Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, Treat Turner, Will Smith, Gavin Lux, and Cody Bellinger all had two hits last night. That’s a lot of hits! Twelve to be exact to go with five walks. Everybody hits or nobody hits… well JT took a collar last night as did CT3, but hopefully, they can pick it back up tomorrow. Justin Turner is hitting .059 in the NLDS, so he is due… BIG TIME!
So, both teams rest for a day and come back on Thursday with everything iNCLUDING the kitchen sink! Everyone will be available in that game including Buehler and Scherzer! You don’t worry about the next series and who is fresh. You only focus on winning that game – PERIOD! Both teams know that and it will be a Dogfight. Hopefully, the Dodgers will show what breed they are: JUNKYARD DOGS!
Seager, Pollock, and JT are all due for a breakout game. Everyone else has already joined the hit parade in one way or another. The winner of the game Thursday will play the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS and while I am not going to predict the winner, the NLCS will open on Saturday and it will be the Dodgers playing! OK, I predicted the winner. The Dodgers bounced back and took it to the Giants last night and I have all the confidence they will find a way to win tomorrow. THIS IS WHAT THEY LIVE FOR!
Urias will need to be the big game pitcher that he has become. Hopefully, the Dodger Brass knows that he will have to change up the way he pitches because the Giants are very good at spotting pitching patterns.
I think Gavin Lux has found a home in the outfield. Whether it is LF, RF, or CF, I believe he has the weight of worrying about the Yips removed from his brain, and as an outfielder, he will be an All-Star. Gavin looks to be developing into an elite player. Even the wind-blown out he made in the previous game, was a ball that was absolutely crushed! Who would have ever thought he would be an outfielder?
A Glimpse at Next Year
Yesterday, the discussion turned to who would get the Qualifying Offer, and of course, Corey Seager is absolutely getting it. I would give it to Chris Taylor as well. He might be tempted to take an $18.4 million dollar one-year offer, but his agent won’t let him. He will likely get a $50 to $60 million dollar offer from some other team, so by extending the offer, the Dodgers will get an additional draft pick.
AJ Pollock could be traded, if the Dodgers wanted to free up a spot in LF for Gavin Lux, or Bellinger could move to 1B where he is also elite with Muncy moving to 3B, if the DH comes to the NL as expected. JT’s last season would be as the DH. I think the Dodgers will reach contract agreements with Kelly, Jansen, and Kershaw… although the chances that Clayton retires are pretty big in my opinion. The organization is in fine shape and a few key pieces will likely move on to other teams to fill key roles, just like Farhan Zaidi did. That is the way it works and there is no bigger compliment to an organization than other teams poaching your staff!
Bout, that is worry for another day. In the meantime, there is one more game to win this week!
Of course we all had hoped to end this in LA, but it is what it is. Let’s home this pattern of being shut out every other game ends Thursday. Although I do have a feeling it will be a low scoring game.
I agree about the Gavin Lux assessment. He has found his niche in the OF, especially LF. I’d rather see Cody in CF and Max on 1B with one of those two kids who are killing it in the minors to play 3B. JT obviously the DH.
Julio Urias is the one guy I completely trust. If he loses it will be because the Giants hit good pitches.
Rest up and get ready to rumble Thursday night. By the way, why can’t it at least start at 8:07 EST? A guy needs his beauty sleep you know.
TM
Game 5 smells like a JT moment, doesnt it? He is due. Im really surprised TT has not run and tested Posey, id like to see some steals from him.
Adjustments is the key here, they need to adjust to Webb, be patient and attack when in the zone. I know easier for me to type than actually going to do it.
If we keep the ball in the park on D I really like our chances here.
One more to go to eliminate the team with the best record in baseball….lets make up for 2019, Thursday night!
Well, I’ll go out on a limb here, Gavin Lux will be in the starting lineup playing somewhere in the outfield tomorrow. As, far as next year goes, positional flexibility and Seager’s status will have a lot to do with where Lux plays next year. If Seager leaves, Lux will be playing 2b next year. I’m not sure if you remember Eddy Rios, but I think he’ll be the front runner to split DH and 3B duties with Turner.
The Giants have to be feeling the pressure right about now. I’m sure they like the fact the Logan starts on Thursday, but Julio has got to have them feeling a bit apprehensive, especially with their platoon players having sat for a few games now. Of course I’ll take the good guys to finish off the pretenders. At some point the luck runs out and talent will prevail, usually…
This series has certainly played out like a microcosm of this season. The Giants have been steadily scoring a few runs here and there each game while the Dodgers are employing their Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde offense. Two shutouts vs. two blowouts. Our saving grace is our pitching, theirs has been their gloves. Luck has been on their side while we keep trudging through regardless of the cards we’re dealt.
The Giants have scored just 9 runs so far this series and their bullpen looks like a weakness compared to ours. So far, we’ve out pitched them and outhit him them, but the series is tied nonetheless. Hopefully their luck runs out and they’ll be packing up their gear after Thursday’s game. I’m sure the champagne will taste that much sweeter when they pop the corks in the Giant’s visitor clubhouse.
Doc, let me give you a tip. Don’t change the lineup! Just photocopy the last one and go with it.
How about that bullpen!
Doc already said he is starting….my guess is the lineup looks something like this
Betts
Seager
Trea
Smith
JT
Lux
Taylor
Bellinger
Good content, Mark.
Disagree about Kelly & Jansen returning though.
I think they both move on.
Is best if they move on. Kelly is very replaceable. Jansen had a good season but always has meltdowns sometime in the year and he will like to have a similar contract /salary. Is time to move on . Taylor getting QO ?? No thanks. He should get a contract kike , i would offer 2 years 16-18 mil total. 3/25 million max. He can move on as well.
Lots of options for 2022. I’ll worry about them after the season ends. I see very few problems with the roster other than being a little light on starting pitchers.
Short and sweet, I agree entirely.
I think at times people like to jump to conclusions and create a narrative too quickly. Lux has shown he can handle the middle infield and the outfield, so where he winds up has more to do with who leaves and who comes in more than it does with where Lux is currently playing.
I actually found it pretty surprising that Mark suggested moving Belli back to first after previously stating he’ll never play there again. I also find it weird that he’s so willing to move Muncy to third when he’s been worse at 3B than Lux has been at 2B or SS.
In the end, I agree with your assessment. There’s plenty of time in the offseason to ponder next year’s roster. But, in all honesty, I was thinking about Kahnle and Ferguson joining next year’s bullpen this morning.
Nice. Also, Graterol looking more and more like a guy there too. From the left side Ferguson, Vesia & maybe V-Gon after a lost season.
After the game last night, Lux said he prefers CF to LF as he sees ball coming off the bat similar to when he plays 2b or SS. Left field is a different look with more slicing line drives.
I personally would prefer Belly or CT3 in CF, in that big ballpark. But Belly needs to be at 1b, so it comes down to CT3 or Lux in CF. Pollock did look horrible against Webb in Game 1, so maybe Lux gives us better at bats in game 5.
Either way, you knew it’d come down to Game 5. And part of me “knows” it’ll go to extra innings. Time to stock up on bp meds and some more indica.
I ignore my BP meds, but my stock of Indica is always sufficient.
I get confised about Indica & Sativa regarding which one hypes and which one mellows. A stripper named Annie gave me a helpful mnemonic device: Indica = in the couch, meaning relaxed.
Now back to this one.
True funny story, everyone reacts differently to cannabis. The “standard thinking” of sativa being “wired” & indica being “couch lock” is the exact opposite with my wife.
Boy if you want the house cleaned top to bottom, offer up some indica.
cheers
pb+
Absolutely fitting this series comes down to a game 5 loser goes home.
Both teams now with 109 wins this season. Wow!
As BP said this series is a microscosm of our entire season. We either hit and score in bunches or not at all.
We outscored them by 7 runs in those 4 games but are only tied.
Lets hope our hitters resemble those in Games 2 and 4. I have confidence in Julio but Webb looks he could be their Bumgarner 2.0 in this years playoffs and we dont have to look back at that dreaded game 3 when we could not even score one single run and wasted a great outing by Max.
I think Lux will be in LF tomorrow and Belli in CF. Both guys have earned their spot in the starting lineup.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, I did some research on all our hitters v Logan Webb.
Player….BA…OPS…hits at bats
Cody: .231……538….3 for 13
Trea: 000….000…0-2
JT: .429…1.413….3 for 7
Mookie: 000….000….0 for 4
Will: 000….000….0 for 5
Austin Barnes: .667…1.750…2 for 3******Maybe play him. Better catcher too.
AJP: .200….733….1 for 5
Lux: .250…..900….1 for 4
Corey: .143…..286…1 for 7
Not very encouraging numbers.
Will be tough to beat this kid at his home field where he has excelled all year.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!
I was thinking last night about how everyone ( including me ) has talked about how lucky the midgets are. And in some ways that is very true. But I was also thinking that in a way they are one of the UNLUCKIEST div winners ever. What they were rewarded with as the best team in all of baseball where the #1 plays the #4 which USUALLY means you are playing the 4th best team in your league, is to play the 2nd best team in all of baseball who played you pretty much evenly all season. That is “luck”, but it ain’t good luck.
cheers
pb+
Plus, their defense isn’t luck. They save a ton of runs and avoid potential big innings because of that defense.
And how about Brusdar w/ 103?!?! We need him pumped up every night.
cheers
pb+
Pure gas!
And had some movement too.
Go dodgers!
I get your point and agree with it, but …
Did you see the ground ball to first base last night that was literally kicked and ended up in the glove of the 2nd basemen for an easy out. That is “luck” and it aint bad luck.
Or, the ground ball up the middle in game 1 that had RBI single all over it until it hit the pitchers foot and ended up as the third out.
SF has displayed some tremendous defense throughout the series, but they have also been very lucky at times.
I dunno, when you have a “lucky play” but you still get your ass kicked, for me, it becomes less luck and more “that’s baseball”. And we left A LOT of runs ob last night. Hopefully we were banking them for Thurs.
cheers
pb+
I’ve noticed Turner has been taking a first pitch get over strike 1 a lot lately. I’d sure like to see him punish that pitch so he’s more likely getting ahead in the count the rest of the way.
Even scoring 7 we were 1 for 11 WRISP. This has been a problem a lot this year. In the two losses we are 0fer with runners in scoring position. How to get better? Focus. Barrel strikes. Easy to say. These guys aren’t taught to think that way.
I said it before. I like Lux in the outfield. Left field is a position that sees a lot of hard hit balls most of which have top spin or back spin. Left handed hitters with a slicie don’t appear to be going that direction much. At least ours don’t. The league sure feels pull happy these days. Thus the shifts.
Everyone ready for ABS now? It’s the playoffs. These guys are supposed to be the best the league has to offer.
My weather app says 65 at game time.
I read yesterday Sportrac says Seager is worth $31.8 million. Yeah, he is if he plays 150 games, which he’s done once in his career. Chris Taylor $11 million? I don’t believe he’s worth $18.4m, so why wouldn’t the Dodgers offer him what Cubs and Red Sox offered our other lost bench players? Kiké is only making $6 then $8m., Joc $4.5 and $10m. How easy would that be for the Dodgers? But no, we chose McKinstry and find ourselves sending up McKinnie in a post season PH role. Be smart. Keep Taylor. Guess we can talk about these issues later.
I seriously doubt Buehler is available in any capacity tomorrow. He did his job time for everyone else to slam the door on the hated ones.
Walker is a bulldog.
I can envision him or Max for 1-2 batters in a pressure cooker situation to get a key out.
Go Dodgers!
The only way he pitches is if we get a weird 14-15 inning game where he has to. They got to look out for his health too and pitching him in any capacity on 1 days rest after already going on short rest would be idiotic considering everyone else on the staff is rested and ready to go. More likely expect Kenley to go multiple innings.
More like 17-18 inning
A fun game to watch last night. It looks like many of the Dodger sleeping bats might be awakening. Betts, Smith, Taylor, Lux, and of course Bellinger. I noticed Cody choking up slightly in his ABs and really choking up (2″ maybe?) with two strikes. Awesome to see from him and even better that he is getting positive results for reinforcement of the change.
Thursday, game 5, should be a classic. Obviously, the Dodgers need to change their approach when facing Webb. He seems to pound the first pitch with fastballs and then finishes with sliders and changeups. The Dodgers batters might need to attack the fastball when they can. Forget running up the pitch count on Webb. Go after the first strike they see which will probably be a fastball. If they do get into a count they have to resist his breaking stuff. I know it’s easy for me to say that sitting in front of a computer. But, the Dodgers are good at pitch recognition and really have to focus. If they don’t swing he may get frustrated and throw more hittable pitches.
Lots of good stuff from everyone above. TM, those are such small samples that it might not be enough to construct a lineup. I think “what did you did last night” (like B and P said copy and paste) might be a better approach.
A lineup I would like to see:
Betts RF
Seager SS
T Turner 2B
Smith C
Lux LF
Bellinger 1B
Taylor CF
J Turner 3B
Urias P
Could JT breakout in game 5? Right now is not the time to find out. If he does, he could have Bellinger, Lux, and/or Taylor on base in front of him.
Carry on.
Nice win. Could have scored more, but I am not complaining. Webb is a very good pitcher. But he can be beat. He lost 3 this season. But he had 2 games in September where he gave up 4 earned runs or more. Face it, no pitcher is invincible. Webb was 11-3. Julio was 20-3. Seems to me we have a slight advantage here. Webb’s ERA was 3.03. They get 3 runs off of this guy early enough and he will be out of the game. I expect the team to look to strike early. And I would bet that once they get to SF later today and tomorrow morning, they are going to be watching a lot of video on him. Dave will probably go with the same lineup. You block that SF crowd out and just play some baseball.
I say we beat the peds-head Webb like a rented mule.
cheers
pb+
Milwaukee won its division early in September and then floated on water; when they were swept up in the last series in L.A. Counsell said: “we are preparing for October”; the playoff games arrived and they could no longer change the trend, it just doesn’t work like that, each game has to be played to the full because afterwards you don’t get it back and they were beaten by an inferior team.
I think the Dodgers by beating the Cards in the wild card game went in against SF relaxed and we saw a very sloppy approach of the hitters and made Webb’s job easier. The dodgers in recent years have shown their hitters to have a very good approach, it is a team that does not pursue many pitches outside the zone, it is a team that grinds and passes the baton to the next batter, that approach the team recovered, again, from the second game and since then it is 2W-1L and in the defeat the wind was a key factor, taking a two-run HR from CT3 and a lonely one from Gavin, with the normal approach of the Dodgers, Webb will no longer have it so easy, it will be a very different game and I hope a victory for the Dodgers.
I think with a pitcher like Webb you have to attack the fastball first if you can identify it and it’s in the zone. Thing is you can’t miss it, you need to take a two strike approach right from the beginning. You can’t be taking that huge hack and miss it when l it’s probably the only good pitch you’re going to get in the bat. Think contact first and good things will happen including the home run.
Put some rallies together and get him out of his comfort zone.
He stayed away from the fastball as much as possible last game. The Dodgers got a diet of off speed pitches that they chased all night long. It will be interesting to see who the ump is.
He certainly did and when he did throw it it was a pitchers pitch.
Even more reason to take the two strike approach right from the beginning. Try to slap the ball the other way don’t go for the big swiing, base hits will turn into runs with our speed
I’d just like to write about how much fun it is to be a Dodger fan, and how rewarding.
The team’s always great. The constant reloading on the fly is fun. How players like Vesia, Bickford, Lux, and Beatty all develop.
And the players and execs who move on make it fun to watch other teams.
It’s EVEN MORE fun to watch the Sox now.
I hear that Josh Byrnes may be a top candidate for the Mets job. Then it would be Giants, Braves and Mets as direct Dodger off-shoots and Red Sox and Rays as indirect.
Anybody else sensing a Scherzer appearance tomorrow night? I don’t think we need him and would be Kershaw 2.0.
Would that be better than the guys who are used to coming out of the pen and thriving at it? Kelly, Bazooka, Treinen, Knebel, Kenley have been filthy.
The team which has scored first has won every game in the series. Not surprising when two were shutouts, but I would not want us to fall behind tomorrow. The Giants have a number of very good relievers, and Gausman is also ready, and Wood might be able to pitch to a few batters,
How long do we hope Urias goes? Six innings? If any less, we are shorthanded compared to SF. I would hope to not have to see Kelly for three batters. He is always a risk, and usually starts off by giving up walk or hit. Last night, a hit to load the bases, and he has to pitch to two my batters, and I thought, “We could actually lose this lead before he is done.” Fortunately, he got the next two outs. He has pitched well, but still feels risky. At least we were able to rest Jansen an extra day.
I hope it won’t come to that, but such games usually highlight the managers. I thought that Roberts handled the pitching very well last night, except for the Kelly ride. I’m sure the gameplan will be plotted out, as will the Giants’ . Do not get behind this team!
As to which hitters will come through for us, who knows? Betts is hitting the ball very well, no one else is really, although Bellinger is taking better swings. We need to somehow manufacture a rally, a few hits in a row. And I think for us to win, it is going to have to be getting some kind of lead, and holding on, as it gets colder and maybe windier, and the crowd gets louder. The Giants have won a lot of games late this year, as we know.
If we win, we will have to face a rested Braves team, but we all want us to have that opportunity. And then the Astros or Red Sox, imagine that. If we actually win the championship, it will be an incredible achievement. I did check, and we would be the team with home field advantage in the Word Series, which is a major plus, if we can get there.
Bellinger was choking up on the bat yesterday. Has anybody noticed how long he has been doing that?
No, but I noticed that as well and got really happy to see it!
What it tells me, is that he’s really trying to do anything he can to get on base and help this team. He knows the season is over and there’s nothing he can do to change it. He can get the bad taste out of his mouth by helping this team win the World Series.
I also noticed Cody choking up, and wondered to myself if I had seen him do that before. Didn’t remember ever seeing it, so maybe it’s something new. If so, it’s encouraging.
Have we been saving Graterol all year for this playoff run?
Graterol has been lights out this postseason. He has not only revved up his velo even more than before, but his fastball has some movement now too. Future closer if he can keep this up.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!