Dodgers: Walker Buehler Shoulders the Blame in the Game 1 Loss
The Dodgers did not come out with the same fire and fury that fueled them to wins down the stretch in September. On a cold Friday night in San Francisco, the Los Angeles bats went quiet and they lost game 1 of the Division Series.
Logan Webb shut down the Dodgers for 7.2 innings and allowed just 5 hits. He struck out 10 batters and did not issue a single walk. Meanwhile, the Giants came out swinging and got the early lead off of Walker Buehler.
After the game, Buehler talked about the offense staling out and his role in that. The Dodgers hurler took all of the blame for giving up the lead early and sucking the air out of the dugout right out of the gate.
It’s on me to try and create some momentum. I kind of sucked that out of our dugout. This game is on me
Buehler gave up a 2-run shot to Buster Posey in the very first inning. From that point on, the Dodgers’ offense went completely silent. They got shut out by Webb and struck out a total of 11 times throughout the game.
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To his credit, Buehler settled in and kept the Dodgers in the game. He finished with 3 earned runs and struck out 5 Giants while giving up 6 hits. And while he might try and take the blame for this one, it’s hard to ignore how badly the offense stalled out.
Up next, the Dodgers take on Kevin Gausman in Game 2. He will go up against Julio Urias in a game that could potentially decide the series should Los Angeles fall again.
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Buehler was just trying to be a good teammate. If the Dodgers “elite” offense gets so discouraged by being down 2 runs early that they give up, they don’t belong in the playoffs anyway. I hope last night was just a case of a pitcher who has had the Dodgers number all year, doing it again.
That being said it’s more than a little worrisome because their trend this year has been that when the offense is off, it tends to go away for an extended period of time.
Tim, no argument. Offense was terrible. Chasing bad pitches. I do believe much of the credit needs to go to Webb. Giants haven’t lost a Webb start at Oracle this season and according to TBS, his last lose was May 5th? Nobody is hitting this kid. Tip of the cap. Dodger bats better show up game 2 or it’s over.
T. Turner and Pollock and a couple of others swung at bad pitches which would have been called balls all night. They should have forced Webb to come over the plate.
Anyone see Taylor in the outfield last night? I didn’t either.
Robby, if you had read any of my comments Friday, I had Taylor starting in LF over Pollock. Pollock has been the biggest playoff bust in Dodger history! 11 strikeouts in 13 AB’s in 2019. Nothing in 2018 vs the Red Sox. Even next to nothing in the successful 2020 campaign. Taylor will be starting game 2 in CF. Let’s hope the Dodger bats show up game 2 or it’s over.
Saw a post earlier describing just how bad he is in the post season. HISTORICALLY BAD!
As I am sure everyone saw his pathetic swings at pitches that were nowhere near the strike zone and were or at least they appeared to be balls out of the pitchers hand with no chance of being a strike. The guy showed up during the regular season and was one of our most proficient bats during the season, but he needs to get it together soon or should not be anywhere the starting lineup. Also agree with Tim’s comment above about our bats seemingly all going silent at the same time the way they did earlier on our infamous 15 losses out of 20 games. They better turn it around quickly or they will be hitting the golf courses much sooner than expected. As always, GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!
The reason Pollock did nothing against the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series is that he was still being employed by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pollock is a streaky player, the Baseball Encyclopedia is filled with such players. He was bad in 2019 as you noted but he was good in 2020 and his overall numbers this year were good as well. Taylor’s banged up, has been slumping for a long while now and ran into one the other night. He shouldn’t be over used.
Curtis, apologies on the 2018 comments for AJ. My bad. And in reviewing last year’s postseason data, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. With that being said, I don’t really recall any of his hits as being memorable ones. Don’t forget it’s not how many hits you get vs when and where you get them that makes the difference!
And the comments on the Posey AB in the 1st are spot on. How do you throw that pitch to someone like that? Make someone else beat you!
That’s correct. Pollock has been choking severely every post season …Course, the post season pitches are a lot tougher to do with.
Buehler’s fault? Absolutely not. The fact of the matter is our Dodgers’ offense did not show up, and Logan Webb was dealing. Posey’s 1st inning 2 run HR, as amazing as Giants’ veterans’ performances are, should not have been the end of the game.
That Posey at bat was on Buehler. When you throw three straight pitches off the plate outside, you don’t come back with yet another outside pitch, especially over the plate like that. Either just put him on, or buzz Posey inside to give him a different look. That pitch was terrible, and I called it before Posey swung at it.
Although that Posey-at-bat was on Buehler, the resulting 2 run homerun should not have been game ending, specifically when it occurs at the bottom of the 1st inning. The Dodgers’ offense did not show up the entire game; and, as a consequence, they did absolutely nothing to support Buehler or themselves.
3 runs in 2 games…Cards would say 2 of those were gifts, too. They need to hand out some brains .Been swinging at junk out of the zone. If they don’t stop that, this is gunna be a 3 game series.
Buehler screwed up on his 3-0 fastball to Posey for sure. with 2 outs, a runner in scoring position, no harm putting Posey on first, since he didn’t go fishing on the first 3 pitches. Baseball a game of inches. JT hiuts a comebacker – hard – and Webb manages to kick it, and JT thrown out at first to end the inning, when Betts would have scored. Dodgers scoring first in the top of the first is always a good thing. Crawford and Stella told Webb they had no chance on JT’s smash up the middle. Little things like that make baseball great. Dodger hitters – stop chasing bad pitches. The loss brought them back to earth – they’ll do much better tonight with Julio on the hill
I watched Webb throw Bellinger four obvious balls and Bellinger swung at three of them. It’s not Buehler’s fault.