Dr Jeff Sports blog

Sep 13-15: Dodgers need a sweep of this NL’s worst team. But they have been Snakebitten this season.

Game 1- Dodgers leadoff with a Mookie double (love it!). Gotta score him. Muncy moves him over on a warning track fly. Up to Trea, who works count full and walks. Cleanup is Seager who smacks a sharp grounder through the shift to drive in the 1st run. Trea takes 3B. 2nd Turner comes up and rakes a double to left, scoring both runners standing up: 3-1. Batting 6th — oh no, not Belli again: weak out (#2). G Lux gets a turn: comebacker to end it. Dodgers strand a pair in the 2nd (Kersh swinging bunt hit, Mookie walk). Seager and JT chase the high cheese for K’s, Belli fly out, in the 3rd. G Lux still hot with a leadoff single interesting he 4th. pop fly falls in for Barnes, sac bunt by Kersh, to get 2nd-3rd with 1 out. Mookie sac fly to RF barely scores Lux (good hustle!). But wait, upon review umps reverse call — unbelievable! He was clearly safe (terrible call!). Still 3-1. Hot G Lux 2nd up walk. Barnes feasts on a hanger to bang into LF corner and score galloping Lux (this time!) — once again 4-1. Beaty PH gets HBP. Mookie another long fly out moves Lux to 3B, but now 2 out. Then they Max out on a high pop. Dodgers keep squandering, which can bite you in the end. Dodgers bat 3-4-5 in the 7th, and play 2 flies up, and then bombs away solo by JT (his 25th) for a 5-1 lead. Belli given 2nd life on a botched foul pop ropes a double into the RF corner (long time coming). Dodgers leave them cornered. In the 8th, Mookie HBP, Muncy another long fly out to the track in LF. Trea finally gets a hit to corner the runners again, but Seager strands them (3 un.). Still 5-1 going to the 9th, as the Dodgers leave 145 LOB (so it seems).

Pitching: Great to have Kershaw back on the mound. He is a little rusty in the 1st, giving up a hard double and a single on an ill-advised 0-2 pitch (that should never happen!) for a run. Belli bad throw lets runners move up to 2nd and 3rd. Kersh holds. 2nd: base hit, sac bunt, K to end it — curveball looking good (no sliders?). Kershaw very efficient into the 3rd. Hanger banger long fly to LCF as Lux and Belli collide — Lux holds on to it. (That should never happen! who coaches these guys? sloppy.) Kershaw gives up a 2-out double in the 4th, but ends the inning with a K on his best slider — and final pitch (44). Great 1st outing for the K-man. But wait, Roberts weirds out by bringing Kersh out to start the 5th, only to pull him after one pitch (and 1 out) — give him a chance for a fan ovation. Bickford finishes the 5th leaving a man on 2B. 6th, Vesia gets into some traffic (hit, BB) but pitches very well out of it with K’s. 7th setup goes to Knebel. After a K, ouch — 4-pitch walk, into the heart of the order. Marte blasts a high fastball to deep RCF that Belli tracks down on the track (whew). Flyout. Still 4-1. 8th for the hold goes to — wait, Mitch White? Why White? He’s hit hard but at ’ems for 3 outs (we were lucky). Jansen on paternity leave, so the closer is Treinen — wait, no, it is still White. High cheese K on Beer for 2nd out. Long fly ends it. Dodgers win 5-1.

[comment on Belli’s stance change: first, what took so long? Dodgers wait 5.5 months to suggest a change to Belli’s swing or stance? really? I have been suggesting for 5 months that Belli keep his hands higher, don’t drop the barrel, and don’t lunge or collapse his stance. his stance adjustment just takes care of the last item. Belli needs to be forced to hit the other way — beat the shift, and hit inside the ball. pulling the ball into the shift is useless, no matter how hard he hits grounders. but dropping his hands and the barrel makes him miss high fastballs constantly, or at best pop up.]

Game 2- Muncy gets an unlikely double to RF. Trea follows with an even more unlikely double poked down the RF line. Sad that D’Back’s rookie 1B hurts his arm diving for the ball and has to leave game. Seager in the Turner sandwich, walks, but runners are left on: 1-0. Dodgers get 3 runs in the 3rd: 2 on a Muncy mash, 1 more on throwing error (no wonder D’Backs are worst team), but 1st-3rd threat is ending by Belli hitting into a DP (sad): 4-0. Trea turns on one for a solo in the 5th: 5-0. Will Smith solo’s in the 6th for Dodgers’ 3rd HR: 6-1. Dodgers recover 2 of the 3 runs surrendered in the 7th by loading the bases on 2 walks and a hit, followed by back to back sac flies (JT and Will): 8-4. Good to see Pujols get a PH chance and single in the 8th. Mookie is due (1-4) but grounds into a DP.

Pitching: Gonsolin making another start looks great in 1st, with 2 K’s and in order. Gonso gives up no hits through 3, then a leadoff hit in 4th is left on via deft pitching. Tony also gets through the 5th, with totals of 0R, 2H. Relieved, Dodgers pay the Price for a run in the 6th, on 2 hits and a double. Price K’s last 2 to hold on for only 1 run. Bruihl is ambushed by Dodger killer Marte for a 3-run homer in the 7th (uh oh) — cuts the lead to 6-4. Treinen efficient in the 8th. New daddy Kenley for the 9th, with a clean inning. Dodgers win 8-4.

Game 3- Dodgers go down in order in 1st, but score 1 in the 2nd on 3 hits and a walk to load the bases for Urias to hit into a DP. (Maybe they should have had Julio bunt for a safety squeeze — at least stay out of a DP.) 3rd: Muncy single but throw out stealing! Walk to Trea, who steals 2B on a very close play, but is left on. Dodger 3rd JT leads off with a hit, followed by a Smith double. 1 run scores on a Belli ground out, and another on a G Lux single. Mookie cranks a long fly to LF that is robbed of off the fence to end it. So Dodgers re-take the lead at 3-2. Leadoff rope into the RF seats by Muncy again (34th) for 4-2 in the 5th. Dodgers load ’em up with 2 out but G Lux leaves them. Dodgers tack on a run in the 6th for 5-3. Pujols PH leads off the 8th with a sharp 1-hopper to SS. Mookie finally on board with a double. Steals 3B. Muncy shallow fly, Mookie should have tried to score but held (would have made it). Trea should bunt for a hit to score the run, but fishes for a K. No runs.

Pitching: Urias going for his 18th win. Retired side in 1st. One left on 1B in 2nd. Ugh Urias: gives up 2 runs in the 3rd after allowing a free steal of 2B with a runner also at 3B, then gives up the predictable hit for 2 runs (instead of 1). Urias good through 5 (2R, only 76P), but inexplicably gets pulled! Bickford gives back a solo jack to trim lead to 4-3 in 6th. Vesia for the 7th was sailing along until gamus interruptus by fans on the field for a 10-minute delay. Vesia was visibly thrown off, and his first pitch hit poor Gavin Smith on the elbow painfully. Vesia replaced by Kelly for the final out. Still 5-3. Treinen for the hold in the 8th facing 2-3-4, starting with Ketel Marte who has been tough on the Dodgers. Marte works the count full and walks on strike 3 (should have been). Karma gives Dodgers an eraser: DP. But then another walk on a full count, and more good karma as a liner is caught by Trea to end the 8th at 5-3. Jansen for the save, and he sparkles a nearly immaculate inning, K-ing the side. Yay, Julio gets his 18th W.

Off day tomorrow — traveling to Cincy.

Sep 10-12: This was supposed to be the final battle for 1st place in the West, only the Padres did not show up with a valid ticket. Padres find themselves in the role of a spoiler yet battle for a wild card. We are all so happy Dodgers finally listened to us about the awful, weak bottom of our order with Belli, McKinney and Sousa — and finally brought up Beaty (yay!) and even Gavin Lux for LF.

Game 1- Quiet 1-2-3 1st, although Muncy hit a long fly flagged by Tatis at the RF wall. 2nd, Dodgers get the fabled 2 on, 2 out with slumping CT3 on the snide for a K. Muncy gets revenge in the 3rd by launching a 428 ft moonshot (32nd) for 2 runs: 2-0. So happy to have Will Smith back in the lineup: he bashes a double high off the wall in LCF in the 4th, moves over on a WP, and scores on a sac fly — 3-0. 6th sees Dodgers get 2 on, 1 out (again) with Lux now on the spot. Gavin has a good AB: works the count full and ropes a liner, but it is caught. Then Freaky Friday breaks out as the throw by Profar goes far into LFx, allowing both runners to move up. So Padres IBB CT3 to load the bases for Urias. I think I would have PH for Julio, but he K’s (can’t hit that curveball) to leave ’em loaded. Still 3-0 after 6. In the 8th, Dodgers sure could use an insurance run, but go quietly. But because of the shutout, the Dodgers still win with only 3 runs on all of 4 hits — with the Muncy HR and Smith 2B accounting for all 3 runs.

Pitching: Urias to the rescue? So far so good through 2 — no score. In the 4th, CT3 makes a sprawling catch in CF to save the inning as clean. 4 shutout innings (remarkable Julio). Urias survives Machado in the 5th with a perfectly executed long fly rescue (find the fence!) near the top of the LCF fence by CT3 to save a double. That is 5 shutout innings by Julio yet again. He usually tires in the 6th, but he survives, after giving up a double (almost another great catch by CT3, who got his glove on it but had a bad angle to hold on). Urias stuns us by taking a 3-hit shutout through a clean 7th — first time in who knows when. Now Treinen for a high leverage hold vs. top of the order in the 8th. A pair of 2-out hits puts runners at the corners. Obvious that Tatis at 1B would go, so I would have pitched out and thrown him out to end the inning. (Why don’t the Dodgers ever do that?) So Treinen has to face Wil Myers with 2nd and 3rd. Blake appears to strike him out twice on check swings that were denied (bad calls), then proceeds to make him really chase a wicked slider to end the 8th still 3-0. Jansen for the save. Kenley again curiously is the only pitcher ever to intentionally balk a runner over to 3B, after allowing the runner to steal 2B without a blink. (Again, I would have pitched out and thrown him out — to end the game!) Kudos to Urias to get his MLB leading 17th win (you know what I mean).

Game 2- What’s Belli doing back in CF? The cat has 9 lives. Why isn’t Beaty starting? Roberts has some explaining to do. Dodgers bat only 3 in 1st after leadoff hit by Mookie is erased caught stealing as Muncy K’d. 1-2-3 in 2nd. Belli (!) leads of the 3rd with a walk, and scores (barely) on a double by Lux. (Coach Ebel likely sent Cody with no outs because the pitcher was up next.) Buehler sac bunts Lux to 3B, and he score on a sac fly by Betts — 2-0. But now 2-2, with 3-4-5 coming up in the 4th: Turners sandwiching Seager, but no club here — retired in order. About to be retired again in the 5th, G Lux goes deluxe with his 2nd hit — to just get Buehler out of the way, but surprise: Walker does that on 4 pitches. So pitching change, with 2 on, 2 out. 1st pitch: gone! Wow, Mookie blasts it into LF bleachers for a 3-run job (his 20th) and a 5-2 lead. (Could be ballgame.) the 6th sees another Turner sandwich, with same meh results. 7th has a leadoff walk by Will Smith. Roberts lets LH Belli bat, who hits a DP ball to 2B, but avoids the DP on a low throw. But Roberts then drives us mad by PH Souza for Lux after Gavin has 2 hits! So Souza completes the DP to end the inning (ugh!). Dodgers out in order in the 8th, ended by frustrated Muncy called out on a low pitch (bad call). Odd statistics: Dodgers have 0 LOB! Mookie and G Lux get all 4 hits and all 5 RBI.

Pitching: Buehler takes the mound after one of his worst ever starts and retires side in order in the first, gives up a hit in the 2nd, and retires the side in order in the 3rd. Walker appears to have good command of his pitches this time (good location and movement). After a hit to Manny, Buehler inexplicably throws Tatis a cookie on the first pitch for a homer to tie the score at 2. Hosmer follows with a double to LF that Lux has a misadventure on, but gets left on (lucky liner to Betts). Buehler better in the 4th, but does give up his 4th hit. Manny gets a leadoff double (why do they pitch to him?), then stupidly takes 3B on a grounder to 3B with now 2 out (against baseball rules). But Manny is left on, so still 5-2. Buehler goes on the hill for the 7th and gets a 0 after a good running catch on a roped liner in RF by Mookie (again). Treinen for the hold in the 8th. Frazier leads off and steals 2B. Manny (2-3, 2B) strokes his 3rd hit for an RBI to cut lead to 5-3. Tatis up as tying run. Blake tries to keep Manny close by throws over, but he easily steals 2B. Tatis get his 3rd hit to drive in Manny for 5-4 (!), and the Dodgers compound it by letting Tatis take 2B on the throw home. Tying run at 3B with 1 out. In comes Joe Kelly to brilliantly K 2 batters on wicked sliders. Jansen for the save at a slim 5-4 lead. First 2 batters out, 1 more to go — top of the order. Called strike 3! Dodgers hold on by skin of teeth for a 5-4 win, and Buehler finally gets win #14.

Game 3- After 1st 2 games where Dodgers got only 4 hits each game, let’s hope the offense gets going. And let’s hope Roberts plays all our best and hottest hitters, so Betts and Lux for sure. And indeed, they play, along with Souza for Belli to face LHP Snell. But alarmingly, Blake Snell pulls a groin in the 1st and is replaced by a RHP, Chrismatt (Merry?). With 2 out, Trea pops up to shallow CF and it falls. Of course Trea steals 2B (27th to lead NL). Turners are back to back in the lineup today, and JT lines to Manny. In the 2nd, Will Smith belts a long fly headed to the top of the LF fence that is snagged on a leaping snow cone by Pham. (Would have been over the fence with the old ball.) G Lux leadoff single in 3rd that Manny playing him in RF tried to throw him out at 1B but threw wildly. Scherzer can’t hit, can’t bunt, K’s trying. Mookie and Muncy out meekly. Scoreless into the 4th, when a Seager special solo blast makes it 1-0. Dodgers then load the bases on 3 walks with 2 outs, including a PH by Belli for Souza and an IBB to G Lux to get to Scherzer, who bounces out. Mookie leads off the 5th with another solo blast for 2-0 (and his 21st). Dodgers get a 3rd run in the 6th, and then wham — a doubling of the score to 6-0 on a 3-run blast by a dormant JT — game over. Or should have been. Padres roll out their headhunter who proceeds to hit 3 batters almost in a row and almost beans Trea — to load the bases on owies and score 2 more. Note: Belli finally gets a hit, a double to RF (Bronx cheer?).

Pitching: Scherzer on the hill, pitches an immaculate 2nd (9 pitches, 3K), along with 2 more K’s to retire side in the 3rd — to close in on 3,000 K. Max perfect through 4, getting Manny to pop up. 5th leads off with Tatis, who blasts a hanger to deep CF: back goes Belli to catch it a step from the fence. (Whew! but he could have played it better.) Max still perfect after 6 after fanning PH Marisnick! 1st pitch of 7th lofted high and deep to RF as Mookie fights the sun to make the catch. Flyout to LF. Here’s Manny! A loud foul; count goes full, and tension mounts. Max goes with curve that Manny hits off the end of the bat for a soft comebacker. Perfect through 7! Tough hitters in the 8th: Max gets Tatis, but leaves a change over the inner half to Hosmer for a double — end of no-no and perfecto. Maxx finishes the 8th and is replaced by Bruihl in the 9th to complete the 1-hit shutout.

So Dodgers hold on for an 8-0 bruising of the Padres for the sweet sweep.

Sep 6-9: Labor Day special today as we move on to St Lou. Giants at Rox, so we stand to lose a game to them as they sweep. Tio Albert returns home for this long season.

Game 1– A Labor Day special day game (3pm local time). Leadoff greatness as Trea gets a double. Followed by hits from Muncy and Mookie, but JT hits into a DP scoring the 2nd run (OK). Walk to Seager followed by a mighty blast from slumping CT3 for 2 more runs. 4-0 in 1st! (Bet we don’t score again.) Yay, we do score again (3rd): Mookie walk + error to 2B; Seager hit to score Betts. Now 5-0. But all is quiet on the Dodger front through 8. As predicted, Dodgers sleepwalk through rest of the game, getting only 2 hits after the 3 in the 1st.

Pitching: Max gets greeted with a leadoff double on an elevated change (not a good start). But he does his thing striking out 2 to leave the runner at 3B (after a WP that Barnes should have blocked). Scherzer clean through the 3rd. Leadoff hit by Goldie in 4th, but Max very efficient, ending the inning on 9 pitches total. And another quickie in the 5th. There is some traffic in the 6th, and Cards score 1 on another WP that Barnes should have blocked. Max has an easy 7th. So 5-1 through 8, with Max at 1R, 6H, 13K(!). In comes Kelly to close it, and he goes a nice 1-2-3 (rare). So Dodgers take an easy opener 5-1.

Game 2- Who gets rested today? Muncy and Mookie (M&M — why both? Put them on a milk carton?) Who got called up? Steven Souza Jr for McKinstry, who I feel wasn’t given a chance. But why start Souza in place of Mookie? Tio Albert goes yard (679) in 1st for a 1-0 lead. Cards tied it in the 2nd 1-1. 3rd: Trea gets a 1-out double with a slip-and-slide (extends hitting streak to 14), but is stranded by JT and Tio. 3rd: Dodgers string together some hits for 2 runs, including a double from unlikely Souza — 3-2 Dodgers. 4th: JT pokes a solo (his 22nd) inside the LF foul pole — 4-2. 6th: Cards now Happ-less as pen enters. CT3 K on bad chase. Will Smith goes solo (his 23rd) on yet another high fastball, thank you. Souza chase K, Belli tap out (literally?) — 5-2. Out in order in the 7th. Will Smith goes 4-4 in the 8th on his 3rd infield hit (!). But nothing else. Dodgers content with 5-2 lead. Belli weak hit into the shift (0-4 again). Mookie PH grounder. Trea 2nd hit of game. Surprise: JT smacks 2nd HR to deep CF (Dodgers’ 4th HR): 7-2.

Pitching: Bullpen vs Happ. Opener Knebel (again) gives up 1 on a double and sac fly. Newbie Evan Phillips OK in the 2nd. Phillips in 3rd gives up a double with 2 outs. CT3 makes a nice scoop but throws way off; should have gotten the runner. Cards cash that in on another hit to CT3, who charges but makes an awful throw home (cutoff). After 3rd straight hit, Phillips is replaced by Vesia, who fans Carpenter on 3 pitches (yay). 2-1 Cards. 4th is no runs from Shane Greene, after a double and good play at SS by Seager. Now 4-2 Dodgers. 5th brings in 5th pitcher: Bickford, who gives up O’Neill’s 3rd hit, but gets flies from Arrenado and Molina. 6th, now 5-2, sees 6th pitcher: Graterol, who has easy breezy inning. Next up, in the 7th, our 7th pitcher, Joe Kelly: side in order. Next up, in the 8th, our 8th pitcher, Treinen: leadoff walk, K of Arrenado in long AB, K of Molina (another great slider), cold Carpenter delivers a room service fly out. Jansen was warming up, but now 7-2 so he sits and in comes rookie and new callup, Neftali Feliz. Dodgers record of 9 pitchers in 9 innings! Pop foul; long fly out; base hit (hanger); ground out. Game over: 7-2.

Game 3- Vs old slow pitch Wainright, the Dodgers are baffled. 1st: Trea K; Muncy 1B; Mookie 1B; Seager off the LFwall scoring Muncy but Betts is out at home; Smith lineout to P: 1 run. Dodgers retired on 5 pitches in the 2nd. 3rd: 2K and a groundout by Muncy. Dodgers go in order in the 4th and 5th, in all 13 in a row until Muncy bombs his 31st to cut the lead to 4-2. Dodger bats quiet until the 9th, when they score 2 to cut the lead to 1, but alas, lose 5-4.

Pitching: Mitch White back for a start. Gives up 2 leadoff hits, then doesnt pay attention to the runners and they double steal. Gets a K, then a hard 1-hopper to SS, but Seager chose not to throw home (why not?) so game is tied. But then the crusher: Molina hits a 2-run HR, so now 3-1 (still in the 1st!). Maybe White will settle down? 2nd starts with a dribbled comebacker, but White has a brain cramp and lobs the ball into the back of the runner. But that’s all. White K’s the side in the 3rd. White gives up 1 more run in the 4th on a Molina double, WP and a hit. White leaves after 5 innings, down 4-1. Followed by Graterol in the 6th, the Dodgers go into their pitcher per inning mode, but do shut down the Cards.

Game 4- Dodgers yet again decimate their lineup (JT sat y’day) by sitting a hot Smith, Seager and Taylor — in favor of weak Belli, Souza, McKinney and Barnes (pencil in some 0-fers). Also swap of Trea and Betts 1 for 3. Dodgers score 1 early and then fade. But fun that JT leads off the 6th after making a diving stop in the 5th (baseball maxim). But after Turner comes the Roberts surrender offense of Belli, Souza, McKinney and Barnes. Finally, in the 7th, we get some PH: CT3 for McKinney (F-9); Barnes out (6-3); Pujols for pitcher gets walked; Betts ends the inning (FC6-4). Dodgers go quietly in the 8th (boo). Last chance 9th down 2-1. Why not PH Seager for Belli (awful- pops up)? At least Seager PH for Souza but K’s. CT3 K’s, ending a dreadful 2-1 loss with only 4 hits (doubles by Max and Trea, singles by Betts and Trea).

Pitching: Gonsolin is back, and goes 3 with 1R/3H (pretty good). Usual opener Knebel is used for a good 4th (1BB). Reliable Bickford gets the top of the order in the 5th, and gives up a homer just barely clearing the LF fence to O’Neill. (Maybe CT3 catches that ball, but not Souza.) Now 2-1 Cards. Vesia K’s the side in the 6th. Joe Kelly in the 7th hangs a 2-seamer (at only 95) for a leadoff hit. Balks him to 2B. But ends the inning on a short fly to RF where Souza (why not Mookie?) makes a lumbering awkward sliding catch. Jansen hurls a 1-2-3 8th. Let’s hope we pitch a 9th. Not. Terrible to lose a game when you give up only 2 runs.

Sep 3-5: BIG time series — teams tied with exact same record (unusual). Will not matter too much unless there is a sweep.

Game 1- Already off to an odd start: Dodgers’ listed starter Price not starting (he has issues), so another dreaded bullpen game. Don’t get why hot AJ is not starting, but cold Belli is in his place. 1st inning Dodgers get 2 on 2 out, as JT takes a very close 3-2 pitch for a walk. This is why the #5 spot is so important, and it is Seager there, but only whiff on 2 straight changes (fool me twice?). McKinstry early PH (for Knebel) K. Trea gets a 9-pitch walk and works his way to 3B, but gets stranded in the 3rd. Nothing doing in 4th and 5th, but we do send up our 2nd PH for our RHP: McKinney fly out. Dodgers bring up 2-3-4 in the 6th: we need to score! 7th gets a leadoff walk. grounder-force, flyout and then a predictable Belli K. Bad on Roberts for not PH for Belli — with anyone, including AJ, Barnes, Pujols — but no. Dodgers still a goose egg (sad), with only 2 innings left. 1-2-3 in 8th, in spite of a good swing by PH AJ (should have hit for Belli) for a long fly to CF run down in the gap by Slater. Now for all the marbles in the 9th — last chance, down 1-0. Dodgers bring up 3-4-5. Betts grounds out. JT clutch hit for Dodgers only 4th hit. Seager follows with another clutch hit, a double — 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. Here comes clutch Willy, but unfortunately his hard hit is right at 2B, who throws home, getting JT in a rundown. JT is run all the way back to 3B, but Seager moves up to 3B — both runners standing on 3B. We all know the rule, but apparently JT doesnt, and almost is doubled off to end the game! Down to the last breath, CT3 clutches a blooper to tie the game, Seager scoring! Now for extra fun, finally we PH for weak Belli — with Pujols, who grounds out. Now tied at 1-1 in the 9th — what else.

Pitching: Dreaded bullpen game Opener is Knebel. Leadoff hit (not a good sign). K (good sign). Popup, groundout (good). Good through 2 (2H, 0R). Next up Bickford for the 3rd. He starts off with 2 walks (ugh!), then a hit to load them, and is replaced by Vesia. He also hurls a cookie for another hit and 1st run of series (on an 0-2 count — a sin). But redemption on a great K of Bryant, followed by a rope to deep CF flogged by hot Crawford but luckily flagged by a fleet Belli. Damage limited to 1 run (we’ll take it): 1-0. Vesia gone too. In comes Graterol in the 4th: leadoff double (ugh!). Advances on groundout. K of patsy pitcher — 2 gone. Leadoff is rough Ruf (not a dog LOL): comebacker for 3rd out. Enter our 4th pitcher in only the 5th: Shane Greene (maybe we could use Shawn Greene LOL). K, groundout (nice play by Seager), but then 2 walks. Out goes Greene for LHP Bruihl to face LH hot Crawford (I can’t watch). But nice job and Craw grounds into a force — no runs. Roberts runs out our ace early, in the 6th, and Treinen gets us out of the inning — but not until Belli appears to make a shoestring catch but overturned to a trap (correct call). Blake gets the next guy to end the 6th, and he goes 1-2-3 in the 7th. Still 1-0. Now tied 1-1 in the 9th, in comes Jansen, who throws 6 straight balls (dumb pitch calling — not 1 cutter) and walks 1st 2. But Kenley guts it out somehow getting 2 flies and a groundout (not overwhelming).

And we go to extra innings, tied 1-1 — how appropriate. Runners placed at 2B. For the Dodgers, unfortunately it is Pujols, who gets moved over on a long fly by AJ. Roberts goes with a pinch runner for Tio: Buehler. Trea gets the clutch sac fly to go ahead 2-1. Barnes PH single for Kenley, gets WP to 2B. Mookie works the count full and walks: 2 on, 2 out. JT grounds out. So 2-1 to the bottom of the 10th. Dodgers have no one left to bring in as their 9th pitcher, save yet another late acquisition: Andrew Vasquez who hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2019. Giants leadoff with hot Crawford, who works the count full and then pounds a grounder through the middle to tie the game. Worse, is the lame Dodgers don’t cut the throw, so Craw takes 2B as the winning run (oh no) — could cost the game. Grounder gets Craw to 3B. Gutty Vasquez K’s Yaz for 2nd out. Winning run 90 feet away. Giants go with a PH, so Dodgers answer with yet another pitcher (10th of the game and 39th of the season), newly acquired: Evan Phillips, who comes in and blows away the PH Casali on a sweeper.

So now we go to the 11th, completely exhausted and bereft of pitchers and players, tied 2-2. They even had to put Will Smith at 1B for Pujols (for Belli for Muncy). Seager leads off with his 4th hit, and Dodgers have them cornered with no outs. Smith hits it hard but right at SS Crawford who goes home to tag out JT (who I wish would have been sent home on the Seager hit). 1B and 2B with 1 out, up to bat is CT3 (9th inning hero). Whiff, 2 outs. Oh no, Dodgers have no one left to PH, so they send up the relief pitcher Phillips (crap!). Dodgers completely waste 1st and 3rd no outs. That ought to cost them the game. Dodgers have no one left but me, to write their epitaph. Giants bat top of the order, with Ruf on base 4 times, but a swing and a miss for a K. LH hitter BB gets the IBB, to bring up Kris Bryant (0-4). Walk to load the bases. Liner/hopper snagged by Seager at SS who throws home for a force and 2nd out. Just have to get by killer Posey. He strokes it sharply to the 4 hole, snagged by Trea who rifles it to Will Smith at 1B, but a tad high barely pulling Will off the bag, but he struggles to get a toe back on. After review, still ruled SAFE — game over. Giant win 3-2. Oh my goodness. (The game had to end sometime.)

Game 2- Dodgers need a comeback win after last night’s exhaustion. And Trea gives them a liftoff with a leadoff solo blast (16th of his career). Dodgers go on to score 3 total in the 1st, but Urias gives 1 run back (could have been worse). Looks like a typical Dodgers game where we score early then try to hold on. But good that they tacked on 3 more runs late (8-9th), last run on a solo jack by hot Seager (3+ hits last 2 games). Hot AJ gets a double, but pulls a hamstring trying to steal 3B. (Reports it is a grade 2 pull, so AJ is likely gone for 3-4 weeks — such a shame.)

Pitching: Urias pitched out of a lot of traffic, giving up only 1 run with 8K’s in 6.2 innings. His relief shutout the Giants: Vesia, Bickford, Treinen, Graterol. (Much more efficient than the 11 pitchers used last night.) Dodgers get a big 6-1 statement win.

Game 3– Rubber game meets the road. Dodgers in their ugly new dress blues. Difference early is both teams get 2nd and 3rd with no outs in the 2nd, but Dodgers leave them (CT3 popup, Belli K, Buehler K), while Giants get a triple for 3 runs. After the 2nd batter homer by Belts, it is now 4-1 Giants after 2. Dodgers get a leadoff hit from Trea and move him to 3rd, with Mookie on 1B with a walk, but 2 outs. JT flies out, and we leave ’em again. Dodgers load the bases in the 5th with 2 outs, Will Smith up. 1st pitch to the backstop, but ricochets right back to the catcher (weird), so runners hold. Count goes full and wow, what a close call for ball 4. Mound visit. 1 run in and CT3 up — K. Settle for only 1 run: 6-2 (missed critical opportunity yet again). Dodgers limp in order in the 6th. Dodgers send up 2-3-4 in the 7th, but go 1-2-3 (ugh). 8th again goes 1-2-3, including a Smith smash 1-hopper diving snag by Bryant to throw him out. Sleepy Dodgers limp into the 9th. 1 on, and Pujols to PH — wham bam! Tio slugs one into the bleachers (Dodgers only XBH of game) to give the Dodgers a modicum of momentum and a 2-run deficit at 6-4. After Trea flies out, Muncy comes up being 0-11 for the series, but comes through with a hit. Tying run to the plate in Mookie. He works the count to 2-2 when ump makes BAD call for strike 3 on a ball 4 inches inside (boo!). Last chance with JT, who lofts a foul fly down the RF fence that is snatched just off the screen by Yaz. Oh my, fitting end to a fitting series — close all the way. At least the Dodgers show some fight and make it interesting at the end.

Pitching: Dominant Buehler anything but. Balls being laced. Low fastball to Belts in 1st goes 419 feet for a homer. Belt high and in cutter to Duggar gets roped into RF corner for a triple (Mookie seemed to take his time). Never pitch belt high to anyone, or to a “happy zone” (for lefties it is down and in). Buehler still getting ripped in the 3rd, seems lost — too many pitches in the middle of the zone and not enough movement. Cutter mediocre; curve nowhere to be seen. Now 6-1 on 7 San Francisco hits through 3 (reverse score of yesterday). Kiss this game good-bye, along with Walker’s Cy Young (sigh). Buehler lifted after 3 with 6 ER. Bruihl a solid 4th and 5th, with a nice snatch by Muncy on a hot shot to 1B. Also a masterful bunt hit by an ageless Crawford that hits 3B to beat the shift, but he is caught stealing (Dodgers first since I don’t know when). Giants leadoff in the 6th against Price with a drag bunt hit by Yaz (wow, impressive, and shows why the Giants keep winning). Followed by a double for 2nd and 3rd no outs. Another weird play as Seager trips over the runner on 2B while catching a popup near the bag, complicated by Trea getting in the way too. (Should have been called by a 3rd party, usually the pitcher directing traffic.) IBB to load the bases, 1 out. Another popup, 2 outs. A hit here breaks the game open. Belt up, and rips a grounder up the 1B line snagged by Muncy, and the Giants also leave the bases loaded. Price starts the 7th, but is replaced by newbie Shane Greene. 2 on, 2 outs, catcher Casali makes final out. Still 6-2. Newbie Andrew Vazquez hurls a clean 8th. So the Dodgers bullpen shuts out the Giants again! But too late, as the 6 runs had run out the Buehler door.

Odd play in the 4th when a DP grounder to Trea isn’t: Trea makes a rookie mistake going after the runner instead of throwing to 2B for a possible DP. Worse, Trea tags the runner with an empty glove, and the play is challenged. Turns out trea accidentally clipped the runner’s helmet with the ball in hand before throwing to 1B.

Series summary: Dodgers scored 2 more runs than Giants, but lost 2 out of 3. Maybe the Giants are just a tad more efficient at producing runs, especially with RISP. Both bullpens were very tough. Buehler was a huge disappointment (go figure). Belli cost us a lot of scoring opportunities by his K’s and popups with RISP. He has to be replaced in the lineup — by either of the Mc’s or Beaty (bring him back to replace AJ!).

Aug 30-Sep 1: Big series vs hot Braves, especially after losing a series to worst team at home. We need our bats to come alive.

Game 1- Muncy comes alive and smokes a high fastball (his fav) for a 1-0 lead. (Muncy won’t see another fastball.) Rest of Dodgers look like Little Leaguers trying to hit a curveball. But they sure can hit high fastballs, as Will Smith continues his homerun tear with a solo: 2-0. Then even El Torito Urias gets a taco — line drive hit. Turner reaches out for a low curve and scores a hit (didn’t try to pull it!). Muncy ends it on a comebacker off a curve (duh). All Betts are on for Mookie Bobblehead (and his mom) for a 3rd solo jack in the 3rd: 3-0. And next a 2-run homer, as Seager bangs a hanger going with it to LF: matching Seager’s number (5). Seager up again in the 5th and gets wrung up on a check swing (correct call). Seager (I repeat) up again in the 8th gets another hit. Will Smith ropes one to LF looking like a double, but Will gets picked rounding 1B (yet again) to end the inning (cardinal sin).

Pitching: Urias dominates at start with K of first 3/4 batters, and is perfect through 4. Julio gives up a pair of hits in the 5th but survives. Then appears to tire in the 6th, as the Braves start playing jacks too — 2 of them (last one a cookie to Freddy). Julio barely survives the 6th and appears done. Now 5-2. Reliable Bickford for the 7th gives up the Braves’ 3rd solo (6th solo of game) on a high fastball (bad pitch call) to powerful Duvall (who ties Muncy at 29 for 2nd in NL). Now 5-3. Can the Dodgers hold on? Strange play ensues: Braves batter called for interference as Smith’s attempt to throw out a baserunner at 2B goes into CF. All good, but umps can’t figure out the latest version of the rule: who is out, the runner or batter? After review, they get it right: batter is out, runner has to go back to 1B.

We go to the 9th 5-3. Treinen still in after getting out FF, gets 1st out, but then gives up 2 hits. Nail biter with slugger Duvall up, Blake goes full and gets him looking on a masterful front-door slider. End of Home Run Derby (all 8 runs scored by homers).

Game 2- Nice catch of long fly in RF by Mookie to save a cheap homer. (Mookie should have gone all the way to the fence first, so as to not bang into it — “find the fence”.) 2nd inning JT leadoff double and stays there, as Morton strikes out the side — with both Smith and AJ looking at fastball after fastball (swing!). 3rd sees a Joc pop (what’s with the blond hair?) to deep RF on a tomahawk of a very high fastball — 1-0. Belli squares one up finally but pulls it into the shift. Dodgers finally score in the 4th on yet another solo, kiss by Mookie: 2-1. But Dodgers leave 2 on. 5th: Belli rinse and repeat hitting into the shift (at least he is hitting it hard and not popping up). Dodgers quiet 6th, but score the tying run on a PH CT3 sac fly in 7th. In the 8th, Mookie, after a walk, scores all the way from 1B on a Seager double to the gap to take a 3-2 lead.

Pitching: Buehler good through 2, Joc pop in 3rd, then 2 cheap hits for another run in 4th: 2-0. Walker leaves Joc stranded at 3B in the 5th on a great curve K. Walker clean through 7. The Great Treinen strikes out the side in the 8th on wicked sliders. Now here comes Jansen for the save: Jams hot Riley; K D’Arneau on cutters; K Swansby on sliders. Dodgers hold on for 3-2 win. Squeaker. Too bad Buehler didn’t get the win (Treinen did).

Game 3 (for the sweep)- Sweeping a hot Atlanta would be a big deal. Muncy starts it off with his 30th homer off Braves ace (and Harvard-Westlake grad) Max Fried. Then in the 3rd, an unlikely solo from Barnes, followed by a triple by Muncy (high off the wall for the hard half of the cycle), who is stranded: 2-0. In the 7th, Dodgers get 2 on, 2 out, and send up Belli to PH, but he grounds out (predictable). In the 8th, the Dodgers get a leadoff double by Trea, who makes it to 3B with 2 outs, but finally the Dodgers get 2 big-time hits with RISP — by JT, walk to Seager, single by AJ for a 4-3 lead.

Pitching: Max Scherzer strong with a 3-hit shutout through 6. But he is removed due to a tight hamstring. Graterol takes the hill in the 7th, but gets ambushed on a 100 fastball for a 2-run homer by Rosario to tie the game at 2. Vesia for the 8th, also gets ambushed for a jack, this time by Swanson for a solo: 3-2 Braves. After the Dodgers re-take the lead 4-3, Joe Kelly is called upon for the save, and he retires them in order. The Dodgers win 4-3 for the sweet sweep.

Aug 27-30: Rockies come to Los Angeles with the NL’s worst road record. We should sweep, but we’ll take 2. We still have to use bullpen games.

Game 1- Dodgers go with a bullpen game and an opener, Graterol, who got ambushed by Dodger killer Blackmon for a 2-run homer (Charlie’s 4th vs Dodgers this year). Dodgers get started in the 3rd, with a solo jack off the LF foul pole by Will Smith (21st, and 3rd game in a row), with an add-on solo blast in same area by Trea. So 2-2 after 3. (Keep pitching Will up and in, thank you! And please, everyone, stop calling it the “fair pole”! It is the extension of the foul line.)

Sad, bad play by Rox ends inning on a foul popup near home caught by catcher as he was run over by big 1B CJ Cron, twisting his ankle. That should never happen: pitcher should have made a 3rd party call (directed traffic). Also, scare on AJ fouling a pitch off his front foot (hope OK).

Dodgers still not hitting, but at least we are into the Rox bullpen. Dodgers go quietly in the 7th and 8th. Last chance 9th features the heart of the order. Mookie leads off with his 1st hit since being back, and is WP to 2B. Muncy PH for Pujols: K (wicked backup change). Seager works the count full but gets wrongly wrung up on another outside change. Last dance with AJ (Petty remark), but he steps on his own toes with a check swing strike 3. Game over.

Pitching: Graterol opener marred by Blackmon homer. Rook Andre Jackson takes hill for 2nd time this month (and in his career). Andre is clean through the 4th, but 2 walks in the 5th to face killer Blackmon, and he induces a grounder to 1B (whew). Rox start all-star LHP Freeland, who is pretty tough through 5. Top of 6, Jackson hangs a change to slugger CJ Cron (23rd) for 482 feet! (Still only counts for 1 run, but get out the tape measure.) Jackson gets pulled after a bunt hit (looked foul) in the 6th, for Bruihl (spell check?). 7th brings in Shane Greene with Dodgers down 3-2. HBP sets up a DP. Grounder to Trea at 2B should have been a simple DP, but Trea decided to chase the runner first (usually a bad pay), missed him, but got bailed out by the ump making a correct call of “out” on the runner for going too far out of the baseline on the attempted tag (but it was a close call and we could have lost the DP). Greene starts the 8th, but relieved by Vesia. Vesia pitches the whole 9th, but surrenders a scant homer just over AJ’s glove for a 4-2 deficit.

So we lose 1st game to Rox (should not happen). Rox out-homer Dodgers 3-2, in a game where all 6 runs (4-2) resulted from home runs.

Game 2- Dodgers load bases with 2 outs in the 1st, so here comes the key #6 hitter: oh no, it is Belli! (stupid Roberts.) Gray off to Rocky start goes full count again (3rd straight), and so Belli gets a pitch in the middle of the zone, but Belli flies out (at least he hit it, and he will fly out again). Where is our hottest hitter, AJ? McKinney replaces Seager? Why is Mookie hitting 3rd when he is not yet back to his good hitting? So bad lineup leaves ’em loaded (and not laughing). Trea leadoff single again in the 3rd, takes 2B on overrun, takes 3B on a steal (what else can he do?) Muncy walks on 4 pitches (3rd walk by Gray). Gray delivers 1st pitch to Mookie but hurts his arm and leaves. New pitcher walks Mookie on 4. Bases loaded again, no outs. JT too aggressive on a low pitch and hits into a DP (ugh). But at least we scored the only run of the series not due to a homer. Smith waves at a high fastball for 3rd out. We should have gotten more than 1. [1-1] CT3 launches a big fly for yet another solo jack in the 4th. [2-2] Trea leads off the 5th yet again (walk). Unfortunately Muncy ropes one into a DP. Bats quiet in the 6th — why can’t we hit Rox pitching? Insult: Trea gets backpicked to end the 7th. Finally, in the 8th, Muncy slaps a parachute into LF to leadoff. 2 walks load the bases yet again (3rd time). Tense drama. Clutch Will Smith works the count 3-1 to get a good pitch and slugs it into LF to score 2 — ballgame. PH AJ singles for the insurance run: now 5-2. Will Smith again goofs by getting thrown out taking 3B to end it.

Pitching: Dodgers go with Knebel as the opener in yet another bullpen game. Then the Price is right after 1.2 innings. Not so right in 3rd, giving up a run on a hit. [1-0] later [1-1]. In the 4th, a long fly to RF that could have been caught by McKinney wasn’t, so runners at 2nd and 3rd. Grounder to 2B scores a run. [2-1] Price is removed in the 6th (low pitch count) for Bickford. First batter hits a long fly for an out. Another loud fly but foul by a hot CJ Cron, then a soft fly out. Treinen is clean in the 8th, and Jansen likewise for a nice save in the 9th. Dodgers win 5-2, and stay even with the Giants (also won 5-0).

Game 3- Giants and Dodgers in parallel, and the Giants got shutout — so Dodgers jinxed. But hope Dodgers can stay focused and win this game, despite Roberts pulling both Mookie and JT for McKinney and Belli, so our “deep” lineup isn’t (only 1-5 are good hitters). Dodgers perfectly awful through 4 (no hits). But in the 5th, we get 2 hits — by Seager and Belli (went the other way!) to get them cornered. But Senzatela gets sneaky 3-2 fastballs by CT3 and McKinney, with Barnes grounder to end the threat. Senzatela is tough through 7 (still only 2 hits). Dodgers going quietly still in the 8th, until a gift pop sun ball falls, then a walk to Muncy. But AJ K’s (a straight flush). Rox have not shutout the Dodgers in 5 years — until now. Sad. [0-3-0] Rox get only their 2nd road series win.

Pitching: yet another bullpen game, led off by Mitch White (who was good last time). This time White gets ambushed in the 1st for 3 runs by carelessly hanging curves to killers Blackmon and CJ Cron. Mitch settled down in the 2nd, and got out of a leadoff double jam in the 3rd by finally locating his curve low. 4th sees a center cut fastball ripped for a hit, followed by a stolen base when Barnes can’t grip the ball. Walk, so 2 on. Pitcher bunts and Dodgers screw up — bases loaded, no outs. White gets a K, then is replaced by Graterol. K. Popup on Blackmon — inning over (whew). Still 3-0. Grat clean 5th. for the 6th, we order up Creme Bruihl. In the 7th, Kelly has a mess and gives up 2 runs. Jansen gets some work in the 8th. But in the 9th, Roberts goes nuts: has JT pitch! Red Dream throws some BP but escapes on 2 long flies after 2 hits (fun but stupid). So in all, the Dodgers give up 5 — to the worst road team. One defensive highlight: Belli made a great overhead leaping/lunging snow cone catch of a liner to deep CF.

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.

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.

Aug 16-18: Aargh matey. The woeful Bucs come to town. We need to sweep.

Game 1- Figures, after scoring 14 the day before, the Dodgers can’t hit the next night — going scoreless until the 7th. That’s when the Dodgers’ most unlikely hitter, who was 0 for last 5 games and just castigated on Dodger Nation posts, went from perdition with rendition to redemption with a mighty blast to tie the game at 1. Cue Mad Max come to bat in the 8th, after being plunked the last AB, turned on a fastball for 413 feet of Air Muncy — and a first lead of 2-1. And oh yeah, yet another couple of errors: Trea chunked a grounder at SS, and Belli threw a bunt into RF. That play was a horrible non-call by all the umps, as clearly the runner was inside the 1B line and interfered with the throw. Still, we all practice that throw as having to be well inside, with the 1st baseman yelling “inside” and setting up way inside.

Pitching: Crazy bullpen game. Buihl was a 1st inning opener, followed by yet another unknown rookie in the callup parade named Andre Jackson for 4 scoreless. The dude looked pretty confident and had a great change for a number of K’s. Followed by scoreless innings from Vesia, Graterol who got a bases loaded last out bailout from shutdown Treinen, and a save of the 2-1 win by a rejuvenated Jansen.

Game 2- Roberts seems to not take this game seriously enough by sitting his hot 2-3 hitters Muncy and Turner (both!). Then he bats Belli 4th?! That’s a big hole in an important spot. So Dodger get 1st 2 men on base in each of 1st and 2nd innings, but don’t score — partly due to the stupid lineup. For example, Smith’s fly in 1st would have plated a run if he batted 4th not 3rd. We can’t have a swing and miss Belli batting 4th! Bad enough we have a struggling Lux in the starting lineup. At least he got Beaty into the lineup (a good thing: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI).

Then we got into trouble in the 3rd when we had players out of their normal position: Taylor had been playing CF, but for some stupid reason he is in RF, where he misplayed a fly into a triple (and Belli in CF doesn’t back him up quickly). Then Lux at 3B makes a bad throw to 1B but gets bailed out (a throwing angle he is not used to), followed by yet another bad throw by Lux to score the tying run in the 4th. Now again in the 3rd we get runners at 2nd and 3rd, but this time we get AJ up and he plates 2 runs with a single. Tied 2-2 in the 5th, Seager leads off with a double double, but Smith fails to advance him. Belli out. AJ take a walk. Beaty battles and comes through with a huge double to score 2, and give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. Dodgers got 3 leadoff doubles but did not advance the runner once — shame on you. Ended up 3-16 with RISP.

Pitching: David Price gave us 4.2 good innings. His only 2 runs were aided by errors (Lux) and a misplay of a fly (Taylor). Evil Knebel closes out the 5th and hurls a clean 6th. In the 7th, the usually reliable Bickford was, and so was Treinen clean in the 8th. Now the 9th for the closer, Jansen. Unfortunately Dodger castoff Tsutsugo does it again: a leadoff double. Kenley hurls high cheese for the K — 1 out. Jansen then loses command and walks Polanco, so now 1st and 2nd — tying runs on. We’re all sweating. Jansen ahead but misses low and gives up a hit for a run — now 4-3 with 2 on. Do the Bucs stop here? Yes! A final groundout. Breath. Just enough for the 4-3 win (4-8-2), to go 28 games over .500. (Probably will need to end up 40 games over to get to 101 wins.)

Game 3- Dodgers sweep Bucs off the plank with a 9-0 drenching. As it should be. Offense explodes for 4 homers: Muncy (2), AJ, Seager. Pitching highlight was a 7.1 inning shutout close by up-and-down Mitch White (1st close that long since 1984).

Now bring back the fading Mets for the weekend.

Aug 13-15: Dodgers visit Mets for 1st time in 2 years. Dodgers need a series win.

Game 1- Dodgers sailing along behind Urias with a 4-0 lead after 5. Roberts pulls Urias (looking tired) and Knebel holds the 6th. But the Dodgers implode with a give-away in the 7th: after 2 outs (both K’s), Roberts 1st mistake was to pull Graterol, and then replace him with a rookie (our recipe for disaster all year). Roberts waited too long to bring in Treinen to shut it down, but not after giving up 4 runs to tie the game and rob Urias of a well deserved 14th win.

Then Freaky Friday the 13th came to haunt further in the 9th. Pujols is called back as PH for Barnes to sac bunt, but he pops out. But a balk is called, so the runner advances to 2B anyway. Then Trea gets HBP but gets called back after review (hit the bat). Trea takes strike 3 (oh no), leaving it to Muncy. Max then gets “green lighted” (fan shines a green light onto his face!). But Mighty Max swings — and misses to end the inning (ugh!). Jansen comes in and pitches a clean 9th, striking out Alonso (you can breath now, but I would have walked Pete). So we go to extras — and to our Dodger doom.

But wait — Freaky Friday the 13th turns as Will Smith leads off the 10th by opening his stance and turning on a fastball tailing in on him for a long home run! Dodgers in unknown territory take a 6-4 lead. Kenley is sent out for a 2nd inning to save it. Hold your breath again. Roberts intentionally walks the winning run (dangerous) but fortunately it works this time, as the next batter flies out to end the game 6-5. Smitty the hero, with a nice effort from Jansen.

Game 2- Stop the presses: Dodgers win back to back extra innings games! This time only 2-1, with both teams garnering only 4 hits, including a solo jack. Unlike last night, this game was a sleeper, as the Dodgers were no hit through 6. Hero Will Smith got our first hit — a solo jack — in the 7th, to tie the game 1-1. Our bullpen no hit the Mets over the final 3 innings for the save, following Buehler’s great 7 (1 run, 4 hits, 10 K). But I (not Doc) would have let Bickford finish the game. my god, he got the 1st 2 in the 10th, looking sharp. Then Roberts pulls him? With only 1 more out to get? Pshaw! Final point: why was Roberts making so many 2-for-1 pitching changes? He was shuffling players in and out and all over the field — that leads to errors (silly). And that really helped our offense, right? Not. IMHO, way over managing.

Game 3- For the sweep. After being no-hit for 6 last night, Dodgers unload on Mets starting early rolling 3’s: 3x3x3x3x2 = 14 for two touchdowns (14-16-1). Poor Mets didn’t know what hit ’em, with a barrage of 5 homeruns, including 2 by Muncy, and a PH jack by Beaty. Trea set the tone with 3 for 3 to start, then JT and Smith went nearly back to back in the 1st, with Muncy going yard for another 3 spot in the 2nd. Dodgers rolled another pair of 3’s in the 6-7th to put it away for good.

Pitching: Scherzer was strong again, but was let down by a lot of sloppy Dodgers’ defense. First, Smith picked up a dribbler and threw to 3B too late instead of the sure out at 1B. Then Trea dropped a DP throw to make both runners safe, and later botched a grounder. Followed by Seager getting befuddled and not taking the sure out on a bouncer. So instead of 2 easy innings, Scherzer had to grind out it out throwing an extra 10-15 pitches. Given the weary bullpen, Roberts should have let Scherzer pitch the 7th. But instead he pulled him for yet another newly called up Nieto who was awful, and had to go. It was dicey replacing him with yet another sketchy reliever, Uceta, with bases loaded and 1 out. And expected, Uceta gave up a long fly that could have cut the lead to 9-7, but thankfully fell just short of the warning track. But that did make it 9-4. Fortunately, the Dodgers put up 5 more runs to make all that moot at 14-4. Fun watching the Mets go with a pair of position players to pitch the 9th, and the Dodgers feasted for 2 more runs.