Blame Him, and Him

If Dodgers’ fans want to know who to blame for their team losing the World Series in seven games to the Astros, look no further than manager Dave Roberts, with an assist from one of my least favorite Hall of Famers, Tony LaRussa.

For all intents and purposes, Roberts lost the Series in game two, when he pulled starter Rich Hill after four innings of one-run ball.  From that moment on, Roberts turned each game into 27-out matchup contest.  There was no way his bullpen could keep up with that idea.  Yes, the bullpen pitched 7-1/3 scoreless innings in game seven, but by then it was too late.  The game LA relievers needed to win was #5, when Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen plain ran out of gas.

Oh, both Morrow and Jansen were good last night, after starter Yu Darvish gave up five runs in 1-2/3 innings.  And can somebody tell me why Darvish, who was knocked around in game three, got anothr start?  I mean, over the last two seasons as a Texas Ranger Darvish faced the Astros five times.  They know him, they like him.  You’d think that reliever-happy Roberts would have yanked his starter after one run or two, or 1/3 of an inning.  Between them, Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood threw six shutout innings, on short rest no less.  Neither of them could have started?  Houston should give serious thought to awarding Roberts a winner’s share of the money.

They might also throw some cash LaRussa’s way.  After all, he’s the manager who started this whole “yank the starter and go to the ’pen for your matchups” thing.  Lucky for me and the pizza I won, Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch played that game a little less, and a little better.