Editorials

Dodgers Have Mixed Perceptions Of Cardinals Following Elimination

[new_royalslider id=”338″] For a second straight year, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ postseason came to an end in Busch Stadium. Whereas last season the Dodgers fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS, they were eliminated this year in Game 4 of the NLDS.

The Cardinals twice beat Clayton Kershaw in the series and exposed the Dodgers’ greatness weakness — lack of a trusted bullpen. Matt Kemp gave the Cardinals credit for coming up with timely hits and called the NL Central champions the better team.



However, Kenley Jansen’s view of the Cardinals isn’t as praiseworthy, via ESPN LA’s Mark Saxon:

There should be no reason that that team is better than us. I don’t think they’re better than us, but they were clutch all the time. That’s what got us, especially in a five-game series. Things happened in the game, they just got clutch again. They beat us.”

Andre Ethier, who started Game 4 in place of Yasiel Puig, said the Dodgers need to learn from being eliminated by the Cardinals, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick:

More than anything, it’s not just not going far in the playoffs, it’s just getting past a certain team. It’s a recurring theme. We have to figure out how to do that. We know we have a team good enough to keep going and playing. But we have to have an answer to what these guys taught us, and we haven’t been able to do that two years in a row.”

Like Kemp, J.P. Howell referred to the Cardinals as the superior team and added the Dodgers needed to improve in the off-season:

That team is better than us right now. They’re moving forward for a reason. We’ve got some things to work on that we have to redo during the offseason.”

Brian Wilson reportedly will exercise his player option for 2015, but what his role will be is largely up in the air. Justin Turner, who contributed significantly off the bench, is eligible for arbitration and could be a key re-signing for the Dodgers.

Aside from that, the Dodgers will need to address their bullpen that was good enough for the regular season, but couldn’t be trusted under brighter lights.

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

5 Comments

  1. Andre, you DIVE back to the base and you are safe! The game could have been different. Thanks for having a great attitude during a tough year though Big Man. J.P., being in the bright lights does not mean that you have to come up with stupid routines to showboat on T.V! If you were focused, you would not have been shelled every time you entered a game…for the last two years. During the season, you were focused and pretty awesome. Gordon, great year, but you can’t lose your focus once the playoffs start. If Gordon steals second with two out, he scores on Crawford’s hit and then who knows. St. Louis won the series in a very important area…the MENTAL side. They got in the Dodger’s head and it affected their play. Hopefully, everyone learned the lesson and next year, we take it all. Thanks for a great year guys!

  2. I read about what some dodger players said towards the big loss…against a not a better team but against a team that new how to utilize their talents;thas what our dodgers need it to do, to stay focus, and everytime they are at bat to not try so hard;they want to hit homeruns!!!! hello what happen to BASICS! really! uribe,crawford,puig,gonzalez,ietheir,what happen to make easy CONTACT as a SINGLE? my 11 yr old can do better!!! NEDD TO GET RID OF BAD APPLES…
    MISTAKE AFTER MISTAKE,SWINGING AT LOW PITCHES…BAD HABITS!!!!

  3. Fact check – JT is not a free agent. He is arbitration eligible and will be back next year unless whoever the GM is is much more stupid than Colletti.

  4. This team is getting stale. Basically the same starters the last 2 years. Fell short both years. We need at least 3 new starters, maybe 4 and I don’t mean pitchers. Puig causes a lot of turmoil, he has to settle down. If he can’t………. trade him ! Not counting pitchers, the only untouchables are Dee Gordon, Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzales !

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