GAME THREAD ASTROS/DODGERS World Series

Discussion in 'Los Angeles DODGERS' started by irish, Oct 19, 2017.

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  1. Dodgers99

    Dodgers99 DSP Legend

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    I like this matchup better because of the Astros sometimes suspect bullpen, and the Dodgers ability to work counts.
     
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  2. rube

    rube DSP Legend Staff Member Administrator

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    That was all in case Seager shows up a liability at SS.
    Hopefully that doesnt happen.
     
  3. C2ThaB81

    C2ThaB81 DSP Legend

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    Haha reddick said he wanted to play the dodgers because of the way the fans treated him the last 2 months after he was traded. What a fucking pussy!!
     
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  4. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    what an idiot
    they treated you like shit because you played like shit
    stick to prancing around the clubhouse in your thong homo
     
  5. C2ThaB81

    C2ThaB81 DSP Legend

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    Troof!! And he’s still playing like shit
     
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  6. Doughty8

    Doughty8 DSP Legend

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    We were near the top of list for pitches seen and the Astros were near the bottom.
     
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  7. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    Dodgers vs. Astros: Star-studded World Series will hinge on depth
    by David Schoenfield | ESPN Senior Writer — 76 minutes ago

    This is one Fall Classic that has a great chance to live up to its name. The Houston Astros will play the Los Angeles Dodgers -- the first showdown of 100-win teams since the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds met in 1970. The Astros were born in 1962 and have never won a World Series, so as recovery efforts in Houston continue after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, you know what this would mean to the city. The Dodgers have a storied history but are finally in the World Series again after 29 years. We have two exciting teams with superstar power. Here's a quick preview:

    Clayton Kershaw versus Justin Verlander

    They won't be facing each other, as Kershaw is lined up to start Game 1, while Verlander will probably start Game 2, but it will be wonderful drama to see these two aces in the World Series. They are arguably the two greatest pitchers of this generation -- since Verlander's rookie season in 2006, Kershaw ranks first in WAR among pitchers and Verlander ranks second -- but neither has a ring. Verlander has pitched in two World Series and has gone 0-3 in three starts with a 7.20 ERA, while Kershaw is obviously in his first World Series.

    "When you're a kid, you just hope you make it to the big leagues," Kershaw said after the Dodgers clinched the National League Championship Series. "So to get to say you're going to go play in the World Series, it's an incredibly special moment. ... You know, we have four more wins to go, obviously. But we've heard 1988 so long in L.A., it feels good to say that we're getting to the World Series in 2017, and with four more wins, hopefully get to get one home."

    Verlander is coming off two spectacular American League Championship Series starts, holding the Yankees to one run over 16 innings and recording 21 strikeouts. Kershaw isn't necessarily at the top of his game or in peak physical health after missing time with a back injury over the summer, but you also get the feeling that it's such a relief for him to get here that he'll pitch without the same burden and pressure as earlier rounds. He also hasn't had to pitch on short rest like in previous postseasons, and in his three starts, he threw 100, 87 and 89 pitches. Look for both to show why they've dominated the game over the past decade.

    Dodgers' bullpen on fire

    In going 7-1 in the postseason, the Dodgers have been the one team that hasn't had to scramble in the bullpen. Manager Dave Roberts hasn't used starters in relief -- except Kenta Maeda, who was moved to the bullpen for the postseason -- and hasn't had to extend his top two relievers, Kenley Jansen and Brandon Morrow. Jansen appeared in seven of the team's eight games, but he topped out at 18 pitches and only had to pitch twice on back-to-back days. Morrow also appeared in seven games, throwing 8⅓ innings but just 102 pitches over the 14 days it took the Dodgers to play both series.

    Collectively, the Dodgers' bullpen has allowed four runs in 28⅔ innings with 32 strikeouts, two walks and a .125 average allowed. It didn't allow any runs in 17 innings against the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS. Maeda has been a revelation, throwing harder out of the pen with five perfect innings so far in the postseason.

    So, how do the Astros to get to the Dodgers' pen? Somehow, you have to get Roberts off his script. He hasn't really had to make any tough decisions with his bullpen. His starters have only gotten two outs in the seventh inning in eight games, but even that has been by design, as only Clayton Kershaw in a Game 1 blowout in the division series was extended past 90 pitches. You either have to get to the starters early and force Roberts to use the back end of his pen -- Ross Stripling or lefties Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani in suboptimal matchups -- or at least find a way to run up the pitch counts on Maeda, Morrow and Jansen.

    Chris Taylor, Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig versus Astros pitchers

    The Cubs never figured a way to get these guys out. All three have playoff OPS figures above 1.000, and Turner and Puig have posted .500 OBPs. Yes, small sample size and all that and Cubs pitchers certainly had trouble throwing strikes, but the three also showed a lot of discipline at the plate:
    stat.png

    Puig, in particular, looked focused throughout the NLCS. As Roberts said at one point during the series about Puig's maturation in 2017: "He's learned every pitch is important." Get this: In 35 plate appearances in the playoffs, Puig has swung at the first pitch just twice. Against the Cubs, he often just stood there with absolute zero intention of swinging at the first pitch.

    If these guys remained locked in, it means Astros pitchers will have to get them out with pitches in the strike zone. That might not be a big issue for Verlander, who since joining the Astros has allowed a .227 wOBA overall as compared to .235 on pitches in the strike zone. But that's a bigger deal for Dallas Keuchel, Will Harris and Chris Devenski, who all see their wOBA increase by about 30 pitches on balls in the zone. Not surprising, those are the softer throwers on the Houston staff.

    Houston hitters versus fastballs up in the zone

    As Maddon mentioned a couple of times during the NLCS, the Dodgers love to attack with fastballs up in the zone. Indeed, they ranked fifth in the regular season in percentage of pitches in the upper half of the zone. The Astros, however, hit .290/.357/.504 against fastballs in the upper half, the third-best wOBA in the majors. Of course, Houston also ranked first against fastballs in the lower half. Basically, the Astros are just really good at hunting out fastballs and mashing them.

    The guy who has five home runs this postseason? Try sneaking a fastball by Jose Altuve. He hit .384/.443/.631 on fastballs in the upper half. On the other hand: Three of those five home runs have come against off-speed pitches.

    The Dodgers won't deviate from their plan, so the key is for the pitchers to really execute and deliver the fastballs at the very top of the zone. Against high fastballs -- at the very top of the zone and above -- the Astros hit .177 and ranked 13th in wOBA (albeit with a .425 OBP thanks to walks).

    How does A.J. Hinch manage the Houston bullpen?

    Hinch clearly has lost faith in much of his bullpen, perhaps on overreaction to some very small sample sizes of performances. He used Verlander in Game 4 of the division series in relief. He let Verlander throw 124 pitches in Game 2 of the ALCS. With a 7-1 lead in Game 6 of the ALCS, he used closer Ken Giles in the ninth inning; then in Game 7, his first -- and only -- reliever was Lance McCullers Jr., who had started Game 4. Also in the ALCS, All-Star Devenski faced just five batters over the entire series. Joe Musgrove, who had a 1.44 as a reliever, faced just four batters. Harris faced seven.

    Anyway, it leaves Hinch with some options. If he stays with Keuchel, Verlander and Charlie Morton as his top three starters, he could start Brad Peacock or Collin McHugh in Game 4 and use McCullers exclusively out of the bullpen. Or he could still use McCullers as the Game 4 starter, which also could leave him as a bullpen option in Games 1 and 7. Still, at some point, you have to think Devenski, Musgrove and Harris will have to get some big outs and even Francisco Liriano will be used as a matchup option against Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger. It's possible that the performance of those guys -- and not Verlander or Kershaw or Altuve or Jansen -- will decide this series.
     
  8. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    • “We’re very optimistic Corey will be ready to return to the lineup [for Game 1 of the World Series],” Dave Roberts said Saturday. “He really doesn’t want to be denied.”
    here's the deal...
    if corey is healthy and can be productive, put him in there
    but anything short of that, then i'm sorry... the other guys [charlie, kiké] should play
     
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  9. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    Kershaw, Keuchel to start Game 1 of the World Series
    by Eric Stephen | True Blue LA — 56 minutes ago

    LOS ANGELES — The 2017 World Series starts Tuesday in Los Angeles, and Game 1 offers a stellar southpaw pitching matchup with Clayton Kershaw on the mound for the Dodgers against Dallas Keuchel for the Astros.

    Houston won the American League pennant on Saturday night at home, then after the ensuing celebration the Astros announced their starting rotation for the first two games in Los Angeles.
    tweet.png
    Game 1 of the World Series will start at 5:09 p.m. PT at Dodger Stadium.

    With two days off between the ALCS and the World Series, this was the obvious play, barring any sort of desperate relief outing by those two during Game 7. Instead, the Astros only needed two pitchers to close out their AL pennant, with Charlie Morton (five innings) and Lance McCullers Jr. (four innings) combining on a shutout.

    Keuchel missed a total of nine weeks on two disabled list stints this season with neck discomfort, but over the final month of the season started to look more like he did when winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2015. Over his last eight starts, including three in the postseason, Keuchel has a 2.77 ERA with 53 strikeouts and 17 walks in 48⅔ innings.

    The Dodgers are hitting .311/.413/.495 against left-handed pitchers this postseason.

    Keuchel last pitched in Game 5 of the ALCS on Wednesday and will be on five days rest on Tuesday in Game 1 of the World Series. Kershaw will be starting on four days rest.

    Justin Verlander will be on regular rest on Wednesday in Game 2, and has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball since joining the Astros. In nine games with Houston he is 9-0 with a 1.23 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 11 walks in 58⅔ innings, including 21 strikeouts in 16 innings in the ALCS, allowing just one run en route to the series MVP award.

    Earlier Saturday, before the Astros won, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team hasn’t decided the order Rich Hill or Yu Darvish will start after Kershaw.

    Both have fared well at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Hill struck out 10 in six innings, allowing one run in a start last July with Oakland, his only start at that stadium in the last decade. Darvish pitched twice in Houston with the Rangers since the start of 2016, allowing a total of one run on six hits in 14 innings.

    “It’s contingent upon [Game 7 of the ALCS], then we’ll finally make a decision and let Rich and Yu know if they are going to start Game 2 or 3,” Roberts said.
     
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  10. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    ^ tough call whether to start hill or darvish in game 2
    roberts probably leaning toward hill, with yu pitching game 3 in houston...
    • Both Hill and Darvish have fared well at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Hill struck out 10 in six innings, allowing one run in a start last July with Oakland, his only start at that stadium in the last decade. Darvish pitched twice in Houston with the Rangers since the start of 2016, allowing a total of one run on six hits in 14 innings.
     
  11. Doughty8

    Doughty8 DSP Legend

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    Damn I was afraid that they would pitch Keuchel and Verlander the 1st 2 games that is the VERY tough!!!!
     
  12. Chiefdodgerslkrs24

    Chiefdodgerslkrs24 Among the Pantheon

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    It's easily Yu in Houston because they have a RH heavy lineup with that short porch. Plus Hill's home road splits this year are big
     
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  13. LAFord

    LAFord DSP Legend

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    Out of all that, the movie ticket went up by the highest %

    Lame ass Hollywood molesters.
     
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  14. Fall Winslow

    Fall Winslow McRib

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    Keuchel going game 1 means LAD gets off to a good start. Have no idea what Doc is gonna do at catcher, 2B and LF/CF against Verlander and the rest of their righties though
     
  15. TheKnockdown

    TheKnockdown DSP Legend

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    .040 BA, 1 hit so far in the postseason
     
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  16. LAdiablo

    LAdiablo descarado

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    mom is like "you think kike is gay?"
    me "yes most of us do but we could care less where he gets his inspiration"
    :buttsex: :kike:
     
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  17. fsudog21

    fsudog21 DSP Legend

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    I'm thinking Altuve goes from lovable midget to annoying little twit in short order this week.
     
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  18. doyerfan

    doyerfan MODERATOR Staff Member Moderator

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    Hopefully Seager is health enough to be on roster and you remove Curtis. The Astros love to throw curveballs and Curtis never makes contacts on a curveball

    Even if you gotta ease Seager into it, you can have him on the bench game 1 against the lefty. Game 2 hopefuly he can start and then game 3-5 maybe you gotta use him as a DH.

    But even Seager on the bench for just 1-2 at bats a game is way better than Curtis. I guess Joc could be left off the roster also but idk, I think Joc has had better at bats than Curtis.
     
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  19. fsudog21

    fsudog21 DSP Legend

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    Not such low IQ as robotic.
     
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  20. THINKBLUE

    THINKBLUE DSP Gigolo

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    Offense advantage Joc
    Defense advantage Joc
    Being fat advantage Joc
    Intellect advantage Curtis
    Being black advantage Curtis

    It's a tough call but I'll take Joc
     
  21. fsudog21

    fsudog21 DSP Legend

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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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