Dodgers’ collapse spurs exasperating questions
By the end of a terrible night for the Dodgers, one of the worst they’ve ever known, social media had Dave Roberts in the Giants dugout, succeeding Bruce Bochy as manager for next season.
Actually, make that a segment of social media. Another faction pleaded, “No! Keep him in L.A. so he can screw it up again.”
Such was the residue of the Dodgers’ 73 loss to Washington in Wednesday night’s Game 5 of the National League Division Series. Everyone knew the team hasn’t won the World Series since 1988, and that the team had been a postseason failure during Roberts’ four years in charge. But this would be different. This was a 106win team with a masterfully built lineup and exceptional depth. The year 2019 would be remembered as the breakthrough.
Well, no. The vindictive word “chokers” gets tossed around like stale doughnuts among the uninformed, oblivious to the talent and forthright mentality it takes to be an elite big leaguer. Great players don’t choke, nor do the most respected managers. Roberts also happens to be
one of the best human beings in all of sports, the guy who didn’t merely shrug aside the DodgersGiants rivalry to be part of Bochy’s retirement ceremony at Oracle Park, but allowed Barry Bonds to lift him in the air and rip off his cap, Roberts laughing heartily all the way.
Still, how much can an illfated franchise take? The Giants certainly wanted to know. Team president Farhan Zaidi worked in harmony with Roberts during his days as the Dodgers’ general manager, and Zaidi would have welcomed the chance to interview him. But according to the Los Angeles Times, citing two sources, there will be no dismissal of Roberts, who signed a fouryear contract extension in December.
So the questions remain: If the Dodgers indeed make it official that Roberts will return, how will that go over with the team’s fan base? And what happens if the team falls apart again next October? Could Roberts withstand yet another round of savage criticism? Does he really need the aggravation at this stage of his life? Will he find true escape this offseason, a way to get away from it all? For his sake, let’s hope so.
Also worth noting:
Mike Krukow vigorously defended Roberts’ decision to bring back Clayton Kershaw to start the eighth inning. Asked to get the last out of the seventh, Kershaw struck out Adam Eaton on “one of the nastiest sliders you’ll ever see,” Krukow said on KNBR on Thursday morning. “That’s his best pitch, and you can’t throw it any better than that.” Krukow said Roberts wasn’t paying attention to any analytical data, rather “what he’s seeing, right in front of him. Kershaw had his good stuff. I wouldn’t have gone to anybody else there, and I don’t know any other manager who would have.”
What bothered Krukow — although he always enjoys it when the Dodgers lose — was the decision to leave Joe Kelly in the game after he opened the 10th inning with a walk, a double and an intentional walk, setting up Howie Kendrick’s epic grand slam. “That was a mistake,” said Krukow, and from this viewpoint, you don’t trust any reliever who walks the first batter in a crucial inning. That should be curtains right there.
Another side of it, tweeted by exGiant Rich Aurilia: “Can’t blame Kershaw. Put in a situation he shouldn’t be in. Got the lefty (Eaton) out. Get him out of there. Feel bad for him. It’s not his fault they don’t trust their bullpen. Can’t ask to do something you never do.” On consecutive eighthinning pitches, Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto homered off Kershaw to tie the score 33.
Interesting point shared by Pedro Martinez and Gary Sheffield on the TBS postgame show: Going into the game, the Dodgers made it clear that Kershaw would be following starter Walker Buehler at some point. Why would you advertise that? It was great news for the Nationals, the two analysts agreed, because they’d had success against Kershaw and his 89 mph velocity would be welcomed after dealing with Buehler’s heat.
After the game, Kershaw pulled an Eckersley. That’s always the standard for a man standing up for himself after abject failure. In that same Dodger Stadium, A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley calmly answered every question, no matter how rude or inappropriate, after giving up Kirk Gibson’s gamewinning homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Kershaw mirrored Eckersley’s class Wednesday night at an intensely difficult time.
Kershaw’s career ERA of 2.44 ranks with the greatest for regularseason pitching. In the postseason, it’s 4.43. This is a man who once (not so much lately) was compared to Sandy Koufax. We’ve seen a lot of superstars endure reputationdamaging playoff developments, including Barry Bonds and John Elway, but both men eventually came through. It’s difficult to remember any truly great athlete in Kershaw’s predicament.
What a splendid chain of events for Washington manager Dave Martinez. He was on the firing line after the team’s 1931 start, critics wondering why the Nats didn’t retain Dusty Baker. Now Martinez is sailing into the NLCS with one of the most entertaining teams in the game. Giants fans may remember Martinez as a member of the team in 199394, hitting in the .240s without much power and playing all three outfield positions. He was granted free agency in December of ’94 and went on to have the two best offensive seasons of his 16year career (.307, .318) with the White Sox.
The Phillies fired manager Gabe Kapler on Thursday, prompting this from ESPN’s tunedin Pedro Gomez on Twitter: “My early line favorite to take over the Phillies is Dusty.”
Yes, by all means let the Nationals advance: MVP candidate Rendon, the ultimate “gamer” in Max Scherzer, the wicked Stephen Strasburg, franchise legend Ryan Zimmerman, fleet catalyst Trea Turner, the rocksolid Kendrick (.344 this season), endearing former A’s Kurt Suzuki and Sean Doolittle, and Soto, the best young player in the game (which is really saying something). Even if you view the Dodgers objectively, it gets a bit tiring watching them come up short in October.