Dodgers go with Andre/Joc and keep Barnes at catcher

Phil Gurnee ♦ October 17, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

Maybe this was expected by those who follow the team but I was very surprised to see the starting lineup tonight include Joc/Andre/Barnes instead of Hernandez/Granderson/Grandal.

Barnes has started every game since game one of the NLDS and I fully expected Grandal to get the gig tonight. I guess you don’t mess with an undefeated postseason.  I can dig that.

Andre over Granderson was also a surprise only because time and again Roberts has said he loves having Andre coming off the bench. If Granderson is not going to start against right hand pitching why is he even on the roster?

JOC gets his first start of the 2017 postseason with Chris Taylor moving to shortstop. The choice was either Hernandez at short and Taylor in center or Joc in center and Taylor at short. They went with the latter.

The whole lineup is a bit off with Bellinger moving to the 2nd spot and Turner dropping to 3rd. Puig gets the clean-up spot where he will be protected by Andre.  I could see Cub fans going “How can we lose to this lineup” as they face a 4 – 2 deficit in the 8th inning.