Dave Roberts still thinks he’s playing Strat-O-Matic

I have to credit Joe Sheehan, who has been using that metaphor for a long while now. Anyway, one of the problems with Dave Roberts as manager, at least in the playoffs, is he just assumes he’ll get production from the back of the baseball card simply because. Mostly, if not solely, this has been the problem with his usage of Clayton Kershaw for years. At least Kershaw got a reprieve from that last night.

It was Dustin May’s turn.

While the Dodgers had no choice but to go to a bullpen game, and May is part of that pen, asking a young pitcher to do something he’s never done before in the World Series is also asking for trouble. May came in the game in the 4th inning, which was his third appearance in the last five days. His fourth in the last nine. Has Dustin May ever done that? He has not. Did he come out of the pen at all this season before the playoffs? He did not. Was he anything but a starter in the minors? He was not. Yes, he finished last season as a reliever, but appeared every three days. Simply throwing Dustin May out there does not mean you’ll get Dustin May. To boot, he came into the game in the middle of an inning, something he would not be accustomed to as a starter.

Roberts didn’t get DUSTIN MAY, as May gave up three earned runs, four total, as he surrendered some rockets including an RBI double in the 4th to Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe’s second homer of the game. May’s stuff looked flat from the get-go, which you’d expect with the use he’s had of late that he is not accustomed to. The runs he gave up are essentially the difference in the game.

With Game 1 in the bag, a day off tomorrow, and Walker Beuhler, Julio Urias, and Clayton Kershaw lined up for Games 3-5, there had to be another route in the middle innings. Did Victor Gonzalez have to be used Tuesday night in a blowout? Alex Wood before the late innings? Joe Kelly, who sucks out loud, was used two nights in a row and gave up an insurance run.

Time will tell if this one will bite Roberts again. But it’s the kind of mistake he keeps making. You don’t get the production you’re expecting merely because of the name on the back of the jersey. This is the biggest reason Kershaw’s playoff rep is so sullied. Roberts has five more games to learn.

A word on this doofus:

I don’t think anyone can sum it up better than Joe Buck’s “What?”

Also, if you’re over 12 years old and bring a glove to the game, you’re a dingus. Especially if you’re sitting in the outfield. Cricket players don’t require gloves, Malorkus. But what was I expecting of someone attending a World Series game that doesn’t involve the local team in the middle of a pandemic?

It’s been quite a stretch for Louisiana. It started with LSU football coach Ed Orgeron telling the world that most of his team had caught COVID, so that was a perfectly good reason to play football anyway. It moved on to the Saints trying to move their home games to Baton Rouge so they could have fans putting each other at risk to watch Drew Brees underthrow his receivers. Odell Beckham Jr., proud LSU alum, declared that he and the coronavirus apparently had come to some agreement to not cross paths. Later in the day, the school had to impose penalties on itself for the usual improper booster conduct, except part of that was Beckham paying players last year after they’d claimed the national title. Beckham has been banned from LSU facilities for two years.

“And college men from LSU...went in dumb...come out dumb too…”

It always applies.

To wrap it up, here’s the greatest moment in the history of pro wrestling provided by AEW last night: