Jim French Stepstool

I wouldn't dismiss Hall. He, Ashby, Myers, Gasser and Patrick are all guys who I assume would like to start, although IMO Ashby should stay in the BP. Patrick looked great as a 1-2 inning guy so maybe he should as well. Sort out the others for the final 2 spots (3 if Peralta is dealt). It's hard for me to decipher what they're thinking re Woodruff. I know the health gods haven't been good to him but I'd like to see some sort of mutual 'prove it' deal. He was surprisingly good for several starts & I absolutely love his attitude. Just to try to sound insightful, for a mid-season surprise (if needed) I'll go with Coleman Crow.

What a great point.👍

Apologies for not reading the entire article (yet, anyway) but to answer the question, I'd say yes. Lesson learned, hopefully.

The underlined. That's not us, not if we want to sustain.

Let's keep one thing in mind. There were four teams still playing out of 30, and the Milwaukee Brewers were one of them. Then consider the preseason expectations. Bad time to go into a teamwide offensive funk, obviously. Four games, four very good to outstanding starts from LA's hurlers. I thought Ohtani did a terrific job of keeping us off balance btwn the FB & breaking stuff. But was he one-hit-in-six-innings good? No. Outside of a few good ABs from Bauers this was a pretty ugly performance from some LHHs who are capable of more. I wonder if the long ball power shown vs Chicago got us out of our mindset a bit. I'm sure there will be a lot of "WE NEED TO ADD A BAT!!! TWO BATS!!! THREE BATS!!! talk in the days to come. I imagine there probably is some of that in this very thread. And if something creative can be engineered to improve the lineup, great. But to me this is always going to be, more than everything else, about Needed improvement/consistency from the people like Turang, Frelick, Collins, Durbin, and yes, even a Perkins or an Ortiz assuming they have a role in 2026. And I'll be really interested in seeing how Yelich comes out next year after what has been a productive yet maddingly inconsistent season. Veteran leaders CAN NOT run that hot & cold. We're lucky to have Chourio. And the kind of stick-your-nose-in-there-and-compete type of series we expected from someone like Frelick, we pretty much got from Durbin. Well done. Outside of maybe 3/4 bad innings, I thought the staff did an acceptable to outstanding job all series vs an incredibly tough lineup. This board is a great place. Looking forward to the hot stove talk.

CC said the same thing with his "We're going to Los Angeles" remark. A verbal shot of confidence is far from a guarantee of success, but I don't blame him for trying.

Yes. In Pittsburgh. Well over 100 pitches too. Surprised me at the time.

AFA organizational success going forward, his performance in the post-season might be a case of losing the battle but winning the war. Locating the secondary pitches, getting ahead, dialing back to 100 but still having 102-103 in the tank----yeah, you gotta be excited.

I thought that if you use an opener, Ashby is a better choice than Koenig b/c I'd much rather have Koenig facing their LHHs late.

Good points. But it's Major League Baseball, so the economics........maybe aren't to blame, but are & always will be a huge factor. Our hitters are capable of much more than what they showed this series, for sure. But when you struggle due largely to Snell being on point & Yamamoto being almost as good, then you get to face Glasnow in game three? Ouch. Very tall mountain, esp if you have a chance in game 1 & can't quite make it happen.

Really, one of the characteristics of this team moving forward should be to find ways to somehow contribute when not picking up the ball---you work walks, you stay on the ball & try to contribute the so-called productive out when you can, you always keep the idea of the bunt in your hip pocket. See as many pitches as possible. What's always bothered me about Yelich is that when he goes bad he seldom if ever does any of those things. It's just 2 or 3 or 4 weeks of chasing balls off the plate, and swinging through strikes. I've said it before. He can be hot & cold like a lot of guys, but his cold is exceptionally bad.

The bottom of the 1st was very weird. Ashby worked Ohtani really, really well. Then after making him look very ordinary he throws something offspeed, and everything---Ohtanis' hips, butt, legs---everything is way out in front. But to Ohtanis' credit he kept the bat back, got the barrel on it, and put it in a perfect spot. Really didn't deserve for it to be three bases. But then the 1st pitch double, then he fell behind the next two hitters. Not saying Ashby was good, but his best work of the entire inning wound up being the AB that hurt him the most. When you're scoring three runs in three games I guess it makes little difference. Looked like they could--and wanted to--run on Glasnow. Good strategy. Too bad you can't steal first.

I think part of it is Ashby has been nothing if not durable. They believe he can handle the workload. So far he has. The other part is if you get into a tight spot, maybe protecting a late lead, they trust Koenig a little more to come in & throw strikes. Walking Ohtani to open the game might not cost you. Coming in leading by a run w/runners at 1st & 2nd and one out & say, Freeman at the plate is different. You know damn well in that situation, any pitch on the edges Freeman decides not to swing at is going to be called a ball unless the count is 3-0.

It's far from just Yelich. But yeah, in a big series like this he's one of the people you hope/expect to step up & in this series he's not done so, and in a very uninspiring way. It's a bad time for him to settle into one of his chasing & rollover ground ball stretches. I wonder if the passel of HRs hit in the previous series has affected the team negatively AFA discipline is concerned. Yeah, we jumped on Boyd early in game one & had success, but people forget that in the very same opening inning we reverted, had some lengthy ABs & that helped turn a 2-3 run inning into 6. It's not even in having to take a ton of pitches, although that's what you want to see if strikes aren't being thrown. Snell & Yamamoto were consistently getting ahead, but I didn't see too much of the so-called 'humble approach' where you commit to going oppo. In game five vs Chicago, three solo shots but nothing else, and very few baserunners. As challenging as it is, we need to try to start 'moving the line' again, maybe create some havoc on the bases. If a Chourio or a Vaughn or a Contreras leans into one it has to occur w/a runner or two on. Gotta figure out some way to get into their pen.

Alliegro?

I think Quintana & Miz are the best options the next two days AFA bulk innings are concerned, and I don't like the idea of being swept without giving them the ball. So for me Q tomorrow for as long as he can keep us in the game, and Miz on Friday (after a probable opener). My only deviation would be if Quintana has to be removed after somethng like 2 innings, then you might roll with Miz & game four becomes a fire drill.

I prefer a few minutes later: "You see?? You cut him!!!!! He's NOT a machine!!!! He's a MAN!!!

It won't seem to upload for me (new computer), but if anyone can insert this short from youtube It would fit. ---We need speed, Rocky 2--- Plus if you squint, Stallone looks a little bit like Quinn Priester.

Moreso than in game one, yeah I'd agree with that.

When I advocated for him, it was as a depth piece for the latter stages of the '25 season, for the reasons @ReverendBrewmeisteralluded to. I never thought about him for '26 & beyond, so I agree with you there.

I was one of the posters who brought up IKF this summer. You pretty much nailed the reasons why. Except I was thinking rental, not long term.

Glasnow can be tough, but if he goes more than six it'll be real disappointing. Hell, if he goes 7 or more & LA wins, maybe they'll only WANT Ohtani to go 4-5 innings. They'll be up 3-0 & the pen might need work.

Not just the guys you mentioned, either. Not barreling many balls, hitting a few "at 'em" balls, not getting hits on a blooper or a swinging bunt---that stuff happens. But it's a killer when you compound it like we have. The lengthy ABs & the walks drawn has been a huge part of the teams' success this year. Without looking it up it seems like the walks have dried up considerably since the 14 game streak. Great point about the chasing, too. Lots of 1-1 counts lately that should become 2-1 but are 1-2 due to over-aggressiveness. When you compare it to some of the ABs you saw from LA last night it was glaring. The # of quality pitches Dodger hitters have taken this series---not strikes, but still quality pitches---it's frustrating but still so impressive. Both the Muncy & Hernandez HRs were fully earned--not so much by the swing that put the ball over the wall, but how the AB was constructed before the final swing.

Yes, from Durbin & frankly other guys, too. Durbin, Collins, Frelick epitomized that but haven't been able to replicate it in quite some time. Even with all his struggles, Ortiz seemed to foul off more pitches & go deeper into counts than he is now. I thought Turang showed elements of that this summer, then started hitting HRs & now almost looks like someone that HAS to hit the long ball to be effective. I think the next stage for him is to at least partially get back to discipline & contact & when the HRs come, they come but don't make that your signature. Contreras has been mostly consistent all year afa AB quality is concerned. And with everything else a catcher has on his plate, too. Team MVP.

With all the woodpecker this, woodpecker that stuff re our offensive makeup, they really out-woodpeckered us tonight. As talented a lineup as they have, the quality of the ABs LA puts up---from the neck up----was just really impressive. All game, it felt like the only guy you might get a chase from was Ohtani. I don't know how often we chased but even if it was a somewhat respectable number it pales in comparison when the other team is at not much more than zero. Muncy going from 0-2 to 3-2 in the HR AB exemplified it, but there were many other examples. Hernandez gets to 3-0 by taking three breaking balls, all over the plate but low, and not by much. He takes all three. Then, goes yard. Pretty incredible. Did not expect Yamamoto to be that much on point, but he was great. Everyone loves the aggressive "attack early" mindset, but this is the flip side if it doesn't result in baserunners--the one possible achilles heel of LA is the pen, and we never saw it. That said, it looked like there was no way we were driving up his pitch count unless we happened to foul off about 45 more pitches. Kind of amazing to see a team go through nine innings w/so few balls being barreled up. If I'm Mark Pryor the only thing I'd rail on him about is why he would ever throw anything reachable to Yelich because right now you don't need to do that to get him out. Not much else to say. They're playing their best ball at the right time, Muncy & Smith are back, and when you get starts like this you obviously don't need to overstress your pen.,