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NLCS Game 3 Dodgers stick to the plan again make Cardinals o
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As strange as it sounds, maybe the focus on the first two games of the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers was too bottom-line oriented.
Because, by looking solely at the bottom line, it was easy to say the Cardinals dominated the Dodgers. They left the Gateway to the West with a commanding 2-0 series lead, and they knocked off LAs two best starters in moving two wins away from their fourth trip to the World Series in the past 10 years.
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Maybe we mi sed the truth of what really happened in St. Louis. Yes, the Cardinals pitching and defense were exceptional and yes, the Dodgers squandered opportunities with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke starting and yes, the St. Louis hitters came up with a few huge hits.
But this stat was easy to glo s over because of that shiny bottom linethe Cardinals hit just .134 with a .397 OPS Bobby Wagner Jersey as a team in those two games. By way of comparison, National League pitchers hit .135 with a .341 OPS during the 2013 regular season. So, the LA pitchers e sentially reduced the Cardinals hitters to pitchers at the plate, and somehow St. Louis still managed to win both games.
When play resumed Monday evening at Dodger Stadium, the struggles of the Cardinals offense was the trend that carried over from the first two gamesnot good St. Louis defense, not squandered LA opportunities and not well-timed Redbirds hits.
The Cardinals again failed to do much against Dodgers pitching. They had four hits in Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey 30 at-bats in a 3-0 lo Nazair Jones Jersey s. Their series average dropped to a whopping .124. Thats right, their team average fell another 10 points from that suddenly lofty-looking .134.
There are a couple of parts to pitching succe s. First, obviously, the pitcher has to have talent. It was easy to chalk up Greinke and Kershaws succe s in St. Louis to their overwhelming talent. Its a tantalizing talking point.
But there also has to be a plan in place to have succe s in October.
Apparently, the Dodgers have a pretty good game plan for attacking Cardinals hitters. On Monday, Hyun-Jin Ryu blanked St. Louis for seven innings. Ryu obviously has plenty of talent, toohe had a 3.24 FIP in 30 starts this seasonbut his D.K. Metcalf Jersey first playoff start, in the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, avoided being a debacle only because the Dodgers scored a ton of runs behind him.
Armed with a great game plan, better location and more confidence, he looked like a completely different pitcher against St. Louis.
We came up on the short end of both of those (first two) games, and they've got the momentum, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told reporters before Game 3. There is no question about that right now, but that all changes tonight. If Hyun-Jin can go out and pitch the kind of game he's capable of and we can put some runs on the board, we have Duane Brown Jersey a chance to grab that back tonight.
Thats exactly what happened. They still trail in the series, two games to one, but thats a much better situation than potentially being down 3-0.
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