DAVE ROBERTS IS BACK, ALMOST BLOWING A GAME WHEN SASAKI DIDN’T START THE NINTH
Just when the Dodgers seemed off to another championship, the manager ignored the ninth-inning revelation from Japan and used Blake Treinen, who almost botched a three-run lead in Philadelphia
The temptation was to handclap the Dodgers yet another championship Monday night, meat-hook them for two in a row when the feat hasn’t been achieved in a quarter-century. But then, with arms folded in the dugout, Dave Roberts re-emerged as a ninth-inning pariah. He has won two World Series and likely is headed to the Hall of Fame. “Pressure,” he says “is a privilege.” But …
Pressure can be a pain in the ass. There he was, with Roki Sasaki established as a new closer for a team with an atrocious bullpen, refusing to opt for him. Blake Treinen was next, failing with a three-run lead. The Phillies cut the advantage to 4-3. Alex Vesia was next, allowing a single to Harrison Bader. With two out, Bryson Stott was at third. Would Roberts blow a game after Blake Snell, another precious starter, allowed only one hit and struck out nine in six innings?
He was back. Roberts was the familiar reaper. Why not simply use Sasaki to start the ninth? Finally, the real closer emerged and forced Trea Turner to ground a ball to second base. But the heat was only beginning in Philadelphia. Tommy Edman picked up the ball, threw it and bounced it in the dirt. Many first basemen would have missed the ball and pulled a foot off the bag. Not Freddie Freeman.
Remember, the man who hit the Series-winning grand slam last fall also has won Gold Glove honors as a fielder. He is the complete champion. And sure enough, he watched the ball careen toward him, kept a foot on the bag and snared the final out. In the end, if the Dodgers win again, we will remember Freeman’s shrewdness.
“Obviously, Tommy threw it into the dirt. Thankfully, I was able to catch it and stay on the bag,” Freeman said. “But that was a stressful inning. I told (his wife) Lauren after the game, ‘My gray right here might be up to my sideburn now.’ ’’
We also will remember, as they take a 2-0 lead to Dodger Stadium in a best-of-five series, the weird calculus in the manager’s mind. He has made mistakes in many postseasons. He returned to win his second title, in part because his owner spends the most money in the history of American sports. What was he doing? Treinen had imploded all season, with a 5.40 ERA and a 2-7 record. His ERA in September: 9.64. Just the other day, Roberts said of Sasaki, “When he came back, I told him he’s got a different look now. He’s got the look of a killer.” That’s because he went to Triple-A ball and agreed to a mechanical revamping.
Next time, use the killer.
“I thought about it,” Roberts said. “He hasn’t gone two (games) out of three much at all. Just figuring out the run right there. Blake has pitched some of the biggest outs, innings, in the postseason for us. I felt really confident right there. And Vesia behind him if needed. So I didn’t want to just kind of, you know, preemptively put him in there. Again, I felt good with who we had, with our leverage relievers, a couple of our highest-leverage relievers. And fortunately, when (Sasaki) was called upon — I liked him versus Trea — and he got the big out for us.”
If that is a weighty thought process, the Dodgers still have a sense they’ll prevail. It’s ingrained in the clubhouse. “We know we’re going to win,” said Snell, who signed a $182 million contract last offseason.
“I’ll take off my Dodgers hat and just put on a fan hat. I think that was a really, really dope baseball game,” Mookie Betts said. “I think both of these games were 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.”
The Phillies will hold a team meeting in Los Angeles. Manager Rob Thomson should let them sleep. “I love the fight in the eighth and ninth inning,” he said. “They fought like hell, and hopefully that carries over into Wednesday. But this is a resilient group. Our backs are against the wall. We’ve just got to come out fighting.”
In all likelihood, unless Roberts forgets Sasaki again, the Dodgers will advance to the National League Championship Series and play the Milwaukee Brewers. Teams that take a 2-0 lead, with three victories prevailing, have won 80 of 90 times — 54 in sweeps. With wonder still surrounding the Dodgers, the Brewers have the homefield edge and the power to disrupt even Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani — and certainly, the bullpen bobble heads. Did you see Andrew Vaughn — the White Sox dumped him — William Contreras and Jackson Chourio light the Cubs for seven runs off homers in a 7-3 romp?
Whatever Pat Murphy has brought to the Brewers remains absent in Cubdom. Why would Tom Ricketts give $40 million to Craig Counsell when the small market keeps shaming the big market? Laughingly, Milwaukee fans boo Counsell. “They never boo a bum. I think the fans will come around someday.” Murphy said.
If the Dodgers win the pennant, realize what they overcame this season. They used the injured list for 2,585 days involving 37 players. The major problem last month was the lack of a closer. Now they have one.
The killer has emerged.
Please use him when the ninth begins.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.