Showing posts with label 2020 games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2020 games. Show all posts

October 27, 2020

World Series Game 6: Dodgers 3, Rays 1 

Rays    - 100 000 000 - 1  5  0
Dodgers - 000 002 01x - 3  5  0

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2020 World Series champions. 

Seven relievers held the Tampa Bay Rays in check, with Julio Urías, the final arm out of the bullpen, recording the most outs. He worked 2.1 innings and struck out four batters, including the final two, with pinpoint control.

But on a night when the Dodgers captured their first title in 32 years, it was Rays manager Kevin Cash who played the most pivotal role in Game 6. Cash had said during Monday's off-day that he would be aggressive with his bullpen. So when starter Blake Snell allowed a single to his 18th batter, Cash yanked him. Considering the circumstances, it was a shocking and baffling and beyond-risky move. The bold move backfired almost immediately.

Snell (5.1-2-1-0-9, 73) had been utterly dominant. He struck out the first three batters of the game and five of the first six (joining Sandy Koufax as the only lefties to strike out 5+ batters in the first two innings of a World Series game). Snell gave up a hit to Chris Taylor to open the third, but then retired the next 10 Dodgers, including striking out Mookie Betts and Corey Seager (who was named the World Series MVP) for the second time in as many at-bats. 

Snell's pitch count was low (12-12-15 16-14) and his fastball velocity averaged 96.3. The Dodgers did not put even one of his 29 fastballs into play. The Dodgers took 34 swings at Snell and had an eye-popping 16 misses. Everything he threw was filthy. He was unhittable.

And Cash took him out of the game. Snell must have thought he was hallucinating when he saw Cash coming to the mound. Nick Anderson took over. He threw two balls to Betts and then Mookie lined a double down the left field line. Two pitches later, a wild pitch scored Austin Barnes and put Betts on third. (That was the second save-blowing wild pitch in WS history.) Seager grounded the next pitch to first. When Ji-Man Choi gloved it, Betts was already halfway home. (Anderson has now allowed at least one run in seven straight postseason games, the longest streak by a reliever in major league history. Maybe not the right guy to go to first, after Snell.)

Watching live from the high-home camera, it was clear the throw would be late and Choi should take the out at first. He threw home, the throw was late, and there was no out at first. Justin Turner's fly to left pushed Randy Arozarena nearly to the wall for the second out. Another pitching change and the inning was over. But in the span of only six pitches, the Rays went from thinking about Game 7 to being nine outs from winter.

The only motive was that the lineup the Dodgers feature is as potent as any in the league. Personally, I felt Blake had done his job and then some. Mookie coming around the third time. I totally value and respect the questions that come with it. . . . Didn't want Mookie or Seager seeing Blake a third time. There was no set plan. As much as people think, there's no set plan.
Turner was replaced at third base in the top of the eighth because he tested positive for COVID-19. If the Rays won tonight, Game 7 might have been postponed for a while. Turner played seven innings without knowing he was infected. At least he never got on base. (Why are test results being delivered in the middle of a World Series game?)

It was Arozarena who had given the Rays a 1-0 lead with a first-inning home run. That also set a record of five consecutive games in a World Series with scoring in the top of the first. 

Tampa Bay stranded runners at first and second in each of the first two innings. They would have only two baserunners over the final seven innings. Arozarena singled with two outs in the fifth and Mike Zunino singled with two outs in the seventh. Both runners were left at first. Excluding Arozarena's trot around the bases, the Rays had no runners past second base all night.

It was Zunino's hit that prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to bring in Urías. The young lefty painted the outside black to finish off pinch-hitter Yandy Díaz in the seventh. Urías needed only 10 pitches to get the Rays' 2-3-4 hitters in the eighth. Arozarena lined out to Cody Bellinger, who ran down his rope in right-center. Hunter Renfroe grounded to third and Brandon Lowe struck out swinging.

Betts bashed a home run to start the LA ninth, driving the dagger in by giving his team a two-run lead. With Urías back on the hill, Manuel Margot flied to Betts in the bottom of the ninth. One out. Mike Brosseau worked a full count before being frozen with an inside fastball for strike three. Two outs. Willy Adames swung at a high fastball and missed, then took two unhittable inside fastballs, one at 94 and the second at 97.
Urías is the second pitcher in World Series history with a seven-out (official) save and no baserunners allowed, joining Dick Hall of the 1970 Orioles, in Game 2 against the Reds. (Perhaps Mr. Hall, age 90, was watching tonight.)

This was the first time in World Series history that a team's top three batters (Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, Justin Turner) each struck out multiple times and the team still won.

This was also the first time in World Series history three different pitchers for same team (Alex Wood, Victor Gonzalez, Julio Urias) allowed no baserunners and struck out three or more batters. (Joe Kelly and Chris Sale of the Red Sox were the only pair of teammates to ever do it, against the Dodgers in 2018.)

Blake Snell became the first pitcher in World Series history to allow two or fewer hits, strike out nine or more, and not get a win. That was Game 2. He did it again tonight, in Game 6! Snell is the first pitcher in postseason history with two such games in his career.

During the postgame ceremonies, the boos rained down on Commissioner Rob Manfred as good as he was introduced. He began speaking: "2020 is going to be remembered –" and then had to stop. Fox cut away, denying us the pleasure of seeing Manfred standing there, alone, waiting for the boos he so deserves to subside. As soon he started talking again, the boos increased. There was no way he was going to stop a second time, so he plowed through (Fox eventually cut back, but not right away), and awarded the 2020 Piece of Metal™.
That is so great, I had to include it twice.
Manfred then stood awkwardly by himself as Dodgers executives thanked the crowd.


Shortly after the Dodgers tied it up, Cash's Wikipedia page was updated to note that he is the manager of the Dodgers, working as a double agent.


That actually makes more sense than Cash's excuse.
I was watching on mute until the last of the ninth. And – no surprise – I heard John Smoltz being an idiot immediately, when he warned the Dodgers against counting outs . . . with two outs to go. That silly warning should have been given after the Dodgers took the lead and the Rays were batting in the seventh. Nine outs is too many outs to take a win for granted. But two? (The last batter of the season is on deck!)

And then after it was all over, Smoltz said this:
Blake Snell pitched the game of his life, but in the end, the Dodgers were just too much.
What?? In the game I watched, the Dodgers didn't do shit with Snell. He was toying with them.

More like this:
Blake Snell pitched the game of his life, but in the end, his manager had the power to take him out of the game.
Finally, plate umpire Jerry Meals made two of the more horrendous calls you'll see in the first two innings.

First, there was a called strike (#2) on Margot in the top of the first. Meals probably blew the call on pitch #3 as well.


He called a strike on an identical pitch (#3) to LA's Will Smith in the bottom of the second, while also blowing the call on pitch #1:


Meals was not alone in in having zero clue how to call low pitches in or below the zone. Pitches along the bottom of the zone were really a crap shoot in every game.

Robots, now!

The most recent shot in the Giants-Dodgers feud!
 
Blake Snell / Tony Gonsolin

The Dodgers could win their first title in 32 years tonight.

However, teams with a 3-2 lead in the World Series have won the championship fewer than two-thirds of the time (65.7%, 44 of 67).

by allan at 5:00 PM 1 comments
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October 25, 2020

World Series Game 5: Dodgers 4, Rays 2 

Dodgers - 210 010 000 - 4  6  1 
Rays    - 002 000 000 - 2  7  0
The Dodgers extinguished any lingering momentum the Rays might have possessed from their improbable victory in Game 4 by scoring one run after only two at-bats, adding a second run later in the inning and taking a 3-0 lead with a leadoff home run in the second. The Rays trailed for the entire nine innings.

Clayton Kershaw (5.2-5-2-2-6, 85) was not as sharp as he was in Game 1, but he was able to work out of a couple of jams, including a first-and-third-and-no-outs situation in the fourth. He retired his final seven batters, before manager Dave Roberts turned the task of getting the final 10 outs to the bullpen. The Rays managed only one runner as far as second base against a trio of Los Angeles relievers.

Mookie Betts put Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow under pressure immediately, doubling to left on the eighth pitch of his first-inning at-bat. Corey Seager, who had a 1.560 OPS through the first four games, grounded a single into right field, putting the Rays in a hole they never climbed out of. It was also Seager's fifth hit in his last five at-bats, something no Dodger hitter had ever done in the World Series.

After Justin Turner struck out, Glasnow's 0-2 pitch to Max Muncy was in the dirt, and rolled a little ways away from Rays catcher Mike Zunino. Seager took off and was safe at second. Glasnow reacted by throwing three more balls and walking Muncy. 

He recovered to strike out Will Smith, but history repeated itself on an 0-2 pitch to Cody Bellinger. Again, the ball had barely escaped Zunino's glove when Seager dashed for third. A second wild pitch. Bellinger grounded the next pitch into the shift. Second baseman Brandon Lowe, in short right, slid to his right to grab it, but he had no play, and Seager scored. Glasnow fanned Chris Taylor, prompting Fox's Joe Buck to erroneously claim the Rays pitcher had "struck out the side". What he had done is throw 34 pitches, the most in any first inning of his regular season or postseason starts.

And for the fourth consecutive game in this World Series, at least one run was scored in the top of the first inning. That has happened in only one other WS, when the Yankees swept the Cubs in 1932.

Yandy Díaz led off the Rays first with a single up the middle but Randy Arozarena hit into a double play and Lowe fouled to the catcher. (On Fox, John Smoltz said no matter how long your pitching career might be, having a double play turned behind you feels great, especially in the early innings, because "you never want to get off to a bad start". I was so knocked out by this insight into the mindset of a major league pitcher, I had to share it with you. I'm sure you got as much out of it as I did.)

Glasnow struggled in the second, as well. Joc Pederson crushed a 1-2 pitch to the opposite field, a solo home run to left-center. Again, Glasnow seemed momentarily rattled, walking Austin Barnes on four pitches. But Barnes was thrown out trying to steal and although Glasnow walked Seager and his rhythm appeared off, he finished the inning without additional trouble.

(Pederson's long ball meant Tampa Bay's starting pitcher in each of the five games has allowed at least one dong, giving the 2020 Rays membership in a small group consisting of the 1925 Pirates, 1970 Reds, 1995 Clevelands, and the 1997 Marlins.)

Manuel Margot led off the Tampa second with a bunt single towards third base and was on second with one out. Kershaw stranded the runner by getting Joey Wendle on a called strike three and Willy Adames on a grounder to third.

Muncy led off the top of the third with a single and went to second on Glasnow's third wild pitch of the night, but he was stranded there. When Kevin Kiermaier beat out a tapper to the mound to start the bottom of the third, Game 5 became the second game in postseason history where each of the first six half-innings began with a hit (the first was 2014 NLCS 4 between Cardinals and Giants). With one out, Díaz lined a triple to right that skipped past Betts's left side and went into the corner. Arozarena hammered a high pitch into left for a single and the Dodgers' lead was cut to 3-2. The inning was abruptly ended when Lowe struck out and Arozarena was thrown out trying to steal.

Glasnow retired the Dodgers in order in the fourth, snapping their streak of 13 straight inning with at least one baserunner. The Rays had a golden opportunity to tie the game or take the lead in the fourth. Margot walked and took off for second on Kershaw's first pitch to Hunter Renfroe. Margot stole the base and Smith's throw to second was not caught by Taylor. The ball went into shallow right-center and Margot made a late decision to go for third. He was safe, but it was close; the call was upheld on a challenge. When Renfroe eventually walked, the Rays at runners at the corners and no outs.

Kershaw and the Dodgers snuffed out the rally with only seven pitches. Wendle popped up a 1-0 pitch to shortstop, Adames struck out on three pitches, and with Kiermaier at the plate with a 0-1 count, Margot tried to steal home when Kershaw went into a long set with his hands above his head. Kershaw's throw home was high and away, but Smith was still able to get the tag down on Margot. (The last runner to be caught trying to steal home in a World Series game was Shane Mack of the Twins, in Game 4 of the 1991 WS against Atlanta.

The Dodgers have turned answering any Rays runs with runs of their own into an art in this series. This time they answered Tampa Bay's squander with a run, when Muncy belted a two-out (of course) home run to right-center, giving them a 4-2 lead.

Muncy's dong extended the Dodgers' streak of postseason games with multiple home runs to eight games. They had established a new record in Game 4, topping the 2019-20 Yankees' mark of six games. Also, Pederson and Muncy are the eighth and ninth Dodgers to hit home runs in this World Series. Having nine different dongers is a new World Series record, surpassing the 1989 Athletics (eight).

Glasnow (5-6-4-3-7, 102) achieved a couple of distinctions he won't put on his resume. He is the first pitcher to strike out seven or more batters in multiple games of the same World Series and lose them both. And he is the first pitcher in postseason history to throw three wild pitches and allow multiple home runs in the same game.

Kershaw had a clean fifth, with two strikeouts, and got the first two Rays in the sixth before Roberts went to Dustin May. It was a wildly unpopular decision among the Dodger fans in attendance, but May's performance justified the call. He got the final out of the sixth, pitched a perfect seventh, and after a leadoff single in the eighth, got the first out. 

Ji-Man Choi was announced as a pinch-hitter for Díaz. Roberts called on lefty Victor González. Rays manager Kevin Cash countered by having Mike Brosseau pinch-hit for Choi, giving Tampa Bay the platoon advantage with two right-handed hitters. It was the second time in this series Choi has been announced as a pinch hitter and then replaced before getting a chance to bat. The only other player in World Series history to have that happen twice is Don Mincher of the Athletics (1972, Games 5 and 6).

González and Brosseau (the potential tying run) battled for nine pitches (#6 was wild, putting Kiermaier at second) and Brosseau won, drawing a walk. Down by two, runners at first and second, one out, with Arozarena and Lowe due up. It was a promising situation for the Rays, but it ended in a relative eyeblink. A-Roz went after the first pitch, a low, outside slider, and skied to Bellinger in right-center. Lowe hit a 0-1 pitch to shallow right-center and Bellinger ran in and caught that one on the run. It was the second major squander of the night for Tampa Bay.

Facing Blake Treinen in the bottom of the ninth, Margot singled to center, again giving the Rays the opportunity to bring the potential tying run to the plate three times. Austin Meadows, who had batted for Renfroe in the seventh, swung under and missed a high 1-2 fastball for the first out. Treinen jammed Lowe, which resulted in a routine fly to center. Adames was the Rays' last hope. Treinen threw him four low sinkers. He fouled the first one at the plate, swung and missed the second, took the third, and swung and missed the fourth.

This game was the 28th consecutive World Series game in which both teams have scored, a new record. The last WS shutout was Game 3 of the 2016 World Series (Cleveland 1, Cubs 0).

The Dodgers lead the series 3-2. Game 6 is Tuesday night, with the Dodgers as the home team.

Clayton Kershaw / Tyler Glasnow

by allan at 2:58 PM 0 comments
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October 24, 2020

World Series Game 4: Rays 8, Dodgers 7 

Dodgers - 101 011 210 - 7 15  1
Rays    - 000 113 102 - 8 10  0
Brett Phillips had not batted in 17 days. He started the 2020 season in Kansas City and was traded to the Rays at the end of August. In 20 at-bats with Tampa Bay, he hit only .150. He felt the weight of the World Series on his shoulders as he stepped in against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. The Rays trailed by one run. They had men at first and second, but there were two outs. Tampa Bay was in serious danger of falling behind in the series 1-3 and having to face Clayton Kershaw in a must-win game.

Jansen started the inning by striking out Yoshi Tsutsugo. Kevin Kiermaier blooped a single into right-center. In the Rays bullpen, both Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell (the Game 1 and Game 2 starters) were warming up. Joey Wendle's liner to left-center was caught in the gap by Joc Pederson.

The Dodgers decided to pitch to Randy Arozarena (who hit his ninth home run of the postseason earlier in the game) rather than intentionally walking him and putting the winning run on base. But Jansen ended up walking him anyway. Or did he?

In an alternate robot-umpire universe, Jansen's seventh pitch, low in the zone, was called strike three. The Dodgers won 7-6 and would try to win their first championship since 1988 tomorrow night.


However, in this universe, human beings are still tasked with calling balls and strikes and they are, for reasons both ophthalmological and emotional, unfit for the task. Plate umpire Chris Guccione blew the full count call, costing the Dodgers a key World Series victory. (That bad call alone should be enough reason to move to an electronic strike zone.) In fact, Guccione got the call wrong on three of his final four pitches, a shocking level of incompetence that should forever bar him from postseason assignments.

Jansen came inside on Phillips and Guccione called ball one. That was a correct call, but he missed the next two. Jansen's subsequent offerings were too far inside (called strike 1) and too far outside (called strike 2). The Rays should have been one pitch away from loading the bases. Instead, they were one strike away from a 7-6 defeat.


Phillips lined the next pitch, a sinker low and away, into right-center field. Chris Taylor, who had moved from left to center in the seventh, raced to the ball. He failed to glove it cleanly and it sailed away to his left. He chased after it and quickly threw it into the infield. Kiermaier scored, tying the game at 7-7. Arozarena, in a dead sprint from first, stumbled rounding third and pitched forward, tumbling to the ground. Somehow he had the presence of mind to go into a roll which allowed him to pop back up very quickly.

LA first baseman Max Muncy took Taylor's throw and fired the ball to catcher Will Smith. It looked like the Dodgers would have Arozarena in a rundown. The Rays rookie was back on his feet and hurriedly trying to get back to third. Muncy's throw was off target, wide of the plate to the first base side. Smith was well set-up for a possible sweep tag on the runner, but the ball glanced off the tip of his mitt and caromed into foul territory. Arozarena saw that and reversed direction, running a bit before diving for the dish. There was no play. He slapped the plate with his hand several times, and then simply lay there, smiling in disbelief, looking out at the field as the shocked Dodgers abandoned the diamond and Phillips's teammates chased the unlikely hero around the infield and into left-center field.

The ending left me in shock, staring at the TV screen, wondering exactly what I had just seen. (I was not alone.) Watching it live, I was not sure how the ball had gotten away from Smith. For whatever reason, I never expected the Rays to come out on top in this game, and then for that to happen, on a play on which the Dodgers committed two errors (even though only one was charged), it left me dumbfounded.

Arozarena tumbles and rolls as Muncy is about to throw home.


Smith is unable to catch the ball. One amazing aspect of the replays is how umpire Cuccione is not in any position to make a call. He's standing around as if the game is actually in a commercial break. A throw has been made to the catcher, there is a runner between third and home, and it's the bottom of the ninth in a tied World Series game, while Guccione wonders when the next bus is due to arrive. When the errant baseball hits his leg, he seems surprised a ball was in play.


Arozarena is making moves to go back to third as the ball get through the umpire.


Arozarena slides in with the winning run.




Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is not happy with how the game ended.


The Rays are having fun chasing Phillips.


Roberts contemplates the vastness of space, the void that is sky, the insignificance of human life, and the eternal enemy, loneliness, which is timeless, waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting.


The series is tied 2-2.


Before the night's final play, the Rays had to have extremely frustrated by the Dodgers' seemingly super-natural ability to both rally with two outs and to respond with run(s) every single time the Rays scored. Saturday's game featured a World Series record eight consecutive half-innings in which runs were scored. The Dodgers answered Tampa Bay's scoring with run(s) of their own in four out of four chances in Game 4. In the World Series, they have done so in eight of 11 opportunities.

I couldn't stand the thought (or the sound) of another evening filled with John Smoltz's hectoring, so I tried the international radio option. After I heard someone referred to as Andy, I discovered it was the Rays regular radio guys, Andy Freed and Dave Wills. They were level-headed and seemed very intent on calling the game rather than blabbing away. I was pleased. . . . (Neither-A-Spoiler-Nor-A-Surprise: I would soon not be pleased.)

The Dodgers had baserunners in every inning. In the three innings they failed to score, they had a man at second twice and a runner at first. Justin Turner became the first player in World Series history to go deep in the first inning of consecutive games when he redirected a 2-0 pitch from Ryan Yarbrough over the center field fence. 

Arozarena singled in the first and ended the inning when he was thrown out trying to steal second. Umpire Mark Carlson blew the call, ruling the runner safe. LA challenged the call and while the umps had their headphones on, the play was shown on the videoboard. Arozarena and the Dodgers (and the 11,441 fans) saw the play clearly and all the players promptly walked off the field. Eventually, the umpires confirmed what everyone already knew.

In the second, the Rays radio guys ("RR") commented on Yarbrough's lack of strikes in initial first inning. He did not get a called strike until his 15th pitch (and none of the nine balls before that were even borderline)! Seager had lined out on 3-0 and Turner's homer had come on 2-0. One of them said Yarbrough has been ahead of only Muncy, who grounded on on a 1-2 pitch. They were wrong. Yarbrough was 1-2 on Mookie Betts to start the game before Betts popped up on a full count. 

Turner's first-inning dong came with two outs, as did Corey Seager's homer in the third. The Dodgers put two more runners on base after they led 2-0, but stranded them. Around the third, the RR had been dropping a few "we"s into their patter, which was expected; they've been calling Rays games all summer. But then they started calling Yarbrough "Yarbs" and increasing the frequency with which they referred to Rays by their first names, while also providing opinions about various baseball topics, something that was wonderfully absent in the first two innings. These opinions ranged from silly to strange.

In one amusing moment, Seager's homer came immediately after one of the RR said he had never been so nervous watching an opposing team with two outs and two strikes. Next pitch: BOOM! The RR noted that was the 30th home run allowed by the Rays this postseason, a record. He then praised the Rays press people for including a not-so-cherry tidbit in their game notes because other teams, he said, "particularly those on the east coast, tend not to include anything negative in their team's notes". Fuck the heck? I assume he was referring to either New York or Boston. Anyway, Yarbrough got two outs on six pitches, then needed 19 more to get the elusive third out.

Oh, someone named Dan Johnson apparently threw out the first pitch (did I hear that is was via Zoom from Minnesota?) and the RR praised him as someone who had hit some never-to-be-forgotten postseason home runs for the Rays. In fact, fans up in Boston have a special nickname for him. . . . Really? They have a special nickname for someone no one's ever fucking heard of? Well, whatever he did, it must have been in 2008. . . . I was sure he said "postseason", but no one by that name played in the 2008 ALCS. However, a Dan Johnson did play for the Rays that season, as well as 2010 and 2011. So I looked at his home run log. 

2008: Johnson hit a game-tying johnson off Jonathan Papelbon in the top of the ninth on September 9. A couple of doubles later in the inning gave Tampa Bay a 5-4 win. On September 15, he homered when the Rays were trailing 13-3.

2010: Johnson hit a game-winning dong off Scott Atchison on August 28, capping off an eight-pitch at-bat. My report on that game does not evidence any emotional trauma. Johnson also homered on September 7 with his team up 12-2, and those are his four homers against the Red Sox in a TBR uniform. 

Conclusion: The RR have an extremely inaccurate idea of what it takes to earn an all-time derogatory nickname among Red Sox fans.

Anyhoo . . . The RR were pinballing between saying there was plenty of time in this game and the Rays were doomed. One of them got super-animated, yelling in that cliched Sunday! Monster Trucks! voice when Arozarena belted a leadoff longball in the fourth to cut LA's lead to 2-1. That touched off an unprecedented run (ha!) of scoring. A single by Seager and a wild pitch by Pete Fairbanks set the table for Muncy's two-out single (LA 3-1). Muncy ended up being tagged out at second on a 9-2-6 play, as he collided with shortstop Willy Adames and both players tumbled off the base.

Hunter Renfroe homered to begin the home fifth (LA 3-2). The importance of this game was emphasized when Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in his closer Diego Castillo in the sixth inning. Castillo faltered, however, walking two Dodgers and giving up a two-out double down the left field line to Kiké Hernández (LA 4-2).

Part of the RR's audio eulogy for the Rays involved saying this postseason experience would help the 2021 team. After all, the Dodgers have been in three of the last four WS and they have shown they can handle whatever comes at them. The RR claimed the Dodgers players had gotten better during the regular seasons because of their postseason experience. That seems dubious, but the upshot was, having the Rays lose the WS would not be a total disaster; it would make "us" more experienced and a better team next year.

The Rays wanted to be better tonight. Arozarena opened the bottom of the sixth with a single off Blake Treinen. (On-screen WS factoid: Rays inning-leadoff hitters: 2-for-29 through tonight's third inning; 3-for-3 with 2 HR in the last three innings) Pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi got ahead 3-0 before walking on a full-count.

After Treinen struck out another pinch-hitter, Austin Meadows, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in Pedro Báez to face Brandon Lowe .  . . who belted a three-run homer to left-center. (RR: "Don't stop now, boys!!") (TB 5-4) Báez is the first pitcher in Dodgers postseason history to give up a lead-flipping home run to the first batter faced after entering a game.

Aaron Loup was entrusted with holding the Rays' 5-4 lead. He failed. Seager singled to right and Turner doubled to left-center. With two on, Loup fanned Muncy and departed. Nick Anderson struck out Smith and intentionally walked Cody Bellinger. Pederson pinch-hit and hit a line drive towards right field. Tampa second baseman Lowe was in shallow right in a shift. He semi-slipped moving to his right, so his dive for the ball ended up a few inches too low for a tremendous catch. The ball glanced off the top of his glove and carried on into right field. Two runs scored on the two-out hit, but Bellinger was thrown out at third (LA 6-5).

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Báez surrendered another home run, this time a solo shot to Kiermaier (6-6), which gave the Rays the distinction of being the first team in major league history to hit a home run in four straight innings in a postseason game. Báez then walked Yandy Díaz. Arozarena grounded the ball right over second base, which turned into a 4U-3 double play.

Chris Taylor doubled to base of the wall in left to start the Dodgers eighth. Hernández tried to bunt and popped up to third. Betts grounded to shortstop, Adames looking the runner back before throwing to first. Seager figured that two outs and two strikes was the perfect time for a bloop single into short left field that scored Taylor (LA 7-6). John Curtiss gave up another hit but got out of the inning without further trouble.

Adam Kolarek walked Choi to start the Rays eighth as Blake Snell began warming up in the bullpen. Meadows flied to center and Lowe struck out. Brusdar Graterol relieved Kolarek and gave up a single to Adames. (RR, prior to hit: "Still waiting for Playoff Willy to show up".) Phillips went in at second base as a pinch-runner for Choi. Graterol's first pitch to Renfroe was almost right down the middle. Guccione called it a ball, possibly the worst called pitch of the entire season. Renfroe flied to right, ending the bottom of the eighth and putting the first "0" on the scoreboard since the top of the fourth.

The Dodgers managed only a two-out single in the top of the ninth, setting the stage for Jansen and Guccione and Phillips.

In the later innings, one of the RR (Dave Wills, I believe) remarked that before the World Series started, he believed the Dodgers were a good team, of course, but "we had just faced the Astros and they are just as good". . . . Say what? The 29-31 Astros are just as good a team as the 43-17 Dodgers? The Astros, with a run differential of +4, are just as good as the Dodgers, with a run differential of +13-fucking-6?

He did say he had underestimated the Dodgers and called them "relentless". And I salute him for admitting (twice, because he repeated it a bit later) such an embarrassing thought. But Holy Christ. The Dodgers' run differential is 132 runs better than the Astros. The difference between the Rays (+60) and the Red Sox (-59) is only 119. And you don't hear too many people saying those teams were pretty much the same in 2020.

Tampa Bay tied a World Series record for a nine-inning game by using 21 players.

Ji-Man Choi is the second player in World Series history to draw two walks and score a run in a game he didn't start. The first was Don Larsen of the Yankees, who relieved Bob Turley in the second inning of Game 3 in 1957.

The Dodgers are the first team to have 15+ hits in a nine-inning World Series game and lose since the Cardinals lost Game 5 in 1982 to the Brewers.

Teammates With Four Hits Each In A World Series Game
George Burns & Frank Snyder, 1921 Yankees, Game 3 vs Giants (13-5 win)
Enos Slaughter & Whitey Kurowski & Joe Garagiola, 1946 Cardinals, Game 4 vs Red Sox (12-3 win)
Paul Molitor & Robin Yount, 1982 Brewers, Game 1 vs Cardinals (10-0 win)
Justin Turner & Corey Seager, 2020 Dodgers, Game 4 vs Rays (7-8 loss)

Teammates Who Allowed Multiple Homers In The Same World Series Game
Bill Sherdel & Grover Cleveland Alexander, 1928 Cardinals, Game 4 vs Yankees (3-7 loss)
Scott Garrelts & Kelly Downs, 1989 Giants, Game 3 vs Athletics (7-13 loss)
Julio Urías & Pedro Báez, 2020 Dodgers, Game 4 vs Rays (7-8 loss)

Julio Urías / Ryan Yarbrough

The 2020 Dodgers score a lot of their runs with two outs. In 15 postseason games, they have scored 50 runs with two outs, and 12 of those 50 runs have come in innings in which the first two hitters were retired.

Elias reports that for teams that played at least 10 games in a postseason (which means only since divisional play began in 1969), Los Angeles has the fourth-best percentage of two-out runs:
1992 Atlanta:   59.3%
2008 Red Sox:   58.7%
2010 Giants:    57.6%
2020 Dodgers:   57.4%
1975 Reds:      56.3%
Before this year, the record for two-out runs in a single postseason belonged to the 2004 Red Sox, who played 14 games and scored 46 runs with two outs.


The Red Sox's search for the team's next manager is well underway.

Various reports state they have interviewed six candidates: Cubs third-base coach Will Venable, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, Marlins bench coach James Rowson, Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker, Twins bench coach Mike Bell, and Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta (who was interviewed last year before Ron Roenicke was hired).

The Red Sox also want to interview Dodgers first-base coach George Lombard, but that will have to wait until the World Series is over. 
by allan at 12:38 PM 4 comments
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October 23, 2020

World Series Game 3: Dodgers 6, Rays 2 

Dodgers - 102 201 000 - 6 10  0 
Rays    - 000 010 001 - 2  4  0
Walter Buehler (6-3-1-1-10, 93) kept the Rays' bats in quarantine, while Justin Turner ignited the offense with a first-inning home run and a double in the middle of the Dodgers' third-inning rally. Mookie Betts had two hits, two stolen bases, and one RBI, while Max Muncy had two hits and knocked in two runs.

Rays starter Charlie Morton (4.1-7-5-1-6, 91) did not have it Friday night. He allowed at least two hits and one run in three of the four innings he completed. The last team to have two of their first three World Series starters give up five or more runs was the 2007 Rockies (who, you might recall, got swept by the Red Sox).

Turner's home run aside, in the early innings, it looked like this game could be a pitchers' duel. Buehler had faced nine batters and issued only a walk. Morton had struck out the first two Dodgers in the bottom of the third. Then he unraveled. He hit Corey Seager with a pitch and gave up a double to Turner. Muncy brought both runners home with a single to center. 

In the fourth, Morton gave up a leadoff single to Cody Bellinger and a one-out hit to Joc Pederson. Austin Barnes laid down a bunt that scored one run and Betts grounded a single up the middle to make it 5-0.

Buehler had a no-hitter going with one out in the fifth. Coupled with Blake Snell's 4.2 no-hit innings on Wednesday, this is the first time the World Series had back-to-back games with four no-hit innings by either team, since 1965 (Sandy Koufax in Game 5, Mudcat Grant in Game 6. They both allowed singles to start the fifth. (Jim Kaat had 4.1 no-hit innings in Game 2.))

The Rays got a run in the fifth on doubles by Manuel Margot and Willy Adames, but Los Angeles answered with a solo dong from Barnes. (He's the second player in World Series history with a home run and a run-scoring sacrifice bunt in the same game. Hector Lopez did it for the Yankees in Game 5 of the 1961 WS.) Randy Arozarena homered off Kelsey Jansen in the ninth.

Ji-Man Choi put on an entertaining show at first base. He went into a full stretch (an actual split!) for the putout on the first batter of the game. Betts grounded to shortstop; Adames went to his backhand and fired a low throw that Choi gloved on a short hop. Later in the game, Choi twice leapt and snagged errant throws and was able to tag the baserunner on his way down (Seager in the fourth and Betts in the eighth).

Betts is the first player in 22 years with multiple multi-steal games in the same World Series (Omar Vizquel, 1997). He is also the third player to have two hits, two steals, and at least one RBI in multiple games of same World Series. He joins Eddie Collins (1910 Philadelphia Athletics) and Bobby Tolan (1972 Reds). 

This is the the third game this postseason in which the Rays had four or fewer hits and struck out at least 13 times (ALDS 5 and ALCS 2). That is a record.

Also: After Tampa Bay's Ryan Thompson needed only six pitches in the top of the eighth and Los Angeles's Brusdar Graterol breezed through the bottom of the eighth on seven pitches, Shane McClanahan of the Rays had to work in the top of the ninth: 10 pitches to Seager, eight to Turner, and seven to Muncy. He got the final out on his only pitch to Will Smith.

Walter Buehler / Charlie Morton

Walter Buehler has pitched 53.1 postseason innings since the second inning of 2018 NLDS Game 3 and has allowed only 10 runs, for a 1.69 ERA.

Do-Hyoung Park, mlb.com, October 23, 2020:
Which WS Team Benefits More From Off-Day
The high-leverage trio of Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks and Diego Castillo has combined to pitch on back-to-back days only three times this postseason -- once apiece. That's particularly impressive considering that the Rays played so many close games against the Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros en route to the World Series.

That relatively measured usage has built to this point, when the Rays won't be afraid to fire those bullets with impunity in all manner of situations with everything on the line. . . .

If "The Stable" hasn't been pushed too frequently to this point, why is this rest important?

Just look at Anderson's outings. Six of his eight appearances this postseason have exceeded one inning, including all but one outing since the ALDS began. Following a two-inning scoreless appearance in Game 2 of that series against the Yankees, Anderson has allowed runs in each of his subsequent five appearances.

Though Anderson was among MLB's best relievers in 2020, he made only one regular-season appearance in excess of one inning -- his first, back on July 25. . . .

Fairbanks has been similarly tested. After four outings of more than one inning in the regular season, four of his past five playoff appearances have stretched beyond one frame. That includes a pair of two-inning stints, matching his career high. Castillo has mostly been spared -- likely part of why he's been the most effective of the bunch -- but even he pitched a season-long two innings in Game 5 of the ALDS. . . .

For all the benefit the Rays will gain in an important part of their roster with this rest, it certainly looks like the Dodgers stand to benefit more.

Los Angeles has a depth problem on its pitching staff. Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw are obviously a formidable 1-2 punch atop the rotation, but given the recent underperformance of Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, the Dodgers need all the help they can get to funnel most of their innings to Buehler, Kershaw and Julio Urías.

In a seven-game sprint, that wouldn't have been possible without significant risk. Buehler has never started on less than four days' rest -- in the regular season or playoffs -- and has allowed six earned runs in 5.1 innings when pitching in relief on short rest in his career. Kershaw had more success earlier in his playoff career when pitching on short rest . . . but he hasn't done that since Game 1 of the 2018 World Series, when he pitched on two days' rest and allowed five runs to the Red Sox in four innings. . . . 

The off-day allows the Dodgers to line up Buehler for Game 3 on extra rest, which squares better with his history, as he's made 37 career starts on five days' rest, as opposed to 12 on four days' rest . . . More importantly, the Dodgers can use an effective Urías in a straight start in Game 4 and line up Kershaw for Game 5 instead of needing to line up another bullpen game before the next off-day or pitch Kershaw on short rest. . . .

[T]he extra day of rest between Games 5 and 6 would also likely keep Urías, Buehler and Kershaw available in relief roles for the final two games of the series, were it to advance that far. . . .

The lack of bullpen games also has a percolating effect on relief usage. The Rays make a point to use all of their relievers -- even high-leverage options like Anderson -- in a wide variety of roles with openers, bullpen games and such throughout the season, making them all the more comfortable in these kinds of games. . . . 

For the Rays, this extra day of rest could make a difference in the efficacy of three short-relief situational pitchers who are already likely to be pushed out of their comfort zone in the coming days. For the Dodgers, it affords them a marked improvement in large swaths of innings early in games and keeps two of their most struggling arms out of the spotlight.
Michael Baumann, The Ringer, October 22, 2020:
If This World Series Becomes A Battle Of The Bullpens, The Dodgers May Be Out Of Luck
In Game 2, the Rays showed that they've found a formula to win games in this series—and it's one Dave Roberts and Co. could learn from 
This is the first postseason series in baseball history that features both off days and 28-man rosters. The expanded rosters were a necessary stopgap during the regular season, a crutch with which to weather scheduling- and health-related externalities. And in the first three rounds, played straight through without rest, teams might have needed a baker's dozen of pitchers just to navigate a series without risking unnecessary trips to the orthopedist. . . .

Increased use of relief pitchers has been a trend throughout baseball history, and over the past five years, that trend has lit its booster rockets and taken off into outer space, particularly in the postseason. . . . A generation ago, a team's 12th-best pitcher would watch the World Series on TV. Now, he might decide it. . . .

So far, Cash is doing a better job than Roberts—and here, the managers' names are metonyms for the front office analysts who advise Cash and Roberts on game planning—of getting his best pitchers into important situations, while avoiding overusing his big guns. But there are mitigating circumstances.

The Rays' top four starters—Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Charlie Morton, and Ryan Yarbrough—are probably better than the Dodgers' top four of Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urías, and Gonsolin. Tampa Bay's bullpen is markedly better than Los Angeles's, to the point that it's not useful to compare the Anderson-Fairbanks-Castillo trio to their Dodger counterparts because it's not clear who the Dodgers' three best relievers even are. That makes life harder on Roberts for obvious reasons.

Then there's the great reductor of managerial analysis: Whatever plan the front office and manager implement, however clever or foolhardy, is only as good as the players who execute it. In both games so far this series, the team whose starter pitched better and lasted longer won. . . . 

[T]his World Series is an interesting contrast of styles. Not just because the Dodgers' lineup is as imperious as the Rays' pitching and defense, but because the Rays are pushing their starters fairly deep into games (by today's standards) and finding opportunities for bulk relievers to take up the rest of the burden when possible. Meanwhile the Dodgers, the team in this series that has one of the best pitchers ever and did not invent the opener, are daisy-chaining middle relievers together and hoping they'll hold.

The Dodgers are going to have Buehler, Urías, and Kershaw—their three strongest starters—in the middle leg of this series. If those pitchers can give Roberts some length, this problem goes away. But the more this series becomes about bullpen depth and picking the right pitcher for the right spot, the more the scales tip in the Rays' favor. The Dodgers would likely win an orderly series, but the Rays are at their best in times of chaos.
Jay Jaffe, FanGraphs, October 22, 2020:
Mookie Betts' Postseason Tour de Force

Watching Mookie Betts on a daily basis makes it difficult to understand how his teams ever lose . . . The 28-year-old right fielder is one of the game's top hitters, but his contributions are hardly confined to the batter's box, and during this postseason — as it's been throughout his seven-year major league career — he has amply illustrated just how well-rounded his game is.

In Tuesday's World Series-opening 8-3 victory, Betts put on a show with his baserunning, that after working a five-pitch leadoff walk against a flagging Tyler Glasnow to start the fifth inning. The Rays had just trimmed the Dodgers' lead to 2-1, so when Betts stole second and then third base — the latter at the front end of a double steal with Corey Seager, who also walked — and then scored on a fielder's choice thanks to a great secondary lead and a well-executed slide, it was a big deal.

Betts' journey around the bases not only produced a run without the benefit of a base hit, it effectively tossed an anvil to Glasnow as he was trying to keep his head above water. . . . Glasnow continued to unravel before being chased after 4.1 innings. The Dodgers went on to score three more runs in that inning, easing the pressure on starter Clayton Kershaw and the rest of the lineup. . . .

[T]he case for [Betts] as the game's most complete player . . . is already well-established thanks to Wins Above Replacement, which in any flavor captures the multitude of his contributions. Dating back to his first full season (2015) he's second in the majors in terms of FanGraphs WAR at 38.4. Not only is he the only player within 10 wins of Mike Trout (46.8) in that span, but he's nearly 10 wins ahead of third-ranked Francisco Lindor (28.9), though admittedly, the latter didn't play his first full season until 2016. Narrow the window to 2018-20 and Betts trails Trout, whose defense has merely been average in that span, by just one win (21.0 to 20.0). . . .

Imagine being John Henry, which is to say having a net worth of a couple billion dollars, and looking at this remarkable, likable athlete with this elite collection of skills and intangibles and deciding, "Nah, the price tag is too high. Find me an executive to blow up this roster and demoralize this fan base while I put more money into European soccer — finally, I can hire Billy Beane! — and ballpark-adjacent real estate, because that's more fun than winning with the game's most complete player!" Henry may get the last laugh on the accountant's ledger, but it's the Dodgers, and everybody else captivated by Betts' play now that he doesn't have to worry about where that will be, who are the richer for it.
by allan at 1:46 PM 0 comments
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October 21, 2020

World Series Game 2: Rays 6, Dodgers 4 

Rays    - 100 221 000 - 6 10  0
Dodgers - 000 021 010 - 4  5  1
Brandon Lowe hit two home runs, Joey Wendle knocked in three runs, and Blake Snell did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning, as the Rays beat the Dodgers on Wednesday night, evening the World Series at one win apiece. . . . In 2020, when the Rays have the lead after seven innings, they are 35-0.

Lowe (who was only 6-for-56 in this postseason before tonight) gave Tampa Bay a lead they never relinquished when he hit Tony Gonsolin's 12th pitch of the night over the fence in left-center. The Rays had a runner thrown out at the plate in the second inning and increased their lead to 3-0 on Wendle's two-out double in the fourth. Lowe's second dong came in the fifth after Mookie Betts had singled with two outs. The Rays led 5-0.

Meanwhile, Snell (4.2-2-4-9, 88) was taming the Dodgers. He struck out two batters in each of the first four innings, becoming the second World Series pitcher to throw four no-hit innings while also striking out eight or more batters (Sandy Koufax was the first, in Game 1 of the 1963 WS, the first of the Dodgers' four straight wins over the Yankees). Snell was also the first pitcher to have six or more strikeouts and no hits allowed through three innings of a WS game since Randy Johnson in 2001 (Game 2, a game (and series) the Yankees also lost).

Wendle had walked two batters in the second and he went to a full count on all three batters he face din the fourth , needing 21 pitches for a clean inning. He retired the first two batters in the fifth before walking Kiké Hernández (although his 2-1 pitch was well within the strike zone, but plate umpire Todd Tichenor must have zoned out). A correct call might have led to another 1-2-3 inning, but we'll never know. Chris Taylor hammered a two-run homer to right-center, putting the Dodgers on the board. Then Snell walked Betts on a full count and gave up a single to Corey Seager. And suddenly . . . that was the end of his night. Rays manager Kevin Cash went to The Stable.

The teams traded runs in the sixth. Ji-Man Choi and Manuel Margot both singled and Wendle's line drive out to left turned into a sacrifice fly. Will Smith hit a solo dong for the Dodgers.

Trailing 3-6, the Dodgers went in order against Pete Fairbanks in the seventh. He began the eighth as well and Seager blasted a home run to dead center, estimated at 425 feet. And when Justin Turner doubled to right-center, Los Angeles was able to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Max Muncy ran the count full before flying to right. Smith smashed a line drive but it was right at Rays third baseman Wendle. (It had a greater exit velocity (102.6) than his home run two innings earlier (102.2).)

Cash brought in lefty Aaron Loup to face lefty Cody Bellinger, who had walked and grounded out twice. Both teams would still bat in the ninth, but this felt like the turning point of the game. After a called strike and a ball, Loup threw a strike in the upper part of the zone. Tichenor called it a ball. Bellinger fouled off a pitch before taking strike three, ending the inning.

Loup began the bottom of the ninth by striking out Edwin Ríos (swinging, foul, called). Austin Barnes came up as a pinch-hitter and lifted an 0-2 pitch to left. Brett Phillips caught it in front of the warning track. Then Kevin Cash made one final move. He brought in Diego Castillo to face Taylor.

Castillo's first two pitches were on the outside black, both called strikes. Castillo went low and away on 0-2. Taylor tried to check his swing, but he could not. The strikeout meant Castillo was the first pitcher to get a save in a World Series game by getting only the final out of the ninth inning since Rawly Eastwick of the Reds (Game 5, 1975, against the Red Sox).

The Dodgers struck out a total of 15 times, only the second time they have done that in a WS game. The other was the 18-inning marathon against the Red Sox in 2018 (Game 3). Ten different Dodgers had at least one strikeout tonight, tying the record for a nine-inning WS game.

The Dodgers used four pitchers in the first four innings, the first time a team had done that since the Athletics in Game 3 of the 1990 World Series.

Blake Snell is the first starting pitcher in World Series history to allow two hits, strike out nine, and not be credited with the win.

In the first two games, the Rays starting pitchers have worked nine innings and issued 10 walks.

Tyler Kepner: "In their 1963 World Series sweep, the Dodgers used four pitchers to face 136 Yankees batters. Tonight, the Dodgers used five pitchers to face the first 22 Rays batters."

Doug Kern was at the game and had a good idea:
Game 3 will pit Walker Buehler against Charlie Morton on Friday night. When a best-of-seven series has been tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has won the series roughly 70% of the time (65 of 94, 69.1%).

Blake Snell / Tony Gonsolin

The Dodgers lead the series 1-0.

Matt Kelly (mlb.com) offers a more nuanced look at Clayton Kerhsaw's postseason performances:
The Dodgers' eight-run explosion through the first six innings of Game 1 marked only the seventh time in Kershaw's 29 postseason starts that his offense scored at least five runs by the time he released his final pitch of the game. Overall, the Dodgers offense has averaged just 3.1 runs on the scoreboard at the time Kershaw left the game across those 29 starts. . . .

Time and time again, Kershaw has battled both expectations and the scoreboard, hardly ever enjoying a giant lead that has allowed him to relax and attack hitters with a cushion. . . .

Sometimes, Kershaw just couldn't control what happened next. Consider that five of Kershaw's 12 postseason losses came in starts in which he personally surrendered just three or fewer runs before handing the ball to his manager and walking back to the dugout. And consider this, too: per Elias, Kershaw's career postseason ERA would stand at 3.49 if none of the runners he had left on base had ever come around to score.
The article also includes this factoid, courtesy of Sarah Langs:
Clayton Kershaw got 19 misses on 38 swings against him tonight. That 50.0% whiff rate is the highest in any start of his career (min 25 pitches thrown, including postseason)
Will Leitch (also mlb.com) posits a few storylines for Game 2:
Is Kevin Cash already managing nervous? . . .

[Unlike the ALCS] the World Series has days off after Games 2 and 5. Cash sure didn't manage like that in Game 1, though.

Despite Tyler Glasnow looking far from his best self -- six walks in 4.1 innings is a lot -- Cash kept him in to throw a stunning 112 pitches, only the second time in two seasons the Rays have allowed a starter to throw that many pitches. . . . This was particularly curious because making pitching changes is the Rays' whole thing. Cash is usually much more nimble with this staff. . . .

Are the Rays' bats starting to get unstuck?

First off, let it be written in the history books that it is possible to get Randy Arozarena out: He went 0-for-3 with a walk . . . [T]his is a team that just won the American League Championship Series despite scoring more than four runs in a game only once. They've been waiting for someone other than Arozarena to step up . . . 

Once Kershaw left the game, the Rays' bats immediately stirred to life, and if it hadn't been for that absurdly fortunate line-drive catch by Victor González off a Mike Zunino drive in the seventh, Tampa Bay's offense looked like it was starting to finally rev up. . . .
Ian Malinowski (DRays Bay) goes deep into the match-ups and agrees with Cash's decision to stay with Glasnow.
Watching yesterday, there's an easy impulse to interpret the fifth inning as Cash "playing for tomorrow" in the world series.

But that's not what was going on.

Comparisons to the "quick hook" Cash had for Morton in game seven of the ALCS fail, because that quick hook actually came an inning and two thirds later, when the Rays were in a position to bring in their absolute best relievers and use them the rest of the way through the game.

That's not possible in the fifth inning, and the definition of "highly competitive" relievers is different when the Rays are facing the Dodgers' balanced lineup as opposed to when facing the righty-heavy Astros or Yankees. . . . 

And a Rays comeback would almost by definition create high leverage situations later on in the game where Cash would want to call on Anderson or Fairbanks. . . .

Because of Glasnow's quality, it was a calculated, competitive choice that very possibly gave the Rays their best shot at winning the game.

It just didn't work.
Eric Stephen (True Blue LA) says a team effort will be required on the mound for the Dodgers:
Tony Gonsolin will start for the Dodgers, and though he has a perfectly capable starting pitcher . . . for Game 2 he figures to be limited, since he just pitched on Sunday. The givens are that Gonsolin and Dustin May will pitch this evening. It's possible that Julio Urías, who like those two is also only on two days rest.

A grueling NLCS and a rallying finish forced this World Series pitching scramble on the Dodgers by circumstance. . . . 

I think the Dodgers should wait to use Urías as a starter in Game 4. He's been excellent this postseason, and can go five or six innings, especially on what would be five days rest.

And the Dodgers will have Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen all available in relief, all three on two days rest, with an off day coming Thursday. . . .

The Dodgers pitching plan at the moment has Walker Buehler starting in Game 3, on five days rest, and Clayton Kershaw in Game 5, on four days rest, with Buehler available to start Game 7 on four days rest if needed. . . . That leaves the even-numbered games to fill innings. . . .

Snell induced a swing on a pitch outside the zone 35.5% of the time during the regular season, the 10th-highest O-Swing% among all pitchers with at least 50 innings. As a team, the Dodgers' 26.5% O-Swing% was the lowest in the majors. . . .

The Dodgers are hitting .316/.412/.595 against left-handed pitching this postseason, with 11 home runs in 187 plate appearances. Snell throws left-handed.
by allan at 3:15 PM 0 comments
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October 20, 2020

World Series Game 1: Dodgers 8, Rays 3 

Rays    - 000 010 200 - 3  6  0 
Dodgers - 000 242 00x - 8 10  0
The Dodgers cruised to victory in Game 1 of the World Series, carried by home runs from Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts, additional timely hitting from Max Muncy, and the dominating left arm of Clayton Kershaw (6-2-1-1-8, 78).

The last 13 Rays to face Kerhsaw managed to hit only one ball out of the infield and the Los Angeles lefty retired 17 of his last 18 batters. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went to his bullpen to start the seventh, a mildly surprising move, but since LA was leading 8-1, he figured Kershaw's innings could be better spent later in the series. (Tampa Bay batters swung at 38 of Kershaw's pitches and missed 19 of them. All eight of his strikeouts were swinging.)

Mookie Betts became the first player in World Series history with a home run, two runs scored, and two stolen bases in a game. He is also the second player to have two hits (including a home run) and two steals in a World Series game, joining Chase Utley (2008 G1, also against the Rays).

Betts is also the first player to walk and steal two bases in an inning of a World Series game since . . . Babe Ruth! It was 99 years ago, on October 6, 1921, in the fifth inning of Game 2 between the Yankees and Giants at the Polo Grounds, Ruth walked with two outs. He stole second and third with Bob Meusel at the plate, but was stranded when Meusel grounded out. 

Bellinger's two-run homer with one out in the fourth (Muncy had draw a leadoff walk) put the Dodgers on the board. They broke the game open in the fifth, as Tyler Glasnow was left in the fire for far too long. Glasnow had issued four walks in four innings and he began the fifth by walking Betts (who stole second) and Corey Seager. After a mound visit, Glasnow struck out Justin Turner, but the baserunners pulled off a double steal, of second and third. (The three steals in an inning tied a World Series record set by the 1912 New York Giants in Game 6 against the Red Sox.)

Muncy tapped a grounder to the right of first baseman Yandy Díaz. He had to make a hurried throw to the plate, but it was wide to the third base side and Betts slid in safely. Will Smith singled to center and Seager scored. Rays manager Kevin Cash finally replaced Glasnow (4.1-3-6-6-8, 112) with lefty Ryan Yarbrough. It was an extremely slow hook. I would have expected Yarbrough to be brought in to face Muncy.

As it was, Yarbrough struggled. He got the second out on a pop-up, but was hit for run-scoring singles by Chris Taylor and pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández. That closed the book on Glasnow, who is the only pitcher in World Series history to walk at least six batters, give up at least 6 runs, but allow three or fewer hits. His 112 pitches was also more than he threw in any of his 11 starts this season. He topped 88 pitches only four times and threw in excess of 96 only twice: 102 and 105.

Tampa Bay's Josh Fleming was on the mound for the bottom of the sixth and Betts hit his first pitch for an opposite-field home run. One our later, Turner nearly got himself a dong, but the ball hit about two inches from the top of the right-center field wall. Muncy followed with a double in the right-center gap and it was 8-1.

Dylan Floro took over for Kershaw and allowed a single and a double after getting one out. After a bit of cat-and-mouse (Ji-Man Choi was announced as a pinch-hitter for Willy Adames, Roberts changed pitchers, calling on Victor González, which prompted Cash to have Mike Brosseau bat for Choi). Brosseau singled in one run and Kevin Kiermaier (who had homered off Kershaw in the fifth) singled in another. González got out of the inning when he gloved Mike Zunino's line drive and turned it into a 1-6 double play.

That was it for the Rays. Pedro Báez got two infield pop-ups and a fly to center in the eighth. Joe Kelly pitched a perfect ninth, though he had some much-needed help. Bellinger robbed Austin Meadows of a home run with an outstanding catch well above the center field wall for the first out. Manuel Margot struck out looking and Joey Wendle grounded out. Kelly got his bare hand on the ball, ending it up in the air towards shortstop. Seager, moving to his left, fielded it cleanly and threw the runner out, ending the game.

Tyler Glasnow / Clayton Kershaw 

The 116th World Series begins tonight in Arlington, Texas. It's the first World Series ever played at a neutral site. The Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers will compete over the next week for the coveted Piece of Metal™.

The Rays (40-20, best American League record) are in the fall classic for the second time in franchise history. They lost the 2008 World Series to the Phillies in five games. 

The Dodgers (43-17, best National League record) won the NL West for the eighth straight season and have been NL champions for three of the last four years. However, they have not won the World Series since 1988, having lost to the Astros in 2017 and Red Sox in 2018. 

The World Series will have its traditional two off-days as part of the 2-3-2 format, so the Rays have reduced their pitching staff from 14 (in the ALCS) to 13. Outfielder Brett Phillips and left-hander pitcher Ryan Sherriff have been added to the roster; pitchers Aaron Slegers and Jose Alvarado were dropped. 

The Dodgers' roster is unchanged, with 15 pitchers, 13 position players.

All games are at 8:00 PM ET.
Game 1: Tuesday,   October 20:   Rays-Dodgers
Game 2: Wednesday, October 21:   Rays-Dodgers
Game 3: Friday,    October 23:   Dodgers-Rays
Game 4: Saturday,  October 24:   Dodgers-Rays
Game 5: Sunday,    October 25:   Dodgers-Rays
Game 6: Tuesday,   October 27:   Rays-Dodgers
Game 7: Wednesday, October 28:   Rays-Dodgers
Staring pitching assignments: The Rays will go with Blake Snell in Game 2 and Walter Buehler gets the nod for the Dodgers in Game 3.

MLB.com asked 71 reporters and analysts for their World Series predictions: 

58 voters (82%) picked the Dodgers, with 13 voters choosing the Rays. 
Dodgers in 7 games:   16
Dodgers in 6 games:   33
Dodgers in 5 games:    8
Dodgers in 4 games:    1

Rays in 7 games:       6
Rays in 6 games:       6
Rays in 5 games:       1
While most reports/analysts seem to believe the two teams are evenly matched (since 86% of them (61 of 71) expect the series to six or seven games), that is not reflected in the pick of eventual winner. 

Mookie Betts was the landslide pick for possible MVP. He received 40 of the 71 votes (56%). No other player received more than six votes! 
Mookie Betts, Dodgers:     40
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers:    6
Corey Seager, Dodgers:      4
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers:   4
Charlie Morton, Rays:       4
Randy Arozarena, Rays:      3
Justin Turner, Dodgers:     2
Walker Buehler, Dodgers:    1
Will Smith, Dodgers:        1
Julio Urías, Dodgers:       1
Tyler Glasnow, Rays:        1
Brandon Lowe, Rays:         1
Willy Adames, Rays:         1
Manuel Margot, Rays:        1
Nick Anderson, Rays:        1
by allan at 2:20 PM 0 comments
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