Friday, October 03, 2014

Expect Chippiness

The worst part of the 2013 NLCS was of course watching the St. Louis Cardinals pitch inside to Hanley Ramirez, breaking his rib and rendering him powerless for the series, which the Dodgers lost. Since then, manager Don Mattingly says he isn't thinking about this incident. But we Dodgers fans sure as hell are:

LOS ANGELES -- The Cardinals started last season's National League Championship Series with a roar when Joe Kelly hit Hanley Ramirez with a pitch during the first inning of the Game 1 at Busch Stadium. The pitch cracked Ramirez's ribs, and he batted .133 (2-for-15) in five games.

Ramirez has since been hit again twice by Cards pitchers, coming in the same game in St. Louis on July 20 -- by Carlos Martinez early on and later in the game by closer Trevor Rosenthal. Clayton Kershaw, who is slated to start Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Friday at Dodger Stadium (3:30 p.m. PT, FOX Sports 1) against Adam Wainwright, hit Matt Holliday in the middle of that July game, the most recent time the two teams have met.

Kelly has since been traded to the Red Sox, and Ramirez is somewhat healthy going into the playoffs after a season filled with nagging injuries. If there is any bad blood left over from the dual confrontations, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly wasn't biting on it when questioned on Thursday.

"To be honest with you, it's hard to go into a series thinking about who is going to get hit and who is not going to get hit, or [what if] somebody gets hit," Mattingly said. "Our preparation has been just that, trying to get ready for Wainwright and his pitches and what he does -- make sure our guys are ready to play baseball.

If I'm Hanley, I'm wearing kevlar today. And if I'm Chris Perez or Brandon League, I'm ready to get a good shot back at St. Louis.

2 comments:

spank said...

Is there a game being played right now? Goddamn it's early.

Hideo Nomo said...

If I'm Chris Perez, I already cleaned out my locker. Now I'm gonna smoke out my dog.