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LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers hitters, many sitting on the floor, some leaning against the wall in a room behind their canoes, listened to their coaches tell them two hours before the first game of the National League division series how to fight the Braves of Atlanta. The information could have been expressed on any day of the Dodgers' season: control the attack zone.
"We talk about it every day," said Justin Turner, third baseman. "It's something we're proud of: swinging and taking balls."
"Here, if you continue, continue, continue," said second-baseman Kiké Hernández, "you'll be the only one, it'll be pretty obvious."
This time, however, the message had a special resonance because of the opponent. The Braves pitchers have hit more batterers than any other club in the league. It's hard to do what the Braves did: win a division title with so many steps. In fact, Atlanta pitchers scored more, 635, than any of the 248 teams that won a division title. The Dodgers team explained Atlanta's thrower control issues.
"We heard that and knew we had to control the attack zone," Hernández said. "Because if you pursue against powerful weapons and they advance, they go to their throws."
Sometimes the writers in Los Angeles make something that seems impossible. Kirk Gibson's house, 30 years ago, comes to mind. Sometimes they report something that does not match the accumulation. The World Series Game 7 of last year, a boring coda for a hazelnut baseball week, is of this type.
And then sometimes they write a script that is so predictable that it is a formula. It was the first game of the LNDS on Wednesday night. It worked exactly as it should. The team that has done the most marches and has scored the most circuits in the league, with considerable experience in the playoffs, outclassing the team that has hit the most batters and has very few representatives on the big scene of October.
The final score was Dodgers 6, Braves 0, but there were also 8-0 (running) and 3-0 (home run) in favor of Dodgers. Atlanta became the only ninth team to open a playoff series by walking eight batters; only one of the others won the series. The Braves became the first team to open a playoff series by beating 8-0.
"Let's hope," said a brave, "we have eliminated nervousness."
That was Dodgers Baseball, and part of the way we play more and more baseball. Los Angeles plays the game of power and patience as well as any team. They hit a franchise record of 235 homers and scored 647 goals scored – thresholds achieved by just seven other teams in the history of baseball, and made for the last time by the Yankees, world champions in 2009.
They dominated the match with a 6-5 win.
"It's not just about getting 10 hits," said Turner, "but getting traffic on the basics and carrying a pitcher. That's how our offense goes. "
If you want to see the ball more in play, it's not your team. In the first game, the Dodgers put the ball in play only 15 times, only 41% of their attempts.
What they do is force the throwers into the attack zone, and when they do, they shoot out with power.
There is no better example of how the Dodgers use pitchers than first baseman Max Muncy. He saw 17 fields and swayed only two of them. One was an infamous balloon and the other, a three point dagger in the second inning that put the game on the ice – yes, so early. His three other plate trips resulted in walks. He saw 14 lands out of the box (including a whistle from referee Adrian Johnson) and did not swing any of them.
Turner, when asked what impressed him the most about Muncy when he first saw her in the spring, said, "The ability to control the area typing. That's the ranking. "
The list of guys who scored three goals and hit a homerun in a nine-run series is as impressive as it is short: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Eddie Murray, Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, Carlos Beltran … and Max Muncy , the only one to do in his first playoff game.
The Dodgers never let the Braves starter, Mike Foltynewicz, take a deep breath. He threw 22 shots out of the strike zone and Los Angeles scored just three goals.
Foltynewicz has a big arm, a murderous slider and a promising future after the progress he made this year by controlling his lands and emotions on the mound. But his body language could have guessed it was his first start in the playoffs.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "He offered to Joc Pederson, the first batter to whom he was confronted and the third worst baseball hitter against brittle balls (.146), with a quick ball at 0 and 2. A recognizing Pederson crashed for a homer. Foltynewicz continued to skid and misplaced his lands, his cradle notes, a plastic card that serves as notes looking for strikes on the Dodgers hitters, it was disconcerting to see a pitcher check it as often as Foltynewicz did, but especially when he did so . in the middle of bats. Was there a sensation to what he was doing? Did he trust his own business? Was there an on-the-fly assessment of how his ball was moving or the batter's reaction? "Data-reactid =" 41 "> He gave Joc Pederson, the first hitter he faced, the third worst batter in baseball against brittle balls (.146), with a 0 and … 2 fastball Pederson, grateful, crushed him for a home run, and Foltynewicz continued to overwork and mislead his pitchers, and it was disconcerting to see a pitcher check it as often as Foltynewicz did, but especially when he was in the middle of bats. Was there a sensation to what he was doing? Did he trust his own business? Was there an on-the-fly assessment of how his ball was moving or the batter's reaction? It was a painting exercise by numbers.
Atlanta missed five more pitchers after Foltynewicz left after two innings. The Dodgers have even seen this parade as an advantage. Los Angeles had not seen some of the powerful young weapons in the Braves office. "For us, seeing them in match 1 was huge," Hernández said. Real-time intelligence was paying dividends on the rest of the series.
The Braves cast a wise veteran in the second game, Aníbal Sánchez, who took a silver medal of 2.79 in the seventh round and is the best shot putter in their rotation (64.4%). Clayton Kershaw, a former ace in transition now that his fastball has lost weight, will try to deceive Atlanta for five or six innings for the Dodgers. But if the Braves continue to throw the ball like that – they have thrown only 54% goals in the first game against 67% for the Dodgers – it will be a short series.
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