Urias vs. Yarbrough.
Last night, backup catcher Austin Barnes made the most of this 2020 moment. After being left off the 2019 postseason roster altogether, the light-hitting Barnes not only coaxed Walker Buehler into a dominant starting pitching performance, he also notched a crazy World Series bunt-plus-home-run statistic that had only been matched by Hector Lopez in 1961.
And last night gave a number of signs that the Dodgers' 2020 roster is up for pulling through in a true team effort. Justin Turner, whose defensive prowess in the 2020 postseason has kept us alive, but his bat has been uncommonly quiet (at .232 BA vs. a .307 regular season mark), led off the fireworks with a two-out first-inning home run. Max Muncy, who struggled all year to a subpar .192 batting average, had the two-run, two-out RBI single in the third that spelled the beginning of the end for Tampa Bay starter Charlie Morton. And then there's Barnes, a .198 batter on the season, erupting for a .350 BA and .861 OPS this postseason.
Chris Taylor and Will Smith both went 0-for-4 last night (Smith with a team-leading 4 LOB), but when the team is collectively 2-for-4 with RISP and collecting gut-punching two-out RBI hits, you can feel the offensive pressure even with those off nights.
It's a stark contrast to the Rays, who walked into these first three games with a bunch of sub-.200 hitters on the team, but have not yet opened up (short of Brandon Lowe's two-HR performance in Game 2). Lowe is still batting .154; Ji-Man Choi .143; and only one starter (Manuel Margot) is north of .300 this World Series.
But all of this is small sample size, and a 2-1 lead's advantage can disappear quickly with a loss today. Julio Urias is 4-0 this postseason (in four appearances, only one of which was a start), and is coming off an impressive and efficient three-inning performance to close NLCS Game 7. But this game could be the biggest start in his postseason career (Urias has started two postseason games to date, losing vs. the Cubs in the 2016 NLCS Game 4, and winning vs. Atlanta in this year's NCLS Game 3).
Ryan Yarbrough had 2/3 of an inning in Game 1, rescuing starter Tyler Glasnow in the fifth but yielding two RBI-hits across four batters (Bellinger pop out; Taylor RBI single; Hernandez RBI single; Barnes fly out). He probably won't last long in Tampa Bay's bullpen game tonight. But if the Rays can scratch and claw their way to victory and even the series, I sure as heck will be worried again.
Actually, I'm pretty worried now.
186 comments:
Worry never goes out of fashion
Betts, RF
Seager, SS
Turner, 3B
Muncy, 1B
Smith, C
Bellinger, CF
Pollock, DH
Taylor, LF
Hernandez, 2B
Urias, P
Rays have an interesting lineup today to face the lefty Urias. Margot is hitting cleanup. Renfroe and zulilo buried deep in the lineup.
Arozarena batting second. He batted third for Games 1-3
Updated lineup:
Betts RF
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Muncy 1B
Smith C
Bellinger DH
Pollock CF
Taylor LF
Hernández 2B
Urías P
Cody has lower back stiffness
Feeling nervous...
Roof open in Arlington.
HERE WE GO
Here’s Mookie!
Mookie works a full count but pops out
Full count, but pop out to Diaz. Choi sits this game because of the lefty
3-0 count to Seager but he lines sharply to Lowe at second. Boo
JT AGAIN!!!
TURNER!!
Corey smokes a 3-0 pitch but right at a JUSTIN FUCKING TURNER
JT is BACK!!!
Turner had told a reporter that he had figured something out in his swing but wasn’t going to tell what it was until after the series. He sure does
Justin Turner hitting those first inning home runs last night and tonight are so key
K
Urías and his 1st-inning troubles...
Randy can’t get hot. Gotta stop that somehow.
Okay let’s play the THAT IS... game with Joe Buck, the lazy commentator. He is too slow to figure out the play so he says this on every batter’s contact.
(Another Son noticed this)
KK
Does Buck do it in football games too?
Brosseau K for out 2. Arozarena on first with his single
Looks out
Kiké with a nice pick and tag to catch Randy stealing. Nice throw by Smith too.
Challenge works! Arozarena out at second
Did Mookie write Jackie Robinson’s initials in the dirt before his at bat?
Love to see Fresh Prince flex his D too
Q7...He wrote something, I would like to think it was Jackie's 42.
I went back on the replay, Quad. It looked something like "T20"
Interesting. Thanks for checking Orel. Wonder what it means.
Smith has done some great base running this inning.
CT3 Ks badly. But Yarbrough has 35 pitches through two
KK
K
KKK
Urias with K 3
What a catch by Mookie!
Mookie with the D!
Oh, Betts! Wow
Crowd chanting Mookie, and he smiles
Urías off to a good start
Maybe Kiké would have been safe if he hadn't taken the time to signal he was safe
SEAGS!
COREY!!!
COREY!!
More two-out madness!
Seager!
"THAT is hit into center for a base hit"
"THAT is a strike"
Muncy let’s do this
Nice walk by Muncy
Muncy with another walk
Our check swings are killing us.
Yeah not a good AB by Smith
I can't tell shit in this park. Thought that Renfroe line out was gone
KKKKK
Urías works around a one out walk. Looking good!
Let's see that regular-season A.J.
Just missed!
That'll do!
Pollock listened!
Pollock double in the top of the fourth knocks out Yarbrough. One out.
A.J. was always a good listener
Here’s the bad news: we can’t hit off this Tampa bay bullpen
Arozarena has three straight hits and two of those are HRs.
Why would we pitch to him?
Smith is not having a great game. PB allows the runner to advance
Sorry WP
KKKKKKK
Definitely time to start pitching around him.
Corey singles, advances to second on a WP
Aaugh JT so close
3-1
Give him hell Doc
Julio taking after Clayton in the solo HR department. 3-2 Dodgers heading into the 6th
More dingers please
Fresh Prince leadoff walk!
Cody went fishing and came up with nothing
Castillo is struggling with his control. Just let him throw balls!
A.J. showing Cody the value of discipline
Another walk. CT3 with an opportunity here.
The ice-cold CT3 comes up
Great time for a slump buster!
He fouls off two pitches right down the pipe
Dammit
Unlucky with that one.
THAAAAAAT
THANK YOU KIKI!!!
Kiké delivers! Yes!
The Mookie Factor up with 2 on...
Mookie is just waiting until the end of the game for his offensive theatrics
Tummy. Queasy.
Mrs. Quad is calling Arozarena by the nickname Macarena. It’s sticking for me.
This is looking bad
Hey...rozarena. Yep it works
Now watching game with my hands over my eyes.
Treinen Ks Meadows on three pitches. Need a DP now
C'mon Petey
NOOOOOOOOOOO
Yup
Seager starts the rally with a single!
Turner with a double! Let’s go!
LET'S GOOOOOO
Muncy down on three pitches.
Damn. Smith down the same way.
RANCHO ARDIENDO
3-1 count to Joc
JOCTOBER!!!
WOW
Woohoo! Way to go Joc!
It's moment like these I think this team might be different than the 2017 & 2018 editions
That was an amazing break for us!
Totally agree Orel. Big hits in clutch situations.
Welp
Baez is done.
WHY IS BAEZ STILL IN
Hey, why don't we trot Baez back out there after he gave up a 3 run dinger
Are the Dodgers out of pitchers? I don’t understand what’s going on
Baez vs Arozarena. Great
Baez vs Macarena. This is gonna be scary.
Whew!
A little to late Pedro.
So lucky. I'll take it
I can’t take this
I’ve changed tshirts three times
I've changed pants three times
CT3 double!
"THAAAAAAT is"
CT3 juuuust missed a HR. Double instead.
What was that Kiké
I hate to say this but Mookie needs to show up at the plate
COREY
Holy shitballs! We lead again!
Aaaaaagggghhhhh!!!!!!!! Corey!
I just hope Roberts finds his bulllpen keys and yanks Baez
Seager and Turner with 4 hits each!
IT'S TIME MAX....
Still, the lead
Six more outs
I don't think I'm going to survive this.
Oh man. I don’t think 7 runs will be enough
I’m dying
ps, can y’all turn off that got damn gotcha captcha whatever it’s called. it hates me
@karen , I’m sooooooo with you
@ dbt I don’t know if we can stop the captcha thing aorry
GREAT JOB KOLAREK. Four straight balls
DBT, you should just be able to skip the captcha
ONE DOWN
I don't think I ever second guess Doc, but what was he thinking bringing Baez back out there for the 7th???
He had Kolarek lined up for the two hitters after Petey
Oh, TWO DOWN
C'mon Brusdar
THREE DOWN, THREE LEFT
Yes Bazooka!!!
How about some goddamn Geico people
This is setting up for a KJ disaster
Agreed
We need the good Kenley tonight.
CALIFORNIA LOVE ughhhhhh
There's a good Kenley?
3 MORE OUTS!!! we got this peeps!!!! have some faith. Let’s go!!!
Seatbelts everybody.
Kenley wild on his first two pitches
ONE DOWN
Ugh a bloop single
TWO DOWN
92 mph down the pipe to start Arozarena yeesh
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Again, can't tell shit in this park. Thought that was a foul out
Can't argue with the walk
Dodgers bullpen has thrown like zero first-pitch strikes tonight
We'll take that call all day long!
WELP
heartbreak
OMG! That was horrible.
That feels like the defining moment of this season
what the fuck.
i am so angry
WE ARE THE CUBS
The Dodgers have made a lot of unforgivable plays. That tops the list
Get some sleep... we’ll get em tomorrow
Finally, i’m not a robot.
That series against the Mets when two runners got thrown out at home in the same play... that was worse
But it wasn't a World Series game
Dave Roberts’s reaction was all of us.
Like Vinny used to say,”leave it to the Dodgers...”
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