Cubs at Dodgers, 5:00PM PT, TV: FS1
On paper the pitching matchup looks to favor the Cubs; LHP Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44 ERA) faces RHP Kenta Maeda (16-11, 3.48 ERA). Lester has pitched 14 innings in the playoffs and given up just one run; Maeda hasn’t made it into the fifth inning in either playoff start and has a 9.00 ERA over the seven cumulative innings he’s pitched.
Said in Chris Berman’s affected voice: “That’s why they play the games.”
Lineup:
#Dodgers NLCS Game 5 lineup:
Hernández 2B
Turner 3B
Seager SS
Ruiz C
Kendrick LF
González 1B
Puig RF
Pederson CF
Maeda P— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 20, 2016
NPUT
I’m not ready to write this season off yet, especially with Kershaw and Hill going the next two days, but I still found this excerpt from MLBTR reassuring. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7141aeaa654c8401d4037e93e7c2d13f9d1dd24cb8fc5ad48adde8fa11787250.png
We got them right where we want them.
We will wake up in the morning in the second half of October and our team will still be competing for an appearance in the WS. Only 3 teams left with a chance to win the 2016 WS. Dodgers are one of them.
Yas MVP candidate? http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/page/playoffs16_appreciatinggrandal/putting-value-los-angeles-dodgers-catcher-yasmani-grandal-proper-frame
Install electronic calls of balls and strikes and a catcher could go from MVP candidate to second string.
Wonder when that will happen. Of course, they would still need an ump behind the plate to grant Joc timeout when he wants to step out of the box.
True but now umpires will like him doing it because it saves their job
Put a clock on him!
and add the Joc rule that limits step outs to two per at bat not counting the situation when a Dodger Stadium bug flies into his mouth.
Pedro Baez take note. http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/75738/nobody-wants-to-see-pedro-baez-pitch-the-rest-of-this-postseason
Maybe he can read the article between pitches.
Dave might find this interesting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/10/21/big-updates-new-screen-time-rules-by-age-from-the-american-academy-for-pediatrics/?hpid=hp_rhp-more-top-stories_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Let’s at least go 3-3.
The only bright spot in this is getting runs off Chapman in the ninth. Now they know it can be done
Already did that in the first game, though it was in the 8th.
Does it make anyone feel better that I really enjoyed the theatre tonight? And that I want to petition RBI to write the screenplay for the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time? Don’t worry about pesky things like contracts and book rights, etc.
Glad you liked it.
At least one Dodger fan is happy tonight.
Kershaw and Hill and we win win the pennant still.
— and they’ll let you write the poem about the great comeback.
I hope I have that opportunity sometime Sunday night.
Hope that he might come Sunday night
Here’s how I see it: They won the first game, we won the next two, they won the next two, and now we will win the next (and final) two. Start booking your flights to Cleveland.
I agree with Scoop.
Well, its 12:30ish in New Hampshire so I am out of here. I like the rally off Chapman. I feel confident with Kershaw and Hill in Chicago. Hope the Dodgers run the basis more aggressively in Chicago.
Better than 8-2.
Hope they can score 4 for Kersh.
SOMEthing good — two runs (so far) vs. Chapman
When does Toles come up?
Now — and out with sac fly
Rats. Down to two outs. I really want a couple more runs here.
Here we go, Dodgers, here we go. (Clap Clap), etc.
Just put it in play, Joc.
Done, but Agon should have scored.
Speedy gets to third and Puig does sort of a clutchy thing.
Little by little?
Do not go gentle into that good night . . .
Let’s go, Dodgers!
Isn’t there something in the Geneva Convention saying if you’re trailing by 5 or more runs, you don’t have to face someone throwing 100+mph?
Dodgers own Chapman. Oh, I forgot, backed out of that.
Still glad we did.
Chapman. They’re not messing around.
Three more outs, boys. To get seven runs.
Don’t need all three
Right.
They got five in one inning. Why not six for us?
That’s the hit Corey was looking for.
Stadium maybe half full, and half of those are Cubs fans.
They have reason to be happy.
I don’t begrudge them and I’m really not surprised. I just wanted the Dodgers to have a good showing — they did for the first three games, then were the opposite of that.
Good point. Honestly, I thought they’d mop the field with us.
Dodgers have done one thing better than the Cubs. They have done a much better job of hitting balls to where Cubs are standing.
Does Blanton get the L? If we do, in fact, L?
Team effort.
Stripling for the… ?
Second verse, same as the first.
How did that DP go down? I couldn’t tell on Gameday.
Hard hit right at second, back to first.
Thank you, Ms. RBI.
You are most welcome.
There’s that DP we needed last inning.
Can we get “Missing, Please Return” flyers posted for the Dodger bats?
Dodgers still have 6 outs.
Um, four.
Then there were 3.
So the pressure will be on Kershaw again, just to stay alive — and no better to have out there.
I hope he comes up big again — obviously for the team, but also after redeeming his postseason reputation,
Toles! Love that guy!
Crowd coming back?
Livening up, for sure.
They’re not all earned, but 18 runs in two games, at home . . .
If only they hadn’t gotten that bunt down yesterday.
Seats emptying.
Vin would definitely be a Dodger fan if he had seen this 80 years ago, pitying them.
Take Mary’s seat.
Oops, she is still there.
Ever.
Longest. Inning. Ever.
Plus the lefty thing.
Unless they’re banned, they’ll be facing them next year as well. The off-season assignment is to practice against nobody except southpaws.
(And hopefully the off-season is delayed another week and a half.
Next two Cubbie starters are righties. So there is that.
Crowd thinning measurably.
Crowd booing Baez. But Blanton wasn’t much sharper.
Baez made it longer.
Baez wasn’t great, but the fielding played a major part, no?
Partly his, though.
He basically gave up a single and a walk.
And we have gotten this far with basically two functioning starting pitchers.
And an inconsistent offense, except for that great stretch in August/September.
Who will start the next two games. So there is that.
I have to keep remembering that.
That’s encouraging. But there still needs to be some LA offense.
They have been offensive enough
At first base? What happened to AGon?
Here’s the thing. There’s a reason the Cubs had the best record in baseball, and now we are seeing why.
They just forgot until last night.
That’s hard for a pitcher, I would imagine, to leave the field and have to come back and gear up again.
The inning that wouldn’t end.
And as the inning goes so goes the game
— and the series?
Stops at 7 whereas an inning can just keep going and going
Got ya.
Possible incoming…
The first inning seemed like Baez was pitching.
Guess he wanted equal time.
Let’s keep the Bs out of the bull pen when the roster is set for the WS.
Hopefully that will have to be a consideration.
Umpire appeared to hesitate with the call, but the throw was late.
Please tell us when an error is coming so we can close our eyes
Can’t keep up.
Just type INCOMING
This is so painful, in so many varying ways. Like a new form of torture.
What was that, AGon? Honestly, everyone has lost their minds out there.
Baez didn’t cover first.
Ah. So Baez is the one who keeps messing up.
Several times this inning alone.
Lots of company now
Have not looked sharp two games in a row now — both at home.
Oh, man. Baez is trying to give us a heart attack.
First time all year though
That made me laugh! Thank you!
There’s that sarcasm you were looking for below.
Sloppy play there at first.
You’d never know that Baez used to be a third baseman.
Watching us in the short post-season, it strikes me that many of our hitters are very much feast or famine.
Lefties and us this year? All famine.
Not even a Dodger Dog would fix that.
Agree.
This series in particular: one game where they were all in sync, one where they had one inning, the rest struggling.
Dodgers need to be more aggressive on the bases.
And with their bats.
Maddon made the right call.
That sound? That’s fifty thousand hearts sinking.
That is the second hard hit ball by Joc and this one finds a hole.
Leaving Lester in this time.
Let’s go Yaz!
Puig hit it hard, really hard, but right at the center fielder’s glove.
Sorry Bumsrap, I keep forgetting.
Keep doing it RBI, I like knowing before all of the other TV watchers.
Booooooo! Hisssssss!
Might be out. Hard to tell.
Wouldn’t you know it would be speedy Gonzales that finally gets a bunt down.
Finger back on.
Ruiz used hand signals to call pitches for Maeda and now uses the traditional fingers for Avilon. Didn’t notice for the other pitchers.
Nice evening, anyway.
Looks really clear. Zero smog or so it looks like from here.
Phew!
Heyward’s really gone into the tank.
Good hearing from you Bob. Where you been?
Rickie Lee Jones concert.
Does she put on a good concert?
Fantastic!
Great, glad you enjoyed it. We’re struggling here a little.
Rizzo was able to bunt against the shift, why can’t the Dodgers?
Exactly.
We did try and try and try.
Seven balls.
Six balls, three strikes out of nine pitches.
Finally. A strike.
Bullpen seeming like last year’s bullpen suddenly.
Baez warming up. I wonder if he takes a minute between warm up pitches as well.
Oh, brother. DP, please?
I feel this one slipping away.
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away
And then some.
RBI: Do you know where Vin is sitting? Probably not in the stands or he might be mobbed.
Don’t know.
I would guess that he is somewhere in the press box.
I wish he were calling the game, though.
Lester has thrown 95 pitches. We have to do something against him or whoever they throw out there because Chapman arrives in the 8th.
Yep.
Is Joe Blanton Tom Niedenfuer redux? With that last inning he lowered his NLCS ERA from 27.00 to 23.63.
Hahaha.
Sometimes I use sarcasm to try to hide the pain.
More sarcasm, please. I’m hurting out here.
I was going to say I hope there would be less need for sarcasm
Okay, here he comes.
Who is in the bullpen?
Avilan.
Who else is left? He will keep Kenley for a save situation. Stripling pitched last night but he could still come in I guess.
Hill. Wood. Stripling.
Aw, I wood have rather Would have been brought in instead of Blanton 🙂
Baez warming up.
Avilán.
Does Doc know something we don’t know about Joe and this game?
Kendrick swung at several pitches way out of the strike zone. Is Lester pitching all that well?
He’s effectively inconsistent.
Unlike Blanton
Blanton was ineffectively consistent.
Exactly.
Again a lot of Cubs fans here.
Throw some peanut shells at them
Dodger runners take a big lead off first and retreat at first motion. Seems like they would take a smaller lead and not have to retreat or try to steal.
So discouraging, after all the hard work to tie it up.
A lot of game left though
That took all the pep out of this crowd.
Turner is a good guy to get it started again
Nobody warming up, either. Same pitch to Ross. I can see it from here. I could probably hit it from here.
Blanton has lost it. Get him out of there.
Right smack down the middle of the plate.
Stupid stupid stupid Blanton!!!!! What’s happened to him lately? Giving up gopher balls.
It seems that the Beatles have had a hit more recently than Hernandez.
Clever. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah!
We HAVE to hold Baez. Jeeze!
Blanton time.
I’ve warmed up to him but my wife just groaned when he came in. The game mostly runs in the background for her.
She is right so far tonight.
Yep
Checking during intermission. Loving the play. And – glad to see the Dodgers tied the score!
Multitasking.
Indeed.
Oh, that stings…
Interesting at bat for Joc. Willing to bunt with two strikes. He looked like he might try to drag the bunt.
Puig and Toles keep making their case to play
Great running catch.
Cubbies much more patient at the plate this game.
Probably the game plan against Maeda and it continues until relievers prove they can consistently throw strikes.
Did that ball knuckle on Joc?
He couldn’t track it at all. Zig zag route.
He looked like Willie Davis in ’66.
Screaming line drive right at Joc which is the hardest to judge versus high popups into the sun.
A run!
Yeah!
Safe!!!!!
Noticing that 7 second delay between when you see it and I see it on tv
Sorry. I will hold back.
No, I like it. Just make sure to warn us to close our eyes.
My son couldn’t come so I need someone(s) with whom to experience this.
I’m here. I do a little double duty and play scrabble on facebook with my wife to keep her in the room with me. That’s the best way to platy btw as multiple games can be ongoing.
Hmmm.
TV looks like he was clearly safe
Trying the foam finger on the left hand…
For Agon
Yup.
Versatility!
Good hit, Howie!
Ball one looked good from here.
up and away sitting in front of a tv
Roberts makes another surprising move.
Seems precipitous with the pitcher up.
You like that word RBI. I do too. Apparently Lester was taking good swings against Maeda according to Buck
Dang. That was badly pitched and well hit.
Great at bat by JT.
TV broadcast said Turner has now been on base in 15 consecutive playoff games
Kendrick seems to have to circle around every ball hit to him before he figures out where it will be caught
I know. Disconcerting.
He’s in the process of becoming a utility player.
Maeda throwing strikes! Woot!
Let’s get through this heart of their lineup.
I’m wondering if the umps are looking forward to a Cubbies WS.
Maybe, but will they live that long
Ha! Great comment.
Kenta getting pinched, Lester getting expanded strike zone
Yup.
Gonzales, Puig, and Pederson–has a nice ring to it
Kenta needs to get a couple of quick innings because he has 45 pitches after only 2 innings.
The first inning was a killer.
Better this inning.
The umps used to give Maeda those close ones earlier in the year, but not for the past several games.
So, is Maeda just tired, or has he lost his feel?
“Heist his feel?”
Autocorrected again.
I can’t figure out what it should be.
See above. Lost.
The top of the 1st could’ve been worse, but the bottom could’ve been a lot better.
Missed a chance.
But at least the energy is there, so far.
We’re playing with vim. Just hope Kenta can find the strike zone, or his own zone, soon.
Gotta love what Kike’ is doing
Roberts looking smart
Now take a big lead and steal a base
Still trying to get in, as Maeda tries to get (the) out.
Clark Kenta left his cape in a phone booth
Found his cape but not before throwing 26 pitches.
Kenta threw it right into Rizzo’s strength.
With the runner running Maeda tried to get Rizzo to hit a line drive to Agon
We win best sung National Anthem and announcement of Its Time For Dodger Baseball
https://twitter.com/LindseyThiry/status/788892752381485056
My wife and I are going to the theatre to see the play version of Mark Haddon’s book The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and have high hopes for the play. RBI – maybe you create write the screenplay for a movie version!!
It’s an early birthday celebration for her. So maybe next week when her actually birthday happens, she will be amenable to watching the World Series.
Anyway – let’s get this win tonight and figure out Chicago when we get there.
I loved that book!
I believe it won the Tony Award.
Obviously Dave Roberts knows more about baseball than I will ever know. He is confident about Ruiz-Kendrick-Gonzalez in the middle of the lineup. So I guess I will need to change my scepticism to confidence as well.
Off I go to the stadium. I don’t mind us being the underdog for this game. I have my foam finger.
That’ll do it!