Much was made during the broadcast of game 5 of the Dodgers-Nationals series of how much the broadcasters liked all the moves made by the managers due to the pitcher batting. Dusty Baker made two double switches in the game, but the second ended up hurting. Anthony Rendon struck out to end the seventh inning, so when Baker brought in Mark Melancon to pitch in the eighth, Melancon went into Rendon’s slot. So when the fifth slot came up in the bottom of the ninth with two on and two out, Wilmer Difo wound up hitting. I don’t want to criticize Difo too much, he’s a good hitter. His MLB experience is scant, especially against a pitcher of Kershaw’s quality. I’d rather have Rendon up on that situation, however. In the American League, one of your stars would be batting in that situation.
I wonder, too, if Baker didn’t anticipate Kershaw coming into the game. It was the logical move. When Roberts said that Kershaw wasn’t going to pitch, I remember thinking that the big lefty could get one batter. Maybe if the threat of Kershaw was more real to Baker, he leaves Rendon in and tries to set things up for the ninth.
In Baker’s defense, Drew did walk leading off the eighth. In the AL, however, the Nats might still have gone down, but they would do so with their best hitters, not the 25th man on the roster at the plate.
Roberts move to Kenley Jansen early makes me wonder if that’s the move Baker should have made in the seventh, bringing in Melancon then. Baker’s relievers had performed well in the series up to that point, however.
Dave Roberts against Joe Maddon is going to be fun to watch, but I suspect we’ll see a lot of 4 1/2 hour games.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2e2QCe3
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