Well, if you want Teoscar Hernández in the lineup, you have to have all of him. At his best, he is an adventure in RF. At his worst, he is the worst defensive RF in MLB. On Wednesday, he flat out dropped a third out fly ball that led to two 1st inning runs. But he made up for it with his bat later in the game.
In Game 2, the Dodgers showed that they do not have to hit HRs to score runs. I know that Shohei is the best player in the game, but this is still Mookie’s team. Mookie goes 4-5 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI.
Down 2-0 in the bottom of the 3rd Ben Rortvedt led off with a double. With one out, Mookie got his 2nd hit of the night, a run scoring single to cut the lead in half.
In the 4th, the Dodgers took the lead. Max Muncy led off with a single and scored on a one out Kiké Hernández double. Miggy Ro singled to plate Kiké and the 3-2 lead.
After the 1st inning single by Sal Stewart, Yama retired the next 13 in order before TJ Friedl led off the 6th with a single. Spencer Steer and Gavin Lux each followed with a single to load the bases with nobody out. The score was 3-2 and to his credit, Doc left Yama in. He got Austin Hays to hit a bouncer to Mookie who threw home to force out Friedl. Yama followed that with a Sal Stewart K. He got out of the inning without allowing a run by striking out Elly De La Cruz.
The Dodgers opened up a five run lead in the 6th with 4 runs. Kiké continued his October mastery with a leadoff single. Miggy Ro hit a ground ball to 1B and moved Kiké to 2nd. Rortvedt reached on a throwing error and Kiké moved to 3rd. Shohei singled to score Kiké and Rortvedt moved to 3rd. Mookie doubled home Rortvedt and Shohei moved up to 3rd. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Freddie was IBB to load the bases. Teo doubled home 2 and a 5 run lead.
After 95 pitches, Yamamoto went back out for the 7th. He induced a ground out to open the 7th. He walked the next batter for his 1st walk of the game. Yama followed that with a K of Matt McLain. But Yama walked his 2nd batter of the inning, and Doc brought in Blake Treinen to get out of the inning. On two pitches, Blake got Steer to hit a ground ball to Mookie to get the final out.
Yamamoto completed 6.2 innings while throwing a season high 113 pitches (77 strikes). 2 unearned runs, 4 hits, 2 BB, and 9 K. It was a dominating performance.
The Dodgers upped the lead to 6 with one more in the 7th. Miggy Ro singled and Rortvedt hit a sac bunt to move him into scoring position. Shohei was IBB and Mookie hit his 3rd double of the game to score Miggy. Then came the 8th inning.
Just like Tuesday, I was okay with who came in to pitch in the 8th. I have been an Emmet Sheehan advocate for a long time. And just like Tuesday, the LAD pitcher just did not have it. The bullpen is a hot mess, and I do not know who Roberts can trust. After giving up 2 runs, Sheehan was lifted for Alex Vesia with a 1-2 count. With Vesia coming in, Francona sent up Miguel Andujar for Will Benson and his 1-2 count.
Vesia somehow got Andujar to swing at a pitch high out of the zone for strike 3. But like the night before he could not stay away from a walk. With the bases juiced, he got Friedl to 0-2, but continued to have problems putting him away. With the count 2-2, and on the 7th pitch of the AB, Vesia threw a million dollar slider to strike out Friedl and get out of the inning.
The Dodgers may have found their post season closer. Roki Sasaki came in to close out the game in a non-save situation. He proceeded to strike out the first two batters in the 9th, and then got Austin Hays to hit a 57.8 MPH “line drive” to Mookie to end the game. Roki needed 11 pitches (9 strikes) to finish off the Reds.
On to Philadelphia for the NLDS. Ohtani has been named the Game 1 starter on Saturday. Snell would be in line to start Game 2, and Yamamoto would be in line to pitch Game 3 on Wednesday. The problem is that it would be almost 2 weeks between starts for Tyler Glasnow. That is why management makes the big bucks.
On to Philly where hopefully they will be complaining about how the layoff has hurt their timing and momentum.
Just like we used to
No one moans like us!!!!!
Oh really? Have you ever listened to Yankee fans? They think winning is their birthright.
And their fans just looked crazed. Some of the dudes look constantly pissed off and ready to kick somebody’s ass.
I watched the World Series film from last year and their behavior was just absolutely awful. They were cussing out the Dodger fans as if they had something to do with the meltdown on the field. Never met one I liked. They are arrogant.
Watford, I don’t know how you do it. I’m waking up at 4 am to check the score and get sucked into following on my phone! Then I’m dead the next day!
Haha – exactly the same as that!!!
I keep waking up before the game has even started then can’t get back to sleep. Both nights just given up and got up at 3am to watch. In fact I’ve just woken from a nice little afternoon nap in my car to catch up a bit!!
October is always a nightmare for my sleep. At least I’ve gotta couple of nights off now.
Also props to Miggy Ro! What a valuable bench piece. I hope he returns again next year! Like Kike, he seems to thrive in the biggest moments!
I believe LA brings him back for one more year, then he goes into coaching.
I can see that
I would go:
G1–Ohtani
G2–Glasnow
G3–Snell
G4–Yamamoto
G5–Ohtani
We won’t need a game 5 starter. Back home against the Padres after game 4!
I hope the Cubs smoke the Padres, and no matter who wins, the Brewers are not going to be a pushover at all.
I agree with this. Glasnow needs to stay in the mix as a starter.
Woo-Hoo!! Big win now on to Philadelphia. Sasaki could and hopefully will be a big improvement to the bullpen. I would like to see the Dodgers go with Pages in RF, Edman in CF, and Teo in LF. I hope we don’t have to endure more of Conforto. He should not be on the NLDS roster.
I agree with your outfielder setup for the Philly series. I think Conforto with be on the NLDS, but won’t start. Dean is a wasted the spot on the roster. He was there for his speed and defense. He had one defensive chance and clanked a catch by diving for a ball he didn’t need to and it bounced off the heel of his glove.
Let’s see if Sasaki can continue to have success out of the BP. That would be huge for the Dodgers. Many focus on his velo. Damn near every reliever throws hard. It’s his control and attacking hitters with the sinker is what I’m happy to see.
Rortvedt is proving to be the find of the trade deadline by AF. The staff seems to enjoy and appreciate his catching skills. One has to love his story. Who knew?
I did. Said so, much to Scott’s disdain. Called him a LH Austin Barnes.
I might have been one of the earliest to say here that Rortvedt was a keeper. I said it immediately after he caught Yams 8 2/3 hitless game.
Let’s not go crazy. He’s played well and is a pretty solid catcher, but a .224 hitter in the regular season. 79 OPS+. 4 runs batted in. 1 home run. 3 hits in the Cincy series. No complaints here. But they need Will Smith back.
There is no reason to ever start Conforto in a playoff game just because the Dodgers refuse to accept reality. Especially with the way Kike is hitting right now.
He’s a BACKUP CATCHER, not Cal Raleigh. His first start for LAD was September 6. He has started 15 regular season games and 2 playoff games. He is 13 – 3, and was pulled while ahead in 1 game. That is what a backup catcher does. Quit looking at the back of a baseball card for backup catchers.
Per Dave Roberts (whose opinion is way more important than either of us):
I’m actually agreeing with you here, so not sure why you are quoting Roberts. As a backup catcher, he’s pretty good. For a backup catcher I only ask one thing (other than the game calling, pitching handling and throwing out runners), just don’t be an automatic out. And so far he has not been.
In general, you can’t put any automatic outs in the lineup, no matter how great defensively they are. I don’t care if they are the second coming of Ozzie Smith and doing backflips on the diamond.
This is why Justin Dean is not in the starting lineup and why they were ok with trading away James Outman. Runs are hard to come by in the postseason. In regards to Rortvedt, we are both on the same page. He is a fine backup catcher.
If Conforto is on the NLDS roster or any roster going forward, I will seriously question our managements competence. He brings nothing to the team. Can’t hit, can’t field, can’t run. Call is a much better option from either side of the plate and in the field.
I think Roberts already said that Conforto will be on the roster and that Edman ankle bad and may not play OF. Of course all could change in a few days. Would love to have heard what he said to Sheehan. And what will they do with him against Phily
Sometimes SP just do not fit as RP right away. Everyone remembers Walker Buehler from last year, but how many remember him when he first came up as a reliever. He stunk at OKC in that role, and stunk as a LAD reliever. He came up in 2017 to see if he could be a reliever for the playoffs. 8 games, 9.1 IP, 8 runs, 2 HR, 8 BB, 12 K, 7.71 WHIP, 2.036 WHIP. He was auditioning for the playoffs. He did not make the roster.
My guess is that Doc told him to forget this game ever happened for you and be ready for the next time I call your name.
Great win the phils are a different matter if they get them down gotta put a nail in the coffin. Im riding Badgers hitting train should be a hell uv a series cant wait. Go D-Men
Hopefully those who complained about Kike being on the roster all year now understand why Kike was on the roster all year.
I totally get it, but better production during the season would be a plus. Seriously? .203? After the trade from Boston in 23, he hit .269. Last season, .229. Even his career line of .236/17/60 would be nice.
Fair enough but does that logic mean Pages shouldn’t be?
Pages has a .143 average in post season play, 4 hits in 30 plate appearances. He was 4-18 in the World Series. His 2 homers came in the game 4 loss. He has looked awful in his 9 AB’s so far.
I’m a big Sheehan fan. He has been a dominant starter and got his feet wet as a reliever in the playoffs. I’ll put money on him to be good next time.
If Glasnow isn’t good enough to start against Philly then they should have kept Pepiot.
He was? I thought he was in Cancun tanning up for his October interviews.
The key to beating the Dodgers appears to be get to their bullpen as quickly as possible. Philly knows this. They are rested, have home field and will be far more competitive than Cincinnati was. Philadelphia will score.
The team stats say Philadelphia starting pitching was only slightly better than Cincinnati this year, but both were better than the Dodgers. Relief pitching stats feel misleading. LAD was 4th, ahead of CIN. PHI was 20th. All Pitching? PHI, LAD, CIN.
And Offense? Dodgers are better than the Phillies, but not by a lot. So…. here’s a scoop…. Dodgers need to score and score bigly.
Right after Mookie threw the runner out at the plate, we had a power outage that lasted about 4 minutes. It took my modem about 5 minutes to reboot. So, I had no clue until my computer came back online that Yoshi had gotten out of that mess. Might have been a blessing since I probably would have been very nervous if I had been watching. I was yelling at the screen during the top of the 8th to just throw frippen strikes, but that did not work. Rojas deserves every accolade he gets.
Albert Pujols in the running to be the next manager of the Angels. Dodgers do not have to announce their NLDS roster until late Friday.
Yeah Bear, I mentioned Pujols yesterday as I read the Angels were interested. I had forgotten about him being mentioned his last year as being management potential.
As a huge Miggy Ro fan, I have felt he has been constantly under appreciated by Dodger fans here. He is way more than an aging utility piece. He hit .280 last year .262 this year and is solid as a rock defensively anywhere in the infield. His work with Mookie has helped him become a premium SS especially Miggy’s work with Mookie’s throwing. He’s basically a very smart, everyday player, who has hit, can bunt, plays great defense and his leadership with this club is under appreciated. He is a stabilizing force even with the veterans.
I hope he plays one more season and than becomes a MiLB manager with the Dodgers or a coach with the big club. I see him as an MLB skipper someday.
By the way, I see that David Ross wants another shot at managing again in the Big Leagues. I’m not sure why he failed with the Cubs but I hope he gets another shot somewhere.
Ross was an excellent manager, former Dodger by the way. Four openings and counting. He would be a great fit with the Braves.
I love Rojas, he’s my favorite player right now. Great defender, our best situational hitter and the clear team leader.
He probably should. There are a lot of openings. Some owners (like Colorado) say they want a manager with experience. But what they really need is their owner to get out of the way.
Congrats Dodgers. Nice starting pitching and lots of hitting.
Mookie’s declaration awhile back about not trying to salvage this season at the plate, proved to be the medicine he needed to mentally re-boot and start hitting. Nice piece of mental cleansing to flush the demons, relax and just hit.
Can we just skip the 8th inning? Back in my competitive golf days, the 8th hole on my home course used to just kick my ass. No matter how well I was playing I could find a way to butcher that hole. I threatened to just take a bogie and move on. Maybe we can just conceded 2 runs in the 8th and move on to the 9th. Had Vesia not escaped with the bases juiced, just giving up 2, we could have seen a 3 spot like Tuesday, or more.
Sheehan is better than he showed and he looked devastated after being pulled. With Treinen pitching better and Kershaw sure to be added, his chances of making the next playoff roster may have been damaged.
Sasaki certainly has looked like the closer we have been seeking.
Nice to get the Wildcard round in the rearview mirror.
I was a fan of Rojas and admittedly gave up on him too soon. He coached Betts well and Betts allowed himself to be coached. Rojas, I haven’t seen this for a month or so, was IMHO over sharing his knowledge. In the end Phil, you were right all along re Rojas.
I would think Kershaw replaces Henriquez.
You’re right about Sasaki. Roberts circle of trust right now is Kershaw, Treinen and Sasaki. Not sure where that leaves Scott but lower leverage situations seems to be the most likely.
I’d think the same. Kersh replaces Henriquez
We’re a threesome regarding Kersh
Kersh over Edgardo….a no brainer…
Kike again felt the need to curse during the post-game celebration. That kind of stuff I can do without.
Wasn’t you in the army?
So what? Cursing on TV during a celebration is the kind of thing the game does not need. Yeah, we cussed, a lot. But usually for a damn good reason. Last year he used the F word, this time he said they don’t give a sh*t. No need for that especially when talking to a woman. There are limits you know.
ESPN highlight of the game was seeing them post Vesia getting his 3rd strikeout in the 9th inning. I’m going to miss their attention to detail.
you didn’t know Vesia is a skinny right handed Japanese dude?
Ugh, what was I thinking.
Puds going home. Yay!!
Scum
I have mixed feelings. I like the city, I like that they are in western division, and they are a good rivalry. I like the Giants too. But, relieved Dodgers don’t have to play them.
I like the Cubs also though.
thoughts and prayers to them
Dear LORD…..thank you!