I feel somewhat incredulous about the responses regarding Clayton Kershaw yesterday. I am not going to quote what many said word-for-word, but I am going to say that I don’t buy it. Many of you are talking like Clayton is just finished, and we should just accept that. To make that assumption, you simply have to ignore the facts, so I am going to serve them up for your consideration. Clayton Kershaw started 24 games this season and went 13-5 with a 2.46 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He allowed 100 hits in 132 IP. The league hit .209 against him. He also struck out 137 batters. He was 2nd in ERA in the NL to Blake Snell.. He was an All-Star. Does that sound like a pitcher who is done?
“But he hurt his shoulder and was not the same when he came back!” I knew you would say that! Just like I knew a certain someone would stick up for his boy, James Outman, at the expense of the facts. I will discuss that later. Yes, Clayton missed a couple of months with an undisclosed shoulder injury, but in his last seven games, he was 3-1 with a 2.30 ERA (1.18 WHIP). He allowed 21 hits in 31 IP while striking out 28. He did walk 16 batters, which was a concern, but in his last start against San Francisco on September 30th, he pitched five innings, allowing two runs, and struck out five.
A month earlier, he also faced the Diamondbacks and also went five innings, allowing three hits and one earned run. Yes, he was not the same pitcher he was earlier in the season. The Dodgers were not counting on him to be any more than a “glorified opener,” going two, three, or four innings. He has shown that he is capable of that, and that was all they were asking, but he couldn’t deliver.
It wasn’t his velocity. In the eight games since he came back from the IL, his fastball was in the 86-89 MPH range. On Saturday, his fastball was in the 89-91 MPH range – he was actually throwing harder. It was his slider at 86-87 MPH (not enough separation from the fastball) and curve that was killing him. I think the problem was that Clayton was trying to be the Clayton of old instead of staying within himself and pitching as he did since his IL stint! He was trying to do too much.
Now, back to the Outman thing. Let me make it clear that I am in no way blaming James Outman for the loss. However, he had two balls that could have been caught with a high degree of difficulty. The one ball he did touch, and he even said that he should have caught it. He did not touch the other one, but he also said he was nervous and did not get a good jump on it. To think that it is a “reach” is beyond silly. If he had caught the ball that hit his glove, Clayton would have had double the outs that he did. He would have likely felt a little less “pressure” in knowing that his teammates had his back. Of course, it made a difference. Again, I know that James Outman is not a great centerfielder… probably not even the best one on the team, but this is not about “blame” – it is just about reality, and the reality is, “Even Ray Charles can see that!”
The Game 1 loss was a team loss because no one picked Clayton up. The Dodgers did not hit, pitch, or field, and Clayton bears the brunt of it, but tonight, they can right the ship. Last year, they won the first game and then got swept! Clayton will likely start Game 4, and even two innings will be great. Yes, he is not the pitcher he once was, and I believe that he needs shoulder and TJ surgery, but this is the hand he is given. Hopefully, the next start, he will not try and do too much.
Is Bobby Miller Ready to be the Ace?
He better be… We shall see!
Hopefully, Will Smith can stay hot!
I totally agree. No one knows how things might have been had Outman made the catch. But he didn’t. What happened afterwards was all on Kersh. He hung too many pitches, IE, they were very hittable. The Dodgers, who by all accounts beat Merrill Kelly like a drum, couldn’t even hit a loud fly ball off of him. Cmon guys, this pitcher was 0-5 with a plus 7 ERA at Dodger Stadium and they made him look like Gerritt Cole. 0-11 lifetime and you can’t score off of this guy? His teammates did not pick him up. How much different might things have been had they scored a couple of runs in the bottom of the first? The top six in the lineup went 2-20! Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Martinez, and Heyward were all ofer. Smith had the only two hits. The other two hits came from Peralta and Rojas. SO, what it boils down to now is this is a must win game. They go to Arizona down 2-0, and this series is over.
Hopefully Miller has some junkyard Walker Buehler in him! Wasn’t just Kersh who let us down in game one. Time for the bats to wake up or go home once again! I want to see some fire tonight!
Your mindset as a hitter changes when you are down 6-0 that’s just human nature. Even worse when you go down 9-0.
These guys are humans not robots. I fully expect a different outcome tonight, but no its NOT a must win. Its not like Arizon has a HFA. Its Dodger Stadium East. Who is the Dbacks #3, Pfaadt?? Win that game and the momentum shifts way back to LA.
I certainly want to win tonight (and believe we will) but I wont throw in the towel if we do lose and neither will the players.
Need Mookie and or Freddie to be special tonight!
Let’s not forget what just one key hit can do:
Who will step up?
All year starting pitching was a problem. So we won 100 games because of bullpen and HITTING. Sounds simple. We need to score some runs. If we fall short it will because of hitting
Winter priority, pitching, pitching and more pitching.
Agree, agree and agree!!!!
Disagree, Disagree, Disagree,
This year was supposed to be the transition year. So I guess it wasn’t. We won 100 games. So next year will be the transition year. We have all these young arms. Maybe 5 or 6 guys that can be starters. Let them pitch and let Busch, Outman, Vargas etc see what they can do. Its our hitters that are all oldtimers that will eventually have to be replaced
Disagree. Just once. We get Buehler back, CK is iffy. The only kid I trust as a full-time starter is Miller. Sheehan has to show me some consistency. Pepiot, the same thing. I would like to see them sign that lefty out of Japan. Yamamoto is probably going to go to the Mets or maybe even the Mariners. With out Kersh and Urias, they have no left-handed starter. Vargas is over-rated, but he will get his shot in spring. I think Busch, if he is still in the organization gets a shot too. But, with Lux coming back, where is Vargas or Busch going to play? Excuse me, Lux is no outfielder.
Yes I agree clay pulled off a minor miracle with the performance he had this regular season stat wise with a worm out arm and bum shoulder and all but can’t compare regular season to playoffs with its ratcheted up intensity. He looked worse then terrible. I truly don’t think it’s a good baseball decision to put him back out in this short five game series and maybe I’m just selfish in that I fear the hurt in possibly seeing one of my heroes get beat down again with the series and season on the line. I’m still hoping he decides his shoulder is to sore because to not start him in favor of someone else could hurt chemistry. I’m sorry mark that it really bothers me to see one of my top three all time favorites get beat down like that
If the offense doesn’t get a lasting fire lit under their ass it’s all mute anyway
Was it over when the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor!?!?!?
I remember that quote. Classic.
It was a classic line. However, half of Americans today won’t get that joke because they don’t know who bombed Pearl Harbor lol.
Was watching some football games earlier this year at my favorite sports bar and WW2 came up in conversation. One of the, well, lesser read among the group wasn’t aware we dropped a second atomic bomb. He asked where we dropped it. I just said “Paris. We dropped it on Paris”. He just gave me a strange look and said “interesting, I didn’t know that”. Somebody was nice enough to explain to him why we were all laughing. I was perfectly willing to just let him be confused.
Dodgers are going to take game 2. Run over the snakes. Just like General Custer did to the Red Coats at Waterloo.
What ?
John Belushi’s aka Bluto Blutarski’s, big speech in Animal House. He asked if it was over when the German’s bombed Pearl Harbor.
Great movie, cant make em like that anymore…..
I was just thinking about this while listening to a podcast about Airplane.
Other than Tropic Thunder (which is amazing) we don’t get the out and out comedies anymore.
Maybe some early Wes Anderson movies? I’m thinking Rushmore and Bottle Rocket. Maybe?
Anything by Mel Brooks. No way Blazing Saddles gets made in this day and age of cupcakes.
Those Mel Brooks movies are even older than Airplane!
* Those damn Nazis sure got around Matt
* It was tough to watch Kershaw give up 6 and not complete an inning. Pretty much a must win tonight for Bobby Miller. Losing the first two games gives an 11% chance to win that series. Certainly not impossible but a steep hill to climb on the road.
* The questions linger about the advantage / disadvantage of having 5 days off for the Division winners. And to make matters more interesting. the Dodgers had a day off following their egg laying on Saturday. The Division winners try anything to stay sharp but they can’t seem to find a way using scrimmages with fans, sim games.
Smoltz and Davis discussed it last night. Joe said he thinks teams will eventually figure it out. But I don’t know it there is a solution under the current format. I don’t know if there’s a way to can keep a team sharp while the competition is playing competitive games.
Smoltz made an interesting point that the the Wildcard winners need to be more “punished” for being a wildcard team. And the Division winners need to be more rewarded. He suggested, don’t give the Wildcard winner days rest after the Wildcard rounds to reset their pitching before playing the Division champs. It’s a perplexing question – rest vs rust.
All I know it that last year Houston was the only Division winner to not get knocked off and it’s started out that way this post season.
Teams that had a bye are now 1-5…..not a coincidence.
I dont think any teams should have a bye as its really not an advantage, especially with a day break between game 1 and game 2 and 2 and 3.
If they really wanted to give the best teams an advantage there should be no days off between the end of the WC game until game 3 of the NLDS. I
The best teams should be rewarded and siting out 5 days and then having another 2 days off in between games 1 and 2 and 2 and 3 is no advantage whatsoever and the stats bear that out.
All the division series should not be a crapshoot. Extend the series to seven games and let the best team win. You have to extend your pitching staff that way and your aces are not pitching two games in a short series. I will be watching the game on MAX. No pre and post-game crap to put up with like listening to Pedro butcher the English language. He is a nice guy and all, but it takes him forever to get to the point.
Agree!
I agree with Smoltz. Unfortunately, Manfred is the commish. He is two steps below a moron,
I heard one guy say the Wildcard round should include a doubleheader. That’s kinda a fun idea.
Bluto, I think that idea has some Poe-tent-all. Play the wildcard games on 2 consecutive days. The second day is a possible doubleheader. And it’s over in 2 days. The Division Series starts the next day regardless of travel distance. It eliminates any rest and reorganization by the Wildcard winner and lessens the Division winners days off by 2 or 3 days.So ok, maybe give Wildcard winner 1 travel day. 4 out of 7 works for me, too.
Yes, that part of it makes sense.
The TV broadcast part is a doozy though.
Glad I didn’t watch. Was taking a late nap, and didn’t check the score until it was 9-0. At that point…
I guess if you’d told me before the season that the Dodgers would have the rotation issues they’ve had (partially thanks to Julio), I’d be happy just to be in the playoffs. Before the season I figured they’d win 88-90 games. I don’t know if CK is done or not. It may be a non-issue for now, if Miller, the game 3 pitchers, and the offense don’t turn this around. If we’re up 2-1 (I can hope) then let CK go in game 4, but if they’re down 2-1 I think I’d rather see a bullpen game. Maybe CK’s pride and innate skill could see us through.
My friend, Elden who is the only other Dodger fan I know up here in the Green Mountains, claims that October in Vermont means fall foliage and the Dodgers getting eliminated in the playoffs. Hope he’s wrong.
In two starts at Dodger Stadium this year, Zac Gallen has pitched 10 innings, given up 15 hits, 6 walks and 11 runs. Have to feel a little optimistic about the outcome.
similar to Kelly. The guys have to hit and that is that!!!!
You mean just like Kelly?
I love Kershaw but at this point it’s pretty obvious he just completely chokes in the postseason. I want that not to be the case but it’s the same movie over and over and over again. I hope the Dodgers move on, he can’t handle the big game spotlight that much is obvious. What I’ll remember most about Clayton is that look in the dugout after every playoff game choke job with his head down and nobody talking to him. Great regular season pitcher but just can’t get it done when it matters.
What Ill remember is the Gem he threw in Game 1 vs the Cheating Asstros and Ill also remember him running in from the Pen in 2020 when we won it all. Had 2 great starts in that World Series.
The story aint written yet, but can you chose to remember what you want.
False narrative that he cant get it done when it matters….
It’s not a false narrative unfortunately…..it’s a narrative that continues to be written pretty much every October. I know my opinion is probably not popular here but facts are facts and it’s truly telling that the only time he pitched decently in the playoffs was a fake, shortened season with no fans.
Fake season??? Get outta here with those takes. …..
OK, here are a few things to contemplate:
Clayton Kershaw is 7th on the All-Time Playoff Innings Pitched List.
Here is the List:
1. Pettitte – 277 IP/3.81 ERA
2. Glavine – 218 IP/3.30 ERA
3. Verlander – 213 IP/3.54 ERA
4. Smoltz – 209 IP/2.67 ERA
5. Clemens – 199 IP/3.75 ERA
6. Maddux – 198 IP/ 3.27 ERA
7. Kershaw – 194 IP/4.49 ERA
Kershaw has pitched in 39 playoff games.
In 15 of those games, he allowed 1 ER or less.
In 21 of those games, he allowed 3 ER or less.
In 27 of those games, he allowed 4 ER or less
In 7 of these games, he allowed 5 or more ER.
Make of that what you will.
G, with fans like you they’re better off with enemies. Btw, post some stats to go with your claims next time.
There was nothing fake about 20. Every team wanted to win it just as much as any other year
In fact it was the hardest WS to ever be won…..
Buffalo….guess still wondering when the Bills will win a Super Bowl…
Thumbs up!
good point Mark! Barry (the head) Bonds widely considered the best player ever , won how many world series? Dan Marino won how many super bowls? give him a break! you’ll never. see another like him! oh by the way , what’s verlander s playoff numbers?
Kershaw is like current Dodgers rosters, built to win the regular season.
I love Kersh and his heart. I’m guessing he keeps coming back to the Dodgers because he knows he can manage his work load, pick/avoid certain match-ups during the regular season, etc. There is no wiggle room in the playoffs, you’re ready or not.
Platooning all season wins games. It doesn’t typically in the playoffs. Rather, managing to L-R match-ups reduces the number of at bats your most clutch players have to make a difference. Instead players are squeezed into “roles” which can produce more stress and be counter-productive.
“Platooning all season wins games. It doesn’t typically in the playoffs.”
Do you have any direct proof of that?
I just checked a stat that impressed me a lot. Kersh’s career WHIP is 1.004. That is fifth all-time. He is .001 behind Mariano Rivera. Only three pitchers in the history of baseball have WHIPs below 1.000. Addie Joss, Jacob deGrom and Big Ed Walsh. That is truly impressive. Pray for the victims and their families of the attacks in Israel.
And Rivera was a relieve for 99% of his career. There is no starter in the modern era that can compare with Kersh. More wins and more strikeouts. But not on the basic metrics.
It’s just too bad his performance in the playoffs will hang over his career. Especially when the Trashtros blew him up in Houston by cheating and stole a ring from him.
Glavine, Maddox, Randy Johnson all had losing playoff records. Verlander just a couple over 500 forget exactly how many. Might be surprised how many all time greats hover just a tad over 500 in playoffs
I said a while back that I don’t trust James Outman in the field. He looks like he doesn’t have a natural feel for the position and does not get a good jump (see Joltin Joe DiMaggio for that)….. and unfortunately, this became so obvious in playoff game #1. So moving on, what can we expect in games 2 and 3?
I say, more of the same. I think the kid is throwing up as we speak and will be a total ball of nerves this entire series. I don’t expect he will contribute much with the bat but I hope his defense doesn’t hurt us like it did in game #1.
For the record, I also don’t have a warm and fuzzy feeling with this pitching match up tonight. I would be very surprised in a pleasant way if Miller can match Gallen in the first 3 innings. If we are tied or winning after 3 innings, i think our chances go up considerably. If we are down early again, i think Zona will be like sharks smelling blood, and our batters will be tense and too tight.
I believe Zona will probably win the game and then ultimately the series, but I certainly don’t wish for that and would love to be wrong. I only tell you what I feel, no sugarcoating, no holding back.
Happy Hunting LA….
TM
James Outman is not a natural CF’er, but he is the best we have this year. Kike may be a better defensive CF, but he is a platoon player and Outman does not need to be platooned. Kendall George is probably 3 years away, so my wish list would include a CF’er next year. Call me an idiot (some do), but I would try Gavin Lux there. Of course, Cody Bellinger would fit in there, but that probably won’t happen. I would offer Belli 8 years/$225 Million… and move him to 1B the last three years.
I do not think Clayton will pitch in 2024… maybe ever again. However, Walker Buehler will be back (maybe), and Bobby Miller will have a year of experience. Emmet Sheehan will be in the rotation, but AF will not sign a deGrom, Rodon, or a pitcher of that ilk. Look for another Tyler Anderson-esque signing. The farm will cough a couple more pitchers up as well.
I would put James in LF and left him play everyday.
I would love to have Belli back in his CF position, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to return here, especially after we dissed him, and I’m pretty sure the NY Yankees will be making a huge pitch to land him. That short right field porch is too tempting to turn it down.
But I do like your move Outman to LF suggestion. As for Lux in CF……closing my eyes….
9:07 PM ET
Diamondbacks (84-78) 1-0
Dodgers (100-62) 0-1
SP Zac Gallen R
17-9 3.47 ERA
SP Bobby Miller R
11-4 3.76 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
DH J. Martinez R
RF J. Heyward L
LF D. Peralta L
CF James Outman L
SS Miguel Rojas R
72° Wind 9 mph Out
Someone be special tonight!!!!
Lets Go DODGERS!!!!!!
We’re gonna win tonight and this series. Chalk it up
Lol…..okay…..
Gutsy comeback by Braves! Can we be as tough?
No Buehler in Miller! Up to the bats!
Same movie!!
Lead off hitter Carrol works a 3-2 count into a BB in the first inning to set the stage while Mookie flies out on two pitches. As a lead off hitter you gotta work that pitch count. Mookie knows that but sometimes seems to shrink on the big stage.
WOW. JDM missed on 2 center cut fastballs
Reggie- Mr. October
Mookie and Kersh-Miss Octobers!
Miller has to learn to throw his fastball up in the zone for K’s!
Stage too big for Miller? He’ll be much better his next start perhaps in April 24 if Mookie, Freddie, JDM don’t start hitting the ball.
Gallen throws his off speed stuff for strikes. Miller can’t. Hard to tell what’s worse, our bats or our starting arms.
Mookie has not had a good post season since 2020. He needs to get off the Schneid. He is better than this, but considering the September he had, he has just continued his lack of slug and it has affected the whole offense. He is not squaring up any pitches. Get ready for spring training guys if this keeps up.
The poor starts by Kershaw and Miller may overshadow the lack of hitting but these first 12 innings with two runs is reminiscent of struggles last post season. Miller was so composed in his first season as a Dodger but the stage looked too big tonight. It is understandable. Hope the bats can make it up.
Long term, I like Outman as a left fielder and not a center fielder. If the Brewers really like Lux, maybe the Dodgers can get Sal Frelich from the Brewers for Lux. I would love for them to acquire Alex Thomas but don’t think Arizona trades him to LA. But I agree with the need for a center fielder.
Braves were in the same situation that Dodgers were in now and they managed to tie the series with a huge win. When you consider the Phillies and the Braves 1 through 26, they are both more talented than LA. Dodger’s biggest advantage is in the bullpen but falling behind early makes the bullpen less impactful.
Stage too big for Mookie? Miss October!
Freaking no names, rookies and some “has beens” can man up in the playoffs, but $50+ million in hitters #1 and #2 in the Dodger line-up shrink in the post season. Guess $50 million doesn’t buy what it use to.
Now Michael?
Dodgers just don’t have a bench. Using Wong to pinch hit tells the story.
Too many platoons. Now the second pieces of the platoons might have to hit against the other armed pitcher.
Kelly played with fire and got lucky he didn’t get burned.
I don’t understand why he’s a back of the bullpen pitcher.
And by the way, Doc has used him as a back end of the bullpen pitcher since he came to the Dodgers. So I’m not necessarily talking about this game.
Also, I’m not saying the bench is the root of the problem. It’s the starting hitters that are the root of the problem. But when you have to go to the bench early, what I said above applies.
But I standby my statement that Wong shouldn’t be on the roster.
Betts and Freeman have been awful.
Outman is having a series for the ages, in a bad way. Error last night and failure to take the walk last inning when the pitcher was giving it too him.
And I am sorry this ump has been awful, he is giving both sides of plate and low to D’Backs but not us. Hard to hit when ump is going outside zone so much. Look at pitch track
When your two best starters and two best hitters are this bad, you won’t last long in October.
I think that says it all. Kersh too many strikes. Miller not enough
Lynn is going in game 3. Hold on to your hats. Same thing as last year, offense is stagnant. Not taking advantage of chances. I would not have hit for Rojas, he is hitting .500 and is more of a contact hitter than Wong.
Agree
The last three years our hitters have shriveled under the lights of the playoffs. Not sure why that is?
Perhaps the Robert Van Scoyoc approach to hitting. If the Dodgers fail to advance there will be changes and if I was king for the day I would start with the termination of RVS.
Kind of sense we need an Austin Barnes start behind the dish just like Doc did in 2020 when Grandal couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. Smith has looked horrible.
Dave Roberts need to get his thumb out of his ass and light a fire under these dam dodgers.
… and how do you do that?
Die and be reincarnated Italian
Doc goes to the mound to pull Kelly… Kelly while smirking says something to Doc as he starts walking off…
Doc disapproves and immediately turns around to get in Kelly’s face with a scowl…. and says something…
Interesting.
Offense? Where’s the offense? The Dodgers offense have a long history of not scoring runs at Dodger Stadium in post-season games, especially in recent years. 1966 ws Dodgers only scored 2 run in the entire ws ; 1978 ws final game, Dodgers scored only 2 runs; in 2017 ws final game, Dodgers scored only 1 run in (5-1) lost to the Astros; in 2018 ws final game, Dodgers scored only 1 run (again, in another (5-1) loss; in 2019 nlds final game Dodgers scored only 2 runs in final loss. 2021 and 2022 very little offense in those post-seasons series and game 1 of the 2023 NLDS series 2 runs in game 1 and game 2 as of the bottom of the 7th inning. So, will someone please if you can expain why the Dodgers offense doesnt show up at Dodger Stadium in post-season games?
If the Dodgers lose, and it’s looking likely, there should be no bitching about Doc’s management in this game. All of his moves to include the use of the BP and pinch hitting of CT3 and Hernandez (scored 1 run) have been perfectly managed.
If we lose it’s a result of Miller not being able to land his off speed stuff and the absolute futile offense of Mookie, Freddie and Will Smith. While no other Dodger with the exception of JDM set the world on fire this game, Mookie, FF and Will had multiple opportunities to be a hero with a timely hit w/ RISP hit but came up zero on the big stage. Wash, rinse and repeat just like last year.
I so want to be wrong and have Mookie or FF get a walk off to win the game but to this point the Dodgers have played uninspired baseball.
The playoffs have been described as a crapshoot. Well as Dodger fans all we’ve gotten is crap!
Looking like déjà vu of last year.
We won a game last year. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Lol
Don’t worry, it’ll only be “looking like” for a few more days, ..then it WILL BE groundhog day from last year.
Stick a fork in the Dodgers, they’re done.
Let’s hope Lynn can go 3 full innings in game three.
Let’s hope we can score 3 runs in a game! It’s not on Lynn if the second best offense in baseball can’t do Jack sh*t.
4 runs in two games? I don’t care what Kersh did. If you score 2 runs a game? In the playoffs? You don’t win! Period.
Even with Miller’s early game struggles, the Dodgers pen kept them in the game, and the bats just didn’t come thru.
…especially the “big” bats.
We’ve seen this script before, …beyond tiresome.
Only 2 words come to mind…
CHOKE JOB!
4 runs in two games. Outman is a strikeout machine. Mookie and Freddie couldn’t hit a wiffle ball the last two games.
I don’t want to hear about Kersh. Even if he had gone 9 and given up 3, we’d have lost. Same tonight.
Our offense is gone. It’s on them. 5+ runs a game. Be we scored 4 in 2.
It’s not Roberts. It’s not the kids. We didn’t hit. And we have about a 10% (I’m being generous) chance of pulling this off.
Just facts.
This team is just too laid back from the manager to the players
Yes, the warts on this year’s team are well-documented. We know they’re flawed, ..but come on!….
For the second straight year, the whole vibe of this team in the playoffs… is soft.
Unquestionably, there is something fundamentally wrong with the Dodgers approach to “playoff baseball.”
Y’all can speculate on what it is.
Same look as last year against the Padres. Absolutely no fight, no scrap, no growling. Plain and simple, poodles not junkyard dogs. It’s beginning to be a waste of time watching these guys in the post season.
What channel does the weather channel come on ?
Oh come on . Two wins and it’s up for grabs. Like the Dodgers couldn’t win two in a row ? I can’t believe the defeatism.
Interesting that after two comprehensive defeats, where we’ve been totally outplayed on both sides of the ball, not a single comment acknowledging that we’ve been beaten by the better team.
This is what happens in sport. It’s about execution when the lights are brightest.
So far as a team we haven’t performed where as the D’Backs have.
They are unbeaten in 4 Post Season games (as are Texas). Maybe time to give them some credit no?
Next topic Rants and Raves ?
It won’t be easy, but I agree with Vengeur. Anything could happen as most of us have seen through the years. Dodgers may lose again, but it ain’t over till it’s over. Three in a row is entirely possible. I haven’t given up hope.
I knew jumping into that pool was a bad idea…
So far it’s on Kershaw and Bobby Miller, and the offense as a whole except Martinez.
As for the bullpen, the first game the bullpen didn’t matter. It was over from the get-go. Today my only gripe is using Kelly instead of Shelby Miller. Kelly’s result doesn’t matter because in a pretty much must win game only three of the four best (DOMINANT in the regular season)relievers were used. Shelby Miller was missing.
Ride those 4 DOMINANT relievers (Phillips, Brasier, S. Miller, Graterol) hard because there is an off day between each game.
I made a mistake, game 3 and 4 are back to back games. But my statement about those 4 DOMINANT relievers still applies. Ride them for the rest of the games in this series.
Don’t blame Roberts. This is a veteran team, with playoff experience. They KNOW what to do
Fly in Gibson to Arizona! I’d rather have him hit thuan Mookie! Plaschke spot on again!
This is going to be a fantastic story to tell when we come back from an 0-2 hole and beat AZ.
We will feel right at home at Dodger stadium East. We win game 3 and momentum shifts to us for game 4. Win game 4 than back to Dodger stadium in an anything can happen game 5.
Keep the faith we are winning this series.
Was it over when Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor??? Was it over at Globe Life Field when we were down 3-1 to mighty ATL???
Just a thought. Wonder how much Clayton getting rudely jerked out of very near perfect game in Minnesota got into his head? As a fan and attendee at Dodger games since 1969, I found it fundamentally un-American, insulting to the fans. The fans and Clayton deserved that moment. Oh yes………Clayton will tell ya it was “ok” by him. At only 80 pitches and six more outs?! Yeah right. Another demoralization wrought by the “Metric Nerds” and their minion “yes man,” Dave Roberts. I fully believe we would have seen history made that day. Clayton deserved the opportunity, and in my schooling on leadership, should have rebelliously walked back out there to mound in eighth. “You ain’t takin my moment from me.” The fans and Clayton deserved it.
Just a thought. Wonder how much Clayton getting rudely jerked out of very near perfect game in Minnesota got into his head? As a fan and attendee at Dodger games since 1969, I found it fundamentally un-American, insulting to the fans. The fans and Clayton deserved that moment. Oh yes………Clayton will tell ya it was “ok” by him. At only 80 pitches? Yeah right. Another demoralization wrought by the “Metric Nerds” and their minion “yes man,” Dave Roberts. I fully believe we would have seen history made that day. Clayton deserved the opportunity, and in my schooling on leadership, should have rebelliously walked back out there to mound in eighth. “You ain’t takin my moment from me.” The fans and Clayton deserved it.