Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - National League Championship Series Recap (Part I)

Episode Date: October 20, 2020

D.C. is joined by Jason Hernandez & Taylor Blake Ward to discuss the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. In this first part, the trio recap the first four games of the series, including the the Dodgers setting a postseason record. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As I was set to begin recording this program, I got a phone call from Jason Hernandez, who is a huge Dodgers fan. And one thing led to another, and we decided that he was going to help me recap the National League Championship series. As we were about to start recording, he got a phone call from Taylor Blake Ward. So we decided that the three of us would talk about the National League Championship series on this episode of Lockedown Mariners, and we wound up recording for so long, and we ended so late that I'm breaking the show up into two parts. Here is part one, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg.

Real fact number 744, polar bears can smell a seal from up to 20 miles away. Isn't that interesting? Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, ladies and gentlemen. I am indeed D.C. Lundberg. This is part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, of course, or T-L-O-P-N-Lop-N-L-Lop-N-Lop. Brought to you by Rock Auto. Please remember to download rate and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use.

Ask your smart device to play locked on Mariner's podcast or any program here on Tloppin. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-Nor-R-R-B-E-R-G, and follow me on Twitter at D.C. Und, underscore, Lundberg. That is, of course, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G for those who are scoring at home. Yesterday we gave you a pretty straightforward recap of the American League Division Series, and we're going to give you a recap of the National League Division Series on this program. And I actually have help this time. First of all, the host of Locked-on Anaheim Ducks, Dodgers fan extraordinaire Jason Hernandez.

Jason, how art thou? From 1845 through 1867, home base was circular, made of iron, and painted or enameled white, and 12 inches in diameter. I know where you get your facts, D.C. I've got mine, too. From the lid of Snapple bottles. You bet you. Thank you for joining us here tonight.

Jason, can't wait to hear what you had to say about the NLCS. And I also can't wait to hear what this gentleman has to say about the NLCS. He is the former host, yes, former host of Locked on Angels right here on the Lockedon Podcast Network, but still a friend of the show, Taylor Blake Ward. Taylor, how are you doing tonight? So Pete Alonzo can smell one-hit wonders from the 90s from 20 miles away. Yeah. See, I can play your game.

I'm good with this. I can play the game. You play it better than I do, pal. Thanks for having me on. It's good to be back on the Lockdown Podcast Network. I know Brent's really doing well with Lockdown Angels, but it's good to be back on and have fun with you guys. I miss you.

Absolutely, yeah. Let's have some fun. We are going to talk by the NLL. LCS. And we have no script for this show, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know how it's going to, I don't know how it's going to go. But I guess we better start with game one, shouldn't we? It was a five to one victory for the Braves on October 12th, 2020 in Globular Life Field in Arlington, Texas, the same venue, which will host the World Series, incidentally. Jason, what were your basic thoughts on game one, if you have any? Bueller pitched a good game, I thought. He hung tight for as long as he could, but the bullpen really let the Dodgers down on this one. Gotta give credit to the Braves for sticking in there.

Max Fried, I thought, played an effective game one. Effective pitching throughout that game. But, man, the bullpen really screwed the pooch on that one, didn't they? Yeah. They really did. The Braves scored in the top of the first inning of Freddie Freeman home run. Dodgers then scored in the fifth inning. and that was a Kikei Hernandez home run

and that score would remain until the ninth inning and that's when the bullpen kind of gave it up Taylor. What were you thoughts on this game? I tend to disagree just a little bit. I think the bullpen did fine. I think that Blake Trinon, let alone by himself, had a bad game. And he didn't have a great series. But I think just I wouldn't call it a bad decision from Dave Roberts or anything.

I think it was just Blake Trinan left one over the heart of the police. plate that turned into multiple runs. I don't know if I would say that the bullpen didn't hold it down. Obviously, the results show. But I think it was just a poor outing from Trinan above everything else. And also what it did is really showed the national audience. You keep hearing about how good this Dodgers team is. But you forget how good this Braves offense is and how good the pitching staff is.

My goodness, Max Fried and Ian Anderson and all those guys were fantastic. I think it really established the Braves as one of the best teams in baseball. They did have the third best record of the National League, did they not? I believe so. Yes, they did. It was nice to see a championship series with the best record in a league versus the third best record in a league as opposed to what we had in the junior circuit. But I don't want to talk about that anymore.

Let's move on to game two. Actually, I'll wrap up game one by saying that sometimes you bring in a relief pitcher and he's just not going to get the job done. That's pretty much what happened to Blake Trine in game one. Game two was the next day, October 13th, our announcer, Joey's Martin's birthday, which I've mentioned, I think, now, three times on this program. This was a much higher scoring affair, an eight to seven victory for the Atlanta Braves to take a two game to none lead in the series.

Jason, you're laughing. I wasn't going to start with Taylor on this because you started, because you started the last one. Start with Taylor. Let me start with Taylor. No, no, no, no, no. No, go to Mr. Jokester over there. Okay, smarty pants. Jason, what do you got to say?

This one made me laugh in not a good way. Yeah. I was kind of laughing thinking, oh, God, not again. And I was laughing throughout the game, trying to kid myself, okay, Dodgers can pull through here. They can come back from this. Once they were down seven nothing in the seventh inning, I was kind of laughing in the sense that, oh, God, not again.

Because, well, first off, Kershaw got scratched from this game. He was supposed to start game. start game two, but he got scratched to back stasms. So then he had Tony Gonsland, the rookie come in. He had a good first three innings. He was fine. Right. And then

Freddie Freeman opened the floodgates pretty much. He had that big two-run home run. That was a massive shot too. But then, you know, Pedro Baez came in and he kind of screwed the pooch there a little bit. Not a very good line for Byes. Can I go over the four batters that

Baez faced? must you, but go ahead. Just for people listening out there. First batter was Freddie Freeman, RBI single. Next batter was a walk to load the bases. Travis Darno then drew the bases loaded walk, and then Ozzie Albis' sacrifice fly. He's done Dylan Flores in.

He faced four batters and was not very good. The only out he recorded was a sack fly. He was missing his spots, completely missing his spots. Just did not look good. It seemed like, and it seems so, dramatized saying this, but that ninth inning for the Dodgers where they came back and brought the game within one run, kind of was a turning of the tide. And obviously, when you're down 2-0 in a series, there's, you know, a lot to be left. And eventually there'll be 3-1 down in the

series, but there's a little bit of a turning of a tide. And I know that sounds cliche and dramatized, but there is some fact to that. Also, just once again, it proves how good the Braves really are. The Braves a really good team. Because Gonsolin had a pretty decent regular season, if I recall. Did you not? Yeah. All right then, I guess that's not. You recall correctly. I recall correctly. And Taylor, just to kind of bounce off something that you said,

the Brave scored two in the fourth, two in the fifth, and then one in the seventh. Four. What I say? But that's okay. We forgive you. You forgive me? Okay. Well, I was getting edited out and try again, but no, I'm not going to. Two is the new four. Two in the fourth, four in the fifth, two is the new four. There you go.

Thank you for saving me, Taylor. One in the seventh, and that gives them seven runs, if my math is correct. And then the Dodgers score three. Braves go up eight to three in the ninth, and the Dodgers score four in the ninth. And so they almost came back to at least tie it, but they just kind of fell short. A big ups to Max Muncie on that, on that ninth inning. That was a massive home run. I felt like the Dodgers could have come back.

they really could have at that point. They almost did. Not false hope, but kind of that sense that, okay, the Dodgers could score in bunches. They can score a lot in a short amount of time against the Braves. And yes, I'm foreshadowing here a little bit. Oh, are you? Well, maybe a little bit.

Just a little, yeah. Real quick, if I can do something. Yeah, absolutely. Max Muncie. That funky Muncie. Max Muncie, Muncie. Yeah. I had to do it.

Absolutely. I forgot no lyrics to the Beastie Boys song going through the Sticking Max Muncie version. But game three. That's because the Max Muncie version is better. Anyways, I think this is probably a decent time to take a break. So we will do that at this time. And ladies and gentlemen, I got to tell you about Rock Auto. With the ever-increasing numbers of makes and models,

it is nigh impossible to stock all the parts that you need in a traditional chain storefront. Why end are often pointless or seemingly intimidate? questioning and wait while the counterman orders the parts on his computer choosing the only brand that that warehouse carries. Well, guess what, gang, you've got computers with access to rockado.com at home and write in your very own pocket.

Why would you choose to spend 30%, 50%, 100% more for the exact same parts at a store or dealership? Chain stores have different price tiers for pro-mechanics or do-it-yourselfers. On the other hand, rock auto.com's prices, they're the same for everybody and they're reliably low.

And they're a family business. Serving Auto Parts customers online for 20 years. Go to rockado.com to shop for auto and body parts from hundreds of manufacturers. If you have a 74 bricklin, you can find parts for it there. Whether it's for your classic or daily driver, get everything you need in a few easy clicks, delivered directly to your door. Their catalog is unique and remarkably easy to navigate. Quickly, see all the parts available for your vehicle and choose the brands,

specifications, and prices that you prefer. Why spend it up to twice as much for the same? parts. No reason to do that. So go to rock auto.com right at this exact moment to see all the parts available for your car, truck, van, SUV crossover, or whatever you drive. And don't forget to write Locked-on in their

How Did You Hear About Us Box so they know for a fact that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, and all the parts your car will ever need, rock auto.com. Have you got a question or comment? Send it over to Lockedon Mariners at gmail.com for use in a future mailbag episode.

Questions on any subject are welcome just as long as it's family-friendly, because this is a family show. Once again, Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com is that address, and this show will be back later. Oh, jeez. Now time for the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Once again, your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin.

Locked-on Mariners is back with you talking about the National League Championship series. And again, this is broken up into two parts because this recording session lasted way, longer than I anticipated. So much for the neat little 21, 22 minute National League Championship Series recap I planned. It went almost an hour. So again, breaking it up into two episodes. We left off after game two, so logic would dictate that we're going to pick it up with game three, which made Jason Hernandez very happy. Yep, game three, and we're going to kind of, we'll go over the first inning here, kind of as it happened. Woohoo! Kyle Wright, yeah, woohoo, it gives you kind of an idea of how this

one went. Kyle Wright was the brave starter, and first batter is professional bowler mookie bets who hit a groundball single down the third base line. I do want to talk about the mooky bets at bat really quickly. Do it. Because that was the most important at bat of the game. I know it's

dramatic to say the first at bat of the game was the most important. Yes, it was. Because mooky betts really battled through that at bat. And then, that was actually recorded as an out at first. But on review. Mookie Betz barely beat the throw. And that was Mookie Betz hustling, getting down the line fast.

And he knew he was safe. He was motioning to the bench saying, come on, let's go, let's go. Once he beat out that throw, I felt his energy at that moment really epitomized that entire inning. So great to see the hustle for Mookie Betz on that particular one. And good that they overturned that call. It was close. Yes. You know, he has a piece. BBA 300 game. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. In any case, so Mookie Betts reaches first base on that infield hit. Corey Seeger drives him in first two guys, next two guys ground out. So it's looking like Kyle Wright might get out of it. But on the other hand, Will Smith has other ideas.

Without the fresh prints, he doubles to score Seeger. Cody Bellinger then walks, Jock Peterson, three-run, home run, Edwin Rios, solo home run, Chris Taylor Walk, and Wright is done. Grant Dayton, who promptly walks Muky Betts, then gives up a single to Seeger, which scores Taylor. Justin Turner is then hit by a pitch to load the bases, and then that funky Muncie comes to bat, and it's time for Grandma to break out the rye bread and the mustard

as he belts a grand salami to go up 11 to nothing in the first inning. Will Smith, looking more like the Fresh Prince, strikes out looking to end the inning. My goodness, 11 runs in one inning. That doesn't happen very often, does it, Taylor? No, that would be a postseason record for a single inning. The touchdown went for two and got the field goal after. Not much to say.

I mean, I was talking to a few people that were Braves-centric, and Dylan Short being one of them, who's locked on Braves. But basically, I've never seen it with Kyle Wright being a starter. and I'm not going to say that he can't. I really want to see him succeed, but this is kind of my defining mark of, I think Kyle Wright needs to go be in the bullpen. Just my two cents,

I don't think there's anything more I can say. I mean, when you score a postseason record 11 runs in a single inning to start the game, what else could I say? You know, nothing. I'm drawn blanks. Fair enough. Kyle Wright was charged with seven of those runs

and Grant Dayton was charged with eight runs, which some of them came later on in the game, namely a Cody Bellinger solo home run to lead off the second inning. And then the third inning, the Dodgers do some more damage, don't they, Jason? Yeah, and I was going to talk just briefly about that home run, that Max Muncie hit.

First off, that thing was a bomb. It was 400 and, I think, 30 feet of this pure power. But I like that at bat by Max Muncie. That second pitch that was a cold ball had just missed, and he had a good eye on that one. That was such a mistake pitch because Dayton was calling, or sorry, the pitch was supposed to be low and away on that one, or low and inside rather.

And instead, he left that pitch up. That pitch hung right in Muncie's wheelhouse. The biggest mistake pitch that you could possibly make, and Dayton made it. As if they already weren't down by a ton, you know, four more. Oh yeah. And in the third inning, they're up 12 to nothing already. Corey Seeger's solo home run, later on in the inning, Will Smith RBI

ground out, and a Cody Bellinger RBI single. So now it's 15 nothing. I'm sorry, 15 and nothing. Can you repeat that? The whole thing? Just the score. I like the score. Oh, I thought I, see, whenever this happens, usually I've made a mistake of some sort because you would be surprised, ladies and gentlemen, of how much crap I have to edit out of the program. But you just wanted to hear me say 15-0-0-Dodgers again, didn't you just? Oh, that's music to my ears. So that was all 15-0-0-Dodgers, 15-0-0-0-0-0-0. How about 15-1? How about 15-1? Oh, that's fine. Well, because that did happen, because Christian Pache, led off the bottom of the

third inning. With a home run of his own to bring it to 15-1, they tack on two more in the ninth inning, obviously not nearly enough, 15 to 3, the final score in this ballgame. Julio O'Rillas started, five innings, three hits, one run that was earned on that home run, five strikeouts, two walks. Anything to add to this game, ladies and gentlemen? Yeah, Christian Pache. First career home run, and congratulations to him on that mark. Oh, that's right. Not the time that you ever want to have it happen is your first career major league home run, but congrats to him. True. In the playoffs, you know, obviously they were out of it at that point, but he can say that his first home run came at a playoff game, so there is that.

Yeah. When you look at his stats, unregistered stats, he still has zero home runs. Some, you know, but congrats to Christian Pache, who had a unique series, but I just got to give it to him. He is such a, they have so many special talents over there in Atlanta, but he is one of them. And one of the guys I really enjoy watching. So really excited to see what Atlanta is. is going to do over the next few years. Very cool.

You were saying zero home runs, but then he's got one of the playoffs. Reminds me when Scott Podsednik, former Mariner, Scott Podsegnick, had no home runs in the regular season. Didn't he pop two in the 05 World Series? I think so. Yeah. Game four of this series took place on October 15th. This was another lopsided victory, but not by the Dodgers this time.

This was a 10-2 victory by the Atlanta Braves on the strength of a sixth run bottom of the six. Inning. Yeah. Yeah, Jason. Not the Dodgers Day this day. Was it, well, what happened? There was a lot to unravel from this one.

So Kershaw had been scratched from game two. He pitched game four and looked very good, dot, dot, dot, for the first five innings. This is a familiar story. I'll get to that in a second. Kershaw was very good through the first five innings. Got through them fairly quickly, had a couple of very efficient innings. so, you know, Kershaw looked good for the most part. Then that sixth inning came on.

And he looked like he was just out of gas. It was also the third time around, which he normally does okay with on the regular season. But this was one case where he just kind of lost his stuff a little bit. And this has been an issue with Clayton Kershaw throughout his entire postseason career. And I'll throw some stats out in a minute. But going over the runs that he allowed, the Ozuna Homer, that was just great hitting by Marcel Ozuna in the fourth inning.

You know, that tied the game up at one. I'll set it up. Rios hit a bomb in the top of the third, one-nothing doyers. Then Ozuna hit that bomb that still hasn't landed yet. It's still in orbit. And that was a good pitch. That was right in the lower corner. He hit the corner.

That was a pitch that could have been called a ball or a strike, but that's the pitch that Kirchall wanted. and Osuna just got it. He just got enough of it to put it out. Not a big deal because it's a solo shot. It's still one to one. So not too bad yet. But then the wheels kind of fell off in the sixth inning.

And that's what I want to talk about the most. Once Kirchaw came back in that inning, that ground ball, that was not on Kirschaw because that was on an error by Kiki Hernandez. Right. And I know we love Kike Hernandez, but that was not a good. play by Kike to throw that one away.

He probably would have been better to hold on to the ball in that situation instead of allowing Akunia to get to second and put pressure on Kershaw, which is exactly what happened. And then Freeman doubled after that. Just a good at bat. Kershaw had him on the ropes. A couple of good pitches, but, you know, Freeman got enough of it. And then Ozuna doubled pretty much in No Man's Land.

Yep. And it looked like Kershaw had him because those three-one, perfect called strike right on the knees and then that pitch after that Ozuna got it so a good double by Ozuna that's when Kershaw went out Yep. Brousdardle or Punky Bruzdar Yeah he didn't fare much better because

I'll be single then Danesby Swanson got a double to make a 5-1 and then Austin Riley made it 6 to 1 So in that game Kirchall was charged with I think four runs I'm sorry, four earned runs. I guess they would all be earned. So I do want to throw out this stat. I don't know if you saw this.

And Taylor, I don't know if you saw this stat either. The worst ERA from the sixth inning and beyond. Starters in postseason history with a minimum of 20 innings pitched. Fifth worst. Roger Clemens, 5.31 ERA. Fourth worst. Steve Carlton, 5.33. Yes.

Wow. It gets better. Yeah. Don Sutton, 6.51. Pedro Martinez, second worst ERA from the sixth inning onward, 6.75. Kershaw has the worst 7.31 ERA. It means sixth and beyond. But there's another way to look at this.

The other four pitchers are all very, very good. He's in good company. If you want to put it that way, yes, he's in good company in a sense. That's a dubious thing. to be leading in as far as worst ERA sticks thinning on. No kidding. It's dubious. Very much so.

I came prepared with stats. Congratulations. If I'm just being honest about something, you know, the Kirshan narrative that he can't pitch in the playoffs is a load of crap. Like you mentioned, you know, he pitches six flawless innings and then the seventh or eighth inning,

whatever it is, gets blown up. So I'm just sick of that narrative. But outside of that, I got nothing to say. I didn't watch that game. Fair enough. Five great innings. You got five fantastic innings. Against a good offense.

And then the error didn't help. Sometimes an error can just, leading off an inning can just lead to some snowball effect and the whole thing goes awry very quickly. It might not even be the, it might not be the pitchers follow. Something like an error or a blue pit or something of that sort, which can get things started.

Funny how that happens too often. That's the way baseball is. And we're going to stop right. there. Tomorrow we will pick up at Game 5. The first World Series game will have already been played by that point. Not the way I had this week planned, but I also didn't

plan on recording an hour Monday night, let alone with two guests. In any case, we'll present the rest of this conversation with me, Jason Hernandez, and Taylor Blake Ward tomorrow right here on Locked-on Mariners. Remember to download rate and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcast,

Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app. that may spring to mind. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow Taylor on Twitter at Taylor Blake Ward. Follow Jason on Twitter at Stimpy J.D. And follow me on Twitter at DC underscore Lunberg. Thank you for listening to today's program.

Remember to listen tomorrow for the rest of the National League Championship series. Wrap up. Until then, have a great Tuesday. This is Joey Martin. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Thank you.