Bringing in your best relief pitcher

[m0nkey]

In the highest leverage situations.  Props to dave roberts bringing in his best reliever when they needed it most, and props to terry francona using andrew miller early too.

 

Hopefully we're getting closer to the end of the "can only use my closer in the 9th inning with a lead" era

[Glen]

It's a bold strategy, Cotton.

[fan_since79]

Can you imagine Scioscia ever pulling the levers like this?

 

 

 

I can't either.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

In the highest leverage situations.  Props to dave roberts bringing in his best reliever when they needed it most, and props to terry francona using andrew miller early too.

 

Hopefully we're getting closer to the end of the "can only use my closer in the 9th inning with a lead" era

Well it worked in a winner take all, loser goes home type of game, because when they can't get the job done they can pitch their ace.  Over the course of a season, not so much.  Also it would create a TON of second guessing.  

[m0nkey]

When he can't get the job done? He came in and shut down the 7th and 8th. If it weren't a win or go home you'd figure he's not going to go more than 2 innings 

[m0nkey]

Bottom of the 8th coming and hitters 3-4-5 are coming up and you're up one. Do you use your second best pitcher and hope he gets out of it so your best pitcher can face the bottom of the order?

[Brandon]

eh, if it doesn't work people call roberts incompetent. if it does work he looks like a genius.

pretty unique though.

[Stradling]

If we weren't dealing with humans I would agree with you.  But when you hear relief pitchers talk about needing a routine and to be comfortable in order to perform best, well that's when it gets more tricky.  

[Erstad Grit]

Pretty dumb move IMO. Now Kershaw probably won't pitch until game 3 against the Cubs. We'll see if there are lingering effects on Jansen.

[fan_since79]

Some of the postgame analysis is talking about bringing in Blanton early on as one of the "keys" to the game.

I just LOL'd.

Sometimes I hate baseball.

 

[m0nkey]

1 minute ago, Erstad Grit said:

Pretty dumb move IMO. Now Kershaw probably won't pitch until game 3 against the Cubs. We'll see if there are lingering effects on Jansen.

It'd be dumber if they left Dayton in and they lose and are at home for the NLCS

[Brandon]

i think it's dumber about the kershaw save slobbing. he's one of the best pitchers of all-time in a winner take all game....he pitches, that's what he does. to make a big deal about a couple pitches to get a two out save seems a bit over the top.

[fan_since79]

I don't think you can fault Roberts. He made the moves and they certainly worked. The Dodgers survive to play an NLCS.

 

[Brandon]

that's what i'm saying. it's a winner take all down to the wire, you use your best players to get the win.

his save just doesn't really do anything for me. didn't bumgardner do it in the ws vs. the royals a couple years ago?

people on these post game shows seem to be blowing it out of proportion.

[fan_since79]

Well, there was the fact that he threw 110 pitches two days ago, and that was on short rest for the first time in his career, and then tonight he threw about a thousand pitches in the bullpen.

It could be a factor going forward, but Kershaw is a fierce competitor. We'll see.

 

 

[Brandon]

a thousand, you say

[Troll Daddy]

32 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

I don't think you can fault Roberts. He made the moves and they certainly worked. The Dodgers survive to play an NLCS.

 

I think the moves were made from upstairs.

 

[Angel Dog and Beer]

Im more impressed that FS79 counted every one of those one thousand warm up pitches.

[vladdy#27]

Just look at the Orioles. They have one of the best relief pitchers in baseball in Zach Britton. They are in a winner take all game and they don't even use him. Instead they bring in Ubaldo Jimenez who gives up a three run HR before even recording an out. If they bring Britton into that tie game in the 11th instead of Jimenez maybe the Orioles are the ones that hit that 3 run HR and win the game. 

Sure the Orioles could have not scored in the 12th, but we'll never know. What we do know is that they left their best pitcher in the bullpen. 

[Oz27]

I really hope we see more and more of this and I hope we see Bedrosian in the 'fireman' role eventually. Baseball is evolving beyond the blanket 'closer' role and we should be part of it. Yes, you can do it to a much greater extreme in the postseason but the Indians were doing it relatively often with Miller in the regular season too and I hope we work towards that model. It is such a better use of an elite reliever to use them in the highest leverage situation, whenever that is, rather than just dictating a ninth inning role.

[Second Base]

Kershaw should be able to remain on his normal pitch schedule, he threw as much as he typically would in an off day.

[Jay]

Dodgers bullpen was a little shaky when the pressure was on... we saw that in Game 4 also when Kershaw left the bases loaded. I think Roberts had seen enough and decided to bring in his closer. Jansen was clearly out of gas there in the ninth. Actually I think Roberts left him in for one too many batters but it worked out.

 

 

[arch stanton]

This isn't groundbreaking. Randy Johnson pitched the final 2 innings of Game 7 in '01. Guys like Fingers and Gossage routinely entered in the 7th or 8th and finished the game. Rivera regularly got 5 or 6 out saves in the post season. It wasn't until LaRussa and Eck that closers pitched the 9th only. 

 In '74 the Dodgers let Mike Marshall pitch 208 innings over 106 games and pretty much destroyed his arm. Maybe the best option is to have more than one reliever you can trust. 

[Stradling]

I'm far more impressed with what Jansen did than what Kershaw did.  It's a winner take all and loser goes home game, it's a game that is started by one guy and finished by Johnny Bullpen.  Just look at the 2014 World Series, MadBum pitches a complete game shut out in game five, in game seven he comes in the game in the 5th inning and throws 5 more shut out innings.  

Obviously it worked out for the Dodgers, but I think both managers had a too short of a hook with their starters.  @Homebrewer was right about Dusty last night.  To me there is no way you take Scherzer out at 99 pitches, simply because he gave up an opposite field home run.  He made a good pitch, but Joc put the perfect swing on it.  I was blown away how deep that pitch was when Joc made contact, it was DEEP into the plate.  

[fan_since79]

Remember when Dusty took Russ Ortiz out with a 5-0 lead in the 7th inning in that game in 2002?