tHE dodgers JUST TOOK THE ADVANTAGE BACK!
We could also say: That ship has Saled!" At the very least, the Dodgers just guaranteed that if all else fails, they can clinch at home.
I was fully expecting to write a column called "The Annual October Blame Dave Roberts Festival Has Begun,” but that damn Doc messed it all up.
The same with Andy Pages... he went and messed up the same fans' chances to trash him some more with a 2-4!
Then the Mookster woke up with two hits himself... Kike (what did they sign him for?) Hernandez showed what they signed him for! Any questions? I did not think so!
Some fans had Freddie dead and buried.... but not so fast!
At the very least, the Dodgers just guaranteed that if all else fails, they can clinch at home.
Scott and Diaz pitched to contact to lock up the game. Sometimes that is better than strikeouts. It was in Game 3.
Question: Would the team be better or worse with DePaula at DH? Ohtani is obviously struggling physically (and mentally).
What a team effort!
... and yes, Yamamoto is not LH. I believe AI does that stuff on purpose... It's funny, and I am not inclined to fix it.
Rants and Raves
Quintero is tearing up the AFL (it's early), and Davalan is showing off amazing range at 2B. Will they reunite at OKC sometime next year?
With the Dodgers now up 2-1, Glasnow has a chance to close out the series without having to return to L.A. for Game 5.
US Water Systems now has a branch in Tampa... The new Rays stadium is 8 miles from our warehouse.
We are planning to open a manufacturing and distribution center in Phoenix next year. We are already looking at homes there... maybe!
Bear is under the weather... send him some good vibes and prayers if you will.
Sorry... but US Water Systems pays for this site...
Discussion (126)
Disagree, not disagreeable
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In my preview I said the Dodgers in 4. Andy Pages picked a great time to get the first hit wRISP. He is no longer struggling, and he does not deserve any more talk about 2025. For those who had no confidence in Scott and Diaz, how about now? JDP did not chase and drew a BB. Kiké makes a great play at 2B off a 108 MPH ground ball hit by Matt Olson to get out of a jam. Teo gets a leadoff single after banging into the LF wall the inning before. Freddie with more great picks. Muncy another jack. This was a team win in the game and the series.
3 down and 8 to go. Sweet!!! But I'm sure somebody will find something to nitpick about the game. I follow the Dodgers with my heart because they play with heart! Book em
Are you still trading Pages?
FYI, I'd never pinch hit for Kike in October.
Let's see if Doc is right
Another example of weak defense by Teo
I literally told me son I would not leave Vesia in for Albies who kills lefties.
Wow! This is pathetic so far. Even for this group. Not going to have much success down 0-1 every at bat. How about attacking the first pitch the rest of the game.
It’s a shame Glasnow didn’t have command tonight. His stuff was electric. He topped out at 100. Command is the difference between him and Yamamoto. Any fastball in the zone at 3-2 strikes out Riley. Too bad
Kiké Hernández needs one more homer in postseason to tie REGGIE JACKSON.
Granted there are more rounds, but # of Plate appearances is very comparable
Terrible at bat by Kike. Mahle barely at .500 throwing strikes and he swings at the first pitch. They score on a wild pitch; we score on an error.
Could we ever put up a crooked number n the first inning?
No class Atlanta fans booing Freeman.
I’m watching the White Sox-Guardians game. I couldn’t help but notice how much Murakami’s mannerisms at bat resemble Shohei’s.
It’s amazing how thin the starting pitching is in this years playoffs. As opposed to the incredible depth in our rotation. Sheehan and Wrobo could be 3’s on many playoff teams.
6:00 PM ET FOX SPORTS 1
Dodgers (100-62) (2-1) Braves (94-68) (1-2)
SP Tyler Glasnow R 5-2 3.53 ERA SP Tyler Mahle R 7-10 3.99 ERA
Confirmed Lineup SS Mookie Betts R 1B F. Freeman L C Will Smith R DH S. Ohtani L LF T. Hernandez R 3B Max Muncy L 2B E. Hernandez R RF Kyle Tucker L CF Andy Pages R
77° Wind 3 mph In LINE LAD -156
Glasnow is 2-1 in six games vs the Braves with a 2.48 ERA in 32.2 innings pitched. He has given up 3 homers struck out 46 and walked 9. Mahle is 3-3 vs LA in 10 games with a 3.15 ERA in 45.2 innings pitched. He has allowed just 2 homers, struck out 33 and walked 16. He is 1-0 against LA this year with no runs allowed in 7 innings pitched.
Roberts has some serious balls using Díaz in the ninth. If Diaz would have blown the lead the fans would have gone absolutely nuts.
If they remove Rojas from the roster for the rest of this series he will be ineligible for the league championship series.
Seems there is a lot of chatter about the Dodgers hitting philosophy. My observation is the Dodgers swing at to many pitches out of the zone. This includes everyone. I can’t blame them. A pitch coming in at 100 mph with movement would be hard to determine if it’s a inch or two off the plate. Hitting is hard. If there is a way to teach hitters how to stay off of pitches that weren’t strikes the founder of such theory would be a very rich man. The Dodgers are aggressive hitters so they are going to swing at pitches out of the zone.
I read where people want the Dodgers to play more small ball. I think we are asking something that they can’t do. I’m old school and believe everyone should be taught and/or is capable of bunting. The Dodgers don’t seem to have that skill set. Asking someone to do something they aren’t good at doing is a bad formula. I love following the Dodgers farm system. I’m no where close to Jeff in knowledge of the minor league teams but it is my observation that at least the top three levels the Dodgers don’t bunt or play small ball.
It appears the Boomer Doomers are in a much better mood today (I can't take credit for the term "Boomer Doomer," but I find it hysterical, so I'm taking it). Suddenly the Dodgers aren't too old, home runs are ok, and it's not mandatory that they pay homage to old school proper baseball etiquette and score by bunting for a base hit, stealing second on a hit and run play, executing a double steal, and scoring on a bloop single, fly ball, or squeeze play.
Yes, people, it's ok to like home runs. Stop worrying and learn to love the long ball. After all, we like scoring runs. Scoring runs is good. It allows the Dodgers to win baseball games, which is what we want, yes? I don't know that there's a "proper" way of doing it, so I'll enjoy it.
And some of you respond as if the Dodgers are the only team in the playoffs who aren't perfect, who have guys banged up, who make blunders, who sometimes struggle to put together hits with RISP. Could you imagine being a Yankees fan right now? All teams struggle with the same things.
Are the Dodgers older. Of course. However, think of their current dynasty as a bell curve. It took them a while to put all the pieces together, and they had some bitter losses to the Bosox and Nationals, but there were a couple of pieces to add. That curve was on the upswing. They signed Ohtani, they signed Betts, they signed Freeman, they signed Yamamoto, which, in a world of FA signings like Gerrit Cole and Jacob DeGrom, is perhaps the best FA pitcher signing ever.
They reached the apogee of that curve the last couple of years, and, as the years have passed, are just now entering the downward slope of that curve. But that also means they still have a lot of baseball left. They're still a great team.
There are things the Dodgers may do in the offseason to make the team younger and have more contact (and you want to trade JDP?). No use complaining about that now. And there's exactly a snowball's chance in hell Ohtani gets benched. This is the team the Dodgers have, and we're going to ride it.
And I hope you feel better soon, Bear. I want an article on the history of small ball with the Dodgers in the playoffs.
What a entertaining game to watch. Sale started out dominating the Dodger hitters as expected. Though in the second inning Dodger hitters were starting to make some solid contact. This continued in the third inning. I started to feel that the Dodger hitters had a real chance to overcome Sale's dominance and increase his pitch count. In the fourth Pages got on board with a single and Kiki backed that up with a much anticipated, playoff HR! Two batters later Freddie walloped what should have been his second HR of the game if not for Dubon's great catch in the first inning. This quick offensive output confirmed my feelings that Sale could be defeated and he was not long for this game.
It's amazing that all the Dodger runs are from the result of a HR. It's playoff baseball where it's very difficult to string together 3-4-5 hits together. And it's not just the Dodgers. We're seeing it in almost every playoff game.
Those three runs was all that Yamamoto needed as he completely shut down the Atlanta hitters. This guy is a warrior and it's fun to watch him use every pitch in his arsenal to get hitters out. As Smoltz mentioned the hitters have no idea what's coming. His out pitch could be any one of the five pitches.
If Ohtani is hurt then for the good of the team and fans get him out of the lineup. Like today! It's hard to believe I would prefer a 21 year old rookie over the "best player in baseball history". Right now Ohtani is showing continued poor pitch recognition and uncompetitive at bats. At least DePaula shown he has better pitch recognition than Ohtani and is certainly more entertaining to watch right now. When Ohtani is at bat the questions are how will he make an out and how foolish will he look doing so. It's disheartening watching this superstar be so ineffective and uninteresting. Kyle Tucker seems to have gotten his act together and his poor at bats have been replaced by Ohtani.
Despite Ohtani's woes The Dodgers are doing just enough offensively to move on to the next round. But, with the Dodgers it probably won't come easy. As long as the offense uses the HR to score most of their runs, it's their starting pitching will be the determining factor in winning a third straight WS title.
Carry on.
The Atlanta bloggers are complaining about similar stuff that we do. Can’t hit, can’t hit with RISP, AND can’t hit homers. So I guess it’s better to score off the long ball than not score at all. But this is who we are. Have been the last 5 years in the post season. We ride or die with our pitching and just enough slug. Don’t expect a breakout against Mahle so Glasnow is gonna have to bring his A game and we have a rested pen behind him. And Skubal for game 5 if needed. We’re in the drivers seat,
A great win. We know that managers NEVER want to use rookies in the playoffs. And it would take a lot for Ohtani to be benched (even though he seems to wince all the time) So I don't expect to see JDP as DH instead of him. But would love to see him instead of Teo tonite.
Every professional ballplayer will gut it out, especially in Oct. even to the detriment of the team. It's how they're wired. Unless of couse you are Max Scherzer. So look for Shohei to keep grinding. Of the reserves, only Kike and Miggy will spot start, sans injuries. Book em
Where is Max Muncy?!
The Dodger offense is clearly HR dependent and our leading HR hitter has not even started the past 2 games.
I know the reason. But it’s interesting to me that when I point out Max’s inability to effectively hit LH pitchers, folks here are quick to suggest Max hits lefty’s and righty’s equally. Nonsense. If that were the case he would be starting every game.
I love Rojas, but we depend on the long ball to win.