Aug 24-26: Ascendant Dodgers need to take a series from the descendant Padres for once — for all our sleepfulness.
Game 1- Anyone seen the Dodgers bats? They are missing. Only 1 hit through 6: Smith homer. And with Padres bullpen game. Finally, in the 7th bats wake up: JT 1B, Seager 2B — 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. CT3 rips one down 3B line, Manny dives and knocks it down (his glove wasn’t open enough), runners hold. Manny hurts himself and leaves field, but then returns after getting patched up. Bases loaded — we need to score! In comes old (34) been around Daniel Hudson, who must be on PED to hit 97. Up comes our most reliable hitter, HR robber AJ, who bangs a single to RF — 2 huge runs score. Now popup Belli at bat: fouls off 2 hittable fastballs, then pops up (duh). Matt Beaty to PH — battles, but also pops up. Now a more comfortable 3-0 (muchas gracias AJ). Trea, after 2 K’s, leads off 8th with a double. Max with his usual walk, but Trea steals 3B (nice! Pads napping.). JT swats a long sac fly: 4-0. Nice takes for a walk by Smitty. WP moves runners up. another sac fly by Seager for 5-0. (But Smith makes base running gaffe getting thrown out at 3B — at least he has the smarts to stop and wait until sure the run scores.)
Pitching: Urias again is brilliant — no hits through 4 — but with a lot of help from a homer robbing AJ in the 3rd on a Manny big fly. Then a little trouble in the 5th when he gets careless on location. Julio toughs it out for no runs, but appears to run out of gas on that rough 5th (even with a low overall pitch count). First in is the usually reliable Bickford, to face the Padres killer top of the order (Tatis, Machado). Done — with Manny caught looking (he never does that). For the 7th, Dodgers turn to exceptional of late Vesia, who is: 1-2-3, sit down. Usually tough Knebel gets careless and gives up a homer to Profar (only his 3rd!). So lead slips to 5-2. (Those add-on 2 runs in the top of the inning were huge, as Padres get them back.) Roberts did good bringing in Treinen to face trouble: Tatis and Manny. But they didn’t follow the script, as both hitters spit on close 3-2 pitches and walked. More trouble: pesky all-star Cronenworth as tying run (oh no!) — but he whiffs! (Breathe.) Now, 5-2, going to the 9th. Closer Kenley makes us sweat, allowing tying run to the plate, after a long 12-pitch AB walk to Profar. [2 on, 2 out.] Facing all-star Adam Frazier, strike 1, 2, 3. See ya Padres. Dodgers hold Padres to just 3 hits, but Dodgers only got 6 hits.
POTG: easily AJ Pollock: home run robbery and critical 2-run hit.
Lineup: AJ a top 5 batter in NL and 2nd on team at .305. So why is he batting 7th? For no good reason. He should be the cleanup hitter not Will Smith (hitting .258). When Mookie returns, he should bat 2nd, behind Trea. then JT 3, Muncy 4, AJ 5, Seager 6, CT3 7, Smith/Barnes 8. Belli, Beaty, Lux, Pujols sit and wait to PH.
Dodgers now 14/16 game streak; Yankees win 11th straight, while Orioles hole out with 19 straight loss!
Game 2- We might expect Dodgers to get shutout tonight, and it looks that way. So far, only 2 hits over 7 innings (including 2 homers that weren’t). Doomed vs. an on-point Snell, Will Smith unexpectedly launches one into the LCF bleachers: 1-1. Impressive outing for Snell ends in the 8th after 122 pitches! Then Melancon cleans up the 9th. Nothing in the 10th or 11th. 12th is interesting, as Dodgers get them cornered with no outs. AJ rips a 1-hopper scooped by agile Machado just off 3B line, trapping Muncy for 1st out — now 1st and 2nd. Hopes fade when Seager swings under a cement mixer (ugh) for K. 2 outs and CT3 walks to load them up. Will Smith sidles up to the plate and works the count full: fly out. Ugh, leave ’em laughing but not loaded, please! 13th more of the same futility: Dodgers get them cornered with 1 out, top of the lineup coming up. Trea works the count full, battles but hits a comebacker — now Smith is trapped in a rundown to home and gets knocked over by catcher. Runners alertly move up to 2nd and 3rd. Muncy waves at a way outside changeup to end it (ugh!!). Why can’t the Dodgers hit changeups when they know it’s coming? We are all drowning in a sea of futility. But now hope: Padres forced to bring in a sketchy callup. Dodgers will bat 3-4-5. (Both teams are now 2-34 with RISP!) JT looks at strike 3. AJ grounds out, runner holds. Seager IBB. CT3 check swing K. More futility — go home Dodgers, I can’t watch this. 15th brings up 7-8-9. Smith infield single. Dodgers shake it up with a double steal: 2nd and 3rd, no outs. Belli yet another popup. McKinney PH and wham: base hit with RISP! Why didn’t 2nd runner score? Moot, as Trea finally gets a hit, scoring 2nd run. Muncy K (0-7!) for 2nd out. JT grounder FC. Now 3-1. Little later, 3-3. AJ, 0-6, jacks one — to match Tatis homer, and puts Dodgers up by another 2, at 5-3. CT3, 0-5, bangs a double. Smith IBB — 3rd for Padres; new MLB record of 8 for Dodgers! Belli long fly out (still popping up). Lux PH (been a while), works the count full and turns on one for a deep fly, and she is — caught at the wall. Hope we can hold our 2nd 2-run lead.
Pitching: Yet again, Buehler was stellar: only 1 unearned run (error by Trea) over 6 innings. Exceeds 100 pitches in the 7th and is pulled for Kelly. Sadly, Buehler loses yet another chance for a win. Treinen takes care of the 8th, and Jansen is sharp and clean in the 9th. So we go to extras — where the Dodgers have been awful, but better lately. Vesia masterful in the 10th. Bickford escapes with a K in the 11th, after Roberts rolls the dice with 2 intentional walks to load the bases to face a weak PH. (Whew!) Running out of pitchers, Dodgers throw Bruihl in the 12th, and the kid is good (with help from Muncy flagging JT’s wide throw). We live to die another inning: lucky 13th. uh uh. 13th brings in Bazooka Graterol. Roberts rolls the dice one more time (Don’t Stop Believing in 6 IBB’s) by 2 more IBB to Manny and Cronenworth. I would not do that, because Graterol will likely walk in the winning run with so much pressure to throw strikes. But Graterol pounds the zone with 101 and gets a comebacker. Now in record territory: the longest extra inning game since the new rule at 14 innings — and counting. Graterol comes back for the 14th. Ground out, advancing runner to 3B. Then, oh my, comebacker gives Dodgers their own rundown between home. Midnight strikes (game 5 hrs long). Graterol survives the 14th. With Dodgers up 3-1, Knebel for the 15th inning save (Dodgers 9th pitcher of the game), facing top of the order. Praying. F-7. Then Dodgers intentionally balk runner to 3B (to avoid sign stealing). Boom: Tatis homers off the top of the RF fence! Game tied at 3. Unbelievable. Why not. Madness. 8th IBB issued to Cronenworth. K for 3rd out on pitcher. And we go to the 16th! Who now? (Where is Kike Hernandez when we need him? LOL) It is new hire Shane Greene (Tigers all-star in 2019), who starts with a K on Hosmer. High slider for 2nd K on Pham. Standing in the way is all-star Adam Frazier, who obliges with a grounder to Seager. GAME OVER!
J Hair with the great post mortem, channeling Dickens (“A Tale of Two Games”?): It was the best of games, it was the worst of games. A lot going on for nearly 6 hours (2 games worth), sweet 16 (and 47 players, 18 of them pitchers), plus a record 12 IBB.
Game 3– Seems unnecessary, since last night’s game should have counted for 2. We are all still exhausted. But this game is another matchup of Cy Young’s. Scherzer very sharp through 7.2 (0 R, 2 H, 10K) and is pulled after 104 pitches. Darvish spinning hangers in the 3rd for a homerun by unlikely Barnes (only 5th), followed by a pair of doubles by Trea and Seager. Yu lasts 6 (4 R, 5 H).
Big story is return of Mookie (but he should not be in the 3 hole), 0-3 to start, including 2 K. And the dominoes fall: Belli should be out, but Muncy (0-7 last night) and CT3 rested. Also roster moves yet again: swap in a pitcher (Nunez) and Mookie, for Lux (expected) and Beaty (not expected or deserved). Surprise move: McKinney starts at 1B.
OK, back to the game. AJ leadoff triple in the 4th, cashed in by sac fly from Belli (a deep popup). Dodgers 4-0. Then yawn: Dodgers’ offense goes to sleep (only 5 hits through 8). Murmur by AJ in the 9th getting robbed of a homer by Grisham — the 4th or 5th homerun robbery, all by Padres on Dodgers after AJ’s great rob. Turnabout is fair play? Still 4-0 into the 9th, as Joe Kelly comes in for a save.
Dodgers take a sweet sweep (for 16/18 wins) with a 3-hit shutout.