Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and the Dodgers were just trying to make Game 2 interesting for those watching at home.
—OK, the Dodgers won Game 2, but before we talk about that….
—Blake Treinen, thank you very much for what you did in 2024. The Dodgers might not have won the World Series without you. But I hope to never see you come into a game this season, unless it’s in a Brent Honeywell role.
—Bringing in Treinen was a big mistake. And this is not hindsight. Before the ninth inning, I was trading messages with friends saying they should either stick with Emmet Sheehan, or bring in Roki Sasaki. I’d have stayed with Sheehan, and if he gave up a hit, you go with Sasaki.
—Dave Roberts, on why he didn’t go with Sasaki: “I thought about it. He hasn’t gone two of three much, at all. Just figuring the run right there, Blake’s pitched some of the biggest outs, innings in the postseason for us. And felt really confident right there. And with Vesia behind him, if needed. So I didn’t want to just, kind of, preemptively put him in there. Again, I felt good with who we had with a couple of our highest-leverage relievers. Fortunately, he was ready when called upon. I liked him versus Trea and he got a big out for us.”
—Hey, at least Roberts brought in Alex Vesia and not Tanner Scott.
—Has anyone seen Scott lately?
—The Dodger bullpen is basically Sheehan, Vesia and Sasaki. If the starters don’t go into the sixth or seventh, trouble arises.
—The schedulers did the Dodgers a favor with an off day after Game 1. Let those three rest up and be ready for Game 2. Now a day off, so they can rest up again.
—And then Tommy Edman was seemingly possessed by Steve Sax on that final throw. My life flashed before my eyes. It was much too short.
—But what a scoop by Freeman at first. Great, great play.
—Of course, it was Vin Scully who always reminded us, “The Dodgers never do things the easy way.”
—What a play by Max Muncy to throw Nick Castellanos out at third in that pivotal ninth inning. And what a play by Mookie Betts to hustle over to third and make the tag while Castellanos was sliding into him.
—That play took some of the air out of the inning for the Phillies.
—That was the old “wheel play,” designed to get the runner at third. As the pitch is thrown, the third baseman and first baseman rush toward home plate, to be in position to field the bunted ball as quickly as possible. The shortstop rushes over to cover third, while the second baseman runs to cover first. The defense seeks to have defenders in position such that once the ball is bunted, it can be picked up quickly and thrown to the shortstop to retire the runner advancing from second base.
—Amazing that things taught 100 years ago in the game can still apply now, even with all the changes in baseball since then.
—“I’ve got to give that credit to Miggy Rojas,” Betts said. “We did it earlier in the year in Anaheim, and I remember asking him, ‘When’s a good time to do it?’ He said: In a do-or-die situation.”
—“When Doc came out and made the pitching change, we talked to him about it and he was all on board,” Muncy said. “I am going to credit Mook. It was his idea.”
—Phillies manager Rob Thomson: “Mookie did a great job of disguising the wheel play. “We teach our guys that if you see wheel, just pull it back and slash because you’ve got all kinds of room in the middle. But Mookie broke so late that it was tough for Stotty to pick it up.”
—Fun stat: The Dodgers didn’t have a 5-6 putout in the regular season, the only team in the majors without one.
—He gave up a run, but Emmet Sheehan looked like a totally different pitcher out there compared to his appearance against the Reds.
—Blake Snell pitched a brilliant game. One hit in six innings, four walks, nine strikeouts.
—I like the booking.com commercial features the New York family in Boston. Especially at the end, when the mom says “Those aren’t our kids.” and the little girl says “We’re not?” She says it so sadly.
—Also, I may be the only one who enjoys the Limu emu and Doug commercials.
—Just for the record, the Dodgers have outscored the Phillies 9-3 when my youngest daughter, Hannah, and her fiance Mason are watching, and they have been outscored 3-0 when they aren’t watching.
—Hannah says the Dodgers can send the World Series share directly to her.
—I predicted Dodgers in five, but let’s hope it doesn’t go to a Game 5, particularly with the next two games at Dodger Stadium.
—Yoshibobu Yamamoto pitches Game 3. Aaron Nola goes for the Phillies. Nola had a 6.01 ERA. Ranger Suárez, who most Phillies fans think should be starting Game 3, had a 3.20 ERA. It’s possible they start Nola, hope the Dodgers load their lineup with lefties, then bring in Suárez in the second inning. But we will see. The Dodgers did have the habit this season of making starters with high ERAs look like the second coming of Sandy Koufax.
—That play where Miguel Rojas ran to third and barely beat Trea Turner for the force was just bizarre. Even though it worked, it seemed like the wrong choice. Rojas had a similar play last postseason where he didn’t beat the runner.
—“I think it was the wrong decision,” Rojas said. “But after I went to third base, I felt like I needed to give it my 100% effort. I’m glad that I got there and [the inning] didn’t go farther than that.”
—Are the Dodgers capable of losing three in a row to the Phillies (or, better put, can the Phillies beat the Dodgers three in a row?) Sure. But it seems unlikely.
—But you can’t ask for much more as far as excitement in this series.
—”I’ll take off my Dodgers hat and just put on a fan hat,” Betts said. “I think that was a really, really dope baseball game. I think both of these games were really, really dope baseball games, fun to be a part of. Obviously, it’s a lot better when you’re on the winning side, but you can’t ask for better postseason baseball. It’s just fun. This is why we play.”
—Let’s hope the crowd Wednesday is as loud as the Philadelphia crowd was, and has no reason to be silent. And let’s hope those sitting behind home plate noticed that the Phillies fans behind home plate didn’t spent most of the game on their phone or contemplating their next drink order.
Dodgers postseason stats
Through four games:
Batting
Alex Call, 2 for 2
Miguel Rojas, .429, 3 for 7, 1 RBI
Ben Rortvedt, .429, 3 for 7, 1 double, 1 RBI, 3 K’s
Teoscar Hernández, .412, 7 for 17, 1 double, 3 homers, 9 RBIs, 1 walk, 3 K’s
Mookie Betts, .389, 7 for 18, 3 doubles, 3 RBIs, 1 walk, 1 K
Kiké Hernández, .313, 5 for 16, 2 doubles, 4 RBIs, 3 K’s
Freddie Freeman, .267, 4 for 15, 2 doubles, 3 walks, 2 K’s
Will Smith, .250, 1 for 4, 2 RBIs, 1 walk, 2 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, .222, 4 for 18, 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 2 walk, 9 K’s
Max Muncy, .200, 2 for 10, 1 double, 3 walks, 4 K’s
Tommy Edman, .091, 1 for 11, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 5 K’s
Andy Pages, 1 for 17, .059, 4 K’s
Team, .289, 10 doubles, 6 homers, 26 RBIs, 12 walks, 36 K’s, 6.75 runs per game
Three position players on the NLDS roster, Justin Dean, Hyeseong Kim and Dalton Rushing, have yet to bat.
Pitching
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.2 IP 4 hits, 2 walks, 9 K’s
Roki Sasaki, 0.00 ERA, 2 saves, 2.1 IP, 1 hit, 3 K’s
Tyler Glasnow, 0.00 ERA, 1.2 IP. 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 K’s
Jack Dreyer, 0.00 ERA, 0.2 IP, 1 walk, 1 K
Blake Snell, 2-0, 1.38 ERA, 13 IP, 5 hits, 5 walk, 18 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 6 IP, 3 hits, 1 walk, 9 K’s
Alex Vesia, 9.00 ERA, 2 IP, 2 hit, 2 walks, 2 K’s
Emmet Sheehan, 11.59 ERA, 2.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 1 K
Blake Treinen, 13.53 ERA, 1.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 K’s
Edgardo Henriquez, infinity, 0 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks
Team, 4-0, 3.25 ERA, 2 saves, 26 hits, 17 walks, 47 K’s
Three players on the NLCS roster, Anthony Banda, Clayton Kershaw and Tanner Scott, haven’t pitched in the postseason yet.
Up next
Wednesday: Philadelphia (Aaron Nola, 5-10, 6.01 ERA) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 12-8, 2.49 ERA), 6 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
x-Thursday: Philadelphia (TBD) at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 4-3, 3.19 ERA), 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
x-Saturday: Dodgers (TBD) at Philadelphia (TBD), 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
*-left-handed
x-if necessary
In case you missed it
Dave Roberts explains why the Dodgers didn’t use Roki Sasaki earlier in Game 2
Shaikin: Inside the Mookie Betts play call that won NLDS Game 2 for the Dodgers
Hernández: The Phillies are done, and the Dodgers’ path to the World Series looks clear
‘Pass the baton.’ Dodgers finally get to Jesús Luzardo in pressure-packed seventh inning
Dodgers take NLDS Game 2 and are on the verge of the NLCS | Dodgers Debate
Mookie Betts and Max Muncy talk wheel play in the 9th inning of NLDS Game 2
Shaikin: Clayton Kershaw isn’t first Hall of Fame-bound pitcher to finish career in Dodgers bullpen
And finally
Game 2 highlights. Watch and listen here.
Until next time…
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.