Dodger pinch hitting missing in NLCS
During the regular season, the Dodger pinch-hitting was a strength, hitting eight home runs and compiling a .715 OPS.
In the NLCS
Game 1 – zero for two with Granderson/Farmer
Game 2 – zero for three with Granderson/Farmer/Chase
Game 3 – zero for one with Famer getting a SF, Forsythe getting a walk, and Culberson getting nothing
Game 4 – zero for two with Pederson/Barnes
By my calculations that is zero for eight.
Can Chase or Granderson pull a Baez?
Javier Baez entered the game last night without a hit in the 2017 postseason. I’m sure Cub fans weren’t thrilled he was back in the lineup, but after his two home runs propelled the Cubs to their first victory I expect they forgot how unhappy they had been with Baez.
With left-hander Jose Quintana pitching tonight and Lester in a possible game six, Dodger fans won’t have to worry about Granderson or Chase starting again in the NLCS, but they will probably need a contribution from the duo off the bench once Jose leaves the game.
The two key Dodger veterans are debunking the myth of how important postseason experience is. Unlike Javier Baez who has a bright future in front of him, both Granderson and Chase might simply be done and no amount of experience is going to help them.
Granderson has been in a funk ever since the Dodgers acquired him. His last big day in 2017 came with the Dodgers on August 24th, almost two months ago. Granderson is 1 for 15 in the postseason so far with a single. Last night he struck out four times and looked bad in each at-bat. Dave Roberts comments on Granderson went from “I’m not worried about Granderson” to “I’m playing him so he can work out his issues” to “who the hell else should I use”. I’m paraphrasing
As bad as Granderson has been, Chase has been even worse. Chase hasn’t had a hit in the postseason since the NLDS against the Nationals in 2016. Chase has appeared in five postseason series with the Dodgers and has gone 4 for 40. Every time he comes up I expect him to break out of his slump and provide a key hit and every time he proves me wrong. At this rate, his bat should make accidental contact for a hit but it is not happening.
As much as we have talked about the Dodger depth having to use Curtis Granderson, Chase Utley, or even Joc Pederson is not a good argument for depth. And Kyle Farmer is the number one right-handed pinch hitter?
So while the Dodgers are up three games to one, it is not like this team does not have some issues. I just didn’t think anemic veteran depth was going to be one of them.
It might be more of an argument that the core of the Dodger team is so good with Taylor/Bellinger/Turner/Puig that they can survive with automatic outs from 2nd/LF when facing a right-hand pitcher.
Now to answer the question in the title.
Yes, I still feel that one of Granderson or Chase is going to provide a bit hit at some point. Time is running out.
Kershaw at Wrigley
Once again the Dodgers go for the series clincher, but this time with their ace Clayton Kershaw who will try to hold the Cubs in check long enough for the Dodger offense to find a way to get to Jose Quintana. Clayton has made only three starts at Wrigley during the regular season. With this start tonight, he will have started as many games in the postseason against the Cubs as he has during the regular season.
Regular Season at Wrigley:
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR GSc 2015-06-22 CHC L 2-4 7.0 4 3 2 9 2 64 2014-09-19 CHC W 14-5 5.0 7 3 3 9 0 47 2010-05-25 CHC L 0-3 6.0 4 0 2 4 0 64
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Generated 10/19/2017.
Just one year ago Clayton was hammered in the decisive game six which sent the Dodgers home. One week earlier he beat the Cubs in game two 1 – 0 in what was his best game ever in the postseason.
Postseason at Wrigley:
Date Series Gm# Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR GSc 2016-10-22 NLCS 6 CHC L 0-5 5.0 7 4 0 4 2 39 2016-10-16 NLCS 2 CHC W 1-0 7.0 2 0 1 6 0 78
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Generated 10/19/2017.
Clayton was lifted after only five innings in his game one start against the Cubs. With this being game five, and an off day tomorrow, expect Dave Roberts to have the same short leash. Clayton might go six but he won’t see the 7th inning.
Chris Taylor is what Dodger fans prayed for
You can’t really quantify the impact that Chris Taylor has had on the Dodger season. You could try it with fWAR but you would be missing the complete picture.
- Chris Taylor was a 2nd baseman when Logan Forsythe got hurt early
- Chris Taylor was a left fielder when Andrew Toles went down for the season
- Chris Taylor was a center fielder when Joc Pederson stopped hitting
- Chris Taylor was a shortstop in the NLCS
- Chris Taylor was the leadoff hitter the Dodgers needed
- Chris Taylor was the power hitting outfielder the Dodgers needed
Last night Chris Taylor made his first start at Shortstop since Sept 21st and he delivered the longest home run of the postseason and a triple. He was the first players since Yoenis Cespedes in 2013 to hit a home run and triple in the postseason. He is the only player to do it in the NLCS this century.
Player Date Series Tm Opp Rslt PA H 2B 3B HR RBI Chris Taylor 2017-10-17 NLCS LAD CHC W 6-1 5 2 0 1 1 2 Yoenis Cespedes 2013-10-04 ALDS OAK DET L 2-3 4 2 0 1 1 2 Bryce Harper 2012-10-12 NLDS WSN STL L 7-9 5 2 0 1 1 2 David Freese 2011-10-27 WS STL TEX W 10-9 6 2 0 1 1 3 Howie Kendrick 2009-10-19 ALCS LAA NYY W 5-4 5 3 0 1 1 1 Andre Ethier 2009-10-10 NLDS LAD STL W 5-1 5 3 1 1 1 2 Kevin Youkilis 2007-10-18 ALCS BOS CLE W 7-1 5 2 0 1 1 3 Jimmy Rollins 2007-10-04 NLDS PHI COL L 5-10 5 2 0 1 1 4 Kazuo Matsui 2007-10-04 NLDS COL PHI W 10-5 5 3 1 1 1 5 Garret Anderson 2005-10-07 ALDS LAA NYY W 11-7 5 4 0 1 1 5 Johnny Damon 2004-10-27 WS BOS STL W 3-0 5 2 0 1 1 1 Derek Jeter 2000-10-25 WS NYY NYM W 3-2 5 2 0 1 1 1
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Generated 10/18/2017.
As far as Dodgers go, Andre Ethier was the last Dodger to do it in the postseason. Davey Lopes was the last to do it in an NLCS. The Dodgers have won every game that a player has hit a HR/Triple in the same postseason game.
Player Date Series Opp Rslt PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI Chris Taylor 2017-10-17 NLCS CHC W 6-1 5 1 2 0 1 1 2 Andre Ethier 2009-10-10 NLDS STL W 5-1 5 2 3 1 1 1 2 Mike Marshall 1988-10-16 WS OAK W 6-0 4 1 2 0 1 1 3 Pedro Guerrero 1981-10-28 WS NYY W 9-2 5 1 3 0 1 1 5 Davey Lopes 1978-10-05 NLCS PHI W 4-0 4 1 3 0 1 1 3 Steve Garvey 1978-10-04 NLCS PHI W 9-5 5 3 3 0 1 2 4
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Generated 10/18/2017.
Dodgers roll a six
Beating the Cubs 6 – 1 and winning their 6th straight postseason game to remain undefeated in October. Dating back to the regular season the Dodgers have now won eight games in a row.
Yu Darvish gave up a home run in the first to Schwarber, add in a couple more hard-hit singles and things were looking dicey in the 1st inning, but he recovered to pitch out of trouble. Twitter was alarmed with many saying he simply didn’t have it. Los Angeles beat writer Andy McCullough awas one of them
Yu Darvish does not have The Smell tonight. Lots of hard contact in the first.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) October 18, 2017
Sixteen outs later Yu would leave the game having given up only three more singles and to Dodger fans, he smelled like a double delight rose. In total Yu got 19 outs, and has now pitched two of the three best games by a Dodger this postseason.
Player Date Series Gm# Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR GSc Yu Darvish 2017-10-09 NLDS 3 W 3-1 5.0 2 1 0 7 1 66 Rich Hill 2017-10-15 NLCS 2 W 4-1 5.0 3 1 1 8 1 64 Yu Darvish 2017-10-17 NLCS 3 W 6-1 6.1 6 1 1 7 1 63 Clayton Kershaw 2017-10-14 NLCS 1 W 5-2 5.0 4 2 1 4 1 54 Clayton Kershaw 2017-10-06 NLDS 1 W 9-5 6.1 5 4 3 7 4 51 Rich Hill 2017-10-07 NLDS 2 W 8-5 4.0 3 2 3 4 1 49
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Generated 10/18/2017.
The new Dodger lineup made Dave Roberts look good once again with each of the players inserted into a new starting position making an offensive contribution to the victory.
- Andre Ethier made his first start in the postseason in left field and got the Dodger offense going with a bomb to right field tying the game at 1.
- One inning later Chris Taylor making his first start at SS in the postseason hit the longest home run of the postseason with his 444-foot blast to dead center field.
- Joc Pederson made his first start in CF and started the fifth with a double down the right-field line. He would score on a triple by Taylor down the left field line.
The Dodgers would later score on a series of mishaps and bad pitching to make the final score 6 – 1. Included in those mishaps were:
- Walking Yu Darvish with the bases loaded
- Dropping a fly ball in CF after it was caught, though that didn’t cost them any runs.
- A crazy strike three swing that hit the catchers shoulder and bounded away allowing a run to score and the batter to make 1st base. I had never seen a missed swing hit the catchers shoulder before.
Lest not forget the bullpen came in and cleaned up again, and in the process threw a bullpen no-hitter over the three game span against the Cubs. No Dodger relief pitcher allowed a hit over 27 outs.
The Cubs finally broke the bullpen hold on them when Ross Stripling gave up two hits to start the 9th. This was the first appearance needed by Ross in the postseason and probably his last.
All in all, you couldn’t have asked for a better script for the Dodger for the first three games.
Dodgers go with Andre/Joc and keep Barnes at catcher
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.
Dodgers have had limited success against Hendricks
Yu Darvish will need to be on this game tonight, as the current Dodger roster has had very little success against his opponent Kyle Hendricks. If history holds true, this should be a pitching matchup with the game once again decided by the bullpen.
Particularly the left hand bats that you would expect to see in the lineup. Granderson, Grandal, and Chase have combined to go 2 for 28 with zero extra base hits. This is the game they may sorely miss Corey Seager.
Name PA H HR RBI BB SO OPS Justin Turner 14 2 1 3 2 2 .702 Curtis Granderson 11 1 0 0 0 4 .182 Yasmani Grandal 9 0 0 0 2 3 .222 Joc Pederson 9 0 0 0 1 4 .111 Chase Utley 8 1 0 0 0 2 .250 Enrique Hernandez 4 1 0 0 0 1 .500 Yasiel Puig 4 1 0 0 0 1 .500 Andre Ethier 3 1 0 0 0 0 .667 Total 65 8 1 3 5 18 .383
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Generated 10/17/2017.
On the flip side only two Cubs have more than four plate appearances against Yu. I would expect Alex Avila to start this game instead of Contreras. In fifty plate appearances against Yu, the Cubs have managed only two doubles.
Name PA H 2B BB OPS Alex Avila 18 3 1 5 .752 Ben Zobrist 14 2 0 2 .452 Leonys Martin 4 1 0 0 .500 Kris Bryant 3 0 0 0 .000 Tommy La Stella 3 1 0 1 1.167 Willson Contreras 2 0 0 0 .000 Jason Heyward 2 0 0 1 .500 Anthony Rizzo 2 1 1 0 1.500 Addison Russell 2 0 0 0 .000 Total 50 8 2 9 .584
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/17/2017.
The Golden Gate bridge of the Dodger bullpen
The Dodger bullpen has rolled an almost perfect eight innings of relief so far in the NLCS. Almost every failure in the past NLCS during this century can be pointed directly at the Dodger bullpen but in 2017 they have been tasked with with getting twelve outs per game and have responded brilliantly. The only blemish being the HBP of Rizzo by Jansen in the 9th last night.
Jansen has pitched in both games and struck out six of his seven outs.
Morrow has pitched in both games and has eight perfect outs
| Player | Date | Series | Gm# | Outs | H | ER | BB | SO |
| Tony Cingrani | 10/14/2017 | NLCS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kenta Maeda | 10/14/2017 | NLCS | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandon Morrow | 10/14/2017 | NLCS | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tony Watson | 10/14/2017 | NLCS | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kenley Jansen | 10/14/2017 | NLCS | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Brandon Morrow | 10/15/2017 | NLCS | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Josh Fields | 10/15/2017 | NLCS | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tony Watson | 10/15/2017 | NLCS | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kenley Jansen | 10/15/2017 | NLCS | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Justin Turner and the LAD Postseason 3-Run Dong
Justin Turner isn’t just hitting home runs this postseason, he is hitting three-run home runs and is now the first Dodger to ever hit a three-run home run in both the NLDS and NLCS.
The only other LAD with multiple three-run home runs in the postseason is Ron Cey who hit one in the 1978 and 1981 World Series.
The Dodgers went fourteen years between their first three-run postseason home run by John Roseboro in 1963 and Dusty Baker hitting the second one in 1977.
Twenty years between Mike Marshall in 1988 and Manny Ramirez in 2008
| Dodger | Date | Series | Gm# | Type | Opp | Rslt | RBI |
| Justin Turner | 10/15/2017 | NLCS | 2 | 3 Run | CHC | W 4-1 | 4 |
| Justin Turner | 10/6/2017 | NLDS | 1 | 3 Run | ARI | W 9-5 | 5 |
| Howie Kendrick | 10/12/2015 | NLDS | 3 | 3 Run | NYM | L 7-13 | 3 |
| Carl Crawford | 10/6/2013 | NLDS | 3 | 3 Run | ATL | W 13-6 | 3 |
| Manny Ramirez | 10/10/2008 | NLCS | 2 | 3 Run | PHI | L 5-8 | 3 |
| Mike Marshall | 10/16/1988 | WS | 2 | 3 Run | OAK | W 6-0 | 3 |
| Kirk Gibson | 10/10/1988 | NLCS | 5 | 3 Run | NYM | W 7-4 | 3 |
| Pedro Guerrero | 10/28/1981 | WS | 6 | 3 Run | NYY | W 9-2 | 5 |
| Ron Cey | 10/23/1981 | WS | 3 | 3 Run | NYY | W 5-4 | 3 |
| Reggie Smith | 10/14/1978 | WS | 4 | 3 Run | NYY | L 3-4 | 3 |
| Ron Cey | 10/11/1978 | WS | 2 | 3 Run | NYY | W 4-3 | 4 |
| Davey Lopes | 10/10/1978 | WS | 1 | 3 Run | NYY | W 11-5 | 5 |
| Steve Garvey | 10/4/1978 | NLCS | 1 | 3 Run | PHI | W 9-5 | 4 |
| Steve Yeager | 10/16/1977 | WS | 5 | 3 Run | NYY | W 10-4 | 4 |
| Dusty Baker | 10/14/1977 | WS | 3 | 3 Run | NYY | L 3-5 | 3 |
| John Roseboro | 10/2/1963 | WS | 1 | 3 Run | NYY | W 5-2 | 3 |
Turner launches Lackey into infamy
With Wade Davis watching from the bullpen, John Lackey watched Justin Turner launch a game-winning three-run home run to dead center field to give the Dodgers their second victory in two nights.
#ThisTeam needed a hero.@redturn2 answered the call. pic.twitter.com/6AY1XnPj8z
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 16, 2017
This night was all about Rich Hill, the Dodger bullpen, Yasiel Puig, Charlie Culberson, and ………………………Justin Turner
Rich Hill pitched five brilliant innings with just one mistake giving up just one run
The bullpen was simply brilliant. This is isn’t just a bridge, this is the Golden Gate bridge. Kudos to Morrow, Fields, Watson, and Jansen who pitched a perfect four innings except for a HBP of Rizzo by Jansen which was cool too.
Puig walked three times, never chasing bad pitches. The last time a Dodger walked three times in October was Hanley Ramirez in 2013 but two of those were intentional. The last Dodger to walk three time in October without an intentional walk was Bill Russell in 1981.
Player Date Series Rslt PA R H 2B RBI BB IBB Yasiel Puig 2017-10-15 NLCS W 4-1 4 1 0 0 0 3 0 Hanley Ramirez 2013-10-11 NLCS L 2-3 6 1 0 0 0 3 2 Manny Ramirez 2008-10-13 NLCS L 5-7 5 0 2 1 1 3 2 Bill Russell 1981-10-07 NLDS L 0-1 5 0 0 0 0 3 0 Joe Ferguson 1974-10-09 NLCS W 12-1 5 2 1 0 1 3 0 Jim Wynn 1974-10-09 NLCS W 12-1 5 3 1 1 1 3 0 Steve Yeager 1974-10-09 NLCS W 12-1 5 1 0 0 0 3 1 Jim Wynn 1974-10-06 NLCS W 5-2 5 0 0 0 0 3 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/15/2017.
Charlie Culberson hit a leadoff double in the fifth inning and scored the tying run when Justin Turner drove him in with a seeing-eye single to right field.
Just like Steve Finley in 2004, Justin Turner overkilled his at-bat by hitting a home run when they only needed a single:)
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 