Dodgers Weekend Showdown: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

If you were to look up “crafty lefty” along with, “power-arm,” you’d find Exhibit A: Wade LeBlanc and Exhibit B: Walker Buehler.

The pair’s contrast in style doesn’t simply stop with their preferred pitching hand, LeBlanc is a soft-throwing journeyman who has finally found a home in Seattle after several years of not having one.

Buehler is the quintessential prodigy fresh out of Vanderbilt, throws in the upwards of 98 mph on a somewhat regular basis, and has drawn comparisons to non-other than our own Orel Hershiser. 

Buehler pitched beautifully Friday night. He consistently hit all of his spots with exquisite accuracy. His 4-seamer screamed and rose like a phoenix, blew past anyone who dared to swing at his fastball up.

It wasn’t just velocity that Buehler had on hand Friday night, his 4-seam darted from the outside (six inches) and quickly faded back in on the outside corner versus righties.

If you wanted to hit his FB, he’d sling a slider. The kid was a gunslinger Friday night and he wasn’t taking any prisoners. Painting that strike zone as if the French Renaissance had just met Cubism. He made his presence known immediately and loudly. 

By-and-large, my favorite matchup of the night was Buehler vs. Nelson “Boomstick” Cruz. In their first meeting, Buehler respectfully threw a get-over slider to switch things up. Cruz, in turn, lined it the other way.

Like swatting a gnat, the ball violently slashed through 1st and 2nd base in the air, on a line, as if he said aloud, “next time kiddo.”

That next time came in the 3rd. Buehler walked him to load the bases but managed to quell the M’s rally with swift precision. “Corey’s Brother,” Kyle Seager, eventually flew-out to end the inning. 

The rest of Buehler’s start went according to plan. The Vandy-alum served up 8 K’s. One of which went to Boomstick himself. In the last of their three meetings, Buehler threw a fastball up for a ball, then whipped another fastball in on his hands, which Cruz fouled off behind him.

The 1-1 pitch, Buehler threw another backup slider but this time it was hard and nasty and caught the outside corner.

That pitch froze Boomstick. Then he threw another fastball up on 1-2, making it now 2-2. After a fastball outside, the count was full, Buelher spun another nasty slider but this time caught Cruz swinging over it, about 6 inches higher than the ball’s trajectory as it dove straight down into the dirt.

Buehler finished his night with 6 IP, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 2 BB, and 8 K’s. A masterful performance for a master in training. 

It’s a shame that Buehler’s night was overshadowed by the eruption of Dodgers’ bats that wrote the rest of the game’s story. Manny Machado crushed a laser over the left field wall.

It wasn’t the majestic, rainbow-like arch that we’re accustomed to seeing from Slamchado, but it was on the screws, and it was pretty. In that same inning, Max Muncy ran into a hanging curve courtesy of LeBlanc, which promptly left the yard for a 2-run shot.

The Dodgers were beginning to make quick work of LeBlanc and before the M’s could catch their breath while attempting to stave-off the continual onslaught of Buehler’s heat-seeking cruise missiles, it was too late. The final score was 11-1, Dodgers.

Machado ended his night with another shot, this time it was the majestical arch that managed to land somewhere around Lake Washington.