There is no reason why Roberts shouldn’t ride Urias until the wheels fall off. Urias should have come out for 7th as well
Nerd trust.
At least lol wow will get a free meal tomorrow
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Pretty shitty not inviting Schilling to throw out the first pitch with the team.
Guy was a machine and there wouldn't be a championship if it wasn't for him.
Price gave up 3 LESS RUNS less runs that Sale and pitched an inning more than him.
Who woulda guessed.
Joe Buck is gonna try to convince viewers that this Series is still a contest.
More like Dave Roberts shits the bed again.
He had two super-hot relievers in Urias and Baez.
Instead, he goes with washed up Madson in a critical spot (bases loaded, 2 out, Dodgers up 2-1), who promptly walks in a run. Then he leaves him in to give up a 2-RBI single.
That was the difference.
No idea what he was thinking.
:fail2
Roberts is following the strategy/player moves laid out by the boy Ivy League president of baseball operations and his corps of computer nerds (who to start, who to bring in, how long to keep them in, what situations justify a substitute, who to save for the next game when trailing late...)
Katz and Freidman will be there in front of the cameras if the team wins the series, but will you see them in the dugout standing up for the team if the Sox win?
This is the assumption by a lot of Dodgers fans, and it's unfortunately believable.
There is the belief that Roberts is just a puppet for Friedman and Zaidi, and basically he's given a blueprint on how to manage and told not to deviate from it.
Then he keeps his job, provided the Dodgers don't completely embarrass themselves. Given that they've won the NL two years in a row, and made the NLCS all three years of his tenure, they're definitely not embarrassing themselves. So he keeps his job for sure.
But they're also not winning World Series.
Many are (probably correctly) assuming that Roberts has been instructed to go with Sabermetric matchup moves over riding the pitchers/hitters who are hot.
While I have a lot of respect for the inroads analytics have made in the game (20 years ago, nobody knew what OPS was, and WHIP was rarely discussed outside of fantasy), sometimes it goes too far.
In the postseason, you need to ride the players who are hot, and avoid the ones who seem to be scuffling.
Right now, for whatever reason, the best two relievers on the Dodgers are Pedro Baez and Julio Urias -- something I never thought I'd say at the end of July.
When the Dodgers are in trouble, one of those two guys should be brought in to put out the fire, and then left in until they're either tired or fail to get the job done.
Alex Wood has been pretty bad this postseason. He should not be pitching in any high leverage situations.
Ryan Madson is 38 and has been inconsistent this postseason after a bad regular season. He shouldn't even be on the postseason roster, but since he is, again he should not be dropped into high leverage situations.
These lineups are also maddening.
Kike Hernandez is an automatic out right now. Brian Dozier has been terrible since coming to the Dodgers, and also is mostly an automatic out. Why Dozier leads off and why Kike has a permanent spot in the lineup is confounding to me. I realize that one of them has to play 2B (unless you put Taylor there), but if you have to start one of them, make it Dozier, and put him in the 8 spot.
Matt Kemp was a great story in the first half of the season, and the Dodgers wouldn't have made the postseason if he wasn't carrying them on their shoulders in April, May, and June. But now he's clearly worn down and isn't really one who should be starting, despite the fact that he did have a HR in Game 1.
I have no idea why Max Muncy isn't starting every game. They need his power, plus he takes walks and has been hitting decently in the postseason.
This is the lineup I want to see for the World Series:
Freese 1B (weird choice for leadoff, but he's been hitting, and the Dodgers have no speed anyway)
Turner 3B
Machado SS
Muncy DH
Bellinger CF
Taylor LF
Puig RF
Dozier 2B
Barnes C
Lefty or righty starting, use this lineup.
Use Urias or Baez in middle-inning high leverage spots.
Use Jansen to close.
Avoid Wood or Madson unless out of pitchers or if the game is a blowout either way.
So tilting to watch bad managerial decisions greatly influence these games.
:facepalm6
I mean....the Red Sox are winning with analytics also.
Game 1 Nunez was 3/16 so far in the playoffs (and their worst regular hitter in the regular season) and they pinch hit him for Devers, who was 8/22 with a homer thus far in the postseason. Nunez homer seals the game.
Obviously using lefty/righty splits isnt new radical analytics, but in that scenario it is going away from the hot hand based off of numbers. Oddly enough, after a quick searching, all 3 of Devers, Nunez, and Wood have relatively neutral platoon splits. Devers has never faced Wood before, Nunez was 1/4 with a single in his career vs him. That pinch-hitting call really made no sense at all, you could argue it was POORLY using analytics....until it succeeded and put the game away for Boston.
Baseball is weird, but analytics are on both sides of the equation now. Can't blame losing on that.
When I need to decide between one player and another, I try to figure out who is either
A) Better looking
B) Fucking more/bigger dick
This Joe Kelly guy on the Red Sox should be pitching every game. He looks like a guy I hooked up with in a bathroom bar AND looks like he has a big dick.
You see? Easy decision.
So Game 3 sales are tanking, as I expected.
Everyone in LA is so demoralized about the Dodgers being down 2-0 against such a good opponent, the public has rapidly lost interest in attending games.
It also doesn't help that everyone already has "Been there, done that" regarding attending World Series games in a series where the Dodgers ultimately lose, as most people who seriously wanted to go (and were willing to spend $) attended the 2017 games.
Last year, it was the first time since '88.
Now it's the first time since 2017. Not the same, even with the Red Sox as the opponent.
Sales are such a disaster that Stubhub has done the unthinkable. They are giving a 10% discount on Game 3 tickets, starting this afternoon, and lasting until game time.
This is significant because they are eating half their fees, since the fees are 23%, and the 10% off is coming from their take, not what the seller is charging.
Code WORLDSERIES10 gives you 10% off.
So StubHub made a decision at some point to give up almost half their fees in order to stimulate anemic sales of this game. Wow.
In light of this, I am strongly considering taking Benjamin tomorrow, even though it feels weird to spend so much money on a ticket for an 8-year-old.
But since prices are FREE FALLING, I will not be purchasing tickets until close to game time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWJXDG2i0A
Interesting thoughts by Druff. Very similar to the points I made the other day. Getting to the playoffs is great for the everyday fan but failing in the playoffs as often as you reach them has to be demoralizing.
So you beat some poorer teams and win the division ever year in part due to your revenue stream. That pales in comparison to a smaller club building into a contenda and pulling it of in the World Series or at least getting close.
That underdog team fan is probably a "better fan" than those of the big clubs who expect this or that.
I'm not blaming analytics themselves. I'm blaming an overreliance on analytics to the point where it overrules common sense.
I cannot see a scenario where it is correct to put in a struggling 38-year-old pitcher in a high leverage World Series spot, when you have two other middle relievers who have been lights out lately (and one who has been lights out for almost 3 months).
Dodgers were under the salary cap when the year began. They have been cutting payroll. The years of wild spending are overwith, it seems.
The Dodgers didn't make the playoffs because of lavish spending, anyway. In the first half, they stayed afloat thanks to Matt Kemp (acquired in a mutual salary dump and initially expected to be released), Ross Striping (on-and-off minor leaguer), and Max Muncy (career minor leaguer). Kershaw missed a lot of time due to injury. Turner missed half the season due to injury. Seager was out all year. In the second half, Walker Buehler (rookie) was a big factor on the pitching side.
Anyway, the Dodgers got where they did mostly thanks to unexpected performances and cheap players. They didn't get a lot of value out of the money they spent, and again, they were below the salary cap anyway.
Anyway, I have enjoyed being a Dodgers fan over the past 15 years. The team has mostly been in playoffs over that stretch, only missing 5 times, and making it 10 times (04, 06, 08, 09, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Of those 10, nine were division titles, and they appeared in 6 NLCS and two World Series.
To me, the worst feeling of being a fan of a team is when they suck big time and you feel like you're wasting your time watching. That's what happened to me with the Lakers, and I'm having trouble getting excited for them this year, even with Lebron in town. (There's also the problem that they're still not nearly good enough to compete with Golden State or Houston at this point.)
The Dodgers nerd trust just needs to stop meddling in managerial decisions. Hire a manager who understands analytics, but give him the autonomy to go with the hot player if he feels it's warranted. Don't put a puppet in the dugout who will take the fall for your own stupid decisions.
Cubs fans were lovable losers and resigned. Red Sox fans were perpetually angry and miserable.
Why Druff finds “enjoyment” from coming up short year after year is intriguing. No sports fan says, “we lost but I had fun”.
Maybe well adjusted people do that. I wouldn’t describe them as fans though. Fanatics by definition are not well adjusted.
No doubt having Vin Scully all those years eased the annual pain of coming up short. Scully must have made losing feel like poetry.
I feel better knowing you will still be happy end the end of the game tonight.
It is a child like quality, always being happy. The retards in the halfway house that limitles shares - they always have that senseless smile too.
You really must figure out the short coming in your personality on your own - or simply demonstrate more ambition.
Good news Druff
The Adrián and Betsy González Foundation is focused on returning some of the money he stole from the Dodgers.
You should put in a claim.
What’s up badguy.
Working hard?
I’m not wearing any pants
I hope Todd goes to 2 games this weekend so Boston can win it at home.
Couldn't resist.
2 last minute excellent 1B side field level seats, row 7, for $606/ea.
If the World Series goes to a Game 5, the Dodgers, Kings, Clippers, Ducks, Rams and Galaxy will all be playing at home on Sunday...which has never happened before.
It's called a sports equinox, it is when all four major U.S. sports leagues — NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB — play at least one game on the same day.
Will it happen or will the Dodgers get shut out?
:what
Roberts went full retard in game 7 last year with Darvish, why would this year be any different?
Uh ohhhh
after paying like 700 per ticket and getting a minimum 14 innings of baseball, druff's jew side must be in heaven...
Dodgers never make it easy on themselves.
mother fuck what a game, Muncy hit one just foul and now he finally got one in the 18th. longest world series game ever.
Druff did u stay the whole way?
MUNCY!!!!!!!!!
:yes
:kermit