Editorials

NLDS Game 5 Recap: Daniel Murphy’s Big Night Eliminates Dodgers

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With a win Tuesday night at Citi Field, the Los Angeles Dodgers forced a winner-take-all Game 5 against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. Both Zack Greinke and Jacob deGrom made their second start of the series, with each looking to improve to 2-0 and help their team reach the National League Championship Series.



Curtis Granderson opened the game with a slow roller that got by a diving Greinke and resulted in an infield single. Though, that wasn’t without the Mets needing to challenge the initial out call at first base. Following a David Wright strikeout, Daniel Murphy hit an RBI triple to left-center field, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Greinke proceeded to strikeout the side as he got Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda swinging. Limiting the damage paid off for Greinke as deGrom found himself in trouble in the bottom of the first. Corey Seager slapped a one-out base hit to left, went first to third on Adrian Gonzalez’s single to right field.

Justin Turner’s RBI single to right tied the game, and Andre Ethier’s blooper into shallow left field gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Greinke protected the lead in the second, bookending the inning with strikeouts. The middle out was recorded courtesy of an Ethier diving catch on the warning track in right field.

Joc Pederson drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second and was moved into scoring position on Greinke’s sacrifice bunt. deGrom’s defense then let him down as Wilmer Flores’ throw pulled Duda off the bag, allowing Howie Kendrick to reach on the one-out error. It didn’t amount to anything however, as deGrom struck out Seager and Gonzalez to end the inning.

CONTINUE READING: Lackadaisical Mistake Costs Dodgers

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9 Comments

  1. Highest payroll in the league….and we still can’t win crap…so frustrating every single season.

  2. Murphy’s big night… really? One home run. Really? How about you talk about something that matters… like Mattingly’s inability to lead the dodgers past the first round in the playoffs for the FOURTH YEAR STRAIGHT! 3 times with the Cy Young winner on staff!

    1. Daniel Murphy also had the RBI double in the first inning, went first to third on a walk, then scored the tying run.

  3. We need a power hitter behind AGon.Somebody like Paul Goldschmidt who delivers homers and rbi’s consistantly.It takes more than two great starting pitchers.

    1. What was Justin Turner doing? He broke the record for most doubles. He hit “lights out”. Did you watch the series?

      AGon’s been injured. The home run is all the Dodgers rely on, and because everyone was swinging for the fences no one connected to make contact. The Dodgers left men on base all season long because of that philosophy. Boring, old, unproductive base all, and it doesn’t put any pressure on the defense.

  4. Can you imagine if we had a manager like Joe Maddon? I’m sorry Don Mattingly has never won a World Series ring, but he needs to go. Our chances of re-signing Greinke may increase if we can bring in a creative, experienced baseball intellectual to lead the team. And why is Mark McGwire our hitting coach? If we had a real hitting coach, he’d have straightened out Joc Pederson by now. So frustrating… So depressing.

  5. Can I imagine having Joe Madden as Dodger manager? I most certainly did at the end of last season, but……

    There was a very good window of opportunity when the Dodgers hired Friedman to release Mattingly and his horrible hitting coach Mcguire and bring Maddon in as LA’s new Manager. I also imagine having Dee Gordon playing 2nd. base. No one is talking about it, but I will…if Dee Gordon was a Dodger, and with the numbers he produced and the fact that the Dodgers won their division, I’m positive he would have won the MVP of the National League. Most likely we would have won 10 to 15 more games too.

    This isn’t about Mattingly. After all the pitching staff he had to work with was abominable. He did alright. If I had to point the finger at Don it would be the lack of his staff to coach the little things like fundamentals. To put pressure on the opposing pitcher and their defense.

    I’ve only seen a handful of games this season because of the greed laden blackout but last night Mattingly actually managed a really good game. There was stealing, and bunting with very aggressive base running. Those are things you don’t often see here in La La Land. It was the lack of baseball fundamentals that cost them the game. It was Mcguire’s “swing for the fences ” mentality that has prevailed since his hiring. Sometimes you just have to make contact, step out of the box, rattle the pitcher and catcher, throw off their rythym. That is totally missing from this team. At least Peterson did do exactly that all 3 times he batted last night

    This whole season lies on one person, who in my opinion did a horrible, horrible job. I can’t say I’ve liked one move he’s made, well one, Kemp for Grandal. Otherwise Dodger’s president Andrew Friedman is a total bust!

    Not hiring Madden, trading Gordon, not resigning Greinke during spring training when he had the chance, getting rid of clubhouse cancer Puig, and bringing “less than average” Anderson, Woods & Johnson when this team needed a true number 3 starter is unforgivble.

    As I posted about 10 days ago, the Dodgers weren’t gonna go far in the playoffs this year either because Greinke and Kershaw are only two people and the pitching just isn’t there. Gawd we love our Dodgers but keeping it real it only magnifies just how weak this team is, especially in the playoffs. Dodger ownership pay Friedman to put just enough of a team to “Sell-Out” every night, beyond that the reality is quite different. For the love of Gawd Dodgers please get rid of this money ball system and get us a GM that rewards our stars and doesn’t trade them away for below average pitching.

    I know, trade Puig, and include Mattingly to Miami for Dee Gordon. That’s the 1st off season move to correct all the stupid shit Friedman has accomplished at the helm of my Dodgers. The 2nd move must be to remove the blackout. It’s gone on too long and we’ve had enough. And don’t wait till a week before spring training. It’s bloody ridiculous.

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