NLDS Day One, 2014

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Giants at Nationals, 12:00PM PT, TV: FS1

The Giants start 13-year veteran Jake Peavy, the mid-season acquisition who was 1-9 with a 4.72 ERA for the Red Sox but 6-4 with a 2.17 ERA when he got back to the National League with the Giants. Their ace, Bumgarner, pitched and won the wild card game on Wednesday and won’t be available until Game 3 of this series on Monday. The Nationals have had their rotation set for two weeks, and tomorrow they start Stephen Strasburg, who was 14-11 with a 3.14 ERA this season. He’ll be making his postseason debut; in a controversial move the Nats’ management shut him down before the season ended in 2012, the last time the Washington team made the playoffs. (They missed the wild card by four games last season, and Strasburg was recovering from Tommy John surgery anyway).

Cardinals at Dodgers, 3:30PM PT, TV: FS1

Clayton Kershaw vs. Adam Wainwright. The best pitching matchup of any of these four series. We could see a double no-hitter.

Can Molina stop Dee Gordon and the other Dodger base stealers? Can the Dodgers keep from going into another hitting slump like they did last year?

We’ll find out this afternoon.

74 thoughts on “NLDS Day One, 2014”

  2. Angels are getting the pitching but no hitting and down 0-2, going to KC.

    If the Dodgers can bounce back with Zack, they get to go on the road . . . just what they want!

  4. Silver Lining Dept.: they didn’t roll over.

    Safe travels, RBI — enjoy Italy!

  11. To answer the questions from your lead post, Link, the Dodgers CAN run and they CAN hit.

    I don’t think anyone would’ve questioned if Kersh could’ve held a 5-run lead.

    • If so, I hope they learned from it.
      And I hope they get a chance for redemption this year. This will be a TOUGH thing to carry through the off-season . . . after such a great year, to be Carpentered/Cardinaled again.

  13. Forget Freddie vs. Jason . . . the new horror story for Dodger fans is Kershaw vs. Carpenter.

    I’m back home now, listening to Vin and able to stay in touch with all of you . . . the way it was all year, the way things should be.

    I was in a casino sports book, watching on one of their screens: surrounded by smokers, Kershaw-haters, lack of Dodger announcers (or ANY audio), and both batteries in my laptop dead.

  14. Re what Foul Tip wrote about Kersh with the FB, I heard analysis yesterday re he and Wainwright, that hitters will try to “ambush” them and hit earlier in the AB, to avoid the nasty stuff. . . . Don’t know if that means Kersh was pitching any differently than before, or not . . . but I believe Vin said he had set down 17 in a row at one point, before . . . That Inning.

    The only difference is there WAS a runner at 2nd most of the time. Of course, they needed two singles to get a runner there, so perhaps Kersh was “off” from the beginning of the inning.

    • The “Ambush Technique” – funny it was called that…. 🙂
      …
      Personally, I like it. When I played in college, I frequently swung at one of the first couple of pitches. Kersh was pitching with a lead and wanted to be ‘around the plate’ early and often I’m sure, hoping to get some fly balls or ground outs….
      Well, the Cards just so happened to ‘square a few up’… to the tune of 8 runs.
      ….
      Many times, in our Dodgers’ quest to see more pitches, our guys end up taking the absolute best pitch of the entire at-bat …….. just to end up swinging at the junk that the pitcher wants our guys to swing at. Hat’s off to the Cards!

      • Agree to the hats off . . . they scraped and scrambled and beat the best the Dodgers have to offer . . . but hopefully LA still gets the W!

  15. It will sure be interesting to see….
    ….
    Does anybody on this club say, “Sorry…. NOT this year!….”
    We’re goona ‘get it done’ this time around….????
    ….
    I hope Adrian Gonzalez just answered my question as I typed… 🙂
    …
    I sure don’t want the Dodgers to become baseball’s version of the Buffalo Bills…..

  17. Following up on the sign stealing or “relaying,” announcer just said Cards 5 are for 7 with a runner on 2B tonight. Said he could be wrong about the sign thing but doubted it.

    Kinda makes you wonder about last year, too. Were pitches pilfered then?

    • Agree — but also hope something can happen tonight. It would be the first time all year . . . but what better time?

  20. Announcers with very valid point that there should have been some chat among the Dodgers in the middle of all that in regard to signs, which they think Cards are stealing. Also wondering why Kersh kept throwing FB after FB.

    Good bit of analysis this game and in prior days about Kersh starting almost every hitter he faces with a FB for a strike. Since it’s that well known, good idea to vary something.

  32. I am irked that not even the jinky streams are working tonight. Thanks, MLBTV. Thanks, Selig.

  42. Is that part of the “Classy” Cardinals’ playbook, take out opponents with HBP? Sure worked last year.,

  43. I’m not gonna get on the offense’s case . . . yet.

    Dee seems to be pressing lately, so I wasn’t expecting too much from him . . . and he DID drive up the pitch count.

    They ARE getting the opportunities, so hopefully the offense from the last couple of weeks will kick in — and they’ll get the hit . . . or they’ll be the Angels of last night.

  45. I have to watch this in a sports book — apparently there were a lot of SF fans cheering the end of that game.

    So far, reflections on the postseason:

    Angels showed Dodger habit of not getting clutch hit. (Hopefully a habit they’ve outgrown — that WAS a good shot in the 1st inning).

    The Tigers’ bullpen is as scary as the Dodgers’ can be.

    The Giants keep winning in the postseason.

    Go, Blue!

    • Surprised a bit at Elbert over Paco. Was probably 50/50 another reliever or Barney.