Aug19-22: Mets return to Dodger Stadium for 4 more games. We get them while they are slumping, so let’s sweep (or at least 3/4).
Game 1- Dodgers get off early with a pair of runs (both score on outs), then score 2 more in the 5th: Billy McKinney climbs out of the fan doghouse with his 3rd straight XBH (a PH double) to drive in 1, then Trea follows with a run-scoring single and steals 2nd. (Mets 2B-man should have been called for interference when he blocked the base without the ball. Next time Trea will come in cleats first.) Score end of 5: 4-1 Dodgers. Dodgers doing much better vs. Taijuan Walker this time by attacking his fastball early in the count.
JT leads off the 6th with a bullet off the left butt cheek of RHP Walker 99, who picked it up and threw wildly — JT safe at 1B. But then Walker goes to his splitter and K’s Seager and Smith, with AJ F-9. In the 7th, Belli finally ropes one to the RCF gap, only to have Mets CF make a diving catch (and guess who leads off next for Mets). Dodgers get a walk to JT only to be erased on a DP off a scorched short-hopped liner by Seager (another great play by Villar).
Pitching: Dodgers use Evil Knebel as an opener, and he survives the 1st. Next comes the Dodgers latest newbie (134th?) they just picked up on waivers from the Rays, Evan Phillips (who?), who lasted into the 3rd. He was picked up newly re-activated Gonzalez (remember him?), followed by the reliable Bickford (who was). In comes the Bazooka, Graterol, who plunks a batter on the foot with a big breaker, then survives a long fly on a great catch by Taylor in RF. Then some 100+ heaters to get ahead, but a very wild pitched curve to move the runner up. Stick with the pitch you can control, the heater. Grat did and done. End of 7th on a bullpen game. Reliable Vesia gets a clean 8th. Who will be the closer? Yay, it is Treinen. And he is unhittable, striking out the side on a barrage of hellacious curves for the 4-1 save.
Game 2- Speed has no slump: Trea Turners it on to score the 1st run on his speed alone, after a leadoff double. Then Trea does it again in the 3rd: scores from 1st without a play on a Muncy double — 2-0. A few more hits and it’s 3-0. Still 3-1 through 7, owing to the Dodgers offense gone to sleep — no hits the rest of the game and end up with only 5 hits. Now 3-2 in the 9th. Jansen for the save! So now Dodgers have won 3 straight 1-run games vs Mets (other than the 2 blowouts).
Pitching: Buehler looking sharp, gets through 3, then allows Alonso to jack a mediocre curve for 3-1 in the 4th. (Been 8 starts since Walker allowed his last homer.) Walker sailing through the Mets like an armada — through 7. Retired the last 12 in a row, with the last batter of the 7th adding a footnote (ground ball to 1B called foul, off his foot). Then in the 8th some bad luck caused the wheels to come off. (That’s the problem with “sailing along”.) Vesia to the rescue with some gutty relief, ending in a called K with bases loaded (yikes!). Buehler still pitcher of record after 107 pitches at 3-2, and we hope a save is coming — but from whom? Uh oh, it’s … Jansen (predictably). Let’s hope for the angry version. (I can’t watch, can you?) Long fly — OK, breathe. JT throws low to Muncy but he handles it. One more out. Kenley smokes the last chance batter on a 96 heater off the plate. Yay Kenley! (We take it all back, right?)
Uniforms: too much blue. Ok for Little League. Pants should be white or gray. Maybe add a pinstripe along the leg. But, at least New Jersey edged out New York LOL.
Game 3 (I attended this Sat game)- What a fun game, especially since we won our 9th in a row, courtesy of 6 from the Mets, including 4th 1-run win out of last 6 games vs Mets. Dodgers get solos early from Trea (leadoff), Tio Al and CT3, and take a 3-0 lead. Then again go to sleep. Finally in the 6th, Dodgers load the bases courtesy of a parade of walks, with the 3rd one walking in the 4th run. Then a pox of popups to leave ’em loaded. To be fair, the Mets left them loaded twice too. Highlight: battle of 41 YO’s when Pujols faced Rich Hill and roped a homer.
Pitching: Still can’t believe that we have 3-time Cy, Scherzer now on our team! Fun watching 41 YO friend Rich Hill take on Dodgers and Scherzer using a mix of slow and slower crazy breaking balls. Max struggled through 5 innings (100 pitches), with a lot of traffic, especially from Mets leadoff Nimm who cycled on him (1B, 2B, HR — a prodigious blast high off the RF pole), costing Max a shutout over 5. Max continued struggling by hitting Alonso, walking bases loaded, but extricating by K-ing Davis. He left with a 3-1 lead, and got the win (barely). But a tired pen had to cover the final 4. 6th went to a shaky Buiehl, who escaped. 7th went to usually wipeout Treinen, but for some reason he didn’t use his unhittable wipeout slider, especially to hot Pete, who dug out a cutter for a 2-run homer. (Both Pete’s and Trea’s homers landed on the top of the LF fence.) Fortunately, we still had a 4-3 lead, but a shaky one. Evil Knebel had some traffic too in the 8th, but ended it with a K. Now we held our collective breath, while rising to our feet to summon the angry Kenley for the finish in the 9th. 1st batter: HBP (oh no!). 2nd batter (dangerous, hot Nimm) sends a long fly to AJ in LF, and runner Pillar took a big gamble to try to advance to 2B. He should have been out by a lot, but Trea could not corral the short-hop throw. So now tying run on 2B, with 1 out. Kenley K’s light hitting McNeill, and now here is the big showdown: Jansen vs. Alonso! Game is on the line. Kenley huffs and puffs and blows the big bad Pete down! Dodgers win 4-8-1 to 3-8-0! (But it could have gone the other way.)
Game 4- Dodgers going for a 4-game sweep, but they seem ready to phone it in — we have a Price to pay? 1st inning is a big mess for the Dodgers, capped by a series of unfortunate throws (Will Smith learn to not throw so off balance) for 3 runs (and 33 pitches). In Dodgers 1st, they play 3 flies up, but on hard hit balls. Dodgers can’t seem to find Nemo, I mean Nimmo, as he continues to get on base every time (the pest). 2nd is clean for Price, but Dodgers get called K’s twice, sandwiched around a CT3 BB and steal. Surprise: Price collects Dodgers 1st hit in 3rd, and Price is right as he settles in for clean 3rd and 4th. Then the Dodgers wake up in their half of the 4th: 2 hits and a walk load the bases with 2 outs, and here comes Belli (oh no, he hasn’t had a hit in 5 games). But inexplicably, Mets’ Stroman’s 1st pitch is right down the middle — base hit by Belli to score 2 (barely): now 3-2 Mets. But the inning ends strangely, as Belli apparently misreads the sign and takes off for a delayed double steal play, but just gets tagged out to end it. In the 7th, Dodgers waste a double by AJ (Belli another K).
Pitching: Dodgers PH for Price in the 4th, and they replace him in the 5th with Bazooka (Adderol Graterol), who escapes a 2-on, 1 out with pitchers BF (DP). But apparently Bazooka can’t pitch a clean inning, and so in the 6th, he gets rocked for 2nd and 3rd no outs. Somehow he and the Dodgers magically escape with no runs. (They might have even gotten a DP earlier if JT had been heads up at 3B.) With the Graterol thrill gone, Bickford takes on the 7th, but inexplicably throws a meatball to Davis for a 2-run bomb: 5-2 Mets. Game over? Looks like it. so Dodgers scrounge for yet another newbie for the 8th: Feliz (Navidad?), who was OK. But then shame on yet another newbie Shane Green (Shawn Green), for going wild with 2 HBP, 2 BB for a run. Real relief by Gonzo, but way too late. Final: Mets 7-2.