I dunno what's with Dodger hitters turning ice cold in the playoffs. They could have won the WS last year if they hadn't stopped hitting in game 7. Some of them have terrible plate discipline.
It's as though every bad tendency they have comes together in the playoffs. Puig has shown incredible plate discipline the last two regular seasons, but he flails at the sliders away during the postseason. Bellinger and Grandal are strikeout or homer every at-bat. At least Bellinger can occasionally hit a ball the other way or lay down a bunt (as Yelich did yesterday). Grandal doesn't grasp the concept of "just make contact, and he seems to have a terrible understanding of the strike zone as a hitter. I can't tell you how many call third strikes I saw him take where he argued with the umpire about pitches that were unquestionably strikes.
Add to that the fact that Grandal is a catcher who can't seem to catch the baseball, and I am so
done with him.
Dodgers have struck out
32 times in the 3 games in this series -- 27 strikeouts in the two games they lost. They're hitting .235 in the series. Amazingly, their batting average with RISP is actually better (4 for 20), but they were 0 for 10 last night.
I dunno what's with Dodger hitters turning ice cold in the playoffs. They could have won the WS last year if they hadn't stopped hitting in game 7. Some of them have terrible plate discipline.
maybe the other teams pitching is pretty good.
I'd say it's more of a matter of the other team's manager and pitching coach understanding how to exploit the Dodgers' weaknesses. Smart managers and coaches figure this stuff out, and the Dodgers have had a terrible tendency over the past couple years to make scrubs (no offense, but how else can you describe Jhoulys Chacin) look like Cy Young Award winners. Plus, the Dodgers supposed strength -- starting pitching -- has let the team down.
I'm not usually one to say fire the manager, but I kinda think it's time. The approach that Roberts, Honeycutt and Ward have used just isn't working, and guys like Craig Counsell, AJ Hinch and Alex Cora can coach circles around them.