Jim Alexander: We’re doing The Audible a little differently today, since for a change we’re both at the same site, though in different areas of Dodger Stadium. A lot to unpack today after Wednesday night’s 8-2 Phillies victory not only prevented the Dodgers from clinching the NL Division Series but may have signaled trouble.
We touched on a couple of those angles in our columns last night. I suggested that Kyle Schwarber’s mammoth 455-foot home run in the fourth inning might have been the blow that changed the series, not just because it touched off a three-run inning but because he’d been in a 0-for-22 slump (including last night’s first at-bat) before picking on Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 2-0 pitch. (Plus, his first of two home runs Wednesday night was just so darned majestic, bouncing off the back of the right-field pavilion roof.)
You discussed another notable slump, Shohei Ohtani’s 2 for 18 with seven strikeouts, and how the leadoff hitter/MVP candidate/unicorn needs to get it going.
But there are a lot of other conversation points. For example: What had been a 3-1 game through seven innings got out of hand when Clayton Kershaw, who had pitched a shaky but scoreless seventh inning in his new relief role, was sent back out by Dave Roberts for the eighth and had nothing. He gave up five runs and five hits, including two homers and two doubles, as the Phillies batted around and came out of it feeling awfully good about themselves.
First question: Was this fair to Kersh to send him back out for a second inning? (There were extenuating circumstances, one of which was revealed this morning, and we’ll get to that.) Second question: Much of the chatter – and I tend to ignore my own sound advice and get drawn into the reader comments at the end of stories in The Athletic, so I saw a good portion of it – was that this was yet another flameout on the long résumé of Kershaw’s postseason failures.
I disagree. I thought trying to get a second inning out of him was pushing it, and it blew up in Roberts’ face (and again, later information explains a lot). Mirjam, how did you see it, and is this something that could have ramifications as the series goes on?
Mirjam Swanson: It didn’t feel good to watch Kershaw have to wear that punishment, no. It didn’t feel deserved for such a Dodger great.
But – writing before the first pitch Thursday – I don’t think the series will hinge on Kershaw’s second inning. The Dodgers would have liked to win Wednesday’s game, but they didn’t need to win Wednesday’s game … that’s why Roberts rolled the dice with Kershaw and not with his other high-leverage options, who are important to have today, Thursday.
I feel like, weirdly, we should be giving kudos to Kershaw for eating those innings, for doing his best Brent Honeywell impression and potentially helping set his club up for success today. (Also Tanner Scott wasn’t even at the ballpark Wednesday night, so it wasn’t as if Roberts had all that many options from whom to choose.)
Now we’ll find out in a few hours if that calculation adds up to a victory for the Dodgers – or whether Philly’s bats, once they’ve been lit on fire, will prove tough to extinguish.
What are you expecting from today’s start by Tyler Glasnow?
Jim: Before going there, I loved the Brent Honeywell references, both here and in your column. He was one of the true unsung heroes of last year’s bullpen-fueled championship, gobbling up innings and helping the Dodgers in those multiple bullpen games that eventually led to a title. I wonder if it might have made a difference if they’d found a way to keep him this season.
As for Glasnow, this has the makings – maybe – of a classic feel-good story (good feelings, at least, if you’re pulling for the home team). Local kid returns home to pitch, for the same team that denied him a World Series ring at Tampa Bay in 2020, and has a chance to pitch the Dodgers into the next round. (And, maybe, he can erase some of the doubts and questions resulting from his uneven health. He missed the end of last season and the postseason with elbow tendinitis, and was out all of May and June this season with shoulder inflammation.)
Not sure how much of a difference his 1⅔-inning relief stint in Game 1 of this series will make, though it gave the Phillies a recent look at him. He’d pitched in Philadelphia in April, his second start of the season, and it did not go well: Two innings, two hits, five runs (all earned), five walks and a wild pitch.
In the relief appearance Saturday, he faced eight hitters, gave up singles to J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper, walked two, and – notably – fanned Schwarber. He came out in the eighth after walking Alec Bohm to load the bases, and Alex Vesia bailed him out by getting pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa on an inning-ending fly ball.
This may be a feel-good story. It’s also a ton of pressure, in my mind, because if the Dodgers don’t wrap it up today I have a feeling they’re not going to win in Philly in Saturday’s Game 5.
Mirjam: Yeah, it’s hard to venture a prediction when we’ll know the outcome in a matter of hours … but in addition to the instances you mentioned, there’s the fact that Glasnow has 10 postseason starts – all with Tampa Bay – and a 2-6 record with a 5.72 ERA. So, no, it doesn’t make it feel like a sure thing!
That said, it’ll only make the story better if he pitches five (or six?) (more?) convincing innings and sets up the Dodgers to close out a series against a very dangerous Phillies team here in L.A. – hometown hero stuff if he can get out of his own way and just live in what could be (should be?) a really cool moment for an L.A. kid.
Roberts talked about it in his pregame chat with the media: “This is the moment that – I know he’s been really looking forward to a reason why he’s excited about being a Dodger and pitching in games like this.
“So, yeah, I think that he’s a very mechanical person, self-admitted. But I think that getting him to the point of just being in compete mode and trusting his stuff, knowing that he’s the best option out there, I think this is the moment that we’ve been waiting for. I expect him to pitch well and deliver for us.”
That, of course, is what it takes this time of year. The concept of just compete.
I think Game 4 will be fun.
And Roberts also gave us a bit of news on Scott’s status that was interesting. I’ll let you tackle that, Jim.
Jim: Wednesday night, Roberts informed us that Scott – who has been a massive bullpen disappointment when his performances are combined with his four-year, $72 million contract – was not with the team and said, “There was something going on personal. It will come out later, but he was completely unavailable.”
It turned out to be a health issue, which is why Scott was removed from the roster Thursday and replaced with Justin Wrobleski, a move that had to be cleared with MLB. Roberts said earlier today that it was something that apparently flared up during the off-day workout Tuesday: “As I understand it, it was abscess excision, some type of lower body, minor procedure. So I don’t know a whole lot about it, to be quite honest with you. But I do know that he’s recovering well. And it (the procedure) took place last night. That’s kind of where we’re at.”
Given that Scott’s absence was some of the rationalization for sending Kershaw out for a second inning – and given that Scott hasn’t been a fan favorite anyway – there was some outrage along the lines of, “How dare he not be available for such an important game.” (There go those comments sections again!) Part of that may have been the way Roberts explained it after Wednesday’s game, which made it sound like Scott was unavailable because of the often nebulous “personal issue.” I’m not expecting those who participated in the performative outrage to acknowledge that they might have been wrong or at least misled.
As for the manager … this is one of those instances where he’s solidly between a rock and a hard place. My guess – and it’s purely a mere guess – is that he had an idea that this was a physical issue but couldn’t say anything about it after Wednesday’s game because (a) he didn’t have all of the details, or (b) his bosses informed him that it was best to be vague. Or (c), which may be the most likely answer, they had to get the blessing of the commissioner’s office to make the move and thought it best not to make any specifics public.
And while there are times that Roberts can be frustratingly unclear – and trust me, he’s not the only manager capable of doing so – I suspect many of those instances are at the urging of the people above him.
I hear it all the time: “He’s no Tommy Lasorda.” Yes, that’s true, but Roberts operates under an entirely different set of parameters. Could you imagine Al Campanis or Fred Claire instructing Tommy as to what he could say or how to say it? Neither do I. They might urge, but that’s about all they could do.
But that’s modern baseball.