GAME THREAD DODGERS/CUBS

It's not a narrative. His swing sucks.

 

As of about 10 days ago.

The fact that Roberts is still benching him on the basis of handedness is, IMO, the biggest current issue. I've never seen him as a Dodger give away an at bat. He's composed, and has shown a penchant for big situations. Great defender, great baserunner -- he should be entrenched atop the lineup against righties and in the 7 or 8 spot against lefties.

 

and so do you.

 

The crap rotation and bullpen games are fine in regular season against the mediocre teams. They got away with it in a 5 game series vs. the Nats.

But it's not likely to work against the best team in the game in a 7 game scenario. The more these bullpen guys and second rate starters are exposed to the Cubs the more likely they are to get lit up and that's what's happening.

 

Don't forget Toles.

 

Would love to see him get a shot at the leadoff position next year, playing against both LHs and RHs until he proves he can't.

 

Base stealing is not a focus because the risk outweighs the reward. But if you can steal off a guy with 70-80% success it's a no brainer. Has to be done at that point. Truth is, the Dodgers aren't built to steal bases. But we have some guys with decent speed and coaches who (I thought) understand basestealing inside and out. Kiké, Pederson, Puig, and Howie should all be running on first movement. Dancing around could actually distract Lester if you set a precedence early in the game that you are going to run whenever possible.

As far as Lester not throwing to first, it's somewhat insulting to the game. We have Kershaw, the best pitcher on the planet, and he prides himself on working on every aspect of his game. But do you think Ross enjoys catching a guy who won't hold a guy on? I'm sure he says he doesn't mind because he's a scrub and Lester is his meal ticket, but deep down I'm sure he hates it. Think Bryant loves defending the bunt with Lester? At the end of the day we over thought it and didn't take advantage - probably psyched ourselves out. So maybe Lester is the genius in this whole thing. He was last night, at least.

 

This isn't the Nats. We're not coming back, sadly. After going up 2-1, all we had to do was play out the series without losing 2 in a row.

 

2017 lineup:
LF Toles
SS Seager
RF Braun
3B Turner
1B Gonzalez
2B Desmond
CF Joc
C Grandal

Make it happen Friedman

 

If the Cubbies hit LAD's lefties, tip of the cap.
But they've yet to have success in the post against LHP, so woe is me is on hold for now.
Maybe they will?
Or maybe Kershaw is about to go Madbum and shuttem down in 6 and come back as a reliever to dash their dreams in 7?

 

No.

 

So next year is the year then? When we win it all?
Wait 'till next year?
OK then...

 

They were shutout by Kershaw and Hill the first time around, so it's not like they should feel really good just yet. They're up 3-2 but, like when we were up 2-1, this series is far from over.

 

Yeah we need CK straight to Kenley in 6 and then Hill/CK/Dayton/Kenley in 7.
Cubbies need to prove they can handle high level LHP and if thats not the strategy Imma be pretty pissed.
I dont wanna see Blanton, Baez, Fields, none of them.
Especially since Rizzo is hot, he struggles VS LHP
Neutralizing him goes a long way

 

Maybe even mix in Julio in game 7
Hold these lefties brah

 

I like this. We need to keep our list of pitchers short, the Cubs have just gained way too much traction against our middle relief. We're seeing why their offense was so good this year - they beat up on mid-level pitching. But vs top-tier pitching they are as flaccid as anyone.

We need 8 (if not 9) from Kershaw tomorrow. He is going on an extra day of rest and had a relatively short outing last time (80-something pitches in his last start I believe). Kenley has also had some time off, so he should be fresh. We just gotta take this one game at a time. Pitch like we know we can. Take advantage of our Bartman moment. We can do this.