jung

Terrific AB by Beni. Fouling off the 3-2 was almost a miracle. At least this gets Ryu out of the game.

He wants to throw that hook and he probably should at 2-2. Real surprised he didn't throw it 2-2. Throws it 3-2. Gotta' give Ryu credit. Won't give in

Oh my God...that is likely the best pitch Beni is going to see in this AB

This guy has been tough on our LH hitters with that hook of his. Beni needs to get him before he lays that on him.

Don't think I would let Price pitch to the meat of their order again. I would have him out of there before they come up again.

Nice inning David. He just needed to change up the 2nd time through to the top of their order and he likely would have been fine.

That is a heck of a catch. Beni has always been better glove side. That was one heck of a play.

Price has been squeezed on a couple. But for the most part he has been missing inside and not by a little. That is his bread and butter. If he can't paint with the FB inside he has trouble. If he is not hitting with the Change either it takes a magic act for him to stay out there.

Don't know if you noticed but the Dodgers got two runs and lead out of that inning with the hitters now swinging 0-0 including the Puig hit.

Usually the difference between a great pitching performance and one that is only good is what the pitcher throws 0-0. They can get away with throwing what Price was throwing 0-0 first time through the order. Not the second time through...regular or post season. Price simply kept at it too long.

Price has fallen into the trap of throwing next to nothing 0-0 and the Dodgers have gotten onto that. Machado as usual right in the middle of everything.

Price is probably going to try to get Hernanez with a cutter. Kid is sitting on his FB.

Nice call ump...IDIOT

I get testing these guys. I don't think they can field a lick myself. But that was not even a test.

Not sure where Kinsler thought he was going there. Would have been nice to have cleared Vaz or at least given him a chance to hit.

Kinsler!!! That is what he needs...pitches up in his eyes so he can't do his useless launch angle thing

Freese still looks like a panic at 1st. Not sure this Dodger team can actually field its way out of a wet paper bag with the exception of Turner.

Wanna' bet Freese was looking at Pearce battling that pop up thinking "Oh no...not this again!"

Nope would not allow multiple DH's as that would truly destroy the multi-dimensionality of the game. Would not allow free substitutions either. Baseball is not basketball nor is it football. Myself I would not have allowed the DH. But I understood it. Pitchers don't hit for s***. They really never did spend enough time with a bat in their hands even when both leagues had a spot in the order for the Pitcher. It is and was an artifact from a bygone era when Pitchers did actually spend at least bare adequate time with a bat in their hands. But now that the DH is here, given every other BS rules change MLB has brought into being and MLB's obvious support of the Overload as a means to force this whole "launch angle" nonsense plus the juiced baseball, keeping a spot for the Pitcher in the Batting Order has had the exact opposite effect on NL play. It does not result in a purer version of the game. Take away the juiced baseball and stupid rule changes and deal with the Overload properly and then maybe there is a shot at the NL version being a purer version of the game. But I seriously doubt that will happen. As for the pendulum swinging back via slap hitting baseball which has been mentioned in various discussions on the topic. Forget it, not going to happen. We already had our slap hitting era and IT was uglier than this era! The powers that be in baseball have no interest in going that way nor creating an environment that would allow it to go that way and well they should not. Heck the slap hitting era was created by accident as opposed to by intent which we are dealing with in this power fixation. In reality, other than the DH, everything else they have done and not done (not dealing with the Overload for example) has been pure garbage. Fans are losing touch with the actual elements of this game that make it a beautiful game. Too many have no idea what a good fielding play actually entails or even what a good fielder fielding the baseball looks like. Don't know what the hitter is actually trying to accomplish. What his actual responsibilities are and the entire enterprise is being boiled down to success measured in HR's or K's. Fans are expecting games to be like glorified Fantasy League events because that is what MLB is teaching them to expect. The worst of it is now found in the NL where the pitchers spot in the order has resulted in even more fence bashing as a means to generate runs before .....you get to the pitchers spot! The only teams left that play anything like actual baseball at this point are AL teams. But IMO, even the AL is just living on a reprieve. The Red Sox and the Astros are the best examples. When it comes right down to it, baseball is at a crossroads. Have to give up something and if the NL has a brain in its head, it will give up the pitcher's spot in the order and the double switch. Ask me to value some wizened old man double switching vs the beauty of the multi-dementional everyday ballplayer and its not even close for me. Never mind the utter stupidity of 4 WS games played one way and 3 another. You want to make changes that would make baseball similar to basketball...the NBA would laugh you off the planet if you suggested a model that forced two different types of play on their Championship. This is finally the first year when I am seeing multiple voices in baseball starting to put up red flags and Manfred has even made comments about having to consider dealing with the Overload. The games being too long is one thing. But, if MLB expects fans to find "excitement" in nothing but HR's and K's and weak pop ups and overgrown lumbering infielders that live off positioning instead of agility spread over 4 hours, think again. The Overload, the rules changes, the juiced baseball and MLB's seemingly intractable notion that its future is in turning baseball into a one dimensional power game is killing this game. The commissioner can not enforce a change to the DH on the NL though. The NL owners have to make that decision on their own.

Particularly useful since Bellinger and Pederson just try to leave on every pitch. Bellinger looks particularly ridiculous unless his bat actually runs into something. Endless numbers of Dodgers try to leave on every pitch.

If for so called "showboating" or simply because the player targeted happens to be the opponents best player? Nope. Shouldn't happen. Actually Machado threw his bat at Alberto Callaspo in the Abad incident angered by Abad throwing twice way inside though Abad had not hit Machado. I have no idea what Callaspo had to do with anything. Only Machado himself will have to explain why he flung his bat at Callaspo. I don't think Machado knows!!!

Better, worse...not sure I can make much of a comment on that. The Dodgers are more flawed in the way that MLB is pushing this game and in the result of the NL insisting on continuing to assign a spot in the batting order for the Pitcher. MLB needs to wake up on a number of scores and the NL needs to stop this Pitcher bats nonsense. It is high time for that to be over especially given the direction MLB is going. Somewhere along the way the NL owners (MLB owners have never been the sharpest tools in the shed) simply lost track of where rules and issues like the baseball itself, now a rocket ship, were effecting the game and how far out of step that was to keeping a spot in the batting order for a Pitcher. The Dodgers are a product of trying to absorb both where MLB wants to go and where the NL is with its continued support of the Pitcher having a spot in the order. The Boston Red Sox are the antithesis of MLB's stupid insistence on trying to take this game somewhere it should not go and of course the Red Sox don't have to deal with the nutty, Pitcher still bats nonsense.

Sorry...I don't buy it. Did he apologize to Josh Donaldson after throwing a bat at him? Did he apologize to Fernando Abad after throwing at bat at him? Did he make any effort to apologize to Aguilar after running over his Achilles. Nope...he turned around as he went past so he could see just how much discomfort he had caused. "He tried to pick Pedey up." Maybe the best place for Pedey to be was on the ground and in fact that is where Pedey stayed. Machado is a head case, probably simply so full of himself and so entitled in his own mind by his own talent that he actually has distain for other players. Given his recent comments about not being a Joe Hustle kind of player, Pedey is probably just the kind of guy he simply does not think belongs on the field with him and just the kind of guy that will cause that short-circuit mind of his to "short-circuit" during play. I don't think Machado plans any of this stuff. But at the moment of truth, I think he gets frustrated and I think he just can't help himself. Frankly I don't care anymore about the reasons why. He has very likely ended Pedey's career and could have ended at least three others but for the grace of God.

I have a tip for folks that want to become better attuned to infield play. This is a good deal like resisting the temptation to watch the ball during a football game and instead watch the line play. If you want to know how well an infielder is playing his position, take your eyes off the baseball after he has caught the ball or even sometimes before he has caught the ball. Once he has it, he is either going to make the transition, screw up the transition, drop it or throw it. Not much to see there. Instead, watch what he does with his feet and his lower body. That is all I have to say about that. As for Machado, who is now just too big for Shortstop, his top heavy upper body and what is now a shaky set of pins (because of his knees) makes for below average footwork around 2nd base.

That is instant, slo-mo replay. That is not a rule change. That has nothing to do with a rule change. Out was always out. That we can see some plays with greater definition has nothing to do with the rule! Pedey was specifically talking about THE RULE CHANGE supposedly designed to protect infielders.