NLCS Game Seven, 2020

Posted on by

Braves vs Dodgers, 5:15 PM PDT, TV: Fox, FS1

When the Braves send RHP Ian Anderson to the mound this evening he’ll be the sixth-youngest pitcher ever to start a postseason elimination game. He’s made three starts in the playoffs, going 15 2/3 innings without allowing a run, including four innings against the Dodgers in Game Two of this series. The Dodgers failed to take advantage of the five walks he issued during that outing and lost the game. It seems unlikely he’ll be that generous again, but if he is they’ve got to score those runners.

The Dodgers have not yet announced who’s gonna start, but Gonsolin seems to be the likely choice. He could go deep into the game or, if he falters, he could be pulled quickly. The Dodgers have several fairly well-rested arms in the bullpen, although they may be well-rested because they’re not entirely trusted. Who knows?

Update: In a surprise to me, RHP Dustin May is going to start for the Dodgers. He went two innings in the Dodgers’ 7-3 win in Game Five, starting the game and giving up three hits and two runs.

Please, Roberts, do not be tempted to use Clayton Kershaw on short rest. He is no longer the 22-year-old wunderkind of ten years ago. He’s a guy with 2,300 innings of major league baseball under his belt. Asking him to do anything in today’s game would be setting him up to fail in the postseason again, and he deserves better from his bosses.

The catch didn’t steal a homer, but it would have scored a run and put Ozuna on 2nd or 3rd. It was Betts’ reaction after he caught it that really amused me, though:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1977 In the Yankees’ 8-4 victory over the Dodgers in Game 6 of the Fall Classic, Reggie Jackson, who also homered in his last at-bat in the previous contest, hits three more home runs, each on the first pitch of the at-bat, giving the New York slugger three homers on three consecutive pitches, after drawing a base-on-balls in his first plate appearance. ‘Mr. October’s heroics in the Bronx ballpark assures the team of their twenty-first World Championship and first since 1962.

    • 2013 The Cardinals advance to their second World Series in three seasons, routing the Dodgers, 9-0, in Game 6 of the NLCS. St. Louis, behind the timely hitting of Carlos Beltran and the strong pitching performance of rookie right-hander Michael Wacha, beats Clayton Kershaw (16-9, 1.83) for the fourth time this season, including a pair of victories in this round of the postseason.

Lineups when available.

Braves:

Dodgers:

445 thoughts on “NLCS Game Seven, 2020”

  7. Kiké should be given a mic after every game. He’s got a comment for everything.

    In the following inning, after Bellinger homered, he and Hernández bashed arms, so forcefully that Bellinger said he dislocated his right shoulder. Bellinger remained in the game.

    “I’m good,” Bellinger told MLB Network. “I hit Kiké’s shoulder a little too hard, and my shoulder popped out. I had to go back into the trainer’s room and they popped it back in.”

    Said Hernández to FS1: “You can take a positive out of everything, and the positive here is that Belli now knows he can’t mess with people who are way stronger than him.”

  9. Ha! From Tom Verducci at SI:

    The Dodgers forced the Braves to throw 175 pitches to 38 batters, a preposterous rate of 4.6 pitches per plate appearance. Since 1988, when pitch data became available, there have been 21 Game 7s. The Dodgers saw the most pitches per plate appearance of the 42 lineups to play in those past 21 Game 7s.

    Watching the Dodgers take at bats is like sitting through a PBS pledge drive: It’s going to take longer than you prefer, but it’s necessary.

  10. Quique’s a free agent after this season, and I wouldn’t blame him if he
    sought an everyday job commitment elsewhere. That said, he’d be badly
    missed if he left the Dodgers.

  11. Urias is

    a veteran of 16 postseason games with a career playoff earned-run average of 2.84. He has six career postseason victories, which is more than any pitcher has ever recorded before his 25th birthday.

  13. Kiké is irrepressible.

    Bellinger’s celebration was so aggressive, it appeared he popped out his chronically troublesome right shoulder on a forearm bash with Hernández, but he remained in the game until the finish.

    “I didn’t know,” Hernández said after the game on FOX. “But you can take a positive out of everything, and the positive here is that Belli now knows that he can’t mess with people who are way stronger than him. We’re all good. He’s fine. He swung in the cage and he’s all good now.”

  18. I got tied with many phone calls and I am also running two nonpartisan political campaigns and assisting on a third and had to work on ads. That’s why I disappeared. But to each and every one of you, thanks for all your posts throughout this irregular season. Looking forward to communicating more during the World Series. Best to all of you.

        • That’s certainly the narrative. Managers make a lot of decisions and sometimes they don’t work out. He gets a lot of heat for sticking with Klayton over the years, but guess what, 80% of inherited runners have scored off of the subsequent relievers. (The NL average this year was 33%).

  23. It’s a bit weird, after previous years dissapointments at home games, I’m kinda glad there are no WS games at Dodger Stadium. (I know it’s sad you all can’t be there, but I think it takes the pressure off the team a bit)

      • Their offense is only so-so, but their defense is otherworldly and they’ve got some productive hitters. The pitching can be dominant, but it was inconsistent v. the Asterisks.

  37. I’ll be honest with you all. If the Dodgers win this game tonight – I will want the Dodgers to win the whole thing.

    • I just told my husband I was heading upstairs so I don’t have a heart attack! Will be watching here and on Gameday. GO BLUE!!!!

  48. Urias is good for another inning. He threw five innings four days ago. Before that, he hadn’t pitched since October 8. Please, Doc, don’t prescribe another pitcher.

  65. It was beginning to look like that was where the ball had to be pitched for Belli to launch one

  73. This ump owes the Dodgers about half a dozen pitches. I’ll take them in the 8th and/or 9th.

  87. Atlanta also going through their pitching.

    I wish Hernandez had pinch hit for Muncy earlier

  108. I really hope the Dodgers have not hit their last HR of the season. I could use a few more.

  121. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone play with the pure joy that Mookie displays.

  122. The overall sense I get is that the Dodgers are more confident. That bizarre DP, which I have watched, had to be devastating for Atlanta.

  123. Couldn’t ask for a better inning from Blake, but I didn’t watch. Reads like there were some well hit balls. Like RBI, I am bouncing back between Gameday and the TV.

  147. Would love to have Seager send someone camping this inning. (By hitting the camping sign beyond the CF fence.)

  153. Let’s come on back again Dodgers. Please let that base running be the thing that stops the Braves from wining.

  162. First time this season that Treinen has pitched three straight days. Not the time to break the mold. Just like starting a pitcher twice in three days. Will Roberts’s odd postseason managing cost us again?

  166. Of course he threw it right down the middle. He is not getting any strike calls on the edges.

  202. This was a disaster waiting to happen. We were luck Atlanta scored only one in the first inning. I expect that this is the first time that Dodgers have ever — regular or postseason — started the same pitcher twice in three days and to do it in the most crucial game of the year?

    • As I say the ump balances things out by calling balls strikes against Dodger hitters and vice versa for Braves hitters. It all works out that way.

        • No – I mean that for Braves hitters strikes by Dodger pitchers are called balls. Lol. I’m a homer for sure.

    • I share WBBsAs’ surprise re May, who didn’t show much on Friday. Perhaps Roberts is hoping to sneak one good inning out of him, but the first-inning May-Freeman matchup today worries me.. I share the feeling that Gonsolin and/or Urias could follow quickly.

      • File this under a problem the Dodgers want to have – but if they win this game, their pitching is messed up for the first few games of the WS. Of course the alternative would be worse.

    • Before the last start, May had appeared in 5 postseason games averaging around 22 pitches, so not a lot of workload. I suspect that they are aiming for two innings out of him, 3-4 from Goose and 2-3 from Julio.