Rotational depth isn’t as important in a playoff series. Cleveland has to start three people twice and someone once, assuming Kluber does not pitch on short rest, so basically they’re disadvantaged in one game.
They are pretty much equivalently talented teams, and are talented in similar ways; they scored and allowed pretty much the same number of runs, and the only noteworthy difference in approach is Cleveland steals more bases, which won’t be easy to do against Russell Martin. You might as well flip a coin.
1984 was Leon Durham’s line drive out to Garry Templeton. I had to look that one up. 1989 was Will Clark’s GWRBI off of Mitch Williams at Candlestick - I was there! That was wild.
We are all fans of our own teams, and there are many heartbreak moments. I still hurt over Game 6 of the 2002 WS. As Vin Scully said, losing feels worse than winning feels good, and boy is he right.
I will be reminded of this all day tomorrow if the Dodgers can’t pull it together, as I will be forced to wear a Nats jersey to work in the midst of my sorrow.
We are talking about the play that ended the top of the 13th, with David Ross grounding into a double play. You could see with the naked eye that the ump got the call right, and on the first replay it was as clear as day that Ross was out, yet they took forever to make the call.
The Dodgers have announced (in what is probably not much of a surprise) that Kershaw will be starting today’s elimination game. If they survive today, it’s kind of a toss-up whether Rich Hill or Julio Urias would start Game 5.
It would have to be Hill, wouldn’t it? If you’re going to use Urias you might as well have him on regular rest in game 4 and Kershaw on regular rest in game 5.
I think it’s going to backfire on them, but it’s the right call. It’s do-or-die; if he’s physically able to pitch, you have to put your ace on the mound. There’s no point in saving him for tomorrow if the season ends today.
Yeah, I agree. Even going beyond the use-your-best-pitcher-in-a-do-or-die-situation argument, Urias throws a lot of pitches and does not go deep into games. And the Dodgers are in no position to go into this one expecting the bullpen to carry five innings.
I am guessing, of course, but if the Dodgers get to Game 5, I think they’ll wind up starting Urias and bringing Hill in for long relief as needed. The organization seems very concerned about using Hill on short rest with his blister issues, and Urias (though, again, he used a lot of pitches) was successful against the Nats in DC a couple of months ago.
I’ve only been watching this game off-and-on, but I think the Dodgers got greedy trying to get 7 innings out of Kershaw. He’s pitching on a short rest, which is notoriously tough on pitchers. He gave them 6 good innings, but with his pitch count at 90 or so and a three run lead, that should have been it. Get 3 decent innings out of your bullpen and then figure out tomorrow tomorrow.
Thanks for the explanation. For this play in the top of the 13th, yeah like another poster up thread said, I wonder what took them so long to uphold the call on the field? I mean we’re all looking at the replays, over and over, and David Ross is clearly out. It was clear from the 1st replay.
Reminds me of ABC TV’s Monday Night Football when Joe Theisman’s leg was broken by Lawrence Taylor. Everyone watching TV saw it, but Howie, Dandy Don and Gifford, as well as everyone in the ABC studio, didn’t see the leg snap and held together only by his sock, and they kept playing the replay over and over.
Yup. Even if your ace on short rest really is your best available pitcher to start the game, he is not going to stay your best pitcher as deep into the game as he would be on a regular day.
