Dodgers: Mechanical Issues in Max Scherzer’s Delivery Reportedly Resolved
Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Dodgers in game 3 of the NLDS against San Francisco tonight at Dodger Stadium, his second start of the postseason. After dominating in his first nine starts for the Dodgers, Scherzer’s last three starts — postseason included — have been inconsistent.
Thankfully, manager Dave Roberts said on Sunday that the coaching staff identified a few mechanical issues that have led to Scherzer’s inconsistent performances.
“We had pitching and player performance guys digging into the body and the delivery. I did hear that he [Scherzer] figured something things out. The confidence that he has, the delivery, and making pitches – I feel good about it.”
Scherzer allowed just five earned runs in his initial nine starts with the Dodgers. Since then, he’s yielded 11 earned runs in three games.
Despite his recent struggles, Roberts is confident that Scherzer will deliver a strong performance on Monday.
“We made this acquisition for him to be an ace. A stopper. When he takes the baseball, you expect to win.”
Scherzer Not Blaming Coors Field
Some are pointing to Scherzer’s disastrous Colorado start (5 ER in 5.0 IP) in late September as the cause for the downturn. He needed 91 pitches to get through five innings. Scherzer rebuffed the notion in Sunday’s press conference.
“Too many little things can go wrong to just blame it on pitching in Colorado.”
“It’s About Grinding Through It”
Scherzer believes addressing mechanical deficiencies is part of the ebb and flow of being a major league pitcher.
“There’s times where you get a little out of sync and that happens. It’s about grinding through it, figuring out what it is, grab on to something and find something that works for you and get back. Get your mechanics all locked back in and find the rhythm. Once you can find that rhythm, then everything flows.”
Bottom line, Scherzer is doing everything possible to ensure he’s locked in on Monday.
Dodgers NLDS: Albert Pujols Will Get the Start in Game 3
Game 3 should be a laugher. Dodgers with the best home record in baseball sending a 3 time (possibly 4) Cy Young Winner vs a former Dodger pitcher (they know like the back of their hand)? I don’t envy the Giants task at hand. With that being said, yes it’s only one game and anything can happen. But I like the Dodgers’ chances here. So does the betting public. Dodgers a 2-1 favorite 😉
Should be a fun one to watch. Let’s go Dodgers!
Nice take. Hope LA gets clocked.
Wood will be starting for the Giants. He’s only pitched in 3 games and 13 innings for all of September. The Dodgers will have to make him work and not chase balls out of the zone as they did in game 1. If they can get Wood out of the game early and get into that Giant bull pen, they’ll be seeing more fastballs and our guys hit those pretty good (except for Bellinger who’s been late on those all season). If our club takes game three, the Giants will, for the first time this season, could start to feel the pressure and that’s a good thing.
Scherzer even on a bad day is still pitching as well as anyone the Vagiants have seen in 3 weeks. The beauty of this game is the dodgers avoided pitching Scherzer against the vagiants in the regular season. They haven’t seen him much if at all and Max can capitalize on that. He HAS to find the plate immediately and the HP umpire will be crucial regarding that. Wood kept hitting Dodger hitters that last game at Dodger stadium claiming he was just wild, but I say B.S., he hit muncy , turner etc. claiming they were friends etc. Dodgers should wear some extra protection on the hands and fore arms , and take the walks…
Kirk, ya that really was punk by Wood to throw at two guys. Scherzer should stick one in Wood’s ear as payback!
The problem with that is the ump might think it’s a retaliation and either issue a warning or at worst eject Scherzer and Roberts because IMHO the the league and the umps are biased against Dodgers. But you’re correct, that Wood better not hit any one and if he does , somehow Roberts needs to stick up for the team and get in that pathetic umpires face about it. The smart thing for the umps to is issue warnings to both benches before the game starts.
Yeah Paul, DRRRRRR needs to finally stick up for his players the OLD Fashioned Baseball way and Plunk Posey ‘Especially” because Posey is so Slow and would jam up the bases. I don’t know why the Dodgers don’t plunk him a lot. Posey has killed the Dodgers and is more of a threat than anyone in that line up. These are the times we really miss Lasorda……
That’s what I’m talking about Dfan4, Wood is a punk and the Dodgers need to show him why they didn’t pay him to stay….I’m Hoping DRRR’s made his statement and all about wood being friends etc. to make sure if this is true, Wood plays a fair game, or more fair than his last one against his ” FRIENDS”
Kirk, we agree on certain things and disagree on others. But that is part of the fun of a debate. I appreciate your perspective, but at the same time, I will point out items where I think you are mistaken. In the end it’s all good because we have the same goal, namely a Dodger win!
Let’s go Dodgers! Beat those Giants!
Roberts considers Game 3 a must win – NO KIDDING!
So is game 4 – guess why?
Jim, duh! Who wants to go back to Oracle and face Webb again??