IST - Nats v Dodgers

[Guest themetfairy]

It's hard for me to watch this series. I can't decide which one of these teams I hate more.

[Guest themetfairy]

Utley is up. I definitely hate the Dodgers more.

[Zvon]

Great catch. I've been pulling my Pederson's.

[Frayed Knot]

When in doubt, root for a Game 5

[Zvon]

And now for something completely different:

A Tim Tebow face-plant.

[fimg=500]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CuhfFKgWYAAufgY.jpg:large[/fimg]

[Zvon]

Great faceoff between Clayton & Bryce. UGH, a walk. Bases loaded. 2 outs, 7th. 5-2

I joke about robo umps but I don't really want to know if that curve ball (not the ball 4-like 3 pitches b4- called a ball) was actually, technically, literally, & mechanically a strike. It could have gone both ways from what I saw, and the ump called it one way. I don't mind that, when it's borderline. It's just that umps suck so bad these days that they screw up on obvious balls & strikes.

Ouch. Kershaw out, Dodger reliever hits Werth, a run scores. 5-3.

Come on LA, hold this for Clayton.

Murphy up, bases still all red.

[Zvon]

Wow. Murph ties it. Jeeze. He is sick in the post. Just sick.

[metirish]

During one of the games the booth mentioned that Dave Roberts had made over 600 pitching changes during the season( I think I am correct in that), I also think they said that was a record?...anyway , easy to see how it would be, he is constantly going to the pen , as mentioned above games are long ...awful to watch really

[Frayed Knot]

Final 1st round series to be decided tonight.

I still maintain that, even though the Dodgers have been to the playoffs four years in a row now while so far only advancing once, the pressure here is more on the Nats who haven't won at all in this five-year span since they became a winning team and could conceivably see their window closing faster than LA who always seem to be in the midst of upheaval as they use a massive payroll to rebuild on the fly. Whoever gets past tonight will then be playing with house money against the favored Cubs, but tonight is a big game for each, just more so for the Nats IMO.

Also there's the pitching matchup.
Scherzer is the $30 mil/yr guy the Nats got through FA-gency as the final piece to the puzzle and he's matched against a guy, Rich Hill, who's not only pitching on three days rest but also has to have one of the stranger resumes in recent years -- and I had to look ALL of this up because (maybe it's the boring name) I was virtually unaware of this guy until very recently even though he's spent (at least part of) 12 years in the majors to date.

Rich Hill
- Originally drafted back in 1999 (Cincy - 36th round) and again in 2001 (Angels - 7th) he finally signed with the Cubs after being drafted by them in the 4th round in 2002.
- he was in the majors by 2005 and has appeared in every season since, but in doing so has traveled from the Cubs to Baltimore, St Louis, Boston, Cleveland, Boston again, Angels, Yanquis (Aug thru Sept of 2014 ... I have no memory of this), Nationals (though stayed in the minors), Boston for a 3rd time, Oakland, and finally the Dodgers
- in addition to spending at least part of every single season in the majors since first coming up, he has also spent at least part of every single year in the minors including a stint in 2015 with the Long Island team in Independent ball. Overall he has made more appearances and had more starts as a minor leaguer than he has in the majors.
- he's been granted free agency eight times (including last winter), been released three other times (the Angels once released him after pitching to just four batters), and was finally traded for the first time at this year's deadline when he came as part (a throw-in?) of the Josh Reddick deal in exchange for three minor leaguers (I hope you got good ones Billy Beane)

And now after all that -- in what is only his second season making 20 starts or totaling 100 ML innings (his first in each since 2007) -- it is he, not Scherzer, who is the pitcher with the better 2016 ERA & WHiP in tonight's matchup and how bad will that sit with Nats fans if they fail to advance once again, this time because their $200 million dollar man got out-pitched by a 36 y/o ML vagabond picked up at the trading deadline and starting on short rest?

[Fman99]

Good game going here. I hat both of these damn teams, but, since I know more obnoxious Nats fans than Dodgers fans, I'll hope that LA can win and then go get stomped in Chicago.

Except, you know, maybe on the way to the airport, on the tarmac, Face Buttley gets hit by a comet.

[Zvon]

hahA. A comet.

This is great cause I don't give a shit who wins. I would rather see the Nats go home but I don't really care what happens until the Cubs play again. Baseball might be even more enjoyable when you don't care.

[Frayed Knot]

Justin Freakin' Turner ... who the hell ever saw THAT coming?

[Frayed Knot]

Man, how many pitchers can a team use in one inning?
Apparently the answer is: All of them!

[Zvon]

This is a great game. 4-3 LA, 7th.

[Zvon]

This is veeeeery interesting.
Roberts puts his closer in with no outs in the 7th. He must think Hiesey is Tug McGraw!
Ha. No, they still have Kershaw up their sleeve.

[Zvon]

And Bryce singles! 1st & 3rd.

[Zvon]

I was looking for a vid of Werth when he was out by a mile but it scrolled away. That was also very strange.
There is this:

[tweet:2mw0n44j]https://twitter.com/mattprov94/status/786763307873103874[/tweet:2mw0n44j]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Zvon wrote: This is a great game. 4-3 LA, 7th.

super long one too.

[Zvon]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: This is a great game. 4-3 LA, 7th. super long one too.

Ridiculously long. I love it.

FK?

Kershaw spied talking to his pitching coach.

I've been pulling my Rendons but he has set a new "post season" record for not hitting with RISP.

OE:
Oh, with runners on, anywhere.
[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Zvon]

Kershaw is coming in to close. I think he's the 60th pitcher used tonight.

[Frayed Knot]

Zvon wrote: Ridiculously long. I love it. FK?

Just think how much better a game it would be if Kensley Jansen would throw pitches at a rate quicker than one per minute, or if pitching changes took about half as long.

[Zvon]

No, it's still Janson! Kershaw is just biting his nails in the pen.

[Frayed Knot]

Zvon wrote: Kershaw is coming in to close.

Not yet he isn't. Probably for Harper though.

Turner - Harper - Werth - Murphy due up.

[Zvon]

This is my kind of managing. Give the guy 1 bump. Odds of it being a kaBoom are...I don't actually know, but give him a chance to get thru it.

Evertime I look up Harper us at the plate.

[Zvon]

He;s letting him face Harper. 3-0.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

So its Kershaw vs. Muffy 2 on, 1 out, Nats down by 1, bottom 9th

[Frayed Knot]

It had to end there otherwise there wouldn't have been anyone left to watch it.

Speaking of which, the DC Metro closes at midnight (or maybe even earlier) so I wonder how a lot of the folks at the game are going to get home.
I know if I'm a DC cabbie I'm hanging around that park for the rest of the night.

[Zvon]

I really like what Ive seen from Dave Roberts. Intellegent, can express himself clearly, takes unconventional chances, bucks the trends. We always talk about bringing in the closer in the most crucial inning, even if its the 6th or 7th, when he is needed most.
Andwe were talking about that years ago. Are we that far ahead of the curve?

[Fman99]

Zvon wrote: I really like what Ive seen from Dave Roberts. Intellegent, can express himself clearly, takes unconventional chances, bucks the trends. We always talk about bringing in the closer in the most crucial inning, even if its the 6th or 7th, when he is needed most. Andwe were talking about that years ago. Are we that far ahead of the curve?

Of course we are.

I made it to the Turner double. Zonked out after that.

[Frayed Knot]

To put the length of last night's game into a bit of perspective (yes, here I go again):
- 30 years ago tomorrow there was an extra inning game you might all remember, a game that lasted 16 innings where 123 players batted
- last night was a regulation 9 inning game where 80 batters came up -- for comparison purposes, an average 9-inning game has about 75 trips to the plate
- the 1986 NLCS game was longer by just [u:29f8zwrm]10 minutes[/u:29f8zwrm]

It's not [just] the length of the games, it's what's going on during that time -- or, more accurately, what's NOT going on during much of that time.