yep.....I was sick when his turn came up in the 9th, even though CK was on the hill. And making me sicker was the network pulling up the clips of Murphy lighting him up in last year's playoffs.
AGon had the third highest OPS for the series at .588. That's so bad I think it'd be pretty hard to replicate. We obviously need a more balance offensive showing in this series, and Game 1 is interesting because it's Maeda against Lester, almost like a perfect storm for what we don't want, so say we lose, you expect that and it takes our worst starter and their best one out of the way, but then if we win it's a huge series changer.
I think you still gotta start Grandal. So many of our pitchers, especially Maeda, live on the corners of the plate and there's a significant difference between Grandal and Ruiz in framing They might think about starting Ruiz game 1 though. Catchers typically need days off after heavy travel and this week was probably hell for Grandal with the delay and the innings he's played. Not making big excuses for him, cause he probably has just been bad, but if he's tired at all, maybe starting Ruiz game 1 against the lefty gives Grandal a day to reboot a bit. Doubt it though, Grandal likes to tough things out
Interesting thought, if we somehow beat the Cubs and then face the Indians in the WS, every team we face will have had a longer WS Championship drought than us.
Maeda vs. Lester isn't fun. This team seems to not work with momentum. Every year, they get hot and then they forget how to hit. I hope that won't be the case for this series.
I agree. I'm not even super down on Grandal and would normally say just gut it out, but after such a physically/emotionally draining series, Ruiz is playing well, and we are facing a lefty - I say start Ruiz just for Game 1 and have Grandal available to pinch hit and catch a few innings at the end.
And so it begins. Verdouchey asked if the Dodgers can beat the Cubs on Dan Patrick: "can Kershaw pitch 4 games?" What a slap in the face to the team that did what they did when Kershaw was injured. To the pitching staff that beat Max yesterday. To the pitching staff that has found a way all year. Gtfo Tom. If we lose it will be the offense that screws us. Lame hot sports take, Verducci
Well said. All the pressure is on the Cubs in game 1. If they win they're just holding court, but if we win with so much in their favor... things get interesting very fast.
Puig should get the start tomorrow, and it would be a huge shot in the arm if he had a big game. I'd love to see him make a case that he should be in there every day over Reddick.
I know the stat is "Games with Kershaw 3-0 /// Games without Kershaw 0-2", but I felt like the only game where we really dominated was game 2... which we lost. Kershaw is great, no denying that, but to say our success totally rides on him? Someone hasn't been paying attention.
The offense goes flaccid much of tje times, it's true...and players you expect to contribute at least something, do this side of nothing. But they have gotten us here...gotten us through last night...gotten us through the no CK months. Maeda has been recently terrible, imo. He not only doesn't last at all any more, his command waivers almost immediately. He will be pretty damn pivotal in the NLCS, although all the talk will be about Clayton and probably some mystery rookie starting, but Maeda will pitch twice most likely and he can't fade like he has been recently. Time to samurai up, Kenta. You are a Knight of the Divine Wind. As Kamikaze destroyed the Mongol fleet, you must destroy the juvenile bears. Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!
You mean the Dbacks who got 7 votes from ESPN experts to win the division, whereas the Dodgers only got 4 votes? They good.
ESPN doesn't like the Dodgers. And the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. What a revelation. ESPN can kiss my farty ass.
