NLCS Game 6 Chat

4:30	Ben Clemens: Hey everybody, welcome to the NLCS Game 6 chat.

4:31	Ben Clemens: I’m Joe Buck, and this is my partner John Smoltz.

4:31	Ben Clemens: Wait, no

4:31	Ben Clemens: I’m Ben Clemens, and Dan Szymborski will be joining me.

4:32	Ben Clemens: Come see round 6 of hitters vs. Globe Life, it’ll be a blast… that won’t quite clear the wall

4:32	Lzfreak: How did poker go Ben?

4:32	Ben Clemens: Didn’t play for too long, b/c I had to do some dog training stuff, but it was fun.

4:32	Ben Clemens: It’s a bunch of my old friends from the East Coast, we all meet up on Zoom every few weeks, so it’s mainly just fun to goof around

4:32	Derek: Wow, shots fired at Dan, calling him John Smoltz

4:33	Ben Clemens: Hey when Dan gets here he can defend himself!

4:33	Ben Clemens: I thought about calling myself Cardinals legend John Smoltz

4:34	Guest: Why’d you guys omit this game from the break-even scoreboard?

4:34	Ben Clemens: Hm, no idea. I’ll ask around

4:34	Braves fan: How seriously should Braves fans entertain the idea that Acuña is still hurt? It seems like his power production has been off throughout the playoffs.

4:35	Dan Szymborski: W’ello!

4:35	Ben Clemens: I hadn’t noticed it offhand, doing some idle searching now

4:36	Dan Szymborski: How is everyone this afternoon?

4:36	Ben Clemens: The extremely lazy answer is that I’m not worried b/c he’s still hitting the ball pretty hard; 4 of his 22 balls in play have been barreled, and 50% hard hit

4:36	Ben Clemens: I do wonder whether he’s pressing a little bit though, because the Dodgers have been giving him nothing at all to hit

4:37	Guest: Dan, we appreciate your appearances at Talking Chop. Keeps everyone on their toes

4:37	Dan Szymborski: Plus, Braves fans haven’t been mad at me for awhile!

4:37	Ben Clemens: Do you do it under the alias “Brian Snickers”?

4:39	Dan Szymborski: There’s only ONE BRIAN SNICKERS

4:39	Ben Clemens: I’d like to point out that John Smoltz just said that the key to the game was that whichever team did a better job scoring runs against the opposing pitcher would win

4:40	Dan Szymborski: EVERYBODY HITS BETTER IN THE WINS THAN THE LOSSES

4:40	Ben Clemens: Bold take

4:40	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: I totally forgot that there’s a game today that I can enjoy as an impartial fan!

4:40	Derek: He’s not wrong at least

4:40	Ben Clemens: Today is going to be fun

4:40	Ben Clemens: For me!

4:41	Dan Szymborski: Getting hits off a pitcher is key to scoring runs apparently!

4:41	Ben Clemens: For Rays/Astros/Dodgers/Braves fans, kinda depends

4:41	Ben Clemens: The team that scores more points usually wins the game, to paraphrase John Madden

4:41	Dan Szymborski: I’m being meaner than I need to of course. There’s a lot of space to fill and if I was a broadcaster, rather than fill it up with objectively wrong things, I’d fill it up with subjectively crazy things

4:41	Ben Clemens: I kinda disagree. It’s the top of the first

4:42	Ben Clemens: I’m sympathetic when announcers just run out of stuff in the middle innings

4:42	Ben Clemens: This was still the scripted plays, as it were

4:42	Dan Szymborski: It kinda sucks when you think you’ve won the game but in that game, it turned out that the team that scored fewer runs wins.

4:43	Dan Szymborski: OK, the last bit made no sense.

4:44	Derek: Is Brian Snitker a good manager? I have literally no opinion of him.

4:44	Dan Szymborski: I think of him in the solid but nothin’ special category

4:44	Derek: Why do Braves pitchers have the worst facial hair?

4:44	Dan Szymborski: I don’t think they’re particularly bad at the moment. They just have a lot of beards that need some trimming and work.

4:45	Braves fan: Momentum, not runs, wins games

4:45	Ben Clemens: Hard to argue with that, particularly if you define total achieved momentum as the number of runs you score

4:45	Dan Szymborski: Like Minter’s beard, with the big bushy brown hair with the blonder thinner goatee, makes the whole beard kinda weird

4:45	Ben Clemens: Chris Martin has that problem too I think

4:46	Ben Clemens: Based on the fact that some of it is graying, it should be groomed differently

4:46	Ben Clemens: Speaking as someone with a terrible beard with some of it graying

4:46	Dan Szymborski: My head hair doesn’t match my beard hair, but my beard hair is all consistently colored

4:47	Dan Szymborski: (I have sandy blonde hair but a straight-up red beard)

4:47	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: “Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.” — Earl Weaver, as part of his rejected sequel to Who’s on First.

4:47	Ben Clemens: Yahtzee for Seager

4:47	Derek: Seager is the NL’s Arozarena

4:47	Dan Szymborski: Momentum is a pitcher’s mass times their velocity.

4:47	Ben Clemens: Let me drop a great Rays fact, full credit to r/baseball

4:47	Ben Clemens: The Rays have 43 total bases in the ALCS

4:47	Ben Clemens: Arozarena has 21

4:47	Dan Szymborski: You shoudl join the baseball reddit discord. I think I’m the only writer there.

4:47	Ben Clemens: EVERY OTHER RAY has combined for 22

4:48	Dan Szymborski: SEAGER KNOWS THAT THE TEAM THAT SCORES THE MOST RUNS WILL WIN!

4:48	Ben Clemens: oh is the link on the subreddit? might as well

4:48	Derek: Well then

4:48	Dan Szymborski: It should be, if it isn’t, I’ll send you a link

4:48	Ben Clemens: Max Fried just gave that one the “Globe Life, you betrayed me!” look

4:48	GoldStar: SEAGER!

4:48	GoldStar: JT!

4:48	Lzfreak: Is this gonna be another blowout?

4:49	Ben Clemens: I don’t think so unless the Dodgers go really nuts, I’m kinda down on Buehler at the moment

4:49	Ben Clemens: I think the blisters are messing with him more than LA is letting on

4:50	Dan Szymborski: With Jansen’s decline, I’m going to have the change it to Seager-Turner Overdrive.

4:50	Dan Szymborski:

4:50	GoldStar: What’s up w/Fried’s location? Those HRs came on pitches that got a whole lotta the plate.

4:50	Jeremy: Not the best start for Fried.

4:50	Ben Clemens: Hey Kenley was great last night

4:50	Ben Clemens: Aside from the weird feeling I get every time he throws a sinker, which is frequently now

4:52	Ben Clemens: So here’s Fried’s location today:

4:52	Ben Clemens: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?game_pk=635924&game_date=2020-…

4:53	Ben Clemens: Love this tool

4:53	Ben Clemens: He seems to have like nooooo control over his four-seamer so far

4:53	Ben Clemens: Two at the bottom of the zone, two below

4:53	Ben Clemens: Only one high

4:54	Ben Clemens: Also two middle-middle-ish sliders, and uh

4:54	Ben Clemens: That’s bad!

4:55	GoldStar: that’s a great site – thanks!

4:55	Guest: Chances the team that does a worse job scoring runs off the opposing pitcher wins the game? Feels like not very high, the way things are going. Lots of innings left, though.

4:55	Ben Clemens: Yeah this has revolutionized my home viewing experience because if I want to say something like “Fried’s locatoin has been off” or “Seager is crushing the ball” it’s really easy to dig it up

4:55	GoldStar: And that pitch to smith was practically down the middle.

4:55	Ben Clemens: Huge fan

4:55	Lzfreak: John Smoltz must really think it’s not that hard to rob a homerun

4:56	melon: Maybe I should become a baseball commentator, it seems easy

4:56	Dan Szymborski: I’m thinking of becoming a Cy Young-winning pitcher.

4:57	Dan Szymborski: I mean it’s mostly iknowing how to win and the rest is knowing the team that scores the most runs wins.

4:57	Ben Clemens: I think it’s really hard to be a good play-by-play guy

4:57	Ben Clemens: or girl jeez Ben

4:57	Ben Clemens: Keeping the discussion moving while narrating the action is impressive

4:58	melon: “Hottest man in baseball” is definitely the kind of commentary I’m after

4:58	Ben Clemens: Matt Olson is already done for the season though

4:59	Not Evan: Can we start previewing Game 7 yet? Who gets the ball to start, and what kind of leash do you think they have?

4:59	Ben Clemens: Looks like Dan has Ian Anderson vs. Tony Gonsolin in ZiPS, and yeah, that makes sense to me

4:59	Dan Szymborski: The Dodgers are feasting on Fried green tomatoes.

5:01	Ben Clemens: Something I’d been wondering about Buehler is whether his low four seam was a unique pitch in baseball

5:01	Ben Clemens: The answer is that he throws lower than average, but he’s not unique

5:01	Ben Clemens: 250th out of 323 in average 4-seam height this year

5:01	Dan Szymborski: Bob Ryan @GlobeBobRyan What the hell is Twix? 17 Oct 2020

5:01	Guest: Gonsolin probably has a pretty short leash with the Dodgers depth, they might want to get Urias back in if it goes to game 7

5:02	D Lew: i hate that Hernandez is hitting. I wanted to see some Lux. Not gonna happen

5:02	Also Ben: Every Dodgers reliever is now required to throw a sinker, obviously

5:02	Ben Clemens: If he made that second throw, jeez

5:02	Ben Clemens: Or, second effort rather

5:04	melon: On that statcast link – how do they calculate probability of win? Aside from who is scoring runs as John Smoltz sagaciously pointed out

5:05	Ben Clemens: It’s a WPA kinda deal, as far as I know it’s just the same as ours

5:05	Ben Clemens: Doesn’t take team into account and so on so forth

5:05	GoldStar: Am I reading Statcast correctly in that Buehler has faced 5 batters and allowed hard-hit balls to all but 1?

5:06	Ben Clemens: That’s correct

5:06	Ben Clemens: His location of “fastball middle-middle or cutter middle-middle” would not be filling me with joy if I were a Dodger fan

5:06	Dan Szymborski:

5:06	Braves fan: A thousand curses on Stan and his rodeo rub

5:06	Derek: That was almost an incredible play twice

5:08	Dan Szymborski: That’s 3 hits.

5:08	Dan Szymborski:

5:09	Ben Clemens: If the Dodgers win today, does the same reporter ask Buehler about his pants?

5:10	Dan Szymborski: Big ol’ whiff there.

5:10	Dan Szymborski: Buehler might as well just say screw this and wear tights.

5:10	Ben Clemens: I think tights would probably be more comfortable than tight baseball pants

5:10	Ben Clemens: Unless these actually are tights

5:10	Dan Szymborski: I mean they’re made to be tights!

5:11	matt: buehler just throwing cheese my god

5:11	Craig: Who you got long term: Buehler or May? I watch May and see an ace despite the lack of k’s for now

5:11	Ben Clemens: I think May’s upside is a little lower, just b/c he’s going to have a hard time piling up strikeouts unless he adds a pitch

5:12	matt: i feel like buehler almost likes this situation where he just gets to go for the K fully

5:12	Ben Clemens: His sinker is aesthetically great and he gets a lot of grounders but he just doesn’t miss enough bats

5:12	Dan Szymborski: You have admire Buehler’s “hell with this, just try to catch up with this old man!”

5:12	Ben Clemens: I’d rather take the guy who misses bats and work on the other stuff than take the guy with the other stuff and try to learn to miss bats

5:13	melon: buehler…….buehler ……buehler

5:13	GoldStar: 99.7 – yowza

5:13	Dan Szymborski: 99.7 FM the Cheese!

5:13	Craig: I dream of May developing a 4 seamer he can locate up. But easier said than done

5:13	Dan Szymborski: 100

5:13	Fire Ken Tremendous: more like marKakis! who’s with me?

5:14	matt: gotta put the ball in play sheesh

5:14	Dan Szymborski: YOU put that in play!

5:14	melon: His pants are putting me in play

5:14	Fire Ken Tremendous: Wish I could have made that K backwards

5:15	Ben Clemens: Buehler’s plan of “I throw 100” seems to be working out over the last three batters

5:15	Ben Clemens: But his co-plan of “I throw 100 down the middle” seems sketchy to me

5:15	Dan Szymborski: 100, that’s it, that’s the highest number!

5:15	Dan Szymborski: What about 101?

5:16	GoldStar: 10 straight FBs before the 0-1 cutter

5:16	Dan Szymborski: 98 MPH: That’s the changeup

5:17	Dan Szymborski: Requiescat in Pache

5:19	Ben Clemens: Hey Dan, is there any stat cliche you like less than ERA by inning?

5:22	Dan Szymborski: hmmm

5:22	Dan Szymborski: EVERY SPLIT EVER

5:22	Bob Odenkirk: Dan you stay out of this and keep stirring that sauce

5:22	Dan Szymborski: Glad someone got the reference!

5:22	matt: hey at least they made buehler work i guess, 26 pitch inning

5:23	Dan Szymborski: runners on base splits tend to be used the most haphazardly

5:23	Ben Clemens: Oh, John Smoltz thinks that Corey Seager is hitting the ball so hard because he stopped swinging hard

5:23	Ben Clemens: Interesting theory, sir

5:24	Brian: Any idea when the game will be available in the score section?

5:24	Ben Clemens: Nope, but I’ll post any updates

5:24	Guest: Bad at-bat for Seager, please forget I ever mentioned an extension.

5:24	Lzfreak: Average with runners in scoring position over like a 1 week span is pretty bad

5:24	Ben Clemens: Yeah that’s a good one too

5:24	Ben Clemens: I just particularly dislike ERA by inning because EVERYONE is worst in the first

5:25	Dan Szymborski: Well, this is a better inning for Fried

5:25	Craig: Is it bad I want a Dodgers Astros rematch and for the Astros to win to shut ppl up. I root for villains fairly often

5:26	Dan Szymborski: The one time a Bond villain one was in that episode of DS9 when Sisko was Hippocrates Noah.

5:27	Fire Ken Tremendous: How does Craig decide when he’s pro-villain? Inquiring minds want to know

5:27	Derek: Um, if the Astros win… That will not shut people up.

5:27	Ben Clemens: I’m pro-villain sometimes

5:27	Ben Clemens: Particularly self-aware villains

5:27	Ben Clemens: I’ve downgraded the Astros from those ranks

5:27	Dan Szymborski: The politics of forgiveness are complicated.

5:27	Ben Clemens: (this is in entertainment only to be clear)

5:28	Guest: Any time they say a batter is like, 6 for his last 10 or whatever, that also means he’s 6 for his last 11. You know, otherwise they’d have included that hit in the stat.

5:28	Ben Clemens: Three of the first five presidents died on the same day of the year!

5:28	Dan Szymborski: Like Nelson Cruz gave the worst excuse ever for a PED bust and everybody just kinda forgot the whole thing.

5:28	Guest: Ben, who would assume you meant in politics?

5:28	Ben Clemens: Presumably nobody, but what if it came out that I was rooting for Halliburton or something

5:29	Ben Clemens: Big Oil? LOVE THEM

5:29	Craig: Yeah, I said the shut ppl up thing then realized…nah

5:30	GoldStar: of buehler’s first 5 pitches this inning, only 1 FB

5:30	Dan Szymborski: There are still Cardinals fans that are super mad at Don Denkinger

5:30	Ben Clemens: Mixing it up retroactively

5:30	Ben Clemens: Did Denkinger ever apologize?

5:30	Ben Clemens: Smoltz so tilted. He’s trying to talk about how Freddie Freeman should just take what the pitcher is giving him and go the other way, his favorite topic of all time

5:31	Ben Clemens: And Freeman rudely swings super hard and strikes out

5:31	Ben Clemens: Wait sorry, they just said that foul ball was playable?

5:32	Ben Clemens: Mookie literally jumped into the wall attempting to catch it

5:32	Ben Clemens: And it was in the stands

5:33	Kevin: The stands are playable if you believe

5:33	Derek: Playable if he has Ms. Marvel arms

5:33	melon: If i were Mookie betts I would simply teleport to where the ball is going to land

5:34	Ben Clemens: This is going to expose me of having no internet cred, but what is the “I would simply” format from?

5:34	Dan Szymborski: It’s from Lord of the Rings

5:34	Dan Szymborski: You dont’ simply go into mordor

5:34	Ben Clemens: ah, perfect

5:34	Lord BatCat: My sister used to date Denkinger’s nephew.

5:34	Ben Clemens: Haven’t seen those in forever

5:34	Dan Szymborski:

5:35	melon: If I were Ben Clemens I would simply google it

5:35	nooneimportant: who do you guys want to win tonight? who do you think will win tonight?

5:35	Ben Clemens: Rooting is untoward among sportsrwiters

5:35	Ben Clemens: Also, Rays x 2

5:36	Ben Clemens: Do announcers stlil need to say ‘forward slash’ when explaining websites? are people just aggressively backslashing?

5:36	Mad Joe-Don: Ben, would you say it’s ‘unseemly’?

5:38	Guest: As a braves fan, can you give me some encouragement that the series isn’t over

5:38	Ben Clemens: It’s absolutely not over!

5:39	Ben Clemens: In fact, if you combine the live game odds of this one with Dan’s ZiPS projection for G7, the Braves are 51/49 favorites

5:39	Dan Szymborski: YOU’RE RISKING A PATIENT’S LIFE!

5:40	Ben Clemens: The Dodgers bullpen is made up at least 50% of rickety pickup trucks hauling canisters of nitroglycerine

5:40

Guest: The “if you’re” construction that’s so cliche among announcers (“If you’re the Braves, you have to score some runs here,” or whatever) is really weird! Nobody listening is the Braves, and there are way more straightforward ways to communicate that idea. “The Braves have to score some runs here” being the main one. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used in another context.

5:40	Ben Clemens: If you’re Guest, you have to stop asking these questions that lay bare weird cliches

5:41	Ben Clemens: I think it’s just a matter of people hearing one announcer do it and liking it

5:41	Ben Clemens: back in the day

5:41	nooneimportant: how much of rays x2 goes back to astros cheating?

5:42	Ben Clemens: Honestly, not that much, though some. I generally dislike the Astros for overall scumminess, not so much the players but the organization

5:42	Ben Clemens: I’m willing to be convinced that the way things are done has changed with Luhnow out

5:43	Ben Clemens: But when I heard “front office member harassing woman re: domestic violence” I didn’t even have to wonder which team it was

5:43	Ben Clemens: That seems bad

5:43	Braves fan: Where do we think these magical cameras the MLB doesn’t give to the broadcast are?

5:43	Ben Clemens: It’s actually just the Base Cam, only TBS is allowed to use it

5:44	Ben Clemens: Nah, I have no idea, I’ve always wondered that too

5:44	Craig: Rays Dodgers the most desired matchup?

5:44	Ben Clemens: For the league, presumably Astros/Dodgers. For me, Rays, but I would be happy with either NL team. They are both fun to me

5:45	Fire Ken Tremendous: Fried Pollock is an essential part of fish and chips

5:45	Jess: the umpires are actually robots, and the cameras are inside them

5:46	Floyd: Is it “good for Baseball” if Houston wins it all and somewhat validates the 2017 title or am I just naive and “people” are gonna be even more mad?

5:46	Ben Clemens: Yeah I think people would just be mader

5:46	Ben Clemens: madder*

5:46

Derek:

5:46	Ben Clemens: Do people dispute that the Astros were great? I hope not

5:46	Ben Clemens: They were a great team!

5:46	Ben Clemens: I think what irks people is that they did this thing

5:46	Ben Clemens: They were caught doing it

5:46	Ben Clemens: They showed legit no remorse and didn’t get punishe

5:46	Ben Clemens: d

5:46	Ben Clemens: And they’re right back at it

5:47	Floyd: idk I have friends who are convinced the Astros would have sucked without cheating…

5:48	Ben Clemens: Then maybe those people will think it’s validated? But to me, the greater annoyance is that they’re such punks about it and baseball didn’t do anything to punish them

5:48	Ben Clemens: Seeing people who deserve punishment escape it creates very bad feelings in people’s minds

5:49	Ben Clemens: Come ONNNNNN Smoltz talking about d’Arnaud’s solid approach of going the other way against fastballs while you can clearly see the slider/cutter dot on the replay they’re watching

5:49	Ben Clemens: I might turn the audio off

5:49	Ben Clemens: I wish they had ballpark audio as an option

5:50	Fire Ken Tremendous: Do you guys get this Kershaw Hankook commercial? He gives up a no doubt homerun but then drives fast enough to catch it and give the souvenir to those kids in the park but it’s still a bomb.

5:50	Ben Clemens: It makes absolutely no sense. The second one might be even worse. He talks about his nonexistent changeup, then when he says he’s throwing a curve, the pitch they show has backspin

5:51	nooneimportant: I’m convinced they were a great team, I’m not convinced they would have beat the Dodgers in the World Series for as Manfred would say “A piece of metal”

5:51	Ben Clemens: Yeah agree with that

5:51	Ben Clemens: But I don’t think them winning in 2020 says that they would have beaten the Dodgers in 2017

5:51	Ben Clemens: Or that not winning says that they wouldn’t have

5:51	Matt: It makes sense if you just imagine it’s narrative-playoff-Kershaw, who sucks

5:51	Jeremy: I usually just turn the announcers down very low and listen to a podcast or music. I find I’m about 90% less annoyed by the game that way.

5:51	Dan Szymborski: I kinda like getting annoyed at stuff.

5:51	Zack: Strange how they actually feel some form of vindication with every win now.

5:51	Craig: Rays Dodgers from a “smart baseball” perspective. Though I wonder if the difference between how front offices operate is overblown

5:51	Dan Szymborski: I was hoping for Rays-Padres!

5:52	melon: What’s the point of baseball if you aren’t constantly angry, imo

5:52	Ben Clemens: I like my announcers to be a little annoying

5:52	Ben Clemens: Smoltz is like constantly pouring salt in my eye

5:52	Ben Clemens: It just gets to me

5:53	Ben Clemens: I enjoy being annoyed with the TBS booth, for example

5:53	Ben Clemens: Did Bellinger take a bad route there? I thought that was an out off the bat

5:54	Ben Clemens: Nope, just didn’t see it right

5:54	Jess: The Amin/Wrainwright/Pierzynski for the Braves/Marlins series was one of the better National Broadcast teams i’ve head in a while

5:55	Ben Clemens: Totally agree. I don’t know if Wainwright would hold up as interesting over a whole season — there’s no knowing until he does it — but he had great rapport iwth Pierzynski

5:55	Laura: More annoying: John Smoltz or Tim McCarver?

5:55	Ben Clemens: My dad loves McCarver so I don’t think I’m objective

5:55	Ben Clemens: But I find Smoltz more annoying because of the active dislike

5:56	Stu: Careful, though. ARod was pretty great in his tiny introductory doses.

5:56	Ben Clemens: This is maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think baseball would be worse off without A-Rod in it in some role

5:56	Ben Clemens: I love hating A Rod as an announcer

5:56	Ben Clemens: Love it so much

5:59	Fire Ken Tremendous: Remember how A Rod had that brief honeymoon phase when everybody thought he was MLB Tony Romo?

5:59	nooneimportant: A-Rod’s a boob and kind of transparent with the depth of a puddle but fun to dislike

5:59	Craig: Smoltz actually on point about speeding up the bat

5:59	Jess: I agree with Ben about hating A Rod

5:59

Matt: Are there “dumb” questions in baseball that we should be asking? Like if someone watched an NBA game in 1990 and asked, why don’t they just shoot from *behind* the line if it’s worth 50% more? What would it be for baseball? Why doesn’t the pitcher just throw his great strikeout pitch *all the time*?

5:59	Ben Clemens: I’d argue that a lot of teams are askin that these days

5:59	Ben Clemens: Sliders are at all-time highs, fastballs at all-time lows, etc.

5:59	Jess: I also don’t like the idea of having set commentary teams, i’d be interested to see more combinations of different commentators throughout the season

5:59	Dan Szymborski: I do like variety

5:59	Eli: I just suffered my first zoom-bombing. Really not sure what’s enjoyable to people about ruining some strangers’ days, or who to commiserate with. Be kind.

6:00	Stu: Great news is if there is a G7, it’s Joe Davis. He’s a treat.

6:00	D Lew: I don’t mind Frenchy. I might be in the minority

6:00	Dan Szymborski: Frenchy’s fine.

6:00	Dan Szymborski: He’s not good enough (yet) to elevate a bad partner, but he doesn’t bring down a good one.

6:00	Ben Clemens: I’m totally okay with him, agreed

6:00	Guest: Shades Puig with that thrown from Bellinger

6:01	Ben Clemens: I was just picturing the Bellinger deep thoughts face

6:01	Ben Clemens: “Just throw the ball to the middle of the field”

6:02	Fire Ken Tremendous: Speaking of Puig, does he find a team next season? Been thinking of him a lot watching Ozuna’s mannerisms

6:02	Ben Clemens: I think he will certainly land somewhere

6:03	Ben Clemens: I have no idea what the contract will look like, though

6:04	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, so much for next year is wild guess

6:04	Ryan: If the Dodgers don’t at least advance to the World Series, do you foresee any major roster moves?

6:04	Dan Szymborski: Manager!

6:04	Ben Clemens: Dan, we talked yesterday about what the most surprising non-tender would be this offseason

6:05	Ben Clemens: Any fun entries into that guessing game?

6:06	Zack: Gary Sanchez!

6:06	Ben Clemens: Certainly in play, though I think the Yankees might be one of the more “old normal” teams this offseason due to their financial status

6:07	Craig: Does DeRosa ever do broadcasts? Love that guy. Think he ever manages?

6:07	Ben Clemens: I thikn it’s likely he’ll end up managing. Haven’t heard him on broadcasts though

6:08

Fire Ken Tremendous: That infographic about Seager and Utley reminds me of a story Vin Scully told once about a bet that Seager and Utley made (can’t remember what it was) but Utley lost and had to dye his hair dark. Vin told the story and then concluded it with something like “and when you look at Chase right now you have to ask yourself, ‘Did he really LOSE the bet?'”

6:08	Ben Clemens: amazing

6:08	Jeremy: Would Steven Matz be a surprise non-tender? Or is it expected after his terrible year?

6:08	Guest: Javier Baez? To respond to the question about the Dodgers – Friedman’s been very open about how he believes the playoffs are high variance and all you can do is stack the deck. I doubt he feels as much pressure to win now as people think he should

6:09	Ben Clemens: I think Matz would be a surprise. MLBTR projects him for $5 million, I think he could get that on the open market

6:09	Dan Szymborski: I think with new ownership, less likely to QO

6:09	Jess: Out of interest what are your thoughts on the braves being a team that “hits late well” – how much merit do you think there is to that vs statistical anomaly?

6:09	Dan Szymborski: there aren’t a ton of pitchers out there and mets will need bodies

6:09	Ben Clemens: I would err on the side of statistical anomaly

6:09	Dan Szymborski: Haven’t found much of value

6:10	Ben Clemens: One thing I like doing in situations like that is ask myself

6:10	Ben Clemens: What would cause them to do this

6:10	Ben Clemens: That they couldn’t do early

6:10	Ben Clemens: And I’m kind of coming up empty here

6:11	Ben Clemens: These groundball frequency charts are one of the best things baseball’s graphic design has done in the last ten years

6:11	Ben Clemens: They just make the shift visually intuitive so quickly

6:12	John: That and the depth for sac fly graphics

6:12	Ben Clemens: Yeah. Love those as well

6:12	Ben Clemens: If you follow Tango on Twitter, he’s done some really cool base advancement stuff recently

6:12	GoldStar: Kershaw is stretching in the bullpen.

6:13	GoldStar: (in a voice as flat as the prairie) Yay.

6:13	Ben Clemens: But…. why?

6:13	GoldStar: I loved MLB Network’s little display of the field (in the upper-right corner) showing dots for the alignment of the fielders – unobtrusive and gave important info

6:13	Ben Clemens: Another excellent one

6:13	Jordan: Shouldn’t all good hitting teams hit better later in the game? Most relief pitchers are failed starters and therefor not as good and good hitting teams should beat them up more often

6:13	Braves fan: Re: Braves hitting late—my pet theory is that they hit high velo fastballs from late inning relievers better than starters’ secondary pitches

6:14	Ben Clemens: Relievers are better than starters in the aggregate, because they odn’t have to throw as long and batters don’t get to see them multiple times

6:14	Ben Clemens: As to the high velo theory, I’m doing some digging now

6:16	Ben Clemens: Eh… the Braves have the 19th-lowest whiff rate on fastballs >= 95 mph. They have the 14th-highest hard hit rate.

6:17	John: What’s up with the Skynyrd music going to commercial? Weird choice.

6:17	Ben Clemens: They do have the highest barrel rate, that’s good

6:17	Jess: and if you’re the sorta person to be in a fangraphs chat during a game, you prob should be following Tango on twitter

6:17	Ryan: Even acknowledging Friedman’s attitude towards the crapshoot that is the playoffs, I think bringing Kershaw in for a relief outing would be grounds for firing Roberts.

6:17	Dan Szymborski: I can’t imagine doing that

6:17	GoBarves: In my mid 40s and just took two whiskey shots like I was in college. Baseball and fandom do weird things to a person

6:17	Dan Szymborski: Well, i can imagine doing that

6:17	Dan Szymborski: but not ME doing that!

6:18	Jordan: but they give back a lot of that advantage by not having great secondary’s, or straight fastballs or can’t locate, good hitting teams should and do exploit this

6:19	Ben Clemens: This is just not really true? Relievers had a higher strikeout rate, lower FIP, lower HR/9

6:19	GoBarves: In my defense, Dan, it was out of a Ron Swanson mug. So, go Dansby?

6:19	Ben Clemens: And that’s in this year when teams had to go suuuuuuuper deep into the bullpen b/c starters were all pitch-limited at the start of the season

6:19	Stu: Kershaw must just be getting regular work in. There’s no way he would be brought in to pitch in this game, right? That’s a sure sign that Dave Roberts is ready to retire and sit on a beach with his wife instead of doing this again next year.

6:19	Ben Clemens: Has to be, right?

6:19	Ben Clemens: It would just be so insane

6:19	Dan Szymborski:

6:20	Dodger Fan: Just got to the chat but have been watching all game. Go Dodgers!

6:20	Lzfreak: Betts takes such good routes to all balls

6:20	Guest: swon ranson

6:20	Ben Clemens: He’s so fun to watch

6:20	Guest: What are your expectations for Gavin Lux next year?

6:20	Dan Szymborski: He’ll be fine

6:20	Ben Clemens: Mookie makes lots of parts of baseball I normally gloss over exciting

6:20	Jess: Also i do think it’s interesting to have the NLCS and WS in a park that has quite extreme dimensions

6:20	Dan Szymborski: One of those secret tips to success at beating the Braves is apparently getting Ronald Acuña Jr. out. Who knew?

6:20	Mad Joe-Don: We are so lucky to live in such a Betts-ful world.

6:20	Ben Clemens: I do think that’s interesting

6:21	Ben Clemens: !!!!!!!

6:21	Lzfreak: Ah that’s an even better example there of Betts being great

6:21	melon: he makes it a BETTSER WORLD

6:21	Dodger Fan: WHAT A CATCH

6:21	Ben Clemens: my goodness

6:21	Mad Joe-Don: Sent that before the catch!

6:21	GoldStar: BETTS!!!

6:22	Guest: Buehler at 72p, is Kershaw on 1 day rest really much worse than Kelly, Graterol, Treinen, Jansen, Gonazlez all pitching.

6:22	Dan Szymborski: lol Joe-Don

6:22	Ben Clemens: Yes, plus they want to pitch him in the World Series!

6:22	Dan Szymborski: I thought you were just 30 seconds ahead of me and went and refreshed the browser

6:22	Craig: Nothing to do with the game, but hey it’s a baseball chat. You think Hinch and/or Cora manage next year? They’ve served their punishments. See no good reason why they shouldn’t.

6:22	Dan Szymborski: Hinch seems more likely to me

6:22	Matt: Imagine being one of those people who doesn’t want players to show emotion on the field. LOL.

6:22	Dan Szymborski: BUT BASEBALL IS VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS

6:23	Guest: If I could make a catch like that, I wouldn’t celebrate after. I would look stoically into the stands and say: “Does my effort please you, father?”

6:23	Ben Clemens: I honestly don’t understand those people at ALL

6:23	Dan Szymborski: You could do the pretend not to catch thing like from Taiwan!

6:23	melon: I hate when people enjoy their jobs

6:23	Dan Szymborski: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1317080521709551616/pu/vid/1280×7…

6:23	Ben Clemens: I will say that if Dan skyped me after every article

6:23	Ben Clemens: And just screamed in jubilation

6:23	Ben Clemens: It would get old

6:24	GoBarves: One of the things that has led to my aggressive drinking is that it’s hard to really hate these Dodgers as sober person. They’re SO MUCH FUN.

6:24	Ben Clemens: Both of these teams are really fun to watch

6:24	Ben Clemens: As someone with no stake in either team, it’s amazing to watch

6:24	Ben Clemens: Ozuna wasn’t even mad lol

6:24	desertfox9139: at this point, do you save your best relievers if you’re the braves? i know it is only 3 runs, but seems like a steep mountain tonight

6:24	Ben Clemens: I think so

6:24	Dan Szymborski: Si vis Pachem, para bellum

6:24	Ben Clemens: I like when the Rays do tihs

6:25	Matt: Ozuna is having as much fun as anyone. Fully stopped mid-HR trot to take a selfie.

6:25	Dan Szymborski: He should’ve done the WHOLE HOME RUN TROT

6:25	Dan Szymborski: what are they going to do, send security?

6:25	Dodger Fan: GoBarves, I feel the same way. It is physically impossible to root against Freddie Freeman

6:25	Craig: I like the suspense that builds when someone robs a homer but you’re not sure and they wait to show the ball. Kinda like when Pache sat at the wall

6:25	Ben Clemens: Okay I turned the sound back on

6:26	Matt: Graterol is honestly really endearing because he gets so pumped up and does things like dance in the bullpen when his teammates make great catches or throw his glove in celebration in the 7th inning. Need more of that.

6:27	Dan Szymborski:

6:27	Lzfreak: Graterol might be the next generation of Sergio Romo in terms of emotion

6:27	Jess: Looking back on it, thoughts on the Betts trade?

6:28	Ben Clemens: I think the baseball community got it pretty right

6:28	Ben Clemens: Mookie Betts is insanely good and the Red Sox didn’t demand enough for a year of his services

6:28	Guest: Better ring-less dynasty: 1990s Indians or 2010s Dodgers?

6:28	Dan Szymborski: Dodgers by a hair I say

6:28	Guest: Smoltz actually has good point about walls being short enough to rob homers (except Fenway)

6:29	Ben Clemens: Yeah credit to him for that

6:29	John: Underrated feature of stadium design is making a wall that is just the right height for robbing HRs. I think I’ve seen more robberies or near robberies in the last 10 games in Arlington than the last 1000 at Dodger Stadium.

6:30	Dan Szymborski: It’s also fun having an impregnable wall

6:30	Dan Szymborski: screw fenway, someone should build a game of thrones 1000 foot high outfield wall

6:31	Dan Szymborski: and the bullpen is on the top of the wall and relievers have to zipline in

6:31	Ben Clemens: A 1000-foot zipline sounds terrifying

6:31	Fire Ken Tremendous: But the zipline looks like a dragon!

6:31	Jess: i’m now remembering when someone did an OOTP save with 500ft deep, 20ft high outfield walls

6:31	Guest: Remember on opening night this year when, who was the announcer who said Joc Pederson (like his teammates Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts) was an MVP candidate? That was incorrect.

6:32	Dan Szymborski: I dunno, but sounds like something crayz A-Rod would say

6:32	Andy: More or less terrifying than being brought in for Betts-Seager-Turner in a high leverage situation?

6:32	Craig: I want a 500 ft triples alley type corner. Get some inside the parkers

6:32	Ben Clemens: I’m gonna say more, because I’m far more likely to die on the zipline

6:32	Ben Clemens: Am I getting locked in somehow?

6:32	Ben Clemens: What if my hands got sweaty??

6:32	Dan Szymborski: Bellinger has a look on his face like he just saw a naked magazine for the first time and nobody else knows he has it

6:33	Ben Clemens: So, we all have no idea how balks work

6:33	Ben Clemens: But how was that not a balk?

6:33	Dan Szymborski: If something feels “that just ain’t right” it’s a balk

6:33	Dan Szymborski: it has to be ain’t. If it’s not, then it’s not a balk

6:33	Guest: Robbing HRs is great, but what is the most exciting single play in baseball (assuming a neutral context): stealing home? robbing a HR? triple play?

6:33	Dan Szymborski: projectile vomit on the catcher during a collision at the plate

6:33	Laura: I must say, the fans at Globe Life Field have made me realize how much I’ve missed booing in the piped-in crowd noise elsewhere.

6:34	Ben Clemens: https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/christian-yelich-inside-park-hr-eloy-…

6:34	Jess: i’d say there is nothing greater than an Inside the Park HR

6:34	Matt: Most exciting play is a well executed play at the plate from the outfield

6:34	Dodger Fan: Walk off balks are the stupidest and therefore the most exciting

6:34	Not Will Smith: This has been a remarkably collegial NLCS. Nice to see

6:35	Dan Szymborski: ah, a sleep apnea medicine in which one of the lack of side effects is lack of sleep

6:35	Fire Ken Tremendous: After that half inning, I want Bellinger and Freeman to star in a buddy cop movie

6:36	D Lew: Crazy A-Rod? What do you mean? Just because he compared Judge to Michael Jordan? Hehe

6:36	Ben Clemens: I especially enjoy how obvious it is that A-Rod knows maybe 15 non-Yankee baseball players

6:36	Dan Szymborski: My fave A-Rodism was on Opening Day. His partner asked him to name a couple deep sleeper teams and he chose Braves and Astros.

6:37	Matt: Well, both made the championship series. Seems like he has you beat, ZIPSboy

6:37	Dan Szymborski: lol

6:37	Enlightening Round: Anything more aesthetically pleasing to you guys than a Bellinger home run swing?

6:37	Dan Szymborski: Me winning Powerball

6:37	Ben Clemens: In baseball, I like a big old Rich Hill curve most

6:38	Ben Clemens: The kind where it looks like it’s gonna sail and hten it takes a sharp turn southward

6:38	Dan Szymborski: d’Arnaud’s family was initially d’Amnaud but at Ellis Island they thought it was a little too blue

6:38	tcwhy: seeing dan jumping around celebrating would not be aesthetically pleasing for anyone

6:38	Dan Szymborski: FINE, NO DOLLAR SPLASHBACK FOR YOU

6:38	GoldStar: (sigh) Dan…

6:38	Ben Clemens: Periodic reminder that d’Arnaud wore “LIL D” for player’s weekend

6:38	Matt: Pitching is always more beautiful than hitting. The Pitching Ninja twitter account is the best thing to happen to baseball in a while.

6:39	Dan Szymborski: “Camping World” sounds like a bleak Kafka-esque existence.

6:39	Fire Ken Tremendous: Remember how Joe just said d’Arnaud had Buehler “figured out?”

6:39	Ben Clemens: ‘figured out to the tune of two singles’

6:39	Derek: I wish Dick Mountain was throwing to Lil D on player’s weekend one year

6:39	Ben Clemens: to be fair, he’s “D MOUNTAIN”

6:40	Dan Szymborski: See, two mistakes makes a correct!

6:40	tcwhy: that is the most aesthetically pleasing play

6:40	Braves fan: A-Rod would have gotten to first on that Albies play

6:40	Ben Clemens: karate CHOP

6:42	Dan Szymborski: It’s so heartwarming that the fat kid from The Sandlot grew up to be Randy Levine.

6:42	Dan Szymborski:

6:42	Benny and the Mets: Bronson Arroyo would like a word

6:43	Ben Clemens: Did that guy catch that on the fly? Wow!

6:43	Dan Szymborski: The infield’s not pressured.

6:43	Dodger Fan: Barehanded!

6:43	Ben Clemens: His hand is gonna sting

6:43	Dan Szymborski: JFC

6:44	Dan Szymborski: What was the exit velocity on that foul!

6:44	Guest: When fully healthy, which of these teams has the best rotation?

6:44	Jess: Greatest play in baseball history was when the catcher tried to throw out a steal attempt, but neither 2nd nor SS moved to cover the bag, so the catcher threw straight into the outfield

6:44	Ben Clemens: I’d go Dodgers, but it’s not as much of a layup as I would have thought before this year

6:45	Dan Szymborski: I don’t remember that play! I assume it was the Mets.

6:45	GoldStar: Buehler at 89 pitches – does Doc bring him back for the 7th?

6:45	Farhandrew Zaidman: Likely Buehler’s last inning? Who pitches the 7th? Treinen? Floro?

6:46	Dan Szymborski: I still instinctively check the box score to see if the pitcher is batting the next inning even though THE PITCHER NO BAT NO MORE

6:46	Jess: I’m still dissapointed at snit for not using the braves’ greatest pitcher Charlie Culberson in game 3

6:46	Brandon: Not sure about the precise distance there, but that Albies play is probably a rare instance when it makes sense to slide into first base.

6:46	Andy: I’ve definitely seen a play like Jess described. I don’t remember the team, but I am a Mets fan, so that theory holds water.

6:47	Dan Szymborski: I do want to see the Astros go over the top heel if they win the World Series

6:47	Dan Szymborski: actually bring out celebratory trash cans of champagne!

6:47	Craig: Ball getting stuck to Yadier’s chest protector. Did ppl decide whether that was cheating?

6:47	Ben Clemens: I think the general consensus was yes and also “everyone does it”

6:47	Ben Clemens: there’s a reason the cubs didn’t really raise a ruckus

6:48	melon: They should get a huge gong and bring it onto the field during WS game 7

6:49	Dan Szymborski:

6:49	Dan Szymborski: (I do have this on a shirt!)

6:49	Lzfreak: The best was Martin Maldonado hitting the cover off the ball literally

6:49	Brandon: Actually on rewatch, a slide attempt by Albies probably creates a violent collision.

6:49	John: No pitcher batting has eliminated the worst of the manager mistakes, I think. The most egregious BS was always letting a guy like Buehler in this position hit for himself.

6:49	Benny and the Mets: What odds do you guys give a SP pitching into the eighth in the World Series? 1 out 10, 1 out 25, 1 out of 100?

6:50	Ben Clemens: At 1:10 I’d be interested honestly

6:50	Ben Clemens: or rather 10:1

6:50	Ben Clemens: +1000

6:51	Dan Szymborski: Strasburg pitched into the ninth last year! And Cold had an 8-inning earlier IIRC

6:51	Dan Szymborski: Coel

6:51	Dan Szymborski: Cole

6:51	Ben Clemens: Gerrit Cold

6:52	Dan Szymborski:

6:52	Ben Clemens: I’m not sure how to model something like that but pitchers are always live to just have a good outing

6:52	thom: looks like dan has a new photoshop to do now

6:52	Guest: Braves starters are all young, Rays would never do it, Buehler and Kershaw have injury questions, Astros only chance I think

6:52	Dan Szymborski: I can see Fried going into the 8th in a game if he’s cruising

6:52	tcwhy: how come teams don’t give baseball players cool names like they do in wrestling

6:52	Ben Clemens: I think the odds of it happening in any given game are quite low. It’s just a lot of bites at the apple

6:53	Dan Szymborski: Hey, I neural networked a whole bunch of nicknames for players!

6:53	Dan Szymborski:

6:53	Jess: Imagine if the braves didn’t have that injury problem with Soroka

6:53	Brandon: Okay, after the first, there was no way possible I’d have predicted a QS for Fried.

6:54	Ben Clemens: Yeah when he returns that’s going to be a huge boon

6:54	Jess: Also Joe “Lipstick” Kelly is perfect after that pouty face

6:54	Ben Clemens: Soroka is fun to watch too

6:54	Ben Clemens: I’m not sure his style is the most effective, but it’s very enjoyable to watch

6:54	Dan Szymborski: And so we have the Braves names:

6:54	Dan Szymborski:

6:55	Ben Clemens: lol at Ron Sleazy

6:55	Dan Szymborski: I’ev been calling him Ron Sleazy

6:55	Guest: So Matt Kemp said he wants to play 5 more years. Does he get even a 1-year contract this off-season? Maybe to DH for an NL team if the universal DH sticks around?

6:55	Jess: I love all the braves’ catcher’s names

6:55	Dan Szymborski: As long as the Rockies are allowed to sign players!

6:56	Guest: Are we just gonna ignore knothole willie

6:56	melon: oh shit it’s the skeleton man

6:56	Jess: Peroxide hits a triple off the Skeleton Man

6:56	tcwhy: look at peroxide run!

6:56	Guest: Nvm jailhouse peanuts is definitely my largest objection/fascination

6:57	John: The Dave Roberts narrative is going to be insufferable if Treinen melts down here

6:57	Dan Szymborski: Most narratives are insufferable, honestly!

6:57	Guest: I literally forgot the Dodgers can still lose this game

6:58	Dan Szymborski:

6:58	GoldStar: Someone wake up Doc.

6:58	Dan Szymborski:

6:58	Fire Ken Tremendous: Skeleton Man is pandering to the Halloween fans

6:58	Jess: Hopefully Cyclone can take Skeleton Man deep

6:58	Jeremy: Blake Treinen really needs a giant mustache or something.

6:58	tcwhy: you’d think they could think of more fun cooking themed hand motions than the mix it up one every time

6:59	Ben Clemens: Julienne it!

6:59	Fire Ken Tremendous: Was Cyclone Sr. a player in the MLB?

6:59	Wraith: I was wary of pulling Beuhler after 6 because I do not exactly trust the current state of the Dodger’s pen

6:59	GoldStar: Kenley up and throwing.

7:00	Dan Szymborski: I’m a year older than Ronald Acuña Sr. and it makes me have sads.

7:00	Dan Szymborski: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=acuna-001ro…

7:00	nooneimportant: Roberts job doesn’t depend on this series right?

7:00	Dan Szymborski: It could!

7:01	Dan Szymborski: THis dude is a year younger than me as has a kid as awesome as Ron Jr. I’m not even allowed to have a creme brulee torch, which is odd since I’m 42 and live alone!

7:01	Ben Clemens: Torch the creme brulee, another good hand gesture

7:01	Fire Ken Tremendous: The Biscuit got jammed there

7:01	melon: bye bye biscuit 🍪

7:02	Matt: Grate the cheese!

7:02	Dan Szymborski: ROLL DEM BONES SKELETON MAN

7:02	Ben Clemens: Treinen’s sinker is one of those ‘how does anyone hit it’ pitches that people hit pretty okay

7:02	Jess: Lionheart time

7:02	Ben Clemens: The Dustin May archetype

7:02	melon: lick the spoon and do some vacuuming after

7:03	Ben Clemens: Wash the dishes, especially that annoying garlic press you got on your wedding registry that’s such a pain to clean out

7:03	Ben Clemens: Guess I got a little too specific there lol

7:03	Guest: The Graterol 101 mph 2-seam might be the dirtiest pitch I’ve ever seen yet he just doesn’t get whiffs

7:03	Guest: Graterol too

7:04	tcwhy: spooky halloween music plays in mind now when i think of trienen

7:04	Matt: I do think we should all be given a little bit of pause that the Dodgers, an archetypically smart team, has seemed to load up pretty heavily on those sinkers that don’t get swings and misses. I don’t know if it’s real or not, or why. But it makes me wonder.

7:04	Ben Clemens: I’ll believe this more if they keep doing it

7:04	Fire Ken Tremendous: Nice block by Heart and Hustle

7:04	Ben Clemens: It seems more, to me, like Blake Treinen looked like a good bargain to them, and Dustin May pitched some in relief

7:05	Ben Clemens: If they keep going sinker heavy in more and more acquisitions I’m going to be quite interested, though

7:05	nooneimportant: re: Roberts, if he does something completely boneheaded sure but certainly not due to the roll of the dice that a 7 game series is, facing a fairly comparable team, right?

7:05	Dan Szymborski: The thing is, if an owner is disappointed and you’re a team VP, a lot of time’s someone’s gonna get the brunt

7:06	Craig: Best or favorite pitch in recent memory? Prime Zack Britton sinker? Prime Fernando Rodney change?

7:06	tcwhy: i’d support firing dave roberts if that means magic johnson manages next season

7:06	Ben Clemens: For me it’s Felix’s changeup, Hill’s curve, and then weirdly enough Colin Poche’s fastball

7:06	melon: Fried looks almost exactly like my friends boyfriend that I hate, it’s making him hard to empathise with

7:06	John: Prime Gagne changeup.

7:06	Dodger Fan: Kershaw curveball

7:06	Benny and the Mets: jacob degrom high fastball

7:06	Ben Clemens: All excellent answers

7:07	staz: Recent memory? Framber’s curve.

7:07	GoldStar: Gagne’s Vulcan change was a thing of beauty

7:07	Ben Clemens: John Gant still throws one actually!

7:07	Dan Szymborski: It’s always weird to see a car commercial now and it’s for a sedan

7:07	Ben Clemens: I think he might be the only pitcher left, at least the only one I’ve seen

7:07	Numpty: The key with the garlic press is to run it under hot water as soon as you’re done, and pick the little bits of garlic skin off with a knife.

7:07	melon: Corey Seager should get a new nickname for each homer he hits this series

7:08	Ben Clemens: Yeah I know that in theory but I’m always cooking when I use it

7:08	Dan Szymborski: Fried knows what his job is: not allowing runs.

7:08	Ben Clemens: And so there’s always some other step I need to do

7:08	Dan Szymborski: Glad he learned it at such a young age.

7:08	Ben Clemens: I should definitely just stop and do it though

7:08	Guest: Verlander threw a knee buckling 12-6 to freeze Kevin Youkilis I wanna say opening day 2012 and I still think of that pitch sometimes when I had a bad day

7:08	Ben Clemens: The classic in that vein that I’ll always remember is the Wainwright/Beltran curve

7:08	melon: Soak in hot water instantly or just throw it in the bin, imo

7:09	Dan Szymborski: The Old Gray Mare warming up

7:09	Fire Ken Tremendous: Guys the Dodgers’ bullpen is Chock Full Of Bats

7:10	Fire Ken Tremendous: Fried Pickles matchup here

7:10	bosoxforlife: Anything Pedro Martinez threw up there.

7:10	Dan Szymborski: Wrecking Ball for Graterol was one of the more accurate computer-assigned nicknames

7:10	Ben Clemens: Yep, that just got over the line for recent memory for me, but Pedro’s fastball and changeup were just so much fu

7:10	Ben Clemens: fun*

7:10	nooneimportant: I loved me a Halladay cutter

7:10	melon: mad max muncy is going to line drive them off the road

7:10	Dan Szymborski: SIRI DIDN’T ANSWER NICE COMMERCIAL

7:11	Roberto Beers: Lincecum changeup was spicy

7:11	Dan Szymborski: Timmeh!

7:11	John: Siri is like Kershaw, making commercials out of failures. What the heck is going on

7:11	Dan Szymborski: Ouch

7:12	GoldStar: Jansen sits, Baez now warming

7:12	GoldStar: Guessing Doc had Kenley up in case Treinen’s fire grew larger

7:12	Ben Clemens: Seems reasonable to me

7:12	Dan Szymborski:

7:12	Craig: If someone catches a home run over those short walls and flips into the stands, why isn’t it a home run?

7:12	Stu: If it somehow ends up LAD/HOU in the WS, will it be the most lopsided rooting interest in WS history? Everyone will have to be pulling for the Dodgers, right?

7:12	Ben Clemens: I’d be more confident about that if it were the Braves

7:13	Ben Clemens: I think there’s a pretty big Dodger hater contingent out there

7:13	Bb: Thoughts on LaRussa interviewing with the White Sox?

7:13	Dan Szymborski: Meh

7:13	bosoxforlife: I couldn’t root for the Dodgers if they were playing Moscow Dynamo.

7:13	melon: Do they ever have paint under their eyes that’s like a fun sparkly colour

7:14	Dan Szymborski: someone should come out as full-on finn balor

7:14	Dan Szymborski:

7:14	Ben Clemens: So long as the White Sox don’t let La Russa trade Dane Dunning for $2 million cash

7:14	staz: Derek Lowe’s sinker that comes back to touch the edge of the zone

7:14	Guest: Do you think this trend of having prospects debut in the postseason will carry forward, or is it a weird 2020 thing?

7:15	Dan Szymborski: weird 2020 thing

7:15	Ben Clemens: Unless!

7:15	Dan Szymborski: there wasn’t enough of a season to do this stuff

7:15	Ben Clemens: There’s no minor league season in 2021

7:15	Dan Szymborski: UNLESS EVERY YEAR IS 2020 FOREVER

7:15	Dan Szymborski: Or that

7:16	tcwhy: finn balor had some awesome wrestling outfits. hopefully those makeup articles got better gigs than the wwe

7:16	Matt: If you only use Pache in the postseason, you can delay his service clock until . . . I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.

7:17	Ben Clemens: I’m not sure how old Darren O’Day is, but in my mind he’s been 37 for about 15 years

7:18	Also Ben: I’ve gotten O’Day mixed up with Brach before, but that’s just because they were both Orioles righties tough on righties

7:18	Ben Clemens: Same

7:18	Ben Clemens: Also they were constantly trade bait and the Orioles never moved any of them

7:19	Fire Ken Tremendous: Armchair v. The Irish Moose tomorrow* – if necessary

7:20	Craig: I’m sure I’m just oblivious. Looking up active WAR leaders during the commercial. Ian Kinsler was this good?

7:20	Ben Clemens: iiiii know right?

7:21	Jess: Also do y’all think the DH in the NL is inevitable? and if so how long before it is a normal thing?

7:21	Ben Clemens: I think so. I just think it’s the natural evolution of the game considering how little pitchers care about hitting

7:21	Ben Clemens: I was surprised by how used to it I felt this year

7:21	Ben Clemens: So I’ll say in five years I’ll find it reasonably normal

7:22	Dodger Fan: Pedro Baez being used in this high leverage of a spot is terrifying.

7:22	Mad Joe-Don: How long until Smoltz stops complaining about the DH?

7:23	Ben Clemens: It’s not THAT high leverage, about 1.45 LI it looks like using our WPA inquirer, but yeah, his postseason record ew

7:23	Dan Szymborski: 2070

7:23	Dodger Fan: I will amend my statement: Pedro Baez being used in an elimination game is terrifying.

7:23	Ben Clemens: No argument there

7:24	Wraith: I got used to the NL having a DH surprisingly quickly as well, given how odd a lot of the other rules changes have continued to feel

7:24	Mad Joe-Don: I will be 98 and ready for the sweet release of oblivion. Thanks for the heads-up.

7:25	AC: Odd to see Buehler pulled with Markakis up, no? Markakis hasn’t been close to hitting a ball off of Buehler in any of his ABs this series. Plus, it’s not like facing one more hitter suddenly makes his blister worse

7:25	Ben Clemens: To be fair Nick Markakis has had trouble hitting ANYONE this postseason

7:25	Dan Szymborski: The world’s really odd by 2077

7:25	Dan Szymborski:

7:25	AC: What’s up with the win probability scoreboard today?

7:25	Dan Szymborski: Dunno.

7:26	Mad Joe-Don: You cyberpunks get off my lawn!

7:26	bosoxforlife: The injury factor should be the determining thing when it comes to getting pitchers off the basepaths.

7:26	Matt: I just took the dog out and changed the baby’s diaper, and it’s the same plate appearance! Baez is incredible

7:26	fbihop: d’Arnaud fouled off seemingly 20 good pitches before finally striking out.

7:26	Ben Clemens: Some of column A, some of column B

7:27	Dan Szymborski: “I just met a nice woman and then had the baby and it’s still the same plate appearance.”

7:27	Guest: Is Jansen the right call for LAD in the ninth?

7:27	Dan Szymborski: no

7:27	tcwhy: so this clayton kershaw commercial confuses me. isn’t it celebrating him giving up a home run?

7:27	Gil Garrido: I don’t really want to see pitchers hit any more now that most of them are so bad at it, but I also don’t like players who can’t field. The union would never go for it, but I’d rather just see the 8 position players bat.

7:27	Dan Szymborski: It’s runs the multiples of 3 stuff MLB has!

7:27	Roberto Beers: Darren O’Day continuing to be right handed is baffling.

7:27	Ben Clemens: Do you think that all the former baseball players have a secret alliance to love bunting?

7:28	Ben Clemens: When the rubber hit the road when they were players

7:28	Ben Clemens: No one was bunting for a hit ANYWAY!

7:28	Dan Szymborski: I think former baseball players think praising bunting makes you sound smart

7:28	melon: time bandit strikes again!

7:28	Guest: Ian Snell played a whole career and has been retired for a decade but I would still swear he’s a lefty

7:28	Roberto Beers: RE: Keeping pitchers healthy and off the base paths: We don’t want another Koo Dae-Sung issue where he has a ball in his pocket and gets hurt sliding into home after running from second on a sac bunt.

7:28	Ben Clemens: A Rod played long enough to get shifted against, I’m pretty sure

7:29	Ben Clemens: 174 PA against the shift

7:29	Deathstar Graterol: The rule of 3s must be preserved

7:29	Ben Clemens: was he bunting???

7:29	Dan Szymborski: The master, the apprentice, and A-Rod

7:29	Matt: Re: Ian Snell, that’s because he was actually the same guy as Zack Duke. Nobody noticed, though.

7:29	Fire Ken Tremendous: The Time Bandit covered some serious real estate there

7:30	melon: after seeing buehler, baez looks like he’s wearing bell bottoms

7:30	Ben Clemens: “Not that you’re scared of anybody, but”

7:30	Ben Clemens: oh, hey, talking about pitching around, fun

7:30	Ben Clemens: …..nope it’s about Dansby Swanson!

7:30	Dan Szymborski: I’m jus tmore comfortable not knowing every contour of the pitcher’s buttocks.

7:30	Guest: Zach Duke and Evan Meek belong in the hall of fame of “wait, they were an allstar?”

7:31	Ben Clemens: There’s a Zach Duke card in OOTP that is startlingly effective, based off of his All Star year

7:31	Dan Szymborski: Scott Two-Time Cooper

7:31	Ben Clemens: and every time I see it I’m like nah this seems wrong

7:31	Dodger Fan: Kershaw does not throw a changeup. I hate this commercial.

7:31	Ben Clemens: The curveball has backspin!!!

7:31	Ben Clemens: It’s a four-seam rising curveball

7:32	Dan Szymborski: If Chuck Norris’s beard can be another fist, Kershaw’s change can just be another curveball.

7:32	Lzfreak: Kevin Correia was an all star too

7:32	Dodger Fan: So a cutter…?

7:32	Ben Clemens: Nah it’s supposed to be a curveball, I think they just didn’t have Kershaw throw it and used generic baseball footage instead

7:33	Guest: All-Star Chris Young

7:33	Ben Clemens: Which one??

7:34	Matt: Maybe I’m just not a car guy, but does advertising tire brands actually make sense? Does anyone go to their guy and say they want the specific brand? I know I want round ones, but I’ll just trust whoever I’m working with beyond that.

7:34	Ben Clemens: Totally agree

7:34	Ben Clemens: I have a car I like well enough

7:34	Ben Clemens: I can tell you what type of car it is

7:34	Ben Clemens: No clue what tires I have

7:34	Jeremy: I get whatever tires are on sale at the tire place the week that I need them.

7:35	Matt: But I guess Raytheon and Lockheed advertise, too. Microtargeting the 3 right guys who work in Pentagon procurement.

7:35	Ben Clemens: Someone has explained these to me satisfactorily

7:35	Ben Clemens: Companies like that rely on huge-ticket purchases

7:35	Ben Clemens: But those purchases are stlil made by humans who watch TV

7:36	Ben Clemens: So it’s a kind of goodwill/keep top of mind advertising

7:36	Ben Clemens: Unclear to me whether it’s worth the money but that’s the theory

7:37

Craig: MLB Central was debating the face of baseball. They said Aaron Judge, Fernando Tatis Jr., Mike Trout. Am I dumb to think Bryce Harper is? Like if you asked random people on the street to name a baseball player, would Bryce Harper not be the most common? Maybe they meant within people who follow the game more actively.

7:37	Ben Clemens: I think the fan on the street thinks he sucks now

7:37	Ben Clemens: But maybe he’s still the face of baseball to them anyway

7:38	Guest: I have no recollection of a pitcher named Jeff Locke existing but he was an all star- ah those mid 2000s pirates teams

7:38	Lzfreak: The all timer though is Bryan LaHair

7:38	Guest: I always think that for insurance. Insurance provider is an important decision based on many factors, but whether Aaron Rodgers doing a dance isn’t one of them.

7:38	Dan Szymborski: I think it is

7:39	Dan Szymborski: Any insurance company that spends money on THAT has to have a firm financial footing!

7:41	Dan Szymborski: An all-star

7:41	Dan Szymborski: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/joe-demaestri/1003186/stats?position…

7:41	melon: booth sounding like my calvinist parents right now “everything happens for a reason, even if we don’t understand it”

7:41	Fire Ken Tremendous: OCHO BOOM!

7:41	Purple Urkel: Am I remembering right that Joc was involved in some sort of vetoed/canceled trade?

7:41	Matt: Dan, that’s the rough equivalent of “nobody who speaks German could be evil!”

7:42	Ben Clemens: Joc/Stripling for Luis Rengifo, essentially

7:42	Guest: “Jansen,” “back to back,” and “not go well” seem like phrases that will be strung together in a very different fashion in a few minutes, if LAD actually goes with him. Presumably with “home runs” thrown in.

7:42	Fire Ken Tremendous: Mr. Eclipse was almost traded to the California Angels.

7:42	Guest: The LiMu Emu has converted me to a diehard liberty mutual loyalist

7:42	Ben Clemens: What about Doug?

7:43	tcwhy: lockheed employee here. we rarely advertise in a format like this.

7:43	geebs: your Kershaw album cover makes him look like Opie from SOA

7:43	tcwhy: Didn’t AIG advertise a ton?

7:43	Guest: The “teach how to handle turning into your parents” commercial is the only good one

7:43	Ben Clemens: They did, but it also felt like more than it was because ING advertises a lot too

7:43	Guest: Why not just choose all star teams after the season. Obviously won’t mean anything, but would be kinda cool still

7:43	HireJoeMorgan?: To clarify, does Lockheed rarely advertise in Fangraphs chats or in nationally televised baseball games?

7:44	Dan Szymborski: I totally forgot Domonic Brown was an all-star

7:45	Dan Szymborski: Ken Harvey too

7:45	Dan Szymborski: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/ken-harvey/604/stats?position=1B/DH

7:45	Craig: How obsessed with BA do you have to be to think Bryce Harper sucks

7:45	Ben Clemens: I think it’s more that the teams he’s on never win and the team he left did

7:45	HireJoeMorgan?: If Billy Beane is riding off into the sunset, will he be a Hall of Famer someday?

7:45	Ben Clemens: Yep easy

7:46	Numpty: I think the face of baseball is Mr. Met

7:46	Dan Szymborski: Tyler Green All-Star

7:46	Dan Szymborski: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/tyler-green/1005014/stats?position=P

7:47	Guest: Can we just do a remember some guy: unlikely all stars edition chat

7:47	Man Robfred: In regards to Harper, some high profile errors at the wrong time probably added to the negative sentiment on him.

7:47	Dan Szymborski: I THJINK WE ARE

7:47	Matt: Pretty sure this ran in the Super Bowl:

7:47	Ben Clemens: Hey Martin’s beard is groomed more neatly today

7:47	ETB: Joel Youngblood 1981 Mets

7:47	tcwhy: i consider bryce signing a $300mm contract winning from his perspective

7:48	Ben Clemens: Scoreboard is up

7:48	Ben Clemens: Just in time for you to see the exciting part

7:48	Dan Szymborski: Martin’s already getting towards A Head Full of Dreams territory

7:49	Stu: Not now, Ben. We’re talking about Zack Duke and Lockheed Martin.

7:49	Ben Clemens: Another OOTP fact that I enjoy: there’s a historical All Star Zach Britton

7:49	Ben Clemens: ZAC-H

7:49	Ben Clemens: because it’s from before he changed the spelling of his name

7:49	Ben Clemens: the live one is Zack Britton

7:49	Guest: Thank you Stu, I just now realized how much my day has gotten away from me lol

7:49	Mad Joe-Don: 60/40 rooting for the Braves but I really wanna see Mookie do something great here.

7:49	Fire Ken Tremendous: Mr. Eclipse, Fluffy and Method Man. Wu Tang 2.0?

7:50	Guest: Mr. Met is a disgusting ripoff of Mr. Red; the Mets should be ashamed.

7:50	AC: The other justification for mass-market Lockheed ads is that they are selling potential employees. Again, impossible to verify, but a reasonable argument

7:50	Ben Clemens: Yeah that makes sense to me as well

7:50	Dan Szymborski:

7:50	Guest: Which of the remaining playoff teams is best positioned to compete again in 2021?

7:50	Ben Clemens: Would you accept all?

7:51	Ben Clemens: I think the Astros are worst positioned

7:51	Ben Clemens: But still well-positioned

7:51

tcwhy: to clarify, you don’t see lockheed/raytheon/northrop grumman, etc running regular commercials like you might see for say, tires or insurance. defense contractors don’t really market in that way since the “customer” is the US government. i agree with the general sentiment here, it’s just not a regular practice.

7:51	Dan Szymborski: I don’t know what you jerks are thinking, but Lockheed’s commercial put them way up my list if I need to source an intercontentinal ballistic missile guy.

7:51	Ben Clemens: That makes some sense to me

7:52	Dan Szymborski: Before that commercial, I was going to go with Northrop Grumman. But I didn’t see THEM have a commercial. They couldn’t even DEFEND the airwaves against a competitor!

7:52	Benny and the Mets: Mr. Met has seen enough pain to last 10 lifetimes

7:52	CJ: Was just listening to Meg celebrate the catcher checking on the ump thing on the podcast and there it is!

7:52	Man Robfred: I always preferred my missiles black market but that commercial may be changing my mind .

7:52	Ben Clemens: Pache makes everything exciting!

7:53	Dan Szymborski: Black market warranties are terrible.

7:53	Dan Szymborski: Pay extra and get the brand-name. JFC>

7:53	Ben Clemens: I have the NLCS G7 Recap (if necessary)

7:53	Ben Clemens: It really didn’t feel that likely that I’d be needing to write it

7:53	Ben Clemens: Much less that I’d be needing to write it only a day after the ALCS G7

7:53	Dan Szymborski: “Where’s your recap Ben?” “It didn’t feel necessary since like eveyrone was watching it!”

7:53	Adam: P(in)ache!

7:54	Man Robfred: True, also replacement parts are not standard on black market.

7:54	Stu: I don’t think I’ve seen a new signee come into a major market with high expectations with a bigger pile of goodwill to burn than Mookie. I think everyone is genuinely so pleased with him that he could go hitless in the World Series and people would still love him.

7:54	Ben Clemens: A ton of things lined up really well together for him

7:54	Ben Clemens: But yeah, he has become beloved in LA really quickly

7:54	HireJoeMorgan?: I build my own ICBMs.

7:54	HireJoeMorgan?: They’re locally sourced.

7:54	LFC Mike: what would the neural network think of Dan getting A missile?

7:54	Dan Szymborski: Man, i had a problem with a guidance system this one time, but the phone number of Miruslav’s Geocities page was down.

7:55	Fire Ken Tremendous: Kenley to try to close the 9th. In the words of Samuel L. Jackson “hold on to your butts.”

7:55	Guest: Just realized this team should have David Price too

7:55	Ben Clemens: Yeah nice extra arrow to have in the quiver

7:56	AC: I hate that Kenley is in, but there’s also no clear choice?

7:56	CJ: Lord I thought that was gonna be a first pitch homer

7:56	HireJoeMorgan?: How long is Jansen’s leash here?

7:56	Ben Clemens: I mean, who are they going to next?

7:56	Guest: Did Smoltz really just tell us that the Dodgers’ new defensive replacement is “not known for his defense”?

7:57	Ben Clemens: He’s not wrong!

7:57	Ben Clemens: He’s best known for improbably being named “Joc”

7:57	Ben Clemens: And also improbably not having the least conventional name in his family

7:57	Ben Clemens: Brother Tyger takes the cake there I think

7:57	Fire Ken Tremendous: No, it’s not getting dark for the Braves that’s just Mr. Eclipse!

7:57

John: If the whole *waves hands around* surrounding Kershaw didn’t exist, we would feel some of that same thing toward Jansen. He’s the only other Dodger that has been there through the whole thing, and there has been a ton of sometimes unfair, sometimes unlucky stuff he’s had to go through over the last decade.

7:58	Ben Clemens: Panda

7:58	Dan Szymborski: Wow, 0-for-4! That’s really so relevant!

7:58	Ben Clemens: Panda panda panda panda

7:58	Dan Szymborski: And for you Mike

7:58	Dan Szymborski:

7:58	Ben Clemens: Joc with the old no-stepper

7:59	Ben Clemens: And we will see you tomorrow night. Well, not us, and not see

7:59	Guest: Don’t usually do these chats but this was cool, thanks for taking the time

7:59	Ben Clemens: But there will be baseball tomorrow

7:59	Adam: No game 7 chat?

7:59	Dan Szymborski:

7:59	Ben Clemens: tbd

7:59	Ben Clemens: Have a great evening/night/late afternoon everyone!

8:00	Fire Ken Tremendous: Guys this was SO MUCH FUN

8:00	Mad Joe-Don: Good night! And thanks for all the chat!

8:00	Purple Urkel: Just how everyone expected the ninth to go

8:00	Dan Szymborski: Thanks for joining us everyone!

8:00	LFC Mike: I just picture Dan ala Dr. Strangelove. Riding his missile

8:00	Guest: Think he meant ALCS game 7

8:01	Ben Clemens: Oh. Then nope!

8:01	Ben Clemens: But there will be an Effectively Wild watch-along or whatever they call it, if you’re a patron

8:01	Dan Szymborski: We try not to do 8 hours of chatting as it tries everyone’s stamina, including the readers.

8:01	Ben Clemens: Shameless advertising for something I’m not involved in lol

8:01	Ben Clemens: On that note, I think we’re going to head out.

8:02	Dan Szymborski: Night everyone!

8:02	Dan Szymborski: (You don’t actually have to go to bed)

BAL	CHW	LAA
BOS	CLE	OAK
NYY	DET	SEA
TBR	KCR	TEX
TOR	MIN	HOU

ATL	CHC*	ARI
MIA	CIN	COL
WSN	MIL	LAD
NYM*	PIT	SDP*
PHI	STL	SFG