This was the biggest nail biter game of the season. Not to mention this was a must win game to avoid falling behind 3-1. Alex Wood went up against Charlie Morton. The Dodgers need to at least win one game in Houston to send the World Series back to Los Angeles. I feel so wiped out from this game.
So the Dodgers bats have been quiet. Chris Taylor started the game with a single and it seemed like we were in for a treat with some runs. Taylor then got caught stealing second to end the inning. I feared it was going to be a long night, not sure Alex Wood would be able to deliver. But boy was I wrong on the Alex Wood part.
Wood kept the ball low and the Houston hitters off balance. He also induced a lot of balls on the ground, which tells you that Wood is on his game. Alex Wood only gave up one hit through five innings in one of the most clutch postseason games in Dodgers history. The Dodgers needed to save the bullpen arms who have been used a lot in the past two games. Meanwhile the Dodgers bats didn’t do anything against Charlie Morton.
The Dodgers only managed two hits in six innings off Morton. The Astros first hit came in the bottom of the sixth via a solo shot by George Springer and the Astros led 1-0. Wood’s night was done at that point. In the top of the seventh, Cody Bellinger broke out of his hit-less slump in the World series with a one out double.
“It’s a miracle.” – Cody Bellinger after this double 😂😂😂 You’re just getting starting buddy. I believe in you! pic.twitter.com/ukZ0YGJP6F
— DJelvis (@jhuntercomedy) October 29, 2017
Will Harris came in to relieve Morton. With two outs in the top of the 7th when it felt like the Dodgers would come up short again. Logan Forsythe came through with a single to tie the score 1-1. A huge sigh of relief was taken as the Dodgers got off the mat in this very loud stadium. Brandon Morrow pitched a scoreless 7th inning.
Tony Watson then pitched a scoreless 8th inning and the game was headed into the 9th tied 1-1. Corey Seager came through with a lead off single off Ken Giles who has been struggling. Justin Turner then followed that up with a walk and the Dodgers were cooking. Cody Bellinger then hit a ball into the gap which scored Seager. Bellinger’s hustle got him to 2nd base.
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/924472716471820290
The Dodgers took the lead. Logan Forsythe was walked. Austin Barnes hit a sacrifice fly off Musgrove to score another run and make the score 3-1. Joc Pederson then came in and did this.
So the Dodgers lead was 6-1 with Jansen coming in. Jansen gave up a solo shot to Alex Bregman with two outs. But the Dodgers tied the series at 2-2 with the come from behind win. So the Dodgers will come back to the Ravine. Clayton Kershaw on the mound tomorrow.
.@ClaytonKersh22 is chomping at the bit. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/jTgPpb9ebs
— MLB (@MLB) October 29, 2017
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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Better late than not at all. Bellinger’s last 2 at bats were excellent. Pederson did not miss that hanger and Barnes hitting a ball deep enough to score the extra run was huge. And Kudos to Alex Wood on a huge gutsy performance…
That was no “hanger” that Pederson mashed, that was a 94 mph high fastball that Joc took the tommyhawk to. Ole Joc has had some bad at bats but he has had some very good at bats this post season. Hell he leads the team in WS homeruns. He has also taken some very important walks this post season as well.
I am seeing that Jansen just isn’t hitting his spots consistently and thus he is not as dominate as we have grown accustom to this season.
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I noticed that to about Kenley, but it was a hanging slider, that was hit out off Kenley last night, so I don’t know if that is a problem, because that happens sometimes when a pitcher throws a slider.
Location, location, location. A slider up is often dead meat waiting to get munched.
Also when they make a plan to face a hitter, they will pitch to location besides type of pitch. So if you plan to pitch a guy down and away, because that is his weakness, then the pitcher actually throws it up and in, maybe the batters strength, then you gotsa problems. Jansen has been missing often screwing up the plan that has been in place for that hitter. Doing that can also screw up the positioning of players that are defending behind a pitcher. So a one of the huge parts of pitching is just like real estate, Location Location Location
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Thanks!
I was definitely biting my nails when Roberts replaced Wood. Wood 1 hit the Astros and I’m thinking, no don’t pull him. He pulls him. It worked out but why fix what doesn’t need fixing?
Bellinger certainly came through tonight and so did the lower half of the batting order, Forsythe, Joc, etc. This was a satisfying win except for the HR that Jansen served up. Two closing situations with HR’s. Wasn’t this what was happening in the prior year’s playoffs? It’s left a queasy feeling in me when Kenley comes in now. I don’t know whether he’s going to save the situation any longer. This time we had a 5 run lead!
It is a fact that Jansen does not pitch as efficiently with large leads. He will give up a run and sometimes more. They were up by 5. A solo shot does not bother me at all and coming with 2 outs it was no big deal. Jerry Hairston is a candidate to be the Yankees manager. Gabe Kapler is a candidate in Phillie.
Jansen loses focus but I think Barnes calls better pitches overall. That pitch to Marwin Gonzales was a major mistake. But Bergman is red hot and so is Springer. Kershaw will have his hands full tomorrow. It could be a slaughter.
Morrow has thrown 4 in the last 5. We probably need to have McCarthy and Stripling pull through tomorrow. Yikes.
Barnes is just a better ballplayer than Grandmal, he hits better, calls at least as good a game, clutch batter, twice as fast as Grandmal, not a rally killer either. The Seizure can get hot for a week at a time, but he goes ice cold for a month or two at a time. Plus Barnes actually catches the pitches thrown to him. I think the Dodgers will be shopping Grandmal this off-season and see if he has some value, maybe the Padres would like him back. Don’t be surprised if he has very limited value on the trade market.
Postseason miracle: Forshyte transforms back into Forsythe.
Wood shuts a lot of mouths or at least should have. Come on, give it up, 5.2 no hit innings (what that did for the team and the bullpen was beyond huge in so many ways. Special Note: Don’t bother Felony Dufus, you’ll never get it)
Ed Dinger breaks out as predicted by yours truly.
Joc Pederson, WTF has he been sandbagging us for the last 2 years?
Has there been a Turner sighting in the last three games? I predict that little Ginger Leprechaun climbs out of it starting tonight.
With Kershaw on the mound and the series tied, do we have to put up with the glowing cheerleading and front-running of the announcers tonight? (Hint: of course we do).
Go Dodgers, welcome back Ed Dinger we missed you.
Time for some significant improvement, collectively, of our top 5 batters. Watch out Turner is going to reappear tonight.
EDDINGEREdDINGEREDdingereddingereDdingeredDinger, good Karma baby, good karma
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I guess your little chant got Belly pop, going!
I had a feeling Cody was going to come up big in this game.
He had some pretty good clutch hits in this game!
First Cody hit that double and Forsythe had that big hit, to hit Cody in.
Secondly, Cody hit in the go ahead run, and Barnes hit the sac fly, to get us the second run, and a two run lead.
And then Joc made it easier on us fans, by breaking it open.
Wood pitched the gane of his life, and Morrow, and Kenley, did there jobs!
Agree with Yueh. We’ll need one of Strip/BMac to give us some key outs late. Jansen didn’t pitch Friday, so he should be good for today again, AND I’ll guess he better be ready for more than 3 outs if it’s a 1-2 run game.
I know Hou has a lot of righties, but I’d trust Cingrani to pitch a full inning over Fields. Tonight will be insane!!!!
Bobby
Actually Roberts said that Morrow would be available today.
And I agree with you about Cingrani.
Most of the Astros hitters, are not good against lefties, and Cingrani is a very hard pitcher to see.
I hope we don’t have to use McCarthy, he doesn’t deserve to be on this roster, and he isn’t good at coming out of the pen!
He made an excuse about not being ready, to throw good pitches, on the post game show after that second game.
That is no excuse he is in the pen.
McCarthy does not have a grinder personality, and I have only saw him pitch ok out of the bullpen once, in one of our last few games, in the regular season.
I trust Baez over McCarthy, and I believe Baez deserves to be on this roster, much more then McCarthy does!
That was a total team effort, that was led by Wood, and Cody!
And I heard the people in Houston gave Gurriel a standing ovation, before last night’s game.
That is a bunch of crap!
I hope tbe bad karma Gurriel brought to his team, continues, especially after that standing ovation!
There’s a GREAT SI article about the World Series baseball and how it is making sliders ineffective.
There’s also this great article on Ed Dinger’s favorite silliness, Momentum:
From Wood to Bellinger to Peacock/Altuve/Correa before, momentum means NOTHING in playoffs. On busting narratives:
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/wood-bucked-the-trend-to-give-dodgers-a-terrific-world-series-game-4-performance/
Here’s the article on ineffective sliders, maybe Dinger’s friends or parents can help him discern that this also references people who play competitely.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/10/29/world-series-baseballs-leather-justin-verlander-yu-darvish-ken-giles-kenley-jansen
Felony Dufus, I don’t think you need to sound stupid on the baseball topics, I think you can just go organic, that will suffice with you sounding like you have no idea what you are talking about. I can tell you never played a team type game competitively. My guess is you were a cross-county type of guy at best. You are willing to sound stupid and ignorant just to call attention to yourself, mission accomplished, Felony Dufus. You bring a smile to everyone that knows better in here, like Michael, myself, MJ and others. When you are in a hole it’s time to stop digging, genius.
You changed my fake name again!
Not only have I played competitively, but so have Alex Wood, Brad Peacock and the others who point out your ineptitude.
But keep coming up with sophomoric nicknames and pointless narratives!
Oh Felony Dufus, you have earned that moniker. Quit fighting so hard to come across as a know-nothing. Like I said, you can pull off the ignorance by organic means, you don’t need any additives, just be yourself, you don’t need any articles or anything but your little pea brain to sound totally lost. Yeah and don’t put yourself in the same sentence as Wood or Peacock. Shooting hoops on the driveway doesn’t count as playing competitively. Quit while you’re behind, behind!
Is this our resident moron, Ed Dinger, on Twitter?
https://twitter.com/franchise7787/status/924713248716292097
You guys counting on McCarthy to be any kind of productive are dreaming. That guy has not pitched but twice in a month, and both times got lit up. They have all winter to rest. I trust Morrow a lot more than Stripling or McBrittle, and they get a day of rest Monday. His pitch count was not that bad.
I have zero confidence in McCarthy, Fields, or Stripling. Actually Watson makes me nerrvous too, but not as much as those other three guys.