This game had everything. Superb starting pitching, both p*** poor relief pitching and some good relief pitching, clutch hitting, smart base running, some excellent defensive plays, and the unveiling of the next Andruw Jones (defensively anyway). This was a thoroughly entertaining baseball game. Here’s some nice defense:
The broadcast? Not so entertaining. I think the broadcast crew was discussing the Freddie Freeman in Atlanta drama waaaaaay too often. I understand the newsworthy story line, but don’t beat it to death.
The Dodgers went in to Atlanta with what looked like two evenly matched teams; but seemingly going in different directions. Atlanta was 18-3 coming into the weekend, and the Dodgers were 10-9. The Dodgers were fresh off a thorough thrashing of the Cincinnati Reds, and the Braves took 3 out of 4 from the Giants, two in walk off fashion.
The two teams split the first two games, and it came down to the third game to see which team would take the series. The Dodgers took the series in LA, could they duplicate that in Atlanta. For 8.2 innings, it looked like Atlanta was going to shutout the Dodgers and take the series.
Kenley Jansen was on for the second consecutive game for the save. He struck out the side in Saturday’s game, and struck out the first two batters he faced in the 9th. On a 3-2 pitch, Gavin Lux gets a line drive single. Chris Taylor, who had a pinch hit single for Eddy Alvarez in the 7th, stroked a single into left field. With Lux running, he easily made it to third. On the first pitch to Trayce Thompson, CT3 stole 2nd. With runners in scoring position, that has been a big problem for the Dodgers of late. But not on this AB. Trayce lines a pitch off the top of the glove of Matt Olson to plate 2 and tie the score.
Trea Turner lines a 2-1 pitch into CF that was dropping quickly, but not quick enough for Michael Harris II. No other Braves OF makes that play.
Reyes Moronta is showing the SF closer ability once again, entered the 9th for his 2nd inning. He retired the side in order, striking out two, including Dansby Swanson.
The Dodgers were entering dangerous waters, AKA extra innings. The Dodgers were o-fer in extra innings. But this time, the drama was building. Will Smith was pitching for Atlanta. Trea Turner was the ghost runner at 2nd, and Freddie Freeman was at the plate. Freddie lines a double to score Turner and give LAD a 3-2 lead.
Will Smith hit a deep fly into RF and Freddie moved to 3B. Muncy with one out, only needed fly ball to score Freeman. Instead he kills the pitch but on a line right at Olson. Yes, it was hit hard. But I am sorry, take a little off the swing to get a fly ball. Needless to say, Freeman was stranded at 3B.
Enter Craig Kimbrel. Matt Olson was the first hitter to face Kimbrel, and he hit an RBI single. Having blown his 2nd save, the Braves were smelling another walk off win. But Kimbrel was equal to the challenge, but not before William Contreras hit a fly ball to the deepest part of the park, and Belli was able to catch up to it as he backed into the wall.
Okay, on to the 11th. The Dodgers have not played into the 11th this year. With the speedy Cody Bellinger the ghost runner, Gavin Lux hit a long fly into right center that Michael Harris II ran down. He ran 104 feet to make that play. Again, no other Braves OF makes that play. But it was deep enough to get Belli to 3rd.
The hitting star for the Dodgers, CT3 hit a double off the glove of 3B Austin Riley, and Belli walks home. But more importantly, an insurance run is in scoring position. With two out, Trea Turner came to the plate with an 0-5 night with 3 Ks. Odds are he is going to get a hit, right? Yep! Single into CF and Taylor easily scores.
Bottom of 11, and Brusdar Graterol is in for a redemption game. A ground ball out, gets the ghost runner to 3rd. With the infield in, Harris III hit a hard ground ball but right at Muncy who holds the runner at 3rd and gets out #2 at 1B. The Bazooka struck out Dansby Swanson on a 101.9 sinker, and gets his first save of 2022. Dodgers win their first extra inning game and take the series.
There were a lot of heroes on this night. Tony Gonsolin pitched a fantastic 5.2 innings, but was just outpitched on this night, by the moustache…Spencer Strider. Down 2-0 with 2 outs in the 9th, and it looked like the Catman was going to lose his 1st game of the season. Gavin Lux clutches up and gets the two out single. CT3 and Trayce Thompson clutched up to get into extra innings. Freddie in his last official AB in Atlanta in the 2022 regular season, gets a key double. Trea Turner gets a big hit after having a miserable night at the plate. CT3 with three hits including a clutch double. And Brusdar Graterol coming back from a disastrous game 2 outing, seizes the moment and shut down the Braves.
The Dodgers were 4-18 WRISP, but the Braves were worse with 2-16.
Not to be lost in the sweetness of the victory, the Dodgers picked up a game against the Padres, Giants, and Mets. Overall, it was a great Sunday, beating a good Atlanta team.
On to Colorado. Game 1…Tyler Anderson vs Chad Kuhl.
Typical Dodger game:
9th, Jansen blows the save
10th, long fly ball, caught at the wall
11th, couldn’t score 1 let alone 2runs
wait, that was the Braves. Never mind.
I get down on Taylor and all of his Ks, but he was a stud last night, kind of lost in all the Freddie noise. Will we have to watch Muncy continue to start and hit in the middle of the line up all year? We have three guys that were at one time huge contributors all clearly failing miserably to produce much of anything. Dodgers will not make their goal of a WS with all three of these guys in the line-up daily. Dodgers need a RH bat/3B or OF bad. Trading away AJ looking more suspect all the time. He wasn’t an all-star but a competent hitter/fielder who could be producing more than any of the futile three are. Not sure we even got a decent closer out of that trade.
I am sorry, but I have come to the conclusion that I cannot accept what the Dodgers PR team says about injuries.
Danny Duffy was due back mid to late June. Now it is moved to August.
Victor Gonzalez and Tommy Kahnle are now expected back in August. Kahnle was not originally expected to be out nearly this long. I still do not believe VGon will be back in August after May elbow surgery.
Blake Treinen was originally expected not to be out much time. Then went to All Star Break at the latest. Now he is “weeks away” from throwing on a mound. Now there is speculation that he is out for the season.
Does anyone really believe Buehler will be back in August?
Heaney?
Mookie is now expected back later than originally reported. We were originally told he would miss two weeks (his full 15 days). Apparently there is no change in his recovery. It is now more realistic that he will be out until after the AS Break.
Caleb Ferguson just threw a bullpen session and is scheduled for another on Wednesday. He is eligible to come off IL on July 2, which he is expected to do. But was he really injured, or was there a roster issue?
I heartily acknowledge that AF, Doc, and the Dodgers do not have to give accurate medical data on the players. I also acknowledge that one person’s recovery time is different that another. But couldn’t they be more realistic rather than overly optimistic in the beginning stages? We have come to know the recovery time for TJ and ACL. Shoulder inflammation? Forearm soreness? Crack rib? The various grades of strain/sprain/pull/tear?
Remember the story about two guy going backpacking and one is putting track shoes in his backpack? The other asks why in the world would you pack those track shoes and gets the response of because we might be attacked by a bear. But you can’t outrun a bear says the onlooker. I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you.
The Dodgers have weaknesses and strengths. All they have to do is outrun the other teams to survive the season and get to the playoffs.
They need to entertain me as well. Run Trea. Run Lux. Run Bellinger. Run Taylor.