio’s 2 out RBI single to get the party starting. Who says watching pitchers hit is boring? The next best one was Belli’s double that broke the levee and started the flooding.
I hope all of you enjoyed your crow last night because there’s nothing worse than hearing all you “Dodgers Fans” constantly bash the same players that won 106 games this year and brought you a ring last year. I just can’t understand your disdain especially for players that were raised in this organization. Maybe you guys can back off all the negativity for a while.
I have gained some respect for this Giants team, something that I didn’t have earlier in this year. Mostly because of their lack of quit. They are not more talented, but they find some way to win. I don’t admire them in any way and I would trade any player for any of theirs and wouldn’t trade anyone else for anyone in their organization. They got extremely lucky this year, or something else (BALCO) is going on over there, there’s nothing that can convince me otherwise.
I’m not going to go one by one, but most of their players outperformed their norms by so much this year, it makes me extremely suspicious. I have no proof, so I’ll leave it there. But, if it walks like a duck…
Farhan Zaidi is so good that he put together a WS contender without even trying. He didn’t invest in this team. He picked up players on the margins with hopes to unload a bunch of expiring contracts in exchange for prospects to rebuild for the future. They have two really legitimate star players in the lineup in Posey and Kris Bryant. Both are studs and have the resumes to prove it. But, Posey has a lot of mileage on his body and is supposed to be slowing into his twilight years. Somehow he’s found the fountain of youth along with Brandon Crawford, who was never this good with the bat. It’s pretty rare for a 34 year old shortstop to have his career year at that age. It’s also odd to me how thick this guy has become.
Julio is my favorite pitcher on this team. I just love that guy. I watched him grow from a teenage phenom into not just a man, but “THE MAN”. That dude doesn’t have ice water running through his veins, he has iced tea in there! He’s building quite a postseason reputation dominating a must win game against their bitterest rivals in their own yard and brought the wood on top of it. He a little Fernando, a little Orel, and a little Clayton all wrapped up into one.
Doc pulled Julio after just 72 pitches and I’m okay with that. Doc knows he has the best bullpen in baseball and that they needed to get some work in to stay sharp. They was no way in hell this bullpen is capable of blowing a 5 run lead and Doc knows it. Props to Doc for saving bullets for Julio’s next start and utilizing the “Magnificent Seven” that is the 8 guys in the pen minus Price. (Bickford, Graterol, Jansen, Kelly, Knebel, Treined, Vesia).
This team is capable of flashing leather, hitting bombs, generating runs, running the bases and providing shut down pitching from top to bottom. Enjoy the ride. There’s no better team and it’s October and the Dodgers are just getting started.
With lefty Wood on the hill, I go with the same lineup with a minor adjustment. Pujols in for Belli at 1B batting 6th. Taylor and Pollock batting 7th and 8th. As soon as Wood’s out of the game, Belli goes in for Pujols.
I like your lineup for Monday. My thinking as well with subbing Belli for Albert as soon as a RH comes in for the Giants.
For game 4 the Dodgers could come back with WB on three days rest, maybe to give us 4-5 innings as the starter or in a role like Julio last year I’m the playoffs to close a game out over multiple relief innings.
Much will depend if Max and the Dodgers can watch n game 3.
Go dodgers!
Yep, Bueller, Price and Gonso getting innings in game 4 with Julio on 4 days rest for a possible game 5 or to start the next series. I really wish they would have had another lefty reliever on the roster.
“I hope all of you enjoyed your crow last night .”
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate, and true, to have said, “…some of you”? You make is sound like you are the only one here who wasn’t bashing the team. Climb off your pedestal, little man.
I don’t have a lot of confidence that this PRP injection is going to fix Kershaw, the next time it works will be the first time. Chad Billingsley and Garrett Richards come to mind as players where it basically derailed their careers by delaying the inevitable.
I read that Kershaw’s UCL is intact, and they are saying that it’s the Flexor Tendon. So maybe there’s hope. Maybe he can start the season and take May’s place on the IL at the midway point. They only way the PRP treatment is going to work is if they mix in some HGH and a handful of Stem Cells. Turn that left forearm into Popeye or at least Garvey and I think he might contend for another CY. Maybe they can squirt some of that mixture into his back while they’re at it.
Seems like it helped Masahiro Tanaka
BP, I do believe it was you bashing Jansen in July and saying it was time to move on from Kenley as our closer. Pot calling the kettle black
The difference is that I’m not bashing Kenley every single freaking game, all game like you and your cohorts do. And as I’ve said before. If Kenley saves one of those two games against the Giants in July, they’re the wild card and we’re home field advantage. No injuries, just choking unlike the guys you complain about. It’s the sheer volume of your whining and the way you go from player to player that makes it so cringe worthy.
See Jason below on Jansen.
I think once we had that big lead, Doc pulled Urias after 72 pitches so that Julio could be ready for 1-2 innings in Game 4 or 5.
Isn’ t a possible game 5 slated for Thursday? If so Julio would be on normal rest.
But I hope we can finish them off in LA , would not like to face Webb again in SF with everything on the line.
Go dodgers!
Believe it or not, some hammers said that Julio Urias could not be a starter, that Max Muncy should be traded, that AJ Pollock was a choke artist, that Kenley Jansen was through, the same with Clayton Kershaw, that the Giants organization is better than the Dodgers, that Andrew Friedman could not build a bullpen, and the biggest lastest one: Cody Bellinger is a dirty rotten scoundrel or something to that effect.
Outside of Jansen being through, were any of these things actually ever said except by maybe one person? Jansen hasn’t been the old Jansen since 2017. He has had some good stretches and fortunately he is on one right now.
If you were running a Giants blog, I would assume that you’d be arguing that Crawford was never having issues either now that he made a resurgence? Crawford has had an exceptional year. The Giants feel like its not a fluke enough to give him 32 million over the next two years. I hope that AF doesn’t feel the same about Jansen.
I can’t remember anyone arguing for Urias never to be a starter, that Muncy needed to be traded, that AJ was a choker (maybe injury prone which is undebatable I would think), or that AF couldn’t build a bullpen.
Bellinger was called out for what he was. The worst hitter in MLB. This is true. So what? I think that everyone also recognized that is the BEST CF in the NL, and outside of Kiermaier, for my money, in MLB. If Muncy wasn’t hurt, it is doubtful that Bellinger would even have been in many of the innings thus far. Thats the Dodgers take. Not just fans that think he is a dirty rotten scoundrel
Mark, I will say that you are the King of the Strawman.
Great win last night and that throw from Mookie was awesome. I was in the garage working on stuff and when the ball hit the ground I went back to what I was doing and looked up a few seconds later and the inning was over so I was like WTF. LOL Had to see the replay to know what happened.
Hopefully Max can get himself right on the mound and Bueller can get it figured out as well. He wasn’t terrible at all but not himself and being dominant. It didn’t seem like Bueller missed a lot of bats in his start.
Good job getting HF advantage back. I don’t want to go back to SF for a game 5
Actually many people said that. You can go back and find the comments. They are there for you to see. Actually, I went back and found a few of yours, Jason. Here they are Jason Hammer:
The only thing Bellinger is getting close to is spraining a knee falling over while swinging.
I am really just sick of watching him at this point. Same approach. Same dismal failure.
A long time ago, when I played beer league softball, a friend who was a good hitter, not great, hit 4 homeruns in a game. All 4 ABs were HRs. This is a guy that would hit 4 per season. This was the first game of the year and I remember telling my brother, who played as well, that was cool but probably the worse thing that could have happened. It was. Friend chased HRs all year with a long season of popups and lazy flyballs. At least my friend could be credited with a sac fly now and then. Cody can’t even make productive outs at this point.
Ten dollar talent with a ten cent brain I think at this point.
If Bellinger has a bum shoulder, and I really do wonder if that is just cover for a shit player right now, then swinging like that isn’t helping. I have a torn labrum right now that needs repair and it hurts just watching him swing. Why on earth the brass isn’t telling him shorten up, drop some bunts, etc. and let use your speed on the bases!!!
THIS team doesn’t need him to hit HRs to win. It used to be sad to watch. Then it was frustrating. Now it’s just laughable. He will surely run into a few over the next few weeks, and the Cody is Back guys will appear.
He is lost and every pitcher knows that he can’t hit a decent fastball. Throw it a little up and he is toast. Just about every single time.
Lindor is a Top 5 talent in both leagues. He flat out makes the team better. That is crazy to say he doesn’t.
Of course, the price is the issue.
Pirates are said to be willing to trade Josh Bell. No idea what he would cost but I certainly would not mind seeing him in LA
It is extremely frustrating to have AJ for another 4 years, I still can’t believe the AF gave him 5 years. A half a season in and people were already talking about how much to eat to trade him off. That isn’t just fickle fans crying. He is a total albatross at this point. The money isn’t all that limiting, but the spot and need to have him out there because of the money. AF really should sub the free agent signing out to someone else on staff. Not exactly his strong suit.
And what did I say that wasn’t correct?
The Josh bell idea was dumb. I’ll give you that one.
Has an been worth his contract?
Crazy that this site has more comments than TBLA today. Catherine and Sandy chased a lot of decent folk off. One is unhinged; the other is unbearable.
At least our idiots here are mostly harmless.
Lots of food talk over there
Not sure who Sandy is but you are right about Catherine, unfortunately. Reason for concern there.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5004020/
Great for some athletes. A 33-34 year old Major League pitcher? I have my doubts, but what do I know?
If we hit we win. What do I mean by that? I don’t believe we will see the giants score 9 runs in a game this series. Our pitching will hold them to much less than that. If we hit like we know we can, we will beat these guys.
There are 3 TBLA sites. Which one you talking about DLove
Good to see Belli have a big moment. I definitely liked last night’s line up better. CT3 needed to be in the lineup. Hopefully that is a start for Pollock. Without Muncy they need him to perform like he did in the regular season.
Good night last night. The Hawkeyes beat Penn St. My son’s band put on a great show in Cedar Rapids and I managed to avoid the Dodgers score all night so I could watch it when I got home in it’s entirety.
I regards to Pollock and the can’t do it in the postseason narrative, I firmly believe this narrative is just BS. Many players can’t perform in the postseason until they do. Barry Bonds had that label until he became a postseason beat. Seager had it until last year. Some players feel the pressure until they get a couple of hits and get comfortable. If a player is great during the regular season year after year, it’s just a matter of time.
Like the great Yogi once said, baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical. In the case of this Dodgers team, we all know these guys have the physical. They’ve all done great things to some extent. It’s just the matter of having the confidence to do it when the lights are brightest.
BP, Bonds was juicing when he finally succeeded but I certainly get your point. I’m really hoping Pollock steps up. I feel like this is the year he really became a true Dodger and would solidify that with a nice postseason. I’ve never said he can’t. Fact is he hasn’t.
Alabama got rolled by Texas A&M. USC lost, Penn State lost. Texas lost…..big day in college ball.
I do not like Alabama, so I’m glad.
How about Cincinnati’s big win over the Owls of Temple?
Great Hawkeye win yesterday. Been a Hawk fan my whole life. My two favorite teams are the Dodgers and The Hawkeyes.
The crowd won that Hawkeye game yesterday. I think you could hear all of Eastern Iowa go nuts when they scored the go ahead TD.
User name checks out.
A win in game 3 will test the Giants big time…..how to deal with great pressure with everything on the line. Dodgers have been there, done it…..I hope we give SF a chance to see how they can handle it.
I am not a rap fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I always liked that tune. Those pants though? No thanks. A couple of notes on Wood and DeSclafani. The Dodgers are hitting .290 vs Wood, and .300 vs DeSclafani. Wood is 0-1 at Dodger Stadium in two starts and he has given up 4 HR’s there and 5 against LA over all. DeSclafani is 0-1 at Dodger Stadium and has given up 5 HR’s there in 3 starts. He is 0-3 against LA over all this year. I think no matter who SF trots out there not named Webb that the Dodgers have a pretty good chance of beating them. Home crowd is going to be loud. There has been a lot of criticism of a lot of players on here this year. Especially Bellinger. Some of it well founded. By the way Jason, Bellinger was not the worst hitter in the majors. That honor falls on Jackie Bradley Jr. Here are his stats. .163 BA in 387 plate appearances. 6 HR’s, 29 RBI’s OBP of .236 and 132 K’s against 28 walks. Bellinger hit .165 in 350 plate appearances. 10 HR’s 36RBI’s, OBP of .240, 94 K’s and 31 walks. Bradley was worse.
Good stuff again OB to get our hopes up even higher.
So, Belli was the 2nd worst batter this year. Sounds better than first.
Many of you might already know this but I thought I’d throw it out there anyway. MC Hammer was a former bat boy for the Oakland Athletics, he apparently got his name for his resemblance to hammer’in Hank Aaron
Cool story, but I honestly I don’t know who MC Hammer except based on his name, it sounds like he us probably a rapper.
Watch the video. He was a rapper. And pretty good at it too. I like the fact that he did not curse a lot in his raps. Some are just nothing but foul language. Oh yeah, Dodgers have the best home record of any team in the Majors. Another reason to believe they will end this before it heads back to Frisco.
and country music is redneck crap
That’s not rap.
That’s a 100% sucker MC.
Is anybody paying attention to what Kike Hernandez is doing right now
I know he has nothing to do with us and what we do.
Unless we play them in the World Series and then it could be very interesting. Hits in his last seven plate appearances, that’s just amazing
Exactly what are you trying to say there DL?
He’ll be done by the time he plays us. Seen it before.
That’s not the point I’m a baseball fan I enjoy seeing great performances even if they’re against us as long as we win
Example of where you’ve seen it before?
MC Hammer is not real rap.
It’s a form of rap but who really cares …..semantics
Most rap isn’t music in the first place
My opinion, to each his own
You are so respectful of others. Thank you.
Didn’t mean to be disrespectful of anyone. Like I said my opinion only. At least I didn’t call anybody a hammer or a bag of…….
That’s a good one Fred
So, commenters on this site and Hank Aaron are known as hammers?
I like seeing him and Joc do well too. But, I’ve seen enough to know that they are what they are. I’ve seen Kike go hot and cold for 6+ years is what I meant. He’ll be done with his hot streak before he plays us. I’m not worried about Kike.
I’m watching the game right now. It would have been over if Arozarena didn’t trip in between 1st and 2nd when Kike dove for a ball that was 6 feet away from where he wound up. I don’t miss him.
I never said I missed him or said I wanted them back. I was just make a point about how amazing he has been playing in the postseason .
Not many players can say they’ve done what he is done in postseason i.e.three home runs against the Cubs. I just think it’s fun to watch no matter who the player is that does something special
I’d rather see the Red Sox advance than the Rays. Houston is making quick work of the White Sox, that series is just about over.
Sorry, but F^#$ Alex Cora, that cheatin’ SOB.
I’m with you.
Dusty being Dusty. Pulling your pitcher in the middle of an at-bat! How did that work out? Ex-Dodger gives up a bomb!
Dodger lover, I hate to break this to you, but a lot of country fans are not Rednecks. There are a lot of people from the city who listen to country. Lots of country artists are city boys and girls too. I know, I have played with lots of them. And it is way better than a lot of that hip hop, rap, and hard rock that blows your ears off.
Red Sox win on a HR by Vazquez in the bottom of the 13th. White Sox roar back to beat the Stros. I would rather play the Sox in the series than the Rays, Astro’s or White Sox. Just like I would rather see them play Milwaukee than the Braves in the NLCS again. A win over the Red Sox would be sweet revenge for 18. And a win over the Astros would be sweet revenge for 17. But I prefer the Red Sox. I think the Dodgers match up against their pitching staff much better.
Pujols will be starting at first base against Wood on Monday. The Dodgers will be running out an all RH lineup except for Seager at SS.
Strange play in the Rays-Sox game at Fenway. With a runner on first, Keirmeyer hit a ball to deep right that bounced off of the top of the fence and then bounced off of the fielder and back over the fence. It was ruled a ground rule double and the runner had to stop at 3rd. Rays did not get the run home and it probably cost them the win. Sox can end it tomorrow.