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Alexander: Notes on a World Series scorecard

October 27, 2024

DENVER – The World (Series) according to Jim:

• Why Denver, first of all? Good airport wifi, and a couple of hours available before my connection to New York, where Bill Plunkett and I will keep you informed of all things Dodgers-Yankees the next two (and, in all likelihood to be honest, three) days. …

• And yes, that “notes on a scorecard” reference is a tribute to the late L.A. columnist Allan Malamud, who may not have invented the notes column but perfected it. Thank you, Mud. …

• Remember what I said in the Dodgers’ last series about how it wasn’t a lock? That applies here, too. …

• You may have heard the stats about teams that jump to a 2-0 lead. In all best-of-seven postseason series the percentage going on to win is 84 percent (77 of 92). Teams opening with two victories at home, as the Dodgers have done, have won 45 of 56. In the World Series alone, 44 of 54 teams that started out 2-0 wound up with rings and parades. …

• But a lot of those outliers have occurred in Dodgers-Yankees confrontations. Remember 1981? Dodgers lose the first two in the Bronx and win the next four, a comeback launched by that gritty Fernando Valenzuela start in Game 3 at the Ravine.

Or 1978. The Dodgers won the first two in L.A., Game 2 featuring the duel between rookie Bob Welch and Reggie Jackson. But the series turned in New York; Jackson’s hip-and-run play – when he interfered with a Dodger double play, got away with it and kept a rally alive – helped fuel a three-game Yankee sweep in the Bronx, and New York won Game 6 in L.A. with Mr. October hitting one off the back wall behind the visitors’ bullpen to win his rematch with Welch and cinch it. …

• It’s a Yankees-Dodgers pattern, since the winning team came back from a 2-0 deficit in 1956 (Yankees) and 1955 (Dodgers), but not solely. The 1965 Dodgers were bludgeoned in Games 1 and 2 in Minnesota, Don Drysdale losing the opener 8-2 and Sandy Koufax – who had missed that Game 1 start to observe Yom Kippur – dropping Game 2 5-1. But they won the series, with Koufax shutting out the Twins on two days rest in Game 7. …

• All that said, and knowing full well that the middle three games in Yankee Stadium might be a completely different animal? Nothing I saw in Games 1 and 2 convinced me that the Yankees have anywhere as deep a lineup as the Dodgers do. All of that angst during the summer over the deficiencies of the lower half of L.A.’s batting order? Right now it looks much stronger than that of the Yankees. …

• There are three ways this series can change dramatically. …

• The first is if Aaron Judge gets untracked. He was 1 for 9 with six strikeouts in Games 1 and 2, flailing at unhittable pitches and continuing a slump that began in the ALCS against Cleveland. If he gets hot between Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton in the heart of the Yankees’ order, watch out. …

• The second, obviously depends on Shohei Ohtani’s health. The Dodgers’ leadoff hitter has had his own issues – 1 for 8 with a double in Game 1 and a walk in Game 2 – the walk that turned into potential catastrophe when he partially dislocated his shoulder while getting thrown out stealing to end the seventh Saturday. He has been cleared to play, manager Dave Roberts told ESPN Sunday, in advance of the team’s media availability later in the day. How efficient he is will be a storyline to watch. …

• The third? Dodgers bullpen usage, and specifically if the Yankees get enough looks at L.A.’s leverage guys that they begin to solve them. The bases loaded mess that Blake Treinen found himself amidst in the ninth inning Saturday wasn’t totally a matter of the Yankees pounding him – who, after all, could predict Stanton’s ground ball caroming off the third base bag and high into the air, allowing Soto to score from second base?

But it was the second time in two nights Treinen had seen the heart of the Yankee order, and it’s become apparent not only from the data but from the eye test: The more hitters see a particular pitcher in a five- or seven-game series, the better chance they have to solve him. …

• If the Dodgers pull this off, Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes should be in line for co-Executives of the Year honors for their moves at the trade deadline. The Jack Flaherty trade was big, of course, and everyone acknowledged that at the time especially as Dodger starting pitching was taking injury hit after injury hit. And the addition of Michael Kopech strengthened the bullpen, though the hard-throwing right-hander still has his moments where command is an issue.

But Tommy Edman? We may not have thought much of that deal at the time – the theory that Friedman had targeted him for years because he fit into the club’s emphasis on positional flexibility, plus he hadn’t played yet this season because of injury. Right now, on a star-studded roster, he’s one of the most important guys in the Dodgers’ lineup. …

• The postseason can turn a guy from unknown to hero, for sure. Edman was asked after Saturday night’s game if people were starting to recognize him on the street.

“Kind of started a little bit,” he said. “Definitely when I first got here, nobody knew who I was. I’m definitely the kind of guy that you see on the street and wouldn’t look twice at. There’s other baseball players – I mean, you look at the guys on their team, you’ve got Stanton and Judge, you see them on the street, like, whoa, that guy is probably an athlete. Myself, not really, but it’s kind of started a little bit.” …

• A lot of Dodgers could cement their status as civic heroes if this ride continues. But I don’t think any of them will be running for mayor. The incumbent, the Hon. Karen Bass, not only is a regular in her box seats during these playoffs, but she’s wearing her Dodger jersey. (In contrast, I don’t expect to see embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams at Yankee Stadium this week, but I’ve been surprised before.) …

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• One person who I do wish were here to see this? The late Rosalind Wyman, who as a young L.A. city councilwoman in the 1950s was one of those instrumental in convincing Walter O’Malley to bring the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Wyman, active in Democratic Party politics and community nonprofit boards before passing away two years ago at age 92, remained a devoted fan through the years. In fact, when we talked in October of 2020 she was scheming to find her way to Arlington, Texas, for what turned out to be a decisive World Series Game 6.

She would have loved those first two games. Hopefully whoever inherited her field level box seat, near the umpires’ entrance to the field, continues to bring the noise, whether it’s in possible Games 6 and/or 7 or in 2025.

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Orange County Register

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Alexander: Notes on a World Series scorecard

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