Los Angeles Times - 04.10.2019

D2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

DODGERSVS.NATIONALS

They’re bad.
Holy
smokes,
they’re bad.
The reliev-
ers were sup-
posed to be a
problem in
this National
League Divi-
sion Series, but who knew
they were this awful?
Not the Dodgers’
bullpen. The Nationals’.
The teams have compa-
rable starting pitchers and
comparable lineups. What
they don’t have are compa-
rable bullpens, which ex-
plains the 6-0 margin of
victory for the Dodgers in
their Game 1 triumph at
Dodger Stadium.
Tanner Rainey, Fer-
nando Rodney and Hunter
Strickland of the Nationals
redefined on Thursday
night what “Game Over”
means in these parts, their
combined efforts trans-
forming a two-run nail-biter
into a laugher that spared
Dodgers manager Dave
Roberts from calling on his
own combustible reliever,
closer Kenley Jansen.
Considering the number
of night terrors for which the
Dodgers’ bullpen was re-
sponsible this season, what
are the chances they now
represent their team’s sin-
gle-greatest advantage in
this series?
The Nationals’ bullpen
was historically terrible in
the regular season, the
group’s combined earned-
run average of 5.66 the high-
est of any team to ever reach
the postseason.
Ever.
On the other hand, the
Dodgers’ bullpen is consid-
erably better than its repu-
tation, the unit’s short-
comings exaggerated by
Jansen’s failures and memo-
ries of an April in which Joe
Kelly looked like one of the
worst $25-million invest-
ments in baseball history.
The Dodgers radically
transformed the composi-
tion of their bullpen over the
last couple of months. The
relievers Roberts had avail-
able were nothing like the
group with which he started
the season.
The evolution was on
display Thursday, after
starting pitchers Walker
Buehler and Patrick Corbin
departed from the game
with the Dodgers ahead 2-0.
Adam Kolarek, the left-
hander who started the
seventh inning for the Dod-
gers by striking out 20-year-

old phenom Juan Soto, was

acquired from the Tampa

Bay Rays at the July 31 trade

deadline. Kolarek posted a

0.77 ERA in 26 appearances

after the trade.

“He got an out and that

relaxed me a little,” Kenta

Maeda said in Japanese.

Maeda entered the game

immediately after Kolarek’s

strikeout of Soto and went

on to retire all five Nationals

he faced.

Like Kolarek, Maeda was

a recent addition to the

bullpen, but for a different

reason. Of the 37 regular-

season games Maeda

pitched, he started in 26 of

them.

This marks the third

consecutive postseason in

which Maeda was moved

into the bullpen for the

playoffs.

“I was more or less able

to predict when I would

come into the game and I

was able to prepare proper-

ly,” he said.

With the Dodgers ex-

tending their lead to 6-0, the

honors of pitching the ninth

inning went to Joe Kelly,

who might as well be a mid-

season addition. He cer-

tainly doesn’t look like the

pitcher who was booed off

the field at Dodger Stadium

in April.

Kelly gave up a leadoff

double to Trea Turner but

never allowed him to score.

Adam Eaton grounded out.

Anthony Rendon and Soto

struck out.

A World Series champion

No bull, ’pen advantage: Dodgers

DYLAN HERNANDEZ

DODGERS RELIEF PITCHERJoe Kelly exults after getting the last out of the 6-0 win over the Washington

Nationals at Dodger Stadium. Kelly struck out the final two batters after giving up a leadoff double.

Robert GauthierLos Angeles Times

Considering the number of night terrors for which the Dodgers’

bullpen was responsible this season, what are the chances they now

represent their team’s single-greatest advantage in this series?

Dodgers pitchers didn’t
blink, the Nationals pitchers
couldn’t see straight.
The Dodgers were gifted
two runs in the first six
innings on a bases-loaded
walk and a booted grounder,
while the Nationals spent
that time hacking and hop-
ing at one-hit-wonder
Walker Buehler.
The Dodgers’ bullpen
then calmly took over while
the Nationals bullpen and
its 5.63 ERA — the worst
bullpen ERA of any playoff
team ever — threw up its
hands and surrendered four
runs late to finalize the
margin.
In all, the Dodgers al-
lowed two hits and worked
several smart plate appear-
ance while the Nationals
gave up seven walks and
committed two errors and it
looked even worse than all
that.
When it ended, the losers
trudged from their dugout
to the strains of “I Love
L.A.” while the Dodgers
engaged in a handshake line
that included hearty hand
slaps from controlling
owner Mark Walter, and
when have we seen that
before?
Afterward, Nationals
manager Dave Martinez
raised his eyebrows and
shook his head. He looked
like he had just walked out
of a horror movie.
“They’re good, they’re
really good,” he said of the
Dodgers. “That’s why
they’ve been in the postsea-
son so many years in a row.’’
He sighed, adding “We
didn’t play very well today.”
Meanwhile, Dodgers

manager Dave Roberts

showed up with a grin that

stretched to the Elysian

Hills. He was asked if, on

this night, experience

counted. He couldn’t an-

swer fast enough.

“It counted a lot,” he

said.

The Dodgers make it

count. This is what they do

in the first weeks of this

month. This is a big reason

they have advanced to con-

secutive World Series. They

overwhelm their younger

opponents with their savvy.

They spin them with their

seen-it-all pitching. They

knock them out with their

been-there-done-that

power.

They did it against the

Atlanta Braves in the divi-

sion series last year. They

did it against the Arizona

Diamondbacks two years

ago. In fact, the score Thurs-

day was the exact same

score as last season’s playoff

opener against the fledgling

Braves, a 6-0 win that drove

playoff-new Mike

Foltynewicz out of the game

in two innings.

Look at Buehler, who has

pitched in a Game 7 and a

Game 163 and now, another

big win.

“He loves this, he thrives

on these situations, you can

see it again tonight,” said

Justin Turner.

There was so much Dod-

gers experience to see.

There was Muncy, who had

a couple of hits, three RBIs,

the hero of last year’s 18-

inning World Series win,

nothing bothers him. There

was Joc Pederson, coming

off the bench and knocking

one off the right-field foul

pole for his seventh career

postseason home run.

Now look at the Nation-

als, a franchise that has

never won a playoff series,

and played like it.

Look at Anthony Ren-

don, their MVP candidate

who had previously played

in 15 playoff games in his

career. Most of the Dodgers

played in that many playoff

games last year alone. Ren-

don went hitless with two

strikeouts.

Look at Juan Soto, their

relentless 20-year-old star

who was the hero of Tues-

day’s wild-card win over the

Milwaukee Brewers. He was

playing in his first playoff

series, and he managed one

single and left three guys on

base.

But more than anything,

look at Corbin in that first

inning, when the Dodgers

worked him not only for four

walks and a run on a bases-

loaded walk to Muncy, but

also worked him for 31

pitches that led to an earlier

entry for that awful bullpen.

“That first inning was

the game,’’ Roberts said.

“That first inning, to get [31]

pitches... was big for our

guys...that really set the

tone.”

After A.J. Pollock led off

the game with a walk, David

Freese and Turner both

struck out, but the Dodgers

were unfazed.

Cody Bellinger drew a

walk on four pitches. Chris

Taylor drew a walk after

being down two strikes.

Muncy drew the scoring

walk on five pitches.

“I thought we took fairly

good at-bats, got the pitch

count up, worked him,”

Turner said. “The game

plan all along is to get into

the other team’s bullpen,

and once we did, we took

advantage.’’

Meanwhile, Buehler was

occasionally wild, even

walking three batters in the

fourth, but the Nationals

couldn’t calm down enough

to make him pay.

“We chased a lot of bad

pitches ... that’s uncharac-

teristic of our team,” Mar-

tinez said.

Then, even their experi-

enced players acted like

rookies, with former Dodger

Howie Kendrick booting a

Muncy grounder in the fifth

inning that allowed Bell-

inger to score the game’s

second run. Kendrick, by

the way, has been involved

in one winning playoff series

in the last 10 years.

“Sometimes that hap-

pens...that’s gonna happen

in this game,” Kendrick

said. “Unfortunately, it’s in

the postseason.”

And now, for Game 2

Friday, the Nationals are

going with Stephen Stras-

burg on two days’ rest after

his 34-pitch bullpen per-

formance Tuesday while the

Dodgers will counter with

their future Hall of Famer

named Clayton Kershaw.

This best-of-five series

could essentially be finished

by Saturday morning.

THE DODGERS’Chris Taylor is tagged out at the plate by Nationals catcher Yan Gomes. Taylor was trying to

score from first on an error committed by Howie Kendrick in the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium.

Wally SkalijLos Angeles Times

Nationals may not

be ready for this

[Plaschke, from D1]

A return to form?

The Dodgers’ Joe Kelly,

who struggled during the

regular season, was sharp

in his Game 1 outing

against Washington on

Thursday. Last season

with Boston, Kelly was also

more successful in the

postseason than he had

been during the regular

season. His numbers:

Season ERA WHIP

2018 regular 4.39 1.36

2018 post. 0.79 0.71

2019 regular 4.56 1.38

with the Boston Red Sox

last year, Kelly is only one of

three pitchers to be part of

the Dodgers bullpen for the

entire season. The others:

Jansen and Pedro Baez.

Dustin May is a rookie

who was initially called up

from the minor leagues as a

starter. Julio Urias and Ross

Stripling were also mem-

bers of the rotation at some

point. Urias’ role has

changed in the last month.

The promising left-hander

stopped making multi-

inning appearances, but

started pitching in more

games.

Compare that to Mar-

tinez’s options.

Rainey, who had an ERA

of nearly four in the regular

season, started the bottom

of the seventh inning. He

issued a one-out walk to Joc

Pederson, which was fol-

lowed by a Justin Turner

single that advanced Peder-

son to third base.

In came 42-year-old

Rodney, who blew open the

game. Rodney struck out

Cody Bellinger, but walked

Chris Taylor to load the

bases and served up a two-

run single by Max Muncy

that increased the Dodgers’

advantage to 4-0.

Strickland didn’t per-

form any better in the

eighth inning, playing the

part of a human launching

pad that gave up home runs

to Gavin Lux and Pederson.

In the wake of the domi-

nant performance by the

Dodgers’ bullpen, Maeda

revealed he was nervous

when entering the game,

even under favorable condi-

tions.

“If I could, I would like to

win the World Series with-

out pitching,” he said in jest.

“I think everyone feels like

that. Nothing would be

easier than to have the

starting pitcher throw a

complete game every time.”

The Nationals probably

have similar thoughts, only

they aren’t joking.