This goes without saying facing the Diamondbacks was the worst case scenario. The snakes were forced to use Robbie Ray in the wild card win against the Rockies. So Taijuan Walker was on the mound for the snakes. Clayton Kershaw was on the mound trying to exercise his playoff demons, get a win at home for the first time ever in postseason, in a must win for the Dodgers.
It was a must win because Dodger killer Robbie Ray will start game 2 for the snakes. The Dodgers got on the board quick after the long layoff. Chris Taylor started of the game with a single. Corey Seager then followed with a walk. The redturn then came and hit a three run shot as the stadium erupted and the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead. Immediately following that was a Cody Bellinger single.
Yasiel Puig the doubled him in and the Dodgers led 4-0. In the top of the 3rd, A.J. Pollack hit a solo shot to get the snakes on the board. In the bottom of the 4rth the Dodgers got cooking off Zach Godley. With two runners on Corey Seager singled in a run. Justin Turner then singled in a run. Yasiel Puig collected an RBI on an infield out. The Dodgers had a 7-1 lead. Kershaw with help of a few double plays was cruising along.
In the top of the sixth JD Martinez hit a solo shot off Kershaw. The 7th drum was beating for Kersh. Right on cue in top of the 7th Ketel Marte and Jeff Mathis hit back to back home runs off Kershaw to make the score 7-4. Kershaw gave up 4 solo shots and was taken out after a single. Brandon Morrow came in to put out the fire. Dodger stadium sounded nervous.
In the bottom of the 8th Austin Barnes singled. Corey Seager then tripled him in. Justin Turner then singled in Seager and collected his 5th RBI of the night. So you know who the Snakes wont pitch to tomorrow. The Dodgers took the lead 9-4. The Diamondbacks did score a run in the 9th off Kenley Jansen. The Dodgers still won the game 9-5.
So the Dodgers won so all is well tonight. The snakes had beaten the Dodgers six straight times. They will face Robbie Ray tomorrow. The snakes did hit four solo shots off Kershaw and scored a run off Jansen in the 9th. The team worries me. Granderson and Grandal need to go on the bench.
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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This game worked out exactly as I imagined it in my previous posts. Starting Walker was a blunder on the part of Dbacks. This was a must win for them, actually for both teams, and because neither of the their top 2 starters could start game 1, this gave the immediate edge to Kershaw who is the #1 pitcher in this matchup. But, as I said about Kershaw, he is not the pitcher he was before his injury this season. He doesn’t have the command that he had, he is not striking out as many players, giving up more walks than I can remember, and being a pitching machine for HR hitters. The last is a scary development. This was my main concern about this game and it happened in the 6-7th inning. This is the time of the game that Kershaw cannot get through as he used to. He doesn’t have the gas in the tank. Lo and behold, how many HR’s?
Mistake #1 by Roberts: After that run scored in the 6th, Kershaw should have been pulled. Why not? We all saw him sinking. A 6 run lead is not enough to be confident in with teams like the Dbacks. You’ve got to respond on the spot to what is actually taking place on the field. Roberts generally doesn’t do that. He’s always hoping………
Luckily, we had the best batting production we could hope for early in the game. The boys came out blasting, and why shouldn’t they. They were facing a very mediocre pitcher. Boom, they jumped way ahead and Dbacks had to play catchup.
Mistake #2 by Roberts: he should have pulled Granderson for a PH or replacement when the bases were loaded and Granderson was due up. With strikeouts and no hits, why would you leave this guy in there at a critical time like that? How many runners did Granderson leave on base this game? Ethier should have gotten at least the PH. WTF?
I won’t stomp on Roberts saying Barnes should be playing instead of him, but why not? Forsythe held his own, but batting the Grandys and then Forsythe before Kershaw, who is actually a decent hitter for a pitcher, is not my idea of strength. But, we did see the top 5 batters dominate so I won’t belittle the point.
Tomorrow, the battle between Hill and Ray will tell a big story. Ray has owned the Dodgers. A lefty who really broke out this season, big time. What are we going to show, our limp, lefty lineup with Hernandez, Joc, and Forsythe? For me, Ethier needs to start. Hasn’t he earned it just like Ryu had earned time this season? He’s a career good player! Can do everything.
I think Hill is capable of holding off the batters if he can start strong. The biggest question is not him, but the batters. They came through today, but will they come through against the lefty? Dbacks must win this game. They will be all over this to make sure they give their best. If we take game 2, we will take this series for sure. Our pitching is better but they have to be on their game or we will suffer.
Turner is our ace in the hole and overall best player on the team. He has made a huge difference to the Dodgers. It’s a team sport, but he is the heart of this team, no doubt in my mind, not Seager. He could have rivaled Blackmon if not for his injury.
#1 Jeff. Walker is not mediocre. He was 2-0 against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, the only pitcher in the league to accomplish that. The D-Backs had to win to get to this game, that’s why they pulled Greinke and put Ray in the game against the Rockies. Had they not won that game they would not even be here, so it was not a blunder, it was a calculated risk. #2 Kershaw is striking out batters. He fanned 7 in 6.1 innings. What he is not doing is burying that slider like he used to. It is hanging in the middle of the plate. There fore there are going to be more HR’s when that happens. His location is the bigger problem and last night he did not trust his curveball. Unfortunately for Dodger fans, the 7th inning of a playoff game has become Kershaw’s Achilles heel. They got out of this one and got the win. Kersh was obviously out of gas, especially when a guy like Mathis takes him deep. As for Roberts, the mistake was starting Granderson. The guy has had nothing for over a month and he keeps running him out there. Grandal, outside of a 2 game burst at the end of the season has been in the same rut. I start neither of them the rest of the series. Tonight will be no cake walk. Ray has owned the Dodgers this year and they are going to have to be very smart in the batters box tonight.
Well it is over and we won. Nice to see the top of the order come thru, although Bellinger is sure not showing up, way too many strike outs and weak contact from him.
The platoon bullshit better be over for Puig, he is needed every game.
ENOUGH already on Grandmal and Grandermal in this lineup. Neither one of those guys are even worth a cup of Miller Mule Piss Lager that they are selling at Dodgers Stadium. Lose the hard-on for these guys Roberts, this is getting absolutely ridiculous to having to see these guys in the line up. Barnes should be the man at C for the rest of the post season. Reddickson just needs to sit and then left off the next round roster entirely.
Kershaw is definitely the best all time regular season pitcher, he is mid-pack as far as a post season pitcher. Each year we keep hoping and saying he is going to show us his dominance in the post season, and each year he delivers the same old same old. Like I stated repeatedly, this post season is going to come down to the Dodgers scoring runs and a lot of them, the pitching will be decent but not dominating, so it is going to be score a lot of runs or go pack up the lockers. Last night was a perfect example of what I have been preaching in my posts.
Turner, Seager, Taylor, Puig it is so nice to see you back to that form that won us so many games this season. Can you imagine if Bellinger recaptures his form?
So what will Robbie Ray have left in the tank for us tonight? He did have to throw in a game saving type atmosphere on Tuesday night, despite the hype that he would have thrown a bullpen session that day anyway, game situation is much different and more taxing than a bullpen session. Let’s hope his tank is near empty and the boys can whip on him and whip on him early and get his ass back on the bench.
I have a good feeling about Hill tonight, the question will be how many innings can he dominate, if he can get into the 7th inning we will be fine, if not Oh Shyte!
Speaking of Oh Shyte, it was nice to see Forshyte actually hit a little and not hit For Shyte in Game 1. Maybe our little blind squirrel has gotten squirrel lasik surgery and is really going to sustain some consistency (he did improve over the last 2 weeks). I still would rather see Utley in there everyday.
We won, but Roberts has to be a better manager both before the game and during the game. He is not impressing me at all.