Dodgers 7 Mets 13: Backs Against The Wall

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Welp at least we know that Clayton Kershaw going tomorrow is absolutely the right option within the context of this series. The Dodgers dropped a normally decisive game 3 by a (large margin) to (lesser margin) and they have their backs against the wall going into game 4.

That game was so terrible it was hard to imagine that the team actually had a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning! They put Matt Harvey in a bad spot with 3 straight singles to load the bases and Yasmani Grandal, he of the 6 hits in the past 2 months singled past a diving Lucas Duda and cleared the bases with the help of a throwing error. Things were fine back then! Brett Anderson just completed a dominant inning, the team looked like it had a very good chance to take a 2-1 lead in the series and

NOOOOOOPE

The wheels came off almost immediately after, Yoenis Cespedes hit a ground ball to Jimmy Rollins, Rollins quintuple clutched it felt like and Cespedes beat out a fairly routine grounder (a play that Seager makes) and a man was aboard. After a Lucas Duda single, Travis D’Arnaud singled to Enrique Hernandez to knock in a run. Howie Kendrick then muffed a fairly routine play to leave the bases loaded with just one out.

Juan Lagares hit a ground ball to Adrian Gonzalez who went home with the play.

Now if you’re counting that is 2 outs with the score still 3-1. If Kendrick or Rollins make plays that should have been made, Anderson goes into the dugout with a 2 run lead and is pitching a very different game that it ended up being.

But nope Curtis Granderson hit a bases clearing double that totally deflated the team.

Anderson didn’t last much longer, as he gave up a 2 run bomb to Travis D’Arnaud again with Yoenis Cespedes on base again. It was not a fun situation. The situation got worse from there as Alex Wood gave up an absolute mammoth 3 run home run to Yoenis Cespedes got a hit in 3 straight innings. He is good at hitting baseballs in my opinion.

Final line for them?

Anderson- 3 IP 6 ER

Wood- 2IP 4 ER

The rout was officially on as Baez gave up 3 runs on 1 hit and 2 walks. This is significant because he is an awful pitcher with awful command and only one pitch who shouldn’t be in any leverage situation ever. The dude cannot be trusted and it sucks cause he throws so hard.

But you already knew that Baez in a leverage situation was bad, the optimists looked at the team in July and probably thought “Mat Latos Brett Anderson and Alex Wood are totally enough!”

And uh well, Mat Latos last pitched for the Angels.

Alex Wood might be good in the future, but a player like him with his delivery, with his prior elbow problems, with his inconsistency as a Dodger, the future isn’t a good bet at all. He finishes his season with a totally underwhelming 3.99 ERA 3.77 FIP 3.93 xFIP. This is especially scary because his strikeouts have gone away.

Brett Anderson was a solid signing in a vacuum for the Dodgers. He made almost every start and was good in a decent percentage of them! Now, perform analysis on the first half of the season vs the second half of the season at your own risk, and for many players the whole season should count. But never in his entire life did Brett Anderson pitch as many innings as he did this season. Never! So i’d give more credence to the notion that he was probably tired as hell as the schedule wore down. And the stats back up that assertion:

Since the all star break, in  72.1 innings, he posted a 4.48 ERA with a 4.42 FIP and 4.85 K/9 plus a 2.24 BB/9. Really uninspiring numbers, not that you can fault the guy, because he did what he was supposed to do, pitch ever 5th day. And for that you have to give him credit. But if there was one thing that might have sunk the Dodgers chances at tonight’s win, it was going into the postseason with Brett Anderson and Alex Wood as your options. They both failed.

Bestow surplus value crowns to Alex Wood if you wish, call it a small sample size for Brett Anderson. But hey Anderson was struggling going into the postseason and volatility will never not be a part of Wood’s profile so those were the options and they probably cost the Dodgers a very winnable game.

Not that the defense shouldn’t take blame either, if Rollins makes that play to get Cespedes, and the Dodgers go into the 3rd up 3-1 there’s almost 0 chance that Wood sees this game which is very significant.

And for as much bad the two starting pitchers contributed, the Dodger media as a whole has not talked about how unbelievably terrible Jimmy Rollins has been this entire season. Media types, former players, and Don Mattingly have heaped praise on the dude the entire season

I mean we endured 563 PA’s of a .285 on base percentage. Much of which came from refusal to not lead off. He had a 80 wRC+ which even with the dearth of talent at the position was 4th WORST at the position this year. “But he was mostly there for defensive purposes” welp I hate to cite small sample defensive metrics, but Rollins really didn’t look like a gold glover out there and his -7 DRS and -6.2 UZR aren’t doing him any favors. Add in the fact that he was -2.0 runs on the basepaths and you have an absolute washed up, terrible shortstop who, if you weren’t already upset at for taking up 144 games of putrid baseball, he blocked the top prospect in the entire game who hit .337/.425/.561 in 113 plate appearances and just looked so vastly superior to any young player the Dodgers have had since at least Yasiel Puig and probably beyond that.

So the Jimmy Rollins era was a dumpster fire coated over by veteran grit and hustle that was meaningless in terms of on field value compounded by the fact that vastly superior options (perhaps Enrique Hernandez) could have occupied but didn’t because reasons. Clubhouse value? I guess. But Corey Seager isn’t exactly a problem within that space sooo.

Anyways back to that terrible game. The Dodgers added some runs in garbage time but by that time they needed to score 13 to just even it up so it was basically over after the 3rd inning. The team will go with Clayton Kershaw on the mound to save the season… For the sake of sanity and everything good in the world, please be good Clayton. I’ll be okay with any outcome as long as it does not involve an underwhelming 3+ earned run performance. So please Clayton. Dominate.