Random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans. With occasional comments on baseball, entertainment, pop culture, and life in general.
Showing posts with label World Series 2024. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Series 2024. Show all posts
Let's start with the worst-case scenario for today's game: Nestor Cortes gets his sweet revenge on Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers by pitching an excellent game tonight, shutting the Dodgers down and ushering the Padres back into sole possession of first place.
It's entirely plausible, especially with the always-fragile Tyler Glasnow on the mound as our starter, not to mention a high likelihood we will continue to trot Michael "Black Hole" Conforto out there hoping for a different outcome despite four and a half months of evidence to the contrary.
I don't know about you guys, but I can keep watching the 2024 season highlights over and over again. So I'm going to try and keep posting about the 2024 season, including looking back at the 2024 World Series in all of its glory.
In today's entry, let's look at the miscues befalling the Yankees in World Series Game 5, top of the fifth.
But wait, we're missing a key fifth inning play in there, right? Oh yeah, Gerrit Cole forgetting to cover first base. I found this great photo from sportschosun:
But I haven't seen anyone yet link the Yankees' multiple-position on-field meltdown to the deplorable off-field behavior of Yankees fans, and the Yankee organization, the prior evening in World Series Game 4.
These two events are definitely and inextricably linked. There is no other logical explanation for how the Yankees could have crumbled like that without divine intervention The baseball gods took note of the Game 4 malfeasance, and then, when one least expected it, the baseball gods took action.
And you don't ever want to piss off the baseball gods.
So let's breakdown this story chronologically First of all, here's the Yankees thugs in action in the bottom of the first inning of Game 4, with absolutely reprehensible behavior in the stands molesting Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts:
But don't let that PR diversion distract one from the facts: Yankees fans were way out of line, and the Yankees organization was initially complicit in their turpitude. They loved the action from their goons, and the outcome of that game.
But the baseball gods took note. And they remember.
Mookie was steely-eyed and focused after the Game 4 loss. In the locker room, Betts spoke to the press, including a swath of New York reporters trying to bait him into a hyperbolic comment that could be bulletin board material or fodder for the New York tabloids. Betts wisely just called the play "irrelevant" and remained focused on the next day's task at hand. And you could see he was simmering.
So then we get to World Series Game 5. Gerrit Cole was absolutely dealing through four innings, and the Dodgers didn't even have a hit to that point in the game (just two baserunners, walks to Gavin Lux in the third and Mookie Betts in the fourth). Things looked bleak. Yankee fans were fired up, taunting, cocky, confident--just like those two unrepentant idiots in the stands for Game 4.
And then, the baseball gods struck.
What a fifth inning. An error by Aaron Judge. An ill-advised throw by Anthony Volpe, and a missed catch at third by Jazz Chisholm Jr. Gerrit Cole's failure to cover first base on a grounder to Anthony Rizzo. Solid two-RBI shots from both Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez to tie the game at 5.
Earlier this game, Aaron Judge hit his first World Series HR and appeared if he would finally get that monkey off his back. The gods firmly put that monkey right back in its place. (And I do feel a little badly about this, but that's another post for another day.)
Wow. What an amazing turn of events. I'm going to watch highlights of that inning, and the Game 1 Freddie Freeman walkoff grand slam, forever.
Later in the game, the baseball gods taunted Yankee fans even further, allowing the Yankees to retake the lead in the sixth inning, while the Dodgers appeared to be exhausting all viable pitching options. And Cole heroically soldiered on and kept the Dodgers off the board in the sixth and seventh innings, while the Yankees went up 6-5.
But then, in the top of the eighth inning, two sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts (bookending another fielding gaffe, a catcher's interference call on Austin Wells that allowed Shohei Ohtani to take first base despite clearly having trouble with his swing) put the Dodgers back in the lead. This time, it was for good.
Yankee Stadium was quiet. The baseball gods had spoken.
And the Dodgers pull off the biggest World Series comeback ever in a clinching game, responding to a five-run deficit to earn the crown.
Here's Mookie describing the Game 4 brouhaha on the Game 5 postgame show, when he said (with a laugh) that this was one of the two times in his whole life when he wanted to fight somebody:
We'll see if the Yankees have the spine to actually punish those two season ticket holders further. Maybe other Yankees fans, many of whom want him banned for life, will mete out their own judgment on these two idiots.
All I know is, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series Champions.
The 2024 World Series isn't about me, I know. But for the first time, I felt good about a game in advance (Game 4)...and it did not work out well. The Dodgers got bombed, and they wake up Wednesday to face the best pitcher in the game, Gerrit Cole.
My stomach is already turning as I write this, on Tuesday evening.
I mean, have you seen the bottom of our lineup? I sure as hell haven't, because they've been disposed of rather quickly this postseason. Max Muncy is batting .178 and went 0-for-3 with 3 Ks on Tuesday. Kiké Hernandez then follows; he was 0-for-4. Gavin Lux went 1-for-3 to *raise* his average to .188. Will Smith had a HR and he's still only batting .154.
At least we've got Tommy Edman batting ninth, but even he went 0-for-1 yesterday, plus he had his second fielding error of the series.
We just got punched in the mouth in Game 4, and we rolled over. I know, you could argue it wasn't our best set of arms, save maybe Daniel Hudson. But I still expected better from the Dodgers in Game 4. There is a clear path for the Yankees to win this World Series, starting with their ace, Gerrit Cole, winning tonight.
The Dodgers were always scheduled to throw a bullpen game for World Series Game 4, forgoing the opportunity for a World Series sweep and making the Fox network overlords happy. But even if it was planned, it doesn't mean today's loss was at all palatable.
Daniel Hudson was the sacrificial lamb tonight, throwing a meatball to Anthony Volpe for a grand slam that breathed life back into the Yankees' lineup. And though Landon Knack--who did the same thing against the Mets to lose the lead in NLCS Game 2--threw admirably from the fourth inning onward, Brent Honeywell served up some serious BP and let this game get way out of hand late.
Final score: Yankees 11, Dodgers 4. Yankees score a franchise record number of runs in a World Series game.
So now, the Dodgers are at a critical juncture. Either this was a brilliant tactical maneuver, resting all of our high-leverage arms while the Yankees had to use all of theirs. Or, we've just breathed life to a sleeping giant (including, literally, Aaron Judge), whose momentum won't be able to be stopped for three more games.
I mean, if Freddie Freeman, who is building a great case for the 2024 World Series MVP, can keep mashing home runs each game, like he did in Game 3 to completely silence the Yankees crowd (who were cursing epithets at him at the time):
And if Mookie Betts--now batting .291 with 14 RBI in the 2024 postseason--can keep adding runs on the board:
I almost feel bad for Stanton on that one, he was dead to rights by the time he rounded third base. And check out Will Smith's reaction (and do your own lip reading!) on this amazing field view:
Sure, Shohei Ohtani isn't hitting and has a bum shoulder; Will Smith isn't hitting and who knows what the hell is wrong with him; and Max Muncy is back on one of those bad offensive streaks again. It's not all good in Dodgerville.
But so far this World Series, we've played pretty good defense at all positions, the bullpen has been incredible in all sorrts of weird situations, our starters have outpitched the Yankees' formidable starting rotation, and Dave Roberts is making all the right calls.
And I know we've been successful with bullpen games...but we're starting Ben Casparius for Game 4. Casparius is making his first major league start in the World Series. This is a big stage for Big Ben!
No time to rest. We need to keep the pressure on the Yankees.
The Dodgers just throttled the hell out of the Yankees in the 2024 World Series Game 3, a game which would have bifurcating narratives depending on the outcome. Lose, and the Dodgers see a steamroller of a Yankees team with two more home games and the potential revitalization of a somnambulent offense. Win, and the Dodgers are fully in control of a World Series, up 3-0 in a best-of-seven.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, it was the latter outcome tonight in the Bronx. But what's more, the Dodgers' offense was not necessarily overpowering--fewer than the 6+ run outbursts we've seen from other crooked scores this postseason--but it still sucked the life out of the Yankees and Yankees fans, and the silence was palpable.
Credit Shohei Ohtani for his leadoff four-pitch walk, and Freddie Freeman, for yet his third home run of the series, one each for the first three 2024 World Series games, to silence the crowd with a big swing of his bat. Watching this highlight, you can hear the neanderthal Yankees fans cheering "F' you, Freddie!" before he silences them with this shot:
Also, credit Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman for manufacturing another run in the top of the third inning; and then Kiké Hernandez for poking another RBI to center, scoring Gavin Lux.
And credit Teoscar Hernandez for nailing Giancarlo Stanton at home in the bottom of the fourth inning, ending the inning and spoiling Stanton's one-out double and keeping the Yankees off the board.
But those heroics aside, the most telling moment of tonight's game occurred well after Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler left the mound (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 Ks). When Alex Verdugo hit a two-run HR in the bottom of the ninth on Michael Kopech, all the body language from Verdugo and the whole Yankees team wasn't about rallying for a comeback. Even by halving the deficit, they looked like a beaten team.
And that play was the dagger. If the Yankees, as a team, don't even feel good about closing the gap to have the tying run on deck--well yes, this series might be over.
I was shocked to see this behavior, but honestly I was even a little shocked that we took the game in the first place. The Dodgers are absolutely rolling--and we haven't even yet had one of the breakout offensive games that we've seen throughout this 2024 postseason. Maybe that outburst i still coming. I'd sure like to think so.
After two thrilling victories in Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers see the series shift to Yankee Stadium, where the Dodgers took two of three back in June. Much has changed since then, though, including the most recent news that Dodgers leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani, who suffered a partial shoulder dislocation in Game 2, is slated to play Game 3 but might not be at full strength.
The Dodgers are already trying to muscle through injuries up and down the lineup, including our whole starting rotation, a hobbled Freddie Freeman, and a recuperating Miguel Rojas. Adding Ohtani to this mix of walking wounded is pretty devastating. On top of that, some Yankees fans were cheering Ohtani's injury, which is just distasteful and horrible.
The Dodgers enter this Game 3 as the underdog, starting Walker Buehler. Buehler has pitched in two World Series Game 3s so far: in 2018 against the Red Sox, where he went 7.0 IP of two-hit ball (0 ER) and got a ND (that was the Max Muncy 18th inning walkoff); and in 2020, where he went 6.0 IP of three-hit ball (1 ER) and earned the win over the Rays. Buehler, injured for most of this season, has spent this year still trying to find himself, including some really dreadful outings along the way. I suppose that's part of the reason why we're the underdog tonight.
Freddie Freeman, ladies and gentlemen.(And, some beautiful people in the crowd behind him.)
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Carlos Rodon, 5p.
I have SO MUCH to write in a Post-Game Thread after attending last night's Game 1, an unbelievable extra-inning walkoff grand slam 6-3 victory. But those details will have to wait until later, as I want to keep this momentum rolling with today's Game Thread for World Series Game 2.
The Dodgers have not fared well in Game 2s this postseason. In the 2024 NLDS, the Dodgers followed up their comeback 7-5 Game 1 victory with a clunker of a game, losing 10-2 to San Diego and watching fans melt down by throwing trash on the field during the game.
Then, in the 2024 NLCS, the Dodgers again followed up a 9-0 spanking of the Mets in Game 1 with a pathetic 7-3 loss in Game 2, when Landon Knack got taken to the woodshed in the second inning. Both of those series lost all momentum for Los Angeles, as each series went 1-1.
The Dodgers MUST keep up the pressure on the Yankees today at the Stadium. I will be cheering on this one at home, so I'll be on the Game Thread more actively tonight.
Recent presidential candidate news notwithstanding, McDonald's sure is getting a lot of press this October--and I suddenly realized that it's the Dodgers who have been challenged by the fast food giant throughout this 2024 postseason.
Then, we had to defeat Grimace and the New York Mets.
And now, we get an opponent in pinstripes--evocative of the Hamburglar himself.
It's a fast food conspiracy!
2024 World Series, Game 1. No wonder why my stomach is already churning.
UPDATE 10.25 10:45a: Here's the Dodgers' World Series roster. Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol in; Evan Phillips out (injury). Kevin Kiermaier off; Andy Pages on. Gavin Lux and Miguel Rojas back.
3/27 vs. AZ (W, 6-4): AC
4/11 vs. TEX (W, 8-7): Sax
5/11 vs. SF (L, 3-9): Sax
5/25 vs. COL (W, 5-3): Sax
6/11 @ PIT (W, 8-6): Sax
6/15 vs. TB (W, 4-3): Nomo
7/4 vs. SD (W, 3-0): Orel, Sax
