NLDS Game 3 Thread: 10/7 @ Barves, 5p

The Wave sucks but I'll take it over the stupid imperialistic tomahawk chop any day.

Walker Buehler (regular season: 8-5, 2.62) vs Sean Newcomb (rs: 12-9, 3.90).

Goddammit, Dodgers. Now you've given us hope.

In the 2017 NLDS against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers started:

• Clayton Kershaw
  
• Rich Hill
  
• Yu Darvish

In the 2018 NLDS against the Braves, the Dodgers are starting:

• Hyun-Jin Ryu
  
• Clayton Kershaw
  
• Walker Buehler

Which rotation makes you feel better?

Despite a frustratingly topsy-turvy regular season, the Dodgers are again in a position to sweep their NLDS opponent (we swept Arizona last year; haha, eat it Snakes!). Not only that, but the 2018 Dodgers led the NL in home runs with 235, while the 2017 edition was fourth with 221.

This is conflicting: How can this year's team, which scratched its way to a division title, seem better than last year's juggernaut? If this year's team could just stop leaving the bases loaded, we might stand a chance against the Brewers in the NLCS.

photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Everything You Didn't Want to Know About the Wave

The Wave. I find it annoying. SoSG Alex Cora finds it annoying. Hungarian scientists? Not so much. From a 2002 article at CNN.com:

Tamas Vicsek of the University of Hungary, along with colleagues, analyzed videos of 14 waves at large Mexican soccer stadiums. Using mathematical models initially developed to study the spread of forest fires and the propagation of electrical impulses in heart tissue, Vicsek's team claims to have scientifically figured out the dynamics of the wave.

Their analysis indicates that it takes only a few dozen fans leaping to their feet with their arms up to trigger a wave. Once started, it usually rolls in a clockwise direction at a rate of about 40 feet per second, or about 20 seats per second. They say at any given time, it is about 15 seats wide.

Still with us? Good. Here's the best part:

The wave is a global phenomenon. Some call it the Mexican Wave, or "La Ola," since soccer fans initially got into it during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Its exact origin is unclear, but it gained popularity in the United States in the early 1980s. The Oakland Athletics baseball team says the first appearance of the wave at a Major League Baseball game was in Oakland on October 15, 1981.

(Emphasis mine.) Is that good news or what? Even as Dodger Stadium continues to be associated with easily distracted fans who will break out into The Wave at the drop of a beach ball, the A's are on the record as claiming credit for its introduction into American baseball. So blame Oakland. It's their fault.

At-Game Recap: Angels 3, Dodgers 1

I'm sorry, really I am. I thought I was prepared, but I think I blew it for us. The day started innocently enough. I pulled my lucky jersey from the closet and made it to the game about an hour early. I even had time to walk to Autograph Alley and see who was signing. It was Bobby Castillo and he was really nice and stopped to take a picture with me as well.

"Babo" was really nice and in 1980 appeared in a career-high 61 games, posting an 8-6 record and 2.76 ERA.

But, stupid me, I wanted to try something new. This was my first Dodger game WITHOUT inhaling a Dodger Dog. I know, I know, what the heck was I thinking. I thought I would change it up and have a Brooklyn Pizza instead as it was pretty good the last time I ate it. So, Mrs. Alex Cora and I split the pizza. Good, but not great. And I think this really pissed off the Dodger gods.

Cool box, but what the heck was I thinking?

Everyone knows how badly the Dodgers played, so I won't rehash it here. Ten hits and 11 men LOB with only one run to show for it? That was pretty bad. Plus, Mrs. Cora got hit with the stomach bug and then I got hit too - again the Dodger gods punishing us. I spent the top of the 8th inning, when the Angels went ahead, in the bathroom. Ugh. The Dodgers seemed to be playing like I was feeling.

Other things that occurred were a guy getting thrown out near our section for spitting food on other fans, way too many beach balls, and people trying to do the wave over and over and over again (it's not the 1980's, people). I guess I was just in a crappy mood, mostly because the Dodgers lost. Plus, I realized that I will be the first "L" in the column on the right.

Fireworks only seen in the sky and not at the plate for the Dodgers.

The only redeeming factor of the night was the Dodgers' Friday Night Fireworks Night. I always think it is so cool that the organization allows the fans to walk onto the field for, well, ANYTHING. We went straight to the edge of the infield and stared up into the night's sky to watch fireworks explode to the music of Journey, the Beatles, the Temptations, and, of course, Randy Newman. Then the crowd was funneled out of the stadium and I chose to go through the bullpen, as I have never stepped foot in there before - it was pretty cool to step on a "home plate" in Dodger Stadium.

I wish we could have seen a win and now I don't know if I should keep going with the lucky jersey or change it up a little. In any event, I hope we can get the bats going again and bring some fireworks of our own tomorrow. Go Blue!

Five Suggestions for the Dodgers' New Head of Security

Congratulations, Ray Maytorena—you've just been hired as the new VP of Security for the Dodgers. Undoubtedly you face a tall task in trying to make Dodger Stadium a safe but friendly environment. To assist you, SoSG recommends you focus your efforts on these groups of...undesirables:

1. Yahoos sitting behind home plate who wave to the camera while on their cell phone. "Hi honey! I just saw you two hours ago and I'm going to see you in another two hours, but I'm going to annoy millions of television viewers so I can say hi to you again! Game? What game?"

• Recommendation: Exterminate with extreme prejudice, preferably in mid-wave to deter copycats.
  
• Special exemption: Mary Hart.

2. Compulsive BlackBerry users. Welcome to Dodger Stadium. Note there is a game being played on the field in front of you. What's that, you can't look up because you have to return an e-mail from Bob in HR right now? Or the latest round of Bejeweled just can't wait? Then head back to the office, drone.

• Recommendation: Confiscation of mobile device; said device will spend the rest of the game affixed to an industrial magnet.
  
• Special exemption: Bloggers posting from the game. The public demands to know who won the hat shuffle, stat!

3. Beach ball boppers. "Here! Hit it heeerrrrre!" First of all, stop whining. Is that how you ask for everything? "Dinner! Give me dinnnnner!" Secondly, you like beach balls? Go to the beach. We have a few of those in L.A.

• Recommendation: Activate a Dodger Stadium Beach Ball Squad, specially empowered to confiscate and violently deflate beach balls inches from the faces of the whiniest beach ball boppers. Arm squad members with Tasers to quell resultant attempts at booing.
  
• Special exemption: Homemade inflatables that make a statement, like the blow-up pill bottle batted around the Left Field Pavilion when Barry Bonds was visiting Dodger Stadium.

4. Anyone starting or participating in The Wave. Nothing says we don't care like The Wave!

• Recommendation: Outfit suspect Wave-starters with magnetic pants and sleeves; trip seat magnet to prevent fans from rising from their seats to perform The Wave. Trip armrest magnet to prevent token "butts-down, hands-up" participation.
  
• Special exemption: When the Dodgers are winning by at least ten (10) runs, fans may celebrate with one (1) round of The Wave. Subsequent rounds will be quashed with aforementioned magnet technology.

5. Anyone starting or chanting "[insert object of ridicule] sucks!" Yo, why the hate? Just because the Dodgers rule doesn't mean everybody else sucks. Stay classy, L.A.

• Recommendation: Deafening air horns sound upon start of chant; if chant persists, air horns increase in volume. (Players will not notice, as they will be outfitted with earplugs.) Air horns will play at eardrum-shattering levels, if necessary.
  
• Special exemption: Manny Ramirez, if he doesn't re-sign with the Dodgers.

beach ball and Wave photos by Flickr user Malingering