Dodgers' bullpen play was the right decision in Game 2 of the NLCS, it just didn't work out – Dodgers Digest

When the 5-6-7 hitters lined up, Knack was asked to pitch. He was struggling and probably should have been out sooner Mark Vientos came to the plate to hit the (eventually) game-winning grand slam in the second inning, but since the score was 2-0 at the time, using another arm in this situation didn't work out.

From Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic:

“Roberts was so shorthanded on Monday that he said if he had gone to anyone but Knack in the second round, he might not have had enough pitching to finish the game. In fact, the math suggests that he would have gotten into trouble at some point even if he had gone to Knack later.

Think about it: Roberts could potentially expect three outs each from five relievers – Brasier, the left-hander (Anthony) Banda and right-handed Evan Phillips, (Michael) Kopech And Blake Treinen. Nine from Knack would still have left the Dodgers with three outs unless Roberts extended Treinen or Phillips. Or used one of the smaller relievers who played a prominent role Monday — right-handers Brent Honeywell, who pitched three scoreless innings, and Henriquez, who worked the final two innings.”

Of course, no one could have predicted Honeywell's three scoreless innings, which shouldn't be overlooked. It happened, but you couldn't count on it – it could well have been Honeywell struggling while Knack was good.

And if Knack had thrown 2-3 scoreless innings, we wouldn't be having this discussion now. Conversely, if the Dodgers' bullpen game plan hadn't worked in Game 4 of the NLDS, we'd be having a whole different discussion right now.

The fact is, bullpen games are volatile because bullpens are volatile. Since Roberts decided to use some medium leverage guys in Game 1 (and Daniel Hudson Be not available), it didn't make much sense to use them in Game 2, nor could they do the same thing they did against the Padres. This is a 7-game series, and the extra rest the debt-ridden arms got yesterday (Kopech, Phillips, Treinen) could actually benefit the Dodgers later in the series. Yes, the Dodgers have an off day today, but those three have been relied upon quite heavily in the NLDS and throughout the season – not to mention Phillips missed time with an injury and Treinen got a late start after being injured had recovered from an injury. With Alex Vesia For this series, that meant that Roberts had to be a little more tactful when it came to using the heavily indebted boys. A 2-0 loss in the second inning didn't seem like the best course of action, even though the Mets seemed to have runners in every inning. There's a chance that one of them suffered the same or similar fate as Knack, and we would still be having that discussion today.

There's a reason why bullpen games aren't the norm. And after a wonderful success in Game 4 of the NLDS, things backfired in Game 2 of the NLCS. It happens.

Now, it can be argued that Buehler could have gone in Game 2 instead if they didn't want to use the high-leverage guys in non-high-leverage situations, but that would mean a bullpen game in one of the three games in New York Hope Jack Flaherty And Yoshinobu Yamamoto could throw at least five innings of quality ball on his own. Flaherty did it in Game 1, Yamamoto did it in the NLDS-deciding Game 5, but neither were at their best in their first appearances in the NLDS.

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Pitching is fickle! Managing is hard. There are legitimate questions about how yesterday's game went, but the Dodgers managed just three runs and had multiple opportunities to overcome a 6-0 deficit. Of course the mindset of scoring at 0-1 or 0-2 is different than at 0-6, but the fact is they still need to score enough to score. If you take away the Grand Slam it's 3-3, but that assumes everything else during the game went the same way, and we all know that doesn't work that way.

Hindsight is 20/20. If Knack had thrown a few scoreless innings, people would still be praising Roberts. Instead, Landon Knack has never had more written about his name in his life due to his subpar performance.

But none of that matters if the crime doesn't show up. Sean Manaea looked unbeatable in the first four innings earlier Max Muncy corrected it in the fifth. Then in the sixth a rally finally got going. While it's discouraging to see them mount a comeback and have multiple opportunities to tie the game and/or take the lead, it's also encouraging as we've seen Dodger teams in the postseason do just that Situations withered and died.

Heading into Game 3 tomorrow, the Dodgers initially have Buehler in the starting lineup. He has a strong postseason career (3.40 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 19.8 K-BB%), but that was the Buehler of old. The new version shows flashes of what he used to be, but the fact that he's no longer missing at-bats like he used to could be problematic against the patient, pesky Mets hitters.

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The bullpen play was the right decision in Game 2, it just didn't work out. This is baseball, and you have to give the Mets offense credit for putting together a game plan to beat the Dodgers' game plan. The Mets had the best record in baseball since June 1st. Although they barely made the postseason, they are a good team, so this wasn't going to be a short series. Therefore, the Dodgers must counterattack in hopes of making it back to the World Series.