The Dodgers entered today with a 3-2 series lead with a chance to go to the World Series. Hyun-Jin Ryu went against Wade Miley. The Dodgers had the man they wanted on the mound who has pitched very well lately. The game started off on the right foot as David Freese hit a solo shot off Wade Miley. Wade Miley has owned the Dodgers so with the Freese home run the Dodgers took a short lived 1-0 lead.
For anyone who maybe thought David Freese batting leadoff tonight was odd: pic.twitter.com/vOF98g4aSq
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 20, 2018
The wheels came off Ryu quickly. Lorenzo Cain hit an infield single to start the game. Christian Yelich then grounded out sending Cain to second. Ryan Braun then walked. Travis Shaw then struck out. Jesus Aguilar doubled with two strikes to score two runs. Mike Moustakas doubled with two strikes to score a run. Eric Kratz singled with two strikes to score a run and the score was 4-1. Ryu wasn’t sharp at all and became predictable and couldn’t finish off any hitters. His off-speed pitches were left hanging.
Everyone talking about Hader like he’s the difference. The Dodgers can’t hit ANY of these guys.
— Ben Rhau (@brhau) October 20, 2018
In the second inning, Christian Yelich hit a double. Ryan Braun then hit a double to score run and Milwaukee took a 5-1 lead. The game felt over at that point. Most of the game I had to listen to Joe Buck and John Smoltz talk about how great the Brewers are and how great Josh Hader is. In the fifth, David Freese doubled in Brian Dozier and the Dodgers scored a run. Max Muncy then walked. It was the Dodgers chance to get back in the game. Knebel came in and got Turner to fly out and Machado to strike out. That was game.
Conversely, this will be the 8th ever Gm7 & 12th winner-take-all #PostSeason game in #Dodgers history. Since dropping Gm7 of the 1947 World Series at NYY, LAD's 4-0 in winner-take-all road gms (2-0 in Gm7) https://t.co/ZItqDMRfMo
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) October 20, 2018
Then David Freese was taken out. The guy is the most clutch hitter on the team and gets taken out. Later in the game Yasmani Grandal came in and had a passed ball that allowed a run to score. The Brewers added another run off Rich Hill. Final score 7-2.
David Freese needs to play tomorrow. I don’t want to see Yasmani Grandal anywhere near the field. The Dodgers will have to face Josh Hader tomorrow. Manny Machado and Justin Turner need to come up big tomorrow. Jhoulys Chacin will pitch tomorrow against Walker Buehler. All hands on deck to go on to face the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. I feel like the Brewers gave away game 5 and the Dodgers gave away game 6. The Dodgers need to score early. The Dodgers need to be patient with Chacin and Buehler needs to keep his calm.
James Moya
Hi I’m James Moya. I am an avid Dodgers fan. I graduated Cal State Fullerton with a Bachelors in Communications. I used to freelance at the San Bernardino Sun. I’m excited about this opportunity to write for LA Dodger Report to gain experience. I’m a straight shooter on my opinions and I hope to get some good conversations going. My dream has always been to report on the Dodgers because Baseball is the National Past-time. I hope you enjoy the ride with me.
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Actually that was not a passed ball, it was ruled a wild pitch, but no matter the Dodgers were toast at that point anyway and of course the automatic out Grandal flew out in his only at bat. Freese absolutely needs to start. They have been waiting the entire series for Muncy to crank one. Hasn’t happened. They keep waiting for homers, they have hit 3 in 6 games, Turner, Machado and Freese. They struck out 9 more times making it 70 in 6 games. Muncy leads the team with 10 K’s. Tomorrow they need to play with their hair on fire and with a great deal of urgency. It will be all hands on deck…anyone care to guess what Grandal’s career playoff numbers are? Grandal is 7 for 70 in his post season career. 2 HR’s and 6 RBI’s and 31 strikeouts. Guess his pitch framing ability does not help his weak bat. Let us hope the Buehler we see tomorrow resembles the Buehler who pitched in game 163. Basically this is the same scenario except they are on the road. You can bet, MLB is hoping for a Dodger win. A Boston-Los Angeles World Series will generate more revenue than Boston-Milwaukee.
Well, I figured it would go seven. But I did not think that the Dodgers would get laughed out of the park. Now the Brewers AND the crowd have the momentum.
Ryu had nothing tonight. Roberts, instead of pulling Ryu early in the first inning, chose to go into “save the pen for tomorrow” mode. Bullpen did a fine job keeeping the game within reach, until Roberts decided to bring in Grandal, who muffed another blockable wild pitch, resulting in another run. This proved to be the nail in the coffin. Grandal even managed to KO to add to the nonsense.
Offense started out good with Freese’s leadoff HR, but it went all downhill after that. The Dodgers could not feed on that energy. The other Dodger bats did not show up. DR ends up pulling Freese who had two hits, and the only two RBI’s, and CT3, who had a hit. All of a sudden, the Dodgers were left with 4 hitters named “Mendoza”, and 4 others who were doing nothing.
“The Smirk” got the crowd going, and showed that the crowd got under his thick skin. He inked them on with his rediculous show of gestures, encouraging the crowd to bring it on, and “on” they did. They squished “The Smirk” like a stinkin’ cockroach.
Gonna’ be a tough task tomorrow. Lots left on the shoulders of Buehler. All hands on deck. Kersh in the pen.
Either Lasorda sings “Bye Bye, Bye”, or they go to the final show. Hope they brought some extra underpants, ‘cause they soiled quite a few tonight.
Grandal lined out on a desperation swing, he did not KO. My bad.
I kind of wished they had pulled Muncy and left Freese in the game. It also seemed strange that three hits in a row went into right field off of Ryu. Hope Buehler can come through tomorrow. Lot of pressure for a rookie. Go Dodgers!
Reasons to be optimistic:
1. Better depth
2. Buehler v. Chacin
3. Better lineup
4. Better coach
Reasons to be pessimistic:
1. THIS TEAM TAKES THE WORST FUCKING SWINGS EVER.
2. Hader
3. It’s really, really hard to get back to the World Seried
But we are all fans, so optimism reigns.