September 15th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It has happened before and will undoubtedly happen again – Dodgers manager Dave Roberts overmanaging a game.
Unfortunately, the ‘before’ happened during both the 2017 and 2018 World Series when Roberts thought it best to change pitchers for no other reason than for righty vs. righty and lefty vs. lefty pitching matchups regardless of how well the current pitcher was doing. As a result, the Dodgers lost those games and ultimately baseball’s biggest prize … twice.
The ‘again’ happened on Saturday night against the New York Mets in front of a Citi Field crowd of 39,264 that included more than 500 members of the Los Angeles-based Pantone 294 Dodgers fan group, who made the trip to New York in support of their favorite team.
In one of his best starts of the 2019 season, Roberts pulled 32-year-old left-hander and one-time 2019 NL Cy Young Award leading candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu after seven stellar innings in which he allowed no runs and only two hits while walking none and striking out six of the 23 batters he faced, doing so on 90 pitches of which 61 were strikes.
(Photo credit – Jessie Alcheh)
Although pulling the crafty Incheon, South Korea native at that point was certainly understandable, especially with the Dodgers having not scored off of Mets right-handed starter Jacob deGrom in his equally impressive seven shutout innings and Ryu’s spot due up second in the top of the eighth, Roberts’ decision to pull 30-year-old sidearm slinging left-hander Adam Kolarek after only four pitches in the bottom of the eighth on which he struck out the always-dangerous Robinson Cano was, quite frankly, ridiculous and very well may have cost his team the game.
Roberts replaced Kolarek with right-hander Joe Kelly, who hit Mets third baseman Todd Frazier with his very first pitch. Kelly then struck out center fielder Juan Lagares. But with left-handed-hitting pinch-hitter Brandon Nimmo coming up next and Kelly having pitched in three of the past four games, Roberts pulled Kelly (after only nine pitches) opting to bring in left-hander Julio Urias instead.
Urias promptly hit Nimmo with his third pitch and then walked Mets shortstop Amed Rosario on five pitches to load the bases. With Mets’ right-handed-hitting pinch-hitter Rajai Davis coming to the plate, Roberts did not make a pitching change this time. Davis, who was making only his 21st plate appearance with the Mets having spent most of the season at Triple-A Syracuse, ripped Urias’ 82-mph changeup down the left-field line for a bases-clearing double and driving a stake through the hearts of those 500+ Pantone 294 members and Dodger fans around the world. The Dodgers then went meekly in order in the top of the ninth to suffer the 3-0 loss.
“That was the factor for me,” Roberts told reporters after the game when asked if bringing in Urias to replace Kelly was purely a matchup thing. “Normally in the postseason, Joe would go through and finish that inning.”
“He didn’t have his best command,” Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said of Urias. “He missed up and in on a fastball to Nimmo who had a nice big pad and just took it like a champ.
“I think if I’m going to be picky about it and I could go back in time I’d probably call a slider down and in (to Davis). He hadn’t seen that pitch. I definitely think the slider would have got him. I take the blame for calling a changeup. It was a bad call.”
No, Russell, the bad call came from Dave Roberts for pulling a clearly effective Adam Kolarek after only four pitches, thereby leading to Dodgers’ first loss at Citi Field since May 27, 2016, and quite possibly costing Hyun-Jin Ryu a Cy Young Award.
Play Ball!
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It certainly would be nice if Roberts would learn from his past mistakes.
Why leave in Kolarek when the following 2 batters were right-handed? Kolarek, being a LOOGY, only pitches to left-handed batters, as you know. In any case, the point of yesterday’s game was not primarily to win, but to ensure that Ryu had a good outing. That he did, so yesterday was a success. And hopefully, the hitters will have learned something from the opportunity to hit against one of the leagues best pitchers: so that they will be more effective against Verlander and Cole…
I pretty much agree with everything you say, Eric, except that every game is important, regardless of having already won the division, as the wins will determine homefield advantage down the line – and we ALL know what that means, especially this season.
I total get the LOOGY thing with Kolarek, but having spoken with him several times personally, he said that he could definately go longer than one guy every time out. He added “That’s their decision, not mine.”
Thanks for the response Ron. Very interesting about the desire on Kolarek’s part to pitch more (normal isn’t it?). Yes, this is the moment to test his capacity in that area. I hope that they will do that next time.
For me, pulling Kelly was the problem. And Roberts addressed that in your article: “Normally in the postseason, Joe would go through and finish that inning.” It is a shame the Dodgers continue to insist on tinkering and will possibly lose home field because of it. Give the players stability and let them get into a groove.
I think the two positive things I can take home from this game was that Ryu was absolutely brilliant and it was great being among the 294 Group of over 500 Dodger fans.
Make that the Pantone 294 Group.
There is a zero percent chance that Ryu not getting the W impacts his Cy Young chances, and topping the evidence is the guy on the opposing mound last night, who won the award with fewer wins last year than Ryu has this year. The key is the seven shutout innings, and if anything, it’s more likely (i.e, more likely than 0%) that Roberts helped Ryu by protecting those innings rather than exposing him to the eighth.
This is not a comment about Roberts’ managing last night, although I think it’s pretty clear he’s testing out postseason scenarios and roles, which makes sense for him to do at this stage at this season. And I’m also not sure why you’d want to extend Ryu, whose stability is always going to be in question and who was coming off his worst four-game stretch by far this year, in a meaningless game so close to the playoffs.
Like him or not, Roberts is managing with his eye on October, not the November awards circuit, and that’s as it should be.
Always great to hear from you, my friend, and your wisdom carries much weight.
I fully agree with (almost) everything you say, Jon, even the testing-the-waters thing. However, managing for October should also include trying to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and World Series.
I also fully agree that deGrom was phenomenal last night and was (painfully) a joy to watch.
As I noted in the piece, I was fine with replacing Ryu after 7/90, especially with his spot due up second in T-8. My biggest gripe is Roberts’ 100% blind commitment that Kolarek is a one-guy guy. As noted above, in speaking with Adam personally, he is very confident that he could go longer, even a couple of innings if needed. Although a very small sample size of only four pitches, it was evident that Kolarek was dialed last night (1 ball and 3 strikes).
Trust me, I am a HUGE Dave Roberts fan; very much so.
Ron, the Dodger offense struck out 12 times once again and looked bad while being shutout. I agree about the micro managing that Roberts does and his LH/RH obsession with both the pitching and the offense is nothing but insanity. Playing complete match ups will guarantee another early PS exit for this team, sorry to say but the results we are seeing speak for themselves. I was OK with pulling Ryu, but to do this with Kolarek after only 1 batter is just plain LUDICROUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Problem as I see it with kolarek is that Roberts and Co. have pigeon holed him for sure. Yes, deGrom was at his best but I got news for all here.. that is the type of pitching Dodgers will face in the PS.
I can’t find any data to back this up but my recollection is that Kolarek has done well in his few opportunities against RHB’s since putting on the Blue. Maybe you have confirming data, or evidence that I’ve been hallucinating.
While I absolutely agree with you about the importance of the game I can’t help but to feel some satisfaction with Hyun-Jin’s performance. Aside from the importance it was to the Dodgers I was in a minority a couple years ago in believing he would be back. I even believed he would be better than we’d seen him prior, though I will admit that I never typed certain letters in this particular order ~Cy Young~ but I’ve not been surprised to see him in the chase.
Even better, this happened on the road, where his numbers don’t tend to be quite as good as at Dodger Stadium.
My only real concern about Hyun-Jin is what uniform he’ll be wearing next year.
I couldn’t find any data specific to the Dodgers but Kolarek has had a lot of trouble vs. this year and his entire career. Right handers hit more Home Runs 5-2, almost a 100 points higher in batting average and over 350 points in ops. I agree with Roberts, for once, on handing a pitcher!
As for Ryu next year right now the Starters look like so…
Kershaw
Buheler
Urias (this has been stated by Roberts)
Gonzo ?
May ?
Hill (very doubtful but possible)
Stripling
Maeda (At three million per year he is a steal that isn’t going anywhere)
So if Ryu plays too hardball I could see the Dodgers walking away and letting him go.
Hopefully, and I kinda think this will happen, Ryu will take a little less and stay in LA where he is comfortable living.
Regardless that is a hell of a lot starting talent eh? 🌞
Kershaw/Buehler: obvious.
Gonzo: I assume you mean Tony Gonsolin. He looks good and should have a good chance to make the rotation next year.
Hill: A free agent who will be 40 before opening day and has had injury issues. I think he’s playing out the biggest contract he’ll ever see right now.
Maeda: $3 mill + bonuses. Has a problem with inconsistency.
Urias and May: Inconsistency issues abound. Both too young to give up on, but also can’t assume they’ll be solid starters at this point.
“Hopefully, and I kinda think this will happen, Ryu will take a little less and stay in LA where he is comfortable living.”
I’m with you on that.
as stated many times, pulling Ryu was absolutely the right thing to do. pulling AK was probably the right thing as well, considering his history against RHB BUT pulling kelly when he was going to face nimmo (a guy hitting .205 this year) was the fatal flaw. no doubt in my mind that JK was going to overpower him and allow Urias to start a clean inning in a scoreless game. obviously we cant win if we dont score so we cant put this all on the pen or doc but as proven sunday night, when we get into the opponents pen, we always have a chance.