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

Episode Date: October 21, 2020

Picking up where we left off yesterday, D.C., Jason Hernandez, & Taylor Blake Ward break down the final three games of the National League Championship Series. What was D.C.'s favorite moment from Saturday? No prizes for guessing what it was. 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.

Thank you for tuning in to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Happy Wednesday, gang. I hope you enjoyed last night's game one of the World Series, and if you are, in fact, a Dodgers fan, I'm sure that you enjoyed it. This is Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network, brought to you by Built Bar. Please remember to download, rate and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcast, 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 locked on Team Name Here podcast. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-O-U-Skore Mariner's. Follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Monday night, I was all set to record my National League Championship Series wrap-up, and then I got a call from Jason Hernandez, is, and then he got a call from Taylor Blake Ward. So the three of us decided to wrap up the National League Championship Series on this program, and we recorded for over an hour.

So I broke it up into two episodes, the first of which was yesterday, where we discussed the first four games of the National League Championship Series. And in this episode, we're going to go over the last three games, beginning with Game 5. Let's move on to Game 5. A little happier game if you're a Dodger fan, because this was indeed a 7-2-3 victory. the Dodgers had three run innings in the sixth and seventh. J.D., you spent so much time on the last one.

We'll start with Taylor. Taylor, anything to say about game five? Oh, threw me off. I was waiting for Jason to do another five minutes. All right. You get your monologue this time. Game five. What day was that?

Friday. Friday, October 16th. Friday's game. Was that one Ian Anderson pitch? No. No. Oh, AJ Minter. Actually, that was the bullpen game for both teams with Dustin May and AJ Minter.

Yeah. Dustin May, the daughters has some very interesting-looking characters. Dustin May looks like he should be playing keyboards for Uriah Heep or something like that as far as I'm concerned. And then you got Justin Turner and I got two for Justin. Lockedown Mariners fans, you've heard these before. Clive Braithwaite the fourth said these jokes, but I wrote them for him. So I'm going to say him again. Justin Turner looks like he should be living in a tree making cookies.

or he looks like he should be trying to fend off children trying to get at his scrumptious lucky charms. Adaboy. That's not desensitizing the Irish. I love Justin Turn. I love Justin Turn. I am also a unique-looking person. Speaking of unique-looking people who when he referenced children, Corey Seeger had a heck of a game for Game 5.

I kind of went the long way there. But, man, Corey Seeker, talk about a throwback ball player, man. I mean, it's swing early, be aggressive, get your pitch, and make contact. And that's what he did. I mean, the two home runs in game five were really, I mean, he established himself. We're talking about the NLCS MVP here. But this guy, you know, there's all that conversation about Francisco and Dore trying to cut, you know, the Dodgers want to trade for Franciscan.

Linder. Why? I mean, I get it. Francisco Lendor is one of the top five ball players in baseball, but you don't really need them when you got a guy like Corey Seeger. So that's my two cents from game five. And there's somebody to go off there, which we don't have time to get into here, but could you potentially move Corey Seeger to another defensive position and acquire Lindor, who's a fantastic defensive shortstop? Why? Yeah, you could. I mean, Justin Turner's a free agent, I believe. I mean, just not,

we don't want to get into it here. Maybe, maybe we'll talk about that next week after the World Series is over. You know, just something that popped into my head. You know, why is a good question.

You don't need to do that. Yeah. Anyway, Jason, Game 5, sorry. Yeah, Game 5. There was a pretty fun play on this one, and this is kind of, I guess,

foreshadowing of things to come. There was a very good defensive gem that took place on Game 5. On the brave side, I'm sorry. A good defensive gem for the whole. home team happened in game five.

It was top of the eighth inning. Max Muncie had a chance to extend the lead. It was 7-2 at the time. And I believe this was Tomlin pitching. And Muncie got one down the middle, drove it about 407 feet, but there was Pache who got it 408 feet away because he completely robbed Muncie of a home run on that one.

And I love how nonchalant Christian Pache looked after that, He just kind of sat down and appreciated it. And Cody Villanger had this look of, are you freaking kidding me? Like, I did that exact same thing on that exact same spot the previous round. And now you're doing the same thing. And he just kind of sat and admired it. Like, yeah, I caught that.

All right. Your move now. Hmm. Am I foreshadowing again? Maybe. It's very possible. But that was a hell of a defensive gym by Pasha. Yeah.

A great player. I cannot wait to see more of him next. season. There's been some good defense in this series for sure. So at this point, the Braves have a three games to two series lead with two games to go. So the Braves win either one of these, they're headed to the World Series against the Tampa Bay

Race. Game 6 would take place on Saturday, October 17th, the same day that Francois LeVos, I can't talk it again. Wow. The same day that Francoisleva bold a 300 perfect game on Fox. I know this because it was right before

the Dodgers game. It was right before the Dodgers game. thought live. And you know what the problem with is, J.D? I was going to edit that out. Now I can't, because you picked it up for me. So thank you very much. You picked up the spare. I left it. Unlike Love Wahoo did not need a spare that day. Yes, no kidding. But he's a very good spare shooter. And we can talk about that another time also. And I have on this show, of course. The Dodgers got out to a very quick three to nothing lead in the bottom of the first inning. And it was bombs away once again. Corey Seeger home run, Justin Turner home run,

and a Cody Bellinger RBI single. You know what? That's pretty much all they need, right, J.D. I forgot to mention one thing about Game 5. Go back and talk about your 5. The most important thing. Will Smith. Meet Will Smith. That's right.

Yes. That's all I have to say about that. Will Smith is the man. Who needs DJ Jazzy Jiff? You've got Will Smith against Will Smith. Ura. Urah. What are we doing?

Yes. Anyways, now that I'm pretty much laid out three quarters of the scoring in game six, JD, it's three nothing after the first inning, and that's all the Dodgers would need, right? Hey, Taylor, you want to talk about Corey Seeger again? Because he homered in the sixth inning once again. You know what? I'd love to, but I'd rather talk about Max Fried and the job that he did. Oh, God, yes.

Allowed those three runs in the first, but pitched six and two-third innings without allowing a run after the first. first. I thought Max Fried really established himself in this postseason run against the Dodgers. Something that I noted was his 107th pitch was 98 miles per hour. I mean, from a lefty, gosh, like, how do you get that? I got to give him props. You know, the Braves lost this game. And, you know, we're talking about the game that they could have clinched. But he did his job. Sadly, it just didn't work for him in the first inning. He did a fine job, not to take away from Walker Bueller, who pitched six scoreless innings.

And then Blake trying to nearly blue it again. Yeah, but just give it to Max Fried. I mean, I know that they lost, and I know that you can do whatever, but to be a young pitcher or a rookie like this, give up three in the first, and then go out and still pitch six and two-third innings in a

playoff game, one that you can clinch to head to the World Series. I give it to him, man. What an out thing by Max Fried. And Walker Bueller, of course. I'm not going to discredit what Walker Bueller did either. That's an excellent point because a starting pitcher's job is to keep your team in the ballgame. And Freed did that. It's not his fault that the Braves could only muster one run.

And that didn't come until the seventh inning. Well, I mean, part of that has to do with another great defensive gem for a home team. And you knew I was going to bring this up. Bueller was helped a lot by the defense here. And unfortunately, this is something that does not show up in the box score. But Mookie Betts had, at the time, the defensive gem of the game. You know, fifth inning, throes are up 3 to 1, and Marcel Ozuna nearly hits one out. Hmm, this sounds familiar.

Ozuna hits it to right field. Two outs, by the way, runner on. So it could have been a 3 to 2 game at that point. Mookie Betz climbed the ladder, leapt on that 10-foot wall, and took one away from Ozuna. And the reaction that Mookie Betz had after he grabbed that, he's high stepping, he's yelling in the sky, he's celebrating that. Cody Belanger comes over. Jock Peterson's in disbelief, but

you know, seen Mooky just climb the ladder like that and take away one. That was a momentous play for the Dodgers at the time. And everybody was going to berserk after that. When it comes to that play, I got to make a mention of this. I don't think that ball would have left

the park, obviously it doesn't. But the play that he had to make to backtrack, he turned his back, and in the catch, he had to maneuver his body separately, and he's not a tall guy. He's what, 5-9, 5-8, something like that? He's about 5-9. He's about 5-9 with a 36-inch vertical, it looks like. I was going to say, you know, the athleticism, to turn your body the way that he did, even if that ball wouldn't have left the park, because I'm not sure it would have,

but it was definitely close to it. It was close. But the pure athleticism, that was such a hard play to make. And he made another play in Game 7 that was spectacular. that would have left the park. But this one, we're going to talk about that in a minute. But this one to me was amazing. We're going to pause at this time, ladies and gentlemen. We'll speak about the decisive game seven in a few seconds. But first, I got to tell you about Bill Bar,

the greatest tasting protein bars in the history of great tasting protein bars. They taste as close to a candy bar as a protein bar can get. They are delicious. And I do not eat what doesn't taste good. Covered in 100% real chocolate. high in protein, low in sugar, carbohydrates, and calories. What more could you ask for in a protein bar? They've got great taste too.

And don't you think, ladies and gentlemen, that I get some sort of special discount just because I'm promoting them. On the contrary, I've got to buy them just like you do. But I do use promo code locked on to get $10 off my order at builtbar.com as you can. Anybody can use promo code locked on to get $10 off of an order at builtbar.com. As a matter of fact, I placed an order right before I began recording this evening. I created my own box of three flavors that I chose myself. I chose the peanut butter brownie, mint brownie, and German chocolate cake.

Those are really, really good flavors. And I also got some built boost drink powder, which is terrific. It's an immune boost, too, which I didn't realize, and also has some energy without caffeine. And if you mix the powder with hot water, it's a great way to relieve a sore throat as I did many times last week when I was out with my cold. And I haven't even mentioned Built Go yet, and I've just mentioned it, so there is that. All this can be found at Builtbar.com, and don't forget that promo code locked on to get $10 off your order. That's Locked on one word.

Question or comment? Send it to Lockedon Meritors at gmail.com, and I will reply to it on the air in a future mailbag episode. Questions on any subject are welcome. I've been talking about bowling a lot on the show. I realize that. And with the postseason coming up, I absolutely welcome questions on any subject. I get a question about theme parks and roller coasters.

I'm saving for the next one. Questions like that, you can send me jokes, send me real, send me whatever you'll want to. Just as long as it's clean, please keep it up. Please keep it clean. This is a family show. Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com is that address. Game 7 of the National League Championship.

Championship Series, or at least a recap of Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, coming up in a few short seconds. Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M. We're back here on Locked on Mariner's. Continuing the conversation from Monday night between myself, Jason Hernandez, and Taylor Blake Ward discussing the National League Championship Series. We left off after Game 6 in which the series was tied at three games apiece, which brings us, of course, to Game 7. And now that sets up a decisive game seven, if my math is correct, because it's a three, three tie.

Yeah, decisive game seven, which take place on Sunday, October 18th, 2020 on O'Dominee. And the Braves would start the scoring in the first inning. It was an RBI single off Dustin May, and then Danesby Swanson would lead off the second inning with a home run. That was a bomb. But the Dodgers do tie it up in the third inning, do they not, J.D? They do indeed. First off, Danes B. Swanson home run. The first home run came off Dustin May.

The second one came off of Gonslyn, who came in on relief. That was a 434-foot bomb. The Braves looked like they were celebrating at the time. It's only the second inning, guys. But that was a monster shot. Let's get to go. May. May. J.D.?

Go for it. Hasn't he been a Dodgers starter most of the season? It seems like they came out of the bullpen quite a bit and then did a lot of short outings as a starter in the postseason. What's up with that? What's up with that is Manfred deciding not to have any off days, and I was going to mention that anyway, but since you brought it up,

the fact that there was no off days in any of those seven games, it kind of lends itself to the fact that you have to have short outings because there are no days off during both the Division Series and the NLCS. I mean, that is true, but most of the outings from the starting pitchers have been five innings, five innings, six innings, And I consider those short outings, but with Dustin May, it seems like two innings, two innings, one inning, they've been really short starts for him. Well, he's also pitched more frequently.

That's possibly why. And he is a bit of a fireballer, but Dave gave the short leash after giving up that one run in the first inning. It was a very short leash. Yeah, with a game seven, you kind of have to play all your cards that you've got, don't you? I guess. I guess you have to at that point. I suppose.

I mean, one run in it, okay, it. In any case, the game is now tied because Will Smith hits a two-run single in the third inning. Next half-inning, Braves would retake the lead on an RBI single. So it's now three to two. Three to two. Three to two Braves lead. And guess what would happen in the bottom of the sixth, J.D? A lot of stuff happened in the bottom of the sixth.

But, I mean, there's something else that happened even before that. Okay. We'll talk about the tie game in a little bit. What happened before the tie game? the absolutely unreal catch that Mookie Betz made which was even better than the first one Taylor I thought it was no this was a robbery that one was gone

it wasn't the athlete they're not even close to the athleticism it was a big deal but it wasn't like the game six catch no this was a big deal because that one was over the wall that was gone at the time of the play, it was a big deal because the Dodgers were starting to look down a little bit. Atlanta had the momentum in the top of the fifth inning, and this could have been Shrine in blowing another game.

And for what it's worth, they did hit Shrine in pretty hard in game seven as well. But then that catch that Mookie Betts made was just really freaking unbelievable. Top of the wall, it was 3 to 2. It would have been 4 to 2. but Freeman got robbed on that one. Just absolutely robbed. First pitch out. And the athleticism for that one was not as good as game six.

But the way he got up there, you could see his legs about three feet above the ground, full extension, perfect robbery of a catch. I thought for my money, because of the situation it was in, that's why I think the game seven catch was better than the game six catch. Taylor, do you agree with that? What? I mean, you said the game six catch was better because it was more athletic.

I say the seven catch because of the situation. I don't know if you agree with that or not. Sure. It can be more important, but not as impressive. Yeah. More important, not as impressive. I'll give you that. But that game, game seven gave us everything.

It gave us drama. It gave us mistakes on both. ends. You have two contact plays that do not work for either team. One turns into a huge defining double play. Oh, that's right. Justin Turner, you know, he, the contact play, the runner that's going home there, I think it was Albies, makes all the sense in the world that he's going to be out. But for Turner to do a diving tag and flip around on his knee to come back to third base to get that second out, it's huge. Oh, Danesby Swanson was going home. There you go.

And, I mean, just the game gave us everything all the way up until the seventh inning when Cody Bellinger steps up. And something I have to say, have we gone over, have we got able to get to that point yet, D.C.? Yes, because at this time, we have not talked about the fact that Enrique Hernandez, Kiki Hernandez, tied it up in the six with a solo home run to lead out that inning. Let me say it. That's how a Hernandez does it. Yeah. All right.

Okay. And now that sets up the bottom of the seventh inning, Take It Away, Taylor. I mean, you get to just the whole course of the game, both teams were taking incredible at bats. This game lasted forever because of that fact, but both teams were taking incredible at bats, and the pitching matchup was spectacular.

But Cody Bellinger, you go through that bottom of the seventh at bat, and he had some disgusting hacks that he felt off, and just this was it set up such a dramatic moment and it's game seven and it's the seventh inning you still have two innings left but it's just a towering shot for a guy that was really struggling during the championship series of playoffs and hole and you know cody belliger is the face of the dodgers it seems to be that way outside of clayton kershaw but to have the face of your franchise have a moment this stellar and hit that home run a monster home run and look directly to his dugout that's one thing that's the one thing

about the Dodgers. There's a lot of people talk about the Hollywood lifestyle and that these guys only care for each other. But after everything, you're always going to see guys. You can tell individual players and team players, and individual players may not

even look over to their dugout. And I don't want to specify one guy, but there's a guy in the National League that gets a lot of bad rap. I love him to death, but he gets a bad rap. And he doesn't always look to his dugout. Every Dodger that hit a home run, pointing directly at the team as they're celebrating nonstop.

And that's what you want to see from the face of your franchise and Cody Ballinger hitting this go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. And it was a really special moment for Cody and those that are the Dodger faithful. Yeah, and they were good pitches too, by the way. That was probably the most epic at bat, probably of the postseason,

if I'm going to be very dramatic here. And I got to give credit to Martin. Martin pitched a good inning. you know, he had Max Muncie on the ropes. He struck him out. He got Will Smith easily. And it was looking like Cody Bellinger was going to get called out on that corner. It was that pitch right before that was inside.

It was a marginal strike ball. And it was good for Cody Bellinger to just keep hacking and hacking and hacking away until Martin made that one mistake that was pretty much down the middle. And Cody knew it right then and there. One big thing about all of this is he, You go back and MLB put out a video with this game with highlights and really HD cameras, you see the actual pace of baseball and how fast Major League Baseball is.

You go to high school, college, minor league levels, but you watch Major League Baseball and see the speed of the game, the pure professionalism. These guys are so much better on a grander scale. And Cody Bellinger proved that with that home run. And same with Brett Martin. I mean, talk about the Braves pitching staff did great. Outside of Kyle Wright in game three and Brandeaten in game three,

the Braves pitching staff, the Dodgers pitching staff, all just spectacular. Yeah, that's true. And as somebody who lives in a minor league city and has been to more than one Spokane Indians game, I can attest to that. And that's not to take a swipe at minor league baseball, but that's basically rookie ball,

short-season single-A. They have to learn somewhere. And it's still fun to go to these, minor league games, but you're right, the game is totally different, Taylor. Oh, and just, you look at, even guys like Albert Poulos, right, who you, I mean, I think we could recognize him as the slowest runner in baseball roughly. I think there's, you know, if we're taking a wild guess, I think that's a responsible wild guess that he's probably the slowest runner in baseball. Yeah.

If you or me or Jason. It's the Pablo Sandivol. But even Pablo Sanof, any of us getting a foot race with one of these guys, we're going to lose. I mean, even guys that don't have feet. Albert Pools doesn't have feet under them anymore. And that guy still steals bases in Major League Baseball and still, you know, these guys are such good athletes even at this, even when they're 40 years old

and not, you know, their body is giving up on them. These guys are such amazing athletes. And it's not, there's not enough credit anymore to baseball. It's, you know, oh, you swing a bat. You hit a hard rock and all this. No, that's crap. It is an athletic sport that takes so much talent. And Game 7 to me was what epitomizes baseball at a talent perspective.

Both teams putting on a clinic of real, hard-nosed baseball athleticism, and gave the nation what it looked for when you watch a baseball game. Could not agree more. Any final thoughts, gentlemen, on this series at large, which the Dodgers did take four games to three? I would love to just step in and say, despite the Atlanta Braves not having the success out of this series, that ball club, they're young, they're exciting,

there's more talent on the way. The Atlanta Braves are the real deal. And anyone that discredits the NLE East, I mean, yeah, there's the Mets, you know, but you look at the Phillies, you look at the nationals, the defending World Series champions, you look at the Marlins,

who really proved a lot of years. youth was working their way. The NL East, man. The Atlanta Braves own it, but that is a hard division. This is a very hard division to play in. Absolutely. JD? I think Taylor pretty much wrapped it up pretty well there. I do have an addendum to this series, if I may. Do it. To him saying that Game 7 delivered everything that could possibly deliver, got to give it up. Fox delivered on this. They did a good

job of showcasing this in such a grand way. Oh, I do that. You're probably going to see what you can say. I have one more item. Yeah. Get rid of John Smoltz. Get someone that actually likes baseball in the booth. Like Joe Davis.

Joe Davis and Joe Buck. Screw it. Joe Buck does great. You get them with Smoltz and it starts, that's where everything starts to unravel. Get rid of Smoltz, man. Great baseball player, great pitcher. It's horrible in the booth. Yeah. Get rid of that.

Joker. Thank God for Joe Davis stepping in when he did, by the way, when Joe Buck was doing football. And thank God for Joe Davis stealing the show on that one. And I know Dodger fans everywhere. We're very happy to hear him doing this. Just an addendum on this. And this was the highest rated LCS game in three years, by the way. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Higher than anything in 2018, higher than anything last year. Wow. Highest since game seven of the 27th, A-L-CS between the Yankees and the Astros. I was at a bar that night. That was a fun game.

Yeah. This game 7 delivered a 6.9-14 overnight rating, the best since the ALCS. And that one was only a 7-13 rating. So this is the best-rated baseball game as far as LCS, probably since 2016 when the Cubs went all the way. Wow. which, by the way, was also against the Dodgers.

It was. Yeah. Dodgers got another shot this year, and they're going to be playing the Tampa Bay Rays. And one thing that I want to mention, Dodgers' best record in baseball, 43 and 17, Tampa Bay, second best record in baseball, 40 and 20. Despite the amalgam of mediocre teams making the postseason, the teams with the two best records are in the World Series.

Everything is as it should be, right? Thank God. Can I throw something in real quick? Yes. Tampa Bay Ray's payroll this season, a jepardous. 28.3 million, or 28,000, $290,000. And I got a note, Clayton Kirchon and Mookie Betts this year

made a combined $26.3 million. So you talk about contrasting two different teams, the Dodgers' second highest payroll in baseball to raise the third lowest in baseball. Very good. It's going to be fun. Very fun to see what development has done in baseball on both ends. No kidding. Yep.

And with that, gentlemen, this is already going to be almost a 45-minute program, so I think it's time to wrap it up. Taylor will begin with you. Anything to plug? Yeah, I got a book coming soon. I can't give all the details just yet, but I'm going to have a book out in the near future, and that'll be really fun to be able to plug.

actually for the locked-up Mariners listeners, there's a lot of Mariners content involved in this book, especially a lot of the star names for the Mariners from the mid-2000s, early 2010. So that's what's on my page, and thanks for having me on, man. I miss being on the Lockdown Podcast Network, miss everyone on the network,

and it's good to be back on. We'll have you on again in the near future, Taylor. Thank you for joining us. At Taylor Blake Ward, the Twitter, by the way, yes? This is the last time I checked. Okay. Thank you very much again, Taylor. Thanks for joining us.

Jason Hernandez. Your turn. Yo. All right, you can find me at Stimpy J.D. I don't have a book coming out. However, I do have a podcast on this network, locked on Anaheim Ducks, which, by the way, has gotten a lot of listens

with free agency, with trades going on, with the draft. So I thank each and every one of you for listening. You can find the show at L.O. underscore Ducks. and guess what? I guess what I'm doing tomorrow.

Or I guess later. Let's see. I have no idea. There's nothing really going on in SoCal. What's going on? What are you doing, JD? There is something going on. It's called the World Series, man. I know, I know. The Bezreveen is going to open up.

And it's my buddy's birthday. That's actually why we're doing this. So it's a little bit of a birthday present. We're going to see Game 1 at Dodger Stadium on the screens, of course. but we don't care. We could actually say we're going to be at the World Series of Dodger Stadium. So there you go. There you go, indeed. Yep.

So you are going to watch it, not in person, but as close to it as you can get it this time, yes? Well, it beats paying over $1,000. Yes, absolutely. And I think that's going to be it for today's program. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again to Taylor, Blake Warden, Jason Hernandez, for joining us today. Tomorrow we're going to talk about some historic World Series happening. and here with me to do that will be Ethel Mertz, Stretch Thompson,

and a crossbow. Remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that may spring to mind. Follow us on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow Taylor on Twitter at Taylor Black Ward.

Follow Jason on Twitter at Stimpy J.D. And follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Thank you for listening to today, ladies and gentlemen. I'll talk to you tomorrow. This is Joey Martin, saying join us back here next time for another edition of Locked On Maritors, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. It's not. We're fine.