August 30th, 2021 at 8:00 am 
by Jayann Kellogg Who do you call when the Dodgers are in a pinch and need more runs on the board?
If you answered with Dodgers catcher Will Smith, then you are correct. If you answered Ghostbusters, you are not wrong either.
As of late, being desperate for anyone to go yard has been more common than not. During Saturday’s game against the second-worst team in the National League West – the Colorado Rockies – at Dodgers Stadium, the Dodgers were tied with the Rockies 2-2 until the eighth inning, when the 26-year-old Dodgers catcher delivered a two-run single. Two batters later, Dodgers center fielder AJ Pollock followed with an insurance run RBI single to give the Dodgers a 5-2 lead and eventual winning score.
“Standard Will right now,” said Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen, the benefactor of Smith’s game-winning hit. “He gets big hits in big situations. It’s just a testament to how ready our guys are. Coming up and getting big hits when we need them, that was awesome.”
What does the Louisville, Kentucky native think about his ability to come through with hits when the Dodgers are desperate for runs?
“I feel pretty confident in those situations. I’ve had a lot of success. I feel like I’m not afraid to fail in that moment,” Smith said postgame. “[I’m] just able to stick to my approach – swing at the right pitches and not expand out of the zone and take a good swing on the ball, and good things will happen.”
Smith came into the 2021 season as one of the best hitting catchers in Major League Baseball, and his momentum has not slowed down since the beginning of the season. He has set career-highs in home runs (21), doubles (15), and RBIs (64), with 31 games remaining in the regular season.
The Dodgers need Smith to keep doing whatever he is doing to stay hot at the plate. He is now 22 for 66 (.333) with 18 RBIs when he makes a plate appearance in the seventh inning or later.
“I just have the confidence that he’s going to stay in the strike zone,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “When the pitchers do make a mistake, he’s ready to fire, and that’s what happened tonight and has happened many times in big spots with Will.”
Keep it up, Will Smith. It is you who we’re ‘gonna call.’
Let’s Play Ball!
* * * * * *
Posted in 
Maybe Will Smith may may have helped the Dodgers on Sunday. We’ll never know. All I do know is the team had a tough time hitting Senzatela. It looks like it’s going to be a tough week against the Braves and Giants, if they’re pitching is on.
If I was setting the rotation for the next seven days for this extremely important week, I would not pitch Scherzer in the Atlanta series and have him start in S F on Friday on extra rest. A win in SF is a 2 game swing with less than 30 games left at that point. Then Urias and Buehler will also be the SF series. I would use a bullpen game on Wednesday against Atlanta or bring up Jackson to start the game. Also rosters expand to 28 on Wednesday and more pitchers can be brought up to facilitate that game from the minors. I realize all games are important to win, but time is running out to win the division and there will be no more games left against SF after Sunday, I’m not the manager or GM, but that’s what I would do. What would you do?
That exact scenario was posed to Roberts during yesterday’s postgame. He skirted the issue of the likes I have never seen.
I could go on, but I won’t.
@Dodgers Awesome read, @JDodgersgirl 🙌🏽