:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Bye-bye to the Atlanta Braves and their football fans who masquerade as baseball fans every year. Their ace reliever, Craig Kimbrel, was all warmed up with nowhere to go. His manager was going to bring him in after one more batter, but Juan Uribe parked a hanger in the back of the Dodger bullpen and the celebration was on! My favorite part of this series was actually last night, when Dodger Dogs serenaded the Braves players with their stupid Tomahawk Chop, that they stole from Florida State. Have you ever heard 56,000 sing sarcastically? It was beautiful and they did it, waving/chopping their towels, programs and Big Blue Fingers at the Braves players who could only stand there and take it for the final three innings. All Hanley, Yasiel and the boys needed was another swimming pool to jump into. Champions of the West and now champions of the East. God! This feels good!
The game was too late in the eastern time zone for me to stay up and watch, but I wish I could have seen the Dodger fans doing the tomahawk chop. I watched all of game 3. The Dodgers are downright scary. That batting lineup is monstrous, and Cy Young candidate Kershaw & company are capable of shutting down the opponent. Whether they face the Cards or the Pirates, they'll be the odds-on favorite for the NL title.
Congrats JoCo. With all of the injuries the Dodgers have been dealing with, I thought their playoff run might be a short one and was surprised that Mattingly was starting Kershaw on short rest. Seemed like a panic move. But, I failed to account for the Dodgers depth. Impressive blow out of the Braves. I was hoping for a Tigers-Dodgers WS ( Hope AJ is busy with school and not reading this thread) but right now it looks like while the Dodgers may get there, the Tigers inexplicable hitting slump will result in an early exit.
Well after we polish off the Pirates on Wed they'd better be getting ready for some hurt in Busch Stadium!! Go Cards! It's been fun rooting for the Cardinals this year. :?
:idea: :idea: :idea: :!: :!: The difference was Mattingly moving up Kershaw to pitch on short rest, while the Braves manager, Fredi Gonzalez, decided not to move up his ace, Kris Medlen or bring in his closer Craig Kimbrel one batter sooner. Now they both have all winter to rest... The LA Times ran a story about how Kershaw grew up on stories of the legendary Koufax pitching on 3 days rest and 2 days rest in the 1965 World Series. It was his idea to move up the rotation and he begged Mattingly for days to do it... I see where the Tigers are still alive, because they brought in Max Scherzer to relief pitch today. Great move. It's that time of the year. Play 'em if you've got 'em, because there is no tomorrow...
Leeland was in a good position to take that gamble as he still had 1 bullet in his chamber for game 5-Verlander. One entertaining thing about going back to Oakland is the TV crowd shots. The fans there look like cast members from Breaking Bad. They were some really scary looking people in that crowd and, remember, this is being written by a guy who lived just off of 8 Mile in Detroit for 27 years. Re the Dodgers, I thought losing Kemp and Either would really hurt them in the playoffs but others picked up the slack. Adding Wilson was a really nice late season move. The back end of the bullpen looked to be the Dodger Achilles heel earlier in the year but Wilson and Jansen have turned out to be a nice duo to lock down a game in the 8th and 9th.
And then there's Puig... BTW, nice recap there Bobda, I agree completely. The BP changes were key to becoming a true playoff contender.