DodgerHeads: Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández offset Dodgers bullpen in Game 1 win

DodgerHeads: Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández offset Dodgers bullpen in Game 1 win

It’s time for Dodgerheads. [Music] High five ball right fields [Music] have won it all in 2020 50 clubs out there hits the ball. is at the party. Your Dodgers have won the World Series. What’s up everybody? Welcome into Dodgerheads Live, presented by DodgerBlblue.com, part of the medium large sports network. My name is Jeff Beagle, joined tonight by Anthony Watrado. And uh the Dodgers win in convincing fashion in some ways, Anthony, and in the least convincing fashion in other ways. Yeah. Um, I feel about as bad as you could feel, I guess, for what was kind of a blowout win and like none of the stars got hurt. You know, your your guy on the mound shoved it. Uh, and it still feels like uh, okay. Yeah. Dodgers jump out to an eight to nothing lead in this game through six innings. The bullpen proceeds to struggle. Blake Snell struggles in the seventh inning. the bullpen struggles in the eighth inning and uh things got tight. As the announcer said, we did not expect to hear the tying run is on deck of this game, but in a game that was once eight to nothing, that was in fact the case. Fortunately for everybody here, the Dodgers survive. They take a one to nothing lead in the wildard series thanks in part to this 10 to5 game. The heroes tonight, Teosscar Hernandez, Show Otani, and the aforementioned Blake Snell. So, lots to get into for this one as well as chat about tomorrow’s game and whether or not the Dodgers can finish this one off and get that bullpen rested. As always, we want to give a shout out and say thank you to everybody hopping in with us live on Facebook, on YouTube, on Twitter, those listening to the podcast after the fact, Apple, Spotify, and Google. We appreciate you. We got a bunch of super chats to get to. Of course, again, we’re going to talk to Oscar Otani and Blake Snell as well. Saki Bomb with the first super chat. How is it? We’re up 10 to2 and after three batters in the eighth, I’m worried about this game. Anthony, I joked when it was 5- nothing that they just needed to double the lead and I would feel good. Uh thankfully they doubled it because the bullpen ends up getting this game to uh five runs allowed. Yeah. Um I thought should we get into the bullpen stuff now? I mean, let’s do it. the bullpen in this game, uh, two innings, three hits, three earned, four walks, and three strikeouts. They set a record for pitches in an inning in the eighth, I believe it was, um, 57 uh, or 59 maybe, between Vessia, Enriquez, and Jack Dryer in order to get three outs. Uh, I mean, Drier kind of did his job, but Vessia and Enriquez were a disaster. Yeah. And Drier didn’t make it look easy. He did. He walked in the first guy and then got two outs, right? Um, yeah. Look, it’s a it’s a 10-2 lead when Snail comes out for good. I thought I didn’t expect this, but I thought really good opportunity to throw Scott, Tanner Scott here. Yeah, I agree completely. And it’s it’s a late game situation, so you could sort of paint it a little bit as that, but it’s lower leverage, right? They don’t do that. So then I figured they wouldn’t do that. Then my next thought was, let’s let Robo take down these next two innings. Yep. And then you essentially, he’s the only guy you’re going to burn tonight. Y he can go get you six outs because like I said on Sunday, and he throw strikes, by the way. If there’s one thing Robleski does is he throws strikes. He’s in the zone. Right. Exactly. And you’re counting outs here. You’re not counting innings, but this gives you an opportunity to sort of, hey, no, no mus, no, you know, no fuss, no mus. Kind of get one guy out there. Let’s go take them all down and we move on to tomorrow with with basically a full bullpen. And so he brings out Vesia, who coming into the playoffs was one of was probably one at, you know, one of the top branches of the trust tree that we were that we were watering. And he looks terrible. And and real quick, like Vessia is an adrenaline guy. So I hated bringing me into a blowout. Like this is you were a you were setting him up for failure because if there’s one guy who needs leverage, if there’s one guy who needs the juice, it’s Vessia on one hand and the second hand is he’s been terrible on backtoback. So by using Vessia in a 10 to2 game, not only do you get the worst version of him, but he threw so many pitches, 22, he’s not available for tomorrow night either. Right. Right. Then you bring in a guy who’s had his own issues with the strike zone lately with a bunch of runners on base. Yeah. Seven strikes and 11 and 11 balls for Edgardo Enriquez. Yeah. And and I understand there like at that point you still don’t want like an EMTT Sheen warming up which eventually did have to happen. He didn’t come into the game but he he got up. Um, you know, so you you you understand a bit with the with the Enriquez decision, but it’s still like, man, asking him to get these last two outs with the bases loaded or whatever the situation was when he came in feels untenable. Yeah. and and you you that bullpin’s been exposed and you can talk about oh they’re confident now and you know all you want but that inning right there cannot give anyone in the dugout confidence. Yeah. Yeah. I’m with you. It was ugly and at least Trin came in and and he looked he looked fine. Um but yeah, it was it was like I said it it turned a very celebratory game one into oh boy, can we keep doing this for another month? Yeah, the answer is no. Um, but I’m with I mean Enriquez of all guys to bring in with the bases loaded, the guy who has like the biggest command issues in the entire bullpen who’s left out there. Um, again, I I am not excusing Alex Vestia. I am not excusing Enriquez. I was just surprised by both of those decisions that those were the guys they went to in that spot because that seemed like the lowest leverage spot possible. And I know it’s a three game series and so you just manage like you need to win every single game no matter what. But man, it backfired on the Dodgers. So more bullpen talk to come, I’m sure. Baconry 102 bullpen decides to walk everyone. Pathetic. Dave might as well have just started a long relief guy or something instead. Bleep end even with a win. Uh yeah, agreed. Agreed. Uh Ivan Scott is on the roster but didn’t pitch. The arrogance of the front office to put their ego over team success is wild. Bond deserved better. Um, that was one of the interesting talking points and I know Scott Gearman was live today breaking down um the the roster decisions. Bond was a surprise. He was on both of our rosters. The explanation, I think, if I’m I’m giving the benefit of the doubt of the front office is he’s been really bad against righties. It’s like an 800 ops allowed against righties and in this situation where you’re not going to really get to pick a ton as far as how many guys you have to face. Um, so I kind of you can you can get me to a place of understanding how they get to Tanner Scott over Anthony Bond. Um, but you know it on a night like tonight when Anthony Bond is not available, you’re looking at some of these guys who come in and you’re saying like Enriquez over Kasparius, Enriquez over Bonda, Enrique, like you just go down the list of guys I would have liked more in that spot than Enriquez. Yeah. And and like you said, I thought there’s a path to get me to understand like why you leave him off of this particular roster against this particular opponent. Um especially when you have as many other lefties as you already have on the in the bullpen. Um so I wasn’t I was surprised because like we like you said, we both had him in our in our circle of trust here and on our roster. Um, but I I think some of the other choices were were questionable, too. I actually think the the decision to put Will Smith on the roster, which I agree with. If he can swing the bat, I want him on there as a pinch hitter. Um, because I I think in my opinion, it’s not really carrying three catchers. You’re carrying two and a guy who can pinch hit off the backup DH essentially. Correct. And then you so I think the decision to do that probably essentially took Bond a spot on the roster. You know, I don’t think it was it was one to one there in terms of a pitcher for a pitcher. Um because I think they probably had already decided to take call and Dean. Um which I was fine with. Like I none of those decisions I was like upset with. I was just surprised by the Bond thing and we had already known that they were going to take Tanner Scott. Like they he was not going to be left off the roster. Yeah. Um it’s just then if you’re going to do that then you have to manage you have to deploy these guys in situations where they’re going to succeed. He didn’t do that with Vessia because like you said super low leverage with the high leverage performer. Don’t put him in that situation. Yeah. Then you put in another guy and the base is loaded. The base is loaded who has command issues and less than two outs. Um, again, not a position where he’s going to succeed. And then you have to bring in Drier, who probably did not expect to pitch tonight when that eighth inning started. And then and then he comes in with one out and the bases loaded. And, you know, like you said, he he kind of got out of it, but it wasn’t easy there. And and I think he he walked in the guy too, maybe. Um, so yeah, I just I understand some of the decisions. I don’t understand the decisions tonight in the game. Aaron, uh, one of the ickiest wins ever. This pen needs it. Come to Jesus moment. Bad. If they pitch like this, they will be the iceberg that sinks our Titanic. Uh, 300. Uh, all good vibes dashed by that gas can of a bullpen. Don’t care. 187. Way to ruin the good vibes bullpen. Unbelievable. Uh, Dr. V, can we agree that Enriquez and Scott should be nowhere near this roster? Uh, look, Tanner Scott didn’t do anything tonight, so our our opinion on Tanner Scott hasn’t changed. catches. I don’t think there’s going to be any uh Edgardo Enriquez defenders in when the NLDS comes around. And please, for the love, give me Ben Kasparius over Edgardo Enriquez. Um if I have to choose between those two, uh I like this from Shel. Uh well, I’ll come back to Shel in a sec. 300 might have seen the last of Enriquez this postseason. Dave was not pleased. Uh agree. Uh Luis, great win, but it’s over LMAO. Phillies in four. Uh look, if let’s just let’s get there first. Okay. Yeah. Uh, Robert says, “I was prepared to come in here full celebration mode. Instead, I’m just glad we won. All playoff teams saw this. They’re salivating now.” And then Michael Curio, bring back Kasparius now. Enough of this BS. So, a lot of the same theme, but then Shelly, I’m choosing positivity. Snell amazing. Offense insane. Drier okay trying great. Like everybody said, Anthony, I think we all expected to come into this when it’s eight to nothing. Like, oh man, this is it. like three game series. We’re terrified of the randomness. We’re terrified of the small sample size. And the Dodgers come out and they give us a snoozer. They give us a jump out to a big lead. Blake Snell is shoving like this is going to be easy. This is going to be nice. And there’s some positivity there because that’s what they did. As bad as the bullpen was, guess what? They still won this game by five because the offense and the starting pitching was that great. And that’s the recipe. I’m not saying the bullpen is going to be this bad or like to expect them to be infinitely better. I’m just saying if the offense hits like this and the starting pitching pitches like that, it might not matter all that much. Yeah. Look, if you get this kind of performance from your starter and this kind of performance from your offense, you’re going to win the World Series. Yeah. Uh like if this if this continues for all of October, you’re going to win it all. Uh it doesn’t it almost doesn’t matter how bad your bullpen is. Um, with that said, I do think that the bullpen is not going to be this bad like always, right? Like I think I think Enriquez might have pitched himself off of October. Yeah. Uh, for the rest of the playoffs, you know, depending on how far they get. Uh, you know, once like, let’s say they they close this thing out. you’re he’s he’s got a really really difficult case to make to be on the the the the DS roster here. Yeah. Um and then you you know you have people like uh like Shien glass now tomorrow if you absolutely need somebody like to get three outs hopefully not you know exasaki right like I think I think you are better off um it it was just tonight was ugly and and it really did it really did kind of rain on what was otherwise a fantastic could not ask for a better game type of performance. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, a couple more super chats here. Rosemary says, “So, do we need 10 plus runs every game?” Uh, maybe, maybe, who knows? Uh, Hawaiian Kira, at least this game was more exciting than the rest of the games in the lineup. What a roller coaster ride today. Tomorrow, Yamamoto, let’s go. Um, let let’s talk about the offense and the positivity because there was a lot and plenty of reason for that. Uh, Show Otani leads this game off with a home run. I posted on social media. I don’t know if this was unique to me. I was watching the end of the Yankees Red Sox game. I missed the top of the first inning. The the end of the Boston New York game was great. And I was like, I’m just gonna watch the end of this. Well, then they’re going through the handshake line and the bottom of the first is about to start. So, I’m like, okay, flip over to ESPN 2. Otan’s up. They throw however many pitches. And I am not joking. For anybody that was on ESPN 2, one second before the pitch that he hits out gets thrown. ESPN 2 unannounced. At no point did the announcer say, “Hey, just a heads up. We’re about to cut back over to ESPN.” One second before Otani hits a home run. It just cuts immediately to a WNBA pregame show. And then I’m scrambling on YouTube TV. There’s no channel up, channel down. So I find ESPN and literally as the ball is going over the fence for Joe Otani. So maybe that was a bad omen for me. Anthony, and I’m glad that not everybody seemed to have this experience, but holy crap did I want to throw something through the wall. I do not blame you. I have been in a similar situation before. Um the ESPN broadcast is horrible. Uh I’ll say this, we didn’t I was glad we didn’t have the the A crew. If the A crew was covering the other team, I’m glad about that because this was this might have been their B crew. It’s better than the A crew. I’ll say that. I you took the I was just about to say that like the people in the booth and Alden Gonzalez like they’re all fine. I think just like the way they they do replays that like the the quality was terrible as well. Like I don’t know if it was just my TV or my YouTube TV, but the quality was awful. I at one point I I was watching with my dad and I was like this game’s not on SNL, is it? Because I know like in the NBA they’ll do local broadcasts as well for the playoffs. But uh they they did mention that they were cutting it over. Uh which is which is why I had already changed the channel. Okay. You um so they did say something. Um they didn’t say like in 30 seconds or whatever, but as soon as they said that, I just changed it because I did not want I did not I’m like there’s no way they do this in the middle of an at bat. In the middle of show A’s at bat to cut to a WNBA pregame show. In your defense, that’s an awful decision by them two. Terrible. Terrible. like the face of the of the game is up and you cut in the middle like that. Yeah. So, all of that. But I do have a pro tip for you, Jeeoff. It’s going to make your life much much better. If you have YouTube TV, whatever the okay or middle button, whatever whatever your main button is on your remote on YouTube TV, you just hold that down and it’ll it’ll go back to your last channel. Okay. All right. Good to know. See, we’re still scrolling through the the guide there. The the good news, enough about me and my problems. The good news is, in case you missed this, show Otani did hit a leadoff home run. I’m told that happened. I didn’t get to see it live myself, but I’m told Otani hit a home run. The Dodgers jumped out to a one- nothing lead. Uh, it was the fourth hardest hit home run in the Statcast era. That’s since 2015. 117.2 miles an hour for Show Otani. Off the bat, the Dodgers do strand runners on first and second. Uh they strand a runner at second again in the bottom of second. And I’m starting to think, oh, here we go again. Dodgers handshake emoji leaving runners on second base with two outs and not being able to cash those guys in. Fortunately, Teays Oscar Hernandez, who was a goat in the bad sense most of this season, holy smokes did Teayscar Hernandez flip the switch at the right time because back-to-back one out walks for Freeman and Muny. A wild pitch and then Teosscar Hernandez an absolute no doubt laser to left field followed immediately by a Tommy Edmond slider inside that he hooks around the pole and it’s five to nothing Anthony. And that was the moment when I’m not going to say we could totally exhale because we knew the Dodgers bullpen was coming at some point, but oh man, did it feel a lot better to be up 5 nothing than it did one- nothing earlier. Yeah, totally. We’ve talked about it a bunch this season, especially when earlier in the in the year when the offense was was going um they can just avalanche on an opposing pitching staff in a hurry, man. And that that’s what happened tonight. Uh, and you’re right, Teao is a big difference maker in this lineup because he can do things like that. He’s not just a guy who can grind in at bat. He’s not just a guy who um can hit the ball through the opposite hole or something like that, right? Like he’s a guy who can change the complexion of a game with a swing. Yeah. And and you know, they have a few of those guys, but he is he is a key lynch pin. Like, you know, you look at what he did last season and last October and we I think we understand exactly what his value is here and we were hoping like the the end of the regular season Teao was going to carry through. Off to a damn good start. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And again, after the Dodgers have stranded a runner at second base in the first inning and the second inning to come up with one out in that spot and hit a laser was huge. Again, Edmund goes back to back. Tay Oscar Hernandez, his second of the game in the bottom of the fifth. A two-run home run from Show Otani in the bottom of the sixth. And it’s eight to nothing. Teao’s got two. Otani’s got two. The Dodgers offense is rolling. And uh fortunately, they were add able to add two more in the bottom of the seventh. Alex Call singles. Uh Rojos comes around on an error and then uh Ben Rovet singles and scores Alex Call. that gets them to 10, which again in the bottom of in the top of the eighth, it felt like they were going to need all 10 of those runs the way that the bullpen went. But the other guy we need to talk about is Blake Snell. Seven innings, four hits, two earned, one walk, nine strikeouts. This is a little misleading in some ways because the seventh inning was such a struggle for him. The Reds get two runs against him in the seventh. But this was a guy who retired the first eight batters he faced. Then he gives up a double in a walk and proceeds to retire the next 11 batters he faced. He retires 19 of the first 21 batters that he faces. Uh was unbelievable tonight. He had his change up working in an unbelievable fashion. This was they asked Dave Roberts in the middle of the game, is this what you envision when you signed Blake Snell? And he was like could not get the word yes out of his mouth more quickly because he was after Garrick Crochet was fantastic, after Terk Scubble was fantastic, Blake Snell for six innings at least was their equal. Yeah, he was fantastic. And I think it’s why it’s why no one really batted an eyelash when they said Blake Snell game one, Yamamoto game two. Um, you know, I think that for me, I was like, man, Otani is very enticing in a game one. And I, you know, I know a lot of people uh were like, “Well, Yamamoto’s like their true ace. He he should get the ball in game one.” And like I think people had all of those opinions and they were all valid and fair, but when it came out that it was Snell one, there was also a camp that said Blake Snell should take the ball in game one. And everyone else went like, “Yeah, okay.” And this is why because I think the the the luxury for the Dodgers right now is all of these guys are healthy. They’re all pitching well. And it’s why we said even with any of the flaws or holes or negativity that this roster might have, this rotation is going to give them at least a puncher’s chance to get through and win the pennant. Uh and you saw exactly why with what Blake Snail did tonight. They’re that good. It didn’t even matter that it was the Reds. I mean, he completely made the Reds lineup look overmatched, like it was they weren’t even playing the same league. Um but the the other thing is like you put a good team. They’ve done this to the best lineups in the league. Yeah, absolutely. Uh Blake Snell finished this game 39 swings. He got 19 whiffs, a 49% whiff rate. And largely in part, I tweeted about this. I couldn’t stop tweeting about Blake Snell’s change up tonight. He got 20 swings on his change up, Anthony, and 15 whiffs. 75% of the time major league hitters swung at that pitch, they missed. and he was putting it on the outside of the plate every single time and dudes kept thinking it was the fast ball and kept swinging right over the top of it. That pitch, I mean, I try not to be hyperbolic. I acknowledge my memory is not perfect. That was as dominant as I have ever seen a singular pitch in a game that I can remember. To get 20 swings and 15 whips whiffs is insane behavior from Blake Snell. and to do it on this stage in this game in you know what’s essentially game five of a seven game series was unbelievable from him. He had just wonderful command of that thing too. He was able to kind of pinpoint it where he wanted especially to right-handed hitters. Um and the way he was able he’s able to tunnel his pitches. Uh you see that thing coming and it does not move back into the zone. It kind of stays on that edge. You’re done for. Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s it’s it was so good tonight. Um, and and it made everything else just play up for him. Uh, but yeah, this is the Blake Snell that that they paid for. This is a guy that that the reason why they were cautious was so that we he could get to this point healthy. Uh, you know, I I think too like the efficiency that he showed early crazy was just incredible. The Reds did him no favors. Like I I I think their game plan was to was to try to go at him early. Um, which is hilarious with the Dodgers bullpen. We’re like, please swing at our starters, pitchers, and let this guy go deep. I would have just watched a whole bunch of strike threes and been like, you know what, we might be down five nothing, but let’s just get to this pen. Yeah, exactly. That might be a new strategy for tomorrow. We’ll see. Uh, you mentioned the efficiency. I mean, he threw 16 pitches in the first two innings. He had 70 pitches through six innings. Again, the seventh inning, sort of the wheels started to come off for Snell, which was unfortunate because I know I’m sure you were on a bunch of text message threads where people are like, “Okay, just complete game this thing, Blake. Like, we don’t even need to see the bullpen.” Again, unfortunately, seventh inning goes sideways for him a little. He ends up giving up the two earned runs. Blemishes the box score a little bit, but um you know, to say he did his job is an understatement. Yeah, I think I I always like that very impressive stat line just to look at it like on Twitter or in print and or something like that, but anyone who watched this game saw it like whoa, that was just pure dominance. And you know, like you said, the the the seventh inning got away from him a little bit. I’m glad Doc let him finish it out though. um and and and didn’t lift him. But yeah, I like I he got through that fifth inning and I was like, hm, maybe it’s a night off for the bullpen, you know? I think he they they got they drove the count up a little bit in the in the sixth and and obviously in the seventh. So that took that out of play. But um yeah, like I had heard once he was named the game one guy, I I had heard some shows, you know, concerned that like can he can he even get through five? I’m like, boy, that’s not putting a lot of stake in a guy who’s been one of the best pitchers in the league since he’s come back. Yeah. Yeah. And again, we said on our show like we don’t expect him to necessarily go seven every single time. Yeah. I thought I thought six was a was a was a really fair number for him. Um and I think we even said something like if he’s really efficient, like okay, but like weren’t expecting that. Like to get that extra inning out of him um you know was a big deal. I I also think too like he did look gassed and I think he’s also sort of an adrenaline guy too and I think like those long those long breaks which I’m sure he’ll take every day of the week but I think I think those probably didn’t help him exactly either. Yeah, it’s a great point. It’s a great point that seventh he gets the ground out again. That was the 11th consecutive batter that he retired. Then it’s a single, a single, a ground out, nearly a double play that would have gotten him out of the inning, but Elli’s out of that inning with the shut out. Totally. And then run scores there, RBI double from Stevenson, and then he gets a ground out to finish that inning. So again, Blake Snell fantastic for the Dodgers tonight. They’re hopeful Yoshi No Yamamoto can replicate that tomorrow. Some more super chats. Aaron says, “I can be good.” What? Go ahead. real quick before Aeron’s super chat. This is the other thing too with with what this rotation can give you is that you get a performance like that, you get out of game one, you go, “Okay, we got the first one.” And if you’re the opponent, you you turn around and you go, “Oh, we now have to face a guy with our season on the brink.” Yeah. Who’s probably going to finish in the top three of Sai Young voting this year. Correct. Yep. Exactly right. Exactly right. And I mentioned this stat after the Padres’s lost. Since the Wildcard Series has started in 2022, there has never been a team that has won game one and lost the series for what it’s worth. Now, crazier things have happened. I don’t believe in jinxes, but I’m just throwing that out there. Uh Erin, I can be convinced Drier and Vessia were just off. If this game had to happen for the pen to wake up, I’m glad it came with an eight-run lead. Um I like the optimism here, Erin. I I’m I’m not sure that this is like a wakeup moment. If the bullpen would the bullpen should be awake after the week and a half, two weeks that they’ve had, but uh I’m with you. I again Drier comes in with a one out and the base is loaded. If you tell me he’s getting out of that with one run scored, every single one of us would take it. To Anony’s point, it didn’t necessarily look pretty. When you walk the first guy, then you get like a 14 pitch strikeout and then it’s a pop out. But at the end of the day, Drier pretty much did his job, especially for a rookie pitching in his first ever postseason game with the bases loaded at home, etc. So, um, I and Vessia has a long enough track record that I hope it’s not tomorrow, but the next time he comes in, I’m going to have some confidence. Do you agree with that, Anthony, that both of these guys are guys you’re still going to trust when they come in next? I was just going to say that exact thing that I those are two guys I still trust. Um, I don’t want to see Vestie tomorrow and with you. I don’t I don’t need him on the second day of a backtoback. Um, but yeah, in in different situations, I’m totally fine with those guys taking the ball. David says, “Don’t want to gloat, but I will. 10 and two since Dave Roberts left Blake Snelling to finish that inning.” Just saying. Just saying. So, David, hey, we’ll take it. Hopefully that number continues to rise. Uh, Joseph, bullpen continues to embarrass. Hopefully, the offense can keep it going and Yoshi Yoshi can shove tomorrow. Robleski should have gotten the last six outs. It hadn’t crossed my mind, Anthony, but the point you made about Robleski that Joseph makes here makes ton of sense to me. Like why would you not just go to your striketh throwing multi-ining guy, let the bullpen rest, get out of this game, and then live to fight another day? There’s not a compelling answer for that. Robleski is good, too. Like, it’s not like he sucks like it. Anyways, I don’t know. I I’m back. I don’t have hopefully Dave gets asked that question in the post game. Yeah. and like and and let’s say the the bad situation happens and you somehow lose game two, you can empty out your bullpen because there’s a day there’s there’s a day is off coming like Yeah. Yeah. I just Yeah, it it made too much sense almost, I guess. Yeah. Uh 300 says, “Otan second bomb just landed in my backyard. That thing the sound that thing made coming through the TV was another level. Not a lot of balls end up that high up in the pavilion. That was that was just demolished. Well, and somebody in my mentions pointed out that like the two home runs that Otani hit, one had like a max like a vertical moment. I forget the apex apex was like 50 feet off the ground and the next one was like 175 feet off the ground. I mean, talk about two completely different shapes of home runs. I know you didn’t get to see it, Jeff, but the the first home run was an absolute missile line drive. It’s amazing. It’s amazing. Someday someday I’ll catch it. someday. They What’s up with Also, what’s up with the commercials while the game is happening? I I have so many thoughts. Like, we cut down to all Alden Gonzalez seems like a nice guy. Like, I don’t need 18 cutins from my sideline reporter at a baseball game. Like, I’m good, bro. Like, give me two of those a night and then interview Dave and we’ll call it good. Okay. Like, you don’t have to work so hard. Yeah. Uh Jay Teaser, I think it’s safe to say Teao switch flipped. Uh yeah, look, this was the debate with this team, right? And with individual guys, but also collectively, like sure, can they just turn it on when they need to? As David points out, they’re 10 and two in their last 12. Teao looks like a different guy. Freddy Freeman started to hit some home runs. Mookie Betts has obviously been much better. Like, it’s one game plus some regular season games, but if right now, like we were all forced to decide, has this team flipped the switch? Yes or no? Like I don’t know how you would argue no based on what we’ve seen over the last two weeks. Yeah, I’m with you. It It looks like it’s the real thing. Let’s hope. Let’s hope. Uh Dogs, Dodgers, and Detours. Snellzilla destroys Cincinnati. Uh yeah, I mean, look, he was absolutely fantastic. Uh Niles, sorry, I think you did this one before and I don’t know if I pronounced your name right, so we’ll go with Niles. Uh, San Diego recipe. Take early lead, turn over to bullpen, Dodgers recipe, shove a doozy, crush opposing pitchers, and hope it will be enough. I feel happy and distraught. It’s fantastic. Fair way to put it. Yeah. Yeah. Padres’s did lose today. Terrible thing, you know. Poor poor San Diego losing today. But yeah, it just, you know, score 10 and hang on for dear life, baby. Welcome to the Dodgers of 2025. Uh, Robert adds, by the way, Padres’s lost some celebration emojis. Um, it’s a beautiful thing. blew a lead one to nothing. Uh the runner on second, Desra Enriquez have blackmail on Doc. Uh I just don’t think they had a ton of great options, but again, I think Kasparius Bond, they’ve got to feel good about their chances of making a playoff roster if this thing gets the NLDS. Clayton Kershaw, too. Holy smokes. Yeah. Uh Carlos Muny not even scary at the plate anymore. This was one sort of undertalked about thing, Anthony, that I think is real. Maxy has not looked good. We know he’s been banged up. Um hasn’t been playing consistently or much at all. Uh thankfully Tay Oscar carried the weight today with no Will Smith in the lineup. They’re going to need Maxy at some point and tonight he just didn’t look right. Yeah, I think um it’s going to fly under the radar for the most part because they they pounded the ball as a team. Um those were some pretty uncompetitive at bats that he took. Yeah, absolutely. and uh which is very unlike him. Totally. And I mean, Miguel Rojos comes in and immediately gets a hit. So, I’m not saying Muny needs to come out of the game. If anything, let him hit through it and hope that it doesn’t matter. But, uh that’s a guy between him and Will Smith. It feels like you need one of those two guys to be right by the time you get to the NLDS if this thing is going to be um firing on all cylinders again, especially with the bullpen um the way that it pitched tonight. Uh let’s look ahead real quick to game number two. Anthony uh Lollo expected to be on the mound for the Reds. Yoshi Nou Yamamoto for the Dodgers. Obviously getting game one under your belt. The victory feels great. There’s confidence that Yamamoto can go out and do exactly what Blake Snell just did because this Red’s lineup as we saw tonight is just not very good. The offense, no reason to believe they can’t do the same thing. I know Lolo, we talked about this the other day. I know Lolo had a bunch of strikeouts against the Dodgers um in his first outing, 11 strikeouts and five and a third. But in two starts total, 10 innings, six earned runs that he gave up to the Dodgers. I mentioned Hunter Green, as good of a pitcher as he had been, the Dodgers got to him. Well, guess what? They got to him again tonight. I I see no reason that the offense can’t jump out early again tomorrow. I’m not saying it’s going to be eight to nothing necessarily, but I like the way that this game played out as far as feeling good about tomorrow. Yeah, it’s little going tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. Not Lolo. Um Got it. But uh yeah, even better. Exactly. Yes, I’m with you. Um I I don’t see any reason why they can’t duplicate, you know, that sort of that sort of dominance. Even if they don’t score 10 runs, I think they’re going to be able to uh get into that bullpen pretty early. Uh yeah, I look, we we said on Sunday, we both think the Dodgers can win this thing in two, but it’s a three-game series. It’s it’s a bad bounce or two away from all of a sudden it’s in game three and then who knows, right? Um I feel very very pleased with what happened tonight and going into game two that they can close this thing out. Like I’m pretty I’m confident in that. Um, I just don’t think Cincinnati has the weapons to shut down the entire offense and I don’t think they have the weapons in their lineup to really make Yamamoto like like to to to him be a candidate to get knocked out early in this thing. Like crazy things have happened and and you know if it happens it’s g you know it is what it is but um the odds are are stacked against Cincinnati to do those things. Yeah, I’m with you. Um, Zack Latell, by the way, I mean, you go through his game log this year. Um, I don’t know how many he’s made 32 starts for the Reds. How many How many times do you think he’s allowed zero earned runs, Anthony? In 32 starts, one time. One time in 32 starts. Uh, over his last 10 starts, it’s a 4.39 RA. It’s a 4.77 whip. A sub seven strikeouts per nine. Uh, I mean, he doesn’t walk anybody. He’s got that going for him. But uh yeah, I this is a good matchup for the Dodgers and that was on me for for not knowing for mistaking Lollo and Latell here. But uh yeah, I again right-hander 6’4 250 but one time in 32 starts he’s allowed zero earned runs this year. Let me ask you this. Do you think like let’s say Yamamoto gives them six solid? Maybe he gives up a run, maybe he gives up two, but maybe they go into the seventh inning with like a three-run lead, let’s call it. Yeah. You think they just turn it over to to EMTT Sheen? Is that is that a is that a thing that feels realistic at this point? I think so. Uh I don’t think you have anybody you feel great about. I think Vessia was probably the one guy and he just pitched. I think Trinan, I’ve said all along, throw out the ERA. I’m just going to believe in that guy come postseason. First two pitches, not close. After that, we saw some old Blake Trinan velocity come back and he started dotting some pitches, getting a couple strikeouts. But he’s a guy that you could go back to back with and try and I think you would feel fine about it. But yeah, I don’t see why you wouldn’t trot EMTT Shien out there for the seventh or the eighth and just see what happens. See how it looks and if it needs to be one inning, then great. But if if he gets through the first, why not? Like if it’s three nut three runs, that’s the type of player that I want to see because I’ve said he’s he’s like the second most trustworthy reliever. I kind of got laughed at a couple weeks ago when I said that of all the relievers, it’s Vessia one and it’s Sheen and two for me and Blake Tryan might be three. Like let let’s just see what it looks like. He’s going to throw strikes. He’s going to get swing and miss and they’re going to need him at some point. Yeah. I I mean I would I would be totally fine if that felt like that was what the game plan ended up being. Um and I’m with you too. I think like he’s a guy that you can still play it by ear. He gets out of the first, you know, he gets the first three outs in 12 pitches. All right, you’re going to go basically now we’re just counting outs for you until it looks like we got to go somewhere else. The ball’s yours. Totally. Um, but yeah, I just, you know, curiosity because like does it does anybody including Dave feel confident with the let’s, you know, a three two three-run lead and you turn the ball over to Tanner Scott. Well, I mean, I think it was I I interviewed Fabian and Bob Nightingale, and I believe it was Bob Nightingale who said he thinks they’re going to go back to Tanner Scott if they need if there’s a safe situation, which I’m I’m I’m deeply hoping that’s a national guy who is not plugged into the local beat who’s saying something like that. And I don’t mean that as disrespectful to Bob, but I’m just like crossing my fingers and hoping that he’s saying that more out of assumption than he is information. Because if it’s three to2 in the ninth and they hand the ball to Tanner Scott with like Emtt Sheen or Roki Sasaki or whoever just sitting right next to him, this place this place is going to lose their mind. I’m afraid he’s right. Yeah. Because of what we saw tonight. Yeah. Right. I I think it’s a great point. I was having this thought. The reason you bring Vessia in early is because you don’t plan on bringing Vessia in late, right? Like it’s Vessie is in a 10 to2 game because you have him slotted as like the first guy you’re bringing out of the bullpen in that situation. Not because oh I’m going to use him to close if it’s close and oh change of plans throw him in the eighth. Like that’s it’s a different deal. Yeah. Yeah. And and I thought look maybe Dave didn’t like I could imagine his answer would be like he say okay you know hey Tanner Scott big cushion there. Why not bring him in? Like I think part of his thinking might be I don’t want to put that in his mind that he is not a leverage guy anymore in game one of the playoffs even though that’s pro he probably should not be a leverage guy right like at this point. And so that tells me like the fact that he didn’t probably didn’t even think about Tanner Scott in a game that was a blowout. Um tells me that yeah, he might be in there in the eighth or ninth inning of a one-run game, two-run game, and that’s that’s scary, I think, for everybody. Yeah. Uh one note, Kik Hernandez came out of this game early. It was reported that he had back tightness. Uh Dave Roberts has clarified postgame he will be in the lineup again tomorrow. Uh Tommy Edmund was just precautionary. get him off his feet because the the game was where it was at. So, um, no surprises with those two, but good news on Kik. And I mean, look, Kiktober, like this is a guy that just performs and we were kind of like, we know he was going to have a moment at some point. We were both surprised it was starting game one of this series, but the guy just continues to deliver. He does. Yeah, he’s he’s he’s earned that that spot for a reason. Absolutely. Absolutely. real quick. Like the Conorto news, we talked Bond earlier. We were both surprised. Um I’m I I would say as I as I pointed out multiple times on social media, I was not mad. I was not sad about Conforto. I was just surprised. Like I I’m not going to go to bat and die on a hill for a guy that that’s had the season he had. But I was surprised because I don’t understand why Justin Dean’s on this roster. I’m going to be perfectly honest about that. I didn’t think Alex Call necessarily had a role on this roster. I was wrong on both of those counts. Um, but what was your reaction to Conorto being left off? I was I was surprised. I was pretty surprised by that one on the position player side for sure. I think I did not see any prediction of a playoff roster of a wild card series roster for the Dodgers that did not have Conforto. Yeah. And it was really really interesting that they gave him a leash basically from opening day until the final series of the season. Yeah. and then said, “Okay, you’re done now.” And he hit well. Like he he hit well over the last five weeks of the season, too, is the funniest part. Like it wasn’t like he was in the midst of a slump, right? Right. I I just I I did not see that coming at all. Um that was clearly, in my opinion, a decision that had been made a while back. Totally. Um you know, whether that’s days or a week or two before. Um they that’s not one that they decided yesterday when they were when they were penciling this thing out on some paper. Uh, you know, I think they had that thing, you know, in their pocket already. Um, the Dean and Call stuff I was a bit surprised with. Wait, you had surprised about Conorto. I got to be surprised by the counter move, right? And so I that they carried both those guys. I had call on my roster um when we talked about this on Sunday. I was I was surprised that that they then went for sort of like two of those guys. Yeah. Um, but I do understand I do understand for a guy who is basically if you’re not going to start him against right-handed pitching in Confordto. Yeah. Then he’s got absolutely zero value on the roster. Yeah. Because he’s not you’re not going to pinch hit a guy who’s not in the lineup because he can’t hit. Yeah. He’s not a defensive replacement and he’s slow. So, uh, on this I mean on this team he might be an upgrade off the bench offensively compared to the rest of the guys they have now, but to your point like he’s not going to be a late inning if if Will Smith is your pinch hitter off the bench then Conforto doesn’t have a role. Right. Right. Agreed. And so like in the playoffs, especially in in games that are tighter, um guys who can who can go catch it and guys who can go first to third or first to home on a double or steal a base if you absolutely need something like that have a lot more value than Conford would have offered in this lineup if he’s not a starting outfielder. Yeah. Yeah. Again, and Justin Dean like he’s good defensively. I know that the limited sample we’ve seen of him has not been good. Like he he overdesives the ball and doesn’t make a play, which was a tough play, but at the same time, I’m kind of like, dude, if you’re the defensive replacement, like this is a play I kind of need you to make. Yeah, you should. Yeah. And you’ve got has some cam sitting right there if you need a pinch runner. So, it seems redundant to me, but I also said I I really don’t care who the 26 man on this roster was. And so, I’m gonna stand by that. Yeah. And I also think because I was thinking about this today um when I was listening in the car to uh to Scott and Blake sort of break down the roster, but like if you’re only going to carry one of those guys and you’re going to make that swap, then that guy basically has to come in for an outfielder. I think if you carry two guys who have that skill set, they have three now if you’re going to if you count um Kim, but that guy can now come in for Benny Row if he gets on base late in the game, right? And and you don’t you’re not burning your a catcher and you’re also you also still have another guy who can come in for Teao or somebody like that. So, I understand the thinking there. I’m not I’m not mad at that. Um, but yeah, the the the the Conforto situation was surprising because they basically just did a 180 on what they’d been doing for six months with them. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Still waiting on post game quotes. I know right here on the Dodger Blue YouTube page, we’ve already got Dave Roberts interview uh excuse me, press conference up um as well as uh one other person that had spoken already. So, um, make sure you check that out as soon as we are done in a little bit. But, we might be able to get some Dave Roberts quotes before this thing is over. So, stay tuned on that. Let’s get to some more super chats. Then we’ll get to some questions. Gabriel, uh, and that’s all she wrote wrote. Game over. Dodgers win, baby. One down, 12 to go. Go Dodgers. This is the headline. Like, all of us five hours ago would not have asked a ton of questions if you said Dodgers are going to win. Like, I I don’t care how we get there. Good, bad, or ugly. Let’s just win and let’s just get out of this stupid three-game series and see what happens. So, Gabriel reminding us they’ve accomplished that. Vad TV, uh, super chat. Sorry we didn’t get a question there. If you want to leave a question in the chat, we’ll do our best to get to it. Um, here in a second. Uh, Suc, uh, y’all know Yoshi ain’t getting run support tomorrow. This is different. Playoff Yoshi. Different. 10 runs tomorrow again for Yoshi No Yamamoto. Anthony, maybe they can make up for the entire season of failing him in one day tomorrow. How about that? They owe they owe him at least an entire month. So, they better do it for every start he has in October. That’s great. It’s great. Uh 300 not thrilled to hear Mr. October’s back is stiff again. Dave Roberts has indicated Kik Hernandez expected to be fine. We’ll be back in the lineup. Yeah, that feels that feels like it was probably precautionary also. For sure. Uh Jay Teaser, I think Dave thought Vessia would step on throats. I’m sure he did. Maybe this was a hey, we want no confidence. We want no like late running late inning rally to make them believe they’re in it. Um but we shared our thoughts on on why we didn’t love that decision. So go ahead Joe man with the great comment. My wife, why are you pissed that they won? Yeah, exactly. Sounds about right. Sounds about right. Uh Juan Trinan looked awesome. What if we are all wrong and Scott looks good too this postseason? Uh let’s hope. Let’s pray. Like again there was reason to believe in Trinan. We have not really seen any glimpses of reason to believe in Tanner Scott. Um but hey, I mean I look I I think that the the same the same thought process that leads people to think that that Trinan is still trustworthy and Trin can be good. I think still holds for Scott. He he hasn’t done it as a Dodger, but he’s only been a Dodger for one game of the postseason so far. And so he was he was great last postseason um against the Dodgers. You know, the Padres’s only made it to one series. Um, but true, but he was great in how they used him. Like, I mean, dominant. It’s why other teams were after him in the winter and it’s why the Dodgers gave him the deal that he got. And so, if we’re going to say like, look, yes, Trinan’s ERA started with the five this season, but he was he was a dog last year and I think he can do it again. That same logic can hold, I think, for Tanner Scott. Will he do it? And are we doing a lot of, you know, are we injecting a lot of opium? For sure. Absolutely. To me, and maybe this is like me wanting to believe, I felt like with Trinan, I at least saw glimpses of peak Trinan. And it may have been like one out of every three outings kind of a situation. Like as Scott’s pointing out in the chat, like the best that we had with Tanner Scott was like a fourame stretch where he didn’t allow a run and he basically just punted his fast ball for a week and that was the best we saw of it, which wasn’t sustainable. So maybe I’m wrong and you could correct me, but I felt like with Shrinan, I at least saw glimpses of like, oh, that’s the guy, the sweepers missing bats and the sinkers, you know, moving like a Frisbee. Uh whereas with Scott, I just never saw him dominate as a Dodger. Yeah. And and and that’s totally fair. Um I see I when when those those times that try in was good I didn’t always trust it either because it would be like the next two outings would he would walk the ballpark or give up a home run. Totally. It wasn’t consistent for sure. Yeah. And and so it was like can he be good or can he be dominant for an outing? Absolutely. And I and I actually believe that about Scott too. like he’s capable of going out there and going one, two, three, one, two, three with two Ks. If he has five appearances over the course of 10 games in the postseason, am I confident his ERA is going to start with a one? Absolutely not. And I feel because you think it’s going to start with a zero, right? Gosh, we hope so. But but I feel that way about both those guys right now. Like look, man, I’m as big a fan as anybody. You don’t have to do a whole lot right now to to get me to believe in you again. And you know, I’m I’m coming around on trying because the way he’s looked the last couple outings. So, you know, here we go. Strap in. And with those vets, I I want to believe they can find it quicker, right? Like with Enriquez, none of us have confidence that a guy like that is just going to wake up in the playoffs and be able to find it. Tanner Scott, Blake Trinan, guys who have been around, who have been in that spot before, have had huge moments. Maybe it’s justium, but you want to believe that it’s possible. Yeah. Uh Rosemary, Dodgers win, Yankees lose, Padres’s lose. It’s a good day. Uh, absolutely. That Yankees game again, I’m sure a bunch of Dodger fans caught the end of it as the Dodgers game was starting. The Yankees down two runs. They load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth and then proceed to get three consecutive outs. So, I was texting our guy Mareno. I said, “Your boy Tober up as the go-ahead run in the bottom of the ninth, gets a single, only a single, and uh the Yankees do nothing with it.” So, uh yeah, that was ugly. I’m not rooting for Raldes Chapman or the Yankees. So, it’s just like my daughters keep looking at me like, “Who are we rooting for?” I’m like, “Who cares? Neither of them. Neither of them.” Uh, Franco says, “Uh, why is Bond not playing?” The best answer I can give you is two things. One, they’ve got a million lefties that they like a little bit more apparently. And secondly, he can’t get righties out. They kill them. It’s like an 800 ops against righty this season. And so, um, in a postseason where you’re going to have to face three guys at a time and there could be pinch hit opportunities and whatnot, um, they just didn’t like Bonda. And look, I think there’s a decent chance they change their mind before the NLDS. So, we’ll see. Look, I I think that’s probably I don’t think it’s a mind-changing situation. I think it’s a he’s going to be on the roster if they play the Phillies. Okay? You know, they look at that lineup and look at what their lefties look like and who they are. like they get past the Reds. I think he’s in there and and I think that’s probably a decision. I don’t I should say I don’t think it’s a decision where someone has to be so bad that they’re off the roster going into the next series. I think it’s a situation where looking at the Red’s lineup, we probably don’t need another lefty. Anthony Bonda, hang out for a little bit. Stay stay, you know, stay stay hot. Uh, and then we get past this thing and you’re back with us because that other team is going to have some lefties that we’re going to need to get out in big spots. Yeah. Um, we’ll see. We’ll see. I mean, the Reds are pretty bad against lefties. You’ve also got Clayton Kershaw hanging around and decide depending on what they decide to do with him. I think it matters if this game goes this series goes two games or three games might depend on if Kershaw’s what his role is and if he’s even on the roster. Yeah, that’s that’s true too. And I like I think for the Reds like and and yes, they are bad against lefties, but like they also don’t have a lot of left-handed hitters. That’s true. Where where Bonda is the specialist. Yeah, that’s a good point. It’s a good point. And guys that it’s like you’re not going to pinch hit somebody out of that spot to get a righty against Bond, which I think is a fair point. So, we’ll see. I I there are going to be a lot of interesting decisions because my guess is to your point, they will add another an extra pitcher of some sort. And so if Enriquez comes off and a guy like Kasparius replaces him, then what they do with Kershaw, what they do with Bonda, what they do with, you know, Michael Conforto even like I I I don’t think there’s a ton that is set in stone because of some decisions they made in this wild card series. Yeah, totally. Like I could see them not carrying both Justin Dean and and Alex Call. I could see them not carrying three catchers if Will Smith I was Benny Row uh uh rushing and and Will Smith, you know, all in the same series like like I so I think there’s going to be some things that are going to be adjusted. I think look, they figured if all things go well, this is just two games and and we can get away with some maybe surprising roster decisions against the Reds. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Uh still checking to see if we got any quotes. No quotes coming through yet. Um let’s get to some questions. All caps questions, throw those in the chat. Again, this is Dodgerheads presented by dogerblue.com. If you’re new here, we are live after every postseason game. So, go ahead, click the subscribe button down below. Ring the notification bell. We’ve got a live show with Scott Gearman, who’s in the chat at 10:00 a.m. on weekdays. He will be in here. We have another um person coming in. Jeff Ericen of Rotoire will be on with me tomorrow morning. That’s going to be recorded reacting to game one and then previewing game two. He works for Rotoire, so he covers MLB nationally. He also happens to be a Reds guy, so he knows his team very well, and I’m curious to get his thoughts. I It was risky scheduling that interview before knowing how game one was going to go, but I feel a lot better about it. So, that’ll be up on our YouTube channel uh sometime either in the early afternoon or late morning. Uh but let’s get to all caps questions. Throw those in there. Uh Scooter, is Vessia cooked to be used again? Uh I I wouldn’t say cooked, Anthony. I I don’t love the idea of him pitching tomorrow, but I’m not going to hate the next time he comes in, I don’t think. Yeah, I I think they stay away from him just because one, it was a rough outing and he threw a lot of pitches and so maybe he’s down anyway, but you don’t want to see him on back to backs. Like his his the second day of a backtoback for him is not great. Um, so I don’t think he’s cooked. Like if this series happened to go three games, like I think you could see him in game three. I think they may try to stay away from him though tomorrow. Yeah, I’m with you. I’m with you. 22 pitches and again, he just has scared me every time they go back to back. Uh Hawaiian Kira prediction for tomorrow. Uh Yama seven uh one run and I think they I think they win it like 51 6-1. Okay. I was for some reason I got 53 in my head which sounds stressful already. So I apologize to everybody in advance for even putting that out in. You got you got the pen giving up two runs in that situation. I got him I got him going clean. Yeah, the bullpullen shut. Maybe it’s seven innings, two for Yamamoto and the bullpen just comes in and lights it up, you know. Who knows? Uh Obi-Wan, do you think Yoshi is left to pitch 100 plus tomorrow? Uh on one hand, yes, because they’re going to want to win this game, and chances are pitches 90 through 110 from him are better than whoever’s coming out of the bullpen. The flip side is keep in mind they are playing the long game here and they’re going to want Yamamoto to be peak performance the next time he takes them out. Assuming there is a next time. If there’s a thing to say is fortunate about being in this wild card series, it’s that the way the days off day days off play out like in this series and going into the next one and the first couple of games there um is beneficial. So I think I think they can give him a longer leash in this start. Yeah. Uh Franco asks, “Why can’t Bonda be our closer?” Uh for one, he’s not on the roster. For two, we’ve said this multiple times, he can’t get right-handed hitters out. Uh so that that’s the that’s the short answer there. And again, Anthony made the great point, this this Reds team is very interchangeable. Um except for a couple of guys, they’re not afraid to pinch hit for anybody in this lineup. And so other than like Ellie de la Cruz, there isn’t a ton of guys that are going to come out, um, depending on which side of the, uh, which side the guy on the mound is throwing from. So, um, let’s see. Uh, Noisy Ninja, maybe you talked about Dave saying the relievers are pitching scared already, but why would they be pitching scared? I’m so confused. Is it just a confidence thing, do you think, Anthony? Like, is it just the doomsday mentality of we have been so bad for so long, we’re broken? Like almost like the yips sort of a little bit like that. It’s not totally off from that. I think what how I took it when he said that was guys are not attacking hitters. Yeah. Um, you know, what’s that? Why are they not attacking hitters, do you think? Sometimes sometimes those struggles can be contagious even for guys who might not be struggling so much. Um and and feeling like, man, I got to be perfect because, you know, if uh if Tanner Scott or Kirby Yates has to come in behind me, like this thing could all blow up. Uh I I think there there is maybe a little bit of that, but also just like especially for the guys who had been struggling, uh not wanting to throw the ball in the zone and and trying to nibble. And when you’re already struggling, nibbling is typ typically not going to work. Yeah. because guys are waiting for you to come into them before they start swinging. Uh and then you just, you know, you get Tanner Scott or Blake Trinan or whoever was might be struggling at that time, you know, walking three of the four guys that they face. Yeah. I I think that’s how I took it. Yeah. I I think I think it’s I think I’m with you. It’s the idea that you just believe if I throw this over the middle of the plate, it’s going to end up in the bleachers. And so you’re so afraid to throw strikes um that you then pretty much probably just become incapable of throwing strikes. So I think it’s a mentality thing would be my answer. Uh Jay Teaser, if game two is close and the heart of the order is due up, who would you close with? You kind of answered this already. Is your answer EMTT Shien? Yeah, I would go Shien. I think if it’s a matter of like let’s say it’s not Sheen in the ninth inning um and and it’s a you know it’s a close game one run two runs and they they’re like you know what we have a chance to end this series right now I think it could be glass now. Oh I would hate that. I’m going to be honest. I don’t like I would hate a I don’t even think he’s a sure thing to be awesome. like he’s he the stuff is great, but he’s never gone out of the bullpen. And I just hate hate hate hate hate the idea of not having him available in the next round. I hate it. I agree. I I do I’m not a fan of that exactly for the reasons that you just said. Um I think if I think their thinking could be if he only goes one inning, he’s available to start like let’s say game two. That’s because they have they would have if if I mean if they close it out tomorrow they would play Saturday. They would have show to pitch game one. Yeah. Yeah. And so I I think I think this could be their line of thinking because otherwise why is he on the roster? Yeah. Um starting to get some quotes from Dave Roberts uh asked about the bullpen not attacking enough in the eighth inning. This is via Dodger Blue. Matt Mareno is at the stadium covering this for us. Uh quote, “It’s very clear to me when you’re on the attack those guys are on their heels with the lead we have. when you start being too fine and getting behind, you start giving them free bases and that’s how you can build innings and get momentum. That’s what I saw in that inning there for sure. So, um kind of exactly what we talked about. You’re just getting too fine. You’re trying to be cute and uh it backfires on you. So, um so, so you by the way, so to answer this question, Shien is who you would close with. Um I think Roki Sasaki is an interesting name. And the other name that I’ll just throw out, like there’s one guy who we’ve seen effectively shut down a game at the end and it’s Justin Oleski. Like he came in with a runner on second in the Ghost Runner and he threw freaking strikes and he threw hard and he wasn’t afraid. And so against a team that struggles against lefties, don’t count him out. While the Dodgers were still playing for something and while the Diamondbacks were still playing for something, too. That was a that was a really high leverage situation they they used him in. I’d be totally fine if if they did that with him. If I had my brothers, if I said like everything is going smoothly, the the counting out situation is going in their favor. Who who is my guy? I think the top my top choice is still Shien. Yeah, I’m with you. I’m with you. I think it’s Shien or Robleski and you could probably talk me into Sasaki as well after tonight. Uh Vinnie has a good question. You’ve ranked the bullpen regarding your level of trust. How about level of distrust after what we saw tonight? Is it Gardo Enriquez the guy that you want to see coming out of that bullpen the least? Yeah. Yes. I I think based on what who’s on this roster right now, he he’s a guy I could not see any more and be totally fine. Um I trust him less than Tanner Scott. Uh I think easily for me that’s an easy one. Uh because because I think I I do still think that uh Tanner Scott is capable of getting some swing and miss and I think he’s capable still of of being dominant against left-handed hitters at least. Um I don’t see Enrique as being dominant against anybody and he’s struggled with swing and miss stuff. Yeah. Uh Mad uh up by eight runs. How does the bullpen come out scared? It’s a great question. It’s a great I mean I will say Enriquez no matter what the score is you come into a game with the bases loaded. I mean he kind of made the mess himself like I could see why you pitch scared with the bases loaded regardless of how many runs you’re up but I think the question is a fair one and there’s no excuses obviously for what this group did. I think for some of those guys too I say some in this eighth inning him Enriquez I think he knows he’s pitching for his job in the next round. Yeah. And so that’s that’s going to add some that’s going to add some leverage that might not be there at least in your mind, right? Yeah. Uh Hustler asks, “Why not let Snell go deeper? Should we expect short outings from Yamamoto?” I think they would have let Snell keep pitching, but he gave up two runs in that seventh inning. And he he looked like a diminished version of himself. And so that wasn’t a pitch count. That wasn’t a protective thing. He just wasn’t very good in the seventh. Yeah, agree. I I I think that had he gotten out of there clean, I think they totally would have let him get into the eighth inning. Franco asks, “Dodgers Phillies, who wins?” Uh, Night Andale has the Dodgers in five, by the way, with Zack Wheeler out. He thinks the Dodgers are better. That was before today’s game. I don’t know if today changes anything in your mind. If anything, I’ll be honest, Anthony, I’m more confident in the Dodgers after this game than I was coming in. A, because they got through game one, and B, because the offense to me was the question. The bullpen was like a slightly crappier version than what I expected. The rotation was exactly what I expected. It was the offense to me that was the the X factor. The Phillies starting rotation doesn’t scare me at all. And I thought the Dodgers handled their best guys really well when they were in LA. Um the bullpen blew those games. Otherwise, I think the Dodgers could have swept that series, you know, if if they had just a halfway decent bullpen. Um so yeah, I still think I I you know, I would say like Dodgers and six, I think the starting pitching is too good. And I don’t think that that rotation, even for like some of the run prevention numbers that some of those guys have thrown up, I don’t think they can handle the Dodgers lineup when it’s clicking. Yeah. Uh Sanchez, Lazardo, and Suarez, uh the the top three guys that they’ve got um as far as on the season, innings pitched and what kind of thing. And um but I think one of those one of those guys hurt um Suarez left the game uh in the last one, so who knows? But um yeah, I like the Dodgers offense uh in that one and they faced two of those guys, I think, in that series, and they hit them well. Yeah, I I am not looking ahead at all. I’ve done no research on the Philadelphia Phillies. I’m just keeping my eyes on the prize in front of me, taking nothing for granted. All right. Uh Eden, will Show actually start game one against Philly? They can’t save him forever. He hasn’t started the 23rd. I think Show Otani will definitely start the Dodgers third playoff game, whether that is game three of the wild card or game one of the NLDS. I think that’s a really safe bet. If they can get out of this in two, then I think that keeps them from needing to pitch Clayton Kershaw as a starter because then you can go Otani and Glass now and then you can get your top two guys Snell and Yamamoto back on normal rest. So I think that’s the dream scenario and maybe Kershaw’s around break glass in case of emergency. But if if they get through a two, I would still predict that Otani is their game one starter, right? Agree. I I agree with they want him with the day off. They want him with the day off after which they would get after game one, which I think would I think also lines him up in that series to possibly pitch game five with the day off after game five also. Okay. Yeah. Again, I I haven’t done the math, but I know there’s a bunch of random days off in the NLDS. Yeah, I I I could be wrong on that math, but I think that’s what it comes out to. Um, so he would he would be able to pitch twice in that series with days off after both games. Um, and I’m with you. The ideal situation is that they do that and they don’t need to to put Kershaw into the scheduled starters bucket and which possibly leaves him as a another leverage arm out of the bullpen. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So there you go. Dodgers win game one again. Beautiful and then ugly and ultimately still pretty in the end. 10 to five the Dodgers win. Tayscar Hernandez two home runs. Shi Otani two home runs. Blake Snell, an absolute gem uh through seven innings for him. The Dodgers bullpen tries its hardest to cough this one up. Tries its hardest to ruin our night, but still fails as the Dodgers grab game one of the wildard series. As one of the commenters pointed out, the Dodgers win, the Padres’s lose, the Yankees lose. Uh good day all around for Dodgers fans. Uh Anthony, thank you so much for hopping on. I will be back tomorrow night, by the way, with Daniel Starkin postgame. Hopefully, we’ve got brooms in our hands and we’re we’re celebrating a twoame sweep and focusing on the Phillies, but Daniel Starkin and I will be back tomorrow uh tomorrow night. Again, Scott Gearman will be live on this channel at 10 a.m. tomorrow with Dodgerheads Unplugged. We will have an interview with Jeff Ericson of Rotoire as well at some point tomorrow. So, thank you to everybody hopping in. Almost 4,000 people in here with us celebrating the Dodgers first playoff win. We appreciate you. to everybody watching Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. Thank you to the podcast people. Thank you Apple, Spotify, Google, The Dodgerheads Podcast. If you’re not a podcast person, just go find your podcast app, find the Dodgerheads podcast, subscribe, rate, review. We’d greatly appreciate that. Subscribe, ring the notification bell here on YouTube as well. Dodgers win oneame lead in the wildard series. Yamamoto on the mound tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your night everyone as always. Go Dodgers. And yes, still champs.

“DodgerHeads” host Jeff Spiegel and Forbes’ senior MLB contributor Anthony Witrado react to Blake Snell’s start, Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman hitting home runs, bullpen struggling and more after Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers.
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