2018 NLDS - Atlanta Braves vs Los Angeles Dodgers

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Dodgers need to make hay before the DOJ hammer comes down

no Dansby

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24893919/braves-dansby-swanson-dodgers-ross-stripling-rosters

I don't think he'll be available at all this postseason, in the unlikely event of them moving on.

Posnanski: "It sttruck me Friday night watching the Dodgers not even THINK about letting Kershaw finish that game (and, realistically, why would they?) that the complete game is dead but we never held a funeral. And I'm not sure how I feel."

(Typo is Joe's--would have fixed it if I'd noticed.)

I'm not sure what he's on about -- if it was the regular season, of course Kershaw would have been out for the ninth. Poz didn't understand that the postseason is a different game entirely?

I'm sure he understands that...I think his point is that a line has been crossed; even as recently as Bumgarner, the postseason CG still lingered. And I understand his mixed feelings. Even though there's no reason in the world to send Kershaw out, you're essentially forgoing a part of baseball history: Gibson, Koufax, Morris, etc.

even as recently as Bumgarner, the postseason CG still lingered.

TFW you have SFG's bullpen...

I realize there are lots of extenuating factors; there's also Kershaw's up-and-down health, a trace of his post-season history (which is now, I'll concede, officially a thing of the past), and you could also point to Bumgarner's health the past few seasons (although hasn't that been his own stupidity, rather than arm trouble?). I think he's making a broader point, though, which he really spelled out in a recent column about some decisions by Mattingly in a late-season game. I'm paying for Posnanski's site now, so I don't want to copy the whole column, but here's the key section (he's writing about the game where Matt Carpenter was pulled midway with three home runs, and also about Mattingly ordering intentional walks to Harper and Soto in a nothing game in which they were losing by three runs; I'd add Khris Davis getting pulled midway in the final game of the season, cutting off his chance for 50). The column is about as old-man-nostalgic as it gets, which is why love it and most people here would hate it.

This comes down to the core of what I believe: Too many people in the game have lost their understanding of why fans love baseball. You hear in countless ways — from gripes about advanced stats to defensive shifting to pace of play to the proliferation of strikeouts to the changing landscape of starting pitchers — that many people find baseball less fun. It’s my view that they rebel against the “winning is all that really matters” mentality that strips the game of so much joy and tension and beauty.

Buck O’Neil loved to tell the story of Satchel Paige walking the bases loaded so he could face Josh Gibson. The story has been debated a lot, but my favorite part of it is that at some point, Buck called Kansas City Monarchs manager Frank Duncan out of the dugout to help talk Paige out of it.

And Duncan said, “Let him go, Buck. This is what the people came to see.”

This is what the people came to see. THAT is what’s missing.

(Posnanski's Buck O'Neil worship is a bit much, but I like that story.)

I would have sent Kershaw out for the 9th. One base runner or 15 pitches maximum.

85 pitches

The people wanted to see Matt Harvey pitch the ninth in G5 of the 2015 WS. Winning is more important that old man nostalgia.

Teams are more aware of the risks associated with pitcher workloads. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, that also leads to 500 pitching changes in every playoff game, but you take the good with the bad.

I understand your point, but I wouldn't use the Harvey game to illustrate it. He went into the 9th inning having already thrown 101 pitches (hunted that down), not 85, and he had a two-run lead, not three. If you give Kershaw one baserunner, the reliever can come in, give up a home run, and you've still got the lead; Harvey's one baserunner brings the tying run to the plate. More than that, Terry Collins inexplicably left Harvey in even after he walked the leadoff batter. Plus it was the World Series, not a divisional series, and the Mets faced elimination.

In any event, playing it safe is fine. But does that mean that, for the rest of time, we will never have games like Gibson in '64 and '67, Morris in '92, or Bumgarner in '14 to talk about for years afterwards? I was partly joking about Posnanski's old-man nostalgia. He's kind of like Nixon visiting China in 1972: Posnanski can write about this because--after a career advocating against putting Morris in the HOF, arguing for Raines and Whittaker, and just in general being very attentive to the sabermetric side of things--you can't caricature him as Joe Morgan. He's the best kind of baseball writer, one who can hold two contradictory thoughts in his mind at the same time.

lol WUT

oooo things getting tense

First and second, no outs, 3-0 count on Muncy ... and they escape with no runs scored. Altanta definitely earned this one.

you could hear a pretty audible "FUCK" from Muncy as he swung at ball 4. Vizcaino channeling his inner K-Rod there.

Chris Taylor's home run swing last night looked like he was swinging a wood in golf.

Fuckin' masters of the weak popup.

Camargo fouled out to first.
Flowers popped out to first.
Markakis popped out to third.
Albies popped out to second.
Flowers fouled out to catcher.
Inciarte popped out to shortstop.
fuckin' fuck sklja;sdf12!#$*&^P(&

lookin' good for the LA Spreadsheet Criminals

If they actually win the division there is no way I see them making it out of the first playoff round with that Russian Roulette bullpen.

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, September 9, 2018 1:53 PM (four weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink