This was worse than Game 2

Dodgers drop a winnable game

After seeing what the Dodgers did yesterday, this makes Game 2 not look nearly as bad.

The Dodgers had a chance to end the series on Friday afternoon. With a win, they’d advance to the World Series. Prior to the game, Dave Roberts said something along the lines of he was going to manage the game with urgency.

Well, that was a load of B.S.

Jack Flaherty got the start and was terrible. He didn’t have it at all. Anyone watching the game could see that. Through only two innings, Flaherty had generated only two swing-and-misses. His called strike/whiff percentage was 17 percent. The Mets already had six hard-hit balls against him. He couldn’t find the strike zone at all. Oh, and to top it all off, his velocity was down a couple of ticks.

You can make the argument Flaherty shouldn’t have even been sent back out there for the third, but he was. With that being the case, at least have someone warming up in the bullpen that you can turn to if Flaherty gets into trouble again.

A reminder, if the Dodgers win this game, they advance to the World Series. Just wanted to throw that in here in case you forgot. Oh, and at this point, it’s only a two-run game in the third inning.

Flaherty walked the first two batters to begin the inning. After getting ahead 0-2 on Pete Alonso to start the frame, eight of his next nine pitches were balls. At this moment, Flaherty’s night should have been over. He couldn’t find the damn strike zone. A high-leverage reliever should have come into the the game to try and get out of the damage.

A reminder, if the Dodgers win this game they advance to the World Series!

Instead, Flaherty stayed in the game. Starling Marte doubled, bringing in two runs to extend the Mets’ lead to four runs. OKAY, a four-run deficit isn’t ideal, but that’s still very manageable in the third inning. Time to go to the bullpen, right?

Well…. about that. Flaherty stayed in the game.

Now, to his credit, he did record the next two outs and was only one out away from getting out of the inning. Unfortunately, Flaherty proceeded to allow three more hits, allowing the Mets to extend their lead to seven.

Through three innings, the Mets led 8-1 and this one was over.

What the hell was Dave Roberts thinking? Well, this is what he was apparently thinking.

Per Dodger Blue:

He left him in because “you can’t cover the game with leverage (relievers) while being down” for 7 innings. “There’s a cost on the backend.”

Roberts said he didn’t want to be “careless” with his relievers with more baseball to play. “Ultimately, it’s about winning 4 games in a 7 game series.”

We’ve seen Roberts have a quick hook for YEARS. We saw it first-hand on Thursday night when he pulled Yoshinobu Yamamoto after only 72 pitches. Yamamoto had eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings and looked GREAT…. but he had a quick hook and his night was over.

When you had a guy on the mound who was clearly out there throwing batting practice, how can you let him die on the mound? When a win sends you to the World Series? HOW?

Now I do understand you would have needed seven innings from your bullpen. That’s a tough task, especially with a bullpen game in Game 6. But again, if you win this game, you don’t have to PLAY a Game 6. Due to the Dodgers’ blowouts the first two games, the bullpen was already pretty well rested.

Here’s what they SHOULD have done.

They should have turned to a high-leverage arm the second Flaherty was in trouble in the third inning. Whoever it was, I don’t care. I can personally guarantee you that whoever came in wouldn’t have allowed eight runs. You minimize the damage and get the game to the fourth. If you’re down three or four runs still, you’re still in the game. Or, they potentially got out of it and it’s still a two-run game with six innings left.

Starting in the bottom of the fourth, that is when you turn to Brent Honeywell. Oh wait, that’s when they turned to him ANYWAYS. At that point, you give Honeywell three innings. By the time you get to the seventh inning, you hope your offense has managed to give you the lead, or at least have the game close.

Guess what, by the time the seventh inning rolled around, the Dodgers offense had six runs. Through three innings, Honeywell had allowed three runs. This could have been a TIE game. At that point, finish the game with your best options and try to win the game.

Considering the Dodgers were trailing 8-1 after three, it’s remarkable they put up a fight and managed to make it interesting. Can you imagine if they thought they still had a chance? I bet the at bats would have been even better and scored more than their six runs.

By punting that third inning, you threw the game. You waved the white flag. Simple as that. There was still a route to go down where you could win the game while saving all your top options.

If Honeywell doesn’t work out and your offense can’t get you back in the game, oh well you tried. You finish the game with him like you did anyways and save all your top arms. But leaving Flaherty out there to die on the mound and allow eight runs is just inexcusable. The Dodgers could have won the game and ended the series yesterday. Instead, they chose to give the Mets new life and send this series back to Los Angeles.

The Mets will turn to Sean Manaea in Game 6, the same guy the Dodgers couldn’t touch in Game 2. Meanwhile for LA, it will be a bullpen game. Well, at least all the arms are fresh!

The Dodgers will have two opportunities at home to win one game. We all would have gladly taken those odds at the start of the series. I still believe in this team to win a game, but watching them punt two games in the NLCS is just hard to fathom.

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