His name is the rock. Today the rock shaked in Mexico. It always shakes on this day. All central Americans celebrate independence from the Catholic empire and freedom from the Spanish inquisition by screaming viva! Then 3 days later the rock shakes.
The easiest way for me to measure this is by reflecting on my immediate thoughts when I know he's about to come in and close a game. Whether it's right or not, my first thought is that it's very possible he blows the save. Feels like that has to be a 1. Simply don't trust him whatsoever in high leverage, high pressure games.
A month ago I would've said negative ten. Nine consecutive hitless innings got him up to about five. Giving up a 3-run HR to a crappy hitter lands him at four... and that's a generous four. I want to see another scoreless streak before rating my confidence over five.
trust him more with a big lead and/or in the 8th inning or earlier — 6 in the 9th and/or in a tight game — 2 overall — 4
Good comparison and all legit questions. You can poll MLB fans and I think you'll get little argument that the Dodgers won the regular season over all other teams. But that don't mean shit once the playoffs begin, other than that first round bye. Bats go cold, pitchers have bad outings. While Trea is a pretty consistent hitter, we've seen Mookie be very streaky. Hoping this October finds him on one of his tears, although that can't be counted on. I wish we were getting better years from the bats at the back end of the lineup. Bellinger had a big double yesterday, but I have no confidence in him at the plate. Taylor too. Lux has been ice cold since his return. Gallo? I mean we can always hope he runs into one, but my point is that if 1-5 is having an off game, we can't rely on 6-9 to cover. At least that's how it feels to me. Maybe over the next twelve games, a couple more hitters will find their groove as JT seemingly has. One can hope. And yes, I'm very worried about the pen without Trienen.
Gallen put on a show. Great stuff. Almost spotless command. Fast forward to the 9th. Belli vs. The Belly. Belli golfs one (obviously ball four) off the RF wall. The Belly never recovers. After Muncy took strike two (fastball down the middle), I thought he was fucked. Muncy showed the value of putting the ball in play with his dribbler to third to tie the game. No shame in giving up a bomb to Walker. But Kimbrel track record says otherwise. If a postseason roster spot was determined by performance Kimbrel would be sitting at home with us watching the games on television. Bullpen injuries are the only way he finds his way on the postseason roster.
Has Dave finally seen the light? @MMoreno1015 Dave Roberts on Craig Kimbrel: “I think the stuff is starting to slide a little bit. … I’ve got to continue to look at this. We’ve got to have our best guys at the backend.” More from Dave Roberts on Craig Kimbrel: "This is a point in time where certainly performance matters. We need our best. ... Obviously the ninth inning is unlike any other inning. But I do think that having other guys that have finished games for us is a good thing."
